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Character Profiles > Nate Kinski Meyne Wyatt

Nate Kinski 2014-
Parents: Leo Kinski
Occupation: Ex-Soldier, Assistant/Temporary Manager at Sonya's Nursery

The mysterious Nate Kinski arrived in Erinsborough to stay with Susan Kennedy, who had once briefly been married to his uncle, Alex. Passing through the area as he had an 'appointment', Nate quickly caught the eye of Chris Pappas, one of Susan's neighbours, and decided that he might stick around for a little longer. Nate's odd behaviour and stilted conversation confused Susan and her husband Karl, whilst Chris found him interesting, if a little distant. However, during their first day - a picnic with some of Chris's friends at Lassiter's park - a man started hassling Paige, wanting a turn on the totem tennis, and Nate shocked everyone by violently grabbing the man and wrestling him to the ground.

Chris was left confused by Nate's behaviour, as was Susan when she heard about it. However, she had been attempting to get Nate to open up, as the young man was struggling to sleep and then told Susan that the reason he was in town was to attend the funeral of his friend Pony. As Susan helped him to find a shirt to wear the funeral, after he damaged his own, he started to talk to her a little more about how important Pony had been to him, though he refused Susan's offer to attend the funeral with him. Armed with this information, she told Chris to be patient with Nate, and not to write him off for his strange behaviour until he knew more about the reasons behind it.

It wasn't until Erinsborough was hit by a tornado, and Nate helped Susan to cope as she saved Lou Carpenter's life, that he started to open up more about his time as a soldier and some of the things he'd seen. As Susan started acting as counsellor to Nate, he became a little more comfortable in Erinsborough and stuck around to make a go of things with Chris, but was still reluctant to talk to his new boyfriend about his past, leading to an argument between them during Kyle and Georgia's hen and buck's nights. When Chris was then coward punched outside the Waterhole, and hit his head causing brain damage, Nate became prime suspect, causing tension as he waited at the hospital for news. However, Josh Willis then came forward, admitting that he'd been drinking when he shouldn't have, and had taken out his frustrations about ex-girlfriend Amber on an innocent Chris. Nate then surprised everyone by sticking with Chris as he started to deal with the injuries he'd suffered, along with his memory lapses. Nate continued to talk to Susan, but his anger once again surfaced when a meeting with Chris's mum Patricia went badly. Nate ended up taking out his frustrations on a motorist, and then on Susan, and almost getting himself kicked out of the Kennedy house in the process. As Susan then continued to counsel Nate, he began to deal with his post-traumatic stress, but also fell into a role as carer, rather than boyfriend, with Chris.

It was then Susan's turn to struggle, as she found herself suffering from nightmares after listening to Nate's stories about war, and she considered going to see a counsellor herself. When Nate found out, he felt guilty and agree to start speaking to a professional counsellor instead of Susan, but found it very difficult to open up to a completely stranger. Unbeknownst to Susan and Chris, Nate's nightmares started to plague him again, and he used an old trick of digging and filling holes to try to help. After learning from Chris that Nate had stopped wanting to share a bed with him due to the nightmares, a concerned Susan then spotted Nate out near Lassiter's one night. She spotted him digging a hole and went over, only to slip and fall in. When Nate then returned and started filling in the hole, he was unaware that Susan was lying inside, but fortunately her phone rang and Nate found her just in time. The incident made him realise that he had to start dealing with his issues properly, and Susan helped him to find a new counsellor who he could get along with.

Following a happy first Christmas together, Nate and Chris's relationship soon came under strain when Lucy Robinson returned to Erinsborough. Whilst in town early in 2014, she and Chris had discussed the idea of having a baby together, as she wasn't getting any younger and felt that Chris would be the perfect person to help her. Chris had been thinking over the idea for months, and Nate was aware of it, though was clearly not as keen on the idea as his boyfriend. Though he made it clear that he had no ambitions to be a father, Nate went along with the idea, but was secretly very relieved when, after a series of problems, Chris and Lucy decided not to go ahead with it. He was then alarmed to find out that, just before Lucy had returned to New York, they had changed their minds, and just had to wait a few weeks to find out if she was pregnant. When word came through that Lucy was indeed expecting a baby, it put serious strain on Nate and Chris's relationship, and when Lucy returned for her first scan, and Chris started to talk about alternating between three months in New York and three months in Erinsborough, Nate began to see that his boyfriend was gradually becoming more and more involved in his unborn child's life. Though Nate's problems with entering America - after overstaying his Visa on a previous visit - had been sorted out, he was reluctant to go with Chris, and after not even being asked to attend the scan, he realised that they were moving in different directions and it was time to split up. An upset Chris then accepted an offer from Lucy to go back to New York with her, claiming it would only be for a few weeks, though Nate knew that he probably wasn't coming back, and gave him his St Christopher's medal as a parting gift.

Nate began to slump into a depression following Chris' departure, but with Susan's help, he slowly started to get out more, forming a close friendship with Ramsay Street's newest resident, Tyler Brennan. She also helped him to deal with some of his post-traumatic stress, encouraging him to attend an Anzac Day event, which also marked the centenary of the Gallipoli landings, and then joining him as he met up with some of his old army friends. Nate's career also took a new direction, when he quit his job at the nursery, having realised that Sonya could no longer afford to keep him on. He quickly found a new opportunity when he saw that Ezra Hanley was looking for a new trainee manager at The Waterhole, effectively wanting Sheila to train up someone younger to take over her job. Sheila was very unhappy about the idea, and Nate was left feeling awkward, so they hatched a plan to make Ezra think that they hated each other by arguing in front of him, hopeful that they'd be able to win him over, find out his long-term plans for the bar and stop him. As Nate and Sheila were pretend arguing, some of Sheila's words hit Nate hard, particularly when she called him a coward, as he hadn't dated anyone since Chris left. After Ezra was arrested for assault, Nate was kept on as assistant manager at the bar, and soon Sheila was plotting to find him a new man, suggesting that he try approaching a guy who'd just walked in. As Nate got chatting to the man, Alistair, he asked him out and was met with an angry tirade, with Alistair saying that he was straight, leaving Nate wondering how he could have misjudged the situation so badly.

Soon after, Nate was out on a date with Brett Holden, a guy he'd met at an LGBT event at The Waterhole, when he spotted Alistair on the other side of the bar, and became uncomfortable. Brett misread the situation, thinking that Nate was watching the other guy as he was interested in him, and he cut the date short. As he left the bar, Alistair was confronted by Nate, wanting to know why he was trying so hard to intimidate him, and Nate was then left shocked when Alistair kissed him, before making a quick getaway. The situation was complicated further when Nate found out that Susan was officiating at a wedding, and her client was Coco, Alistair's fiancee. Fully aware that Alistair was in denial about his sexuality, Nate was forced to be honest with Coco when she confronted him about Susan's strange behaviour, leading to Alistair making an official complaint about Susan's conduct. However, newcomer Aaron, Tyler's brother, was keen to help, and show that he could get Alistair to come to terms with being gay. After a night together - which Aaron insisted was just spent talking things through - Aaron seemed to have worked his magic, and Alistair dropped the complaint and called off his engagement.

Meanwhile, Nate had also stumbled upon Tyler's secret - that he'd become involved in a criminal gang, led by Dennis Dimato, who were using the garage as a base for stealing and stripping cars. When Nate called in to meet Tyler, he instead found himself set upon by a heavy, looking for the money that Tyler owed to him. He used his training to defend himself, and offered to pay the money that Tyler owed, but was unsettled by all of the lies - and particularly the fact that Tyler had been beaten up a couple of weeks earlier and was developing an addiction to painkillers. Tyler had claimed that his injuries were the result of a motorbike accident, but when Karl's prescription pad went missing, it didn't take long for Nate to realise who'd taken it. Disgusted, he said that he wouldn't tell Karl, unless asked directly, but it seemed that the incident had come close to ruining their friendship. Desperate to fix some of the damage he'd done, Tyler attempted to set Nate up on a date with Aaron, but the pair quickly realised that they had little in common, with Nate's serious nature at odds with Aaron's happy-go-lucky personality. When the truth then came out about Tyler's double life, he found himself thrown out of home by brother Mark, and Nate managed to persuade Susan and Karl that, despite everything, he deserved a second chance.

As Nate helped Tyler to get his life back on track, he continued to clash with Aaron, but the pair were forced to spend time together when they were locked in a giant perspex box, as a publicity stunt for the relaunch of Lassiter's hotel. As the press watched from outside, Nate and Aaron had to pretend to be a couple in the room, designed to look like one of the hotel's suites, and eventually they went along with it and started to kiss, both slightly taken aback by how much they'd enjoyed it. They continued to clash, however, both struggling to admit that they might actually quite like the other. When Aaron was attempting to help Josh find some female company at the Waterhole one night, things ended badly when the girl's jealous ex-boyfriend turned up, getting into an argument with Aaron - he then waited for Aaron outside and attempted to beat him up, but someone stepped in and stopped him. As Aaron's saviour disappeared into the night, he became convinced that he was somehow destined to meet this man, even printing up posters asking him to get in touch, and he was surprised to find out that his knight in shining armour had actually been Nate, whose PTSD had kicked in afterwards. Slowly realising that there was more to Nate than he'd first realised, Aaron became determined to get to know him better, suggesting that he could teach him tai chi, which might help him to deal better with stress. Though the tai chi session ended badly - when Aaron accidentally kicked Nate between the legs - it did make Aaron realise just how much he liked Nate, who appeared to be the only one not to notice. It was only when Nate and Aaron spent the day together, helping out the struggling Rebecchi family by doing some work at Sonya's nursery, that they got chatting and realised that they actually had a lot in common. They arranged to go on a date, which wasn't entirely a success, as both were trying too hard to impress, and the second date wasn't much better, as Aaron was too busy trying to get the know the Kennedys, neglecting Nate in the process. Meanwhile, Nate was also finding it hard to cope with Aaron's profession as an exotic dancer, and particularly his habit of flirting with the ladies. With Nate feeling that this was dishonest, Aaron changed his relationship status online to show he was in a relationship with Nate, which suddenly brought him more attention from gay men, leaving Nate feeling even more insecure. When Aaron then agreed to perform at a circuit party, Nate complained to Sheila, who decided to help him out by making a noise complaint about the party. Unfortunately, this resulted in Aaron getting into an argument with the officers and falling off the stage, injuring his ankle and leaving him unable to work.

Magic Moments
Episode 6951: Nate's Arrival

Tenure
6951-

Biography by Steve

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