Meet the Otter: Nathan Knight!
Nathan is my second OC for Operation Fictional Men Do It Better. He is also a defenseman for Moon Harbor Otters.
Moon Harbor Otters Masterlist | Nathan Knight Masterlist |
His full name is Nathaniel Jerome Knight. He uses Nathan Knight as his player name. He tries to insist that his nickname is simply his Nathan, but he can never escape his teammates and staffs trying to shorten the already shortened version of his name. He likes using his second name for food deliveries and packages.
He is born in New York and he first skated at two with his mom holding him upright. When he is three, he already can skate on his own, refusing to be given any assistance even if he fell, and later, he got his first full hockey gear. He was eager to learn hockey, often seen sulking and insisting he was done with skating lessons, because he was inspired by the hockey tapes of his mom playing professional hockey and because of his older sister's hockey lessons and playing in minor hockey (under-9 division at the time).
When he finally started to learn hockey, he found himself lagging behind his peers—not being able to skate as fast and shoot pucks as precisely—and constantly being teased for it and also for being so smaller compared to kids his age. However, with enough patience and encouragement, he only improves, his potential growing. It wasn't long until he played his first game in Under-7 division. He lost his first game, but it only drives him further. Game after game. Lessons after lessons. Camp after camps. He experienced and learned, because he wanted to achieve what his mom and sister achievements—past and present.
His mom was always grateful that Nathan and his sister are taking after her footsteps and possibly attain more than she had ever in her hockey career. She attended as much games as she could. She sat there with them when they needed to process their wins and especially their losses. She took special time with Nathan, because he has always been aggressive—fighting more than necessary, talking back to his coaches just as much as he bites back with his opponents and teammates' chirps—for wanting to win more, for having specific plays to utilize, and for wanting to do something for the team. She understood why Nathan was like that more than anybody. She had told him to lessen his fights and he did—he tried to. She glared at him when he came home with bruises. She ruffled his hair every time he came home even if he lost the game. His mom had always seen a bright future for her Nathaniel.
His older sister laughed when Nathan declared that he would play professional hockey, but she was tearing up inside when he told her and their mom that it was because he wanted to be like them. She knows he will. She trusts that he will. Besides, she always see Nathan as the little boy who kept skating after her, slipping on ice in his full and still shiny hockey gear, and as the teenage boy who had a knack for pottery and made loads of mugs for her and her team. While there are loads of evidence of Nathan's aggressiveness on ice which got their mom sighing, his sister always called him "their "Gentle Giant" or "Angel" because he always looked the kindest.
Now, Nathan plays for the Moon Harbor Otters since his draft. He is cheered for his leadership and his skating skills, but also for his charming smiles after his scrums and for his loud and explosive goal celebration. Sometimes he will jump so high and bump his whole back against the glass. Sometimes he will chuck his stick for the audience. The fans really loves it when he throws his stick for them. There is a running joke that one day, someone will get hit with the stick that the league will ban him for it, but this joke is often followed by a knock on a wooden surface because no one wants that goal celly to stop.
Fun Facts (in the picture):
He likes routines. He makes schedules. He prefers to stick them, but he is adaptable to changes. He is adaptable/flexible, but more accurately, he is intentional with his time—knowing what to do but also enjoying things along the way.
He is a planner aka he plans things meticulously. Dates, places, food stops. He got them all laid out. Everyone with him will just have to lay back and enjoy.
He often carries a bag. It’ll cycle between a purse, a tote bag, a messenger bag, and a body bag. If you need something like a hand cream, just ask because he most likely has it. [Side: Lionel makes him carry a lot of his stuff for random strolls, so he won’t have to carry a bag.]
He has a cat named Luna that he calls with varying nicknames like Lu, Moon, Moony, or Sweet Lady.
He wishes that he has a RBF, because people always ask him for directions or assume he can’t fight back.
He gets amused with the patches of hair growing in white (due to his vitiligo that started to develop at 22). There are a few times he let Lionel color those patches, absolutely shocking the fans because he never changes his hair style.
He is a casual reader. He prefers nonfiction books but moved to fiction (romances and fantasy) because of certain recommendations.
He hates it when hips lips get dry. He is often seen reaching back to the Equipment Manager for his lip balm and applying it during games.
He loves to do pottery and holds small workshops offseason. Personal but also for team charity events.
He prefers to bake over cooking so he does food exchange with Lionel regularly.
At ten, Nathan got a failed grade in English. His mom knew that taking his phone or banning him from reading his novels would not affect young Nathan so she grounded him for a week that would result to him missing hockey practices and a game. It was the first time Nathan raised his voice at his mom and slam his door, but after an hour of calming down, he was already apologizing, hugging his mom, telling her that he didn't know what he didn't understand in the subject.
The whole week was spent with him sulking while also flipping over his English book and answering loads of supplementary worksheets to be accomplished to get that grade lifted.
That was the first and last failing grade Nathan had ever received in his entire academic life.
At twelve, he started learning other sports on the side. One by one. Basketball, volleyball, boxing, , Kendo, Jiu Jutsu, Judo. Over the years, he treated them as little hobbies that he could do when he was not practicing and conditioning during summer. He particularly loved to do combat sports, not because it helped him release his aggression or it would help him in his scrums, but because it kept him grounded and responsible to the way he acts off the ice.
However, it did help in winning scrums, but he would never admit that or else his coaches might take away his well-earned belts.
At fourteen, he discovered pottery from a workshop he passed by. He was amazed with the amount of decorative mugs and pots that were showcase in front of the shop. In his amazement, he got to meet the owner who told him all about different clays, glazes, tools, and even showed him the one of the empty kilns. Since there will be small workshop in the afternoon, the owner offered if Nathan wanted to give it a go for free. He accepted almost instantly. That day, he had expected to come home with his misshapen masterpiece—a mug with splatters of different glazes—but got heartbroken that it had to be left behind to be fired.
When he came home, he immediately talked to his mom about pottery classes. He went on a full bargaining mode, telling her everything he knew like the costs of the classes, materials, the equipment, and even going as far as to draft a his new schedule if he were to attend the classes, hockey practices and games, school, and some of this other hobbies. He got turned down, but it didn't deter him from bringing it up. He even showed his masterpiece that he picked up which did not help his persuasion.
As a last resort, he recruited his sister to help convince their mom and swore he would give her loads of his creations. He even gave her his first one. He succeeded. Little did he know, his sister didn't really need much convincing.
At seventeen, when he got drafted to Moon Harbor that is on the opposite coast and in a different country, he got difficulties in adjusting, so he had coped through books, but it wasn't enough, so he took a full day to stroll, jotting down different establishments. Only when he found a pottery studio did he finally calmed down.