Gavin O Leary

Background & Gallery

• Background

  Gavin O’Leary, Geist: The Sin-Eaters
  
  Quote: “Sure I got PTSD but my shotgun-riding ghost thinks it’s my therapist. Might not be super effective but it saves on the copays.”
  
  Virtue: Charity. Gavin his spent his entire adult life dashing into dangerous situations, many times in the heat of battle, to rescue and heal others. This is carried over even when he’s off the clock as he’s always eager to assist anyone in trouble, medically or not.
  
  Vice: Pride. Gavin’s time in the military, his ability over life and death, both his skills as a medic and his powers as a Geist, and many of his life threatening and impactful events have given him a somewhat overinflated view of himself. He often expresses this by either stating his accomplishments or putting down others when they brag about their achievements or complain about their problems.
  
  Background: Gavin O’Leary grew up in a South Boston Irish neighborhood the son of Jim, a firefighter, and Linda, a worker at the DMV. He excelled in both high school and pre-med at Boston University and although he didn’t have a large group of friends, unsurprising because of his love more strange and morbid topics, his loyalty and humor made sure the friends he did have were devoted.
  When 9/11 hit Gavin, over the objections of his mother, abandoned plans to attend medical school at UMass and joined the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. Having excelled at just about every test the Navy threw at him, he found himself on the frontlines with Marine Corps units. Over eight years he went through two tours in Iraq and, on the surface, did quite well. He never suffered a physical wound but over time the constant battles left mental ones that began to wear him down. Despite earning numerous commendations and quick promotions, his superiors began to think he was suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as he got exceedingly testy with just about anybody. Not long after some of the first symptoms began to manifest he declined to renew his enlistment contract and left the Navy.
  Gavin’s transition to civilian life wasn’t pleasant. His relationship with his family had been soured due to his years abroad and his decision to forgo med school for the military. Despite getting an excellent job as a paramedic in Boston he found the stresses of the job and the depression of having few friends stateside brought PTSD back to the forefront.
  Some happiness came when he reconnected with a member of his old Marine unit, a woman by the name of May Miller. The two began dating and, thanks to many of their shared experiences, the couple hit it off. Shortly before she left for what was to be her last tour in Iraq, Gavin proposed. When the news came back that she had died in a helicopter crash his PTSD, manifesting itself in lucid flashbacks and terrible insomnia, came back with a vengeance.
  One late night, while having a slice of pie at a diner, a fight broke out when a drunk biker tried to stab his girlfriend. Instinct jumped in and Gavin got involved but found himself stabbed fatally in the melee. As Gavin died on the diner floor he was approached by a Geist calling itself “Shell.” It claimed to understand the problems Gavin was going through and, on top of offering him a way to live through the stabbing, it also promised to “help” him with his troubles. Like most people, Gavin couldn’t say no.
  Thus, he survived the stabbing but he found out that his new Geist companion had a particularly odd way of helping him deal with his mental issues. It thought that the best way for him to deal with his problems was to, literally, appear as his problems. So, whenever Gavin communicates with his Geist it’s usually by seeing it appear as friends who died beside him in battle or people he couldn’t save.
  A year and a half later, Gavin’s issues remain but, as loathe as he would be to admit it, many of his PTSD symptoms have lessened as he has been forced, one by one, to deal with them thanks to Shell’s help. Still, he has more than enough issues to keep himself, and Shell, busy for some time.
  
  Description: Gavin lives a moderate lifestyle and usually sticks with casual clothes. While never sloppy, outside of the rare night club visit, he’s usually wearing loose comfortable clothing with little flair. He keeps his hair in a military style, he insists it looks better on him, and is rarely seen with his glasses. Although not as bad as it once was, he still has bouts of insomnia which often affect his appearance in a negative way.
  
  Roleplaying Hints: To most people Gavin lives up to the stereotype of “lovable jerkass.” He cracks jokes, makes snide comments, and doesn’t hesitate to make sarcastic remarks even during the most tense situations. Still, when push comes to shove, he will gladly help anyone he considers a friend without a second thought.
  However, both the sarcasm and generous assistance he’s happy to provide hide a deeply disturbed and dark personality. The guilt of seeing many friends die, of not being able to save so many patients, and the death of his fiancé while abroad, has left a mark on his psyche that will probably never go away. While he may resent his Geist, Shell, for his penchant to embody some of his most painful memories it has improved his mental state (although he would never admit it). Naturally, whenever this contradiction begins to affect him he’ll respond the way he does to most things: with a snide quip.

• Gallery

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