meet NATHAN MEYER
NATHAN MEYER, the 39 year old FIREFIGHTER, who is best known around town for THE ONE THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO PICK UP HIS SISTER. apparently they’ve been living in SOUTHPOINT for THEIR ENTIRE LIVES, and according to word on the street they are PRO-PRESERVATION. i’ve heard that they are quite STEADFASTS & DISTANT, and if their life had a theme song it would be KEEP YOUR HEAD UP by BEN HOWARD.
THE DETAILS
BIRTHDAY: june 26, 1986 LOCATION: sedona, arizona in the southpoint neighborhood (living alone) LOCAL STATUS: born and raised OCCUPATION: firefighter & SAR volunteer VEHICLE: 2016 toyota tacoma TRD off-road, cement gray EDUCATION: sedona red rock jr sr high school (2005), associate’s degree in fire science, certification in EMT-basic, wilderness irst responder and technical rope rescue
IMPORTANT RELATIONS
PARTNER/SPOUSE: none CHILDREN: none NOTABLE RELATIONS: son of mark & diane meyer, older brother of claire meyer (deceased, august 12, 2006), ex-boyfriend of mia ayala
PET(S)
rook, australian shepherd (neutered, born september 12, 2018)
COMMUNITY
FREQUENTED LOCATIONS: aroma cafe, buddha beach, fire department, henderson's hardware, off the record, on the rocks, red rock state park, rosie's diner, the lookout LIKES: canyon hiking, trail running, wood-working, restoring old tools, guitar (though he doesn't play for others often), solo camping, quiet early mornings, campfires, handwritten notes, long drives without music, meaningful silences DISLIKES: crowded bars, leaving things unfinished, feeling useless, people who fake bravery, the smell of cheap cologne, repeating himself
TLDR:
born and raised in sedona, arizona (born june 26, 1986). was raised by practical and steady people who believed in hard work and small joys. life was simple but not unfulfilled.
his father was a maintenance man for the school district. he had calloused hands and quiet humor. his mother ran a ceramic studio out of their home and her fingers were always stained with whatever clay she was using.
nathan was one of two in the meyer household. two years older than his sister claire. as the oldest, he was the observer, watchful and rarely the type of kid that talked too much. he never minded his own company and his closest friends were ones that he grew up with.
claire was the opposite of nathan. where he was the anchor in the family, she had a more restless spirit. he was dependable and she had freedom coursing through her veins. claire was much more like their mother with a spirit that burned bright.
by the time that claire and nathan were teenagers, he felt like had outgrown sedona. he worked part-time at the local gas station and drove an old truck that his grandfather had given him. by seventeen years old, nathan grew into a quiet steadiness. he was calm and a natural at the practical things in life. he also had started working with his father for the local school district.
nathan graduated, an average student. he wasn't at the top of his class but he never fell behind either. he was thoughtful and the one that stopped trouble before it stirred. graduation came and went, not making a big deal of it before starting classes at local community college.
claire was seventeen and he nineteen when his life changed forever. he had just been listening to his sister talk about college and how she'd share an apartment with her best friend. but, it all changed one night. that same night that nathan was supposed to pick claire and her friends up from a party. however, after talking to her once, he had decided to give her another half hour before he picked her up. however, he had gone to shower and missed her phone call not more than a few minutes. by the time he checked his phone, it was too late.
the site of the crash was only a few miles from their childhood home with curves that he had driven a hundred times. he never saw the wreck itself, just the shattered glass and the way that the air smelled of gasoline. the rest came in fragments, but what mattered most was that claire was gone. three other people survived, including one of his sister's best friend's, nadia torres garcia.
from the day of the crash moving forward, nathan blamed himself. if he had not taken a shower. if he had just waited, he would have stopped her from getting in a vehicle. the days, the weeks, the months following all blurred together. from the funeral plans and unlimited casseroles to the weighted silence he couldn't shake.
sedona was far too small to truly ever escape the whispers, but he couldn't leave. he had to stay and take care of his parents. the years passed, quietly and slowly. nathan might not have talked about the accident, but it never stopped talking to him.
nathan joined the local fire department at twenty-three years old. at first, it was a job that was so physically demanding, he wasn't left with room for thoughts. but, over time, it became so much more than that.
in the same year, before he joined the fire department, he started dating mia ayala, a standing force in his life. they knew each other well before they knew each other, bonding after his sister's death. they dated until she was twenty years old and he was twenty-four years old, roughly two years. their relationship ended when he thought he couldn't give her what she deserved.
after mia, nathan tried to date a few times. women liked that he was steady and had a quiet confidence, but it never lasted. whether he blamed it on the job, the hours or the danger, it was always easier than admitting that is heart wasn't meant to be given to anyone else.
still, nathan roams sedona like a ghost. he drinks some, eats simply and sleeps when he can. his platonic relationships are seemingly few, but they are steady. the firehouse holds people that he considers to be his family. those that know him casually see reliability and quiet strength. those that know him more intimately know the weight of the grief he carries.
in short, nathan is a man of action rather than words.
HEADCANONS;
keeps a notebook of every rescue operation he has been on, with notes about what went or what went wrong
once built a small wooden bench & left it near where a rescue had gone bad
keeps his home minimalistic, a mix of practicality & guilt, as if owning too much feels indulgent
has a voicemail saved from claire that he can’t bring himself to delete
will volunteer at the animal shelter between shifts
finds comfort in routines
the stars are his constant, he always looks up before heading inside at night
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