Name: James Anthony Cowell
Nicknames: N/A
Age: 22
Birthday: July 28, 1929
Sexuality: Extremely Closeted Homosexual
Appearance: If you visualize what the perfect apple-pie American man might look like, you're probably picturing James. He stands 5'10" tall, with a long, lean build not unlike a boxer. He's very well-balanced in terms of musculature, a true swiss army knife of a man, who excels at most sports he plays. You can tell by looking at him that he was probably a scrawny teenager, but he's filled out very well since becoming an airman.
If he can be bothered to style his dark blond hair, which is admittedly rarely, he favors a classic slickback. More often than not, it's deeply messy from the nature of his job, in part because he stretches cuts a bit longer than regulation would dictate. James keeps a clean shaven face, but it takes a lot of doing, as he's a rather hairy man in general. His eyes are a deep, placid blue more reminiscent of the ocean than the sky. They're smiling eyes, a bit of levity in his otherwise rather serious face. James often looks vaugely amused by the world around him, although he rarely truly smiles. When he does, it lights up his whole face, and tends to induce those around him to follow suit. As if to match the countenance, James has a soft, rich voice with a slight southern accent. His nose, somewhat large and once very straight, has a prominent ridge where it was once broken.
His skin tone is naturally rather pale and cool toned, though he is somewhat tanned from working in the sun. He sports a truly magnificent farmer's tan that makes him an easy object of ridicule in the barracks, made worse by his propensity towards freckling, particularly across his arms and, strangely enough, ears. Having been a Pararescue for a couple years, he's absolutely covered in scars, particularly across his hands and wrists. The worst of them is a gouge stretching from the bottom of his left shoulderblade to the top of his right, a graze injury he incurred in the field that healed somewhat poorly.
James tends towards rather plain but well-tailored clothing when he has to be in his civvies, although he's aware that he looks good in a waistcoat and uses it to his advantage. He wears no jewelery, although he's rarely found without a pair of browline sunglasses.
Personality: Quiet, but with a razor-sharp wit, James is the sort of person who you're around for a very long time before you realize you enjoy his company. He values competence and efficiency above all else, and is very hard on himself (and even harder on others) in the pursuit of both. Outwardly, he comes off as very calm and confident, although not showy, but the more you get to know him, the more obvious it becomes that it's almost entirely a facade. James is, at his core, a very sensitive and easily wounded man who would win the Olympic gold medal in bottling up his emotions.
Very slow to anger but quick to be annoyed, James is no stranger to a brawl and tends to say things he later regrets. He's very perceptive and good at reading a room, although he often chooses to do nothing with that information. He tends to put on a front of machismo very familiar to anyone who's been within a 50 mile radius of an Air Force base, although once you get to know him, he's actually very sweet and sentimental.
If you were to ask him, James would likely say he's not particularly intelligent, although that's not necessarily a fair assessment. He signed on for the Air Force at 18, eager to follow in his father's footsteps (he had been a highly decorated airman in both world wars), and was almost immediately pulled towards pararescue, not only for his calm head under pressure but his intrinsic understanding of the human body and how to keep it alive, despite all the odds. He has virtually zero fear and tanks through pain like a boar, both of which make him very good at his job, but he's never been particularly booksmart and barely graduated high school.
Relations:
Rachel Anne Cowell (neé Mackenzie)— Mother
b. 2/2/1902
Rachel met James' father through mutual friends shortly before he deployed for his first tour in Germany in the first World War. They corresponded as best they could while he was overseas, and when he came home, they naturally married. Although she was an attentive and loving mother, she was not especially close with her youngest son, although they maintain correspondence when possible and she makes sure he knows she's proud of him.
John William Cowell Sr.— Father
12/9/1899-6/20/1944
James was a strong, stalwart man, every bit the classic American father. He had an easy smile and a good way with children, and loved his family and wife to almost embarassing levels. He and James were very close, and James took his death extremely hard, nearly as badly as his mother, a bitter pill he still struggles to swallow even now.
John William Cowell Jr.—Brother
b. 11/23/1921
James was never very close with his eldest brother, whom everyone called Will. They haven't spoken since James became an airman, and last he heard, Will was somewhere in New York doing something complicated involving investment.
Ruth Anne Smith (neé Cowell)— Sister
b. 3/14/1923
Only marginally closer to Ruth (often called Ruthanne) than he was to Will, James remembers his eldest sister as a strongheaded woman with a tongue made of iron. She ran away to California with a Black man when she was freshly 18, causing great scandal in their small Tennessee hometown, and was never heard from again (although she's happily working as a seamstress with two kids of her own now).
Virginia Jean Vineyard (neé Cowell)— Sister
b. 8/6/1926
Virginia is genuinely one of James' best friends. They were very close as youngsters and even closer as young adults. She, like Ruth, is a very outspoken young woman and a schoolteacher, with a husband named Richard who quite literally worships the ground she walks on. In the wake of his strange time-travelling adventure, James will regret not seeing Virginia again the most.
Fall Month: 3 
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