Nathan Ward
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"That's actually pretty funny."[ 18 | 5'11 | Caucasian Attack Helicopter | 172lbs ]
[Humour]
APPEARANCE
"So I'm a bit of a fat fuck. I'm working on it."At just under six feet tall and inheriting his dad 's stocky build, Nate is someone who in another world could've had the look of a Schwarzenegger-esque body builder. His only problem? He didn't work towards any of that - instead, he has a substantial bit of fat on to the point of being overweight, though not outright being in the classification of obese. His pale complexion betrays his origins as a Bellevue native.
His eyes hold a solid brown colouration whilst his hair is of a slightly darker complexion, not particularly long but definitely getting towards the shaggy side of things. If he doesn't shave for a while he develops a thin mask of stubble along his lip, cheeks and jawline though it never goes beyond this - and he seldom goes without shaving it for that reason, which in turn contributes to his 'baby face' appearance.
In terms of clothing, there isn't a great deal that can be said about Nate's sense of fashion - he isn't particularly bothered about fashion labels or anything like that and tends to dress with a utilitarian approach, favoring cargo pants over jeans and throwing on whatever shirt and hoodie he's got to hand. It's seldom he's seen wearing anything other than a pair of size twelve trainers.
PSYCHOLOGY
"Just have a good time."MAIN GOAL ⫻ At this point in life Nate is in the mindset of enjoying himself whilst he can, making connections along the way and developing a career - he's studying towards that later point and has a rough idea of where he would like to be but no clue to get there. Maybe working for SpaceX or something.
PHILOSOPHY ⫻
Nate' primary concern is just to run through and let things happen as they happen and just have a good time in the meanwhile, making friends along the way. He has a fair share of personal doubts about life and himself but he doesn't allow it to show at the surface and instead masks or distracts from it with a combination of humour, impulsive behaviour and other displays in which he is outspoken. On top of this is a tendency to lash out in frustration when humour fails him which itself causes its own issues.
SECRETS ⫻
The recent loss of someone close to Nate is one thing he doesn't particularly dwell on or talk about - he has a habit of masking it and bottling up his frustrations and other demons with his outspoken demeanour. He's also been bullied to varying degrees in the past but this isn't so much a secret as it is an undisclosed topic.
DESIRES ⫻ As said before, Nate wants to enjoy life in the short term and that extends to making some good friends, getting to know others.
He enjoys playing video games and browsing the internet, spending a significant amount of time doing these either of these things - often staying up well into the early hours of the morning when he's not doing something (such as study or work) the following day or even in spite of these things, occasionally to his own detriment.
He doesn't drink often either (being underage doesn't exactly help with that) but when he does he's usually one to try and have a good time, his outspoken demeanour only exacerbated by this.
One other thing he's acknowledged is that he's a little out of shape and as it happens he enjoys going out walking, particularly at night, just to clear his head.
SEXUALITY ⫻ He prefers chicks without the dicks.
FEARS ⫻ Aside from dying fears losing all joy in his life and becoming miserable and depressed, amounting to nothing. Losing or ending up with no friends is another thing that terrifies him - or being ignored.
REPUTATION ⫻ Nate is a newer face to town but those who've paid him any attention have probably come across his sense of humour.
PET PEEVES ⫻ If someone contradicts Nate when he firmly believes it to be factually correct (or incorrect) he will get incredibly frustrated and sometimes end up pressing into an argument about the matter.
QUIRKS ⫻
One of his big problems is that Nate lacks the same kind of "brakes" that others might have and, for example in an argument or discussion he'll be stubborn enough (or fail to take a hint) to keep pushing a subject even when it's clear it's in the best interest of all to stop. Sometimes he has a habit of digging himself into a hole, then digging some more - at points where other people would stop he continues to keep on going too far.
As another example of this, he once took the photo of someone else in high school who'd been an asshole to him, put it on a gay dating website and gave a would-be suitor the guy's phone number and another his address to meet up, only stopping when a meeting was called with all students to warn them that whoever was responsible would be found and punished if it continued. It's one (of many ) examples of the twisted sense of humour he can have and how he can push things too far.
BACKSTORY
"Does it matter? I'm trying to enjoy things here."Nate's parents divorced early in his life, when he was about five years old - things remained amiable between them however and he initially spent every other weekend travelling between Bellevue and Tacoma, his father having refused to move too far away from him in his earlier years so as to ensure his son didn't grow up without some influence in his life.
This changed as Nate grew olde however and as a successful businessman his dad found that for the greater wealth he had to support his son he had less time to spend with him. Fortnightly visits became monthly, then bi-monthly, depending on things. As a consequence, he spent most of his time with his mom and stepdad and grew closer to them along the way.
Eventually his dad, who was from and owned a significant stake in a business in Farmer Hill moved back to Montana and saw Nate only when he was able to - but life moved on.
In school he did alright, nothing particularly outstanding but nontheless not failing in his grades, though a point was made that if he tried harder he could've done better. He endured a share of bullying just like anyone else but the only thing it did was leave him with a bout of pent up frustration that wouldn't be worked out for years - he made some friends and things seemed alright, particularly towards the end of school.
That was, however until Nate came home one night and his mom didn't turn up at ther usual hour, his stepdad unable to reach her line. Neither of them heard anything until the following morning when they received a knock at their door -her car had got into a head-on collision with a truck, she'd survived that but had been left brain-dead, the decision to cut off her life support coming soon afterwards at the urging of her husband and a reluctant Nate.
Devastated, Nate spent the final third of his time in high school withdrawn, reverting to whatever means he could to numb himself to the grief, his stepdad only able to offer a limited degree of consolation and his biological dad only able to offer financial support. He lost a few friends due to his own actions and as he finished up the school year there was the question of what to do next.
Partially as a measure to offer Nate some new surroundings and partially because he had family there and was therefore better off, his dad arranged for him to stop with his sister (Nate's uncle) at a home he leased them in Blacksmith Square whilst he studied engineering at Grand Ridge, bolstered by the financial support his businesses provided.
SKILLS & TALENTS
"I'm told I'm an expert in knowing things which are useless."[IT Guy] ⫻ Nate is more than competent when it comes to working with computers and digital equipment alike.
[Encyclopedia] ⫻ Nate has a habit of retaining even the most insignificant piece of information and keeping it in his head, a skill honed by hours of browsing the Internet looking at wikipedia articles about the Second World War or articles about the production of Game of Thrones.
ABSTRACTION
"Can't touch this."SIGIL & LOCATION ⫻ A tribal symbol of a void, on the back of his neck.ABSTRACTION ⫻Intangibility - the ability to become intangible to the world.
ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻ By concentrating (or involuntarily if in a stressful situation) Nate can render himself and entities in immediate contact with him (such as clothing or objects in his hand) intangiable and pass through solid materials or, in turn, allow solid objects to pass through him as though he were walking through water.
IN THE PRESENCE OF THE MOUNTAIN ⫻ (Explain to me how the Abstraction grows stronger in the presence of Mount Ever Reaching. What extra abilities does your character have?) The water-like resistance to movement through solid materials whilst in an intangiable state is reduced by a large margin, allowing Nate to almost jog whilst in this state and retain a greater degree of manoeuvrability. Furthermore, his ability to extend his intangiable state to other entities is expanded to a wider radius around him.
AURA SENSING ⫻ Being in an intangiable state has exposed Nate to a gap between the physical realm and what is beyond and, as a consequence, he is able to pick up on auras affiliated with the dead or the dying. Whilst in his intangiable state Nate can outright see things that he wouldn't be able to otherwise see and whilst he'll learn to tune it out there are some things out there that can be downright fucked up.
LIMITS ⫻ Phasing through objects is incredibly difficult for Nate because there is a resistance. Almost like passing through water, he can't move that fast while phasing. He's limited to a heavily inconvenienced march while phasing. He can only phase for five minutes straight before needing a rest. He also cannot phase through high concentrations of energy, such as power lines, and flames, and anything of the sort.
WEAKNESSES ⫻ Phasing reduces his ability to see by a great margin, his vision will be very dark and blurry. He'll no longer be able to see color, and his distance will be greatly reduced. Which makes it incredibly difficult for him to maneuver.
OTHER
"Uh.. something something whatever."