Mark Bryant

A possible profile of Mark by vlasdygoth

   **Byron Mark Bryant** , who prefers to go by Mark, is the younger brother of Dr. Joan Bright. He is a major character in *The Bright Sessions, The AM Archives,* and *The College Tapes.* He is a photographer and a survivor of Tier 5. His ability allows him to mimic the abilities of atypicals around him.

## Biography

From a young age, Mark displayed various atypical abilities. In elementary school, he walked through a door without opening it. In middle school, Mark pushed an older student, who flew really high into the air and had to see the nurse upon landing. He also had an out-of-body experience where time was stopped and he witnessed a neighbor experiencing a heart attack.

As he went through school, he realized that he had a love for the arts and dislike for the sciences. This started in elementary where he discovered he liked music but disliked math; and then in middle school (or high school), he took an elective in beginning photography and loved it. Because of this love of the arts, Mark decided to go to art school for college, though Joan disagreed with the decision.

After he graduated, Mark left to travel the world, but was kidnapped by the AM and sent to Tier 5 for experimentation. Two years into his captivity, he was discovered by Joan, who was then fired from her job at the AM. Joan negotiated with them and it was eventually agreed that he would be released into her custody, until he went into a coma and this agreement was broken. This coma was the result of a time travelling accident that occurred in an experiment with Camille, a time traveler whose abilities allowed her to to mentally travel back in time while her body remained in the present. Camille died during the experiment and Mark, no longer able to access her ability, ended up consciously stranded in 1810 while his body in the present remained unconscious.

Mark remained comatose and trapped in 1810 for 3 years before being rescued by Joan, Sam, and Damien. With Joan's guidance, Sam travelled back in time and effectively pulled Mark's consciousness back to the present. Once he was awake, Damien used his ability to infiltrate the AM and bring Mark outside. Though he had agreed to bring Mark back home to Sam and Joan, Damien goes back on this deal and lies to, manipulates, and effectively kidnaps Mark, forcing him to come along with him on a road trip to get away from both the AM and from Joan. The two spend several months on the road together, though the relationship is manipulative, the two of them do bond. Mark manages to escape by accidentally turning Damien's ability against him, bringing the two of them back to Boston and to Joan and Sam.

## Abilities

Can use the abilities of other atypicals when in proximity to them (approximately 30 feet). The power of someone's ability appears to increase in Mark when he mimics their ability.

## Relationships

### Samantha Barnes

Samantha Barnes is a close friend and romantic interest who visited Mark while he was trapped in the year 1810. After Mark was kidnapped again- this time by Damien, Sam spent her summer driving and time traveling to try to find him. Mark finally returns in season 3 episode 13, walking in on Sam spiraling to Chloe and Joan about Mark possibly thinking she isn't real but he assures her he knows she is. However, the two have a complicated, and ultimately unhealthy, relationship, with Sam going behind Mark's back to protect him and Mark avoiding his problems (and sometimes sister) by hiding at Sam's. The two share some agoraphobia and struggle to actually talk about their issues. Mark's alcoholism becomes a worry of Sam's as is likewise with Mark towards her anxiety and abandonment issues. The two decide to take a break when Mark leaves for an 8-month gig around the country.

(The following contains spoilers for The AM Archives)

Mark returns to Boston in The AM Archives Episode 05, 2 months before he was supposed to. He surprises Sam by walking in the front doors unannounced and dodging her questions. He's immediately met with skepticism by Mags who seems to peg him as a classic shitty boyfriend. He and Sam part ways when she has to go talk to Joan. They don't meet up again until Ghosts, though the two show great concern for one another's well being with Mark asking person he sees until then if they'd seen her and her pressing Owen for Mark's location and safety.

### Damien

Mark has a strange relationship with Robert Gorham, or Damien as he's more commonly referred to. Their relationship began when Damien agreed to help Dr. Bright in breaking her brother out of the AM. Damien accomplishes this in *Zero Hour* and after learning Mark could potentially mimic his ability, he took Mark for himself rather than bringing him back to Joan. He lies to Mark, saying Joan was dangerous and pretending that the Dr. Bright Sam mentioned in 1810 and Dr. B, his therapist, are two different people. Over the next few months, Damien keeps Mark close to his side, courtesy of his ability, as they hopped motel to motel to keep away from the AM and his sister. Their relationship is strained due to the nature of Damien's ability and his refusal to allow Mark to speak with Joan, and his repeated suggestions that Sam was a figment of Mark's imagination. Damien makes Mark relive traumatic events he endured at the AM in his curiosity about the organization, while simultaneously nursing Mark back to health and helping him get his ability back, selfish as his intentions may be. Eventually while Damien was away Mark attempted to call Joan from his phone but was sent to voicemail and left a message for her instead. When Damien returns Mark exposes him for his lies, revealing he contacted his sister and that he knows that Dr. B and Dr. Bright are the same person. This sparks a fight between them which ends with Mark getting his own ability back and usurping Damien's. With this new shift in control Mark forces Damien to return to Boston and reunite with his sister.

Along the way, Damien tries to maintain any semblance of control which extends to breaking his own phone to limit contact with Joan, leading to Mark having to use a payphone to contact her. On one of these such trips, unable to resist Mark's desire to know more about him, Damien reveals the sliver of information that he is scared without his ability and he hates Mark for taking it from him. When they return to Boston, Damien returns Mark to his sister and goes home, where the two of them do not speak for a time.

Damien's ability eventually does return to him, but rather than move on from the Bryant siblings he begins plotting revenge, going so far as to try to kidnap Adam, Wadsworth's nephew, in an attempt to get information from her about how she is able to resist atypical abilities. This backfires however when Caleb beats Damien nearly to death. Severely injured and in need of medical attention, Joan and Sam tell Mark that they can't take him to a normal doctor because his atypical biology may not be what a non-atypical doctor is used to and he may not get the help he needs. Mark vehemently protests what they suggest, saying that he won't subject another person to what he went through at the AM, but ultimately allows them to take Damien in anyway. Sam seems to become jealous at Mark's fierce concern for Damien and asks what they were to each other, to which Mark says he doesn't know; Sam suspects that they had feelings for each other however.

Later when it is revealed that Damien's ability is permanently gone as a result of the altercation with Caleb, Damien is kicked out of the AM and he calls Mark on Joan's phone, saying later that it was because he "wanted to hear his voice." Mark has trouble moving on from Damien and his trauma and pays him a visit at his house with documents to help him start a new life without his ability. This leads to a tearful fight between them in which Mark airs out his grievances with Damien and tells him that he needs to leave in order for both of them to move on. Damien listens to him and leaves town. Though they never speak again after this, Sam calls Damien one last time seeking advice about Mark's ability and how it worked when they were together, in which she admits that the two of them are "in love with the same man."

### Caleb

(The following contains spoilers for The College Tapes)

Caleb seems to look up to Mark. Mark sometimes helps Caleb with atypical dilemmas—or dating ones, leading Caleb to go to him with questions about his "promposal." Mark isn't much help on the matter but the two start to bond which later forms into a sort brotherly relationship. By TCT, Caleb often refers to Mark as "basically my older brother," and Mark does the same (only little brother instead of big brother.) Caleb continues to turn to Mark for advice even his college years. For example, Mark is Caleb's sole confidant on his atypical evolution until The College Tapes Episode 07. The two also show great concern for one another when their powers overwhelm them as seen in The College Tapes Episode 12.

### Oliver Ritz

*(The following contains spoilers for The AM Archives)*

Mark and Oliver initially meet in The AM Archives Episode 12 upon running into one another plus Joan and Jackson at the medbay and discovering Dr. Sharpe's body. Oliver recognizes Mark as "coma-man," and confirms Helen's earlier claims that Mark's escape had traveled along tier 5. [add stuff about when Oliver starts making the serum and Joan goes missing.] Oliver is struggling to recreate the serum. He explains to a confused Mark that he needs base components to make something, sparking a realization. He draws Mark's blood to use the components of the serum in his bloodstream to replicate it. This is done twice, unfortunately, since Mags and Jackson's return causes Oliver to drop the vial he'd been working on. [Oliver likes Mark's godspeed joke, tosses Mark the vial, Mark gives Oliver his number, "me and two coma guys hell yeah"]

*(The following contains spoilers for The College Tapes)*

By The College Tapes, Mark and Oliver have become good friends. Since Oliver had been travelling around Europe and Asia for the past few years, the majority of their relationship has been built over text and phone calls. When Oliver returns to Boston in The College Tapes Episode 04, Mark offers up his apartment to stay at and even picks him up from the airport. Mark asks why Oliver came back to Boston only for the question to be dodged by Oliver saying that Mark will see when they get coffee. They stop at Curio Coffee to eat where Oliver has, unbeknownst to Mark, set up a meeting with Seamus Blackwell. This exchange reveals that Blackwell is attempting to hire Oliver to help him solve a problem with an atypical artifact. Mark is noticeably upset about not being warned, expressing distrust of Blackwell and dislike for the idea of Oliver working with him. Later at dinner, Mark catches Oliver up on what things have been like in Boston. Oliver asks Mark how mad he is, and Mark reassures Oliver that he is not mad. Mark discusses feeling that he needed to make a home for himself, saying that he'd been putting his home on other people like Sam and Joan, Oliver interjects to suggest that had done the same with Damien, and Mark agrees. Mark tries to discuss the impact of Tier 5 on them both, but Oliver tries to insist that he's fine. Mark presses further about Oliver's return to Boston, and Oliver confesses that his ability is "broken", as he is able to take things apart, but has been unable to create anything since the incident at The AM. When they return to Mark's apartment, Oliver asks Mark to help him make an artifact using their abilities. Oliver begins the process of trying to use Mark's power to make an artifact, but Mark quickly becomes uncomfortable, spiraling into a panic attack. He asks Oliver to stop several times before Oliver notices his distress and stops. Oliver apologizes, Mark tells him that it's fine and leaves the room to go to bed.

In The College Tapes Episode 09, it is revealed that Oliver left Boston without telling Mark to go to help Blackwell deal with an artifact at Yale. Mark calls Oliver while he is in Yale's Russel Library basment, chastising him for leaving and for ignoring prior calls. Mark refers to them as friends and Oliver states that he "wouldn't exactly call [them] friends". Mark argues, and Oliver starts to respond defensively, but Mark interrupts him asking him to be careful, as Mark is "running low on friends." Oliver tells Mark that he will call him later and hangs up. Oliver calls back later on at some point, but Mark does not respond. Mark calls Oliver back two days after their first phone call, apologizing for not answering his last call because he was at work. Oliver answers, asking if Mark is still mad at him and profusely apologizing. He says that he did not mean to say "that fucked up thing about [them]" and that he would do "whatever it takes, whatever you asked of me, whatever the cost." Mark asks what Oliver is talking about, and Oliver responds that he is talking about the conversation they just had-- revealing that what had been two days for Mark had only been minutes for Oliver, as working with the artifact had caused him to be trapped in some form of time loop. Oliver has an epiphany about the book and hangs up. After a while more, he loses track of time and begins to grow panicked-- not knowing how many days he'd been in the basement. He calls Mark again, and Mark reveals that he had been attempting to contact Oliver the entire time and that it had now been five days. Mark tries to tell Oliver to leave, but Oliver responds that he did not call for advice, he called because he needed Mark to "ground" and "tether" him as he continues to work with the book. Oliver views a memory stored in the book and, though it only takes a few seconds for Oliver and the listener, when the memory ends, Mark is panicked, saying that Oliver had been silent for hours. Mark tells Oliver to close the book and that he will be there soon. In The College Tapes Episode 08, the result of episode 09 is shown from Caleb and Adam's point of view, with Oliver running into Caleb and Adam at the library and Mark meeting them all there.

### Mags Densmore

(The following contains spoilers for The AM Archives)

When they first meet, Mags isn't all that fond of Mark. She only knows of him from what she's vaguely heard from Sam and Joan and seems to assume he's a generic shitty boyfriend at first. She shows concern for Mark when he volunteers to test the serum and offers to call Joan which he subsequently shuts down. The two are slightly tense in Ghosts

### Dr. Joan Bright

Dr. Joan Bright is Mark's sister. They have always been close siblings, even as children. They kept a secret notebook where they would talk about anything and everything, and ask each other for advice. Entries usually ended with "*love, Joanie*" or "*love, Mark*". This notebook is still with Joan to this day.

In the notebook, Mark's developing love for art was clear as he would often draw in it.

### Camille

Camille was an older mental time traveler who was imprisoned with Mark at the AM. The AM forced her and Mark to time travel together to spy on other atypicals. She died due to the AM overdosing her while she and Mark were time traveling together, resulting in his consciousness getting trapped in 1810. Mark liked Camille and apparently misses her now.

### Parents

Little is known of Mark and Joan's parents. At some point in time, the parents witnessed their best friends' violent death by an atypical, thus causing their fear of the supernatural abilities. It is assumed that they left their children in the US and moved to Europe, they currently live in Canada, because of Mark's ability and there has been little to no contact between them and their children.

Their father is a military history enthusiast.

## Trivia

* Mark needs to wear corrective lenses, but tends to wear contacts because it's easier to take pictures with.
* Mark considers religion "weird but interesting".
* Mark's Myers-Briggs personality type is ENFP.
* Mark is tied with Frank for third-tallest of the main cast.
* Mark is canonically bisexual.
* In his junior year of high school, Mark was asked to the prom by Stacy Robinson. According to him, she just asked him in the hall between classes and there was "no big to-do."
* In his senior year of high school, Mark went to the prom with his best friend, Josh, apparently creating a bit of a scandal. While he was curious at this time, he didn't come out until college.

## References

1. ↑ Retrieved from http://thebrightsessions.tumblr.com/post/154678191369/heeey-im-the-girl-who-harasses-you-and-lauren-on
2. ↑ The Bright Sessions Tumblr
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mark & Joan's Secret Notebook
4. ↑ The Bright Sessions Tumblr
5. ↑ Retrieved from http://thebrightsessions.tumblr.com/post/156568053344/whos-religious-out-of-the-characters-and-for
6. ↑ Retrieved from http://thebrightsessions.tumblr.com/post/152703332129/hey-i-was-wondering-if-you-were-to-assign
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1  http://www.thebrightsessions.com/episode-52 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "Episode 52" defined multiple times with different content