;; GABRIEL LEONE — AS TOLD.
[ justice smith, nonbinary, he/they ] - was that gabriel 'gabe' leone i saw by the lighthouse today? i heard that the twenty seven year old who has been in nightrest for twenty years and works as a bartender at deadlights / tattoo apprentice at deadly inks has a reputation of being animated, but also foolhardy. they reside in fog gate & people in town usually associate them with waking up in a body as heavy as the dead, emotions always on the verge of spilling over; laughing before the punch lands, and the belief that every encounter you have will be the last. let’s hope the killer doesn’t go after them next. [ james, 24, they/them, est, n/a ]
MENTIONS OF TERMINAL ILLNESS, DIVORCE, DRUGS, DEPRESSION, DEATH MENTION, WOUND INFECTION, VAGUE NSFW, SMOKING BEYOND THIS POINT.
profile.
full name: gabriel ‘gabe’ leone.
birthday: october 31st, 1995.
astrology: scorpio sun, scorpio moon, gemini ascending.
sexuality: queer.
currently listening to: sextape by deftones.
current mood: desperate 🥺
current location: [[[cannot be found]]]
last tweet: pleasepleaseplease let me tattoo the sexy rat please this is a HOMAGE to my HOME.
PINTEREST.
history.
grows up in the jersey suburbs with their mom and dad for the first seven years of his life. his mother sonia’s an art student-turned-struggling artist who splits her time between nj and nyc for whichever side gig she can pick up, and his father’s an old punk turned chef with a severe vendetta against bobby flay.
when money’s tight and there’s no sitter to turn to during the summer, gabe accompanies their parents into the city. occasionally the stars align and sonia picks up a waitressing shift at the restaurant his father works at, allowing gabe to sit in a tucked away booth and scribble away. sometimes his dad’s old friends stop by the diner, letting gabe color inside the lines of their tattoos as his mom finishes up for the day.
TERMINAL ILLNESS; when gabe’s seven, sonia gets a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with an illustrator she’s long admired and once mentored under; he’s terminal, losing control of his hands, and needs someone to finish what he no longer can. the pay isn’t the most lucrative, but the experience alone is enough for sonia to accept the offer. the only catch being that they have to relocate to nightrest, massachusetts, where her old mentor resides.
around the same time, gabe’s dad gets promoted at the restaurant he’s been cooking at - he’s got it in good with the owners, could very well own the business himself if he keeps up the way he has. he loves his job, loves the restaurant and the bustle of the city. he wants to move them up to nyc.
DIVORCE; gabe doesn’t really understand why it happens, he’s seven and doesn’t really know where massachusetts is - they already take the train between new jersey and new york, why couldn’t they take the train from new york to massachusetts? if their parents love each other, why do they have to go separate ways? no amount of explaining could make gabe understand; and next thing he knows, his mom’s driving with him up to nightrest.
it’s tough settling in at first; gabe misses their dad and the city, and his dad’s cooking, and taking the train every other weekend between the two states - and his dad’s cooking, again. but it’s not all so bad; even though they reside in nightrest - the town is still drenched in halloween, like a constant celebration of gabe’s birthday. and he’s not completely alone; their dad’s old walkman left in their possession and the promise of visiting whenever he can.
days turn into years, and gabe’s older now, a teenager; he still visits the city every summer and crashes on his dad’s couch when he’s not out exploring the city or making out with a random boy from the hardcore show they’ve just attended.
MINOR DEATH MENTION; sonia remarries, eventually - and it’s like, good. it’s really good. they met during one of sonia’s local art exhibitions, her career finally taking off after her mentor’s passing. his name’s bill, or greg - maybe craig. he makes sonia laugh like gabe’s dad did, and has a son around gabe’s age. it’s good. life is good for them.
DRUG MENTION; it’s difficult for gabe to adjust to the marriage, and the addition of a step-brother. he’s not used to family being anything other than sonia, or his dad. his friends are like a family to them, but that’s different. it just feels different. their step-brother doesn’t play dnd, or care for marching band in the way that gabe oddly does - doesn’t listen to hardcore, or appreciate horror movies despite living in nightrest. fuck, he doesn’t even smoke weed. not even a little.
gabe’s not home as often - they’re off doing better things, like smoking in someone else’s basement and trying hard to start a band that never really takes off. they do free piercings at parties in cramped bathrooms; it’s how they’ve gotten several of their own. stick and pokes on someone’s grandfather’s old leather couch, drinking shitty beer from the only gas station that doesn’t check ids just outside of town.
they don’t mean to distance themselves from their family - it just sort of happens. the only child complex; the inability to share, and minor feelings of incompetency whenever his step-brother gets praised for his ever-growing list of achievements, while gabe’s stuck with the same routine of try hard, fail, mope, then pick themself up again just to do it all over again.
eventually they graduate high school (barely but surely) and enroll in the community college - most of their friends head off to better colleges in better states for better opportunities while gabe stays in the same place. they could go back to the city - but it’s expensive, and well - fuck - gabe doesn’t know. it’s hard to go anywhere once you feel stuck.
DEPRESSION, DEATH MENTION; they start taking anti-depressants sometime after dropping out of college, unsure of what they want to actually do with their life. gabe hits a couple low-points, but eventually takes up a job as a piercer at a tattoo shop down in salem and gets an apartment for dangerously cheap in fog gate after the previous tenant passed unexpectedly in the home.
INFECTION, VAGUE NSFW; gabe tells this one customer like a thousand times the proper aftercare for a fresh piercing, especially one done in a particularly...sensitive area - not to go swimming, wash with a saline solution, etc. etc. does the douchebag listen? no. has the audacity to go to a beach party - swim in the fucking water - then comes back saying that gabe’s fucked up the piercing, that it’s all infected - that he’ll sue. gabe knows damn well they didn’t fuck up the piercing - but it’s their word against his, and eventually gabe’s forced to quit as a piercer just to appease the guy.
present day and gabe’s currently a bartender at deadlights - just managed to get an apprenticeship at deadly inks after following the artists around the shop like a lost puppy - sad eyes and all. now if only they’ll let him tattoo on people. they’ve always liked drawing - the talent not quite as natural to gabe as it is to their mom, but years of practicing american traditional instead of writing chemistry notes has finally paid off.
traits.
has a serial case of being Too Friendly. they just love to talk. they’re not very good with long silences and will end up making some sort of noise to compensate anyways, so might as well let them ramble on about whatever. charismatic but still a little awkward at times.
DRUGS, DEATH MENTION; had a bad acid trip sometime last year that messed with his psyche a bit, had him thinking he was dead and a ghost for like. hours. worried they’re gonna like crack their back the wrong way one day and go on another bad trip.
tries so much to be like. Positive. Think Positive. sometimes they get into a bad rut and it takes them a couple of days (more like weeks) to fully snap out of it, but they really do try.
very affectionate with all his friends and gets lonely if they’re left alone for too long. separation anxiety</3. really likes being around others. loves parties. like gabe can cope if they’re on their own but they’re almost a little catlike in the sense like. they need alone time when they need it but when they need people time they Need it.
so endlessly loyal unless a friend’s done some truly fucked shit. but other than that gabe’s a ride or die.
he’s short. gabe’s like, 5′6″ at the very most. but what they lack in height they make up for in heart<3
just. fully covered in tattoos. started with stick and pokes and those cheap little tattoo guns from amazon when they were a teenager, all the way to their current big age with like. actual professionally done tattoos. there’s like very little skin that hasn’t been tattooed at this point.
has knuckle tattoos but they literally just say KNUC KLES.
was a Band Kid. was in marching band. and u know what? he fucking loved it. tried to start his own band as a teenager but it never took off and now he just plays guitar as a hobby.
has. a lip ring, a nose ring, and an eyebrow bar.
grew up interacting with the diy punk scene in nyc when he would go in the summertime, and their music taste reflects that almost exclusively. perpetually stuck in the early 2000s even though he was like 10.
has a rly old iphone like they don’t make the chargers for it anymore kind of old but he’s just not willing to upgrade it. doesn’t know how it’s still running. but he doesn’t have iphone kind of money.
99% sure they have adhd but were never tested or medicated for it. explains a lot of executive dysfunction but gabe does Not want to think about their problems like, ever. will avoid problems involving himself, like, interpersonally, but if one of their friends starts acting weird or distant then gabe will instantly be like. whats up? you good? why are u ignoring me? :/
has modeled nude for figure drawing classes before because they r proud of their body goddammit.
sometimes, occasionally, crosses that boundary between friendship and like. situationship. likes affection and pleasure but most of their relationships are short-term because they also live fast die young or whatever. what i’m trying to say is that gabe has been around the block more than a few times.
SMOKING; will never give up cigarettes for vaping!! never!!
huge nerd; plays dnd, loves high fantasy. loves halloween. big horror enthusiast.
doesn’t sleep well at all and is usually running on only a few hours. like at most 5 hours.
OH. THEY’RE VEGAN. passionate about like. Big Meat and animal cruelty and the environment and sustainability. all their leather is secondhand, they mostly thrift. just like their dad they also cook<3 mostly trying new vegan recipes that they then make their friends try.
they try their best to stay neat but sometimes<3 it just doesn’t stay that way. their apartment accumulates mess but then gabe will dedicate like an entire day or two to deep cleaning. it’s actually very therapeutic idk.
relationships.
long term friends!! people who’ve known them since they moved, or since high school, etc. people that gabe would die for without a second thought.
like a best best friend. the bestest of friends. the one person gabe cannot imagine life without.
first loves, second loves, thirds, forths, etc. spanning from high school to current day. i imagine most of their relationships are like. puppy love or honeymoon phases and then it fizzles out or gabe gets a little Too Much for the other to handle. most of them would be with masculine-presenting people i’d imagine
hook-ups of christmas past, present, n future. just fun, no thoughts or feelings which is hard because gabe falls in love just a little bit with like every person they meet<3
i love antagonistic relationships. people who hate gabe. gabe who hates people. they’re surprisingly spiteful and not a forgive n forget type of person. holds grudges like a motherfucker sometimes. maybe a brawl or two. it’d be funny if every once in a while they exchange hate texts just reminding each other how much they dislike the other.
i also love pining and unrequited feelings<3
apartment neighbors, i think gabe lives alone but he’s very neighborly (and is broke and out of ingredients and will ask for two slices of bread or a cup of sugar). but he’ll also leave fresh baked vegan goods outside your door<3
bar friends! drinking friends! dnd friends! artist friends!
friends to enemies or enemies to friends. got into physical fights in high school but now you’re like begrudgingly becoming friends now that you’re older<3
or maybe ur drifting away!
omg. the guy who tried to sue gabe for the dick piercing mishap.
but im down fr like literally anything gabe is Versatile and i love any sort of connection.
