(Connor Storrie / 26 / he-him / local / February 12th ) ORLANDO "LANDO" LEADS has been spotted in town. They have been living here for MOST OF HIS LIFE in OLD MILL DISTRICT. They are ENERGETIC and VOLATILE as far as newcomers should be concerned when approaching them at SINNERS where they work as BOUNCER
He is Charlotte Everly and Erik Leads' child.
He was named after Orlando, the character from Shakespeare's As You Like It, thanks to his father's lifelong obsession with theatre.
His wasn't a bad childhood. His parents loved him, he always knew deep down. The root of the problem was how lonely he often got.
He was rarely ever with his parents, and whenever he was, it was with his father, Erik, who more often than not took him to work with him. His life was spent backstage in different theatres of the city, swimming in big dresses, wigs, character shoes, and makeup.
Being around actors, perhaps, shaped his personality into what it is now. Lando has a tendency to be melodramatic, expressive, and volatile. He doesn't really have a lot of control over his emotions and will break into dramatic scenes if given the chance, as if he were the main character of a movie. He firmly believes he is.
At some point, Lando thought about being an actor. He grew up thinking he would become one after he starred for less than 5 minutes of stage time in one of the plays his father was involved with. However, as he grew older, the less he wanted to be a part of that world. Not because he didn't love it, but if anything, to do something different with his life than his father did.
When Lando hit his teens, he became a bit of a rebel. He refused to go to work with Erik and hated the idea of staying at home, so he started exploring with different groups of friends and different clubs, which landed him in what became his passion for a while: wrestling. It was the total opposite of everything his parents wanted for him, and it immediately became the one thing he wanted the most.
His body changed accordingly; Lando started hitting the gym and trained over three hours a day aside from the club meeting hours, thinking that maybe the fame he could have gotten in the theatre, he could get from becoming an athlete. He dreamed of a scholarship away from New York so he could start a life of his own, but unfortunately for him, in his senior year of high school, he was matched with a much bigger, much more experienced wrestler from a different school, and it ended with a dislocated shoulder and a third-degree tear on his pectoral muscle. He was taken into surgery right away, and even though he recovered completely, it was too late to get into wrestling again.
Most of his college opportunities went down the drain. He never made an effort in school, so he wasn't particularly smart or brilliant enough to get into college, so he ended up taking, what he planned, would be a gap year, except it never really ended.
During that year, Lando went back to working at different theatres. He didn't like the idea of being on stage, even though he had the skills and charisma to do it. He had enough strength to help behind the scenes, however, and the right attitude to do so.
Working off-Broadway, he became good friends with another one of the guys behind the scenes. He started hanging out with him nonstop– first during work hours, then he started hanging out with him outside of the theatre. They became inseparable, and he would be the person who'd introduce him to his current passion.
During a night out, this guy took him to what seemed like an abandoned building on the outside– some kind of venue big enough to hold a couple hundred people. The energy was electric as he moved through the crowd all the way to the center, where some sort of metal cage was set up. A few minutes later, two men came out, bumped their fists, and got to fighting. There were no rules or regulations. It was all pure instinct. And when they announced the money prize for the winner, Lando's eyes grew wide and glossy.
He went back on his own a few times after that. He started learning the ropes, techniques, and what the entire thing was about. It wasn't exactly legal, but that never stopped Lando from wanting to do something, and on his fifth visit, he became more than a simple spectator, and after a few different matches, a favorite of the crowd.
Lando never moved out of Ennora despite having the means to do it. He figured it was safer to get out of the city every now and then before an angry rival figured out his address. He did move out of his father's house at around 22 and moved into an apartment in the Old Mill District, where he currently resides.
Since he was already a nocturnal person, Lando got a job at what he thought he did best to pass the time, rather than to earn actual money. He has enough from the fighting, but he doesn't really flaunt it, knowing it comes from an illegal background. Yet, he figured he needed some sort of cover as to how he earns a living, so he got a job as a bouncer at Sinners.