FULL NAME: Nathaniel Roberts
FACE CLAIM: ( up to player )
GENDER: Male ( he-his-him )
AGE: Twenty Six ( Eighty Nine )
BIRTHDAY: February 10, 1929
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual
OCCUPATION: Owner of the Azura Hotel
Positive: Curious ◇ Honest ◇ Energetic ◇ Reliable ◇ Sociable.
Negative: Impulsive ◇ Tense ◇ Nosy ◇ Stubborn ◇ Mischievous
When Maude and Cecil Roberts decided to have a child, they could not have predicted that the happiness and prosperity that they’d enjoyed in the past decade was to end. They would never have guessed that less than a year after their son Nathaniel’s birth, Wall Street would crash and banks throughout the entire country would fail. Moreover, they did not expect how bluntly it would personally hit them. In an instant, most of their money was gone, Cecil then losing his job within the next months as a result of mass company layoffs. Not soon after, their home was foreclosed, and by 1930, they were stuck living in a Hooverville in their city of St. Louis.
The conditions were terrible, especially for a family such as theirs that had never experienced poverty on any level. They did the best they could to give Nathaniel a good upbringing, and he certainly wasn’t fussy, but for the first few years, even affording necessities was often a concept out of reach. One or two meals a day was the maximum, sometimes none at all when the going was extra tough. Luckily, over time, things did gradually improve. Cecil found a steady job, and finally, they could eat a little more, fend off malnutrition, especially for their son. Maude began using the extra money to buy fabrics, sewing dresses to sell to their neighbors and making a decent profit off of it. 1936 marked the year that their lives truly, entirely improved, when they had enough money to begin renting an apartment outside the Hooverville. Mostly, Nathaniel just remembers this year as the one he first tasted candy, as it was the first that it could be afforded. As his mother then opened a clothing shop and his father moved up the chain of power in his workplace, Nathaniel could relish in what both parents considered a true childhood. He entered public schooling, both a benefit to him and his mother as she no longer had to spend the time teaching him herself, and temporarily lived something of a spoiled life.
The eventual outbreak of the Second World War threatened the family’s newfound stability, even more so when the United States joined it. Cecil was called to the draft, which left Maude alone to take care of Nathaniel and the household, as well as her shop. Government rationing restricted the foods they could eat, as well as the fabrics Maude had access to, decreasing their overall quality of life and slashing profits. In mid-1942, at thirteen years old, Nathaniel began roaming the streets more often, offering to do small tasks for people in exchange for money. He’d shine men’s shoes or draw stockings on lady’s legs in the midst of the stocking shortages, only ever earning pennies at a time. When his mother found out what he was doing, she couldn’t discourage him from it because she knew they needed the money, as little as the sums were.
Few things changed throughout the remainder of the war, aside from aspects of Nathaniel’s personality. He gained a mischievous edge, credited to his fighty friends and the time spent roving outside. Ultimately, he was one of the lucky kids; one whose father did not perish in combat. Cecil returning marked a new decade of happiness for the family as Nathaniel graduated from school in 1947, began attending university and found himself a girlfriend. Her name was Nettie, a cute little blonde with something strange to her that Nathaniel just couldn’t put his finger on.
They were a generally good match for each other. Similar ideals, both optimistic, and a tad bit trouble-making – but ultimately, over little things, they separated romantically, although still remaining close. They were even stronger together this way, nothing truly able to get between them and their iron friendship. However, something that Nathaniel noticed over the years was that Nettie seemed to never change. He chalked it up to good genes; some people just didn’t age as quickly as others. He didn’t realize how wrong an explanation this was until Nettie, in 1955, revealed to him what she really was: a vampire.
Level-headed, Nathaniel’s reaction wasn’t too theatrical. Nettie herself was surprised at his willingness to believe her. Even more astounding to her was that when she then offered to make him immortal, he agreed without much thought. Vampirism wasn’t incredibly appealing to him, but eternal life certainly was, especially if it meant he could remain with his best friend for an infinite amount of time and watch the world progress hundreds of years in the future. The only moral qualms he could muster, such as where blood would come from, were eased with Nettie’s explanations that no killing would ever be necessary and he could easily survive on animal blood just as she did.
The transformation process was far more unpleasant than Nathaniel initially expected, but in the end, he figured it worth the pain. The life of a vampire was difficult to adjust to, and in an effort to conceal it from his family, he and Nettie moved across the country, far away from them, though Nathaniel still called and wrote often. Life continued on uninterrupted, Nathaniel eventually playing with the thought of returning to his family to offer them immortality as well, and he was so incredibly close to acting upon this. Instead, it seemed it was his turn to be utterly stunned by sudden, unfortunate change. Tracked by hunters, Nettie was found, and by extension, so was Nathaniel. The ensuing fight shouldn’t have been lost in any capacity, but they were outnumbered and Nettie was killed before Nathaniel could even process it. Fueled by rage, he slaughtered the hunters that remained, afterward unable to remember his actions as anything more than a cloudy red haze.
In the following decades, he detached himself, sternly deciding against turning his parents lest he subjects them up to the dangers of a supernatural existence. With not much choice, he faked his death to them, then leaving the United States entirely to drift through Europe. With time, he began to open back up, forming new friendships and returning to his old self. In the early 1990s, he moved back to the United States, settling in Kansas but switching between towns every few years out of fear of hunters.
Upon Woodbury’s revival, Nathaniel was one of the first to arrive, so enticed by the promise of safety that he even established the magnificent Azura Hotel in order to encourage the town’s growth and establish permanent roots. He is the most hopeful now than he’s been in a long, long time.
This character is currently OPEN and their faceclaim is UP TO PLAYER
