INTRODUCING / *
whatās the word around GABRIEL MULLEN in capri these days ? donāt look at me like that, you know them ā they go by GABE, you know, the thirty two year old coastal regular. you can probably find them at porto velluto as fisherman where people describe them as guarded and untidy, but others swear theyāre reliable and wise if you catch them at the right moment. they fit somewhere between salt air stuck to unruly hair / tobacco under fingernails from rushed rolled cigarettes / rays of sunshine piercing through a heavy cloudy sky that never quite breaks into a storm / marine birds singing at the break of dawn harmonizing with soft crashing waves on the shoreline, though most people associate them with being slapped so hard by a fish he tried to sell he ended up needing stitches.
BASICS
full name: gabriel jonathan mullen. nicknames: gabe ā preferred name, gabs. age: 32. date of birth: july 5th. sign: cancer. gender: cis man. pronouns: he/him. orientation: bisexual. status: single. fc: brandon sklenar.
PHYSICALITY
hair: deep sandy dirty blonde, shorter side of flowy, unkept and windswept. facial hair: hasn't been clean-shaven since he could grow three chin hairs. always a full short beard and mustache, trimming whatever he can be bothered to every few weeks when he gets annoyed by the length. eyes: blue. height: 6'3". build: bulky, working on a boat and reeling in hundreds of pounds of fishes does that to you. tattoos: one on the inside of his right bicep, done as a practice sketch by a friend. (tbd) piercings: tried an earing in his teenage years, got infected and never tried again. a small scar remains.
PERSONALITY
positive: reliable, patient, resilient, hard-working. negative: jumpy, guarded, untidy, undecisive. likes: cats, stars, the sea, disgustingly sweet coffee, the scratch sound of a well used record, knitted sweaters. dislikes: planes, greedy people, waking up late, coconut sunscreen, slow walkers, people trying to be edgy, tourists littering the sea. temperament: phlegmatic. alignment: chaotic good. element: water.
first born to young new yorker parents unready and unwilling to do what it take to be good ones, there is very little gabe feels grateful for when it comes to his family.
only two, he would say. the river he would run to and spend hours fishing to escape a loud eratic house, and his baby sister, six years younger.
alcoholism tw; violence tw; growing up had always been the two of them against the house, or more specifically, against the bottle of their father. their mother could barely stand him as a boy, and she'd totally given up on the first birthday of his sister. it left their father enraged, even if he claimed he had a heart to keep them with him. it would've been more merciful to let them go, gabe always thought. gabriel was the one to give the bottle, as their father turned to bottles. the more they grew, the less his empty bottles were wasted in the trash, but instead always found their ways against walls and to a young boy's throat if he dared to stand up for his sister. she'd always been braver than him, always knew to not let their father disrespect her with harsh words. and gabe always knew to step in before anything bad could happen. and nothing would to her, she was always the favorite. she was always there to difuse the wrath seconds before it blew.
she was the brave one to look for them to get out of this. it took years, working wasn't always enough when their father would steal their cards for more spirit. but she knew to get away from him, they had to get away from town. and the overachiever she is, town wasn't enough. she made a plan to get herself a passport, to look for something far away. gabe stayed as long as he did for her, he couldnt stand the thought of leaving her alone in this house.
when she went looking for her freedom, she urged him to do the same.
and so he did, knowing that if he stayed, with her gone to bring short peace, he wouldn't live long to get another chance at leaving.
he called up a friend of his working the shipping port. they're always looking for cheap crew, and gabe can't get more cheap working completely free for the duration of the trip to rotterdam.
the ocean was kinder to him than the rocky waves of home, and the crossing had surprisingly passed quickly. he's a good worker, and he's welcome back anytime. but it will be the last time he crosses the atlantic.
it was four years ago that his quest for freedom took him to capri. from trains to boats, he'd found himself sailing to the coastal town at the peak of its touristic season. the buzzy air, the carefreeness of its people, the sea of strangers. all a mix in which he recognized he could lose himself in. and for someone that wants to shed away any remain of a past life, this was the perfect for a new one.
indulging in the festivities of the island at first, he knows he has to be more than a mindless stranger if he wants to make this work. he's drawn to the docks like a moth to a flame, watching the old fishers in the bay every morning for weeks before he teaches himself how to speak a broken italian to break conversation. there was one elderly man, mr. leonardi, always at the bow an old fishing boat that never took to the waters, and he was curious as to why he never joined the others.
it wasn't in sailing condition, and the repair costs were too troublesome. so gabe didn't think twice before offering himself to fix it. cheap once again, only asking to be a fishing companion once it is done.
it takes a few months, in which he's been welcomed by the old sailor like a mentor. him and his wife took him for dinner every evening, and every morning for coffee before he went to work. his broken italian started to mend, and not too soon the boat was ready to sail again. the captain more than happy to have a crewmate with him.
a forced hobby turned back into fruitful business, with a hand to reel in the bigger fishes and cleaning up the boat every day after they'd docked. the work was for gabe, no matter how demanding. waking up with the stars, sailing and fishing until the sky lit up above them, and docking in time for the market. by noon, all fishes were sold, and there was nothing more to do than being sunkissed on the island.
it's been his own heaven for years, a routine he swore was freedom. quite obviously, something had to disturb in newfound peace.
mr leonardi passed earlier in the year, after a life well lived and laughed. gabe wasn't a son, but the couple's children had no use for the boat, nor did they think it fair for it to leave this port it spent it's whole life in. so gabriel inherited it, so to say. swore to keep it running, to keep it shining, and to keep the leonardi name a trustworthy one at the market.
the high season mixed with the touristy season are both right around the corner, and it will be the first year he has to manage it all by himself. for the first time since arriving, he will get to finally sail on his own.
headcanons.
I. kept the dorsal fin of the fish that sucker slapped him </3 II. sometimes get a little too drunk at the end of the day, to prove to himself he can still be decent under the influence and he won't let it make him become his father. III. tinkers a lot. he fishes up many broken things, and sometimes he tries to bring them back to life. the watch he adorns is an example. will rarely buy anything new, and thinks for weeks and months before making any type of purchases for himself. IV. always sends half of his paychecks in an emergency account for his sister. they lacked of so much growing up, and he never wants her to miss of anything ever again.
connections.
incoming !
tl;dr
boy who left a shitty family situation four years ago to find even an ounce of freedom he never got to have, and what's better than an italian coastal town where you can become anyone you want to start over ? trying to start a new life ever since! loved fishing as a kid, lucky to keep going at it now. a little guarded as he never really learned to trust people, he's trying his best to not be that person, learning to have fun along with strangers, tasting freedom and getting into silly situations just for the hell of it!
