~Nate
Nathaniel Ayers is an Advent Human, currently working as an Intern for Cerberurs Corp.
Story of My Life[]
Nathaniel's parents emigrated from Germany to the United States about five years before Nathaniel was born. There the young Nathaniel grew up, went to school, played with friends and fought his curse of a memory all in ignorant bliss about his family's history. This, however, was not his fault and hardly unexpected for somewhere in the distant past, a Quincy of the Erdeschalk line married a direct ancestor on his mother's side. Sadly, over the many years since that happened, the Quincy power that once ran strongly enough in the Ayers' line began to fade almost to the point of dying out completely...though the knowledge of their power--now whispered only in darkness among those of the family who had been born with a fragment of skill--remained.
By the time Nathaniel was born, his mother, Sophia, was the last of the Ayers who knew of the unnatural power than ran in her blood, though she possessed not enough of it to make use of what she knew--until Nathaniel was born. In her young son, with the ghost of power that she possessed she could feel the dormant ability that lay dormant within her son.
For years, Nathaniel remained ignorant of his gift, save for being able to see ghosts, something which he wrote off as lingering memories that floated before his mind from time. However, when he was in his last year of high school, Nathaniel began to realize that there were certain things that he could do that others his age could not. He could run faster, jump farther, see farther and, most disturbingly of all, he discovered that he could feel the presences of his peers around him. Astonished and alarmed, he confronted his mother about what was going on...he figured that she might know something...he could feel it. So, looking weary and resigned, she sat him down and explained what little she knew.
Over the summer of that year, Nathaniel and his mother stole off to a secluded area of Central Park and there she taught him the basics of what she could not do. She taught him only enough to keep his power from overflowing and causing problems by interacting with the material world around him. But most importantly, she pressed upon him the importance of keeping his power shut down and hidden lest nightmarish creatures hunt him down and rend his body to naught but gore.
So that was how it was all throughout Nathaniel's University years, he never used his power, he never spoke of it, he tried even to keep from thinking of it. Things were going well enough and he wasn't troubled by the daemons his mother had told him of. Then, upon his graduation, Nathaniel was hired out of school by a Japanese aerospace engineering firm and his life turned upside down the moment he stepped off the plane in Tokyo.
For almost three whole weeks, Nathaniel managed to live a rather pleasant life in Tokyo before all hell broke loose. It seemed that with the move to a city with so much spiritual activity, Nate's dormant powers were beginning to wake up. After being attacked by a number of hollow and after a terrifying meeting with shinigami exile Hisao Adachi, Nathaniel began to realize that there was something else about the city. Despite his best efforts, in the end, Nathaniel's fledgling spiritual powers were detected and identified. That was when Yokoham Pharmaceuticals and Cerberus Co-operation came into his life.
Tricked into revealing his nature under the influence of a nano-molecular drug forced upon him by Agent Shihara Zakki, the young scientist gave the other man far too much information. Intrigued and infuriated with Nate, Zakki was compelled to entice Nathaniel to follow him back to his headquarters; which the ever curious Nathaniel did. Little did he know then, but it would become a choice upon which he would reflect upon with only the greatest regret. It was there, in the Cerberus atrium, that Nathaniel met Ciro Martelli for the first time.
Martelli, intrigued by the research possibilities that the growing Quincy provided, the Director made Nathaniel his test subject. The following few hours would become the darkest in Nathaniel's life to date. His body and mind were torn asunder as Martelli and his second in command, Hashira Riki, conducted their experiments. Together, driven by a twisted idea of what was science, they broke his body, his mind and the young man's soul. Fractured beyond repair, Nathaniel's powers ran amok, destroying the operating theatre and purging the intoxicants from his system. He had been on the very verge of imposing swift judgment upon the two heinous scientists when what they had done to him compiled and crashed brutally into place.
Nathaniel's Quincy powers flickered and vanished. Broken and devastated, Nathaniel had collapsed knowing that something within him had changed, irrevocably, forever more.
Days turned into weeks and slowly Nathaniel began to discover what had been done to him. They hadn't stripped him of his powers, they had changed him. Made him less that Quincy. Disgusted, Nathaniel ignored the newfound ability and strength flickering in the corners of his mind and eyes. Determined to get back on track, the scientist--against his better judgment--took the job offered to him by Cerberus cooperation; he would wait, watch and then act.
He would have his vengeance.
Appearance[]
Just twenty-one years of age, Nate is sharp featured with an angular jaw and prominent nose, Nathaniel is considered more striking than handsome. Heavy lids rest atop weary brown eyes which rest below prominent thick brows. Standing five feet, eight inches tall, Nathaniel's body is compact, almost stocky stocky and powerfully built. He keeps his hair short and well kept, paying similar attention to the thin beard that runs along his jawline. He dresses in a simple fashion consisting of well fitted jeans and equally well fitted t-shirts or well tailored button down shirts.
Following his torture at the hands of the two heads of Cerberus co-operation and the discovery of his new powers; Nathaniel's style has changed slightly. While he still sticks to what he has always worn, he's become a bit more rough, harder, tougher and this is reflected in the way he presents himself. His beard is a little more scruffy and he's always seen with a pair of fingerless gloves that he never takes off. He's also taken to wearing a toque even if it's not cold enough to justify one. If you ask him why, he'll simply smile and say "because it keeps my thoughts from running amok." Whether or not this is strictly true, nobody quite knows. Possibly not even Nathaniel himself.
Personality[]
Blessed (or cursed, in his opinion) with eidetic memory, it has caused him to grow into something of a subdued, almost grim, young man. Constantly assailed by a torrent of memories, both good and bad and remembered in perfect clarity, Nathaniel wages a war with his mind every waking moment of his life as he struggles to keep his thoughts clear and mind focused; save for when he sleeps, his mind is still then. He never dreams.
Catch him during one of those rare hours where he has managed to get a grip on his memory and he's an amicable and animated young man who's love of life--normally suppressed to the casual onlooker by the struggle he faces daily--becomes apparent as his eyes begin to sparkle and dance with humor and good cheer. Recently, however, Nathaniel's mood has become much more volatile. Unlike ever before, he's become more extroverted and not always in a good way.
At times he's deliberately antagonizing and will simply refuse to back down from an argument and hold a grudge for hours, even days afterwards. Then there are times when he forgets what has been done to him; usually during moments of extreme excitement or academic absorbtion. These are changes, showing themselves occasionally enough to be considered 'not to pose a potential risk' by his evealuators at work; but for someone with a memory that spans the long years of his life, he notices each and every swing, every shouted word, every searing glare and at times it's simply too much to bear.
Awakening[]
First Stage: Genesis[]
Form: Because Nathaniel used to be a Quincy, he has retained much of the physical dexterity that is required to be an archer. Additionally, he has retained a certain degree of a Quincy's affinity for reishi. When Nathaniel calls upon his power, he does so almost exactly the same way a Quincy materializes a bow: by calling spirit particles to his hands. When he does this, a pair of black, close-fitting combat gloves materialize on his hands.
Ability
Due to both his work with nanotechnology as well as his prior ability to manipulate reishi, Nathaniel has become quite familiar with the atomic level structure of the body as well as the spirit particle make up of reiatsu.
For a cost of 3% of the former Quincy's reiatsu he is able to dissolve the molecular bonds of his body; allowing him to pass through something normally impassable but not humans or spiritual beings. However, he is able to grip a solid object beyond or within whatever it is he's reaching into, causing that single object to become immaterial like his arms; allowing him to move it about or extract it.
Ability:
Conversely, for 5% of his reiatsu, Nathaniel can increase the density of his body. Causing it transfer more momentum on contact as well as be harder to cut. However, because he's uses reiatsu to increase the density, his body gains no physical weight.
Unique Items & Feats[]
Items
Item Name: Holographic Memory
Item Tier: D
Item Physical Description: A flat, silver bracelet with strings of binary code inscribed on the surface. More or less unremarkable.
Item Acquisition: Having been born with eidetic memory, Nathaniel has spent a great deal of time searching for ways to make his memory useful not only to himself but to others as well. So, during his research into nanomachines at his engineering firm in Tokyo, the young scientist found a way to take the electrical nerve pulses and chemical reactions that constitute memory and give them form outside of his mind.
Item Abilities: By focusing calling reishi into his brain and along his nerve system, Nate is able to channel the chemical reactions and electrical impulses of his memory to the nanomachines contained in his bracelet. For a cost of 50 reiatsu he is able to make the nanotech in his bracelet project a 'hologram'--a visual and sensory reproduction--of a specific memory viewable by only one person.
Trivia[]
Nate really dislikes sake.
He has a collection of micky mouse socks.
Reads Garfield comics before bed.