Belle Carter

Belle Gordon (nee Carter) is a character who develops a lot while enjoying a minor role in several stories.

Hypnosis Doesn't Work Like That!

Belle is the main antagonist of the first part of Hypnosis Doesn't Work Like That!.

She is a popular girl at Leonard Juiban High School, and the little sister of Dean Carter.

She is initially presented as a mean-spirited bully from Adi's perspective, but will be shown to have more depth later. She is on the school volleyball team, was a former cheerleader, and has a lot of fans but few real friends. She isn't in Adi's Literature class at the start of the story; we don't know which subjects she's doing extra classes for.

Education

HDWLT chapter 419 indicates that she's studying some kind of advertising, hoping to get a PR career. Need to check that's not contradicted elsewhere.

Development

In chapter 99 she has recently broken up with boyfriend Todd Loxley, who cheated on her very publically with her "close friend" and clique general Robyn Hunter. Todd was like her brother in a lot of ways, a sports star, and to Belle it feels like he's rejecting her all over again. She was distraught, and terrified of all her friends finding out that she's not coping, because she knows how easily a cult of celebrity can turn on someone they supposedly care about.

When hearing about Adi's file, she considers trying it out herself. She knows that Dean stopped paying her so much attention when she was no longer a little kid in need of constant support, and in a way she wonders if he might come back to being a part of her life if she can show that she needs him again. It initially looked like she wouldn't go through with it; she was just curious. She'd seen how it brought Adi and her friends closer together, and she knew that Dean paid her more attention before she could look after herself, but she wouldn't jump to trying something so extreme just from a few little things like that.

Then she noticed that Dean was visiting Duzcheburg more often in between his college studies, and started to wonder why. She followed him and came to Adi's house, and realised that she must be the kid he's babysitting for. This seems crazy to her, but she ends up wondering if it's some kind of kinky thing, if he's actually dating Adi. She doesn't believe it, but tries to find out more. And when it turns out that Dean is being a babysitter there, she takes the plunge and asks if she can join the group as a second baby.

Initially she hopes she can be Dean's kid sister being brought along when he's babysitting, but he says that would feel weird. If he's a babysitter to Adelaide, then he has to be the same to Lillibel. Of course, Adi will misinterpret the "it would be weird" thing and assume the two have dated in the past, not realising they really are siblings.

Hypnosis

Belle has listened to the same file as Adi. She picked the baby name Lillibel, reasoning that it's best to have something that sounds like a childish name, but that isn't anyone's actual name, so there's no chance of her overhearing it.

In her baby state she still thinks mostly like an adult, and has commented that she doesn't think it's working. But she gets more giggly and less judgemental, and is able to get carried away and act without thinking once one of the triggers makes her do something that convinces her she's a baby.

Whiteboard

She can give herself new baby behaviours by repeating "If I were a baby, I would _____". However, she thinks that overusing this would be too risky. Instead, she gets a free-standing whiteboard (later personalised with the name Lillibel on it). After listening to the file each weekend, she repeats "If I were a baby, I'd follow whatever baby behaviours are written on my special whiteboard." The trigger has already been used to make her wet and mess her diapers, but that was while she was playing with Adi. It's possible it would be less effective if she wasn't reassured by the presence of another adult baby and supportive caregivers.

In chapter 412-413 she tells Reg and Vicky Bracewell about the whiteboard, and it is described in more detail.

The board itself was a simple rectangle about the size of a school textbook, but the border was made irregular by a pattern of plastic flowers. Some of them, she thought, she and Dean had added to cover up damage or to make the little object somehow more personal. In those days, she would have done anything just to keep her brother’s attention, even if it felt painfully childish at the time. The name Lillibel was across the top in paste letters, a more recent addition.

She also says that she returns to adulthood either if the board is erased, or if she can't get to it. So if she misplaces it, she will revert before long, and a malicious caretaker can't put it where she has no chance to revert herself. Although how easy to reach it needs to be is mostly determined by common sense.

History

Before starting at high school, she was kind of overshadowed by her awesome big brother. She adored him, maybe in a kind of inappropriate way. She decided to become a cheerleader because they were the only girls he seemed to be interested in; and because he was already in the high school basketball team, she knew that most of the parties he went to would be players and cheerleaders.

This position meant that she easily became popular in school, and she was kind of lucky. She was cool enough that everybody wanted to be seen with her, so people did things for her and looked up to her, even though she never really shared anything or opened up to her friends. She's quite lonely, but doesn't understand why because she has so many 'friends'. She's ended up playing popularity like a game, always trying to have more devoted followers, in some kind of unacknowledged hope that this will make her feel less empty.

Somewhere along the way, she realised that the basketball team were all jerks, including Dean. Because he didn't give her the affection she craved, her infatuation with her big brother slowly soured and turned into jealousy. She wanted to be popular in the way he was, with a small cadre of friends who shared all their secrets and would do anything to help each other, but she couldn't see a way to get there other than becoming more cool, more successful, and treating everyone else like her minions. So she's kind of unhappy, but will never acknowledge it.

In her own mind, her bullying of Adi is for the girl's own good - she believes that if the unpopular kids stop being weird, they'll be able to take a proper place in the social hierarchy somewhere below her, and they'll have a place to fit into. She really doesn't understand that not everyone needs public status to validate themselves.

Moving to Upper Ashfields

After the end of the HDWLT trilogy, Belle got an internship at finance/legal consulting firm SYL with the help of Vicky Bracewell, who is a senior manager there. She served 6 months before demonstrating that she had the drive to possibly become a permanent employee; and was transferred to the new site in Upper Ashfields as one of a number of new staff. The purpose of this placement was to give those who have real drive and talent a chance to excel, without the weight of the whole hierarchy stifling their creativity.

Belle was deemed successful enough to sign a new contract on a decent salary, although her hours became part time as part of a power struggle between some of the managers; her immediate supervisor was trying to make her fail as a way to spite Vicky (who was the site manager). This took place during The Littlest Intern, where Belle was able to work within all the constraints that were put on her. As well as exploring her little side more (both with her old babysitters at Adi's house, and the evil boss's executive assistant who was willing to experiment being her caregiver after they got to know each other. She also started writing stories online, and found quite a number of fans under the pen name The Author's Little Sister (although fans just call her "Sister"). Her most popular story, and soon to become the longest, is The Baby Button. This helped her work through all the stress, until the bad boss got reassigned to set up a new office in Bangkok.

In the ensuing reorganisation, Belle keeps being moved around the site in Upper Ashfields, getting used to working with different bosses and different rules. In My Cousin's Keeper, she is temporarily assigned to Gabby's office. Gabby is a big fan of Sister's stories, considers Belle just another faceless temp, and doesn't really look at her until she manages to distinguish herself. I suspect the two will never find out that they share this interest; although it seems that Belle and Vicky are planning a littles convention, which Gabby may be able to get an invite to.

Later Life

In A Dose of Humiliation (which is set several years later in a much more pessimistic society) Belle is married to Cain Gordon and is the mother of Elspeth. Little is known so far about this phase of her life.