James Baum, District Seven

Any person could find him quite the intimidating figure as he stands 6'4". A solid body gives him the strength he needs to swing an axe all day and haul large bundles of wood in single trips. And working in the sun gave his upper body a good tan but he is often sunburned on the shoulders when the days get terribly hot.

The hard work in his life is visible everywhere on his body. From his scarred hands to his rugged face, the evidence of his work is ever visible. Lines on his face comes from squinting his eyes while in the sun all day. But no matter what, there's always a sense of determination found in his strong dark brown eyes. The thin shadow of facial on his face stretches from his chin right up the side of his face to his short messy black hair. Though he shaves when he can, there's often not much drive for him to do so unless it becomes too long and begins to over heat his head.

He normally wears a thin white long sleeve shirt to cover himself up, only removing it when the temperature exceeds 30ºC. Normally on his lower body he either wears light brown cargo shorts or some ragged blue jeans atop his ankle high leather boots.

The third oldest of six siblings, he is not the biggest one of his family. Though he used to have the normal siblings fights and squabbles with his brothers (and sister), he is highly protective of all his family as they are of him. Even friends who become close are considered family and thus will always have him at their back.

Being picked on by his older brothers and fighting with them as children gave him a mild manner, and a hot temper. It takes a bit to get him started, but when he is angry, only sweet victory, crippling defeat, or soft words of a calmer sibling will settle his hot head.

Though he is little more than a lumber jack, he can be crafty. Hammering together an easy rig to get a tree to fall the right way or ambushing his brothers when the come around to mess with his day. So his sibling squabbles gave him a sense of a bad situation or how to handle someone trying to ruin his day. This also means he is smart enough to keep out of most troublesome situations, but he can still often be very stubborn when he has his mind set to something.

But amongst the people of district 7, he is mannered and as kind as possible. There was lways a special place in his heart for someone who lost someone else to the games. Losing family is one thing he could never dream of, because of this he always tried to help anyone else who did indeed lose family to the games.

He is quite open to strangers, but can be slow to fully trust someone. He can be very defensive and will take a stand if threatened, insulted, or challenged. But once he trusts someone, he is open, friendly, and reliable.

Born the third son of his parents, he grew up under the constant fighting with his siblings. His oldest brother is five years older than him, the next brother being two years older. He got a younger brother at the age of two and a second at the age of five. The last of his sibling came when he was seven, a little sister.

So with a large family, and many mouths to feed, every boy began to learn the trade of the district as soon as they could lift an axe. But one thing about the Baum brothers is they all grew up fast and very big. Both his older brothers finally stopped growing when they reached the height of 6'6", so being tall runs in the family as their father also grew to be the same height. And working in lumber yards meant every boy grew up strong.

Growing up in a large family of lumberjacks, the only one that didn't work was the little sister and the mother. James' mother acted as the doctor whenever the boys would get hurt (which happened often with the axes and fights).

The family never had issues with peace keepers nor had any of their family been in the games, but they found is despicable how families were destroyed by the games. Peacekeepers often had to watch out for themselves when around the Baum brothers, as any keeper on his own in the middle of the night was often a target of retaliation during the games. But when the games were done, the boys would settle.

James and his brothers always found ways to try and make friends with anyone who lost a friend or sibling to the games. Try and provide some kind of family to help out the people who endured the worst sorrow possible.