Maverick Basking -- District Four

Standing just over six feet, a touch broad through the shoulders and chest, and with legs that almost seem too long on a person his size, Maverick holds an impressive, if not imposing, figure. With an overall athletic musculature, especially on his legs, upper back, and biceps, his is the nearly ideal swimmer’s body, save he’s a touch too big to move with the greatest of ease. He’s done the best he can to compensate for his un-aerodynamic shape by substituting lithe movements for raw power in his stokes, a tactic that serves him better with some strokes than others. His skill in swimming also helps with several other activities, such as running and harpoon-throwing, which he prefers to mechanically firing them from a machine.

His sandy blonde hair is most often ignored, kept short enough to stay up out of his face and away from his ears, though when wet tends to stick to him, something that actually tends to put him on edge. His eyes are a bluish grey, often cloudy and distant, but can be so focused and intense that it seems almost unnatural. The rest of his face is handsome enough, though he can often be heard complaining about how squared his chin is should he be around a mirror long enough to worry about it. Time outside has tanned his skin a light reddish brown, and he seems to have a resistance to being sunburnt. His skin is peppered with cuts and scars, whose color ranges from red to white, gained from slips and mishaps while out plying his trade on the boats.

His preference in clothing is often for the more baggy and open style, which Is often at odds with the casting and blowing about of hooks on a ship. While working, he keeps on a plain tee shirt and shorts, which are better suited for keeping the hooks from sticking to him. Unless forced to do otherwise, he will not wear shoes, and his feet have become callused from the constant friction with the ground, a factor that seems not to bother him anymore. He usually wears a shark’s tooth necklace, which consists of an old, frayed rope and three teeth, all sharp, arranged so that the largest is in the middle, with the outer two being about the same size.

Usually calm and kind, Maverick exudes a sense of peace to those around him; not in the sense that they have become that way, but that he perpetually is. This is untrue, because when angered or under pressure, Maverick has a vicious mean streak, becoming violent and insensible. These instances, thankfully, are few and far between, as he takes pains to retain his cool, hating the ‘red cloud’ that comes over him in anger. He is at most peace by or in the water (go figure, right?), and in tense or trying situations he will often close his eyes and imagine himself there, to the good effect of keeping his blood pressure low. This tactic, though strange to see, has become increasingly effective as he spends more time at the sea.

When faced with a challenge of some kind, assuming he doesn’t flip his lid, he would rather take a while to find the best and most sensible solution to the problem, rather than rush in headlong. That said, he will be quick to act when necessary, but tends to slip up easily and make mistakes when doing so. Mistakes usually lead him to anger, and being one who is virtually unable to let go of the past, he tends to hold on to that anger, replaying the failure in his head until he has someone to let it out on, whomever that poor soul may be. This habit often leaves him feeling worse than his started, and often results in the delivery of a possibly long-winded apology to the receiver of said wrath.

These aforementioned cases, however, are the exception to the rule. Maverick is one who is gentle to anything that isn’t food, and will occasionally go out of his way to do something nice for someone. Knowing that his stature will get most people’s attention, and that his words can often at least stall their anger, he will often go in an attempt to defuse stressful situations, especially those at home. He doesn’t often talk of himself, and when he does he likes to keep it short, telling himself that having more knowledge of other people than they of he may keep up the frivolous veil of mystery he likes to think he has. In truth, he feels his life is rather boring, empty and not noteworthy, and doesn’t take a great deal of pride in speaking of nothing.

Maverick Basking was born and raised to do what those in his district do best: Fish. Whether given a trident, harpoon, spear, net or even hook and line, it is a profession that he has nearly perfected over his seventeen years in his native district Four. These instruments of aquatic death have become so familiar they are extensions of himself, which is a good thing, as he has spent most of his recent years fishing professionally to feed the people of Panem and his family, the latter of course being more important to him. His family consists of his younger brother Alex, who he now worries about because he’ll be old enough for the Reaping this year, his mother Clare, and his father Uther, who lost an eye in a fishing accident when Maverick was fifteen. This is really the only huge emotional event Maverick remembers.

It was the year after the eye incident with his father that Maverick began work on one of the district’s many fishing boats, if only part-time. While not usually a quick study, he picked up very easily the knots and rope tricks associated with the trade, though there were only a specialized few he didn’t know. His fishing technique with conventional mediums was already quite well established, as his father had taken him to work on many occasions throughout his life, and had patiently taught him all the tricks and tips that he had collected through the years. Now that his father has severe depth perception issues because of his single eye, it has become Maverick’s responsibility and begrudgingly admitted pleasure to take Alex out to fish when they both have spare time.

Saving up the money to have his father’s eye replaced in the Capitol, Maverick works hard and long on his boat when time allows around his education, and will often do an odd job wherever he finds the chance. Sleep is not something Maverick enjoys, feeling it to be better up and doing something than lying about all day, which is rather convenient given the amount of working he does to save for his father’s surgery. Given all this, and his mandatory school attendance, Maverick leads a life where free time is a thing cherished and made the most of. He most often chooses to spend it swimming, and most often that is with his younger brother, who also enjoys the ocean. He has taken to spending most dusks by the sea, watching the sunset, and even sometimes sleeping there, though it is a practice that has earned him a hit or two from the Peacekeepers