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►►ᴛᴡɪɴ ʙʀᴏᴛʜᴇʀs ᴛᴜʀɴ ᴛʜᴇ ʟᴏss ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇɪʀ ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍᴜsɪᴄ. ᴛʜᴇʏ ғɪɴᴅ ғʀɪᴇɴᴅs, ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴄᴏɴɴᴇᴄᴛɪᴏɴs...ᴀɴᴅ ᴇɴᴅ ᴜᴘ sᴛᴜᴍʙʟɪɴɢ ᴅᴏᴡɴ ᴀ ʀᴀʙʙɪᴛ-ʜᴏʟᴇ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴜᴛᴄʜᴇs ᴏғ ɴᴀʀᴄɪssɪsᴛɪᴄ ᴍᴀɴɪᴘᴜʟᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜʀᴇᴀᴛᴇɴs ᴛᴏ ᴛᴇᴀʀ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪғᴇ ᴛʜᴇʏ'ᴠᴇ ʙᴜɪʟᴛ ᴀᴘᴀʀᴛ.◄◄
Bayer grew up in Chicago, poor and frequently unsupervised due to his mother needing to work constantly to support them both, since Bayer’s father left when he was young. As a teenager Bayer got caught up in the wrong crowd, coping with poverty and taking his issues out in ill advised ways, and ended up participating in a robbery-gone-wrong at age 18 left an innocent man dead; bludgeoned to death by two crowbars. Bayer, due to a plea deal in which he testified against the crew he was running/robbing with, was convicted of second degree murder rather than first degree, and was given a six year sentence but paroled after 4.
After a couple years he moved to NYC, wanting a bigger city for a fresh start as a changed man. Finding work is hard with a murder on your record, but Astra interviewed him to be a bouncer at her club and was sympathetic; after hearing him out, she hired him. After he came on the scene, G² took note of Bayer’s ADHD tendency to ‘drum’ stuff...and after sort of music-tutoring him, they sneakily recorded him doing drumwork on a trial set at a music store, then edited it into their music. Both his work and their whole “””renting””” instruments vibe was really well-taken by their audience; they eventually got him a real drum set, and he became the third full, formal member of Nightshrike.
INFO
(he/him/his)
(Brooklyn, NYC)
QUOTES
"...There were a couple kids in prison with me who hanged themselves. Couldn't deal with the guilt, I guess. Or didn’t want their mommas seeing them in jumpsuits. Dunno. Doesn’t matter what they’d done, though. All that pain they were in to make them end it? Just spread out into everyone close to them. It doesn't just go away. I still remember their faces."
—Bayer to Kohao in The Waterfront | 2017"'What would we be without you'? 'Nightshrike'! WE'D BE NIGHTSHRIKE!"
—Gabe to Bryluen in their final confrontation | 2018- Strong and genuine without being intimidating.
- Looks at things from multiple angles.
- Practical.
- Measured in his responses.
- Makes people feel safe.
- Slow to react at times.
- Questions his own judgement more than necessary.
- Errs too much on the side of caution.
- Can come off as asocial.
- Poor self-advocate.
xx.
xx.
- Music.
- x.
- x.
- Tattoos.
- x.
- Prison / the prison industrial complex.
- Gang violence (and the glorification of such).
- Lack of accountability.
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- Loyalty.
- Compassion.
- Equality.
xx x.
Musician xx.
x xx.
Gabe and Gracian are extremely close. Gabe's been Ian's advocate and protector since birth, and that isn't changing just because they're growing up.
In return, Ian balances out Gabe's impulsivity and hot-headed nature. The two of them are the image for "You never saw one without the other, did you?" despite all the work Bryluen put in to divide them...which she only did because the pair truly are at their strongest when united. They're staying there.
Long term friends, Gabe got a tattoo on his wrist in part just for the quasi-brotherhood he shared with Kohao. The pair went together like butcherbirds and barbed-wire, and Gabe was frequently a mediator when Kohao had split on Athena; able to talk reason without getting tangled in the fray himself.
Bryluen's long-term destruction of their friendship and the critical wound she put into it in 2017 unfortunately has not, as yet, completely healed. Gabe's trying to repair it, though, knowing that apology, accountability and change are the only remedies he can offer, and still they may never be able to heal the impact had by absence.
Bryluen, a covert narcissist, was friends with Astra and Audrianna prior to meeting Gabe, but when she felt at risk of “losing” Astra + crew to Nightshrike after G² showed up on the scene, she manipulated her way up to the head of that social circle and became a fairly mainstay “guest” vocalist for Nightshrike. She used her facade of "goodness" and impressive financial generousity to gain Gabe's trust (among others) and engineered a situation where he and Ian felt obligated to her.
Once Gabe was alerted to the ways that she had specifically been pulling the strings on Ian—with lies, unkindnesses, and implications that Gabe's own opinions reflected such, Gabe was the one who lost it and cut all ties with her. He's still hurt to the point of rage, and wrote a huge amount of the lyrical work for Nightshrike's 2019 album, DEAD BIRDS EVERYWHERE, as venemous as he could be without getting into legal trouble.
