Natalie Gardiner

Natalie Gardiner (or Natalie Pembroke), formerly Nathan Pembroke, is one of the main characters of Cinder Isle. She was originally a young boy named Nathan who snuck onto the island with his father who was investigating the curious story of the island told to the outside world during the outbreak of the T1-G1 Virus. They were both captured by the military and forced to join the inhabitants of the island under military quarantine. Nathan became somewhat of an outsider due to being the only fresh face at the local high school but was invited to join the group of Zoey Houlton, Gavin Scarborough and Shane Gardener becoming their fourth member and officially forming "The Quad". He was then infected a short time later becoming Natalie. She then continued her life in quarantine on the island with the others and eventually helped them in finding out the truth about the virus.
== Appearance ==
As Nathan he is depicted as a skinny and average built young man with a tan skin tone, green eyes and blonde hair. He was usually seen dressed in a basic shirt jeans and a coat. As Natalie she is shown to have moderate curves and long blonde hair with small flecks of darker shades in it. She is also much shorter as a girl and her eyes seem slightly larger compared to when she was a boy. 
== History ==
=== Story Appearances ===
Animation Series
* Awakening
Comic Series
* Cinder Isle (debut)
Beyond Comics
* Cinder Isle: The Cure
== Personality ==
As both Nathan and Natalie she is very curious and inquisitive. Natalie had always wanted to follow in her father's foot steps and be an investigative journalist and as such she tends to always look for answers and find her next big story. Outside of her profession Natalie is shown to be very kind and open minded as she is quick to adjust to her female form and is very accepting of certain unconventional relationships such as how she briefly entertained the possibility of going back to being Nathan yet maintaining his relationship with Sandra even if she also went back to being Shane. Natalie is also the most outgoing and goal focused of the quad as it was her who pushed the other three to start taking action and finding out more about the virus rather than just sit by as the pandemic escalates around them. 
By the time she elects to remain a girl and be with Shane Natalie has even begun to think of things like motherhood and having a baby one day. While Alistair presents her with a wild card in the form of the bracelet that would change her back to being Nathan should she ever desire it she is shown to have never used it and eventually had her two children.
== Relationships ==
=== Shane Gardiner ===
When Nathan first became part of the Quad he seemed to quickly form a closer friendship with Shane, likely due to Zoey's denied attraction to Gavin pushing her more towards him than the other two. After he was infected and becomes Natalie she is not too quick to pursue a relationship with him but as time progresses the two grow closer with Natalie joining Shane and the Gym and seeming to become more and more attracted to him now that his diet has resulted in him slimming down a great deal. Since Gavin and Zoey eventually begin to date and spend more time with each other they see the beginnings of Natalie being attracted to Shane and pushes him to ask her out. He eventually follows through with that plan but soon after their first date out Shane is infected and becomes Sandra. In spite of her transformation Natalie still feels attracted to her and two continue their relationship. 
After the truth of the virus is revealed and a cure becomes an option both Natalie and Sandra are unsure what they want to do as they both have come to love each other but fear going back to how they used to be would change how they feel towards each other. They even briefly say they could both change back and give being a gay couple a try but this is not talked about too much. Eventually the two begin to talk about it more and more and experiment around a bit trying to be certain they are 100% sure what they want to do when the time comes. On the nigh Alistair prepares to cure to cure the island they officially announce that Natalie will remain a girl and Sandra will go back to being Shane. That way they can stay together. Natalie also admits that she's come to enjoy the pleasures of being a woman and is even more eager to explore them with Shane by her side. Even mentioning parenthood as a possibility for her one day. She eventually comes to marry Shane and have two kids with him as well as remain very close to Zoey and Gavin who have also had their own kids
== Gallery ==
Only-Fox-Friday-009-NatalieSD.jpg|Natalie pinup in Only Fox Fridays Week 9SapphireFoxx: Only Fox Fridays: Week 9
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== Trivia ==
* The circumstances of Natalie's infection in the non-canon beyond comic Cinder Isle: The Cure are unclear as Zoey would not have been able to infect her through sexual fluids due to her maintaining her male penis. 
== References ==
Category:Females
Category:Cinder Isle characters
Category:Nonbloods