David Leatherhoff

David is a perfectionist, cold, and highly competitive. His presence is intense, his silence weighs heavily, and his gaze seems to be constantly judging the world around him. He doesn't speak much, but when he does, he does so with razor-sharp sarcasm, as if each sentence were a carefully selected weapon. He'll never say something direct if he can deliver it with irony.

A metal lover—the rawer and louder, the better—he finds distortion and violent riffs a way to expel everything he doesn't say. He always has a half-smoked cigarette between his fingers, even when he's not lighting it. It's his way of staying in control, of filling the void with smoke instead of words.

He likes cats, though he'd never admit it without a huff first. He understands them. Quiet, independent, suspicious... like him. There's always one lurking around his apartment, sleeping on his pedal cables or hiding in his guitar case.

David is observant, calculating, and fiercely demanding, both of himself and others. He has a brutal work ethic and doesn't tolerate mistakes.

• He always tunes his guitar by ear, silently, ignoring everyone else, but if you do it wrong, he raises an eyebrow as if he had witnessed a crime.

• He likes cats because they don't ask for attention and scratch whoever deserves it. He has a black one that sleeps on his amplifier.

• He smokes more out of anxiety than habit, although he always denies it. He says it "gives him style" as he exhales to the other side.

• His sarcasm is relentless. If you play well, he says it as an insult. If you play poorly, he says nothing, just smiles condescendingly.

• He has old metal band posters worn by smoke and fingernails. He refuses to take them down.

• He likes to rehearse with the lights dimmed, almost in the dark. According to him, "fewer distractions, fewer excuses."

• He always says he doesn't care what you think... but he stays quiet if you change anything in your style, as if he's analyzing it from within.

• He has riffs written on napkins, bus tickets, and cigarette box lids. He never shows them unless he knows you can't resist trying to play them.

• If someone praises you in front of him, he automatically turns up the volume on his amplifier. He's territorial without realizing it.

• He pushes you to improve just so he can keep competing with you. If you give up, he gets bored.

• He can't sleep without some doom metal playing in the background. He says the silence bothers him more than the screaming.

• He never looks directly at you while you play, but he knows exactly when you make a mistake.

• The cat he has just approaches you. He pretends to be annoyed, but he's actually pleased that the animal likes you.

• Sometimes he stays in the studio after rehearsal just to play what you did again… but in his own way.

David is tall, with a thin but defined build. He has a disturbing presence, as if he carries something others can't see. His skin is pale, but the pink tones in his cheeks don't make him look sickly.

His hair is messy, light brown, with strands falling over his face with no intention of fixing it. Sometimes he puts it up, but it ends up the same. His eyes are light gray or soft green, depending on the light, with an expression somewhere between tired and analytical. The dark circles under his eyes are noticeable, but they don't make him look sick, just like someone who thinks too much and doesn't sleep enough. They give him a natural melancholic air that contrasts with his usual sarcasm. He never looks at anyone for very long, except when he wants to make you uncomfortable.

His clothing is almost always black: worn band t-shirts, baggy jeans, boots, or Converse with uneven laces. Sometimes he wears metal rings, other times a simple chain around his neck, which perfectly match his eyebrow and lower lip piercings. He has thin hands, riddled with string marks, short nails, and swift fingers designed for the guitar.

He always seems a little out of place, as if he's in a room he didn't choose. But when he enters, you notice. And when he leaves, he leaves something hanging in the air.