nate-strauss

[nate-strauss]

If a genie offered to grant you any three wishes (and you couldn't wish for more) what would they be?

"A lifetime of happiness for my three siblings, for birds not to be scary anymore and an unlimited supply of Dr Pepper."

[nate-strauss]

three people you would smooch?

"I guess I'd have to go for Kennedy, Holly, I guess that one is obvious. The third one, let's go for a wildcard. Vanna, I don't know her, but she's cute, let's go with her."

ft. @kennedyastor, ft. @hollyparkcr, ft. @vanna-huang

[nate-strauss]

A sex tape just landed in your hands... and you get to watch! Who would you not mind seeing in action?

"This really isn't my thing. I'm sure everyone would perform really well on their sex tapes, but if one landed in my hands, I would hand it back."

[nate-strauss]

👐 you get a lot of residual hate from people around town, but is there anyone YOU dislike?

"Honestly, not really. No one comes to mind. There are things that irritate me about people, but I wouldn't say anything is bad enough that I dislike them."

[nate-strauss]

Would you rather get back with Holly or have another best selling book?

“Who’s had a best selling book? Nathaniel Strauss doesn’t have any books on Amazon. Sorry, must be the wrong person!”

“I’d probably have to go for the book. Holly and I have a lot to discuss before we even know if that’s something on the horizon, but right now our relationship is over and my career isn’t.”

[nate-strauss]

👐 snog, marry, pie: civan, shane, travis

“You can tell this town hates me with how many answers I give that risk me getting punched. I’ll pie Travis, again, it’s just because I know him the least. I’ll snog Shane and marry Civan. We can share cardigans and buy each other matching slippers for our anniversaries.”

ft. @civanguneri, ft. @travmarshall, ft. @shanepcrker

[nate-strauss]

because we like putting you on the spot... hug, punch or kill. Wes, Shane & Trav

“Jesus Christ. I’d kill Travis, I know him the least, I guess I’d hug Shane and punch Wes, then promptly get knocked out when he punches me back.”

ft. @travmarshall, ft. @wesparkcr, ft. @shanepcrker

[nate-strauss]

👐 What's the issue with you and Travis?

"I wouldn't say there's an issue really. He used to date my best friend and he hurt her, because of that, I'm always going to be protective over her around him. But I wasn't in town then and it was a long time ago, so I wouldn't say I have an issue. I just don't want Allie to suffer any more hurt."

ft. @travmarshall, ft. @aliscncooper

[nate-strauss]

What family member are you closest to?

“Either my youngest sister or my mom. We have a very close knit family and I am close to my step siblings and my step dad as well, so I count myself very lucky.”

[nate-strauss]

👐 have you dated much after you left?

"Very little. I went on a few dates towards the end of my time in DC and I haven't been on any dates since I've been back in town."

[nate-strauss]

Which Parker brother do you think you could take?

"Take? Like fight? Neither of them, their muscles have muscles and I think they wrestle animals for a living."

ft. @wesparkcr, ft. @shanepcrker

[nate-strauss]

👐 favorite type of bird?

"A penguin."

[nate-strauss]

Who is scarier, Lia or Holly?

Not even a question, it's Lia. The last time I saw her, she told me she had a dream about setting me on fire and she woke up in a really good mood from it. Holly has never threatened to murder to me, to my face anyway.

[nate-strauss]

"I'm not pissed, I'm protective. There's a difference." Nate might not have been around a lot after the fallout of Allie and Travis' relationship, but he had been around for enough of the tragedy in Allie's life to want to wrap her in bubble wrap for the rest of her life. "But she's been through enough and if you can't be a consistent person in her life and there's a chance you're going to hurt her again, I can't just stand by and not try and protect her from that happening." It wasn't just him defending his friend, it was defending someone who he saw as his sister.

"They're only goldfish but I truly hope you have that dream, it sounds pretty cool." He wasn't going to get into the fact that he had created a waterproof pride flag that sat in the corner of his fish' tank. That one he could keep to himself for a little bit longer. "Maybe a rainbow trout though, you know? For theming."

Lifting his water bottle in response, Nate nodded towards him. "You're more than welcome, this is what I do."

THE END.

Travis watches Nate with a kind of quiet reverence, that smirk of his twitching just a bit at the corners as Nate speaks. There's a flicker of something akin to regret, maybe? or just the sharp sting of being called out in a way that actually lands, on his face. He doesn’t interrupt though, doesn’t offer some snarky retort to the jab about not necessarily needing a lesson on his best friend. He just sits with it.

Then, after a beat too long to be comfortable, he exhales through his nose, a short, almost resigned sound. "Fair enough," he says, nodding slowly. His fingers finally stop drumming. "You’re pissed on her behalf. I get it. I wasn’t there, not in the ways I should’ve been. I never meant to wreck her though. That wasn’t the plan." His voice is steady now, however there’s a glimmer of something a little raw underneath it. "Yet, I did. I know that."

He leans forward slightly, elbows on the table, eyes still on Nate but softer than before—not sharp, not challenging. Just... direct.

"And no, I didn’t set out to hurt her. I was young, stupid, and scared outta my damn mind. Thought I was doing her a favor by stepping out of the picture before I made things worse. Turns out I just made a different kind of mess." He lets that sit in the open space between them, not bothering to dress it up into something a little more pretty or neat. "So if you’re looking for some grand justification or some secret motive... there isn’t one. Just me. Screwing up. Then regretting it every day since."

He doesn’t try to make it sound noble. He doesn’t even try to defend himself. He just says it like it is and lets it stay there, heavy and simple.

Then, maybe sensing things are tipping too far into the serious side of things again, Travis snorts at the mention of the gay fish. "Man, if that line ever shows up in my nightmares, I’m blaming you personally. Like, I’ll wake up in a cold sweat wondering if a trout in a pride flag told me the meaning of life."

His grin returns, and this time it’s easier. More real. "But you’re right—hell of a page we’re on. Smells like sunscreen, broken dreams, and probably several poor life decisions. Perfect festival reading material."

He leans back again, lifting his bottle slightly in a kind of half-toast. "To the worst table at the hottest festival, and the weirdest start to a conversation I’ve had in a long time." Beat. Leave it to Nate. "Thank you for that."

[nate-strauss]

Location: Luther's Rare & Well Done Starter for: @kennedyastor

When he was writing, Nate locked himself in his house and got as much down as he could, the sanctity of his beach front house with its view of the ocean being the only place his mind settled enough to write. He had tried when the library was quiet, but there was nothing like the comfortable set up of his home office. When he was planning or toying with ideas however, he liked to be out and about so he could be inspired by a blue shirt, or a sly look across the street. The littlest things could spark an idea.

The latest thing, was a strawberry milkshake. Scribbling down an idea that had stemmed from dropping a splash on the table when he had stirred the cream into the shake, Nate was laser focused on the page in front of him, not noticing the people around him. It was a while before he realised someone was standing at his table and as he looked up, he noticed the rest of the restaurant looked deserted. "Sorry, did you say something?" Closing the book now his idea was written down, he looked up at waitress who had brought him his drink not that long ago. "Are you going to tell me you're closed and I need to finish this milkshake in one?"

[nate-strauss]

"She's also terrifying and I'm far too scared of her to talk to her in the hope that she might forgive me." He had never got the sense from Lia when he had met her, but seeing her around town now sent an icy chill down his spine.

He was grateful that Emil had been so understanding. Considering how many people in town hated him already, it was a relief that Nate didn't have to add one more name to the list. It was a list that was apparently quite hard to keep track of. "Honestly, I have the same sort of thing. It takes a hell of a lot for me to hold a grudge for a serious amount of time." Even with his ex-fiancee, who would be deserving of it.

Nodding his head in gratitude, Nate smiled at the man. "Thank you, I do appreciate it. It's quite nice to be able to apologise to someone in this town and not get my head bitten off, which has become a bit of a rare thing honestly." Nate was aware that Emil would always be team Holly, but at least there wouldn't be any animosity between the two. "I like to think I'm not anyway, just someone who has made a bad decision in the past." Glancing back down at Hercules, Nate reached down a hand to stroke his head. "He really is a cute one."

The hint of a laugh parted his lips, "Yeah, I can... get that." In Nate' shoes, he'd be pretty rattled too. Lia might be tiny, and adorable, but he fully believed if there was cause the woman could take a chunk out of someone. Holly too. A cringe decorated his features as the man thanked him, "Eh... It's not as altruistic as it seems." At least, Emiliano did not believe so. He knew his own temperament too well. "I'm one of those people who finds it exhausting to actively dislike someone. Ya know, when you can just feel the dread kick in at seeing them around town an' all." There was enough of that, with exes and former high school classmates he opted to avoid. He didn't like feeling on edge, and there was some quiet deep seeded anxiety that stirred when he unconsciously was aware of some ever growing list of people the man might hope to not run into. "But hey, who hasn't got drunk and shouted at an innocent bystander before yeah?" Emil certainly couldn't say he hadn't. "Doubt it'd be worth swearin' you're a bad guy over." Alright, there was reason to assume poorly of his character but Holly had once been with him for a reason.

[nate-strauss]

"Aw come on, she revealed the best location?" Luckily, it seemed that even if she had, people still didn't know the men were there or just simply didn't care. Nate had nothing against getting involved in the celebrations, the colours on his shirt proving that he had been in amongst it, but there was something truly amusing about shocking people with clouds of colour whenever they walked somewhere around his hiding place. "Brilliant, isn't it? If only I could find a way to throw it over the top, it would be even better, but I think it would just fall straight back down onto us."

At the surprised squeal from the couple they jumped out on, Nate quickly tossed the colour and ran, ducking back into his hiding place before Niko joined him with his few steps back. "Apparently so, I overheard someone talking about it earlier about how the different colours mean different things, but I don't much about it myself." Although with how much fun he was having, it was definitely something he'd be looking into. "It makes me want to go to a proper one, you know? Imagine this on a bigger scale. I wonder if they have bigger tactics to get people completely covered in colour." The event definitely spoke to Nate's inner child. "Need to figure out a way to catapult the colour next time."

     ❝ It is, and you're right, she does. She may not be as agile anymore, but she's got the stare of an eagle. ❞ For a moment, Niko broke his attention away to watch his γιαγιά move the the periphery of the Holi celebration. ❝ She's a bit of a menace, though, so she might've called out your location because you found it first. ❞ Laughter spilled after witnessing Nate's tactics in action and seeing the reaction from the person that had gotten bested. ❝ You're just up here in your ivory tower picking people off, ❞ the amusement was unmistakable in his voice.

After taking cue from Nate, he dipped his hand into the vibrant pink power and looked at it at first. Thick in his palm and rich in color like some of the spice markets he'd been to in his travels. The consistency was soft rather than granular. When the male went around the bush to seige on an unsuspecting couple, Niko followed suit on a bystander just entering the scene. The burst of color stained the front of the person's shirt and Niko had taken a few steps backward, laughter spilling out of him. ❝ I never have but this is great. Now I want to learn about it, ❞ he admitted, still with a grin in place as he dusted his hands. ❝ Any idea if the colors mean anything? ❞