Arabella Parring

"I love the name of honor, more than I fear death."

- Julius Caesar

Arabella Parring is a female tribute of District 14, created by The Targaryen of District 4.

Other information
Tier:

Etymology: (Arabella) - Two possible meanings: "invokable" and "beautiful", (Parring) - Several meanings, including "A level of equality"

Usual alliance: Careers, but will mainly focus on a secret alliance with Anastasia (if they are in the same games)

Love Interest(s) (from her history): None

Fears: She and Anastasia being brainwashed, cults

History
 Arabella and Anastasia were born on the same day, as fraternal twins. Arabella was born before Anastasia, making her the middle child. They were born to a seemingly normal family in The Capitol - their parents being a couple who got paid to review and critique movies. They already had one child before the twins were born, 7 year old Axel.

Life seemed to be easy for the family. Axel would attend school, and the couple would manage their jobs and looking after their newborn twins. They were not the richest family, but they managed to make ends meet. Growing up, Arabella was the creative twin. She was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, as she had several habits, one of which was arranging her painting and colouring utensils in the order of the colour spectrum.

Her paintings started off as normal, stereotypical paintings; including forests and animals. However, they became progressively strange. During her painting sessions, she subconsciously received odd visions; groups of people in robes, suspicious red liquid in goblets. She couldn't explain these visions, so she was prompted to get them onto the canvas as best as she could.

When her parents discovered these paintings, they were quick to take them and destroy them. Arabella, only young at the time, just assumed that they didn't like the paintings. Little did she know that the truth was much darker. She felt disheartened at the reaction, believing that her paintings of the visions were much more interesting than the normal paintings that she did. This caused her to stay away from painting for a while.

A couple of years later, the twins would reach school-enrollment age. They were to be enrolled into the same school as Axel. While Anastasia was excited at the prospect of making new friends, Arabella dreaded it. She and Anastasia didn't particularly have the most warm relationship with each other, despite being twins. After all, they had very different personalities. So it seemed unlikely that they would stick together.

Arabella ended up developing a mature attitude, as she attended school. She didn't actually find school that bad, as she was able to make one friend at least - an eccentric but friendly girl named Paisley.

The two had something in common. They both had strange visions of dark things. Their friendship blossomed, with Arabella finally being relieved of the fact that she had someone who shared the same experience as her.

Anastasia, on the other hand, had made several friends. She was becoming one of the popular girls of the school. Axel didn't like this, but he didn't really care enough to intervene. Strangely, he was more interested in Arabella's actions (to be explained later on).

Arabella resumed to notice strange things. Her parents never stepped foot in the school to attend important events and even Axel had changed in terms of personality. While he used to be friendly and kind, he was now reserved and aggressive when spoken to. She had heard from gossip that he was regularly sent to the office of the principal. She wondered what caused his change in personality. Was it linked to the absence of the involvement of her parents in her's and Anastasia's education?

That would come to be the case.

Arabella decided that she would confront Axel. When she finished her after-school activity, being a member of the painting club (she rekindled her interest in painting, but she could only have the permission from her parents to join with one condition, she could not create any paintings that were not stereotypical (such as the paintings of her visions), She agreed to this), and went home, she locked Axel in his room.

What she found out would be life-changing, as the confrontation lasted for several hours. Axel and their parents had joined a cult, without the knowledge of the twins. Axel, whose reason for joining the cult was unclear, was the first to join, and when the parents were supposedly arguing about how they had loss their sense of direction, he suggested the cult to them.

This cult turned out to be fanatical, and the teenager was being heavily abused. He told Arabella that their parents were not who she thought they were -- they were involved in the abuse. Talking about this overwhelmed him with rage.

Arabella, on the other hand, was overwhelmed with disbelief. Her parents were surely not abusive, in her eyes. But before she could think about it further, Axel started making "advances" on his sister. More repulsed than traumatised, and silently cursing herself for locking the door, she escaped the room and headed for her own room.

Inside, she packed some of her belongings - including one half of an aquamarine necklace. Anastasia had the other half of the necklace, symbolising their "eternal status" as twins.

She hoped to bring her twin sister with her, away from their messed up family, but she was unsure as to whether Anastasia knew anything. Regardless, she intended on getting the two of them out of the house.

Just as she exited her room, she noticed that Anastasia was unconscious, lying on the floor. This made Arabella worry deeply, as she had planned to tell her the truth about their family. Anastasia's unconsciousness and Arabella's concern allowed for their parents and Axel to gather behind them.

Time passed, and Arabella woke up in a strange room. Unfortunately, it was not a dream. She was covered in bruises, had a fresh scar on her face and was in a dazed state. It didn't take long for her to realise that she had been knocked unconscious.

Her belongings were no longer with her, the only thing remaining being her necklace (which is strange, considering that it was of value). As soon as she was getting used to her surroundings, a person in robes walked in. She then realised quickly that they were going to try and indoctrinate her by force.

Arabella struggled against the iron grip of the robed cult members, but it was no use. She was a young girl and her captors were grown adults.

She and Anastasia were taken into the same room, where they were forced to undergo an induction. Among the crowd that watched was their parents and Axel.

The induction was traumatising, to say the least. It would come to change the lives of the duo, but it made Arabella more determined to escape. Her sister was too scared to even think about escape, so Arabella would have to help her do it.

It would be on the second night that the duo escaped. The cult did not acknowledge this until it was too late. In their eyes, the twins were now their fugitives.

The twins felt unable to report the cult to the Peacekeepers, because a lot of the members in the cult were Peacekeepers that they recognised. Both were around the age of 12 when they escaped, meaning that they were old enough to at least find small jobs around Panem (except for The Capitol, as that had now become a dangerous place for them to remain), but they would have to sacrifice their education.

They started their new lives together, by travelling to District 3, whilst on the lookout for any cult members.

In District 3, they were interns for a programmer. While Arabella impressed the programmer, Anastasia was clumsy and reckless, sometimes accidentally breaking the equipment that the programmer used.

After getting money from the programmer, the duo then travelled to District 5, where they worked at the (reconstructed) dam as assistants to the equipment managers. Arabella proved to be the more efficient twin, once again. They would stay at the dam, until their 14th birthday.

This was when everything was going to change, as Anastasia finally voiced her dislike of their lifestyle. She hated having to work, and expressed her frustration at how incompetent she was at the jobs, compared to Arabella. Arabella tried to comfort her, but it was of no avail. Anastasia had become rebellious.

That was the last time Arabella saw Anastasia (not for good, however). The younger twin suddenly disappeared, like as if out of thin air, and Arabella was quick to assume that

Personality
Arabella has obsessive-compulsive disorder. She has several habits that others may find strange, but she sees as normal. Her creativity, preserved from her childhood, enhances her disorder.

She is mature and sensible, with a great sense of honour. She believes in doing what is right. However, she is not sensible when it comes to her thoughts - it's one of her weak points. She tries to suppress the dark visions that she receives, but it is hard to control them as they can come randomly.

Another weak point is her relationship with Anastasia. The two did not have the best relationship, but after what they went through, they grew closer. While in separation, they each have (and still do have) a token of a necklace with half an aquamarine. Being reminded of the separation is painful to Arabella, even though she has a token that serves as a reminder (she tries to view the necklace differently as a result).

Strengths and weaknesses
Strengths:

Weaknesses: Plant knowledge (she didn't stay in education long enough to learn the full extent of it), her visions (may serve as a distraction)