⸻⸻ around redford, names don’t stay clean for long. NADIA CALLAHAN is no exception. they are FIFTY EIGHT, born and raised or just passing through the town. when the sun rises, they work as TOWN COUNCIL MEMBER & SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT, but around here, that rarely tells the whole story. their name has been heard in connection to THE CALLAHAN FAMILY ( matriarch ) and like most in this town, they carry their weight in quiet ways. some say they can be VINDICTIVE and CHARISMATIC, depending on who’s asking and what’s at stake. they’ve laid claim to FOUNDERS ROW, though ownership in redford is never as simple as it looks. land shifts, loyalties change, and nothing stays untouched for long. lately, their name has been circling for being PRO MODERNIZATION. in a town where legacy matters and progress threatens, the only question that ever really lingers is this: will they hold their ground or lose everything trying?
𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬.
name. nadia callahan. age. fifty eight. birthplace. redford, texas. gender. cis woman. pronouns. she/her. orientation. heterosexual ( officially, but really she goes both ways ). religion. roman catholic ( outwardly — inwardly, she doesn't care ). languages spoken. english, some french ( very, very little ). alignment. callahan family.
𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬.
faceclaim. famke janssen. height. five foot eight. build. lean, lithe. hair. dark chestnut, very deeply brunette. eyes. brown with golden flecks. distinguishing features. large, watchful eyes, a low and controlled voice, immaculate posture, selective warmth, slow and measured steps. signature scent. warmed amber and sandalwood, crushed jasmine petals steeped in olive oil, a trace of spiced honey.
𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐞.
temperament. choleric. positive traits. loyal, strategic, protective, perceptive. negative traits. manipulative, prideful, calculating, unforgiving. virtues. composure, patience, devotion, resolve. vices. ambition, envy, control, wrath. fears. irrelevance, displacement, public humiliation, power slipping beyond her grasp. moral alignment. neutral evil.
𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬.
spouse. eugene callahan. parents. harlan and ann margaret callahan. siblings. tbd callahan. children. ciara callahan, lucia callahan, thea callahan.
𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲.
nadia was the first born of the prominent callahan family, raised beneath the hard eye of a formidable father and the softer indulgence reserved almost entirely for her younger brother, and from her earliest years she learned the difference between being loved and being valued. the callahans were a political dynasty in texas and her father climbed that ladder seamlessly — starting his career as mayor of redford and ending it as the governor of texas. nadia's girlhood was spent at dinners and parties watching wealthy and powerful people move through halls that did not belong to her, wanting to extract herself from her family's shadow, wanting to be more than a callahan.
she married young to a well-connected lawyer who gained her father's approval, though her wishes to relieve herself of her family name were struck down when her husband decided to become a callahan himself. nadia realized then that there would be no escaping her fate, nor her name. so she stopped fighting destiny and began fighting her husband instead. the early years of their marriage were toxic by nature, though their fighting and making up managed to bring three beautiful little girls to life. nadia's approach to motherhood was less than conventional and slightly hands off, but she adored her daughters regardless.
as time passed, the blatant sexism that plagued her family only became more clear. her brother was a notorious playboy and fuck up, but despite that he continuously gained their father's favor where as nadia always seemed to fall short. he was to be the politician and she was to simply sit back and be the housewife of the family's attorney — their roles were traditionally carved out for them in a way that nadia could hardly push against, but she tried anyway. she cleaned up after her brother's mistakes, ensured their family's image remained crisp and clean in the public eye — and after all was said and done, when her father found himself at the end of his life, he spent his last breath putting the fate of the callahan name squarely on nadia's shoulders.
for decades, she's played her part with careful precision — she's inserted herself in town affairs and boards and the like. she's welcomed senators and lobbyists and donors to her home for dinner parties, smiled in halls she once prayed to escape, has played the role of dutiful wife so well even she almost believes she enjoys it. behind the scenes she has her hand in every pot she can, puppeteering what she must to keep her idiot brother from impeachment, to keep her own secrets under wraps, and to keep her family in power and maintain their influence.
𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬.
the brother — nadia's younger brother is a menace and a piece of shit. he's a forever bachelor, a philanderer, and he's constantly getting himself into shit that she has to dig him out of. somehow, beyond her comprehension, he managed to get himself elected as governor — always following in their father's footsteps. nadia loves him but she also fucking hates him.
the lovers — nadia herself is an adulterer and a cougar, it's her cardinal sin and she loves the thrill. she and her husband both go to painstaking lengths to hide their respective affairs from the public eye, but they do be having them so nadia has likely slept with a good majority of the town — not that any of them know they're one of many!
the liability — this person knows something about nadia or the callahans that she absolutely does not want getting out, and she's willing to go to great lengths to make sure whatever it is stays under wraps.
the friends — she's like not that much of a bitch! nadia's pretty charming and funny so she probably has friends, she'll just unfortunately stab them in the back (metaphorically and for realsies) if they wrong her :/
closed to : nadia callahan ( @dutybled ) ; late night, the callahans house
it's late so the knock on nadia's office door is soft and quiet. gene was just about to finish with work for the day—much too late as per usual—when the notification pops up on his phone. he could leave it until tomorrow or just text but, sue him, he feels like talking to his wife.
" what's up with that mcnairs invite in our calendar? " gene asks standing in the doorway, reading glasses on so he can see what's on his screen, the fresh addition to his schedule coming as a surprise. " i thought they split up. and now they're throwing an anniversary dinner ? have you talked to joanne lately ? " he walks into the room, sits in one of the empty chairs, might as well. the mcnairs are family friends in a sense that they say hello when they see each other out and about, they invite each other to dinner a couple times a year but only make it happen once and usually when they got some business to talk about, when there's money on the table. but isn't it always with them, even when it comes to so-called friends.
" can't believe that six months ago they were asking me for divorce lawyers. both of them, " gene says and then laughs a little. maybe he shouldn't be that surprised. pot, kettle and all that. " if we go, we're just doing dinner and one drink. only one. jeremy's too obsessed with hunting rifles these days. i'm not gonna survive talking to that man for longer than fifteen minutes. "
it takes every ounce of self restraint nadia has to keep her eyes from rolling into the back of her skull the second her husband comes into her office, despite his good intentions. "believe it or not, i just spoke to joanne — which is why we're going." every word is laced with blatantly obvious sarcasm, but it's not malicious — she simply knows gene is well aware of her inherent need to keep her finger on the pulse, so the fact that he even needs to ask about her intentions is baffling. "she called to let me know it was all just a big misunderstanding, and they're happier than ever so they'd love it if we could make it over to celebrate. like i couldn't smell that bullshit right through the fuckin' phone." there is no world in which nadia would miss going to this sham of an 'anniversary dinner' or whatever they were calling it — not when it's the perfect opportunity for her to dig deeper into joanne mcnair's insecurities and get the dirt on what exactly had led both of them to threats of divorce.
at the end of the day, her inclination to go is just a very telltale sign of a very scary truth — she's bored. and that, unfortunately, is a dangerous thing for nadia callahan to be. "of course, baby." they both know dinner and one drink isn't happening — not when nadia's got an ulterior motive and when the near-divorcée in question likes to hit the bottle and yammer on to anyone who'll listen — but over the years nadia has come to learn that it's easier to placate gene than to argue, and she'll just end up doing whatever the fuck she wants to anyway. "you could learn a thing or two, you know. those shotguns in the den aren't just for decoration."
