Pilot and Browncoat with a tendency to avoid you and sass you all at the same time.
Sarcastic, with a tendency to not speak much, Nate also is friendly to those he DOES speak with. He doesn't enjoy confrontation, often doing what he can to prevent anger from spreading around, especially among any Crew he is working with.
Weapons: .45 Caseless Revolver (Same as Jayne's) at his leg, taken from an Alliance Officer. Has also been known to use old Browncoat Standard Issue Assault Rifles, but not often (based off a G36). He keeps his Survival knife from his fighter pilot days, "Just in case."
Clothing: Usually his Pilot's Brown Coat(shorter than the Infantry version), Brown leather gloves, brown leather belt and holster, faded but well maintained dark-blue pilot trousers (essentially Cargo Pants), a White t-shirt and a Black over shirt with black leather boots. In heat, he tends to eschew the over shirt, keeping the coat for protection and the utility of the many pockets and hidden holsters.
Raised by his father on Avalon after his mother died in an accident, he lived in one of the larger settlements in his father's shop. His father taught him discipline and a certain skepticism and moral code that, to this day effects him. He did well enough in school to apply to College and flight school on New Melbourne, and he graduated near the top of his class.
When the war broke out, he sided with the Independents, in no small part due to his father's death at the hands of an Alliance officer. He joined as a pilot, flying transports for the majority, until he was given a job as a fighter pilot at the battle of Whitefall. He made ace before being called into service above the battle of Serenity Valley on Hera. He was called in as air support, but was cut off and shot down before he could arrive. He crashed well away from the valley, held POW for the days that the Alliance and Independents were negotiating surrender. Those days changed him for the worse, twisting his moral compass, and making him even more distrusting. He was released and wandered around the 'Verse for a while, taking piloting jobs when he could.
Forrest, preferring his middle name of Nathaniel or Nate, has an innate sense of where things are in space around him. His nickname of Nate is not only a truncation of his preferred name, but a pun on the word 'innate.' His abilities at situational awareness are what made him such an excellent pilot in the war. As such, he tends to act calm, knowing when people exit and enter a room from small clues. To many, this looks like he is simply bored and uncaring; all of which is aided by his tendency for sarcasm and avoidance of looking others in the eye. He is loyal though, something he never shook from his father's teaching, and still wears his Brown Coat to this day.
As a native of the New Melbourne area, he speaks with the characteristic accent, what was known on Earth-That-Was as 'Australian' but so faintly that one has to be listening for it to hear it.