Leon Caleb Faulkner: Barista at “Alohomocha”, sculptor

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Full Character Name:
Leon Caleb Faulkner

Character Birthday & Age: Born 4th July 1989, aged 21
City & Country of Birth: London, England
Blood Purity: Muggleborn
Alma Mater: Hogwarts, Gryffindor
Job/Position: Barista at “Alohomocha”, sculptor

Wand: Made of Vine Wood with a Phoenix Feather core, measuring ten and a third inches. Apart from a shallow scratch measuring three inches that runs along its length, Leon’s wand remains as unscathed as the day he brought it from the famed Ollivander. Appropriately, it has a pattern of vine leaves around the handle, which, while slightly worn from the years of use, is still easily identifiable.

-Physical Description-

The term gawky wouldn't be misused if applied to Leon, who has yet to outgrow the awkwardly long limbed structure of a teenager, and is getting to the point where he believes he never will. Despite that, he lacks any of the stereotypical clumsiness that would usually go with long limbs (shattered plates being a fortunately rare occurrence), and while his arms move swiftly when he’s trying to illustrate a point - or even when he isn’t - it’s controlled movement, fluid and nothing like the hazardous flailing of Phillip’s arms. Still, there’s an erratic quality to his movement that keeps them just shy of graceful, and if he doesn’t stay active his movements edge towards restlessness.

His face, too, hasn’t quite outgrown youth—and yes Leon is young, but not so young that he should be checked for ID every time he’s out with Phillip (a blow that’s all the worse because, for some unaccountable reason, Phillip isn’t- they’re identical twins, for Merlin’s sake). But youthfulness suits Leon - makes him look trustworthy (which, of course, he is) - especially because his expressions are easy to read, for the most part. And even when his face turns impassive, chances are that his hands are betraying him, fingers twisting into a series of geometric shapes or tracing a pattern on the nearest surface.

For all those rounded cheeks make him look pleasant enough, it’s Leon’s smile -which is more a minute quirk of the lips than a proper smile, and worn at the slightest hint of a joke- that is really compelling, helped along by eyes that are almost disconcertingly sincere and overwhelmingly honest, even when their owner is telling outright lies—something he does with far more finesse than most people would expect. After all, having everyone think you’ll be hopeless at poker isn’t something to be sniffed at.

A nick through his eyebrow (courtesy of a stone in a snowball) is the most obvious of Leon’s small collection of scars- not that any of them are impressive, they’re just the relics of some of the stupider things he did when he was younger. Like the one on his ankle from a misfired arrow, and a whole series on his side from landing on a rake- not even the ones with interesting stories, just the ones that were least thought out.

Oh, and then there are Leon’s glasses, which he absolutely loathes, (which is mostly because Irina insists he looks adorable wearing them) so it’s fortunate that he doesn’t usually need to wear them- just for when he’s going to be reading for long periods of time, and even then he’s just as likely to forget them as wear them, or simply not bother to find them. Even when they’re right in front of him.

-Personality Description-

If you asked any member of his family, Leon would doubtlessly be described as the sensible one- an epithet that isn’t entirely deserved. He’s certainly sensible compared to his siblings, but then almost anyone could be regarded as such compared to Phillip—provided, of course, they weren’t likely to set fire to their curtains in the name of science. And even then, it’d be a close call; it's still a more accurate descriptor than the alternative - 'the quiet one’ - which says far more about his family than it does about Leon.

Taken out of the context- and influence- of his rambunctious family, Leon is pleasant, unassuming, and still on the quiet side- but only when he’s running low on fuel; when he’s passionate about something, he’s about as unstoppable as an avalanche. Artistic at heart and quite driven about his work, Leon is prone to steamroll anyone unfortunate enough - or annoying enough - to get in his way. Once he's engrossed in his work, his thoughts are firing on all cylinders, sparking with ideas and burning with concentration—his hands moving with a speed and intent as if, subconsciously, they hope to match.

Understandable, really, considering how early his interest in art began. (Making magenta people was a humble start, if not quite as humble as his first forays into the wonderful world of Play-Doh.)

Mostly, though, he’s got a smile with which, were he so inclined, he could convince an Eskimo to buy ice, and a relaxed way of speaking that has made far more unlikely things happen. It’s a skill that’s managed to halt - or at least divert - some of Phillip’s more ridiculous schemes (because Leon's never been entirely childish), and while he's done his share of silly, and occasionally downright stupid things, on the whole he's more likely to act as damage control than instigate - or stop - an idea. While tolerant for the most part, when Leon really doesn’t want to do something, it’s nigh on impossible to convince him to go through with it, a streak of stubbornness that is very much at odds with his usual laidback behaviour.

More surprisingly - for other people, when they assume that 'laidback’ equates to 'passive’, possibly even 'doormat’ - is when they discover that beneath that easygoing exterior lay vast amounts of snark that have opinions (whose opinions have opinions)- neither of which have any qualm to correct - or refute - misconceptions that may concern him. (Or defend, possibly with the intent to burn down and lay waste accordingly, because of reasons. Like stupidity.) Coupled with a bent for chatter, the result is a young man who is generous with his words, a communicative sort—although what kind of words he’ll have for your character is, in a manner of speaking, up to you.

Because despite that mellow attitude - and a generosity that extends further than a mere ease with words - Leon is protective of himself and those he cares about. It’s not a large circle, but it’s a tight one, and while Leon might not always seem like he’s especially devoted to the care of his friends and family (helping Phillip to do all kinds of stupid things, for example, being more unhelpful) there’s very little he wouldn’t do for them without a second, or even first, thought.

Being someone who’s forgotten almost as soon as he’s out of sight, Leon then might be in danger of seeming bland. But even at his politest, there’s a curiosity to his gaze, a measure of analysis that is partly artistic (he replicates the human body for a career, examining people is both automatic and necessary) but mostly personal. It’s a focus that applies to everything Leon does, be it talking to an acquaintance or his twice-weekly rowing sessions, and Leon’s always struggled with the idea of doing things by halves, unable to understand why if something should be done, it shouldn’t be done properly.

-History-

Leon and his twin, Phillip, were born in 1988, respectively the second and third progeny of Rosa and Marcel Faulkner, two years behind their older sister Alana.

It took almost no time for it to become evident that, of the two, Phillip was far more outgoing, an impression given by never-ending and frequently perverse questions about the world and a tendency to hatch insane plots that frequently lead to trips to the hospital. Compared to Phillip, Leon was practically a saint, sensible- well, sensible enough to know that painting their bedroom with mud to make it into a hideout was a bad idea. The arrival of two younger siblings, when Leon was aged three, and then four, only added to the tumult of the Faulkner household, further assisted by the infrequent comings and goings of the wider family.

It was the chaos of his home, along with the insistence of Phillip that the incidents were totally explicable by the mysterious force of science, that allowed Leon’s early displays of magic to go uncommented upon- with Rosa forever being called away to manage the latest crisis at the National, and Marcel always dashing off to look after the already troublesome Eliza, Leon being unable to explain how he’d fallen off the roof and landed uninjured was taken as a blessing and not questioned further, the stories instead becoming part of family legend.

At school, fortunately, there were far fewer incidents, and although Miss Kirkwood never worked out why there were always more colouring pencils in the art cupboard than she’d ordered, or how on earth the tub of modelling clay had got there, it was never even suggested that Leon might be responsible for their appearance. Leon never shone in school, smart enough to get reasonable grades but overshadowed by Phillip’s deficit attention span.

When Leon received his letter of acceptance to Hogwarts, he at first expected that it was an elaborate prank concocted by his twin. A call from his cousin, Irina, changed that- the previous year, she had been accepted at Hogwarts, and she came to visit them for the last weeks of the summer holidays, in order to ease Leon into the wizarding world by terrifying him with as many gruesome tales as she could think of. Although Phillip wasn't a wizard, it was never suggested that he wouldn't sit in on the meetings and, as with most things, it was Phillip who took the initiative while Leon sat and listened.

Like most things, Leon was unsure about being a wizard, because what initially seemed like a transformation into a superhero quickly filled with flaws- the rules and regulations which Irina told him about with glee, the difficulty of learning to do magic, the revelation of the many dangers, and, of course, separation from Phillip and the rest of his family. Stranger still was suddenly being the centre of attention, as his family marvelled over the wonders of the magical world and watched eagerly as he tried to do magic, even when he failed to do anything, or did something entirely different from what he’d intended.

Being one of a sea of people wasn't an entirely new experience for Leon, but being alone in the sea was, and not an especially pleasant one. Thrown off kilter by the absence of Phillip, Leon made up for the loss by coming up with schemes that even Phillip, when Leon shared them by owl post, thought were stupid. Leon went through with some of them anyway, and in doing so earned the respect of his peers as a genuine nutter and spent large amounts of time in the hospital wing.

The Christmas holidays, apart from being a joyous reunion with his siblings, marked a shift in Leon's behaviour, with the ridiculous plans of the previous term decreasing in number and, by the end of the year, disappearing entirely, although Leon was roped into the plans of others more than once. It was the beginning of a moderately successful career at Hogwarts, with Leon’s favourite subject, Transfiguration, being the one he did best in. While he did miss his family acutely, not being measured against Phillip was a novel and somewhat relieving experience, and the volume of letters that they sent prevented homesickness.

Student life wasn’t smooth, being far too full of teenagers and magic to come close, but after the first term, Leon’s first years of magical education passed without great incident. It was the holidays, and the encounters with his muggle friends who couldn’t understand why Leon had headed for a fancy boarding school without Phillip.

For most, the evasive answers Leon provided, which were usually followed by an unsubtle change in conversation by Phillip, were sufficient, but for Angie, the lies were both glaring and frustrating.
It was the summer after Leon’s third year at Hogwarts when she supplied her ultimatum: either Leon would tell her the truth, or she would never speak to him again. An attempt to stall was met with disgust- “You’re a bloody liar, Faulkner, I thought we were friends but I guess honesty’s too much to ask”- and Angie was walking away when Leon, desperate not to lose her friendship, begged her to turn back, which she did, quite literally, suddenly unable to walk further away.

At first relieved that Angie wasn’t leaving, Leon quickly realised it was as a result of unintentional magic, something that Irina had explained to him when he found out about magic. It alarmed him, and Angie, becoming increasingly hysterical about being unable to move her legs and somehow realising that Leon was the responsible party, was only making him more flustered.

It was a relief when the obliviator arrived, undoing Leon’s work with a quick flick of the wand and erasing all memory of the event from Angie’s mind with similar ease. Grimly silent, when Angie was gone Leon was sharply reprimanded, the obliviator hauling home to lecture both him and his alarmed parents. It was made clear to him that avoiding Angie would be sensible, and that he should keep better control of himself in future, but other than an official warning that amounted to little, no action was taken against him.

A little withdrawn upon his return to Hogwarts, Leon quickly returned to his usual cheery behaviour, distracted from the events of the summer holiday by his friends and the bustle of school life. The rest of his time at Hogwarts was comparatively uneventful, and having made the decision to slowly distance himself from his erstwhile friends, found that it was very easy to do so, requiring no effort on his behalf. He passed all of his OWLS, with varying levels of success, and did similarly well at NEWT level.

Leon was fortunate in that when he left Hogwarts, he had a clear idea of what he wanted to do for a career, with only trifling constraints like money and the obscurity to prevent him from setting up shop and becoming a successful sculptor. After a mostly idle summer spent enjoying the pleasant weather with Phillip and his other friends, in September Phillip left for Edinburgh and Leon got employment at Flourish and Blotts, using his wages and a loan from his parents to rent a flat in Pimlico.

Since then, few developments have been made- Leon’s had a few job changes, including an especially hellish period working at KFC, and currently works in Diagon Alley’s “Alohomocha,” which, while it could do with a lick of paint, still makes excellent coffee, and thanks to an increase in renown, he’s been able to move from his flat in Pimlico to a more expensive one in Soho. It’s still relatively small, but there’s a room Leon laughingly calls his studio, and the water is far more reliable, so Leon thinks that the greater expense is well worth it.

-Describe your job duties and how you go about them-

If asked, Leon would tell you that he’s a sculptor, although he spends more time working as a barista at “Alohomocha” on Diagon Alley than pursuing his chosen career. As a sculptor, Leon works both on pieces that range the spectrum from purely aesthetic to surprisingly functional- although he only makes those on commission.

His favourite pieces, predictably, are those that he makes for himself, or more usually for galleries, but they’re the ones that mean something to him. They’re made of stone, for the most part, but Leon’s capable of using metal, or entirely different media, as well- just prefers stone, the act of gradually wearing it away to make something elegant. Less predictable than his choice of material is whether they’re static or not, with some statues remaining stationary, while others move so slowly that the difference is only visible after hours have passed, and still others that only move when certain conditions are met.

In an ideal world, Leon would be able to sustain himself purely through selling those pieces, but he’s not publicised enough for that, and being a barista doesn’t pay well, so he’s also available to make commissioned pieces, of varying levels of functionality ranging from things made purely because the asker wanted something to adorn their hallway to sturdy stone statues that have been enchanted to move if they sense motion, something that’s a very useful method of guarding valuables- after all, nobody expects a statue to move, unless, like Leon, they watch Doctor Who.

While not especially successful, Leon is beginning to build a reputation, with his work being shown at a minor galleries and a slight increase in commissions, and sales, making him hope that his days spent working at Alohomocha are coming to an end, but he’s still reliant on his wages to keep up with the rent.

-Elaborate on your expertise in your field-

The beautiful thing about being a barista, other than getting free coffee, is that it’s not a highly qualified position, although being able to smile at people who are being deliberately obtuse is a rare skill- and, fortunately, one that Leon possesses. Other than that, though, Leon’s had enough practice at making coffee- too much, in his opinion- that he can make most orders (the ones that don’t demand ridiculous extra ingredients) with his eyes shut, and possibly one hand tied behind his back.

And then there’s his other job, the one he names when he’s asked and which requires more in the way of technical expertise. Oddly- or perhaps not- the technicality of getting the sculptures Leon makes to move how he wants them to is the easiest part of the process, possibly because it’s far more definite than the creation of a sculpture.

When it comes to the act of construction, and design, Leon prefers to use mundane techniques, but when they aren’t enough to make whatever he wants, he’ll use magical ones. He’s done a number of different classes in masonry and metal work, paying for extra ones when he can afford them and occasionally getting a course as a birthday present. Safe to say, while he’s not a master craftsman, he’s competent enough to know how to do what he wants to do.

Finally, of course, there’s the aesthetic aspect, of just making sure that everything looks right, something that, while it might be frustratingly time consuming, Leon always manages to do, because he’s got a natural eye for proportions and the way things fill space that means that, while the style might not be to everyone’s tastes, his sculptures work, and he’d never dream of letting those that don’t meet his standards leave his workshop. It helps that he’s had years of going to art classes during the summer holidays and practicing drawing at Hogwarts to give him the technical skills to support his artistic ability.

-Writing Sample-
See Alexandra Carstairs

-Sum up your character in one paragraph-

Leon is... something else, to be sure. He's pleasant but not quite nice, restless but not so energetic (at least, not the way his twin is), and while he’s got an opinion and a comeback for everything he isn’t nearly as talkative as you think. ...Okay, let’s be honest, he is. But that’s usually when you get him started on something he’s passionate about, like his art. Nothing – or little else – gets him going quite like his art, because, well. He is an artist, after all. (Except maybe bad art, which is a thing, okay. Take his word for it—or, don’t. Do what you will, he will just be over there silently judging you for it.) Regardless, he’s a lot of things and nothing fits exactly right. As a sculptor and a barista, Leon’s a busy guy and has better things to do than explain himself to you.

Absit Omen RPG

Leon Caleb Faulkner: Barista at “Alohomocha”, sculptor

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Leon Caleb Faulkner: Barista at “Alohomocha”, sculptor