Name: Laura Over 18? Yes Timezone: Eastern Preferred contact: E-mail Have you read the rules and do you understand them? Bumble Bee Tuna flies at night
Character Info
Canon-puncturing:Possibly, ask first. Fandom: Barry Name: Barry Berkman (real name), aka Barry Block (stage name) Age/Birthday: 40 Species: Human Sexuality:Heterosexual Personality:
Strengths:
1. Has a comfort with the criminal element and danger in general. He's really good in a crisis and can do whatever needs to be done for him to survive (and not be arrested). He's a highly skilled assassin. 2. He wants to improve himself and is not afraid to question himself. He's done many bad things and is aware of it, and is constantly trying to change for the better. Despite what he's done, he cares about people and has never shut that off completely. 3. He is able to express emotions through his acting, which eventually made him a great actor, especially dramatic roles. 4. Protective of those close to him such as his girlfriend, his acting teacher and his acting classmates. He is also protective of children in general (even when a kid is trying to kill him) 5. Strong imagination. He has pleasant daydreams about his future. This can also be a weakness when thinks of his victims and their loved ones.
Weakness
1. He can be awkward in social settings. He's used to spending time with criminals. Being around non-killers is hard as he wants to be 'normal' and doesn't know how. He can be shy and withdrawn, comes across as mild-mannered at times. It's almost as if there are two Barrys - Berkman the killer and Block the actor. 2. He carries a great deal of guilt, with good reason - he's killed many people. 3. Suffers from PTSD (cannon), depression (cannon), insomnia (cannon) and alcoholism (AU/head cannon) 4. Bad temper. When he loses control, he is capable of great rage and violence. it led him to make a terrible mistake in Afghanistan.
History:
Barry Berkman served as a marine and was well known for his sniper skills. He was in Afghanistan when one of his friends was killed right next to him, shot in the face. Barry went in the direction he thought the shot came from and killed a man he thought was responsible, in front of the man's family. He was wrong; his friend was actually killed by someone else.
Killing an innocent civilian caused Barry to have a breakdown. He spent time in a hospital in Germany and returned to the U.S.A (Cleveland). when he was discharged. The only person to greet him when he returned was an old friend of his father, Monroe Fuches. Barry reminded very depressed and didn't leave his home for several months. Fuches came to visit him at his home and convinced Barry that he needed a purpose and his purpose could be to work as a hitman. He agreed with the understanding that he would only kill 'bad' people.
Barry was eventually ordered to go to L.A. to kill a man he thought was good, which caused him great distress. He followed his target to an acting class and performed a scene with him. He developed an immediate interest in acting and wanted to make it his new purpose.
Barry tried to join the class and was rejected, then told the acting teacher about his life. The teacher, Gene Cousineau, thought he was making up a story about a hitman as an audition and allowed him into the class. Barry struggled with acting at first, then realized he could channel his emotions into his acting roles. The class often encouraged actors to draw on personal experience. As a result, he had to find a balance between revealing details of his life and hiding his work as a killer. He met a woman in his acting class, Sally, who became his girlfriend. He also developed a close friendship with Cousineau, at times using his teachings as therapy and telling him in private about Afghanistan.
Barry constantly landed in situations where he felt he had to kill good people, including one where he killed a friend and fellow marine. He felt horrible guilt each time and made many promises to never do it again. One of the hardest kills for him was Janice Moss, the girlfriend of his acting coach. After that, he quit his work as a hitman and took a low paying job at Lulu Lemon while pursuing his acting career. He also trained assassins to replace him - 'a hitman army' to get out of returning to work as a killer. At the same time, Sally was making a play based on her own life. She had been abused by her ex-husband, Sam. She wanted Barry to play the role of Sam in the play. This was a major stress in his life as he never wanted to even pretend to hurt her, and then he met the real Sam who he really wanted to kill.
Barry's life went out of control when Fuches showed his acting teacher Moss's body and told him that Barry killed her. Barry went on a murderous rampage while looking for revenge on Fuches. (He's taken from before that point)