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forensically_ambiguous
forensically_ambiguousPLAYER
» Journal: ladydragon
» Birthdate/Age: January 1984/ Age 30
» Characters Played: None
» Re-App Status: N/A
CHARACTER FACTS
» Name: Nigel Townsend
» Canon: Crossing Jordan
» Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_Jordan
» Canon Point: Between episode 6x16 and 6x17
» Gender: Male
» Age: Approximately early thirties. There is no solid canon evidence for this, but the main character turns thirty near the end of the show’s run, and given his appearance and the presumption of similar amount of training/education, he’s likely somewhere near her in age.
CHARACTER INTERPRETATION
» Appearance: Nigel is a very tall man, standing at six foot four, and appropriately lanky. He is pale-skinned and his hair is black, worn long and cut straight just above his shoulders and with long sideburns. He also tends to wear earrings, usually silver hoops, though the number and location vary it’s usually no more one in the right and three in the left. He is vaguely handsome, with a long nose, small brown eyes, and a slightly receding hairline (or maybe just a very tall forehead), but also a square chin and full lips flanked by deeply-etched smile lines. When he smiles -which is often - it is wide, toothy, and brilliant.
» Suitability: N/A
» Orientation: Mostly heterosexual. Nigel is largely seen to flirt with and show interest in women in canon, and even has one on-screen relationship with a woman, though it is implied he has had other relationships of indeterminate genders. Jordan, noticing Nigel’s good mood before a date, instantly presumes that it’s with a woman, although when he remains silent it’s Bug that hesitantly uses the gender neutral pronoun ‘person’. It is also stated by at least of the shows creators, that Nigel has a crush on the shows female lead, Jordan, and this is why he will do nearly anything for her. However, it should be noticed that the ambiguity of Nigel’s sexuality is a large part of his characterization. After inviting a male co-worker on a ski-trip, for example, the man begins to suspect Nigel’s intentions, especially after Nigel slaps him on the ass. When he breaks down and outright asks about this, Nigel neither confirms nor denies his orientation. In another instance, he easily flirts with Woody, a male detective, though it seems partly only to mess with him. He has canonically stated that he likes girls, but this was also said in response to his friend Bug, who he had just asked to marry him (to get a green card).
» Personality: Nigel’s initial role in the series is precisely what he appears to be to world. He’s the plucky, eccentric, tech-minded individual who is known for his snarky humor, and glowing charm. As a forensic criminalist, his very job description involves dissecting the smallest traces of evidence for clues, and he takes great pride in his work - so much so that he can’t seem to help but gleefully break down his process to others every time he makes a discovery. This happens so often that other characters make attempts to cut him off and ask him to get to the point, much to his rather obvious disappointment. He also literally hoards knowledge, as he’s shown to keep shelves upon shelves of personally compiled notebooks on everything from different blends of coffee to indigenous plants to car upholstery. He also just seems to know a lot in general from a combination of schooling, life experience, and television. His encyclopedic knowledge is however not perfect. For instance, he confuses a centaur for being half goat instead of half horse. Not only being skilled scientifically (he even invents unique chemical processes for finding certain clues), Nigel is also incredibly tech-savvy. While not exactly in his job description, he uses these skills frequently to hack computers, enhance images, and digitally reconstruct crime scenes and faces. He even writes his own programs designed to automatically cross-reference different databases and to store the morgue’s records. Of course, his expertise isn’t fool-proof. In one instance, the digital system he engineers for the morgue ends up crashing, and in his hubris Nigel failed to make paper backups. Oddly enough, despite being a considerable scientific mind, Nigel is frequently apt to believe in possibilities that lay beyond scientific explanation. He’s been willing to put his faith in everything from aliens, to vampires, to astronomical phenomena causing bad luck on Earth. While often proved wrong, sometimes by his own devices, Nigel sometimes seems genuinely let down when it happens.
Nigel has a flamboyant personality and a way of charming his way into the good graces of everyone who don’t otherwise find him strange or annoying. He effortlessly steals away an attractive historian from the attentions of two of the morgue’s other techs by showcasing his knowledge and waxing poetic on the nature of chivalry. He’s always ready with a joke, usually of the suggestive or off-color variety, and prefers to liven the mood whenever he can. During a semi-disastrous dinner party at his co-worker Jordan’s apartment, it’s Nigel that comes prepared with alcohol and a ridiculous party game to save the day. His general tone when speaking is often vaguely flirtatious no matter who he’s speaking to, and he carries himself with a certain amount of cockiness.
His personal life is something of a mystery. Other than the one relationship he has on screen, he makes only vague references to casual sexual conquests and other characters seem aware of other significant others, though always of unspecified genders, and he has a reputation among his friends as being something of a pervert. Additionally, Nigel doesn’t always bother with things like tact and professionalism, and is often casually insubordinate to his boss Dr. Macy. This gains a new depth when we learn he joined the Royal Navy when he was 19, and that his father apparently drove him to the recruiters even earlier than that, saying it was a form of tough love that helped him out in the long run. The implication here being that, among other allusions to his blue collar background and wild escapades, he was straightened out by the experience and that the current version of his personality is what remains after being tempered by military discipline. Which is to say, not very much.
His outer confidence, however, is more fragile than it first appears. Not very deep down, Nigel cares deeply for his friends, feels intense empathy for strangers, and is a determined romantic. He often puts himself at risk to help his friends - especially Jordan - whose crusading and not-entirely-legal methods of finding the truth lands her in tenuous positions. The creators have implied that Nigel has romantic feelings for her, which leads him to do nearly anything she asks, such as running tests for her when she’s been pulled off a case. But it’s not just her that he cares for. When Bug is attacked by a mobster bent on stealing evidence, it’s Nigel that goes out with the police to search for the suspect and that spends nearly every other waking moment at his bedside, almost constantly on the edge of tears. In another instance, when he and Bug are auditioning as hosts of a true stories medical investigation show, the production staff decide they want only the photogenic and extroverted Nigel over Bug. He turns it down rather than hurt his friend’s feelings. Of course, most of the morgue staff share a spark of Jordan’s drive for justice, and Nigel is no exception. In one episode, he goes to great lengths to hunt for the son of a British man who turns out to be a thief, but Nigel is determined in spite of this because he believes in the man’s good intentions. Also, not having a good relationship with his own father, Nigel is particularly struck by the fatherly devotion and ends up being inspired to call his dad as a result. In another case, it is Nigel who gives a surprisingly insightful and heartfelt speech to JD, Jordan’s then-boyfriend, on the nature of love when he learns the man is considering a proposal.
One of the best insights into Nigel’s character comes during the appropriately titled episode “Revealed”, when he and the detective Woody Hoyt cooperate on a case in which a man appears to have been killed by a vampire. During the course of the case, it comes to light that the supposed vampire was a fake. Near the end, Nigel, who had previously navigated the goth club they’d gone looking for suspect in with ease, looks on through the mirror as Woody asks the man why he’d invented his vampire persona. He explains it was a simple matter that he was boring, but the vampire was interesting and he finally found a place he fit in. As he speaks, Nigel listens and is seen nodding sadly. Not only is his illusion of the fantastic shattered, but the parallel between him and the other man is textually and visually obvious - Nigel understands because he too presents himself as someone larger than life in order to make people like him. There is little evidence one way or the other to indicate whether the claims Nigel makes about his personal life are true or not, but the small breaks in character here and there give good cause to suspect that much of the way he presents himself is a lie or were once lies and have become part of who is. Even his signature humor is sometimes a shield. He reveals to a therapist after a bombing that he often resorts to humor when he’s anxious. Despite his outward attitude that indicates he’s perfectly fine with casual flings, his one on-screen romance seems to indicate he longs for something deeper. In the episode, the woman he’s with has a young daughter that Nigel appears to care intensely for. It turns out she is using Nigel’s talents to fake her death in order to steal custody away from her (allegedly evil) ex-husband. When he finds out, Nigel is visibly devastated, but makes the choice to bring her to justice as she had not only betrayed his trust, but the father turned out to be a decent person after all. In the end, he did what was right as he and his colleagues so often do. He is, in fact, far more sensitive that his sometimes shallow, joking exterior would suggest. In another episode, the cast engage in a tradition of roleplaying cold case murders in order to see if they can solve them. When it at first seems that Nigel’s assigned character is going to be the murderer, he nearly walks out on the group, hurt and fed up with the fact that he is frequently cast as the perverted killer type. His friends only tease him about this until one character relents and lets on that his role may in fact not be that of the antagonist. While he may present himself as someone left of center, he isn’t at all a bad person, and would rather not be excluded from the group.
Ultimately, Nigel is really just a giant geek, possessing of a wild-eyed sense of wonderment at the universe, that puts on a show for people because he wants to be loved and, despite his genuine audacity, is far more shy and private than he lets on.
» Re-App Changes: N/A
SAMPLES
» First Person Sample Choice: Prompt #2 -
[The video feed jostles for a moment before Nigel appears in the frame, obviously having propped the device up on something for convenient hands-free dialogue] So it’s come to my attention that people’s bodies don’t tend to stick around when they die, which is...fascinatingly creepy, I must admit. [He pauses to smile, somehow both charming and sheepish at the same time. Honestly it’s something he’d like to investigate later, but that’s not really the point at the moment.] But, I imagine it makes investigating deaths a little tricky. [He continues quickly, hands raised in the air, realizing how bad that probably sounded] Ah! Not that I’m wishing death on any of you…
It’s just that, back home, I worked for the medical examiner’s office...and that, on top of the backward nature of technology around here...means that I am somewhat at a loss for a line of work. A man of many talents such as I… [he accents this with another smile, cocky and vaguely suggestive] would be rather wasted busing tables. If anyone has something a bit more stimulating available, I am more than available. [The last comes with the hint of a pleading look. Forget dying from lack of sex. Dying from boredom was even worse.]
» Third Person Sample Choice: Prompt #1 - http://amatpartygames.dreamwidth.org/31292.html?thread=2613564#cmt2613564
» Journal: ladydragon
» Birthdate/Age: January 1984/ Age 30
» Characters Played: None
» Re-App Status: N/A
CHARACTER FACTS
» Name: Nigel Townsend
» Canon: Crossing Jordan
» Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_Jordan
» Canon Point: Between episode 6x16 and 6x17
» Gender: Male
» Age: Approximately early thirties. There is no solid canon evidence for this, but the main character turns thirty near the end of the show’s run, and given his appearance and the presumption of similar amount of training/education, he’s likely somewhere near her in age.
CHARACTER INTERPRETATION
» Appearance: Nigel is a very tall man, standing at six foot four, and appropriately lanky. He is pale-skinned and his hair is black, worn long and cut straight just above his shoulders and with long sideburns. He also tends to wear earrings, usually silver hoops, though the number and location vary it’s usually no more one in the right and three in the left. He is vaguely handsome, with a long nose, small brown eyes, and a slightly receding hairline (or maybe just a very tall forehead), but also a square chin and full lips flanked by deeply-etched smile lines. When he smiles -which is often - it is wide, toothy, and brilliant.
» Suitability: N/A
» Orientation: Mostly heterosexual. Nigel is largely seen to flirt with and show interest in women in canon, and even has one on-screen relationship with a woman, though it is implied he has had other relationships of indeterminate genders. Jordan, noticing Nigel’s good mood before a date, instantly presumes that it’s with a woman, although when he remains silent it’s Bug that hesitantly uses the gender neutral pronoun ‘person’. It is also stated by at least of the shows creators, that Nigel has a crush on the shows female lead, Jordan, and this is why he will do nearly anything for her. However, it should be noticed that the ambiguity of Nigel’s sexuality is a large part of his characterization. After inviting a male co-worker on a ski-trip, for example, the man begins to suspect Nigel’s intentions, especially after Nigel slaps him on the ass. When he breaks down and outright asks about this, Nigel neither confirms nor denies his orientation. In another instance, he easily flirts with Woody, a male detective, though it seems partly only to mess with him. He has canonically stated that he likes girls, but this was also said in response to his friend Bug, who he had just asked to marry him (to get a green card).
» Personality: Nigel’s initial role in the series is precisely what he appears to be to world. He’s the plucky, eccentric, tech-minded individual who is known for his snarky humor, and glowing charm. As a forensic criminalist, his very job description involves dissecting the smallest traces of evidence for clues, and he takes great pride in his work - so much so that he can’t seem to help but gleefully break down his process to others every time he makes a discovery. This happens so often that other characters make attempts to cut him off and ask him to get to the point, much to his rather obvious disappointment. He also literally hoards knowledge, as he’s shown to keep shelves upon shelves of personally compiled notebooks on everything from different blends of coffee to indigenous plants to car upholstery. He also just seems to know a lot in general from a combination of schooling, life experience, and television. His encyclopedic knowledge is however not perfect. For instance, he confuses a centaur for being half goat instead of half horse. Not only being skilled scientifically (he even invents unique chemical processes for finding certain clues), Nigel is also incredibly tech-savvy. While not exactly in his job description, he uses these skills frequently to hack computers, enhance images, and digitally reconstruct crime scenes and faces. He even writes his own programs designed to automatically cross-reference different databases and to store the morgue’s records. Of course, his expertise isn’t fool-proof. In one instance, the digital system he engineers for the morgue ends up crashing, and in his hubris Nigel failed to make paper backups. Oddly enough, despite being a considerable scientific mind, Nigel is frequently apt to believe in possibilities that lay beyond scientific explanation. He’s been willing to put his faith in everything from aliens, to vampires, to astronomical phenomena causing bad luck on Earth. While often proved wrong, sometimes by his own devices, Nigel sometimes seems genuinely let down when it happens.
Nigel has a flamboyant personality and a way of charming his way into the good graces of everyone who don’t otherwise find him strange or annoying. He effortlessly steals away an attractive historian from the attentions of two of the morgue’s other techs by showcasing his knowledge and waxing poetic on the nature of chivalry. He’s always ready with a joke, usually of the suggestive or off-color variety, and prefers to liven the mood whenever he can. During a semi-disastrous dinner party at his co-worker Jordan’s apartment, it’s Nigel that comes prepared with alcohol and a ridiculous party game to save the day. His general tone when speaking is often vaguely flirtatious no matter who he’s speaking to, and he carries himself with a certain amount of cockiness.
His personal life is something of a mystery. Other than the one relationship he has on screen, he makes only vague references to casual sexual conquests and other characters seem aware of other significant others, though always of unspecified genders, and he has a reputation among his friends as being something of a pervert. Additionally, Nigel doesn’t always bother with things like tact and professionalism, and is often casually insubordinate to his boss Dr. Macy. This gains a new depth when we learn he joined the Royal Navy when he was 19, and that his father apparently drove him to the recruiters even earlier than that, saying it was a form of tough love that helped him out in the long run. The implication here being that, among other allusions to his blue collar background and wild escapades, he was straightened out by the experience and that the current version of his personality is what remains after being tempered by military discipline. Which is to say, not very much.
His outer confidence, however, is more fragile than it first appears. Not very deep down, Nigel cares deeply for his friends, feels intense empathy for strangers, and is a determined romantic. He often puts himself at risk to help his friends - especially Jordan - whose crusading and not-entirely-legal methods of finding the truth lands her in tenuous positions. The creators have implied that Nigel has romantic feelings for her, which leads him to do nearly anything she asks, such as running tests for her when she’s been pulled off a case. But it’s not just her that he cares for. When Bug is attacked by a mobster bent on stealing evidence, it’s Nigel that goes out with the police to search for the suspect and that spends nearly every other waking moment at his bedside, almost constantly on the edge of tears. In another instance, when he and Bug are auditioning as hosts of a true stories medical investigation show, the production staff decide they want only the photogenic and extroverted Nigel over Bug. He turns it down rather than hurt his friend’s feelings. Of course, most of the morgue staff share a spark of Jordan’s drive for justice, and Nigel is no exception. In one episode, he goes to great lengths to hunt for the son of a British man who turns out to be a thief, but Nigel is determined in spite of this because he believes in the man’s good intentions. Also, not having a good relationship with his own father, Nigel is particularly struck by the fatherly devotion and ends up being inspired to call his dad as a result. In another case, it is Nigel who gives a surprisingly insightful and heartfelt speech to JD, Jordan’s then-boyfriend, on the nature of love when he learns the man is considering a proposal.
One of the best insights into Nigel’s character comes during the appropriately titled episode “Revealed”, when he and the detective Woody Hoyt cooperate on a case in which a man appears to have been killed by a vampire. During the course of the case, it comes to light that the supposed vampire was a fake. Near the end, Nigel, who had previously navigated the goth club they’d gone looking for suspect in with ease, looks on through the mirror as Woody asks the man why he’d invented his vampire persona. He explains it was a simple matter that he was boring, but the vampire was interesting and he finally found a place he fit in. As he speaks, Nigel listens and is seen nodding sadly. Not only is his illusion of the fantastic shattered, but the parallel between him and the other man is textually and visually obvious - Nigel understands because he too presents himself as someone larger than life in order to make people like him. There is little evidence one way or the other to indicate whether the claims Nigel makes about his personal life are true or not, but the small breaks in character here and there give good cause to suspect that much of the way he presents himself is a lie or were once lies and have become part of who is. Even his signature humor is sometimes a shield. He reveals to a therapist after a bombing that he often resorts to humor when he’s anxious. Despite his outward attitude that indicates he’s perfectly fine with casual flings, his one on-screen romance seems to indicate he longs for something deeper. In the episode, the woman he’s with has a young daughter that Nigel appears to care intensely for. It turns out she is using Nigel’s talents to fake her death in order to steal custody away from her (allegedly evil) ex-husband. When he finds out, Nigel is visibly devastated, but makes the choice to bring her to justice as she had not only betrayed his trust, but the father turned out to be a decent person after all. In the end, he did what was right as he and his colleagues so often do. He is, in fact, far more sensitive that his sometimes shallow, joking exterior would suggest. In another episode, the cast engage in a tradition of roleplaying cold case murders in order to see if they can solve them. When it at first seems that Nigel’s assigned character is going to be the murderer, he nearly walks out on the group, hurt and fed up with the fact that he is frequently cast as the perverted killer type. His friends only tease him about this until one character relents and lets on that his role may in fact not be that of the antagonist. While he may present himself as someone left of center, he isn’t at all a bad person, and would rather not be excluded from the group.
Ultimately, Nigel is really just a giant geek, possessing of a wild-eyed sense of wonderment at the universe, that puts on a show for people because he wants to be loved and, despite his genuine audacity, is far more shy and private than he lets on.
» Re-App Changes: N/A
SAMPLES
» First Person Sample Choice: Prompt #2 -
[The video feed jostles for a moment before Nigel appears in the frame, obviously having propped the device up on something for convenient hands-free dialogue] So it’s come to my attention that people’s bodies don’t tend to stick around when they die, which is...fascinatingly creepy, I must admit. [He pauses to smile, somehow both charming and sheepish at the same time. Honestly it’s something he’d like to investigate later, but that’s not really the point at the moment.] But, I imagine it makes investigating deaths a little tricky. [He continues quickly, hands raised in the air, realizing how bad that probably sounded] Ah! Not that I’m wishing death on any of you…
It’s just that, back home, I worked for the medical examiner’s office...and that, on top of the backward nature of technology around here...means that I am somewhat at a loss for a line of work. A man of many talents such as I… [he accents this with another smile, cocky and vaguely suggestive] would be rather wasted busing tables. If anyone has something a bit more stimulating available, I am more than available. [The last comes with the hint of a pleading look. Forget dying from lack of sex. Dying from boredom was even worse.]
» Third Person Sample Choice: Prompt #1 - http://amatpartygames.dreamwidth.org/31292.html?thread=2613564#cmt2613564
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