Do you have any headcanons about nonverbal/partially nonverbal Nathan Drake? Like I imagine when he was younger he wouldn't say much unless needed or through scripting or he'd get Sam to talk for him.
OH BOYO HOW HAVE I NEVER THOUGHT OF THIS
Nathan doesn’t speak until he’s 3, much to his parents’ surprise cause Sam probably didn’t know how to be quiet at all.
When he does speak it’s very short or one-word answers. Sometimes he’ll repeat words he finds verbally stimming but even that’s rare.
Sam knows he doesn’t like to talk and often talks on his behalf, especially when he’s really small and definitely in front of strangers and Sam probably helps with the scripting that he notices Nate developing and tries to follow it too so that his brother doesn’t get overwhelmed?
They learn sign language for each other when they first go to the orphanage and it’s brilliant until The Assholes™ start making fun of Nate for it (not that Sam stands for that, or for the bullies having non-broken noses TBH)
Even though he’s talking more by canon era game times he still scripts a lot (hence the ‘oh crap’ catchline because that smol bean says it for Everything)
But yes partially non-verbal Nathan Drake thank you for introducing me to this beautiful idea
Maybe the trauma of his mother dying and his father abandoning them made him completely 100% non-verbal for a period of time, possibly several months? He was definitely partially nonverbal before this trauma happened too.
But omg yes verbal stimming!
Whenever Nate used to infodump he would sign so so so fast and handflap at the same time and he’d also just completely skip a bunch of words too, so literally no one could understand him, except for maybe Sam who catches a few words here and there.
And Nate has So Many Scripts when he’s older! And even though he talks way more than he did as a kid, he still goes nonverbal sometimes and Elena learned some sign language too so they can still communicate when that happens.
At first Sully is probably just like Waht™ but goes along with it. He can never quite get the hang of the intricacies of sign language but he’s a sailor so Obvs morse code is the answer
Everybody loves Nate?? Yes this is what I love now
Everybody loves Nate! Sam is so protective of his little brother! I keep thinking about Nate signing a lot as a kid and it’s just Great! And Sully knows only a few basic signs, but yes! Morse code!
And Nate handflaps a lot when he’s excited and Sully was like, what is he doing, but then he begins to love how excited Nate gets about things.
Just, super-supportive found family!!!
Sully is a permanently proud pseudo-Dad and Elena is the greatest. She also stands up for Nate? Especially against those Fucking Douchehoses that try to make the fact that Nate is autistic an insult.
Also do you think he has specific stimming words?
He definitely stims with “crap” in stressful situations. I just watched a 7 minute video of all the times he says “oh crap” and variations in the games. He also repeats it over and over a lot too.
He would probably also stim with “okay okay okay” or “alright alright alright alright” or something similar? idk I think he’d mostly verbal stim with words to calm himself down, maybe also while pacing and doing something with his hands too, if possible. Unless, you know, he’s falling out of a plane or something.
Plus, signing “OK OK OK” is a pretty good stim too! A lot of signs are good stims! (tbh “clothes” and “nice” are also good ASL stims)
Holy shit I love all of this so much????
Also he probably needs to use his hands a lot as a stim and I bet sully totally got him a Rubik’s cube at some point because puzzle solving + hands stimming + bright colours = happy pseudo son
Yes definitely!!! I love all of these headcanons! They’re so great!!
Partially Non-Verbal Stimmy Autistic Nathan Drake and his Very Supportive Pseudo Family!!!
