Name: Noah Barnett
Nicknames: n/a
Birthday: April 14th, 1994
Pronouns/Gender: He/him
Physical Description: Noah Barnett looks like death warmed over. His skin is pallid, drawn over a skinny frame, his dark hair listless if neatly coiffed, his green eyes dull and heavy lidded. He's 5'11", but no one would guess that with the way he perpetually slouches and folds himself in, makes himself small. Noah has bags under his eyes that suggest that were he try to catch up on his sleep debt that he'd just die. He likes to dress in nice slacks and neutral long sleeved button-ups, and on the occasion that he's feeling whimsical he'll break out a bowtie. This is usually reserved for birthdays or funerals.
Occupation: Pathologist, Mercy Hospital
Personality: Noah goes with the flow. He is always available for whatever is needed, always willing to put forth the extra effort, so long as he isn't required to be enthusiastic. His personality is flimsy, muted, polite but never sincere. He is happy to sit in silence while you share your whole life story. Of course he'll drive you to the airport. Of course you can stay the night. The one thing Noah can't seem to manage is 'No'--any amount of pressure causes him to fold like a pack of cards, no matter the request. He can be bullied by even the most well-meaning people into burning the candle at both ends and at this point he doesn't know how to stop.
Backstory: Noah was the eldest child of a nice Jewish family in upstate New York, and by all estimations his life was pretty good. He was a studious child, bright and obedient and incredibly eager to please. His parents provided a home and an education for him but were never much emotionally present, both invested more in careers than children. Noah learned that a boy's interests were best kept to himself, that fun was a solo venture, and that the only way to feel good was to be good. Noah learned not to need anything, because that was ultimately what made him good. But all of that changed when he suddenly had a little sister, a howling, screaming thing that demanded attention and resources like it was the only way to breathe. He saw someone so desperately need and demand and both loved her and hated her for it. He made himself need less, because that was the way he could still be good. In the way that siblings squabbled, they were often at each other's throats, Noah retreating further and further into himself. It was the only way to find peace.
He was in high school when she got sick. He was looking for colleges, because that was what someone like him was supposed to do, and someone at some point mentioned that he should put his mind to medicine, to heal people like her, and so that was that. He applied to pre-med programs and got into most of them. She got sicker. He and his parents had a few frank discussions. They made a decision to host a tiny bat mitzvah in the hospital, because they weren't certain she would wait for 13.
Noah was told to grieve, and he did, but quietly, because he had to be the support for his parents. His parents grieved. His sister...responded well to medication. Got stronger. Got better. Nobody knew what to do with that, least of all Noah, so he left. He went to university, and then medical school at SRU, and then placed in a pathology residency at Mercy, all the while carrying the guilt and pain of leaving someone like that. Still, he could never confront, never apologize, never make things right, and so he...didn't. He bottled everything up, and in the meanwhile he found a taste for releasing it in the form of terrible debasements, in allowing himself to be taken advantage of, in finding ways to get others to do harm. It was the only thing that made it feel right, made it feel fair. Noah didn't deserve it, of course. Neither had Ella. But it was the only thing that worked, when everything else felt numb.
As part of an inheritance, Noah was given a moderately well-repaired home near the hospital, which he currently shares with three other roommates as a way to pay his mortgage. He's a quiet landlord, not often home, and asks no questions.
Stats:
- Power: -1
- Finesse: 2
- Mind: 1
- Arcane: 0