Gray Swonson - District 2

Gray is everything a parent could hope for in a child; or at least, a child expected to enter the Hunger Games. An astounding 6 feet 2 inches tall, he towers over his father, who stands at 5 feet 10 inches. Gray has a broad chest and shoulders, with brawny arms and big hands. He's got a wide, square, strong-set jaw and high forhead. His hair is dirty blonde, and he spikes it most of the time. He has a wide smile, though he hardly ever smiles with his teeth, simply because he's missing a few. His family is rich enough to fix his front teeth, but he's missing three molars and one of his canines, mostly from fighting. Defined cheekbones and big, brown eyes, he's got that traditional handsome charm about him.

When he was born, it was discovered that he had a pretty serious heart murmur, and being of the upper districts, he was able to get it fixed, though it has left him with a pretty deep scar. It stretches from the left side of his collar bone to the middle of his chest, the scar is not anything he'd want to brag about. Ugly and unhealed, it looks more like it was carved with a blunt spoon than medical intruments. He hates to go shirtless. His other insecurity is his ears; they are quite large, and as a little kid, he got called Dumbo alot. (One of his teeth got knocked out in a fight he started when a kid called him that)

The first and only thing Gray wants everyone to know about him: he has no desire to compete in the Hunger Games. You might think that it's natural for a child to want to prolong their life for as long as possible, but in District Two, not wanting to fight to the death in the Capitol's arena is downright weird. Raised from birth, being told that it would be a great honor and challenge to kill other children in the arena, Gray grew to hate that ideal, and even as he trained long, hard hours for being what everyone dubs 'a career', he always told himself it wasn't in training for the Hunger Games, it was in training for his future career as a stone miner.

Besides his intense loathing of the Hunger Games, Gray is actually pretty sensitive. He'd rather be kind and generous than cruel and ruthless like other boys his age, and he doesn't have that 'Devil-May-Care' attitude about him. He likes younger children, and would rather spend his time reading or working out than hanging out with the loud, obnoxious boys his age.

Gray likes animals. Ever since he was a child, he kept pets. Not that his parents ever knew; they would have thrown any animals out if they'd known. But his Mother was sick alot of the time, and slept the day away, and his Father worked all day in the stone mines, and was barely ever home. Gray was and still is good with his hands, and would build little hutches or houses for the various anumals he braught home.

Kylia and George Swonson had always hoped for a strong little boy, and when Gray was born, it seemed as though their prayers were answered. Gray Friar Swonson was the tough little tyke his father hoped he would be, despite the heart-surgery he had to go through as a baby, but believe it or not, Gray was teased quite a bit as a small boy. He prefured to hang out with peaceful girls rather than rowdy boys, and was called all manner of 'girly-boy' insults. Gray remedied this by beating his tormentors up. But this had the unfortunate effect of driving all of his girl-type friends away as well. For a large chunk of his childhood, Gray was very lonely.

When Gray hit puberty, though, the tables were turned, and the girls who once called him too violent were now falling at his feet. Training and working out did that sort of thing to you, though the boys his age still despised him. His fighting streak continued, though you can be sure he only did it out of self defense.

When Gray turned 16, he mellowed out with the fighting, due to the fact that there was no one who could beat him, and therefore no one who was dumb enough to challenge him. It was just as well for Gray; he wanted to spend some quality time with his remaining teeth. Gray has never once taken tesserie, and every year on the Reaping Day, he hopes and prays his name isn't drawn. He's been lucky so far, but who knows what will happen on his last eligible year?