Portrait of a Character – HD Avery (Henry Desmond IV)
HD Avery character has his origins in the old time travel series that I wrote several years ago.
Origins
Coit Tower
However, he was originally a hipster who had missed the 1960s, having attempted suicide in 1960 by jumping off the Coit Tower in San Francisco.
Portrayal
I see HD as being played by Scott Bairstow.
This actor has been in a number of productions, and his best known role is for being the lead in the television series, Lonesome Dove.
He is also a troubled individual in real life.
Personality
Supremely talented musically, HD hides his natural shyness behind bravado. As he explains to Sheilagh, he is fine when singing to a large group, as he knows what to say and does not have to look anyone in the eye and address them directly. But when things get more personal, it’s a lot harder for him.
Treble Clef. Hearing Music in Color. Mosaic
He has an ear for music and can play almost anything, any instrument and any tune, within a single hearing. HD also spins music in clubs, as a kind of futuristic DJ. He understands the mechanics such as music theory, and music history as well.
He is a sensitive genius, misunderstood by his staunch, straitlaced farmer parents. In particular, they cannot understand why he wants to be called HD. His great-grandfather is Hal; his grandfather is Harry; and his father is Hank. He is referred to as ‘Little Hank’ (his father is ‘Big Hank’), and hates that, feeling that the appellation is childish.
Relationships
Sheilagh Bernstein
As far back as You Mixed-Up Siciliano, HD openly has a thing for Sheilagh. However, he goes after Crystal Sherwood first. Not because he’s interested in her; it’s more that he wants to have some experience for when he can, eventually, end up with the true object of his affections.
However, Sheilagh and HD don’t get together until Shake Your Body, when they are both feeling low and are seeking solace in each other. Then the only later windows into their relationship occur in Happy Stuff 3111, when they spend the holidays together. Also, at the end of He Stays a Stranger, the colony entity Branch Borodin reveals, a millennium later, that they wed.
Theme Music
HD is associated with any number of songs, and even sings the title tune from the musical, Oklahoma! and Big D from The Most Happy Fella. But the song I most associate with him is probably Queen’s Need Your Loving Tonight.
Mirror Universe
So there are no impediments to HD existing in the mirror.
Mirror HD Avery (Scott Bairstow)
He would probably be just as talented, but would have to play and sing for the well to do in order to get by.
He might even be an entertainer for the Mirror Government.
Quote
“I saw her killed, and, and it was Marisol who confirmed it. Dammit, it was Marisol who confirmed it! It wasn’t real. They, they’ve been sending me on all sorts of wild goose chases. Every time there’s a main mission, there’s always a diversion, and most of them are musical. They’ve been peeling me off. And it was because I’m a witness. I saw what happened. And I hadn’t put it together. They didn’t want me to say, and to figure it out, I bet. And Beauchaine was there, he was with me.”
Upshot
The HG Wells series resonates with music, as I use tunes to set the stage. And HD himself is diverted, over and over again, to musical missions to, often, assure that musicians such as Freddie Mercury and John Lennon die, or albums like Dark Side of the Moon, become successful.
HD Avery is necessary for a lot of the red herrings in the overall plot arc to work. He is a truly indispensable character.
