Josiah Eln -- District Seven [Finished]

Not even reaching five feet, the boy known as Josiah Eln is hardly much to look at. His scrawny frame has hardly any muscle, that which is there being tightly knit around his bones, and absolutely no fat. One would think that with such a light frame, Josiah would be able to move swiftly. However, with so little muscle mass, he can barely sprint a hundred feet. He is, however, an exceptional climber, and can often be seen up in the top limbs of trees that have branches low enough for him to reach.

Josiah’s black hair is roughly the consistency of straw: thin, dry and very prone to blowing about in the wind. The cloudy tuft sits atop a round, very childish face, kept alight by a pair of bright, curious whiskey-hued eyes. These eyes are rather entrancing, intelligent spheres, though they are often widened from fear or some other like emotion. His skin is a dark brown, though some spots seem to be lighter than others. Without the means to or habits of cleanly hygiene, Josiah is quite a slovenly boy, perpetually covered from head to toe in dirt and with soiled clothes.

His clothes, the aforementioned soiled ones, are ragged on a good day. Most days, however, they have frayed edges, large holes, and have been patched so many times the original fabric is unintelligible from the repairs. He usually has a small, dirty white piece of rope tied around his wrist, the importance of which is not usually shared with anyone. He will, however, violently protect it, as far as his small body will allow.

Josiah Eln is afraid of just about everything. If it’s bigger than him, moves faster than him, is unknown to him, or any combination of the three, he will immediately shrink away from it. There is almost nothing in the world that will bring Josiah to stand up to his fears, save his only younger sibling is in danger, his frayed piece of rope is, or one of his older, bigger family members is with him. Even around things that have proven themselves benevolent, he is still exceedingly shy, and will often look at the ground, his feet, the sky; anything, rather than at whomever he happens to be addressing.
When in the presence of any of his siblings, he will cling to them as though their lives depend upon it, and has to be pried off with a great deal of force considering how small he is. The young boy is fiercely loyal and very loving to the members of his family, with the exception of his father, especially his oldest brother Marcus. He will embrace any of his siblings when he sees them, so long as there isn’t a threat he doesn’t think they can handle, and is almost completely dependent upon them for confidence or any other positive emotion, as they are something he cannot fathom in most situations.
It is only when Josiah is alone (or thinks himself alone) or hidden that the curious part of his nature shines through. A naturally bright and inquisitive mind, Josiah will investigate anything that doesn’t look dangerous, and enjoys exploring the woods around his home district. Since plants are really the only things that don’t scare him, he will often do most of his poking and prodding at these, seeing what they do and where they grow. This alone time is often when he feels content, if not truly happy.

For as long as Josiah or any of his siblings can remember, their father has been a worthless drunk. He was sober when Marcus was very young, but by the time Marcus was two and his sister Callie was born, he had become a drunk. Not a violent one, that wasn’t until Hosea had been born three years later with Josiah ten months after, and then the whole family came to fear him. They lived in fear of him, their only reprieve being the day or two a week he actually went to work, for the next twelve years, never knowing when he was going to come home wasted and start hitting someone. He would spend all the money he earned on liquor, leaving the family destitute except for the money his mother earned doing others’ laundry whenever she could. That is, until Marcus hit his last growth spurt.
Where their father had been a large man, Marcus was simply titanic. Standing well over six and a half feet and three wide, Marcus was well more than big enough to stop his father from hitting him, or anyone else in the house, again. He also put an end to his father drinking problem, and even forced him to go to work five days a week, with Marcus accompanying. This put the family in a substantially better situation financially, though they still were far from rich. Just when they had reached a state or relative normalcy, his father passed away from a suspected failed liver. Now having himself and four other people to support, Marcus spends the majority of his time working, and his sister spends her time helping their mother do laundry. This leaves the two youngest siblings with quite a bit of free time, and they often simply wander off out of the house, since the older members of the family are rarely there.
No one, not even Josiah, is quite sure where his rope bracelet came from. He simply found it lying in the street one day, picked it up, and put it on. Though its appearance was random, the effect is not: for whatever reason, it calms Josiah down in his more stressful moments to rub the rope with his thumb repeatedly. Having from this a strong emotional bond to the rope, he refuses to part with it, and reacts violently if someone tries to force him to do so. He has worn it through quite a few of the scarier moments in his life, not the least of which was a storm that he had later learned killed a few loggers. Almost needless to say, he now has a great fear of storms and lightning.