Save The Earth Application
May. 17th, 2013 09:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
whiterabbit_dot_objOOC Information:
Name: Leriel
Are you over 15? By almost a decade.
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
AngelLeriel
IC Information:
Name: Barnaby Brooks Jr.
Canon: Tiger & Bunny
Age: 26
Preincarnation Appearance: Image with both Hero suit and casual outfit.
Any differences: Usually wears red and white Converse-style sneakers instead of boots, and much looser cargo pants. He uses a cane to walk, and is rarely seen without it. He has some scarring on his right leg, both from the accident itself and from the surgeries to treat his injuries. He's not quite as fit as his Preincarnation self, though his arms are fairly muscular from cane use and compensating for his leg.
(Some of the information below is not taken from the series but from supplementary canon info, including the various supplementary books and interviews. This information will be indicated with underlined text.)
Preincarnated History: What happened to your character in their canon? You don’t need to explain the entire series to us, just the relevant parts, and some context to make sure it makes sense. Head canon should be written in italics. If you prefer you may write a bare-bones history and post a link to a resource that covers more details.
Very little about Barnaby's early life is known for certain. He was born on October 31st, NC 1953, the only child of famed robotics engineers Barnaby Sr and Emily Brooks. He first manifested his NEXT ability - Hundred Power, an ability which amplifies his strength and other physical abilities - when he was very young, age two or thereabouts, and would often use it to get his parents' attention. Finally, on Christmas Eve NC 1957, the then four-year-old Barnaby returned from an outing, only to witness his parents' murder.
After this his life becomes difficult to follow for a while. He was sent to an orphanage after the murder; it is believed he was eventually taken in by Albert Maverick, the CEO of HeroTV and a friend of his parents, but sources are contradictory. At some point he began obsessively hunting for his parents' killer, with no clues but the shape of a tattoo he remembered seeing on the shooter's hand, though exactly when he started is unknown. He was at least a teenager, as evidenced by his recollection of the sentencing hearing of a criminal, one J.G. Benjamin, who gave him the only lead he would manage to collect in twenty years of searching: the tattoo was associated with a mysterious crime syndicate called Ouroboros.
Sometime after this, Barnaby enrolled in the Hero Academy. Again, his age at the time is a mystery, as is exactly what prompted his decision to become a Hero and whether or not it was something he came up with on his own.
Regardless, Barnaby comes back on the radar in NC 1977, at the age of 23, when he makes his grand debut on HeroTV during the final episode of the season. And what a debut it is - in his very first appearance on camera he saves the life of another Hero before apprehending an armed robber without breaking a sweat. The "mysterious new Hero" is an instant hit, and he becomes even more popular when it's revealed that he will not be using a secret identity. Barnaby has thrown down the gauntlet to his parents' killer on live television, and he could not be more pleased.
At least until he learns that he's going to be doing his superheroics as part of a duo. Not only that, but he's being partnered up with one Kotetsu Kaburagi, also known as Wild Tiger - the very same Hero he had to rescue during his debut. The two Heroes share the same power, but that seems to be the only thing they have in common; they butt heads over everything from teamwork to ethics to paperwork. As if that wasn't enough, when the set-in-his-ways veteran isn't goofing up on the job or lecturing Barnaby, he's doing his damndest to meddle in the rookie's life. Their early tag-team career is one disastrous hiccup after another. Executive orders are the only thing keeping Barnaby from walking off the team - a fact that he's not afraid to remind Tiger of.
As time goes by the duo settles into something of a routine, and when they stop actively fighting each other on the job their teamwork slowly starts to improve. But while they've finally managed to develop a (slightly) better working relationship, Barnaby is insistent on keeping it just that. He sets up very strict boundaries between his job and his life, and ensures that every attempt Tiger makes to bridge that divide fails.
Until Lunatic appears.
Lunatic's arrival is ultimately what puts the first crack in Barnaby's barriers. The moment Barnaby reveals his parents' murder to Tiger isn't sparked by trust or camaraderie, but by frustration and anger as a result of Lunatic killing his first potential lead in years right in front of him; he immediately shuts Tiger out again and refuses to let him help. As Lunatic's killing spree continues, Barnaby's rage keeps building. The only things that seem to be keeping him grounded are the possibility that the vigilante might be connected to the mysterious Ouroboros and Barnaby's near-perfect repression of his emotions. When the heroic duo confront Lunatic again, only for the man to reveal he is not affiliated with the crime syndicate - that he's eliminated Barnaby's leads and wasted his time for nothing - that iron control finally snaps. In a fit of reckless anger he charges at the vigilante, leaving himself wide open for attack, and when Lunatic retaliates, Tiger steps in and takes the shot, severely burning his shoulder.
The incident has a profound effect on Barnaby. He's both amazed and touched that Tiger would be willing to risk his life for someone who's been nothing but callous and insulting to him, and his attitude towards the older man slowly begins to change. When a "mission" to keep an eye on the mayor's infant son results in Tiger staying at Barnaby's apartment overnight, Barnaby finally opens up to him, sharing the research and scarce amount of clues he's been able to gather in the past twenty years of searching, and venting his frustration at his inability to remember the killer's face even though he clearly recalls everything else about the murder. Tiger insists that he'll remember eventually, and that he will catch the killer, reassurance that Barnaby seems to have needed.
Tiger turns out to be right. While doing a search of currently incarcerated criminals in the Justice Bureau's criminal database, Barnaby finally finds a face he recognizes as the killer - Jake Martinez, a dangerous murderer and a NEXT with unknown powers. He heads off to Abbas Prison to interrogate the man, but the city is suddenly attacked by terrorists with access to powered exosuits. Tiger tells Barnaby to keep going and not worry about responding, shooting down the blond's reluctance by asking if he doesn't trust him. Barnaby does decide to leave things to his partner, but a series of rapid strikes forces the Heroes to spread out all over the city, and Tiger finds himself in over his head trying to rescue civilians and fend off the exosuits at the same time. As soon as Barnaby hears that Tiger's getting overwhelmed he immediately turns around to back his partner up, arriving just in time to rescue the veteran Hero once again.
...and for the terrorist group to reveal that they are, in fact, Ouroboros.
The person leading the attack, a young woman named Kriem, reveals that they've cut off all of the transportation between the island and mainland areas of Sternbild and declares the millions of citizens on the island their hostages. She threatens to begin demolishing the pillars supporting the three levels of the pseudo-arcology unless the city's leadership releases their leader - none other than Jake Martinez.
Needless to say, Barnaby is furious, and he ends up wrestling with his hair-trigger temper. As the mayor continues waffling in his decision, Kriem orders the exosuits - piloted by teddy bears that she controls with her NEXT ability and a radio transmitter - to destroy one of the support columns and announces that another random column will be demolished for every hour she has to wait for an answer. This prompts Tiger, with Barnaby in tow, to storm the mayor's meeting and force him to commit to a decision - to prioritize the safety of the city, release Jake, and allow the Heroes to recapture him.
In a stroke of luck, Kriem's henchman also arrives to force the issue; he's captured, and Origami Cyclone - a Hero with the ability to shapeshift - returns to Kriem in disguise to deliver the message and eventually locate Jake's hideout for the others. As the plan goes into motion and Jake is set free, Barnaby confesses to Tiger that he's not sure he'll be able to keep his temper in check when they confront Jake. Tiger reassures him that everything will be fine, and that he'll be there to support Barnaby just in case.
Unfortunately, when Jake learns that he was released in exchange for sparing "worthless human garbage" hostages, he reneges on the deal, publicly announcing that he's keeping the city under control because "you'll do anything I ask, right?"
In response to this, Maverick (whom Barnaby had told about IDing Jake as the killer) wants Barnaby to reveal his past and the details of his parents' murder at a press conference, as a show of solidarity to the frightened public. Tiger is uncomfortable with the idea, but Barnaby agrees.
At the same time, Origami contacts the rest of the Heroes to inform them that he's arrived at the hideout and be looking for a way to stop the exosuits. The Heroes prepare to head for Jake and Kriem's base of operations, but Jake catches Origami, who he'd already known was a spy.
Unaware that their comrade has been caught, the rest of their Heroes decide to get into position near the hideout and wait for word from Origami. Barnaby volunteers to sneak inside for reconnaissance; Tiger isn't comfortable letting Barnaby go in alone, concerned that he might lose his temper again if he spots Jake, but Barnaby asks him to trust him.
Things go pear-shaped very quickly. When Barnaby enters the hideout he spots what appears to be Jake, but is actually Origami, who's been forced to take Jake's form. Barnaby realizes who it is right away when he spots Origami's comm band - Tiger, on the other hand, has followed Barnaby behind his back and falls for the ruse. When Barnaby activates his powers to rush in and rescue Origami, Tiger assumes he's about to attack "Jake" and steps in; the real Jake taunts the duo before using his power (what appears to be energy beams he fires from his finger) to blow up some of the spare exosuits and escape in the ensuing chaos. Barnaby is furious with Tiger - the man not only refused to trust him but, by doing so, exacerbated an already bad situation. Feeling betrayed, he tells Tiger that he refuses to trust someone who can't trust him, and he no longer considers them partners.
With Origami hospitalized and Jake and Kriem missing, everyone is concerned that Jake will retaliate by sinking the island city. In fact, Jake uses the opportunity to issue a challenge: if any of the remaining Heroes can beat him in a televised one-on-one fight, he'll free the city. If they all lose, however, he'll sink Sternbild. With no other choice, the Heroes accept, and Jake proceeds to select each challenge with a random lottery. Sky High and Rock Bison are the first two drawn, and lost their matches in short order; Sky High reveals that Jake's power isn't energy beams, but energy shields that he's learned to use for both offense and defense.
Tiger and Barnaby get drawn for the third and fourth matches, respectively. The older Hero tries to reassure Barnaby one last time before his fight, only to have the younger man blow him off. Barnaby's faith in his partner is so thoroughly broken that he not only expects the man to lose, he even admits that he's only watching Tiger's match to help figure out his own strategy. While Tiger does end up losing, he manages to be the first Hero to land a hit on Jake, without his power; Jake is so infuriated by this that he proceeds to assault the helpless man so badly that the producer of HeroTV orders the camera feeds cut because "we can't air this." Tiger end up being rushed to the ICU as quickly as possible.
During the match, Origami Cyclone regained consciousness and revealed how Kriem controlled the exosuits. HeroTV immediately starts setting up a network to jam her transmissions, and the producer buys time to get it completed by sweet-talking Jake into saving Barnaby's fight for the next morning. His match with be both an attempt to subdue Jake and to keep him and Kriem distracted long enough for Fire Emblem, Blue Rose, and Dragon Kid to disable the exosuits as soon as the jammers are switched on.
Just before the fight Jake announces that he's upped the stakes - because Barnaby's match marks the halfway point, Jake will destroy half of Sternbild immediately if the rookie loses. The fight ends up being a long, drawn out affair, as Barnaby tries to pinpoint Jake's weakness and Jake tries to bait him into using (and wasting) his power by taunting him about his parents' death. At one point Jake gleefully reveals that he has two powers, and that the second is the reason why no one can beat him. As the fight wears on and not even is power can turn things around, Barnaby starts to lose hope...only for Tiger to suddenly arrive. The older man has escaped the hospital to help Barnaby - he tells him that Jake's second power is "super hearing" and gives him a sonic grenade to level the playing field with. Barnaby refuses to listen until he notices the grenade is covered in blood. Tiger is still seriously injured, and came to help Barnaby not because he thinks the blond can't beat Jake, but because he's the only one who can.
Barnaby goes along with Tiger's idea, only to discover that the sonic grenade is actually a flash grenade. The unexpected flare catches Jake off guard, giving Barnaby the opening he needs to take him down. With his parents' killer at his mercy, Barnaby contemplates killing the man - and very nearly does - but decides against it, unable to disappoint Tiger that way. Jake and Kriem try to force the duo to let them go free, citing their hostages, only for HeroTV to choose that very moment to announce that the remaining three Heroes have destroyed the exosuits and eliminated the villains' only bargaining chip. When Jake tries to flee to their helicopter Tiger restrains him with a grappling wire; the murderer fires a shield at him and misses, shooting his own helicopter out of the sky instead. The ensuing crash kills Jake and seriously injures Kriem, leaving her comatose.
In the aftermath, Barnaby confronts Tiger about the grenade and why he lied about what it would do. The veteran reveals that Jake's second power wasn't super hearing, but mind reading, which Tiger discovered when he kicked Jake by accident and Jake responded with Tiger's real name - something he could only know if he was listening to Tiger's thoughts. The only way to beat Jake was to catch him by surprise, which required Barnaby to not know what was what really going on, and for both of them to trust each other. The whole incident restores Barnaby's faith in the other man, and for the first time he calls Kotetsu by his real name.
The dynamic duo have nowhere to go but up, and ten months later they're on top of the world. Barnaby has managed to score first place in his inaugural season and his breaking records left and right. What's more, he's beginning to truly enjoy himself, and for the first time in twenty years he feels like he's finally living for his own sake. He can finally let go of his parents' murder, and instead he focuses on repaying the two people who help make catching Jake possible: Maverick, by doing his best to make HeroTV as successful as possible, and Kotetsu, by striving to become a trustworthy partner and a Hero the veteran can be proud of.
One evening, the duo encounter what they assume is a rampaging NEXT violently attacking billboards and even apparently attacking a man. The man turns out to be Rotwang, an old colleague of Barnaby's parents, and the "NEXT" is actually a malfunctioning gynoid. Rotwang was the person who took over the Brooks' robotics research after their deaths, and has managed to advance it to the point of creating extremely powerful humanoid robots - robots that he believes are "perfect beings" destined to surpass humanity. He insists that the Brooks' would be pleased by the gynoid and the rest of the developments he made using their research, which Barnaby vehemently denies; he remembers his parents dedicating wanting to create robots that would help and protect people, not be mindless fighting drones.
The gynoid is eventually destroyed by Sky High, but the encounter leaves Barnaby shaken. He realizes that he's not entirely sure what his parents would have wanted done with their research; he's also realized that he doesn't really know as much about his parents as he thinks he does. He has secondhand accounts from colleagues and articles, yes, but his personal memories are biased by how old he was at the time. He's going to remember his parents as these brilliant, wonderful people because that's how little kids almost always view their parents, wise and benevolent and immortal beings who can do no wrong. He knows his parents as parents, but he'll never be able to know them as people, no matter how much he still looks up to them, and that realization hurts.
Things return to business as usual for a while. Barnaby breaks one of the records held by the famous Hero Mr. Legend, and Kotetsu takes a vacation to visit his family not long after.
On the day Kotetsu returns, Barnaby receives a call from the hospital treating Kriem; she's come out of her coma and he's allowed to come in and speak to her. He immediately heads to the hospital, and Kotetsu arrives just before the doctors allow him into her room. When they're finally let in, Barnaby immediately begins questioning her about why Jake killed his parents. To both Heroes' shock, Kriem insists that not only did Jake not kill the Brooks but that she knows he couldn't have because he'd kidnapped her that night and she was with him the whole time. She then tells Barnaby that the two of them were only a small part of Ouroboros, and that she hopes his past will haunt him for the rest of his life, before finally committing suicide so she can be with Jake again.
Barnaby refuses to believe Kriem's claim that Jake was innocent, even after Kotetsu verifies that she was kidnapped the same night the Brooks were killed, pointing out that she could've been lying in an attempt to clear Jake and torment Barnaby. Kotetsu has the idea to check the old footage from the Seven Matches to see if Jake had the tattoo on his right hand that Barnaby remembers the killer having, since its presence would prove if Kriem was lying. However, then they finally find a shot of the back of Jake's right hand, there's no evidence that he'd ever had a tattoo there at all.
Confused, Barnaby tries to recall the events of the murder only for his memory of the killer's face to begin cycling rapidly between people he knows. Suddenly finding himself left with no clue to go by but the tattoo, and with his unpredictable memory throwing even that in doubt, Barnaby begins suffering a mental breakdown and tries to isolate himself at home.
Kotetsu shows up at Barnaby's apartment the next day and tries to reassure him, suggesting that the two of them retrace Barnaby's steps on the night of the murder in order to jog his memory. Though things go well at first, Barnaby quickly becomes frustrated that he can remember the events leading up to the murder clearly, but not the murderer's identity. He breaks down again in public and ends up passing out from the stress and exhaustion. After he regains consciousness he immediately goes looking for Kotetsu, and ends up overhearing him talking about his plans to retire - plans he had not told Barnaby about.
Things spiral out of control fairly quickly. Angry, hurt, and still emotionally unstable, Barnaby lashes out at Kotetsu, berating and insulting him until the older man snaps and slaps him. Barnaby uses his power to leave the building without Kotetsu following him and heads to see the only remaining person he feels he can still trust: Maverick, whom he distinctly remembers spending the entire afternoon and evening of the murder with and therefore the only person Barnaby considers to have a solid alibi.
While explaining Kriem's confession and his subsequent memory problems to Maverick, Barnaby gets a call from his parent's old housekeeper, Samantha. He'd called her the day before to asker her what she'd been doing the night of the murder, which had prompted her to go looking through some things she still had from when she'd worked for the Brooks. She'd found a photo taken the day of the murder - one that proved that Barnaby had spent the day with her, not Maverick. When Barnaby confronts him, Maverick confesses; he'd been working with Ouroboros for decades to stage spectacular crimes for HeroTV, including supplying them with some of the Brooks' inventions. He'd killed the Brooks when they'd discovered what he was doing and tried to turn him in to the police. He then reveals that he's a NEXT with the ability to manipulate people's memories, and had been doing so to Barnaby for years - first to provide an alibi for the murder, then to groom Barnaby into the perfect Hero. Maverick proceeds to alter Barnaby's memories yet, purging his confession while reinstating Jake as the Brooks' killer and editing Kriem's confession to support it.
Barnaby, who had been drugged, loses consciousness again, eventually waking up in Maverick's vacation home outside of Sternbild. After checking to make sure the new memories had set, Maverick sets his next plan into motion; both Samantha and Kotetsu are looking for Barnaby, and both have information that would uproot his false memories, so Maverick sets out to eliminate them both at once. He has Samantha murdered and Kotetsu framed for the crime. He also edits Barnaby's memories again, removing all trace of Kotetsu's civilian identity while leaving the mysterious Wild Tiger intact. No longer aware of who Kotetsu is, Barnaby completely believes the older man to be a murderer and sets out to get revenge for his beloved Aunt Samantha.
Maverick pulls out all the stops for this plan, erasing the rest of the Heroes' memories of Kotetsu and even getting a fake "Wild Tiger" to fill in for him and help discredit any attempts the veteran might make at jogging everyone's memories. The former ends up being undone by none other than Kotetsu's daughter Kaede, a NEXT who can copy the powers of other NEXTs by touching them. Through a stroke of luck she manages to get Maverick's memory manipulating power and fixes the memories of all the Heroes...except for Barnaby. Kotetsu leads him on a merry chase, trying to find something that will make the younger man remember him, while Barnaby just grows more and more angry; he only sees Kotetsu as a violent criminal who has not only murdered a very dear family friend but is now trying to blacken his partner's reputation by claiming to be Wild Tiger. The two of them finally end up clashing on one of the city's bridges, and Barnaby attacks Kotetsu relentlessly while the older man desperately tries to jog his memory. It's not until Barnaby has him prone and is about to finish him off that Kotetsu finally finds the one thing that restores his memory: calling him "Little Bunny."
With Barnaby's memories returned, the duo turns their attention to capturing Maverick. On their way back to Apollon to meet up with Kaede and the other Heroes and plan their next move, Maverick contacts them using Blue Rose's communicator and reveals that he's already captured the others and taken Kaede hostage, then instructs them to come to Justice Tower if they want to rescue everyone.
When the duo arrives, they're directed to a room containing the fake Wild Tiger - which is actually an android called H-01, created by Rotwang for Maverick as part of a plan to replace the Heroes with robots. Kotetsu and Barnaby struggle to fight off the H-01 even with with their powers, and the android even manages to stab Barnaby in the leg. In the end they're only able to defeat it by shooting it with its own weapon, though Kotetsu ends up seriously injured the in process, as he'd been holding H-01 in place so Barnaby could shoot it and was unable to move out of the way in time. Kotetsu finally confesses the real reason behind his retirement - he's been losing his powers, and didn't tell Barnaby because he didn't want the other man to worry - before apparently dying in Barnaby's arms.
Kaede and the other Heroes arrive, having escaped from Rotwang, and Barnaby explains what happened to Kotetsu. As everyone mourns, Maverick and Rotwang reveal that they built more than one H-01 and send several more of the robots to attack them, but Saito manages to disable them by utilizing a safety mode embedded in the "black box" designed by Barnaby's parents. In the following commotion, Maverick shoves Rotwang to his death in order to save his own skin.
The Heroes manage to corner Maverick before he can reset the androids. He boasts that even if the Heroes do arrest him, he'll still be able to get away scot-free thanks to his reputation and his NEXT ability - only for HeroTV's producer Agnes to reveal that she's not only been filming his entire "confession," but it's been broadcasting live the whole time. Maverick takes Kaede hostage and threatens to shoot her if the Heroes intervene, but she's rescued by none other than Kotetsu, who had simply succumbed to the pain of his injuries and lost consciousness. With no hope of escape left, Maverick reveals that - contrary to the Heroes' belief - he is not the leader of Ouroboros, before using his power to render himself a vegetable.
Later, after Maverick has been escorted away by police and the Heroes finally have a chance to regroup, Saito approaches Barnaby. He shows him the password to activate the androids' safety mode and asks if he has any idea what it could mean; however, Barnaby is just as confused as the mechanic.
Kotetsu takes this opportunity to officially announce his retirement to the rest of the Heroes. Barnaby immediately does the same, first stating that "there's no point in being a Hero without my partner", then admitting that, since he'd only become a Hero because of Maverick's manipulation, he wants to find out who and what he really wants to be - "to live life making my own choices."
A year passes, and Barnaby spends much of it dealing with depression, trying to figure out what kind of life he wants to live and what kind of person he wants to be. A part of him is torn, wanting to go back to being a Hero - the job he loved - but unsure how "right" it would be for him to return to doing what Maverick intentionally groomed him to do. He visits his parents' gravestone that Christmas Eve, and while cleaning away the snow realizes that the safety mode activation code is his parents' birthdays added together to equal his own. He remembers them saying that they would always protect him, and that they hoped he'd become the kind of person who protects others, and breaks down in tears, simultaneously overcome with grief and a sense of relief - that it's okay for him to return to being a Hero as long as it's a choice he's making for himself, and that it's something his parents would be proud to see him doing.
His first act in his return to the Hero business is exactly the same as when he first started out - rescuing Kotetsu from an otherwise fatal fall. The older man is surprised by Barnaby's return, and Barnaby acts uncannily like Kotetsu - giving vague, noncommittal answers about himself before deflecting the conversation, first onto Kotetsu and then into an argument about damage fines. The series closes out with the heroic duo reuniting, and Barnaby couldn't be happier.
Reincarnated History What happened to your character that got them to this point in their normal, human life?
NOTE: Please see the disclaimer at the end of the app
Unlike his Preincarnation, Barnaby's childhood wasn't quite so tragic. The only son of Barnaby and Heather Brooks, a chemical engineer and a marketing associate, his early life was mostly normal and quite stable. He did very well in school and was considered quite intelligent, though he wasn't very interested in sports or other after-school activities. While he managed to build up a rather large circle of acquaintances, he struggled with developing those into real friendships and more often than not was the odd man out; he spent much of his free time with one family member or another and was very close with his parents.
Barnaby's life took a drastic turn when he was thirteen. While on their way home from a family dinner the Brooks' car was caught in a serious pileup; Barnaby's parents were killed and Barnaby himself suffered several injuries, including a severely broken femur. While the fractures in his leg were treated with surgery, permanent damage still remained - his right leg is shorter than his left, and he only has a limited range of movement with his knee. He is fine walking unaided, though not without difficulty and some pain, and he cannot run, climb ladders, or other similar physical activities. He usually uses a cane.
Following his release from the hospital, Barnaby was sent to live with his grandmother. He spent much of middle school and high school being either bullied or (in his opinion) patronizingly pitied by several classmates for his disability. This seeded a bit of a persecution complex, such as it is, where he eventually began to see everyone as feeling one of those two ways towards him, whether they showed it or not. The schools did provide accommodations and assistance, and dealt with the bullies as best they could, which Barnaby appreciated; however, he did feel somewhat alienated and singled out by some of the aid.
Between spending time in the hospital and the limits his disability imposed on his physical activity, most of the hobbies Barnaby developed were focused on providing mental stimulation. Most of them ended up centered around computers, mainly due to the fact that a laptop is portable enough to be used wherever he was most comfortable. He's a causal gamer, generally only playing city builders and puzzle solving games, which started when his uncle got him a copy of MYST as a gift.
During his sophomore year of high school where he was first introduced to computer programming. Barnaby enjoyed the mental challenge in designing, coding, and testing his own programs and it quickly became one of his favorite hobbies. He discovered JournalFen and Fandom Wank at around the same time, and eventually bought a paid JF account to join the community. He's not the most active member in terms of posts, but he still follows it and comments somewhat regularly.
At 21 he graduated from Locke University with an Associate's in computer programming.
Barnaby received a rather unusual graduation gift after finishing his degree - a grey and white Mini-Rex rabbit, which he named Luna. Barnaby dotes on her, and has even built a custom two-leveled cage for Luna, though she usually gets the run of the living room while he's at home. He's spent a decent amount of time teaching her "tricks" to help make taking care of her easier, such as coming when called, sitting and staying, and going into her cage or getting into her carrier on command. She's a cuddler who seems to think humans exist to pet her and play with her, and will do whatever it takes to demand attention; this includes some rather painful nipping, a habit that Barnaby is still struggling to break her of.
Currently Barnaby works full-time for a programming company that designs inventory and POS systems, mostly focused around their customizable semi-automated inventory management program, ShelfWizard, and register simulators for POS training. Usually he works from home via a virtual machine, though he does regularly head to the office for meetings and to access the main servers. He relies on Locke City's public transit system to get around, as his disability (and a marked dislike of cars) makes driving an impossibility. He has his own apartment not far from the company offices, though his grandmother and uncle regularly stop by "just to check up on things."
First Echo: What caused their first Echo, and what did it give them? Players may choose events from the timeline or a canon reoccurence.
Barnaby got his first Echo while talking with a few of his coworkers; one of the other programmers was complaining about having to go to a PR meeting to help pitch ShelfWizard, insisting that the programmers never wanted to be doing marketing work, and tried to get Barnaby to agree with him. It triggered a memory of a masked man making similar complaints about doing interviews, photo shoots, and other celebrity PR, along with the odd feeling that something is missing from that memory.
(For the record, what's "missing" is the Bunny nickname. He can tell that the man was addressing him, and he knows he called him something that wasn't his name, but he can't remember him actually calling him Bunny.)
Preincarnation Personality: What sort of person were they in their past life? Head canon should be written in italics.
Barnaby has an incredibly complex personality - much of it is carefully compartmentalized and layered. The guy's a nesting doll, basically, both in terms of personality and issues. And boy does he have issues.
Any differences: You are encouraged to deviate from the original personality in three or four major ways, with as many changes made to make their personality logical to the setting.
Barnaby's reincarnation personality is drastically different from his preincarnation's, by sheer virtue of the fact that two of the biggest influences on his preincarnation's life - Maverick's power and Ouroboros - don't even exist in his reincarnated life. Even if all the other circumstances of his life had been identical, he still wouldn't have been exactly the same person his preincarnation was.
For one, Barnaby does not have his preincarnation's issues with his sense of self. He knows who he is and what kind of person he wants to be; he knows that he's made his own choices and is willing to own up to them and their consequences. He doesn't hide himself behind masks - he doesn't have any reason to. Barnaby is friendly and open, bluntly honest (most of the time), and snarky, and he's like that with pretty much everyone. Oh, he’s polite and professional when he needs to be, and unlike his preincarnation he has this little thing called “tact,” but it’s just standard professionalism and not a fake persona.
That being said, he does tend to feel like most people are secretly pitying, patronizing, or judging him for his disability. This stems from his experiences in middle school and high school. If someone “proves” it - either by treating him like he needs help when he doesn't, "praising" him for his strength/bravery/etc, asking him if he "needs" help (implying he either can or can't do something himself) instead of if he "wants" it (implying he can handle it himself and just wants to speed up or simplify the task), or just plain being an ableist ass - he reacts accordingly; he will immediately cease being polite, and might verbally rip the offender a new one depending on what they did. That said, he's still rather friendly and open by default – he has to be pushed into this reaction.
Barnaby’s reincarnated self also has issues with self-confidence. The limitations on what he can physically do frustrate him sometimes, as does needing to plan so much of his life around how many "spoons" he has that day. It’s affected his opinion of how useful he can be, especially in situations that call for some kind of physical activity or skill. His self-esteem regarding anything other than programming and other computer and technology skills is very low.
Last but not least, Barnaby feels very uncomfortable in cars, including taxis. When he does ride in one, he can get rather paranoid and short-tempered regarding (perceived) unsafe driving; if they get in an accident, or even just experience a near-miss, he may experience flashbacks to the accident that killed his parents and/or suffer a panic attack. As a result he usually refuses to take a taxi or accept an offer of a ride unless there's no other option available...and he does consider "sitting at the bus stop late at night, in the rain, for an hour" as an option.
Abilities: What abilities did your character’s Preincarnation have? To what extent were they used? Include any equipment they had access to and any skills they had. Head canon should be written in italics. You may write a brief and link to a more detailed resource if you wish.
Barnaby is a super-powered individual known as a NEXT (Noted Entity with eXtrordinary Talent). His particular ability, “Hundred Power,” allows him to increase his physical capabilities by a hundredfold. It enhances his strength, speed, vision (essentially correcting his nearsightedness), and jumping ability, but only lasts for five minutes and has a one hour cool-down period.
In addition to his power, Barnaby has a mechanical Hero suit. It’s bulletproof and extremely fire resistant, and is equipped with a set of jet boosters on the back which he uses to help enhance his jumps and course-correct in midair. It also has a “Good Luck Mode” which increases the size of the suit’s right leg and…well, that’s pretty much it. It’s a purely aesthetic function. Barnaby also wears a skintight body suit underneath the mechanical armor.
Roleplay Sample – Third Person:
My third person tags tend to be of the bracketed variety, an example of which you can see here. (As you might be able to tell by the dates, there's a bit of info in there that's "outdated" now. Specifically, I mention Barnaby wearing a leg brace, which he does not - this was removed during a round of research-driven revision.)
Roleplay Sample - Network:
[Text/Visual Studio Compiler]
[Generally speaking, when one enters a string of numbers as the value of a variable in order to see whether or not a certain function of one’s program works, one does not list “Spontaneous generation of a forum network within the compiler” as an expected result. Barnaby is understandably confused, even after reading back through a few posts.]
[... shit, this better not have erased his code.]
Any Questions?
Disclaimer & Research
I have a few reasons for choosing this for Barnaby's reincarnation. The two biggest stem from the two most major development in his canon life: witnessing the death of his parents, and Maverick's mental manipulations. Both had a huge impact on how his personality developed, among other things, and I wanted to bring over or reference them in his reincarnated life in some way. While the loss of his parents was easy to incorporate, as was his "witnessing" it, the effects of Maverick's powers was less so; especially as I wanted to stay away from the closest real-world equivalent, abuse, partly because I was (and am) uncomfortable with portraying this particular subject and partly because I felt choosing this would result in his canon and reincarnated personalities being too similar. I chose a permanent physical injury to reference the permanent mental effect of the memory alterations, while at the same time inverting it. Broken bones are some of the most common injuries in car accidents, and severe leg breaks/fractures can result in a permanent limp and other disabilities.
I have never personally experienced a bone break or fracture, and while I have a few family members who have none have experienced permanent disabilities as a result. I have done research in several different areas regarding bone fractures, leg injuries, cane use, and living with disabilities. I am far from an expert in this area and am open to concrit and corrections, or information/education regarding it. While I am only attempting to portray a character, I have no intention of downplaying or making light of serious injuries or disabilities, or those who deal with them in real life.
Name: Leriel
Are you over 15? By almost a decade.
Contact:
IC Information:
Name: Barnaby Brooks Jr.
Canon: Tiger & Bunny
Age: 26
Preincarnation Appearance: Image with both Hero suit and casual outfit.
Any differences: Usually wears red and white Converse-style sneakers instead of boots, and much looser cargo pants. He uses a cane to walk, and is rarely seen without it. He has some scarring on his right leg, both from the accident itself and from the surgeries to treat his injuries. He's not quite as fit as his Preincarnation self, though his arms are fairly muscular from cane use and compensating for his leg.
(Some of the information below is not taken from the series but from supplementary canon info, including the various supplementary books and interviews. This information will be indicated with underlined text.)
Preincarnated History: What happened to your character in their canon? You don’t need to explain the entire series to us, just the relevant parts, and some context to make sure it makes sense. Head canon should be written in italics. If you prefer you may write a bare-bones history and post a link to a resource that covers more details.
Very little about Barnaby's early life is known for certain. He was born on October 31st, NC 1953, the only child of famed robotics engineers Barnaby Sr and Emily Brooks. He first manifested his NEXT ability - Hundred Power, an ability which amplifies his strength and other physical abilities - when he was very young, age two or thereabouts, and would often use it to get his parents' attention. Finally, on Christmas Eve NC 1957, the then four-year-old Barnaby returned from an outing, only to witness his parents' murder.
After this his life becomes difficult to follow for a while. He was sent to an orphanage after the murder; it is believed he was eventually taken in by Albert Maverick, the CEO of HeroTV and a friend of his parents, but sources are contradictory. At some point he began obsessively hunting for his parents' killer, with no clues but the shape of a tattoo he remembered seeing on the shooter's hand, though exactly when he started is unknown. He was at least a teenager, as evidenced by his recollection of the sentencing hearing of a criminal, one J.G. Benjamin, who gave him the only lead he would manage to collect in twenty years of searching: the tattoo was associated with a mysterious crime syndicate called Ouroboros.
Sometime after this, Barnaby enrolled in the Hero Academy. Again, his age at the time is a mystery, as is exactly what prompted his decision to become a Hero and whether or not it was something he came up with on his own.
Regardless, Barnaby comes back on the radar in NC 1977, at the age of 23, when he makes his grand debut on HeroTV during the final episode of the season. And what a debut it is - in his very first appearance on camera he saves the life of another Hero before apprehending an armed robber without breaking a sweat. The "mysterious new Hero" is an instant hit, and he becomes even more popular when it's revealed that he will not be using a secret identity. Barnaby has thrown down the gauntlet to his parents' killer on live television, and he could not be more pleased.
At least until he learns that he's going to be doing his superheroics as part of a duo. Not only that, but he's being partnered up with one Kotetsu Kaburagi, also known as Wild Tiger - the very same Hero he had to rescue during his debut. The two Heroes share the same power, but that seems to be the only thing they have in common; they butt heads over everything from teamwork to ethics to paperwork. As if that wasn't enough, when the set-in-his-ways veteran isn't goofing up on the job or lecturing Barnaby, he's doing his damndest to meddle in the rookie's life. Their early tag-team career is one disastrous hiccup after another. Executive orders are the only thing keeping Barnaby from walking off the team - a fact that he's not afraid to remind Tiger of.
As time goes by the duo settles into something of a routine, and when they stop actively fighting each other on the job their teamwork slowly starts to improve. But while they've finally managed to develop a (slightly) better working relationship, Barnaby is insistent on keeping it just that. He sets up very strict boundaries between his job and his life, and ensures that every attempt Tiger makes to bridge that divide fails.
Until Lunatic appears.
Lunatic's arrival is ultimately what puts the first crack in Barnaby's barriers. The moment Barnaby reveals his parents' murder to Tiger isn't sparked by trust or camaraderie, but by frustration and anger as a result of Lunatic killing his first potential lead in years right in front of him; he immediately shuts Tiger out again and refuses to let him help. As Lunatic's killing spree continues, Barnaby's rage keeps building. The only things that seem to be keeping him grounded are the possibility that the vigilante might be connected to the mysterious Ouroboros and Barnaby's near-perfect repression of his emotions. When the heroic duo confront Lunatic again, only for the man to reveal he is not affiliated with the crime syndicate - that he's eliminated Barnaby's leads and wasted his time for nothing - that iron control finally snaps. In a fit of reckless anger he charges at the vigilante, leaving himself wide open for attack, and when Lunatic retaliates, Tiger steps in and takes the shot, severely burning his shoulder.
The incident has a profound effect on Barnaby. He's both amazed and touched that Tiger would be willing to risk his life for someone who's been nothing but callous and insulting to him, and his attitude towards the older man slowly begins to change. When a "mission" to keep an eye on the mayor's infant son results in Tiger staying at Barnaby's apartment overnight, Barnaby finally opens up to him, sharing the research and scarce amount of clues he's been able to gather in the past twenty years of searching, and venting his frustration at his inability to remember the killer's face even though he clearly recalls everything else about the murder. Tiger insists that he'll remember eventually, and that he will catch the killer, reassurance that Barnaby seems to have needed.
Tiger turns out to be right. While doing a search of currently incarcerated criminals in the Justice Bureau's criminal database, Barnaby finally finds a face he recognizes as the killer - Jake Martinez, a dangerous murderer and a NEXT with unknown powers. He heads off to Abbas Prison to interrogate the man, but the city is suddenly attacked by terrorists with access to powered exosuits. Tiger tells Barnaby to keep going and not worry about responding, shooting down the blond's reluctance by asking if he doesn't trust him. Barnaby does decide to leave things to his partner, but a series of rapid strikes forces the Heroes to spread out all over the city, and Tiger finds himself in over his head trying to rescue civilians and fend off the exosuits at the same time. As soon as Barnaby hears that Tiger's getting overwhelmed he immediately turns around to back his partner up, arriving just in time to rescue the veteran Hero once again.
...and for the terrorist group to reveal that they are, in fact, Ouroboros.
The person leading the attack, a young woman named Kriem, reveals that they've cut off all of the transportation between the island and mainland areas of Sternbild and declares the millions of citizens on the island their hostages. She threatens to begin demolishing the pillars supporting the three levels of the pseudo-arcology unless the city's leadership releases their leader - none other than Jake Martinez.
Needless to say, Barnaby is furious, and he ends up wrestling with his hair-trigger temper. As the mayor continues waffling in his decision, Kriem orders the exosuits - piloted by teddy bears that she controls with her NEXT ability and a radio transmitter - to destroy one of the support columns and announces that another random column will be demolished for every hour she has to wait for an answer. This prompts Tiger, with Barnaby in tow, to storm the mayor's meeting and force him to commit to a decision - to prioritize the safety of the city, release Jake, and allow the Heroes to recapture him.
In a stroke of luck, Kriem's henchman also arrives to force the issue; he's captured, and Origami Cyclone - a Hero with the ability to shapeshift - returns to Kriem in disguise to deliver the message and eventually locate Jake's hideout for the others. As the plan goes into motion and Jake is set free, Barnaby confesses to Tiger that he's not sure he'll be able to keep his temper in check when they confront Jake. Tiger reassures him that everything will be fine, and that he'll be there to support Barnaby just in case.
Unfortunately, when Jake learns that he was released in exchange for sparing "worthless human garbage" hostages, he reneges on the deal, publicly announcing that he's keeping the city under control because "you'll do anything I ask, right?"
In response to this, Maverick (whom Barnaby had told about IDing Jake as the killer) wants Barnaby to reveal his past and the details of his parents' murder at a press conference, as a show of solidarity to the frightened public. Tiger is uncomfortable with the idea, but Barnaby agrees.
At the same time, Origami contacts the rest of the Heroes to inform them that he's arrived at the hideout and be looking for a way to stop the exosuits. The Heroes prepare to head for Jake and Kriem's base of operations, but Jake catches Origami, who he'd already known was a spy.
Unaware that their comrade has been caught, the rest of their Heroes decide to get into position near the hideout and wait for word from Origami. Barnaby volunteers to sneak inside for reconnaissance; Tiger isn't comfortable letting Barnaby go in alone, concerned that he might lose his temper again if he spots Jake, but Barnaby asks him to trust him.
Things go pear-shaped very quickly. When Barnaby enters the hideout he spots what appears to be Jake, but is actually Origami, who's been forced to take Jake's form. Barnaby realizes who it is right away when he spots Origami's comm band - Tiger, on the other hand, has followed Barnaby behind his back and falls for the ruse. When Barnaby activates his powers to rush in and rescue Origami, Tiger assumes he's about to attack "Jake" and steps in; the real Jake taunts the duo before using his power (what appears to be energy beams he fires from his finger) to blow up some of the spare exosuits and escape in the ensuing chaos. Barnaby is furious with Tiger - the man not only refused to trust him but, by doing so, exacerbated an already bad situation. Feeling betrayed, he tells Tiger that he refuses to trust someone who can't trust him, and he no longer considers them partners.
With Origami hospitalized and Jake and Kriem missing, everyone is concerned that Jake will retaliate by sinking the island city. In fact, Jake uses the opportunity to issue a challenge: if any of the remaining Heroes can beat him in a televised one-on-one fight, he'll free the city. If they all lose, however, he'll sink Sternbild. With no other choice, the Heroes accept, and Jake proceeds to select each challenge with a random lottery. Sky High and Rock Bison are the first two drawn, and lost their matches in short order; Sky High reveals that Jake's power isn't energy beams, but energy shields that he's learned to use for both offense and defense.
Tiger and Barnaby get drawn for the third and fourth matches, respectively. The older Hero tries to reassure Barnaby one last time before his fight, only to have the younger man blow him off. Barnaby's faith in his partner is so thoroughly broken that he not only expects the man to lose, he even admits that he's only watching Tiger's match to help figure out his own strategy. While Tiger does end up losing, he manages to be the first Hero to land a hit on Jake, without his power; Jake is so infuriated by this that he proceeds to assault the helpless man so badly that the producer of HeroTV orders the camera feeds cut because "we can't air this." Tiger end up being rushed to the ICU as quickly as possible.
During the match, Origami Cyclone regained consciousness and revealed how Kriem controlled the exosuits. HeroTV immediately starts setting up a network to jam her transmissions, and the producer buys time to get it completed by sweet-talking Jake into saving Barnaby's fight for the next morning. His match with be both an attempt to subdue Jake and to keep him and Kriem distracted long enough for Fire Emblem, Blue Rose, and Dragon Kid to disable the exosuits as soon as the jammers are switched on.
Just before the fight Jake announces that he's upped the stakes - because Barnaby's match marks the halfway point, Jake will destroy half of Sternbild immediately if the rookie loses. The fight ends up being a long, drawn out affair, as Barnaby tries to pinpoint Jake's weakness and Jake tries to bait him into using (and wasting) his power by taunting him about his parents' death. At one point Jake gleefully reveals that he has two powers, and that the second is the reason why no one can beat him. As the fight wears on and not even is power can turn things around, Barnaby starts to lose hope...only for Tiger to suddenly arrive. The older man has escaped the hospital to help Barnaby - he tells him that Jake's second power is "super hearing" and gives him a sonic grenade to level the playing field with. Barnaby refuses to listen until he notices the grenade is covered in blood. Tiger is still seriously injured, and came to help Barnaby not because he thinks the blond can't beat Jake, but because he's the only one who can.
Barnaby goes along with Tiger's idea, only to discover that the sonic grenade is actually a flash grenade. The unexpected flare catches Jake off guard, giving Barnaby the opening he needs to take him down. With his parents' killer at his mercy, Barnaby contemplates killing the man - and very nearly does - but decides against it, unable to disappoint Tiger that way. Jake and Kriem try to force the duo to let them go free, citing their hostages, only for HeroTV to choose that very moment to announce that the remaining three Heroes have destroyed the exosuits and eliminated the villains' only bargaining chip. When Jake tries to flee to their helicopter Tiger restrains him with a grappling wire; the murderer fires a shield at him and misses, shooting his own helicopter out of the sky instead. The ensuing crash kills Jake and seriously injures Kriem, leaving her comatose.
In the aftermath, Barnaby confronts Tiger about the grenade and why he lied about what it would do. The veteran reveals that Jake's second power wasn't super hearing, but mind reading, which Tiger discovered when he kicked Jake by accident and Jake responded with Tiger's real name - something he could only know if he was listening to Tiger's thoughts. The only way to beat Jake was to catch him by surprise, which required Barnaby to not know what was what really going on, and for both of them to trust each other. The whole incident restores Barnaby's faith in the other man, and for the first time he calls Kotetsu by his real name.
The dynamic duo have nowhere to go but up, and ten months later they're on top of the world. Barnaby has managed to score first place in his inaugural season and his breaking records left and right. What's more, he's beginning to truly enjoy himself, and for the first time in twenty years he feels like he's finally living for his own sake. He can finally let go of his parents' murder, and instead he focuses on repaying the two people who help make catching Jake possible: Maverick, by doing his best to make HeroTV as successful as possible, and Kotetsu, by striving to become a trustworthy partner and a Hero the veteran can be proud of.
One evening, the duo encounter what they assume is a rampaging NEXT violently attacking billboards and even apparently attacking a man. The man turns out to be Rotwang, an old colleague of Barnaby's parents, and the "NEXT" is actually a malfunctioning gynoid. Rotwang was the person who took over the Brooks' robotics research after their deaths, and has managed to advance it to the point of creating extremely powerful humanoid robots - robots that he believes are "perfect beings" destined to surpass humanity. He insists that the Brooks' would be pleased by the gynoid and the rest of the developments he made using their research, which Barnaby vehemently denies; he remembers his parents dedicating wanting to create robots that would help and protect people, not be mindless fighting drones.
The gynoid is eventually destroyed by Sky High, but the encounter leaves Barnaby shaken. He realizes that he's not entirely sure what his parents would have wanted done with their research; he's also realized that he doesn't really know as much about his parents as he thinks he does. He has secondhand accounts from colleagues and articles, yes, but his personal memories are biased by how old he was at the time. He's going to remember his parents as these brilliant, wonderful people because that's how little kids almost always view their parents, wise and benevolent and immortal beings who can do no wrong. He knows his parents as parents, but he'll never be able to know them as people, no matter how much he still looks up to them, and that realization hurts.
Things return to business as usual for a while. Barnaby breaks one of the records held by the famous Hero Mr. Legend, and Kotetsu takes a vacation to visit his family not long after.
On the day Kotetsu returns, Barnaby receives a call from the hospital treating Kriem; she's come out of her coma and he's allowed to come in and speak to her. He immediately heads to the hospital, and Kotetsu arrives just before the doctors allow him into her room. When they're finally let in, Barnaby immediately begins questioning her about why Jake killed his parents. To both Heroes' shock, Kriem insists that not only did Jake not kill the Brooks but that she knows he couldn't have because he'd kidnapped her that night and she was with him the whole time. She then tells Barnaby that the two of them were only a small part of Ouroboros, and that she hopes his past will haunt him for the rest of his life, before finally committing suicide so she can be with Jake again.
Barnaby refuses to believe Kriem's claim that Jake was innocent, even after Kotetsu verifies that she was kidnapped the same night the Brooks were killed, pointing out that she could've been lying in an attempt to clear Jake and torment Barnaby. Kotetsu has the idea to check the old footage from the Seven Matches to see if Jake had the tattoo on his right hand that Barnaby remembers the killer having, since its presence would prove if Kriem was lying. However, then they finally find a shot of the back of Jake's right hand, there's no evidence that he'd ever had a tattoo there at all.
Confused, Barnaby tries to recall the events of the murder only for his memory of the killer's face to begin cycling rapidly between people he knows. Suddenly finding himself left with no clue to go by but the tattoo, and with his unpredictable memory throwing even that in doubt, Barnaby begins suffering a mental breakdown and tries to isolate himself at home.
Kotetsu shows up at Barnaby's apartment the next day and tries to reassure him, suggesting that the two of them retrace Barnaby's steps on the night of the murder in order to jog his memory. Though things go well at first, Barnaby quickly becomes frustrated that he can remember the events leading up to the murder clearly, but not the murderer's identity. He breaks down again in public and ends up passing out from the stress and exhaustion. After he regains consciousness he immediately goes looking for Kotetsu, and ends up overhearing him talking about his plans to retire - plans he had not told Barnaby about.
Things spiral out of control fairly quickly. Angry, hurt, and still emotionally unstable, Barnaby lashes out at Kotetsu, berating and insulting him until the older man snaps and slaps him. Barnaby uses his power to leave the building without Kotetsu following him and heads to see the only remaining person he feels he can still trust: Maverick, whom he distinctly remembers spending the entire afternoon and evening of the murder with and therefore the only person Barnaby considers to have a solid alibi.
While explaining Kriem's confession and his subsequent memory problems to Maverick, Barnaby gets a call from his parent's old housekeeper, Samantha. He'd called her the day before to asker her what she'd been doing the night of the murder, which had prompted her to go looking through some things she still had from when she'd worked for the Brooks. She'd found a photo taken the day of the murder - one that proved that Barnaby had spent the day with her, not Maverick. When Barnaby confronts him, Maverick confesses; he'd been working with Ouroboros for decades to stage spectacular crimes for HeroTV, including supplying them with some of the Brooks' inventions. He'd killed the Brooks when they'd discovered what he was doing and tried to turn him in to the police. He then reveals that he's a NEXT with the ability to manipulate people's memories, and had been doing so to Barnaby for years - first to provide an alibi for the murder, then to groom Barnaby into the perfect Hero. Maverick proceeds to alter Barnaby's memories yet, purging his confession while reinstating Jake as the Brooks' killer and editing Kriem's confession to support it.
Barnaby, who had been drugged, loses consciousness again, eventually waking up in Maverick's vacation home outside of Sternbild. After checking to make sure the new memories had set, Maverick sets his next plan into motion; both Samantha and Kotetsu are looking for Barnaby, and both have information that would uproot his false memories, so Maverick sets out to eliminate them both at once. He has Samantha murdered and Kotetsu framed for the crime. He also edits Barnaby's memories again, removing all trace of Kotetsu's civilian identity while leaving the mysterious Wild Tiger intact. No longer aware of who Kotetsu is, Barnaby completely believes the older man to be a murderer and sets out to get revenge for his beloved Aunt Samantha.
Maverick pulls out all the stops for this plan, erasing the rest of the Heroes' memories of Kotetsu and even getting a fake "Wild Tiger" to fill in for him and help discredit any attempts the veteran might make at jogging everyone's memories. The former ends up being undone by none other than Kotetsu's daughter Kaede, a NEXT who can copy the powers of other NEXTs by touching them. Through a stroke of luck she manages to get Maverick's memory manipulating power and fixes the memories of all the Heroes...except for Barnaby. Kotetsu leads him on a merry chase, trying to find something that will make the younger man remember him, while Barnaby just grows more and more angry; he only sees Kotetsu as a violent criminal who has not only murdered a very dear family friend but is now trying to blacken his partner's reputation by claiming to be Wild Tiger. The two of them finally end up clashing on one of the city's bridges, and Barnaby attacks Kotetsu relentlessly while the older man desperately tries to jog his memory. It's not until Barnaby has him prone and is about to finish him off that Kotetsu finally finds the one thing that restores his memory: calling him "Little Bunny."
With Barnaby's memories returned, the duo turns their attention to capturing Maverick. On their way back to Apollon to meet up with Kaede and the other Heroes and plan their next move, Maverick contacts them using Blue Rose's communicator and reveals that he's already captured the others and taken Kaede hostage, then instructs them to come to Justice Tower if they want to rescue everyone.
When the duo arrives, they're directed to a room containing the fake Wild Tiger - which is actually an android called H-01, created by Rotwang for Maverick as part of a plan to replace the Heroes with robots. Kotetsu and Barnaby struggle to fight off the H-01 even with with their powers, and the android even manages to stab Barnaby in the leg. In the end they're only able to defeat it by shooting it with its own weapon, though Kotetsu ends up seriously injured the in process, as he'd been holding H-01 in place so Barnaby could shoot it and was unable to move out of the way in time. Kotetsu finally confesses the real reason behind his retirement - he's been losing his powers, and didn't tell Barnaby because he didn't want the other man to worry - before apparently dying in Barnaby's arms.
Kaede and the other Heroes arrive, having escaped from Rotwang, and Barnaby explains what happened to Kotetsu. As everyone mourns, Maverick and Rotwang reveal that they built more than one H-01 and send several more of the robots to attack them, but Saito manages to disable them by utilizing a safety mode embedded in the "black box" designed by Barnaby's parents. In the following commotion, Maverick shoves Rotwang to his death in order to save his own skin.
The Heroes manage to corner Maverick before he can reset the androids. He boasts that even if the Heroes do arrest him, he'll still be able to get away scot-free thanks to his reputation and his NEXT ability - only for HeroTV's producer Agnes to reveal that she's not only been filming his entire "confession," but it's been broadcasting live the whole time. Maverick takes Kaede hostage and threatens to shoot her if the Heroes intervene, but she's rescued by none other than Kotetsu, who had simply succumbed to the pain of his injuries and lost consciousness. With no hope of escape left, Maverick reveals that - contrary to the Heroes' belief - he is not the leader of Ouroboros, before using his power to render himself a vegetable.
Later, after Maverick has been escorted away by police and the Heroes finally have a chance to regroup, Saito approaches Barnaby. He shows him the password to activate the androids' safety mode and asks if he has any idea what it could mean; however, Barnaby is just as confused as the mechanic.
Kotetsu takes this opportunity to officially announce his retirement to the rest of the Heroes. Barnaby immediately does the same, first stating that "there's no point in being a Hero without my partner", then admitting that, since he'd only become a Hero because of Maverick's manipulation, he wants to find out who and what he really wants to be - "to live life making my own choices."
A year passes, and Barnaby spends much of it dealing with depression, trying to figure out what kind of life he wants to live and what kind of person he wants to be. A part of him is torn, wanting to go back to being a Hero - the job he loved - but unsure how "right" it would be for him to return to doing what Maverick intentionally groomed him to do. He visits his parents' gravestone that Christmas Eve, and while cleaning away the snow realizes that the safety mode activation code is his parents' birthdays added together to equal his own. He remembers them saying that they would always protect him, and that they hoped he'd become the kind of person who protects others, and breaks down in tears, simultaneously overcome with grief and a sense of relief - that it's okay for him to return to being a Hero as long as it's a choice he's making for himself, and that it's something his parents would be proud to see him doing.
His first act in his return to the Hero business is exactly the same as when he first started out - rescuing Kotetsu from an otherwise fatal fall. The older man is surprised by Barnaby's return, and Barnaby acts uncannily like Kotetsu - giving vague, noncommittal answers about himself before deflecting the conversation, first onto Kotetsu and then into an argument about damage fines. The series closes out with the heroic duo reuniting, and Barnaby couldn't be happier.
Reincarnated History What happened to your character that got them to this point in their normal, human life?
NOTE: Please see the disclaimer at the end of the app
Unlike his Preincarnation, Barnaby's childhood wasn't quite so tragic. The only son of Barnaby and Heather Brooks, a chemical engineer and a marketing associate, his early life was mostly normal and quite stable. He did very well in school and was considered quite intelligent, though he wasn't very interested in sports or other after-school activities. While he managed to build up a rather large circle of acquaintances, he struggled with developing those into real friendships and more often than not was the odd man out; he spent much of his free time with one family member or another and was very close with his parents.
Barnaby's life took a drastic turn when he was thirteen. While on their way home from a family dinner the Brooks' car was caught in a serious pileup; Barnaby's parents were killed and Barnaby himself suffered several injuries, including a severely broken femur. While the fractures in his leg were treated with surgery, permanent damage still remained - his right leg is shorter than his left, and he only has a limited range of movement with his knee. He is fine walking unaided, though not without difficulty and some pain, and he cannot run, climb ladders, or other similar physical activities. He usually uses a cane.
Following his release from the hospital, Barnaby was sent to live with his grandmother. He spent much of middle school and high school being either bullied or (in his opinion) patronizingly pitied by several classmates for his disability. This seeded a bit of a persecution complex, such as it is, where he eventually began to see everyone as feeling one of those two ways towards him, whether they showed it or not. The schools did provide accommodations and assistance, and dealt with the bullies as best they could, which Barnaby appreciated; however, he did feel somewhat alienated and singled out by some of the aid.
Between spending time in the hospital and the limits his disability imposed on his physical activity, most of the hobbies Barnaby developed were focused on providing mental stimulation. Most of them ended up centered around computers, mainly due to the fact that a laptop is portable enough to be used wherever he was most comfortable. He's a causal gamer, generally only playing city builders and puzzle solving games, which started when his uncle got him a copy of MYST as a gift.
During his sophomore year of high school where he was first introduced to computer programming. Barnaby enjoyed the mental challenge in designing, coding, and testing his own programs and it quickly became one of his favorite hobbies. He discovered JournalFen and Fandom Wank at around the same time, and eventually bought a paid JF account to join the community. He's not the most active member in terms of posts, but he still follows it and comments somewhat regularly.
At 21 he graduated from Locke University with an Associate's in computer programming.
Barnaby received a rather unusual graduation gift after finishing his degree - a grey and white Mini-Rex rabbit, which he named Luna. Barnaby dotes on her, and has even built a custom two-leveled cage for Luna, though she usually gets the run of the living room while he's at home. He's spent a decent amount of time teaching her "tricks" to help make taking care of her easier, such as coming when called, sitting and staying, and going into her cage or getting into her carrier on command. She's a cuddler who seems to think humans exist to pet her and play with her, and will do whatever it takes to demand attention; this includes some rather painful nipping, a habit that Barnaby is still struggling to break her of.
Currently Barnaby works full-time for a programming company that designs inventory and POS systems, mostly focused around their customizable semi-automated inventory management program, ShelfWizard, and register simulators for POS training. Usually he works from home via a virtual machine, though he does regularly head to the office for meetings and to access the main servers. He relies on Locke City's public transit system to get around, as his disability (and a marked dislike of cars) makes driving an impossibility. He has his own apartment not far from the company offices, though his grandmother and uncle regularly stop by "just to check up on things."
First Echo: What caused their first Echo, and what did it give them? Players may choose events from the timeline or a canon reoccurence.
Barnaby got his first Echo while talking with a few of his coworkers; one of the other programmers was complaining about having to go to a PR meeting to help pitch ShelfWizard, insisting that the programmers never wanted to be doing marketing work, and tried to get Barnaby to agree with him. It triggered a memory of a masked man making similar complaints about doing interviews, photo shoots, and other celebrity PR, along with the odd feeling that something is missing from that memory.
(For the record, what's "missing" is the Bunny nickname. He can tell that the man was addressing him, and he knows he called him something that wasn't his name, but he can't remember him actually calling him Bunny.)
Preincarnation Personality: What sort of person were they in their past life? Head canon should be written in italics.
Barnaby has an incredibly complex personality - much of it is carefully compartmentalized and layered. The guy's a nesting doll, basically, both in terms of personality and issues. And boy does he have issues.
(Part of this complexity stems from Maverick's lifelong manipulation of Barnaby's memory, and his grooming of Barnaby's personality, in order to make him into the perfect Hero. The blurring between real and artificial that extends to so much of his personality and mental state throws everything about him into question. For the purposes of this app, anything with a large amount of support from canon or Word of God is treated as being at least mostly part of his inherent personality, while anything based on headcanon or limited canon evidence is noted as "could go either way.")
At his core, Barnaby is a calm and rational person, and he prefers to plan things out and make decisions based on logic and deduction. This is one of the unifying aspects of his personality, so to speak, and exists in one form or another in all of his "masks." Another is the fact that he tends to be the “love is blind” type in terms of how he views people he cares about - he tends to overlook minor faults and rationalize and excuse some small mistakes. His rational nature does eventually help temper his judgement, but it takes some time and it never completely goes away. He sees the best in the people he loves and it takes a serious and undeniable breach of trust to break through that.
The third consistent personality aspect he has is his determination. Once he's set his sights on a target - be it a goal, a person, an idea, or the longest of long shots - Barnaby is an unstoppable force and there is no immovable object strong enough to do more than slow him down a little. Not only that, but he applies the same amount of determination to everything he attempts. He throws just as much dedication into chasing down a petty thief for an hour as he did hunting after his parents' killer for twenty years. When Barnaby sets out to do something, he gets it done, no ifs, ands, or buts; and he gets it done right or dies trying.
The last unifying aspect of his personality(s) is his tendency toward very intense emotion. At the surface it looks like he simply has a short temper or anger issues, but looking at his Seven Matches fight, and the entirety of the December NC 1978 debacle (starting with Kriem's reveal and ending with Maverick's arrest) it becomes easy to see that it applies to all his emotions, especially anger, sorrow, and fear. Maverick even goes so far as to chide him for his "wild emotions", referring to them as a flaw.
As was previously mentioned, Barnaby's personality is carefully structured and compartmentalized, with a friendly-yet-professionally-distant "Public Face"; the cold, blunt, and often harsh and insulting “protective wall” personality; and the warm, affectionate, and surprisingly fragile "true" Barnaby. This nesting doll of personalities stems from two related but still distinct factors in his life: his upbringing, which either intentionally or inadvertently encouraged him to close off his heart to others; and the side effect of this, that he spent so long either hiding or repressing his emotions that he actually needed acting lessons to re-learn how to express them. The first factor resulted in the harsh Ice Prince “shield” personality, and the second in his “Public Face.” Both of them actively distance others from him, and even his tendency to be insulting or patronizing (or both) is more about reinforcing his walls than about genuine dislike or cruelty.
He never allows himself to show weakness with either mask, and combined with his almost casual confidence he often comes across as incredibly arrogant. Considering how skilled he is his confidence is certainly understandable; however, just like with anyone pressured by praise of one's abilities, he takes any perceived failures on his part very badly. Even small mistakes affect him, and his personality has developed a "brittle aspect" as a result.
There are very few people Barnaby allows past these barriers, and the only people he truly interacts with without pretense are Kotetsu and those he considers to be his family. With them he's openly affectionate, more verbally than physically, and he's willing to open up to them about problems and insecurities that he'd never even hint at otherwise. He's also far more open with his emotions: more willing to cry openly, to laugh or smile, to offer genuine praise and admiration. Outside of a slip in his otherwise tight control over his emotions, these people are the ones he's most likely to raise his voice at out of anger or fear.
Barnaby is the kind of person who prefers making memories by spending time together with someone important to him, instead of having mementos. However, after the events of December NC 1978, he appreciates photos and mementos more, if not actually collects them now. It's possible this preference of memories over mementos might even be something Maverick implanted in order to aid in his manipulation of Barnaby's memories, to eliminate the risk that a photo or keepsake could trigger a contradiction.
As previously stated, Barnaby has a lot of issues, and the biggest of them is inarguably his memory problems. Years of mental manipulation and abuse has left him uncertain as to exactly what parts of his life is real and what is manufactured. This has had a profound effect on his sense of self, and he's struggling with not knowing just how much of himself has been manipulated in order to make him into the perfect marketable Hero, or what kind of person he would've become if he'd been allowed to make his own choices. The mental scars are deep, and he spent much of his year away from HeroTV trying to figure out who he is and who he wants to be, as well as dealing with depression.
Barnaby also has an extremely black-and-white view of trust and honesty. It's slightly hypocritical - he's more than willing to lie, either actively or by omission, to keep up his Public Face facade, but if someone does it to him it's a serious betrayal. He also extends this perceived betrayal to the reasoning behind it; if someone's lying to him, then it must be part of some attempt to manipulate him, or because that person doesn't trust him. Combined with Barnaby's preference for keeping people at arms' length, this makes it difficult to earn his trust and very easily to lose it.
Maverick may have also implanted Barnaby's views on trust - what better way to keep him from bonding with other people and undermining Maverick's control than by turning even the smallest white lie or the most innocent mistake into an unforgiveable breach of trust?
On some level, Barnaby's determination borders on unhealthy obsession. This is most obvious in his 20-year investigation into his parents' murder and Ouroboros. He defined his life around it, and devoted nearly all his free time doing research and combing the streets for any kind of clue as to what Ouroboros was. He'd spend hours at a time combing through the Justice Bureau's criminal databases just trying to jog his memory. Having a potential source of information eliminated (either through death or simply being a red herring) was enough to make him completely lose control of his emotions and react spontaneously, to the point where he was putting himself in danger. That said, it's difficult to tell how much of this obsession stems from his own personality and how much is due to Maverick's manipulation.
There are a few aspects of his personality that, while they are the standard "aloof revenge-driven tsundere" personality tropes, are also symptoms/results of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. While it's likely that this is simply a coincidence, since they are typical of the trope personality, it's possible that this was intentionally done to imply untreated PTSD, especially when you take into account the fact that his personality is far more complex than a single trope can invoke. Given the trauma of seeing his parents killed at a young age (not to mention the way the rest of his life has panned out) the idea that he could have PTSD is not that farfetched.
Rather understandably, Barnaby suffers from regular, recurring nightmares, most of which center around the murder of his parents.
Any differences: You are encouraged to deviate from the original personality in three or four major ways, with as many changes made to make their personality logical to the setting.
Barnaby's reincarnation personality is drastically different from his preincarnation's, by sheer virtue of the fact that two of the biggest influences on his preincarnation's life - Maverick's power and Ouroboros - don't even exist in his reincarnated life. Even if all the other circumstances of his life had been identical, he still wouldn't have been exactly the same person his preincarnation was.
For one, Barnaby does not have his preincarnation's issues with his sense of self. He knows who he is and what kind of person he wants to be; he knows that he's made his own choices and is willing to own up to them and their consequences. He doesn't hide himself behind masks - he doesn't have any reason to. Barnaby is friendly and open, bluntly honest (most of the time), and snarky, and he's like that with pretty much everyone. Oh, he’s polite and professional when he needs to be, and unlike his preincarnation he has this little thing called “tact,” but it’s just standard professionalism and not a fake persona.
That being said, he does tend to feel like most people are secretly pitying, patronizing, or judging him for his disability. This stems from his experiences in middle school and high school. If someone “proves” it - either by treating him like he needs help when he doesn't, "praising" him for his strength/bravery/etc, asking him if he "needs" help (implying he either can or can't do something himself) instead of if he "wants" it (implying he can handle it himself and just wants to speed up or simplify the task), or just plain being an ableist ass - he reacts accordingly; he will immediately cease being polite, and might verbally rip the offender a new one depending on what they did. That said, he's still rather friendly and open by default – he has to be pushed into this reaction.
Barnaby’s reincarnated self also has issues with self-confidence. The limitations on what he can physically do frustrate him sometimes, as does needing to plan so much of his life around how many "spoons" he has that day. It’s affected his opinion of how useful he can be, especially in situations that call for some kind of physical activity or skill. His self-esteem regarding anything other than programming and other computer and technology skills is very low.
Last but not least, Barnaby feels very uncomfortable in cars, including taxis. When he does ride in one, he can get rather paranoid and short-tempered regarding (perceived) unsafe driving; if they get in an accident, or even just experience a near-miss, he may experience flashbacks to the accident that killed his parents and/or suffer a panic attack. As a result he usually refuses to take a taxi or accept an offer of a ride unless there's no other option available...and he does consider "sitting at the bus stop late at night, in the rain, for an hour" as an option.
Abilities: What abilities did your character’s Preincarnation have? To what extent were they used? Include any equipment they had access to and any skills they had. Head canon should be written in italics. You may write a brief and link to a more detailed resource if you wish.
Barnaby is a super-powered individual known as a NEXT (Noted Entity with eXtrordinary Talent). His particular ability, “Hundred Power,” allows him to increase his physical capabilities by a hundredfold. It enhances his strength, speed, vision (essentially correcting his nearsightedness), and jumping ability, but only lasts for five minutes and has a one hour cool-down period.
In addition to his power, Barnaby has a mechanical Hero suit. It’s bulletproof and extremely fire resistant, and is equipped with a set of jet boosters on the back which he uses to help enhance his jumps and course-correct in midair. It also has a “Good Luck Mode” which increases the size of the suit’s right leg and…well, that’s pretty much it. It’s a purely aesthetic function. Barnaby also wears a skintight body suit underneath the mechanical armor.
Roleplay Sample – Third Person:
My third person tags tend to be of the bracketed variety, an example of which you can see here. (As you might be able to tell by the dates, there's a bit of info in there that's "outdated" now. Specifically, I mention Barnaby wearing a leg brace, which he does not - this was removed during a round of research-driven revision.)
Roleplay Sample - Network:
[Text/Visual Studio Compiler]
[Generally speaking, when one enters a string of numbers as the value of a variable in order to see whether or not a certain function of one’s program works, one does not list “Spontaneous generation of a forum network within the compiler” as an expected result. Barnaby is understandably confused, even after reading back through a few posts.]
/* So this is for real then? [Yes, he’s typing in comments. Instinctive habit.]
* I mean, I know "the plural of anecdote is not fact" and all
*
* and I'd really like to think I'm not hallucinating rn
*
*/[... shit, this better not have erased his code.]
Any Questions?
Disclaimer & Research
I have a few reasons for choosing this for Barnaby's reincarnation. The two biggest stem from the two most major development in his canon life: witnessing the death of his parents, and Maverick's mental manipulations. Both had a huge impact on how his personality developed, among other things, and I wanted to bring over or reference them in his reincarnated life in some way. While the loss of his parents was easy to incorporate, as was his "witnessing" it, the effects of Maverick's powers was less so; especially as I wanted to stay away from the closest real-world equivalent, abuse, partly because I was (and am) uncomfortable with portraying this particular subject and partly because I felt choosing this would result in his canon and reincarnated personalities being too similar. I chose a permanent physical injury to reference the permanent mental effect of the memory alterations, while at the same time inverting it. Broken bones are some of the most common injuries in car accidents, and severe leg breaks/fractures can result in a permanent limp and other disabilities.
I have never personally experienced a bone break or fracture, and while I have a few family members who have none have experienced permanent disabilities as a result. I have done research in several different areas regarding bone fractures, leg injuries, cane use, and living with disabilities. I am far from an expert in this area and am open to concrit and corrections, or information/education regarding it. While I am only attempting to portray a character, I have no intention of downplaying or making light of serious injuries or disabilities, or those who deal with them in real life.
