User Profile

Name: Atherton Atherley
Age: 52
Position in Hospital: None yet (Psychiarist)
Specialty: Freudian analytical(extremist)
Picture: Nathan Lane

Personality: Atherton has a very simple philosophy, be honest withyourself, and then you are reaching the highest level of truth a man or woman can attain. He doesn't believe in hiding behind comfortable lies about himself, and to that extent he doesn't believe in the 'beatyourself up to make yourself not responsible for changing yourself'. In fact, he'd rather beat you up first to save the trouble of going down that quagmire of emotionality.

Although as Brutally honest he is with himself and others, he does
like people. He wouldn't be in the job he's chosen if he didn't. When
he's not smacking people about for being stupid, he's a charming
individual who knows a great deal about the world. Back in Sydney, and
really any place he's lived in his life, he's always been able to make
friends easily.

He has his own issues - his parents never really understood him, but
that's all right because they died before they really DID. His
relationships weren't always the most kosher, as brutal honesty and
love sometimes take a beating. He also of course has self-image
problems, but he's decided that if he can't be 'gorgeous' he can be
'debonair', and that will have to do.

History: Atherton Atherley was born to the Willoughby-Atherleys ofLondon, New York, Toyko, and Sydney, in the days where jet-setting was the way of life for the rich. He was dropped off in Sydney as a baby as his parents went off to explore the world, but he didn't mind because they always brought the world back with them. Atherton could never remember a time when his life wasn't filled with interesting people, and some of his earliest memories were of sitting at the top of the stairs in his parents house and watching them throw lavish parties for their friends.

It was at one of these parties where he met his
future-friend-for-life, Marilyn Templeton, when the Templetons
themselves became regulars at the Willoughby-Atherley soirees. These
two rich children bonded over a love of people and of travel, not to
mention the love of certain poets. They went to the same private
schools together, even the same University. Marilyn studied Sociology,
while Atherton took a spin in the studies of the mind, and found he
liked it there. He had a real talent from early on of knowing what was
wrong with people - and knowing how to get them to open up whether or
not they wanted to.

Atherton continued afterwards for his medical liscense, and since this
left Marilyn at loose ends, he suggested she broaden her horizons
abroad. He would meet her on vacations, and they would start their
fabulous best friendship going unto their adult years. He thought it
would give her some perspective on where she wanted to take her life.
He never thought that would mean Rowan Chase.

Marilyn returned from Europe with a doctor husband, which disappointed
the Templetons and the Atherleys, who thought that Atherton would be
heartbroken and hate the new rival for Marilyn's time and affections.
Atherton was surprisingly neither, and the fact that he slapped his
emotional bond all over the mostly taciturn Dr. Chase made it hard for
Rowan to deny their friendship.

It was at this time that several things happened - Atherton attained
his practicing license and his parents died, leaving him with the bulk
of their fortune. Yet again, people expected him to be heartbroken,
but Atherton had the love and support of Marilyn and now Rowan, and he
struggled through. He started off a lucrative practice and began
throwing his own lavish parties, becoming the toast of Sydney.

Atherton weathered the Chase's stormy marriage, was named the
godfather to young Robert, and outrightly refused to both of them to
give up his friendships with either. 'Just because the two of you
can't work yourselves out, doesn't mean you can get rid of me.' he
told them both firmly.

However, as Marilyn let herself slip further into the booze and pills,
Atherton forced himself to take a stand and turned away from her,
hoping that she would take the affront as a sign that she needed to
get her life together and save herself before she lost herself, and
her son. His faith in his abilities as a mental healer took a severe
hit when instead, she finished herself off on the bottom of a bottle
of gin. He was heartbroken, and now there was no Marilyn to help him
-- Rowan had distanced himself from the entire situation. Robert
resented him and his father for abandoning his mother in her time of
need. So, in serious need of some mental healing himself, Atherton
left Sydney, closed off his practice, and went to travel the world.

For years he travelled, trying to find himself, occasionally dabbling
in his field again but with no real interest, until he found himself
in Czech - in the town of Rowan's youth and where he met Marilyn.
Atherton found himself calling his old friend, getting Rowan to tell
him how he and Marilyn met and what happened after that.

The same evening, Atherton bought a typewriter and began to write. He
wrote for six months straight, and when he was finished, 'Marilyn -
The Fairytale Princess' was his first serious book on the intriacies
of the traps our mind lays out for us, and how sometimes true love is
not enough. His love for Marilyn shone through the entire thing, as
well as his wit and intelligence.

It earned him his place amongst the world's finest behaviorist
analyists, and the Templetons called him the day after they finished,
crying. They thanked him, forgave him, and repaired the rift between
the two. Chase sent a touching letter - Atherton still has it to this
day - thanking him for giving his mother the fitting eulogy of her
life - honest but loving.

From Rowan, nothing but a letter. For the first time in years,
Atherton found that lacking. So he went to track down the recalictrent
Rowan Chase, and when he found him he cornered the other man into
being his friend again. Rowan, after a token resistance, welcomed
Atherton back with a mixture of love and annoyance that Atherton had
missed over the years. They became nearly as close as Atherton and
Marilyn had been, through the years of both of their success in the
medical field.

So was it any wonder that when Rowan disappeared to America, Atherton
followed? After all, Atherton has been left behind once. He won't ever
do it again.

He's much too pretty for that.

Other:
- Atherton is a huge fan of music - especially classical and opera.
- He has refined taste in Everything, in fact he's known for it.
- He hasn't really worked in practice with patients for awhile. He's
had his regulars, but he knows they're just sadists.
- He has a unique practice - his complete honesty is brutal to the
point of smacking his patients upside the head if they need it.
However, he gets to the heart of the matter ten times faster with his
methodology, so no one's ever called him on it.
- He loves baseball, and not just for the cute uniforms.
- He's also gayer than a tree full of monkeys, and the like.

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