THE WHO
SCRUPULOUS. SAFE. STABLE. Nathaniel Devlin O’Shea
AGE. Thirty-two
BIRTHDAY. July 13th
OCCUPATION. Accountant
BIRTH PLACE. Lampton Hill, England
NATIONALITY. Irish
ORIENTATION. Heterosexual
PREMADE TITLE. N/A
PLAYBY. Topher Grace
THE WHAT
SCRUPULOUS. Ever since he was young, Nathaniel seemed to have an unflappable dependability about him. There’s just something about the man that makes people look at him and just know that he’s a good guy, the sort you’d like to bring home to the parents. It was almost as if he was from a different time altogether. He’d stop and help old women cross the street. He’d addressed his elders as “sir” or “ma’am.” He always did what he was asked without question. If someone called out for help, Nate was always the first to lend a hand and an earnest smile. Naturally, many assumed it was all some sort of front, that there must have been some ulterior motive, but it wasn’t the case. It was simply how he was raised.
SAFE. It’s a safe bet that Nate has never done anything riskier than a safe bet. It’s not that he’s boring; he’s just practical to the extreme. His philosophy is that life is something meant to be looked forward to, not to be wasted for a momentary thrill. The fact of the matter is that he’s just goddamn scared. Once upon a time, he thought that life just came to people. If he made a bad choice, no big deal, he could always go back. Well, from what he’s seen, that couldn’t be further from the truth. As far as he’s concerned, there’s only one path, and those who stray face terrible consequences. Consequences he couldn’t possibly deal with.
STABLE. There is a bit of a peculiarity to the manner in which the Nate conducts himself. Despite his amicable demeanor, the man seems to be perpetually weary, as if he is constantly trying to subdued some portion of his own character. He may try his best to hide it, but it is readily noticeable to any adept observer. The reason lies within his handling of his own emotional buildup. Sometime in his youth, he developed an almost pathological fear of any sort of particularly strong emotion. As a result, rather than expressing himself fully at any moment, Nate chooses to spread his rage or sorrow or elation over long periods of time. While his self-control is admirable, those close to him often bear the brunt of any collateral damage.
LIKES. His family, eggs and bacon, numbers, taking care of others, sleeping in, open spaces, firecrackers, when things work out as planned, traditions, rain
DISLIKES. Television, long nights, surprises, noisiness, plastic, strong perfumes, too much alcohol, driving too quickly, anything really flashy and obnoxious, scented candles
THE WHY
BEST MEMORY. The night Sophie agreed to marry him. He’d been carrying the ring around for weeks, but he knew that everything that had gone on with Lucas took its toll on her. Now that his brother was finally in rehab, it seemed like there was no better time. It was late. They were sitting on her front patio, watching the stars quietly. Nathaniel took her hand, got on one knee, and asked her to be his wife. His heart nearly stopped when she said yes. It was the most wonderful moment of his life. He could finally start a family like he’d always wanted.
WORST MEMORY. It was dinner as usual. The family was sitting at the table, chatting about their day. It happened so quickly that the boy almost missed it. One moment, someone was passing the beans, the next his brother was gay. His mother dropped her fork and began crying. His father looked as if he were ready to break something. Nathaniel, he just sat there. Somehow, he couldn’t quite comprehend the situation. It couldn’t be real, he reasoned. Sure, this sort of thing happened to other people, but his family, they were Godly people. The O’Shea boys, they were raised right, everyone agreed. There was simply no way this could happen to them. He murmured these words to himself for the rest of the evening. It didn’t do any good. When he finally let himself drift off to sleep, Nate knew that his family would no longer be the same.
It seemed that from the very beginning, the boy’s life revolved around his family and their Catholicism. Every Sunday during her pregnancy, Elizabeth O’Shea would carry her growing belly to Mass. She and Nicholas would sit in the very front row as close to the pulpit as they could manage, so that their unborn child could receive the most of God’s blessing. Nathaniel’s first memory was of his mother reading him stories from the Bible before he went to sleep. They rarely seemed to be pleasant stories, but the little boy understood that you can’t always teach lessons with happy endings. Not that there was ever a shortage of lessons. Practically everything the boy did seemed to warrant some sort of sermon. Even the littlest things you’d expect of a child, like telling a white lie or pushing away his peas, seemed to escalate into huge, catastrophic sins for which he must repent. It might’ve driven some to paranoid insanity, but Nathaniel took in every word. He listened, he learned, he grew.
When his brothers were born, Nate took every opportunity to set the two down the righteous path, just as he’d been taught. He was almost like a third parent, always watching over them, protecting them as best he could. Apparently, he couldn’t do enough, because the family soon found out that David was gay. It’s impossible to know what he was expecting with the announcement, but the consequences weren’t pretty. Suddenly, the house became a war zone as the parents tries to cure their indisposed son of his horrible affliction. Nate wasn’t completely confident in his parents’ methods, but he dutifully agreed to sneak some “enlightening” pamphlets into his brother’s school work. Unfortunately, David’s case seemed impossible and, after a time, his parents were forced to label him a “permanently lost,” and turned their attentions to preserving the purity of their other children. The household rules immediately became stricter. Nate’s friends had to be preapproved by his parents. He had to let them know of his location at every moment. Missing a family dinner came with heavy consequences. The children were made perfectly aware that the Lord was always watching.
The sudden shift affected the remaining two boys in very different ways. While Lucas started to test his boundaries, Nathaniel drew himself back into deeper into safer territory. No longer did the boy believe in trial and error but decided to live his life on the tried and true. He stopped dreaming of becoming a pilot, traveling around the world, and writing a novel. No, those were frivolous ambitions for selfish individuals. He shifted his goals to the Essentials: get married, have some kids, and move into a nice house. It had been enough for his parents; why should he think that he was too good for that? Wife, family, house. That was his mantra. He would abide by it to the very end. Or so he thought.
At first, he stood by his plan well. Nathaniel went to university. There, he opened himself up and let some of the preconceptions from his youth fall away, though he still was still guarded his strong principles. The boy’s plans took somewhat of a detour when he realized that his brother had been falling all this time and had hit rock bottom. The discovery was made him feel like a failure, but Nate took it upon himself to help him. In the process, he grew close with Sophie Flemming, the girl next door and his brother’s best friend. The two ended up getting married and having a little girl. He tried his hardest to keep up with the rest of his family, receiving only lukewarm gestures in return. When Luke finally recovered after a long and strenuous battle, Nate was happy to have him back in his life.
THE HOW
RP SAMPLE.Dick and Jane climbed up the tree and fell and broke their faces.
I,
ROXY AM
SEVENTEEN AND HAVE READ ALL THE REQUIRED INFORMATION. NOT TO MENTION THINK THIS SITE IS REALLY RAD. JUST SO YOU KNOW MY FAVOURITE THING IS
THE FACT THAT I’M FINALLY GRADUATING IN A FEW WEEKS AND I FOUND WWB
IN A (WET) DREAM.
