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Name: vic
DW username: n/a
E-Mail: sliversofjade [at] gmail [dot] com
IM: vicioushallway @ aim

Other Characters: n/a

Character Name: Nick Hardaway
Series: Stephen King's Rose Red
Timeline: Post-death.
Canon Resource Link:

Rose Red @ IMDB
Rose Red @ Wikipedia

Character Background:

Canonically, little is known about where Nick came from or what he was up to prior to the Rose Red project. All that's really known, besides the events of what took place during the series, is that Nick is a) British, and b) psychically talented. From the events unfolding in the series it is also possible to glean that he has quite a bit of experience with psychic phenomenon such as hauntings and abilities within others. Nick is not particularly open about his powers within the series (he remains quite vague about them, when questioned he simply replies with 'a little of this, at little of that'), and it can be assumed that this carries over to others without powers (within the series it is quite obvious that those who believe in supernatural phenomena are regarded as whack-jobs). He's assumed single, as he makes no mention to any significant other or even to family members; any surviving family are perhaps overseas.

Nick first appears in the series during an orientation session for those psychics who have been recruited for the Rose Red project. During the meeting he picks up on one of the major motivations (scorn from the other members of her faculty) for the project leader Joyce, but does not speak up. He questions the number of people who have disappeared or died in Rose Red, as well as when the last disappearance was. When Joyce and the others refer to the house as a 'dead cell,' a place with no lingering paranormal phenomena, Nick quietly expresses his skepticism.

After the orientation he and most of the other members of the project head to a bar, where they introduce themselves and Nick inquires about their abilities. When it comes his turn to show off his 'talents' Nick won't specify, but the audience does see him looking at a vision in his drink where he sees a vision of Joyce and another member of the group kissing. When it comes to the actual events within Rose Red, the audience sees Nick picking up on the 'echos' of memories within the house and another member of the group, Steve, and later he guides the young girl Annie through forcing the house to reshape itself. Nick is the first of the group to point out that the house is feeding on them, using their energy to reawaken itself, and later confirms that Annie is keeping them within Rose Red by holding the door and windows shut with her own abilities.

Judging from Annie, the youngest member of the group, and how her psychic abilities were present at the age of five, abilities seem to be present in individuals from at least early childhood. While it is mentioned that every human has some level of psychic awareness, the strength and manifestation within each individual person varies greatly and does not rely on hereditary.

Nick's death, which is also the canon point I am pulling him from, comes near the end of the series, where he and Cathy, an automatic writer, are pursued down a hallway by a creature that travels under the carpet. Nick pushes Cathy through a doorway, telling her to shut it, and when he turns back there is a quick shot of one of the monsters in the house rushing at him, then nothing. Only a few seconds later, when Cathy reopens the door to try and help, Nick has vanished. At the finale, when Annie is attacking Rose Red, he is seen amongst a group of ghouls made up of those who have died within the house.

Abilities/Special Powers:

"I do a little of this, a little of that, and sometimes I get lucky and things turn out alright."
Nick's exact abilities are never entirely set out for us, leaving the viewer to piece together his skill set from show, rather than tell. He's a psychic, and implied to be a rather powerful one given the ease with which is uses his abilities, capable of such feats as telepathy and remote-viewing (he's shown to use his beer to scry, at one point). The former is used to read into people, their memories, thoughts, emotions, and so on. He's also shown a knack for precognition. Naturally all of these abilities would require player permission for him to use them on him.

Third-Person Sample:

Death. Nick hadn't known exactly what he expected of death, but this certainly wasn't it. There had been fear, of course. The fear of the unknown, of the rushing entity under the carpet, of the flash of fang and claw that came before the pain. Brief, sharp pain. Darkness. Then blue sky. Green grass. A pleasant breeze stirring his hair. The juxtaposition was so sharp it took his breath away, left him sitting in the grass staring up at the sky wondering what, exactly, had just happened. Where the house had gone. What was going on.

Slowly he took stock of himself, of his surroundings. He was intact, minus a few bumps and scrapes he'd acquired while inside Rose Red. That alone was enough to make him wonder, considering what the thing under the carpet had done to him, but he shoved the bizarreness of it away long enough to continue his inventory. He was on a lawn of some sort, manicured and almost painfully green after the dark wood and furnishings of the house. It was both a literal and figurative breath of fresh air, and he was tempted to simply lay back in the grass and breathe.

The thing under the carpet had taken him. This wasn't Rose Red. He was outside and, for the moment at least, alone. He could only hope Cathy had made it to safety, that his sacrifice had perhaps not been entirely in vain. With any luck the others would have found her, or she them, and they all would have managed to find a way out of the house without further loss of life or bodily harm.

Nick found himself surprisingly calm, all things considered. He'd never been one prone to panic, but even in the face of this wall of oddities he kept his head. He'd need to find someone, anyone, who could tell him where he was and what was going on. Perhaps some of the others would be here as well, if this wasn't some sort of bizarre afterlife. Depending on the answers he found, then he would decide if it was worth panicking.

First-Person Sample:

Life has a funny way of surprising you, doesn't it? Or I suppose I should say death, all things considered.

[ He sighs, a little wistfully, a little thoughtfully. He certainly doesn't seem particularly perturbed by anything. ]

I must say, given all the possibilities of the afterlife, the idea of winding up in Wonderland of all places is a little surprising. Perhaps Carroll was on to something and not merely on something.

[ He smiles a little, a private quirk of his lips. ]

But here I am, talking to myself like I have a captive audience. Which I suppose I do. You'll have to forgive me, I do have a tendency to speak quite a bit without saying very much.

My name is Nick. I don't suppose I could trouble someone to show me around? I haven't had much luck with large houses recently.