Post by Johnny Barker on Feb 1, 2018 9:01:50 GMT -5
Full Character Name: John Blaney Barker
D.o.B./Age: 21 April 2011 / 17
Place of Residency: 25 Water St., Liverpool
Blood Status: Muggleborn
Former School / House: Hogwarts/Hufflepuff
Wand: [Optional when first applying but feel free to add this later] will add later
Position Requesting: Actor*
Credentials:
SUPPORTING LEAD ROLES
Chris Reilly
1921: An Irish Musical (Glesga Theater, Glasgow, UK: 2026 Summer Festival)
Michaeil O Suillebhain
1921: An Irish Musical (Glesga Theater, Glasgow, UK: 2027 & 2028 Summer Festival)
Leam
Shapes (Glasgow Theater Workshop, Glasgow: 2025 Showcase)
LEADING ROLES
Gabriel Goodman
Next to Normal (Unity Theater, Liverpool: 2028 Summer Season)
*auditioning for the International Dramatists Society-Actor's Guild
UPCOMING WORK
Ram Sweeney
Heathers: The Musical (Unity Theater, Liverpool: Spring 2029)
History:
Parent(s): Abram Barker (age 62); Sara Carter-Barker (age 53)
Sibling(s): Christian Mark (age 35) & Juliette Heathcliffe (age 34), and their daughter Rose Barker (age 5) and son Isaac Barker (age 2); Ruth Anne Sheppard (age 33) & Ethan Sheppard (age 36; brother-in-law); Naomi Alessandra Alington (age 31) & David Alington (age 34: brother-in-law), and their son Finian Alington (age 3) and daughter Jael Alington (age 1); Esther Jane Stevenson (age 30) & Anthony Stevenson (age 29; brother-in-law) and their twin daughters Annette Stevenson (age 2) and Emily Stevenson (age 2); Mary Carter Pearce (age 29) and Aiden Pearce (age 36; brother-in-law) and their son Jonathan Pearce (age 2); Judas Peter (age 27) and Sophie Tullin (age 24; sister-in-law); Elizabeth Allison Ingram (age 26) and Sean Ingram (age 28; brother-in-law); Mattia Theresa (age 24); Marika Sara (age 20); Joanna Issa Svensson (age 17: twin) and Lars Svensson (age 21; brother-in-law); Luka Eve (age 15)
Other(s): "Massachusetts Family" and "Texas Family"
Economic Status: Lower Middle-Class
I] Birth: ages 0-3 ½
John Blaney Barker was born 21 April 2011 a mere half-hour after his twin sister, Joanna Issabel Barker. Mrs. Sara Carter-Barker – their mother – exclaimed that “It’s just my luck to get two for the price of one,” which was undoubtedly her reaction to adding two more children to her litter of nine. Joanna Issabel always claims she was the first sibling to hold John (who was named after the Christian Biblical Evangelist of the Gospel of John fame), stating that “Right before I came out, I hugged Johnny and said ‘See you on the other side’!” John (commonly called Johnny) has his doubts about this claim, but whatever the truth is behind it, from birth until they moved to Peckham, Johnny and Joanna were fierce friends.
Johnny joined the Barker family, a very devoutly religious family to whom contraception was not a valid option in the process of procreation, as the third and youngest boy. His older brothers are Christian “Chris” Mark (born 22 May 1994) and Judas “Jude” Peter (born 3 February 2003). Growing up in South Beckton, Johnny and Chris would often make a game of the docklands near their family flat, and at times this included playing “Pirates” in which one would commandeer a “ship” and see how far he could sail it on the Thames before indefinitely being caught and (likely) taken to a detention centre until being picked up by one or the other parent. Mr. Abram Barker supported his large family as a barber, and in the late 90s, he managed to open a pair of barber shops along the Thames in Southwark borough as well as Newham borough, where his family lived at the time. Mrs. Sara Carter-Barker worked part-time keeping the books and full-time keeping grammar school children in line in one of London’s metropolitan boarding schools where she served as House Mom in a Boy’s School.
By the age of three, Johnny was not the youngest Barker any more. His younger sister, Luka Eve, arrived on the evening of 29 May 2014, three years one month and eight days after Johnny and Joanna. Her birth, undoubtedly the easiest, was to be the last of the Barker Family, now twelve strong. In the following months, Chris moved out of the South Beckton flat to work in the North and Ruth (born 12 September 1996) moved to Scotland to attend St. Andrew’s University (likely in the hopes of becoming the next Princess Kate Middleton) and Naomi (born 10 December 1997) met her future husband David Alington (born 1 July 1995) who walked her home from school one fateful autumn afternoon. All these movements convinced the Barkers that it was time to make a change in their lives. With two beds now vacant and a baby crib once more in use, Abram Barker began communicating with his estranged Uncle in Peckham, inquiring towards claiming his flat when the time came. Uncle George William Barker died friendless and alone in his bed that winter, and as he left no will nor any children, Abram (with Chris, Jude, and David Alington’s help) fixed up the dingy flat in Peckham and arranged to move that summer.
II] Inheriting the Vicarage Grove cottage: ages 4-7 ½
In the summer of 2015, with the cottage at Vicarage Grove half-complete, Abram Barker moved half his large family into the building in hopes of vacating and selling their flat in Beckton. Unfortunately, the turn in the economy brought his Southwark barber shop to its knees, and the cottage was left untouched as the Barkers began to tread water and patch up the leaks in their business. Johnny remembers being told about making money: “Start early, perfect your trade, make money and lots of it,” his father told him under duress. At this point, Johnny also remembers beginning school separate from his older siblings, who were still largely living in Beckton. “I thought our days of playing Pirate and making friends in the Juvenile Rehabilitation Centres was over,” he recalls after bidding farewell to both his older brothers. Fortunate to be discovered as a model and actor, Jude Barker was quickly taken in by the fashion industry at age 13 and that change required a move from the family. Within months, the Barkers went from ten children living under two roofs to six children split between the two homes. Chris was gone to York; Ruth was gone to Scotland; Jude was gone to Central London (among other places, including Paris); now Esther (born 17 October 1998) was gone to live a religious life in a convent in Ireland, and Mary (born 13 July 2000) was gone to begin life in a girl’s boarding college, on scholarship, in the hopes of improving her chances in the world of media entertainment. It was a confusing and lonely time that brought the remaining six Barker children closer to one another than ever. It was also a time when Joanna and Johnny began noticing things that made them different from the rest.
Moving into the Vicarage Grove cottage meant leaving behind the friends that Johnny had made in the Beckton flat. Most of his mates were too poor to afford the transport across the boroughs, so whenever he was able to meet them, it was usually somewhere in between. At his youthful age, though, companionship barely extended beyond his family, but he was aware of the loss of certain others in his life, and when he began full-time school at age 6, it was recollection of the life and lives he’d become deficient of that came back to him. Sporadic moments of rage would afflict him, and on a few occasions, he incurred an unnecessary form of punishment on fellow students – a magical form of punishment. Jo was the only person he could go to and confide in about this, and it wasn’t long before they both discovered that their powers – beyond the “twin connection” – were actually tangible stuffs. They would spend late nights showing the other what sort of things they could do, and because of their staunch religious upbringing, these “abnormalities” were quickly labelled miracles. Johnny began to cultivate the notion that if he could work miracles, he must be an angel, and all the angels he’d ever known about could sing. Thus began Johnny’s fascination with singing (which he found he was talented at).
III] Early Signs: ages 8-11 ½
During his early life, Johnny attended St. Michael's Primary School in Newham Borough. He followed in a rather long arduous line of Barkers to walk through St. Michael's, to pray in its chapel and to prey on its younger students. It could be said that it was a blessing that Jude Barker graduated to Seven Kings the year before Johnny started at St. Michael's (2015) so as to spare the entire student body the horror of having to deal with two Barker boys at once. In fact, so horrid was Chris Barker (graduated in 2005) that when Jude came around in '07, the faculty and staff hadn't quite recovered from the shock of his older brother. By the time Johnny came around, they were more than prepared for the worst. As such, life at the Catholic Primary School was very rough for the youngest Barker boy. If he stepped anywhere close to sideways, he found himself facing the staunch, bullish Head Teacher instead of his friends out at recess. For a few years, Johnny was so discouraged by these occurrences of injustice that he stopped trying to have fun and merely sat on the sidelines while his friends were freely permitted to do things he never would dare. Jo understood his plight very well: the dichotomy of her twin's situation was complex. But as they began to spend more time with each other (her, to keep him company; him, because she was risking scrutiny from teachers and students alike just to make him feel better), Jo was first to realise how Johnny was able to manipulate some situations as if magically. Even at the young age of 8, this felt wrong to the future Lioness.
Johnny began to pick up on Jo's magical abilities in their Year 5. He was already aware of his own inexplicable ability to make things happen, and it wasn't until he made a very notable mistake... one which continues to haunt him even today... that he picked up on Jo's magical abilities. Her grace in righting his wrong assured him (and likely her) of the gifts they possessed, and shortly into the summer holiday between Year 5 and Year 6, the twins began experimenting with the parameters of their magical abilities. It was never a purely conscious decision to actively engage in making magic, but by way of drawing each others' attention to what they could do was exciting and frightening at once. They hoped to keep this as their secret, but in the summer of 2022, a pair of shocking letters came to the Barkers exposing John and Joanna as magic folk. Their acceptances to Hogwarts were met with trepidation. In the end, however, the twins were given permission to attend. Then, without warning, Johnny was pulled from attendance during the Christmas holiday. It was heartbreaking to be split from each other and with no explanation to why! Within him, Johnny began to accumulate grievances against his parents for being disallowed to attend a school of magic without any excuse. This dissatisfaction with his mother and father would define the following years of his life, exacerbating the turbulence of adolescence, pushing him to finally step sideways without fear of consequence.
IV] Age of Discovery: ages 12-14
Once his time at St. Michaels had come to an end and the disappointment of injust parental decisions and separation from his soul mate twin had subsided, John began calculating his biggest rebellion against his parents. He'd been accepted at Hogwarts and he'd been denied the opportunity to attend, but he didn't care about what his parents would and wouldn't let him do anymore. That meant nothing: he was his own man now, even at 12, and his mind was set on getting into that school of magic no matter what he had to do to get there. It wasn't easy to pretend that when Jo would come home on holidays with fascinating stories about all the things she was learning and the new people she was meeting that none of that had an effect on him. When they were alone, he'd confess to her how horrible it felt, knowing she was helpless to change his situation. "I suppose there's no spell for this curse, is there?" He'd say half-jokingly. She'd always reply, "It's only a curse if that's the true intent of the caster." She was so smart. Johnny couldn't tell if it was a curse in his terms or hers. Whatever it was, though, by his second year at Seven Kings High School, he was certain his place was with her.
Seven Kings was the sort of place that looked excellent on paper, great when a visitor but as a student, the halls were like prison wards, the dormitories like confinement cells and each student was worse than the next. Johnny took to scribbling words in the margins of his notes, but the same phrase always came up: Each scratch digs deeper into the senseless scraps; each voice tells a lie; each truth is muted by the incomprehensibility of, each speaker whose one true success is to give volume to chargeless squabble, silence to powerful thought. His advisor requested to have him admitted.
When the bullying started (not bullying against him, but his "mates" decision to bully the new students) John finalized his plans. It would have to be covert and quick. He'd make his way to Kings Cross, board a commuter train out of the city and make his way north, never looking back. There was nothing to derail him... until he met Bryce McAlarney and his desire to rebel and detach took a serious beating from the wholeness, the oneness ethics the so-called BMac imparted upon him. He was determined not to continue at Seven Kings, if he could manage, but part of him no longer desired to fly alone. In this wizard, John found an instant companion, a true-hearted kindred spirit, a brother of a kind.
V] Hogwarts, Cyan Waller, and After (ages 11-17)
John was sorted into Hufflepuff house, befitting of his manner in life, but in this house he found it difficult to find the relationships he desired so greatly. Other than Bryce, Johnny didn't really click well with other students. He was remarkably introverted for an actor, and he didn't really see much future at Hogwarts for a few years. Then, another boy entered his life. Cyan Waller was every bit as shy as Johnny and yet he quickly became a friend and ally to the older boy. Johnny fell in love with his younger housemate, and devastatingly so. In the spring of 2028, Cyan was eating in the great hall when a malicious bomb exploded and killed him. Johnny wasn't the only student to lose a loved one that day but he never thought he'd ever be able to heal from that loss.
Without Cyan, Johnny really found no purpose in staying at Hogwarts. He healed through honing his acting skills and really began to live into his dream to be an actor professionally. Despite the pain, Johnny managed to score a lead role in the Summer of 2028. With his financial independence secured, he began putting himself out in the public eye a lot more. He secured several auditions for well known theater companies in the Fall of 2028 and finally made the big decision not to return to Hogwarts after Christmas break.
Personality Description:
BIG FAMILIES PERSONALITY SPECIALISATION (BFPS):
There is a little-known fact that just about every person ought to know concerning the mentality and traits of members of big families - where one falls in the line-up weighs heavily on how one develops in character. In Johnny's case, being one-twelfth of his family should secure a few acceptable understandings of his development, all personal characterizations aside. First, he must fight for attention; second, he must have a quick wit and a slow temper; finally, he must know how to push buttons. For extroverts (a decidedly unique personality trait for children in big families), these could translate to 1) competitiveness; 2) charisma and calm; and 3) control. For introverts, however, these translate in a more (potentially) sinister way: 1) perfection becomes the goal so as to outshine one's opponents; 2) biting sarcasm, satire and snark becomes a vehicle for showcasing one's intelligence while the cool sense of patience one exhibits could also be a lingering desire to observe for the benefit of one's own advancement; and 3) nagging or inciting one's irritation as a means to drive them to irrationality is a sneaky-like method of remote control. Luckily for everyone, Johnny fits into this BFPS spectrum somewhere in the middle, though favoring the introverted side, and that has made a world of difference in his individual development.
CREATIVITY:
Johnny is an artistic-minded young man. While in attendance at Seven Kings, he excelled in areas that required fine artistic skill such as painting, drawing and various forms of design. Perhaps the most ironic of these was his ability to produce a full portfolio of costume designs for school theatrical productions (for as you'll see, Johnny's sense of fashion is somewhat.... lacking). Though he strongly dislikes being critiqued by his peers and superiors, Johnny's critique of art and artists is in line with many professionals; he desires to personalize his observations so as to be original, but the essentials of his criticism is in sync with respected critics.
HUMILITY:
Johnny is incredibly humble. He knows when credit is due to him and others, and he's very good as giving praise and encouragement to others, but he's awful at accepting it of himself and often balances every really heartfelt, genuinely kind compliment with some sort of sarcasm that can rub strangers the wrong way. He has a deep dislike for egotism and "big-heads", and his sense of humility derives from a fear of becoming something he despises.
HUMOUR:
It's there; you have to be listening closely. Johnny's words are weighted, particularly in large groups (to him, that is a group of more than three persons), so those who only half-listen, only half-catch his very British, very dry humor. In the right mindset and setting, he can be silly too. One really needs to understand how Johnny thinks to fully appreciate his humor.
Physical Description:
Height: 5'5"
Weight/Build: Athletic-slender
Skin Tone: Caucasian
Hair Color and Style: Dark brown, kept short
Eye Color: foggy blue
Style: borderline hipster
Personal Scent: Lilac and pine tree sap
Other:
IMAGE CONSCIENTIOUS: Johnny needs eye-glasses, but he's grown up with the nickname of "four eyes" and even though it took a lot for him to rebel against his strict father and mother (he managed to forge their signatures in order to obtain a prescription for contacts), Johnny wears contacts now so that he doesn't have to endure more teasing for his awful eye-sight. His eye examinations read, regularly, at 20/90.
MIND OF A BOY, BODY OF A YOUNG MAN: Johnny's in that stage of physical growth where he has the maturity of an adolescent but the developing body of a man. His shoulders are broad and effortlessly toned, though he doesn't have much muscle build-up in his chest (yet). His hips are strong and his legs are toned enough to suggest he has experience with sports, especially running.
Likes: {at least List 3}
Dislikes: {at least List 3}
Special Talents:
Johnny is a special boy.
Luckily for this adorable shy-guy, those areas in which he exhibits natural talent are also areas in which he has a particular interest. He's a very talented guitarist, though his natural sense of stage fright prevents him from showcasing himself in this way. Unless he must absolutely perform for an audience, Johnny prefers to play his guitar in places where people don't tend to linger: Jo has been known to stalk him all the way to the boy's washroom before just to hear him play (which happened on a regular basis until the day when Jo applauded a particularly nice tune and scared Johnny so well that he almost flushed his foot down the toilet in his haste to clear out!!!! Oh - siblings are a wonder).
Though naturally shy and afflicted with stage fright, Johnny doesn't tend to have a problem with performing on stage! It may sound like it doesn't make sense, but there is something about knowing that you can't see the audience that gives him comfort when he performs. He's too talented an actor to pass up opportunities to act when they come his way. His ambitions aren't to be an actor, though, so he treats every role as a new identity to play with and a chance to learn something new and exciting. His best performances are in roles where he is asked to do many artistic things, like singing and dancing. His quick wit and intimate understanding of texts, though, make him an excellent Shakespearean actor too.
Due to stage fright, Johnny likes to make up tunes on his guitar that aren't necessarily aimed for completion. He will get half-way through composing something simple, decide it's too simple and needs some direction, and then he'll shift his focus to writing lyrics. This being done, he seeks to perfect his lyrics and often forgets the melody to which he began writing them. So, what ends up happening is that Johnny has a pile of lovely, well-written lyrics to songs that no longer exist, and this stack of poetry is stowed away in the top drawer of his bureau. All he needs to become a rather successful solo artist is a good composer.
RP Example:
"I know you probably don't care but I'm going to be in the play anyway," Johnny said forcefully. He was in his room at Vicarage Grove and the lights were all off, the door closed and the blinds drawn across the window, which was nearly bolted shut. The room was grim, small, very somber in tone but it was his since Jude moved out, and that had been a long time ago. Next door, Marika and Mattia and Luka all had to share a room about a size and a half bigger than this one, but what was exceptionally grand for one person was exceptionally small for three... particularly three adolescent girls. It was often a fine balance between playing nice and catfight that dictated peace in the house. Another outbreak and Mr. Barker promised his daughters they'd find themselves living intimately with the poor of the Peckham Borough. Mum's nerves weren't so easily rattled. All she needed was to appear in an apron with a rolling pin, and somehow peace was instantly restored. In here, though, there was a separate peace in dire need of attention.
Outside, the late summer afternoon had reached so great a level of humidity that the neighbours' cats... pesky felines which made a game of sitting out on the roof... who had been basking in the sun moments before, now were indulging in their favourite - and rarely missed - pastime of taking up their syncopated chorus of howls and hisses. Johnny secretly hoped the underside of their bellies would boil and leave them with dead, dangling, droopy skin. They could scarcely look worse - gangly and homely as they were, all twelve of them - but Johnny was willing to see if the impossible could be made possible (if possible). Their symphony of howling and hissing was down to an art now, though in May it had been little more than an annoyance. If trained, Johnny believed they might become the first twelve-piece creature choir to howl and hiss Beethoven's 9th, and on occasion, he imagined them doing so, followed deftly and swiftly by Dvorak's popular New World Symphony (Going Home). He also got a wry chuckle from imagining the possible reasons for creating a musical about these loathsome creatures (think, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats). Wasn't 9 lives of this sod good enough?
His companion didn't look too pleased with this news he'd just imparted. "Another?" He sighed. Johnny frowned.
"Yes. Another. This one is going to be more incredible than the last. I promise you." His companion sighed.
"Well?" He sounded more disinterested than he looked. "Tell me why it's going to be the best thing you've ever been in." He finished, sarcasm dripping from his mouth like crumbles of cake from the lips of a Dudley-sized chump.
"Simple. I'm older and a smarter actor than I was before." Johnny began, his insides fluttering as he stepped into his main and conclusive point. "And because this time, Bryce is going to be there." The cats' howling never sounded sweeter to his deaf ears.
D.o.B./Age: 21 April 2011 / 17
Place of Residency: 25 Water St., Liverpool
Blood Status: Muggleborn
Former School / House: Hogwarts/Hufflepuff
Wand: [Optional when first applying but feel free to add this later] will add later
Position Requesting: Actor*
Credentials:
SUPPORTING LEAD ROLES
Chris Reilly
1921: An Irish Musical (Glesga Theater, Glasgow, UK: 2026 Summer Festival)
Michaeil O Suillebhain
1921: An Irish Musical (Glesga Theater, Glasgow, UK: 2027 & 2028 Summer Festival)
Leam
Shapes (Glasgow Theater Workshop, Glasgow: 2025 Showcase)
LEADING ROLES
Gabriel Goodman
Next to Normal (Unity Theater, Liverpool: 2028 Summer Season)
*auditioning for the International Dramatists Society-Actor's Guild
UPCOMING WORK
Ram Sweeney
Heathers: The Musical (Unity Theater, Liverpool: Spring 2029)
History:
Parent(s): Abram Barker (age 62); Sara Carter-Barker (age 53)
Sibling(s): Christian Mark (age 35) & Juliette Heathcliffe (age 34), and their daughter Rose Barker (age 5) and son Isaac Barker (age 2); Ruth Anne Sheppard (age 33) & Ethan Sheppard (age 36; brother-in-law); Naomi Alessandra Alington (age 31) & David Alington (age 34: brother-in-law), and their son Finian Alington (age 3) and daughter Jael Alington (age 1); Esther Jane Stevenson (age 30) & Anthony Stevenson (age 29; brother-in-law) and their twin daughters Annette Stevenson (age 2) and Emily Stevenson (age 2); Mary Carter Pearce (age 29) and Aiden Pearce (age 36; brother-in-law) and their son Jonathan Pearce (age 2); Judas Peter (age 27) and Sophie Tullin (age 24; sister-in-law); Elizabeth Allison Ingram (age 26) and Sean Ingram (age 28; brother-in-law); Mattia Theresa (age 24); Marika Sara (age 20); Joanna Issa Svensson (age 17: twin) and Lars Svensson (age 21; brother-in-law); Luka Eve (age 15)
Other(s): "Massachusetts Family" and "Texas Family"
Economic Status: Lower Middle-Class
I] Birth: ages 0-3 ½
John Blaney Barker was born 21 April 2011 a mere half-hour after his twin sister, Joanna Issabel Barker. Mrs. Sara Carter-Barker – their mother – exclaimed that “It’s just my luck to get two for the price of one,” which was undoubtedly her reaction to adding two more children to her litter of nine. Joanna Issabel always claims she was the first sibling to hold John (who was named after the Christian Biblical Evangelist of the Gospel of John fame), stating that “Right before I came out, I hugged Johnny and said ‘See you on the other side’!” John (commonly called Johnny) has his doubts about this claim, but whatever the truth is behind it, from birth until they moved to Peckham, Johnny and Joanna were fierce friends.
Johnny joined the Barker family, a very devoutly religious family to whom contraception was not a valid option in the process of procreation, as the third and youngest boy. His older brothers are Christian “Chris” Mark (born 22 May 1994) and Judas “Jude” Peter (born 3 February 2003). Growing up in South Beckton, Johnny and Chris would often make a game of the docklands near their family flat, and at times this included playing “Pirates” in which one would commandeer a “ship” and see how far he could sail it on the Thames before indefinitely being caught and (likely) taken to a detention centre until being picked up by one or the other parent. Mr. Abram Barker supported his large family as a barber, and in the late 90s, he managed to open a pair of barber shops along the Thames in Southwark borough as well as Newham borough, where his family lived at the time. Mrs. Sara Carter-Barker worked part-time keeping the books and full-time keeping grammar school children in line in one of London’s metropolitan boarding schools where she served as House Mom in a Boy’s School.
By the age of three, Johnny was not the youngest Barker any more. His younger sister, Luka Eve, arrived on the evening of 29 May 2014, three years one month and eight days after Johnny and Joanna. Her birth, undoubtedly the easiest, was to be the last of the Barker Family, now twelve strong. In the following months, Chris moved out of the South Beckton flat to work in the North and Ruth (born 12 September 1996) moved to Scotland to attend St. Andrew’s University (likely in the hopes of becoming the next Princess Kate Middleton) and Naomi (born 10 December 1997) met her future husband David Alington (born 1 July 1995) who walked her home from school one fateful autumn afternoon. All these movements convinced the Barkers that it was time to make a change in their lives. With two beds now vacant and a baby crib once more in use, Abram Barker began communicating with his estranged Uncle in Peckham, inquiring towards claiming his flat when the time came. Uncle George William Barker died friendless and alone in his bed that winter, and as he left no will nor any children, Abram (with Chris, Jude, and David Alington’s help) fixed up the dingy flat in Peckham and arranged to move that summer.
II] Inheriting the Vicarage Grove cottage: ages 4-7 ½
In the summer of 2015, with the cottage at Vicarage Grove half-complete, Abram Barker moved half his large family into the building in hopes of vacating and selling their flat in Beckton. Unfortunately, the turn in the economy brought his Southwark barber shop to its knees, and the cottage was left untouched as the Barkers began to tread water and patch up the leaks in their business. Johnny remembers being told about making money: “Start early, perfect your trade, make money and lots of it,” his father told him under duress. At this point, Johnny also remembers beginning school separate from his older siblings, who were still largely living in Beckton. “I thought our days of playing Pirate and making friends in the Juvenile Rehabilitation Centres was over,” he recalls after bidding farewell to both his older brothers. Fortunate to be discovered as a model and actor, Jude Barker was quickly taken in by the fashion industry at age 13 and that change required a move from the family. Within months, the Barkers went from ten children living under two roofs to six children split between the two homes. Chris was gone to York; Ruth was gone to Scotland; Jude was gone to Central London (among other places, including Paris); now Esther (born 17 October 1998) was gone to live a religious life in a convent in Ireland, and Mary (born 13 July 2000) was gone to begin life in a girl’s boarding college, on scholarship, in the hopes of improving her chances in the world of media entertainment. It was a confusing and lonely time that brought the remaining six Barker children closer to one another than ever. It was also a time when Joanna and Johnny began noticing things that made them different from the rest.
Moving into the Vicarage Grove cottage meant leaving behind the friends that Johnny had made in the Beckton flat. Most of his mates were too poor to afford the transport across the boroughs, so whenever he was able to meet them, it was usually somewhere in between. At his youthful age, though, companionship barely extended beyond his family, but he was aware of the loss of certain others in his life, and when he began full-time school at age 6, it was recollection of the life and lives he’d become deficient of that came back to him. Sporadic moments of rage would afflict him, and on a few occasions, he incurred an unnecessary form of punishment on fellow students – a magical form of punishment. Jo was the only person he could go to and confide in about this, and it wasn’t long before they both discovered that their powers – beyond the “twin connection” – were actually tangible stuffs. They would spend late nights showing the other what sort of things they could do, and because of their staunch religious upbringing, these “abnormalities” were quickly labelled miracles. Johnny began to cultivate the notion that if he could work miracles, he must be an angel, and all the angels he’d ever known about could sing. Thus began Johnny’s fascination with singing (which he found he was talented at).
III] Early Signs: ages 8-11 ½
During his early life, Johnny attended St. Michael's Primary School in Newham Borough. He followed in a rather long arduous line of Barkers to walk through St. Michael's, to pray in its chapel and to prey on its younger students. It could be said that it was a blessing that Jude Barker graduated to Seven Kings the year before Johnny started at St. Michael's (2015) so as to spare the entire student body the horror of having to deal with two Barker boys at once. In fact, so horrid was Chris Barker (graduated in 2005) that when Jude came around in '07, the faculty and staff hadn't quite recovered from the shock of his older brother. By the time Johnny came around, they were more than prepared for the worst. As such, life at the Catholic Primary School was very rough for the youngest Barker boy. If he stepped anywhere close to sideways, he found himself facing the staunch, bullish Head Teacher instead of his friends out at recess. For a few years, Johnny was so discouraged by these occurrences of injustice that he stopped trying to have fun and merely sat on the sidelines while his friends were freely permitted to do things he never would dare. Jo understood his plight very well: the dichotomy of her twin's situation was complex. But as they began to spend more time with each other (her, to keep him company; him, because she was risking scrutiny from teachers and students alike just to make him feel better), Jo was first to realise how Johnny was able to manipulate some situations as if magically. Even at the young age of 8, this felt wrong to the future Lioness.
Johnny began to pick up on Jo's magical abilities in their Year 5. He was already aware of his own inexplicable ability to make things happen, and it wasn't until he made a very notable mistake... one which continues to haunt him even today... that he picked up on Jo's magical abilities. Her grace in righting his wrong assured him (and likely her) of the gifts they possessed, and shortly into the summer holiday between Year 5 and Year 6, the twins began experimenting with the parameters of their magical abilities. It was never a purely conscious decision to actively engage in making magic, but by way of drawing each others' attention to what they could do was exciting and frightening at once. They hoped to keep this as their secret, but in the summer of 2022, a pair of shocking letters came to the Barkers exposing John and Joanna as magic folk. Their acceptances to Hogwarts were met with trepidation. In the end, however, the twins were given permission to attend. Then, without warning, Johnny was pulled from attendance during the Christmas holiday. It was heartbreaking to be split from each other and with no explanation to why! Within him, Johnny began to accumulate grievances against his parents for being disallowed to attend a school of magic without any excuse. This dissatisfaction with his mother and father would define the following years of his life, exacerbating the turbulence of adolescence, pushing him to finally step sideways without fear of consequence.
IV] Age of Discovery: ages 12-14
Once his time at St. Michaels had come to an end and the disappointment of injust parental decisions and separation from his soul mate twin had subsided, John began calculating his biggest rebellion against his parents. He'd been accepted at Hogwarts and he'd been denied the opportunity to attend, but he didn't care about what his parents would and wouldn't let him do anymore. That meant nothing: he was his own man now, even at 12, and his mind was set on getting into that school of magic no matter what he had to do to get there. It wasn't easy to pretend that when Jo would come home on holidays with fascinating stories about all the things she was learning and the new people she was meeting that none of that had an effect on him. When they were alone, he'd confess to her how horrible it felt, knowing she was helpless to change his situation. "I suppose there's no spell for this curse, is there?" He'd say half-jokingly. She'd always reply, "It's only a curse if that's the true intent of the caster." She was so smart. Johnny couldn't tell if it was a curse in his terms or hers. Whatever it was, though, by his second year at Seven Kings High School, he was certain his place was with her.
Seven Kings was the sort of place that looked excellent on paper, great when a visitor but as a student, the halls were like prison wards, the dormitories like confinement cells and each student was worse than the next. Johnny took to scribbling words in the margins of his notes, but the same phrase always came up: Each scratch digs deeper into the senseless scraps; each voice tells a lie; each truth is muted by the incomprehensibility of, each speaker whose one true success is to give volume to chargeless squabble, silence to powerful thought. His advisor requested to have him admitted.
When the bullying started (not bullying against him, but his "mates" decision to bully the new students) John finalized his plans. It would have to be covert and quick. He'd make his way to Kings Cross, board a commuter train out of the city and make his way north, never looking back. There was nothing to derail him... until he met Bryce McAlarney and his desire to rebel and detach took a serious beating from the wholeness, the oneness ethics the so-called BMac imparted upon him. He was determined not to continue at Seven Kings, if he could manage, but part of him no longer desired to fly alone. In this wizard, John found an instant companion, a true-hearted kindred spirit, a brother of a kind.
V] Hogwarts, Cyan Waller, and After (ages 11-17)
John was sorted into Hufflepuff house, befitting of his manner in life, but in this house he found it difficult to find the relationships he desired so greatly. Other than Bryce, Johnny didn't really click well with other students. He was remarkably introverted for an actor, and he didn't really see much future at Hogwarts for a few years. Then, another boy entered his life. Cyan Waller was every bit as shy as Johnny and yet he quickly became a friend and ally to the older boy. Johnny fell in love with his younger housemate, and devastatingly so. In the spring of 2028, Cyan was eating in the great hall when a malicious bomb exploded and killed him. Johnny wasn't the only student to lose a loved one that day but he never thought he'd ever be able to heal from that loss.
Without Cyan, Johnny really found no purpose in staying at Hogwarts. He healed through honing his acting skills and really began to live into his dream to be an actor professionally. Despite the pain, Johnny managed to score a lead role in the Summer of 2028. With his financial independence secured, he began putting himself out in the public eye a lot more. He secured several auditions for well known theater companies in the Fall of 2028 and finally made the big decision not to return to Hogwarts after Christmas break.
Personality Description:
BIG FAMILIES PERSONALITY SPECIALISATION (BFPS):
There is a little-known fact that just about every person ought to know concerning the mentality and traits of members of big families - where one falls in the line-up weighs heavily on how one develops in character. In Johnny's case, being one-twelfth of his family should secure a few acceptable understandings of his development, all personal characterizations aside. First, he must fight for attention; second, he must have a quick wit and a slow temper; finally, he must know how to push buttons. For extroverts (a decidedly unique personality trait for children in big families), these could translate to 1) competitiveness; 2) charisma and calm; and 3) control. For introverts, however, these translate in a more (potentially) sinister way: 1) perfection becomes the goal so as to outshine one's opponents; 2) biting sarcasm, satire and snark becomes a vehicle for showcasing one's intelligence while the cool sense of patience one exhibits could also be a lingering desire to observe for the benefit of one's own advancement; and 3) nagging or inciting one's irritation as a means to drive them to irrationality is a sneaky-like method of remote control. Luckily for everyone, Johnny fits into this BFPS spectrum somewhere in the middle, though favoring the introverted side, and that has made a world of difference in his individual development.
CREATIVITY:
Johnny is an artistic-minded young man. While in attendance at Seven Kings, he excelled in areas that required fine artistic skill such as painting, drawing and various forms of design. Perhaps the most ironic of these was his ability to produce a full portfolio of costume designs for school theatrical productions (for as you'll see, Johnny's sense of fashion is somewhat.... lacking). Though he strongly dislikes being critiqued by his peers and superiors, Johnny's critique of art and artists is in line with many professionals; he desires to personalize his observations so as to be original, but the essentials of his criticism is in sync with respected critics.
HUMILITY:
Johnny is incredibly humble. He knows when credit is due to him and others, and he's very good as giving praise and encouragement to others, but he's awful at accepting it of himself and often balances every really heartfelt, genuinely kind compliment with some sort of sarcasm that can rub strangers the wrong way. He has a deep dislike for egotism and "big-heads", and his sense of humility derives from a fear of becoming something he despises.
HUMOUR:
It's there; you have to be listening closely. Johnny's words are weighted, particularly in large groups (to him, that is a group of more than three persons), so those who only half-listen, only half-catch his very British, very dry humor. In the right mindset and setting, he can be silly too. One really needs to understand how Johnny thinks to fully appreciate his humor.
Physical Description:
Height: 5'5"
Weight/Build: Athletic-slender
Skin Tone: Caucasian
Hair Color and Style: Dark brown, kept short
Eye Color: foggy blue
Style: borderline hipster
Personal Scent: Lilac and pine tree sap
Other:
IMAGE CONSCIENTIOUS: Johnny needs eye-glasses, but he's grown up with the nickname of "four eyes" and even though it took a lot for him to rebel against his strict father and mother (he managed to forge their signatures in order to obtain a prescription for contacts), Johnny wears contacts now so that he doesn't have to endure more teasing for his awful eye-sight. His eye examinations read, regularly, at 20/90.
MIND OF A BOY, BODY OF A YOUNG MAN: Johnny's in that stage of physical growth where he has the maturity of an adolescent but the developing body of a man. His shoulders are broad and effortlessly toned, though he doesn't have much muscle build-up in his chest (yet). His hips are strong and his legs are toned enough to suggest he has experience with sports, especially running.
Likes: {at least List 3}
- Music/Musical Theatre/Playing Music
- Theatre/Stage Plays/Acting/Directing
- Writing Lyrics
Dislikes: {at least List 3}
- Showcasing himself (with exception to theatrical performances)
- Being told what he can and cannot do
- Being labelled
Special Talents:
Johnny is a special boy.
Luckily for this adorable shy-guy, those areas in which he exhibits natural talent are also areas in which he has a particular interest. He's a very talented guitarist, though his natural sense of stage fright prevents him from showcasing himself in this way. Unless he must absolutely perform for an audience, Johnny prefers to play his guitar in places where people don't tend to linger: Jo has been known to stalk him all the way to the boy's washroom before just to hear him play (which happened on a regular basis until the day when Jo applauded a particularly nice tune and scared Johnny so well that he almost flushed his foot down the toilet in his haste to clear out!!!! Oh - siblings are a wonder).
Though naturally shy and afflicted with stage fright, Johnny doesn't tend to have a problem with performing on stage! It may sound like it doesn't make sense, but there is something about knowing that you can't see the audience that gives him comfort when he performs. He's too talented an actor to pass up opportunities to act when they come his way. His ambitions aren't to be an actor, though, so he treats every role as a new identity to play with and a chance to learn something new and exciting. His best performances are in roles where he is asked to do many artistic things, like singing and dancing. His quick wit and intimate understanding of texts, though, make him an excellent Shakespearean actor too.
Due to stage fright, Johnny likes to make up tunes on his guitar that aren't necessarily aimed for completion. He will get half-way through composing something simple, decide it's too simple and needs some direction, and then he'll shift his focus to writing lyrics. This being done, he seeks to perfect his lyrics and often forgets the melody to which he began writing them. So, what ends up happening is that Johnny has a pile of lovely, well-written lyrics to songs that no longer exist, and this stack of poetry is stowed away in the top drawer of his bureau. All he needs to become a rather successful solo artist is a good composer.
RP Example:
"I know you probably don't care but I'm going to be in the play anyway," Johnny said forcefully. He was in his room at Vicarage Grove and the lights were all off, the door closed and the blinds drawn across the window, which was nearly bolted shut. The room was grim, small, very somber in tone but it was his since Jude moved out, and that had been a long time ago. Next door, Marika and Mattia and Luka all had to share a room about a size and a half bigger than this one, but what was exceptionally grand for one person was exceptionally small for three... particularly three adolescent girls. It was often a fine balance between playing nice and catfight that dictated peace in the house. Another outbreak and Mr. Barker promised his daughters they'd find themselves living intimately with the poor of the Peckham Borough. Mum's nerves weren't so easily rattled. All she needed was to appear in an apron with a rolling pin, and somehow peace was instantly restored. In here, though, there was a separate peace in dire need of attention.
Outside, the late summer afternoon had reached so great a level of humidity that the neighbours' cats... pesky felines which made a game of sitting out on the roof... who had been basking in the sun moments before, now were indulging in their favourite - and rarely missed - pastime of taking up their syncopated chorus of howls and hisses. Johnny secretly hoped the underside of their bellies would boil and leave them with dead, dangling, droopy skin. They could scarcely look worse - gangly and homely as they were, all twelve of them - but Johnny was willing to see if the impossible could be made possible (if possible). Their symphony of howling and hissing was down to an art now, though in May it had been little more than an annoyance. If trained, Johnny believed they might become the first twelve-piece creature choir to howl and hiss Beethoven's 9th, and on occasion, he imagined them doing so, followed deftly and swiftly by Dvorak's popular New World Symphony (Going Home). He also got a wry chuckle from imagining the possible reasons for creating a musical about these loathsome creatures (think, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats). Wasn't 9 lives of this sod good enough?
His companion didn't look too pleased with this news he'd just imparted. "Another?" He sighed. Johnny frowned.
"Yes. Another. This one is going to be more incredible than the last. I promise you." His companion sighed.
"Well?" He sounded more disinterested than he looked. "Tell me why it's going to be the best thing you've ever been in." He finished, sarcasm dripping from his mouth like crumbles of cake from the lips of a Dudley-sized chump.
"Simple. I'm older and a smarter actor than I was before." Johnny began, his insides fluttering as he stepped into his main and conclusive point. "And because this time, Bryce is going to be there." The cats' howling never sounded sweeter to his deaf ears.
