Professor Barnabas Graham

Name:  Professor Barnabas Graham
Hates being called "Barney"
AKA:   Menagerie
Barnabas has had some serendipitous animal-themed encounters - from getting stuck with an apartment that used to belong to a cat lady, being "adopted" by a fox-shifter, and his first real run involving him setting loose a wealthy CEO's private menagerie.  Not to mention he kind of feels that he looks like he belongs in one.

Age:  38 ((although Barnabas is an elf, and would appear to be in his mid 20s))

Birthday:  March 16, 2012

Setting:  Shadowrun, 2050 ((tabletop RPG setting))
Shadowrun is a near future cyberpunk-mixed-with-fantasy setting.  In the setting, in 2012, the predicted Mayan "new age" brings about the return of magic to the world, along with paranormal creatures and "metahuman" races such as elves, dwarves, orcs,and trolls.

Race:  Elf Changeling
Changelings in the setting are people who are exposed to very high levels of magic (surges) that causes them to spontaneously change, developing abnormal features and characteristics. 
Barnabas "Surges" about 12 years early in the setting before Surges & Changelings become a generally known phenomenon, thanks to a magical experiment gone awry. 

Concept in a Nutshell:
Barnabas was an elf who had had his ears clipped at birth by his politician parents in an attempt to mainstream him and shield him from the racism prevalent around nonhumans.  He resented them making this decision for him and went on to study magic in college, becoming a professor whose research was focused on the rising magic levels of the world, and its cause and effects.   In a lab experimentation to generate a small-scale raise of magic levels behind a ward, the ritual was more effective than expected and the ward didn't hold, bathing him in high levels of magic and causing him to change even more- into something that could never pass for human, and initiating a dietary requirement of magical items ((turning him into an Arcanavore)).

Reference Sheet: 

APPEARANCE:

SEE REFERENCE ART SECTION FOR MORE VISUAL REFERENCES BELOW!

- elven/aquiline features- almond-shaped eyes, high cheekbones, narrow nose
- 6'3", 157 lbs ((tall and skinny! ))
- Paper-white skin (save for black hands & feet and:
- black arcane-looking markings/ patterns on skin (that continually shift and move/change)
      - markings would look like magic circles and alchemical/hermetic symbols for the most part, but there should be some visible on his face in artwork
      - Example of hermetic symbols:  ex1 , ex2
- solid black eyes
- Thick, black, sharp claws (on hands and feet)
- all of his teeth are sharp
- Longer than normal elf ears (deedlit-style)
- His hair is long, thick, wiry/bristly ((think the texture of a nail-cleaning-brush)) and wild/unmanageable (still black)
    - Mixed in with his bristly hair is actual quills (think porcupine) - but they are black as well.  Like a porcupine, they raise/lower based on his state of agitation, and can detach/stick in people.

Before the Surge Appearance:

[REFERENCE IMAGE]
Before the surge, Barnabas didn't possess any of the unusual features listed above, but still had the same "face" (aquiline features, almond-shaped eyes, narrow nose.  His height and weight is also unchanged.  He was elven, but his ears were surgically cropped/resculped to look human.  He had a normal, Caucasian skin tone, black hair (which was silky and shorter), and blue eyes.

CLOTHING:

* Before the surge, Barnabas wore typical clothing befitting a university professor:  button-up collared long-sleeved shirts, ties, and slacks.  He was also often with a magic-imbued, rune-scribed satchel.  [EXAMPLE SKETCH] 

* Following the surge, he wore the same thing for a while (the professor outfit) - sometimes (if he's in public) with added shades and sometimes a clashing hooded raincoat ((all he had with a hood to try to obscure his features)).  Around the house, or when not "dressing up" he still wears the professor type clothing.

* SUIT:  After Barnabas begins to adjust to his new life and identity,  he begins dressing in a nice-looking tailored suit (made from a  futuristic armored cloth that doesn't add bulk/weight) and long duster, worn with sleek shades.  Very sharp looking, tailored, and only in black/white.    [EXAMPLE SKETCH] 
Suit cut inspirations: HERE and HERE (but without the designwork on the sleeves)- though the jacket would be modified into a long duster.
The suit is primarily black, with a black tie, white undershirt, and black vest. There are Arcane symbols on the buttons/cufflinks. 
Despite dressing nicely and looking sharp, at least for a while, he looks a lot more confident and controlled than he feels. 

 

Best Reference Artwork of Barnabas:

Drawn by Saniika, colored by me. Shows the monochrome palette of the character, great representation of his features, including black eyes, claws, appropriately long pointed ears, and solid black eyes/sharp teeth. Usually, his hair would be a bit spikier, but otherwise, hits the nail on the head with the design.  Markings vary (they slowly, constantly shift) - and might be a little more structured/arcane rune looking.	Original character design sketch I drew.  Runes are a basic representation and can look more structured.	Just about perfect example by InkyDemon - shows Barnabas eating magic items; in his nice suit; even includes the quills mixed in wit his hair.	A truly fantastic piece by the talented Vesner - click the link to see the runes moving over Barnabas's face :3  This is pretty spot-on, including Jingoro and Barnabas's hair-quills.  Only minor change would be arcane runes on his cufflinks/buttons.	Fantastic and perfectly characteristic image by Pample - Barnabas dressed in his new runner look (often paired with slick pair of shades - see the right images).  The suit would have alchemical/hermetic symbols on the buttons/cufflinks.	Barnabas in his nice black tailored suit and shades - this becomes his typical outfit as he starts going on "runs" - the suit is immaculately tailored with sharp-edged collar.  The buttons on the vest and cufflinks should have hermetic magical symbols.  The cuffs dramatically flair and are a white border between his black hands and black sleeves.  At least in the begining he looks a lot more cool and put together than he really feels.	Barney at home in his shitty (cat-ridden) apartment - the fox is "Jingoro" - a silver fox shifter and his roommate.

Pre-Surge Barnabas:


 

Featured Artwork of Barnabas:

 
 

Other Artwork of Barnabas:

All Barnabas Art : Click the link to see ALL the artwork of Barnabas.

Personality:

Before the surge, Barnabas was very much a fence-sitter, wanting to try to straddle the lines of indecision and get the best of both worlds.  He was reluctant to pick sides and estrange himself, but in doing so generally didn't make anyone happy. He downplayed his elven heritage when it was inconvenient, blogging or ranting among friends about his distaste with how metahumans were treated, but never actually doing anything or speaking out publicly.   Raised in the South, Barnabas is generally polite, hesitant to be rude to anyone's face, and uncomfortable with genuine confrontation.  Generally, he's a good person, friendly, and likes being liked.  He valued his friends and had never had a relationship that lasted longer than a year or two.  His life was very status quo, save for his magical research, mostly shielded by the ivory tower of academia in causing any particular ripples.  He dealt with "first world problems":  arguing with family members, flat tires, and not the right amount of sugar in his coffee, etc. 

As a whole, Barnabas is a little selfish, has low impulse control, and is a little needy / codependent.  He values his friendships above relationships - and is scared of commitment.  He doesn't want to be hurt, so he doesn't want to put himself out there.  His friends are his emotional rock - those that can look past his flaws, which leads to relationships not tending to last very long as he isn't as emotionally available.  He's scared to get into relationships with friends knowing his track record with relationships and scared to screw up a good thing. Friends are the people he trusts with honest opinions, where he feels safe to do so.  More is below in the backstory.

Since then, Barnabas has not had much time to adjust - at the start of the game, he's easily and frequently frazzled, defensive, nervous, skittish and uneasy in his own skin/adjusting to a new reflection, peoples' reactions of him, and new... appetites.  He doesn't feel that how he looks reflects who he is at all.  He's not confrontational, and tends to back down if pressed.  He still tries to be polite, and wants to be friendly, but is generally uncomfortable in the rough part of the city, and his comfortable life and upbringing is rather incongruous with that.  He's struggling to find a shard of normalcy after his life has been utterly turned upside down.  His self confidence has been shattered, and he's dealing with generating the confidence to go out without completely obscuring clothing.  He's looking for something to seize onto so as not to completely be swallowed up by this new location, new life, and new reflection in the mirror.  Looking for answers as to why he got deleted from the system and what happened to a colleague that was working on a similar project.

As the game goes by, Barnabas is begining to develop a bit of a backbone, and use his now innate eerie countenance to his advantage to stop being pushed around - even if it IS mostly a mask.  He still has a pretty solid moral center, at least when it comes to valuing human life - though he's nudging into the grey area when it comes to theft for money to pay the bills/can't hold a normal job and to further his cause of finding answers. 

Background

Barnabas was born to an upper-middle class political family in Houston, Texas in 2012.  His father was a politician (Republican), and his mother socialite/housewife.  He was born with the features that media were nicknaming ‘elves’ – but, his conservative parents, in the wake of the Vatican speech denouncing these inhuman appearances, made the decision to have his ears surgically cropped shortly after birth (much as is done with other “birth defects”) and to help him live a “normal life” without the bias of society.  Namely, his father, and his political standing, was not pleased with being the father of an UGE baby ("Unexplained Genetic Expression"), and spent a lot of money making sure that the surgery looked good and left minimal to no scarring.  However, he was luckier than some UBE babies being abandoned at birth; his family was loathe to go to such extremes with their newborn, first child/son.  While conservative, they weren’t inhuman. 

Barnabas was smart, did well in school, but held a fascination with the awakening world, watching major social events and the effects of magic’s return to the world. 

As he grew and learned of his “stolen birthright”,  (Obvious to him as he grew and read on the UBE/metahumans – certain features like low-light vision were unmistakably elven).  He resented his parents for making the decision to crop his ears, robbing him of his elven identity.  They tried to help him integrate into society, downplaying his race, and were hoping initially to groom him into politics as well.  His parents kept his hair cut short (so his ‘human’ ears were prominently visible), throughout his stay with them, despite the building elven culture for longer-haired looks (that he envied). However, when he was still in grade school, his parents had a second child - Jillian – a younger sister, who was human, and their focus shifted to her.  Barnabas still grew up going to church occasionally, played video games, watched TV, and was expected to be seen at functions with his parents/participate in some outreach/charity programs.

However, knowingly hypocritically, with the prevalent racism against metahumans, Barnabas DID use his ‘human camouflage’ to his advantage when it came to dodging issues of racism, segregation, etc.  He was able to fly under the radar of a lot of anti-metahuman hatred, especially as it kicked up a notch in the 2020s.  He felt guilty about it, knew he was being hypocritical, but deep down he was a bit of a coward.  He was used to an easy life.  He idealized the magical and elven culture that was forming/constructing, but was never an activist.  When living with his parents, they would have never tolerated it, and living in a Southern state, more opportunities were available to him as a human, or at least a very human-looking metahuman.  His parents in politics also facilitated his integration into society and made him downplay his metahuman identity at least until he was on his own in college.  They got him a SIN, they got him into good schools.  Publically, Barnabas was “human”.  However, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t some assumption and teasing based on his “elven likeness”.   His parents made sure he saw the effects of what being metahuman meant – how orcs and trolls were sent to quarantine camps, victims of racial riots.  Barnabas felt bad, sympathetic, but ultimately while he had a very open mind and was accepting of metahumans, he kept his mouth closed. 

He did well enough to get scholarships.  He enrolled at TAMU (knowing they had a magic department).  Without his parents’ approval, he switched majors, embracing his magical potential and having an outlet for his interest.  They disapproved of his studies, but were content to let him do his own thing in college and focus on grooming his sister into a political career.   

But it was in college and out from under his parents’ roof, taking courses in magic that Barnabas finally went through a rebellious streak and let all his juvenile resentment bubble to the surface.   He let his hair grow longer in a minor act of rebellion.  But his biggest stand was with “coming out” as an elf and applying for citizenship to the Tir in 2035-2036.
He submitted an application while he was in college during the Atzlan invasion of Texas to the Tir Tairngire for citizenship in 2035, planning to participate in the first rite/testing in 2036, having seen the Surehand broadcast advertising the birth of the new elven nation and a welcome to metahumans.  However, he was rejected for any sort of rank.  While the country would tolerate most metahumans as gentry (or serfs), he was aggravated with not being viewed as a true elf, being seen virtually as human.  He knew that there were assumptions that he was a poser.  He had studied long and hard – the language (sperethiel) (at least the VERY basics of it), the culture, etc to do well on the examinations, but ultimately was not deemed eligible for rank at al.  (Even if he were allowed into the nation, at best he would have had to enter the country as a serf – which Barnabas  wasn’t willing to do, having been used to a life of privilege). This was a chip on his shoulder for years of not being “elf enough” for the Tir.  (And yet still being elf enough to get SOME of the negativity from the CAS).

After that didn’t work/his rejection, he experimented a bit with his sexuality – honestly mostly as a jab to his parents.  While he still generally finds women more attractive, he brought a boyfriend home one thanksgiving to try to needle his parents.  However, ultimately, Barnabas discovered that identifying as bi was “fence-sitting” just as much as his race and only served to seem to isolate himself from both gays and straight communities, making him seem indecisive and trying to get the best of both worlds. )) In a nutshell, he’s kind of hipster-bi.

Since then, Barnabas settled into a less rebellious lifestyle.  After his rebellious period in college, he has settled down into the status quo.  He’s open minded, but closed-mouthed.  He is in support of metahuman rights, interested in magic and how it has and is still affecting the world, but isn’t an activist.  If asked, he’ll talk about his heritage and identifies as an elf, but he doesn’t go out of his way to advertise.    Getting more flack for trying to be vocal, he settled into the mantle of “That guy.”  ((As In: Don’t be ‘that guy’)).  Always something of a social chameleon he never wanted to ostracize himself from most communities.  He identified as Agnostic, bisexual, and only if asked in a comfortable situation, Elven.  He went to benefit  for metahumanity, and would “reblog” but never stand out and editorialize, and never actually put in the legwork or risk being seen to volunteer.  He talks the talk about change and what the country needed, but he never put himself in a position to actually risk anything.  He has opinions and beliefs, but not much in the way of convictions.

In grad school, while he was working towards his magical studies, often alongside his fellow grad-student (and then-boyfriend Elijah), he tried biting off a little more than he could chew at one point.  It was this incident that put the breaks on Barnabus’s “rebellious” period in college and made him settle down into focusing on his studies and eventually taking the job as the professor.  He had been doing research for his astral studies classes and practicing with astral projection.  Upon doing research into the metaplanes and personal advancement and initiation, Barnabas got the idea in his head that this was something he could do for himself to advance himself – after his failure to get into the Tir, and the aspect of not fitting into any niche.  He was a quick study to magic even if the raw power wasn’t there.  He astrally projected and found his way to the Dweller on the Threshold – the metaphysical doorway to the metaplanes – a known magical phenomenon that was entailed in the books.  He knew that he would be faced with a test of oneself and ones fears and weaknesses – but Barnabas wasn’t truly prepared.  What he came face to face with was the hidden potential that he felt had been wrested from him – the two extremes that he could never be – the perfect human son to his parents, a charismatic, confident politician, well-liked by all… and a powerful elven mage – undeniably metahuman – immersed in the trappings of the elven culture.  It was something that ultimately Barnabas could not deal with – his own insecurities and apprehensions; feelings of not being good enough and faced with the extremes of his idealized self he could never be.  He was dumped from the astral realm, but left with some psychological scars.  He was left astral shy: never felt fully comfortable even astrally projecting, and was even more loathe than most mages even to think to astrally perceive.  He turned his back on astral studies, throwing himself into spellcasting in the mundane world and observing magical levels and phenomena on the real world for his focus.  His failed trial was never something   he spoke about, even to his best friend, Elijah – it was a point of humiliation and something he hoped that would set him apart and above and instead made him feel lesser.   Elijah managed to convince him at one point to try “doing it astrally” after the fact – but it was a generally uncomfortable thing for Barnabas – paranoid about taking too long (there were horror stories about mages slipping into permanent comas who were out of their bodies too long) – not to mention projecting astrally reminded him of his failed trail, personal shortcomings, and feelings about his parents.  This was one incident that – unbeknowned to Elijah – contributed to the end of their relationship (especially since Barnabas never explained/would tell him why he was so uncomfortable with the experience).

 He continued his studies, and eventually transitioned from student to grad student, to professor at TAMU (one of the only schools in the south with a magic department).  Instead of making his way out in the world, joining a corporation, he found himself more interested in the research aspect of magic (a more passive career) – working with colleagues locally and at other universities to study the effects of the awakening, how and why magic returned, and the affects of the awakening and goblinization.  Barnabas enjoyed the subject, but also was not a particularly potent spellcaster.  He had a good grasp of the concepts, he took well to magical theory and the science of hermetic magic, but never packed a great deal of power.  He found himself silently jealous of particularly promising/talented students. 

His parents are still alive, but his relationship with them was strained. He still shows up for occasional family functions like Thanksgiving, but there are a lot of taboo subjects.  There is a lot of mutual resentment under the surface of polite family conversation.  His “coming out” as an elf (and active magic research) hurt their political career, and he still blames them for robbing him of his identity (despite the fact that their political ties smoothed over his life a lot for him, got him a SIN, and eased his role into the university).   His sister has recently started becoming active politically – looking at major positions in the CAS (Southern Conservative?)  This has caused more drama in the household with his sister having to take a further right stance (at least in rhetoric/platform) being a strain.  This drove a wedge between the once-close siblings dealing who once were on each others’ side dealing with oppressive parents.  He sees her now being figuratively “brainwashed” or whitewashing her public façade to make a political go of it.  Having arguments with points from her debates, “how can you say that?” Or being used as a question against her – having an awakened sibling (“an unfortunate event, but having made the best out of it, normalizing and helping him.”)  But still, Barnabas is closer to and on better/more casual speaking terms with his sister than his parents. They still care about each other, but when they get together, it usually devolves into arguments over politics.  He feels like he can actually speak his mind around her ((as there aren’t any real repercussions)). 
His sister is a blue-eyed brunette-dyed-blonde, married, and has a young (human) daughter.  ((Needless to say, Barnabas looks younger than his younger sister)).  He hopes that she would use a possible influence position in politics to make some changes; what’s the point of holding a position of power if you don’t plan on using it to make the world a better place.  She throws his needling back in his face about him being a hypocrite for not doing anything himself if it matters so much to him. 
 

Life for Barnabas was status quo up until he conducted his experiment.  His biggest problems on a day to day basis were “First World Problems” – not the right number of sugars in his coffee in the morning, flat tires, etc.  He is used to a comfortable life, trusting the establishment, focused on his studies and research, not worrying about where he is going to find his next meal or afford it.  He wasn't satisfied with the political climate in the South and their opinion on metahumans, but he has never been comfortable making much of a stand.  He doesn’t take social risks.  The most invested he gets is with his work – and that isn’t very controversial outside the halls of academia – which is an atmosphere that encourages healthy debate.  He had tenure by this point, so there was no risk in taking more radical or enterprising experiments.  While he had considered moving before, his whole life has been in the South.  After being rejected by the Tir, he felt a bit burned, and was settled with the community/colleagues and family.

As a professor, he was good-natured, friendly and patient, not without a sense of humor.  Most students liked him.  He had a genuine interest in the material he was teaching and was eager to share it with young minds.  He likes being liked.

His closest friend was his colleague at Texas A&M&M  ((agriculture and mechanical... and magic)), a human, Professor Elijah Stone another tenured professor in the department, but whose research focus was on Astral studies.
He actually attended grad school with him, and they had a brief relationship.  He wasn’t his first boyfriend, but it was his last for a while.  They did end up breaking up when it was obvious that Elijah was more into it than Barnabas was.  It was during Barnabas’s experimental phase and it was obvious he was looking at women more than a little in his friend’s company.  But they actually maintained a friendship over the years, though it was strained for a time.  They go out drinking from time to time, talk shop, and enjoy a guilty pleasure of going to see a movie or watching a trid show and criticizing how inaccurately magic/spellcasters are depicted. 

Relationship-wise, Barnabas has dated, but nothing’s stuck.  Like with other aspects of his life, he doesn’t have a lot of conviction.  He is used to an easy life.  If a relationship/partner gets too “drama-rific” he backs out – plays the “lets be friends/ I don’t want to ruin our friendship/were too close) card.   He also isn’t much for commitment.  He’s generally more interested in/attracted to women, but wouldn’t/hasn’t ruled out men completely (and still will occasionally give it a try).   He hadn’t written off the idea of finding Mr. or Mrs Right, but wasn’t really looking.  Friendships, to him, were more lasting and meaningful than physical relationships.  And he didn’t like mixing the two to jeopardize a real friendship when he had a bad track record with relationships lasting longer than a year or so.  Even in a relationship, he still was generally closer to his friends (particularly Eli), on a personal level than the person he was dating. 

He dallied with a few projects or hobbies, but not much ever really stuck into turning into a full blown hobby outside of his research and study of the Awakening.  Most of his free time was spent watching the Trid, playing the occasional video game, or maybe going out for a drink with his workfriends or Elijah.  He never really expected his life to change in any significant manner, other than hopefully breaking new ground in the understanding of magic as a new force in the world.  He’s excited to be around and alive during such a time of upheaval and change.


The experiment changed everything.

 Barnabas was studying specifically events that triggered spikes in magic. He had presented a hypothesis that the return of Haley’s Comet was going to bring about a spike in magic levels.  He was working closely with a colleague from UWashington through emails and other communication on the project – namely to run a lab simulation of the predicted effects.  Two weeks before he was set to run his experiment, he lost contact with his colleague.  Not using his better judgment, working on something he was actually invested in, he went forward with his end and conducted the experiment.  He had a lot invested – the ritual to draw forth the magical energy had been months in the development, there was a lot of resources invested to generate the energy necessary, and he worked with a particularly promising young Grad student, Tom Maxwell.
 His experiment worked better than he expected: he successfully managed to create what would eventually be called a magical SURGE in the laboratory setting, with various machines and magical devices to test and record the wave of pure magical energy.  However, the energy levels were much more than Professor Graham ever expected, and the containment designed for it was less than adequate.   Magic surged through the laboratory like an explosive blast, washing over him and his grad student.  For his grad student, the result was lethal, warping his body beyond what it could endure.  For Barnabas, it left him irrevocably changed. 

He woke up, sore, aching, and hurt, and yet feeling… charged… energized, as if he had absorbed some of the SURGE like a battery.  Ironically, he got back the pointed ears he had always resented being taken from him – in spades: his new ones were longer than most other elves, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.   His skin was blanched paper-white, magical diagrams and runes swirled over his skin, changing and shifting.  His eyes were now solid black orbs, his hands faded to black and were tipped with thick claws, and all the teeth in his mouth were sharpened to points.  His once silky elven hair that was just a touch long became very long, wiry/coarse and unmanageable. Barnabas would no longer be able to play the best of both worlds, avoiding commitments or aligning himself to whatever was most convenient.  Barnabas was no longer able to comfortably slip into human society, taking the best of the advantages of his elven heritage without the negatives.  He was left looking freakish, inhuman – not even metahuman.  His stomach fell when he saw what was left of the grad student.  Scared, guilty, and shaken, he fled the scene – scared of arrest, guilty for what had befallen his student, and horrified and confused with what had happened to him. 

But when he stumbled home, trying to sleep it off, the worst of it was yet to hit.  He discovered a strange, and very demanding, appetite.  Unable to help himself, he ate his expensive spellcasting focus (an ornate satchel/briefcase covered with hermetic symbols, crafted from basilisk hide) that had been his proverbial right hand for years.  In a result of the surge, Barnabas now resembled unseelie fey of folklore, but one imbued with and needing to feed on magic – an arcanavore.  This could be sated through the consumption of magical items: artifacts, fetishes, foci, or even the flesh of awakened animals.  His new, sharp teeth mixed with a surprisingly tolerant system allowed him to physically consume the items.  Even his magical signature burned brighter and lasted longer in the astral plane.  But on the swing side of things, magic seemed to come easier to him now; his spells packed more punch and seemed more… innate.  He had always been better at teaching and researching magical theory than actually packed oomph as a spellcaster.  Now his innate levels would have put most of his promising students to shame.

But then, in a matter of days, he found that his cred stick stopped working, he wasn’t being recognized in the university system, he couldn’t get past the security in his neighborhood, locks keyed to his fingerprints weren’t working.  He was being deleted from the system and no one would answer his questions, pleas, or demands.  He wasn’t sure if he was assumed dead himself – and was hesitant to press to far, fear of being charged with manslaughter.  He was scared to even try to contact his parents- would they even have recognized him?!  Barnabas gathered what little funds he could, grabbing a few things from his apartment (such as a small collection of fetishes that were used to help teach classes), hating himself for already having eaten a few magical items from his collection, and set off to Seattle – to try to track down his colleague who had been working on the same project. 

Despite his now freakish appearance, under the skin, Barnabas is very much a fish out of water, unused to sudden poverty and getting a major reality check about the real dangers, racism, and grittiness in general out in the world.  He’s (starting out) a pretty nice guy, even if he’s not used to commitments or taking a stand; maybe a little too trusting, scared, and lost.  The carpet has been ripped out from underneath him, and he’s suddenly having to face not only issues of being suddenly SINless, but also deal with the racism in spades he’s managed to mostly avoid up until now.  Karma is a bitch.

The Continuing Story: 

Barnabas's Prologue Story (click here)


Since Then (IN A NUTSHELL):  (Will eventually move to a separate page, probably))

Barnabas arrived in Seattle, and thanks to a street savvy cab driver named Noah, he found a place with a room for rent, though the only affordable apartment he could find with what money he made from pawning his valuables and after buying a plane ticket was a terrible flat that until recently belonged to an old cat lady (recently deceased)  - and left as-is.  Barnabas has managed to count at least 20 cats in the squalid apartment as he furiously tried to clean the place up to livable.  Try as he might, he’s having trouble ousting the cats as they seem to manage to find their way back in through ventilations, the porch, cracks, etc.  No one seems to be taking him up on the “Free Cats” signs he posted around the building.

There was no sign of Professor Ito at University of Washington – having been surreptitiously erased just like Barnabas assumed he was as well.  He contacted Elijah via the matrix, to learn that he was told that if Barnabas didn’t leave immediately he was going to be killed.  No explanation of who they were.  They apparently destroyed/cleaned up all evidence in the lab, and rumors circulated the apartment that he was embezzling funds from the university, and people were bribed/blackmailed to deny he ever worked there. 

The cab driver set him up with a meeting with someone who he was told might be able to find information about what happened to Ito, but he’d have to earn the man’s trust and … some cred on the streets…

And, seeming to suddenly have found himself living out the curse of "May you live in interesting times", his open porch door and hoard of cats drew the attention of Vasile (aka "Jingoro"), a fox-shapeshifter on the run and out on the streets for the first time.  He invited himself inside and Barnabas found himself a little relieved to have someone around to talk to. Vasile was pampered, a "pet" of a high ranking Yakuza boss, who eventually realized that he was in a cage, albeit a large, gilded one.  When there was a Triad attack on his master, he fled.  While needy and lacking a lot of real-world skills, Vasile is nice enough, and Barnabas appreciates the company more than he likes to let on (though is still insisting that he is going to have to help with rent).  In the  meantime, however Vasile is helping reduce Barnabas's cat population.

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