ataraxion.
PLAYER INFORMATION ϟ
Your Name: MELISSA
OOC Journal:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kreugan
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: nope
Email + IM: yogilates@gmail + kreugan
Characters Played at Ataraxion: Josh Levison, Abby Maitland, Hal Yorke
CHARACTER INFORMATION ϟ
Name: Nathan Young
Canon: Misfits
Original or Alternate Universe: Original
Canon Point: End of 2x06 (technically an AU ep, but by the end it's been reset - similar to a 2x05 canon point with just a few unremarkable days in between).
Number: Random!
SETTING ϟ
A world a lot like our own, except that there was a freak lightning storm that gave random assholes superpowers. That's it, the show has no other explanation for it. The powers thing is common enough that the characters would be pretty nonplussed by encounters with other superhuman individuals. Wiki is here.
HISTORY ϟ
pre-ASBO. Nathan Young was born and raised in Ireland, theoretically as a Catholic (there's mention of church, but clearly none of it stuck) and by a single mother, Louise. His father, Mike, was completely useless in the parenting department. At the best of times he was entirely absent, and at the worst of times he was making a really crap effort at taking care of his kid that mostly consisted of leaving him unattended in large department stores. Mike once brought Nathan to IKEA as a "birthday treat", but when he found his new furniture and his son couldn't both fit into his little eurocar at the same time, he decided to leave Nathan on his own at the store while he shuttled the furniture home first.
Nathan ended up hanging out with a known pedophile, but luckily he was found before anything serious could happen. When called on this mistake later, Mike doesn't even remember it, which goes a long way in showing how deeply unconcerned he was with his child's life at the time. Nathan's mother, meanwhile, did the best she could when confronted with a shit partner and an extremely difficult child, but unfortunately she suffered the brunt of Nathan's reactive behavior to his father's neglect. The worst of these offenses was Nathan's intense dependence on his mother and a desire to keep her to himself, often going to bullyish and manipulative lengths to drive her boyfriends out (including, thematically, accusing one of her boyfriends of being a pedophile).
Due in very large part to his issues with his father, Nathan matures into an extremely selfish, morally ambiguous and attention-seeking young adult. Prior to the start of the show, he starts an altercation while out bowling with friends (a loose term, given the fact that they look like they're barely tolerating him) when he steals some pick'n'mix sweets and soda. When the manager catches him and tells him he has to pay for the damages, Nathan responds in the most fantastically ridiculous way possible - mocking the manager, faking a seizure, trashing more property.
Eventually, the manager and the security team manage to get Nathan into the manager's office, where he gives him the choice of paying up or having the cops called on him. Nathan screws with the manager the whole time, but as soon as he leaves the room, there's a definite "oh shit" moment on Nathan's part. It's revealed that Louise is on holiday in Spain, and so Nathan's dad ends up being called in to deal with him. He offers to pay up so Nathan doesn't face charges, but Nathan refuses to accept his money. The manager senses their relationship is a sore spot for Nathan, and when he makes a wisecrack about it Nathan responds by stapling his hand with a staple gun.
Thus pick'n'mix leads to assault charges and Nathan lands himself an ASBO, and when the show opens he's beginning his stint at community service with the other misfits - Kelly, Simon, Alisha and Curtis.
weeks 1-6. Things escalate quickly at this point, and before any of them know it there's a freak storm that gives them superpowers - all of them except, apparently, Nathan. Also around this time, Nathan's taken to bullying his mother's current boyfriend, Jeremy, in an effort to chase him out of the house - but his mother's had enough of his shit, and she ends up kicking Nathan out instead. It's a low (but not undeserved) blow for someone with abandonment issues, and although Nathan's clearly upset at the rejection (and the rejections of all of his "friends", who uniformly refuse him a place to stay), he maintains his abrasive and unaffected personality in front of the others. He ends up having to move into the community centre itself, and officially spends the rest of the series as a homeless.
The first season consists of a few important moments for Nathan, primarily his growing bond with Kelly and several glimpses into the fact that he does have a heart under all the profanity. He forms a fleeting attachment to an 82 year-old woman, Ruth, with the power to appear young again, and the insight she gives him allows Nathan to finally let his mother live her own life. He also finds and tries to steal a baby, but that's mostly down to the baby's powers of enchantment.
The most telling incidents occur when Rachel, a young woman with the ability to brainwash others, turns the local youth population into a bunch of cardigan-wearing do-gooders. One by one the other misfits fall to her charms, and in the end it's just Simon and Nathan left standing. Simon's busy dealing with dead girlfriend problems, so Nathan's left to his own devices. He's very obviously upset over the loss of his friends, and it's enough to keep him from leaving town and saving himself. He goes "undercover" to infiltrate Rachel's gang, but things go awry when they both end up on the roof and accidentally fall to their deaths. It breaks the spell on everyone else, though, and his friends tearfully bury him.
weeks 6-12+. BUT SURPRISE he is totally immortal and comes back to life!! And is stuck in his coffin. After some personal time spent underground, he's discovered thanks to future-Simon (literally Simon from the future, who is a total badass and uses his time-travel knowledge to interfere with the misfits' lives and protect them) tipping Kelly off, and he quickly resumes his usual obnoxious behavior. His bond with Kelly is even stronger for his temporary death, however, and there are many more glimpses into his less antagonistic side as the second season progresses. He dies a few more times, expresses his interest in Kelly and seems genuinely concerned with her opinion of him. He also finds out he's got a half-brother thanks to his shitty dad's apparent inability to use condoms. This half-brother, Jamie, tracks him down out of the blue after kidnapping their father.
In the ensuing shitshow, Nathan displays a surprising amount of maturity and brotherly concern for Jamie (and more reluctantly for his father, who he has to get out of the kidnapping mess), trying several times to convince their father to do right by him. Unfortunately, after passing up on several chances, Mike doesn't get a third. Jamie's killed in a freak power-induced accident, and it's eventually revealed that Nathan can communicate with ghosts. When Jamie's ghost pleas for Nathan to patch things up with their father, he listens, and it's implied that he and Mike are finally both willing to work at healing their volatile relationship.
There are several other wacky incidents during his community service - temporarily falling in love with Simon, getting attacked by a guy who's convinced they're all stuck in a video game, and getting murdered by a girl's overprotective father. He displays surprising loyalty in most of these situations despite appearing to have little respect or regard for his friends otherwise. When the video game guy is making to slaughter them all with a chainsaw, Nathan volunteers to go first to save the others time (because hey, hopefully he'll come back from it), and he expresses obnoxious but genuine concern for Simon when Simon begins dating said girl with the overprotective father. Somewhere in the middle of all this, he also outright admits his feelings for Kelly, and the two very nearly hook-up. Mid-fingering (awkward), Kelly decides it doesn't feel right and that she'd rather stay mates. Nathan's clearly a bit heartbroken by the news, but he respects her decision and the two remain close friends.
The last official episode of the second season is essentially an AU one, since Curtis uses his power to rewind time and reset it at the end, but it does provide some more evidence of Nathan's well-camouflaged humanity. When they all become famous for their powers, he's willing to shoot himself on live television for attention, even though it's clearly a shitty experience to go through. He's also stricken by the death of his friends when another super-powered freak goes on the rampage, Kelly foremost among them, and ends up unwittingly sacrificing himself in an effort to avenge them. He and Simon also share a hotel room in a surprisingly normal show of friendship, and there's no question that by that point Nathan has become Simon's closest male friend (poor Simon).
But since Curtis hit the rewind button and none of this technically happened, Nathan will have no memory of these specific events. Last he'll remember is Curtis telling them all that there's this crazy asshole that needs to be dealt with (the freak who ends up murdering half of them during the AU timeline), so they head as a team to his door and knock him out.
misc. After all of that there's also a thing with a pregnant lady and Nathan falling in love with her and becoming a step-dad before trading in immortality for reality manipulation and fucking off to Vegas (where he gets arrested for cheating, obviously), but his canon-point won't incorporate that hot mess. While a mixture of disturbing and adorable it kind of messes with his previous development, which was moving at more of a snail's pace. That said, it goes to show that he really does have a warm gooey centre somewhere under all of the bullshit.
PERSONALITY ϟ
"You're always making fun of people. Nothing anyone says hurts you. Not everybody's like that."
outside. A genuinely horrible and supremely annoying human being. Nathan doesn't make a good first impression, and it doesn’t really improve from there. He's loud, offensive, insensitive, and a bully. Nathan very rarely manages to communicate with people in a genuine or sympathetic way and has a definite leaning towards the antagonistic. That said, much of his cruelty is down to apathy and deflection rather than intent. If he notices an insecurity, he’ll go straight for it, but he’s actually not motivated by hurting others. More often than not, he barely even realizes he’s hurting them at all. It's a defensive maneuver - people aren't likely to hone in on your problems when you're ruthlessly sniping theirs.
He's been accused of being mentally unstable in the past, and his apparent inability to care about or empathize with others is solid support for that. And while at best it can be argued that he doesn't intentionally hurt others, the fact remains that he doesn't usually express concern or regret over doing so. Even when he's not being an outright asshole, he typically comes across as irreverent or affectionately mocking, in a dickish older-brother kind of way; it's rare to see him openly express genuine concern for others, and when it does happen it's usually only under extreme circumstances.
Nathan’s antagonistic attitude stems primarily from his hostile relationship with his neglectful father. His intense issues with abandonment, a strange mix of embracing it and fearing it, have caused him to throw up a gauntlet of shields. While at the core he still craves attention and love, he’s become jaded by years of trying and failing to get his dad’s affection; hence the bizarre mixture of constantly needing to be the centre of attention, but doing so in a way that earns the derision of others and typically pushes them away. It’s an easy way to get attention without forming real attachments, and the last thing he wants is to rely on anyone else and have them betray that trust like his father did.
"The only thing worse than being lonely is other people knowing you're lonely."
inside. While Nathan gives the impression that he’s got a thick skin, it’s definitely a game of repression and putting on an act, though it’s convincing enough that he’s hardly aware of it most of the time. It’s also true that he does have a thick skin, more than most, and it’s nearly impossible to embarrass or hurt him via your standard verbal abuse. But the mask does slip, and it slips surprisingly often. His relationship with his father is a massive open wound for the majority of the series. During the pick’n’mix fiasco, he grins through all of the manager’s barbs until he makes fun of Nathan’s dynamic with his dad – Nathan cracks and staples the guy’s hand to his desk without hesitation.
Post-ASBO, the first proof of Nathan not actually being immune to emotions is when he's kicked out of his mother's home for harassing her boyfriend. Getting kicked out is, in and of itself, enough for him to feel hurt and vulnerable - and it's followed up by a volley of rejections from all of his "friends" when he calls them looking for a place to stay. Although he's clearly upset by the lack of anyone he can rely on, his solution is to move into the community centre and lie to his new social circle (the other ASBO kids). In public, he remains his obnoxious and seemingly unaffected self.
He also shows tiny evidence of a real live heart after his fleeting relationship with Ruth. She appears to be young at the time, about his age, but it's later revealed (mid-intercourse) that she's gained the power to appear young again and is in fact a ripe 82 years of age. Nathan doesn't respond well initially - he literally runs screaming from her, twice. But after some time to cool down and no doubt inspired by a conversation with her pre-old-reveal regarding loneliness, he regrets his harsh reaction and goes to make amends. But it's too late, and he finds her dead of natural causes. The guilt over his treatment of her prior to her death and the knowledge that she died alone is enough to push him to the edge of tears, though it's an experience he doesn't relate to anyone else.
What he does do is learn from the experience. After seeing Ruth die old and alone, it's the last thing he wants for his mother. He also realizes that he won't always be enough for her. And so, without any other provocation, he heads home to make amends; gives his mother and her boyfriend his blessings, and assures her he's got a flat with some friends (not true) so she can continue to live with her boyfriend uninterrupted without worrying about Nathan's well-being. It's a rare case of Nathan putting someone else's happiness above his own, but it's proof that he's capable of doing so when the right chords are struck.
The biggest tell is probably when Nathan’s confronted with the existence of his half-brother, Jamie. Nathan’s usual irreverence is instantly halved, and suddenly he’s playing the straight man to Jamie’s more hostile and vulnerable personality; he chastises Jamie’s decision to kidnap their father, helps his father out of said kidnapping, and tries (and fails) to lecture his father into being a good guy for once and becoming a part of Jamie’s life. Nathan sees in Jamie the same lost, upset kid he was (is), and his first instinct is to protect him. So when the stakes are high enough, or when they’re ones that reflect Nathan’s own issues, there’s no question that he’s able to sympathize and feels the compassionate drive to intervene.
He displays the same protective urges towards the other misfits, though it’s definitely more diluted by his usual obnoxious disregard. When Kelly’s compromised during the cardigan brainwashing fiasco, Nathan’s devastated by the loss and feels personal guilt over his inability to save her. Similarly, when she dies in the AU episode, he seeks vengeance and ends up suffering horribly for it. He displays these protective streaks towards the others as well, though even they probably have a hard time recognizing it. When they’re all taken hostage by a man who believes he’s inside a video game, Nathan reluctantly volunteers to go first when he threatens to “interrogate” them using a chainsaw. The assumption is that he’ll come back from it thanks to his power, and that his going first would buy the others time to escape – but volunteering to be hacked up by a chainsaw is hardly a small deal.
He also becomes extremely fretful when Simon begins dating a girl whom Nathan assumes is a vicious murderer, taking it upon himself to investigate and interfere before Simon can fall victim to her charms. While he’s mostly annoying and juvenile in the process, the motivation is still genuine; he doesn't want Simon to get hurt, or at the very least not killed. He's pretty okay with harassing Simon and upsetting him, but he draws the line at Simon getting murdered. There are also small glimpses of upset and regret throughout the series during the more extreme or violent moments – the deaths of the probation workers, the mornings after when Nathan’s returned from the dead. But while he’s clearly affected, the evidence is fleeting, and tends to only be visible when he knows nobody’s looking. As soon as someone’s nearby, the show’s back on.
"It’s much easier to humiliate, degrade and just generally shit all over someone than it is to admit that you love them."
potential. The only real exception to this rule is Kelly. Nathan quickly develops a physical attraction to her, but an emotional one follows right on its tail. She’s able to find Nathan’s sense of humor funny while simultaneously calling him out on his bullshit, and that mix of approval and insight makes quick work of the walls he’s put up. There are still plenty of misunderstandings and moments where he crosses the line, but she always calls him on it, and he expresses genuine regret at disappointing her. At one point, when she mentions that he’s always saying hurtful things, he assures her he can change – and he means it.
He doesn't seem to get positive reinforcement often, so when Kelly offers him a bit of encouragement, he's quick to latch onto it. Her opinions matter to him. He dials down some of his profanity around her, or responds in a genuinely hurt fashion when she tosses out insults that he wouldn't even register from anyone else. He’d change for Kelly because she gives him the attention and support he craves without him needing to act out to get it; meaning if he can get attention through positive means, he might actually gravitate towards that as an alternative to his usual antagonistic behavior. The big issue lies in the fact that he’s got no experience with that kind of healthy attachment, and his current coping mechanisms tend to discourage it from others.
His reconciliation with his father at the behest of his dead half-brother is another example of him being shitty at healthy relationships but not inherently averse to them. It's clear that after years of acting out and hating his father, Nathan has no idea how to be nice - but he wants to, and he tries, even if it does take his dead brother's last request to force him to take that first step. Nathan's survived thus far by keeping others at bay and leaving emotions at the door, but his callousness is mostly a learned rather than a natural trait. This conflict adds to his volatile personality, and his most cruel remarks towards others are fueled by the need to vent that vulnerability and emotion when he's made aware of it (the staple incident is a pretty direct example of this).
"Yeah, it's scary, and it's painful. And my mum still can't get the stains out of those trousers, but there's a definite upside."
power (?). There's also a running theme on the series with the team's initial powers somehow reflecting their personalities or history, and usually not in a very good way. Following that concept, Nathan's ability to die and come back from it has its downsides - it doesn't spare him the pain or terror of experiencing death, nor does it make him physically invulnerable to anything. He can be hurt and die just as easily as anyone else.
The trick is that after he comes back, there's no evidence of that suffering - so it's easy to ignore it, pretend he's fine, or assume he was never affected at all. It's a strong mirror for the false image he's created of emotional invulnerability. The fact that he dies and comes back is also interesting for the way it diminishes the importance of his death. Compared to straightforward immortality that wouldn't allow him to die at all in the first place, it undercuts that desperate need for attention by allowing even his death(s) to be shrugged off as insignificant.
In the AU episode, his power betrays that vulnerability even more acutely. After Nathan becomes famous for his power, it's of course expected that he should put it on display - meaning in order to gain fame, gain attention, he's got to die. And he does it willingly, without complaint, and with great showmanship; but it doesn't mean he can hide a second of abject fear before he shoots his own brains out on live camera, or the moment of confusion and discomfort when he takes his first new breath afterwards. Nathan needs attention and, in an ideal world, approval in order to feel worthwhile. He'd die if that's what it took to be loved, and his power lets that raw need play out literally.
Last but not least, there's the loneliness. Nathan's fear of being alone is recognized early on by Ruth, the old woman who gains the power to temporarily appear young; it's a fear she's had to confront in her old age, and she sees it easily in him. It's obviously an aspect of his desire to be wanted, and his power allows it to be magnified by simple longevity. If you live forever, you can literally be alone forever. Losing the people he loves to natural deaths, potentially never finding that acceptance despite how long he lives - all bad news for someone desperate to be needed.
At the end of the day, it's doubtful that Nathan's fully aware of how bad his power really is for him. He's made a living by pretending he's invulnerable, and that delusion carries through to his foolish optimism towards his immortality.
ABILITIES & WEAKNESSES ϟ
☠ immortality
→ does not have rapid healing or any kind of superhuman resilience
→ can die as easily as anyone else, just comes back from it
→ better than your average zombie, will survive even if his brain's blown out
→ the time between death and resurrection seems to be a few hours at minimum
→ some phantom pains after resurrection? neck pain after head bashed in, etc.
☠ i see dead people
→ what it says on the tin
→ can communicate with ghosts
→ can't tell the living from the dead on sight
INVENTORY ϟ
✘ one (1) t-shirt
✘ one (1) black harrington jacket
✘ one (1) pair black skinny jeans
✘ one (1) pair black converse shoes
✘ one (1) orange community service jumpsuit
✘ one (1) half-empty pack of rizlas
appearance. Nathan stands a very unintimidating and scrawny 6' (in his words, gracefully tall), with a curly mess of dark hair and striking green eyes. Underfed would be an understatement, but he's actually reasonably fit despite being wiry. He has several tattoos - a black star on his right wrist, a set of stars on his right hip, and a bird on the inside of his left arm.
[ played by robert sheehan ]
age. Born March 15, 1989; age 21 at canon-point.
SAMPLES ϟ
log sample. Naked in a room full of strangers, covered in blue jelly, an unknown object crammed down his windpipe - Nathan's done one or two of those individually, but this is definitely a first for them all occurring at the same time. Check that off the bucket list. The feeling of catching his breath after the tube's gone is similar to waking after dying, maybe even slightly easier, so that doesn't do much to disorient him; if it weren't for those other elements, he'd probably gain his bearings more quickly, jump right into loud accusations and maybe a few artistic critiques of the genitalia on display.
As it is, it takes him a second of unguarded confusion while he absorbs the bizarre surroundings, expression soon shifting to something that's a mix of affronted and only slightly distressed. Because while he's always sort of wanted to do the whole orgy thing, nobody's actually fucking and he's got no idea what's going on. Which means, of course, some freak with a power is to blame for it.
"Barry!"
Loud and abrupt enough to make a few people nearby jump, but he doesn't bother giving them a sideways glance, too busy trying to scan over the crowd and catch a familiar face. When that doesn't work, he opts for a slightly less annoyed sounding, "Kelly?" - which doesn't get anything either, except now it's maybe getting a bit chilly thanks to the mystery jelly, and for once there's not quite enough energy and just enough uncertainty for him to not make more of a scene.
Well, no, not enough to prevent a few lewd comments when he gets through to the showers, but really, it'd be impolite not to pay compliments where they're due. He barely gets the shit out of his hair before wandering somewhat dejectedly to his locker - the free tattoo's taken as a bonus, because the ladies'll love the badass convict look (and that's a thing they do in prisons, obviously, branding the inmates). Opening the unfamiliar locker and finding a small stash of his clothes and the bright flash of the orange jumpsuit is surreal enough to make him pause, another blessed few seconds of quiet consideration as he dresses. There's something uncanny about it, the same still sort of moment he's had in the the lockers back home, even if it is lacking in the actual solitude department.
But being pensive at a locker isn't going to accomplish shit, so without further ado the jumpsuit's left on the floor and the door's slammed shut with a loud bang. Time to find the calmest shithead here and commence with the questions.
comms sample. test drive thread with mod permission! MAYBE......
Your Name: MELISSA
OOC Journal:
kreuganUnder 18? If yes, what is your age?: nope
Email + IM: yogilates@gmail + kreugan
Characters Played at Ataraxion: Josh Levison, Abby Maitland, Hal Yorke
CHARACTER INFORMATION ϟ
Name: Nathan Young
Canon: Misfits
Original or Alternate Universe: Original
Canon Point: End of 2x06 (technically an AU ep, but by the end it's been reset - similar to a 2x05 canon point with just a few unremarkable days in between).
Number: Random!
SETTING ϟ
A world a lot like our own, except that there was a freak lightning storm that gave random assholes superpowers. That's it, the show has no other explanation for it. The powers thing is common enough that the characters would be pretty nonplussed by encounters with other superhuman individuals. Wiki is here.
HISTORY ϟ
pre-ASBO. Nathan Young was born and raised in Ireland, theoretically as a Catholic (there's mention of church, but clearly none of it stuck) and by a single mother, Louise. His father, Mike, was completely useless in the parenting department. At the best of times he was entirely absent, and at the worst of times he was making a really crap effort at taking care of his kid that mostly consisted of leaving him unattended in large department stores. Mike once brought Nathan to IKEA as a "birthday treat", but when he found his new furniture and his son couldn't both fit into his little eurocar at the same time, he decided to leave Nathan on his own at the store while he shuttled the furniture home first.
Nathan ended up hanging out with a known pedophile, but luckily he was found before anything serious could happen. When called on this mistake later, Mike doesn't even remember it, which goes a long way in showing how deeply unconcerned he was with his child's life at the time. Nathan's mother, meanwhile, did the best she could when confronted with a shit partner and an extremely difficult child, but unfortunately she suffered the brunt of Nathan's reactive behavior to his father's neglect. The worst of these offenses was Nathan's intense dependence on his mother and a desire to keep her to himself, often going to bullyish and manipulative lengths to drive her boyfriends out (including, thematically, accusing one of her boyfriends of being a pedophile).
Due in very large part to his issues with his father, Nathan matures into an extremely selfish, morally ambiguous and attention-seeking young adult. Prior to the start of the show, he starts an altercation while out bowling with friends (a loose term, given the fact that they look like they're barely tolerating him) when he steals some pick'n'mix sweets and soda. When the manager catches him and tells him he has to pay for the damages, Nathan responds in the most fantastically ridiculous way possible - mocking the manager, faking a seizure, trashing more property.
Eventually, the manager and the security team manage to get Nathan into the manager's office, where he gives him the choice of paying up or having the cops called on him. Nathan screws with the manager the whole time, but as soon as he leaves the room, there's a definite "oh shit" moment on Nathan's part. It's revealed that Louise is on holiday in Spain, and so Nathan's dad ends up being called in to deal with him. He offers to pay up so Nathan doesn't face charges, but Nathan refuses to accept his money. The manager senses their relationship is a sore spot for Nathan, and when he makes a wisecrack about it Nathan responds by stapling his hand with a staple gun.
Thus pick'n'mix leads to assault charges and Nathan lands himself an ASBO, and when the show opens he's beginning his stint at community service with the other misfits - Kelly, Simon, Alisha and Curtis.
weeks 1-6. Things escalate quickly at this point, and before any of them know it there's a freak storm that gives them superpowers - all of them except, apparently, Nathan. Also around this time, Nathan's taken to bullying his mother's current boyfriend, Jeremy, in an effort to chase him out of the house - but his mother's had enough of his shit, and she ends up kicking Nathan out instead. It's a low (but not undeserved) blow for someone with abandonment issues, and although Nathan's clearly upset at the rejection (and the rejections of all of his "friends", who uniformly refuse him a place to stay), he maintains his abrasive and unaffected personality in front of the others. He ends up having to move into the community centre itself, and officially spends the rest of the series as a homeless.
The first season consists of a few important moments for Nathan, primarily his growing bond with Kelly and several glimpses into the fact that he does have a heart under all the profanity. He forms a fleeting attachment to an 82 year-old woman, Ruth, with the power to appear young again, and the insight she gives him allows Nathan to finally let his mother live her own life. He also finds and tries to steal a baby, but that's mostly down to the baby's powers of enchantment.
The most telling incidents occur when Rachel, a young woman with the ability to brainwash others, turns the local youth population into a bunch of cardigan-wearing do-gooders. One by one the other misfits fall to her charms, and in the end it's just Simon and Nathan left standing. Simon's busy dealing with dead girlfriend problems, so Nathan's left to his own devices. He's very obviously upset over the loss of his friends, and it's enough to keep him from leaving town and saving himself. He goes "undercover" to infiltrate Rachel's gang, but things go awry when they both end up on the roof and accidentally fall to their deaths. It breaks the spell on everyone else, though, and his friends tearfully bury him.
weeks 6-12+. BUT SURPRISE he is totally immortal and comes back to life!! And is stuck in his coffin. After some personal time spent underground, he's discovered thanks to future-Simon (literally Simon from the future, who is a total badass and uses his time-travel knowledge to interfere with the misfits' lives and protect them) tipping Kelly off, and he quickly resumes his usual obnoxious behavior. His bond with Kelly is even stronger for his temporary death, however, and there are many more glimpses into his less antagonistic side as the second season progresses. He dies a few more times, expresses his interest in Kelly and seems genuinely concerned with her opinion of him. He also finds out he's got a half-brother thanks to his shitty dad's apparent inability to use condoms. This half-brother, Jamie, tracks him down out of the blue after kidnapping their father.
In the ensuing shitshow, Nathan displays a surprising amount of maturity and brotherly concern for Jamie (and more reluctantly for his father, who he has to get out of the kidnapping mess), trying several times to convince their father to do right by him. Unfortunately, after passing up on several chances, Mike doesn't get a third. Jamie's killed in a freak power-induced accident, and it's eventually revealed that Nathan can communicate with ghosts. When Jamie's ghost pleas for Nathan to patch things up with their father, he listens, and it's implied that he and Mike are finally both willing to work at healing their volatile relationship.
There are several other wacky incidents during his community service - temporarily falling in love with Simon, getting attacked by a guy who's convinced they're all stuck in a video game, and getting murdered by a girl's overprotective father. He displays surprising loyalty in most of these situations despite appearing to have little respect or regard for his friends otherwise. When the video game guy is making to slaughter them all with a chainsaw, Nathan volunteers to go first to save the others time (because hey, hopefully he'll come back from it), and he expresses obnoxious but genuine concern for Simon when Simon begins dating said girl with the overprotective father. Somewhere in the middle of all this, he also outright admits his feelings for Kelly, and the two very nearly hook-up. Mid-fingering (awkward), Kelly decides it doesn't feel right and that she'd rather stay mates. Nathan's clearly a bit heartbroken by the news, but he respects her decision and the two remain close friends.
The last official episode of the second season is essentially an AU one, since Curtis uses his power to rewind time and reset it at the end, but it does provide some more evidence of Nathan's well-camouflaged humanity. When they all become famous for their powers, he's willing to shoot himself on live television for attention, even though it's clearly a shitty experience to go through. He's also stricken by the death of his friends when another super-powered freak goes on the rampage, Kelly foremost among them, and ends up unwittingly sacrificing himself in an effort to avenge them. He and Simon also share a hotel room in a surprisingly normal show of friendship, and there's no question that by that point Nathan has become Simon's closest male friend (poor Simon).
But since Curtis hit the rewind button and none of this technically happened, Nathan will have no memory of these specific events. Last he'll remember is Curtis telling them all that there's this crazy asshole that needs to be dealt with (the freak who ends up murdering half of them during the AU timeline), so they head as a team to his door and knock him out.
misc. After all of that there's also a thing with a pregnant lady and Nathan falling in love with her and becoming a step-dad before trading in immortality for reality manipulation and fucking off to Vegas (where he gets arrested for cheating, obviously), but his canon-point won't incorporate that hot mess. While a mixture of disturbing and adorable it kind of messes with his previous development, which was moving at more of a snail's pace. That said, it goes to show that he really does have a warm gooey centre somewhere under all of the bullshit.
PERSONALITY ϟ
"You're always making fun of people. Nothing anyone says hurts you. Not everybody's like that."
outside. A genuinely horrible and supremely annoying human being. Nathan doesn't make a good first impression, and it doesn’t really improve from there. He's loud, offensive, insensitive, and a bully. Nathan very rarely manages to communicate with people in a genuine or sympathetic way and has a definite leaning towards the antagonistic. That said, much of his cruelty is down to apathy and deflection rather than intent. If he notices an insecurity, he’ll go straight for it, but he’s actually not motivated by hurting others. More often than not, he barely even realizes he’s hurting them at all. It's a defensive maneuver - people aren't likely to hone in on your problems when you're ruthlessly sniping theirs.
He's been accused of being mentally unstable in the past, and his apparent inability to care about or empathize with others is solid support for that. And while at best it can be argued that he doesn't intentionally hurt others, the fact remains that he doesn't usually express concern or regret over doing so. Even when he's not being an outright asshole, he typically comes across as irreverent or affectionately mocking, in a dickish older-brother kind of way; it's rare to see him openly express genuine concern for others, and when it does happen it's usually only under extreme circumstances.
Nathan’s antagonistic attitude stems primarily from his hostile relationship with his neglectful father. His intense issues with abandonment, a strange mix of embracing it and fearing it, have caused him to throw up a gauntlet of shields. While at the core he still craves attention and love, he’s become jaded by years of trying and failing to get his dad’s affection; hence the bizarre mixture of constantly needing to be the centre of attention, but doing so in a way that earns the derision of others and typically pushes them away. It’s an easy way to get attention without forming real attachments, and the last thing he wants is to rely on anyone else and have them betray that trust like his father did.
"The only thing worse than being lonely is other people knowing you're lonely."
inside. While Nathan gives the impression that he’s got a thick skin, it’s definitely a game of repression and putting on an act, though it’s convincing enough that he’s hardly aware of it most of the time. It’s also true that he does have a thick skin, more than most, and it’s nearly impossible to embarrass or hurt him via your standard verbal abuse. But the mask does slip, and it slips surprisingly often. His relationship with his father is a massive open wound for the majority of the series. During the pick’n’mix fiasco, he grins through all of the manager’s barbs until he makes fun of Nathan’s dynamic with his dad – Nathan cracks and staples the guy’s hand to his desk without hesitation.
Post-ASBO, the first proof of Nathan not actually being immune to emotions is when he's kicked out of his mother's home for harassing her boyfriend. Getting kicked out is, in and of itself, enough for him to feel hurt and vulnerable - and it's followed up by a volley of rejections from all of his "friends" when he calls them looking for a place to stay. Although he's clearly upset by the lack of anyone he can rely on, his solution is to move into the community centre and lie to his new social circle (the other ASBO kids). In public, he remains his obnoxious and seemingly unaffected self.
He also shows tiny evidence of a real live heart after his fleeting relationship with Ruth. She appears to be young at the time, about his age, but it's later revealed (mid-intercourse) that she's gained the power to appear young again and is in fact a ripe 82 years of age. Nathan doesn't respond well initially - he literally runs screaming from her, twice. But after some time to cool down and no doubt inspired by a conversation with her pre-old-reveal regarding loneliness, he regrets his harsh reaction and goes to make amends. But it's too late, and he finds her dead of natural causes. The guilt over his treatment of her prior to her death and the knowledge that she died alone is enough to push him to the edge of tears, though it's an experience he doesn't relate to anyone else.
What he does do is learn from the experience. After seeing Ruth die old and alone, it's the last thing he wants for his mother. He also realizes that he won't always be enough for her. And so, without any other provocation, he heads home to make amends; gives his mother and her boyfriend his blessings, and assures her he's got a flat with some friends (not true) so she can continue to live with her boyfriend uninterrupted without worrying about Nathan's well-being. It's a rare case of Nathan putting someone else's happiness above his own, but it's proof that he's capable of doing so when the right chords are struck.
The biggest tell is probably when Nathan’s confronted with the existence of his half-brother, Jamie. Nathan’s usual irreverence is instantly halved, and suddenly he’s playing the straight man to Jamie’s more hostile and vulnerable personality; he chastises Jamie’s decision to kidnap their father, helps his father out of said kidnapping, and tries (and fails) to lecture his father into being a good guy for once and becoming a part of Jamie’s life. Nathan sees in Jamie the same lost, upset kid he was (is), and his first instinct is to protect him. So when the stakes are high enough, or when they’re ones that reflect Nathan’s own issues, there’s no question that he’s able to sympathize and feels the compassionate drive to intervene.
He displays the same protective urges towards the other misfits, though it’s definitely more diluted by his usual obnoxious disregard. When Kelly’s compromised during the cardigan brainwashing fiasco, Nathan’s devastated by the loss and feels personal guilt over his inability to save her. Similarly, when she dies in the AU episode, he seeks vengeance and ends up suffering horribly for it. He displays these protective streaks towards the others as well, though even they probably have a hard time recognizing it. When they’re all taken hostage by a man who believes he’s inside a video game, Nathan reluctantly volunteers to go first when he threatens to “interrogate” them using a chainsaw. The assumption is that he’ll come back from it thanks to his power, and that his going first would buy the others time to escape – but volunteering to be hacked up by a chainsaw is hardly a small deal.
He also becomes extremely fretful when Simon begins dating a girl whom Nathan assumes is a vicious murderer, taking it upon himself to investigate and interfere before Simon can fall victim to her charms. While he’s mostly annoying and juvenile in the process, the motivation is still genuine; he doesn't want Simon to get hurt, or at the very least not killed. He's pretty okay with harassing Simon and upsetting him, but he draws the line at Simon getting murdered. There are also small glimpses of upset and regret throughout the series during the more extreme or violent moments – the deaths of the probation workers, the mornings after when Nathan’s returned from the dead. But while he’s clearly affected, the evidence is fleeting, and tends to only be visible when he knows nobody’s looking. As soon as someone’s nearby, the show’s back on.
"It’s much easier to humiliate, degrade and just generally shit all over someone than it is to admit that you love them."
potential. The only real exception to this rule is Kelly. Nathan quickly develops a physical attraction to her, but an emotional one follows right on its tail. She’s able to find Nathan’s sense of humor funny while simultaneously calling him out on his bullshit, and that mix of approval and insight makes quick work of the walls he’s put up. There are still plenty of misunderstandings and moments where he crosses the line, but she always calls him on it, and he expresses genuine regret at disappointing her. At one point, when she mentions that he’s always saying hurtful things, he assures her he can change – and he means it.
He doesn't seem to get positive reinforcement often, so when Kelly offers him a bit of encouragement, he's quick to latch onto it. Her opinions matter to him. He dials down some of his profanity around her, or responds in a genuinely hurt fashion when she tosses out insults that he wouldn't even register from anyone else. He’d change for Kelly because she gives him the attention and support he craves without him needing to act out to get it; meaning if he can get attention through positive means, he might actually gravitate towards that as an alternative to his usual antagonistic behavior. The big issue lies in the fact that he’s got no experience with that kind of healthy attachment, and his current coping mechanisms tend to discourage it from others.
His reconciliation with his father at the behest of his dead half-brother is another example of him being shitty at healthy relationships but not inherently averse to them. It's clear that after years of acting out and hating his father, Nathan has no idea how to be nice - but he wants to, and he tries, even if it does take his dead brother's last request to force him to take that first step. Nathan's survived thus far by keeping others at bay and leaving emotions at the door, but his callousness is mostly a learned rather than a natural trait. This conflict adds to his volatile personality, and his most cruel remarks towards others are fueled by the need to vent that vulnerability and emotion when he's made aware of it (the staple incident is a pretty direct example of this).
"Yeah, it's scary, and it's painful. And my mum still can't get the stains out of those trousers, but there's a definite upside."
power (?). There's also a running theme on the series with the team's initial powers somehow reflecting their personalities or history, and usually not in a very good way. Following that concept, Nathan's ability to die and come back from it has its downsides - it doesn't spare him the pain or terror of experiencing death, nor does it make him physically invulnerable to anything. He can be hurt and die just as easily as anyone else.
The trick is that after he comes back, there's no evidence of that suffering - so it's easy to ignore it, pretend he's fine, or assume he was never affected at all. It's a strong mirror for the false image he's created of emotional invulnerability. The fact that he dies and comes back is also interesting for the way it diminishes the importance of his death. Compared to straightforward immortality that wouldn't allow him to die at all in the first place, it undercuts that desperate need for attention by allowing even his death(s) to be shrugged off as insignificant.
In the AU episode, his power betrays that vulnerability even more acutely. After Nathan becomes famous for his power, it's of course expected that he should put it on display - meaning in order to gain fame, gain attention, he's got to die. And he does it willingly, without complaint, and with great showmanship; but it doesn't mean he can hide a second of abject fear before he shoots his own brains out on live camera, or the moment of confusion and discomfort when he takes his first new breath afterwards. Nathan needs attention and, in an ideal world, approval in order to feel worthwhile. He'd die if that's what it took to be loved, and his power lets that raw need play out literally.
Last but not least, there's the loneliness. Nathan's fear of being alone is recognized early on by Ruth, the old woman who gains the power to temporarily appear young; it's a fear she's had to confront in her old age, and she sees it easily in him. It's obviously an aspect of his desire to be wanted, and his power allows it to be magnified by simple longevity. If you live forever, you can literally be alone forever. Losing the people he loves to natural deaths, potentially never finding that acceptance despite how long he lives - all bad news for someone desperate to be needed.
At the end of the day, it's doubtful that Nathan's fully aware of how bad his power really is for him. He's made a living by pretending he's invulnerable, and that delusion carries through to his foolish optimism towards his immortality.
ABILITIES & WEAKNESSES ϟ
☠ immortality
→ does not have rapid healing or any kind of superhuman resilience
→ can die as easily as anyone else, just comes back from it
→ better than your average zombie, will survive even if his brain's blown out
→ the time between death and resurrection seems to be a few hours at minimum
→ some phantom pains after resurrection? neck pain after head bashed in, etc.
☠ i see dead people
→ what it says on the tin
→ can communicate with ghosts
→ can't tell the living from the dead on sight
INVENTORY ϟ
✘ one (1) t-shirt
✘ one (1) black harrington jacket
✘ one (1) pair black skinny jeans
✘ one (1) pair black converse shoes
✘ one (1) orange community service jumpsuit
✘ one (1) half-empty pack of rizlas
appearance. Nathan stands a very unintimidating and scrawny 6' (in his words, gracefully tall), with a curly mess of dark hair and striking green eyes. Underfed would be an understatement, but he's actually reasonably fit despite being wiry. He has several tattoos - a black star on his right wrist, a set of stars on his right hip, and a bird on the inside of his left arm.
[ played by robert sheehan ]
age. Born March 15, 1989; age 21 at canon-point.
SAMPLES ϟ
log sample. Naked in a room full of strangers, covered in blue jelly, an unknown object crammed down his windpipe - Nathan's done one or two of those individually, but this is definitely a first for them all occurring at the same time. Check that off the bucket list. The feeling of catching his breath after the tube's gone is similar to waking after dying, maybe even slightly easier, so that doesn't do much to disorient him; if it weren't for those other elements, he'd probably gain his bearings more quickly, jump right into loud accusations and maybe a few artistic critiques of the genitalia on display.
As it is, it takes him a second of unguarded confusion while he absorbs the bizarre surroundings, expression soon shifting to something that's a mix of affronted and only slightly distressed. Because while he's always sort of wanted to do the whole orgy thing, nobody's actually fucking and he's got no idea what's going on. Which means, of course, some freak with a power is to blame for it.
"Barry!"
Loud and abrupt enough to make a few people nearby jump, but he doesn't bother giving them a sideways glance, too busy trying to scan over the crowd and catch a familiar face. When that doesn't work, he opts for a slightly less annoyed sounding, "Kelly?" - which doesn't get anything either, except now it's maybe getting a bit chilly thanks to the mystery jelly, and for once there's not quite enough energy and just enough uncertainty for him to not make more of a scene.
Well, no, not enough to prevent a few lewd comments when he gets through to the showers, but really, it'd be impolite not to pay compliments where they're due. He barely gets the shit out of his hair before wandering somewhat dejectedly to his locker - the free tattoo's taken as a bonus, because the ladies'll love the badass convict look (and that's a thing they do in prisons, obviously, branding the inmates). Opening the unfamiliar locker and finding a small stash of his clothes and the bright flash of the orange jumpsuit is surreal enough to make him pause, another blessed few seconds of quiet consideration as he dresses. There's something uncanny about it, the same still sort of moment he's had in the the lockers back home, even if it is lacking in the actual solitude department.
But being pensive at a locker isn't going to accomplish shit, so without further ado the jumpsuit's left on the floor and the door's slammed shut with a loud bang. Time to find the calmest shithead here and commence with the questions.
comms sample. test drive thread with mod permission! MAYBE......