Josue Roth

**Josue Roth** was a travelling man whose mind had been accidentally swapped with that of Damien Barrella.

## Biography

A travelling man from the Middle East, Josue arrived in Athens just a few days before Ruby Barrella and her brother, Damien - with by pure coincidence, they visited the same art gallery at the same time. Their visits would've otherwise been totally disconnected if it hadn't been for one thing; Josue and Damien both signing their names in the visitors' book. This triggered a new art feature installed within the gallery by gallery curator Antonis Zanakos in his desire to create chaos and unpredictability, the gallery's main theme.

Their minds were swapped and amnesia activated, resulting in neither of the two truly realising what had happened, but having been left with an awful nagging feeling that their body was not their own. Damien in Josue's body stumbled away from the gallery, dazed, ultimately ending up at the top of a tall building, where he sat near the edge, contemplating his life. As Damien later recalled to Ruby once back in his original body with all memories restored; when it felt like he was being removed from his body and his memories spilling away, he thought of his sister to be an anchor - his bond and love for her being so strong, he managed to hold onto her. This was the reason as to why once in Josue's body, he could only remember the name "Ruby Barrella".

Meanwhile, Josue in Damien's body had found the amnesia easier to deal with; as even though he was aware he was not who he was meant to be, he found he was able to pick up on things from Ruby, subtly asking her questions to better fill in the gaps. When Ruby was adamant on checking up on "Josue" - in reality, Damien - and seeing if he was OK after seeing him stagger away, Josue was initally keen to move on and claiming that he would be fine. This action slightly confused Ruby, so he covered his tracks and pretended to change his mind.

When the two met "Josue" on the rooftop and discovered his situation, the real Josue grew to realise that this Damien was the one he had swapped bodies with - and whilst he could certainly relate to "Josue's" feelings of bodily dissociation, he kept this quiet as to not give the game away. When the other two came to agree that it must've been Ruby whose mind had been swapped - which they believed explained "Josue's" only memory being her name - the real Josue went along with this. The art gallery's role in all this had not yet been considered, so the trio's first move was to try and find Josue's home within Athens and see if any clues presented themselves there, unaware he was not from the city.

This search proved to be fruitless, right when Damien in Josue's body found a train ticket in his pocket, leading them to the train station and realising the truth of Josue's origin. Following some aimless wandering led by Josue was trying to delay them, Ruby suggested the art gallery, causing Josue to panic as he did not want to return. He attempted to dissuade them going there, but this baffled Ruby so much that he felt that he had no choice but to admit the truth that he preferred being who he was now. With the gig up, it was unanimously agreed that the art gallery was the next stop.

The trio tried to hide the fact that they suspected Antonis, with the men distracting him as Ruby snuck into the back and found the alien tech. After Antonis broke away from the two, Josue apologied to Damien for hindering the search; explaining that he wasn't quite so sure if he could give up the chance to be young again. Damien accepted this, stating it was somewhat understandable and they shook hands just as they were returned back to their original bodies, with their memories also restored. Josue didn't stick around long before going off to travel again. (TV: *Ruby Barrella*)