Dr. Sean Patrick Neville

[Dr. Sean Neville]

The Basics

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Name: Sean Patrick Neville, M.D.
Nicknames: Doc, Pat
Age: 52
Orientation: Bisexual
Desired Rank/Job: Psychiatrist (under the counselor/therapist slot)
Powers: Telepathy and Memory Manipulation
Play By:Liam Neeson

The Details

Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Any Piercings? None. Although he had a pierced ear for a few years. It was the seventies, and he’d thought it was a brilliant idea. Eventually, he got sick of it, and the hole closed up. Thankfully, few people remember him during his wild years.
Any Tattoos? None.
Any Scars? One under his left pectoral, which he doesn’t like to talk about.
General Appearance: Sean stands out because of his height, if nothing else. He stands at 6’ 4” which tends to make him the tallest person in the room; he uses it to his advantage, because in his experience, students are impressed by height and pay him cursory respect on that basis alone. He’s of otherwise average build, He’s noticed that his metabolism has slowed with age, and he tries to work at keeping off that bit of paunch; during holidays that goal goes to the wayside.

His eyes are alight with the spirit of his younger self, but the crows feet have built up, and his skin has begun to sag. He’s getting on in years, and he’s keenly aware of that fact. His hair has begun to thin a bit, although it isn’t noticeable. He used to have a beard, but when it started to grow in salt and pepper, he shaved it off. He’s clean shaven now, unless after a particularly bad night.

He dresses precisely the way one would expect when on duty: a suit and tie which are kept as neatly pressed as possible. After all, one must cultivate a certain air of professionalism. When not on duty or around the town, he tends to be found in jeans and a sweatshirt. He has a pair from college that still, somehow, fit, that he’s fond of, patches and all.
Personality: Sean is excellent at keeping secrets, which one must be when one is a telepath. He tends to know precisely what to say to earn another person’s trust and to set him or her at ease. This is a cultivated skill from decades of working with his powers.

He’s cautious in most scenarios, preferring to analyze situations rather than acting without assessment. The few exceptions to the rule are when a loved one calls upon him, or if there’s a crisis that demands immediate attention, such that he doesn’t have time to think.

He’s prone to brief periods of depression, during which time he seeks solitude and will mentally curse those who persist to bother him. These tend to not last more than a day or two, but it makes work a bear during that time.

He’s opinionated, although he tries to keep most of his more controversial opinions to himself, unless someone else starts a debate or argument. Then his senses of honor or pride are invoked, and he’ll talk, argue, or debate until he’s won or his throat is too hoarse to continue. He has a bizarre sense of humor, and a boisterous laugh.

He’s open with others, to a point. He views himself as having three levels: those for others, those for particular people, and those for himself. At this point in life, only his ex’s and Joshua have had access to the second level, and even then, Joshua to the greatest extent. He doesn’t want to be that vulnerable again. Anything from the first level, he’ll discuss with ease, and most areas of life fit there. If someone asks him a question he considers rude, he’ll usually ignore it, rather than inform them that it is rude. That tends to be enough to make his point.

Sean has precious little family left. His parents passed on, and his sister and brother-in-law refuse to see him. He occasionally speaks to, or sees, his nephew, and he adores the young man. Because of his lack of family, he tries to make friends with other staff and occasionally subconsciously takes on a more parental role with the children at the institute.

Your Vices

Likes:
-His ex/best friend – Joshua Bernstein
-Paul Simon music
-His powers
-Chinese food
-Baked goods
-Strong liquor
-Medicine
-Psychiatry
-New York City
-Philosophical discussions
-His nephew
-Children
-Classic movies
-Sailing
-Long drives
-Audrey Hepburn (he had such a crush on her growing up)

Dislikes:
-Horror movies
-Migraines
-Insomnia
-The way his knees ache a little more with each passing day
-Conservative politics
-Organized religion, particularly the religious right
-anything he considers to be anti-medicine or anti-psychology
-Camping
-Modern pop music
-The ravages of age
-Twitter
-The Red Sox
-Feeling helpless
-Bigotry
-Ayn Rand books and her followers
-Violence
-Casual sex

Strengths:
-Knowledge of psychology and medicine
-Working with children
-Foreign languages (he has a talent for picking up enough to get by)
-He has a calming effect on those he works with
-Intelligence
-Control over his abilities
Weaknesses:

-Joshua Bernstein and his effect on Sean’s judgment
-Singing (to say he’s tone deaf is to be generous)
-Migraines (they’ve gotten better over the years, but he’ll suffer them if he pushes himself too hard)
-He’s overly cautious in 90% of situations which can make him appear weak or indecisive.
-As an ex-catholic, he’s rather opinionated on the topic of religion, and once someone gets him started, he won’t stop.
-His occasional bouts of depression and insomnia
-He just isn't as fit as he used to be, because he's getting on in years

Fears:

-Death. After his fiftieth birthday, he became acutely aware of his own mortality, and the thought weighs heavily on him. He doesn’t want to die alone.
-Losing his powers
-Losing control of himself or his sense of self-identity. This hasn’t been a viable problem in a few decades, but he’s never recovered from when the fear was a true possibility.
Secret:
-He regrets not having children himself, and now he’s too old to do anything about it.
-He was in a self-destructive relationship with his oldest friend. They still visit one another and fall into bed in fits of loneliness, and this is terrible for both of them. He doesn’t trust his judgment around the other man.
-There’s a bottle of scotch in one of his desk drawers.

Family Ties

Father: William Neville, deceased
Mother: Mary Neville, deceased
Siblings: Kathleen Neville, 49, estranged
Any Other Important People:
-Ryan Finnerty, nephew, 21

History

Sean was the older of two children born to William and Mary Neville, on Long Island. His father was a doctor, and his mother was a housewife; his parents were conservative, and tried to give he and his younger sister, Kathleen, a traditional 1950s upbringing, complete with weekly mass at the cathedral downtown and his primary and secondary schooling with the Jesuits. Unfortunately for his parents, by the time Sean was ten, the counter-cultural revolution was well underway, and several of his neighbors were spreading the world.

At twelve, Sean’s abilities began to develop; most noticeably he heard voices and simply “knew” things, which he couldn’t explain. Sometimes events would pass and Sean was the only one who would remember, so nobody believed him when he said it had happened. Coupled with this knowledge and the paranoia of hearing what nobody else could and remembering what nobody else did were migraines more painful than he’d before experienced. A relatively healthy child, his parents didn’t know what to do with him. Mental illness was still heavily stigmatized at this point in time, and nobody dared say aloud that he might be crazy. Heaven forbid.

It was in confession with one of the Jesuits, where Sean was nearly in tears from confusion, fear, and pain, that he received an answer. “You aren’t crazy, Sean, and you aren’t any more sinful than the rest of us.” Father Benedict had reassured him that there was nothing wrong him. “You’ve been blessed, Sean; this is a gift from the Lord.”

“If it’s a gift, why does it hurt so much?”

“Not every gift is easy, my son. Jesus himself had to die on the cross for us.”

That kindly priest did more for Sean than anyone else in terms of helping him through the worst crisis he’d ever faced. Sean eventually paid him back by leaving the Church when he lost his faith, although he did go to Father Benedict’s funeral. He even brought a date.

A recruiter from the Hammel Institute found out about Sean and came to his parents, explaining the situation to them, that Sean was gifted, and that it had less to do with religion than with genetics. He passed a blood test and was offered a place as a student. Sean accepted.

His sister never forgave him for leaving her behind. She also never forgave him for leaving the Church, so truly there’s more than enough resentment to go around.

Sean struggled at first at Hammel, partially borne from the isolation and partially from his childish hopes and expectations that this would get easier immediately. It didn’t, and that made everything worse, magnified, of course, by the strain of his powers themselves. Fortunately, one of the teachers was a telepath himself, and knew precisely what Sean was going through. He became a mentor, teaching him to keep his thoughts in and everyone else’s out, how not to touch memories unless he wished to. It took years for him to convince himself that he wouldn’t end up with his mind shattered into pieces from the strain. Life at Hammel was patient and relatively insulated, which was precisely what he needed at the time.

In that time, he managed to absorb enough from his regular classes to be fit for graduation and to attend college. He applied to New York University just as the war in Vietnam was ending, and the counter-cultural revolutions continued to set the city afire. Those four years of college were the most enlightening of Sean’s life: he was a pacifist, he learned, although he knew that from Church. He began to doubt the word of his religion, though, when he met Joshua Bernstein. To begin with, he couldn’t understand how the man who would become his best friend could possibly be condemned to Hell simply for not being Catholic. He didn’t understand why God would make Joshua irresistible, and yet banish him to Hell for thinking that. He didn’t understand why he would feel such an attraction to another man, when he liked women.

He simply didn’t like women enough.

It didn’t help that he knew that Joshua returned the feelings. Finally, as homosexuality was growing more prevalent in the Village, they gave into the urge. Sometime after, Sean decided that if this was wrong, he didn’t want to be right, and that was the end of his active association with organized religion.

Upon graduated, Sean attended medical school, because he wanted to be a psychiatrist. Joshua attended law school, they had an apartment together, and life was...nice. So it seemed.

Their relationship had obsessive elements, and there was a measure of co-dependent behavior on both their parts. Looking back at it, with years of wisdom, Sean understood that they couldn’t remain together and live healthy, active lives. At the time, the breakup nearly destroyed him, and it had been oh so tempting to reach into Joshua’s mind and make him forget. But his conscience stopped him, because that would be a betrayal.

He spent some years in private practice, earning a sizeable living. But eventually, he wanted to do more, and believed that his knowledge and his gifts would be best suited helping those who came after him, at the same institution that had saved his sanity. He applied for a job as a psychiatrist at the Hammel Institute, and he moved back to Vermont.

He’s worked there ever since, serving as a psychiatrist and teaching psychology to the seniors. Never married, he’s found that his relationships don’t tend to work out, and he’s propelled back to Joshua when one or the other of them has a failing relationship. He thinks they’ll do this dance until one of them is dead.

Sean currently lives alone, which he prefers, as it gives him a bit of peace and quiet. He can be found at the institute after dark, lest someone need him.

Roleplay Example

It had been a few days since the doomed therapy session with Tosya; he hadn’t been called since then for a session, which was fine enough. He took his medication as directed and otherwise went through the motions of the day. The medication wasn’t working well; after a few days, he was firm in that opinion. He hadn’t said anything about it because he saw no point in doing so. The nurses wouldn’t listen without a psychiatrist’s directive, and he and his doctor weren’t on speaking terms.

A knock on the door from an orderly alerted him that he had a therapy session now; apparently, Tosya was finally ready to continue their professional relationship. Simon was roused from sleep to put on a pair of shoes and join the orderly for the walk over.

He had nothing to say, which was usually the problem with awkward scenarios for him. He could pretend, of course, but there would always be that knowledge which made the entire matter an exercise in mental gymnastics. He hoped that whatever karma he might have won with the universe given his generally inoffensive behavior that Tosya wouldn’t remember anything, and they could survive the session unscathed.

He had his list of questions to ask and points to raise, since he felt he was entitled in one sense, and because he knew he should tend to matters. Besides, it would make everything appear more normal. Once delivered by the orderly, he knocked and then opened the door carefully, stepped inside quietly, and shut the door behind him. He didn’t sit down.

What About You?

Name: Sean or Neville
Age: I am the alpha and the omega
Experience: Years and years and years
How Did You Find Us? RPG-Directory.com
Ready To Play? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

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[Mads ♥]

ACCEPTED!
Congratulations, you have been accepted to the Hammel Institute. There are some CLAIMS you should look at, and then you have fun. If you need anything, let Tony or myself know. Nice to have you aboard!