Barend de Rooij

*"The jovial but unintentionally intimidating man has led the Schippersburg fire department for many decades. He adopted Alex as a four-year-old pup and has provided him with a loving home ever since. He's still working on making a better first impression. He's not very good at it."* - Barend de Rooij's character profile

**Barend de Rooij** is a character in Glory Hounds and the father of its protagonist, Alex de Rooij.

## Appearance

Barend is a well-built older mandrill who is about as tall as Alex. He has dark brown fur that is styled into a curl atop his head, a yellow “beard” and “mustache” with white whiskers peppered in, yellow eyes with purple lids, and the distinctive blue and red face typical of mandrills. Barend appears to have gray chest fur and lacks hair on his pink ears. He wears a red and blue flannel shirt that is kept unbuttoned at the top and only tucked into one side of his pants, an open black button-up shirt, and white pants held up by a brown belt. He also has gold hoop earrings in both of his ears.

Barend is recognized by many to have an intimidating appearance, to the point that he has a habit of stunning even crowds into silence. This may be a result of his striking expressions, yellow eyes, and large fangs in combination with his imposing stature. At times, Barend's face is covered in shadow to showcase this effect stylistically.

## Personality

Despite his intimidating appearance striking fear into many who see him for the first time, Barend is a cheerful and outgoing individual who loves his son and supports him to the best of his ability. He makes friends easily and takes on a familiar approach toward those around him, especially his son’s friends, with little hesitation. Barend seems to have a sense of humor and enjoys playfully ribbing others. Unfortunately, he can be oblivious about how much his actions tend to embarrass Alex, particularly when being introduced to his boyfriends over the years.

As a firefighter, Barend makes helping others in the community a priority and is quick to offer a hand whenever necessary, such as helping Willem with the Haen’s anniversary celebration. He also appears to be a skilled mixologist given his role in helping Willem serve drinks. Barend is typically a kind and generous person, and considers any friend of his son’s a friend of his. He is not above using his intimidating appearance to his advantage however, making it hard for others to keep secrets from or stand up to him. He worries greatly about his son, and wants him to stay safe and find happiness in life.

## Story

### Prior to Glory Hounds

Barend is a firefighter for the city of Schippersburg, a position through which he presumably met his wife, a firefighter herself. Some time after their marriage, Barend and his wife adopted Alex. The family lived in the sweetwater district of Schippersburg, where they would take frequent trips to Mrs. de Bruin’s corner store. Alex proved to be somewhat mischievous in his upbringing, but he retained good grades and a positive relationship with his parents.

Around the time when Alex entered college, he came out to his parents with some difficulty due to concern about how they would react, having Willem provide assistance in informing the pair. Alex’s parents were immediately supportive and reaffirmed that they loved him no matter what, with Barend apparently giving Alex the tightest hug he’d received since his adoption. Barend especially went on to emphasize his support, frequently attending pride events and becoming involved in his son’s life wherever possible (at times even to the point of embarrassing Alex.) He also became close friends with Willem after Alex’s coming out.

Despite Barend’s more embarrassing habits, particularly when it comes to meeting Alex’s various boyfriends over the years, he and his son have a positive relationship and talk frequently. At some point, Barend and his wife amicably and mutually decided to divorce, though they remain good friends.

### Issue 3

Barend makes his debut during Issue #3 of Glory Hounds, where he attends the Haen’s anniversary party as volunteer backup helping Mother Hen serve drinks. Barend proudly introduces himself to Alex’s new friends and is delighted to see Lou as well. He is quick to give “Raymond” the nickname Ray and makes a few jokes about the pair’s “fancy” suits and their potential relationship to his son, much to Alex’s embarrassment. After discovering Raoul and Milo to be Alex’s new employers, Barend affirms Alex’s strong work ethic and potential.

Mother Hen soon calls him to help make drinks for the patrons, causing Barend to take his leave. Before going, Barend reminds Alex to call his mother more often and asks him to say hi to Max for him. This inspires Alex to come up with an idea for how the Glory Hounds can get into Khameau’s fashion show.

While the Glory Hounds are off on Khameau’s trail at the Bonds Through Bondage show, Barend and Willem observe Dusk Hound on the catwalk via a televised broadcast of the event and immediately recognize him as Alex. Realizing Lou knows something about the situation, he pulls a mean face that intimidates them into confessing everything they know about Alex’s new job.

When the Glory Hounds and Fenna return to the Haen following their successful recovery of the Money Talks gown, they are met by Lou, Willem, and an upset Barend. He scolds Alex for his reckless behavior and lying to him while worrying about how they will explain the situation to his mother. To Barend’s surprise, Alex declares that his new job makes him happy and explains that operating as Dusk Hound allows him to feel like he is making a difference in the world, just like his parents. Alex’s accomplishments as Dusk Hound are quickly backed up by the others in attendance, including Mrs. de Bruin who reminds Barend of his own reasoning for becoming a firefighter: to help people and save lives.

With the affirmations from everyone Alex has helped and promises from Milo and Raoul to keep his son safe, Barend finally relents and gives Alex his blessing to keep operating as Dusk Hound. Barend also unintentionally gives the team their name in the process, stating “If ya wanna be a bunch of glory hounds that bad, so be it.” Lou quickly latches onto this, with Raoul, Milo, and Alex all agreeing that Glory Hounds suits them. The group then joins the ongoing party, celebrating both the Haen’s anniversary and the Glory Hounds’ first successful mission. In the process, Barend gets extremely drunk and begins showing Alex’s baby pictures until Alex, Lou, Milo, and Fenna offer to escort him home.

## Relationships

### Alex

Alex is Barend’s son, who he loves dearly. Barend is supportive toward his son’s life decisions and sexuality and enjoys talking up Alex’s achievements. Unfortunately for Alex, Barend’s intimidating appearance and occasionally over the top nature frequently embarrass him when introducing his father to people, especially new boyfriends. Aside from being a bit overeager at times, Barend means well and has a positive relationship with his son, and the two talk frequently. Though at first he disapproves of Alex’s work as Dusk Hound, he quickly comes around after hearing Alex’s reasoning and gives him his blessing.

### Alex’s Mother

Barend and his ex-wife both work as firefighters for Schippersburg’s fire department, which is presumably how they met. They eventually decided to divorce after Alex reached adulthood, but remain on good terms and talk frequently. Barend encourages his son to talk to his mother more rather than having him serve as an in-between, and worries about explaining Alex’s newfound occupation as a superhero to her.

### Willem

Willem and Barend became acquainted during Alex’s coming out and became close friends afterward. He agrees to assist Willem with serving drinks at the Haen’s anniversary party and even goes so far as to flirt with Willem as “Charlene,” complimenting her beauty.

### Lou and Max

Barend knows Lou and Max as Alex’s friends, and as a result treats them warmly. He greets Lou with a hug and apparently allowed their children to come see his fire truck, telling them that their kids are welcome any time and that he’ll allow them to honk the horn. He also tells Alex to say hello to Max for him.

## Trivia

* As Barend is a mandrill, he is the first character with a sprite known to be the father of a child of a different species due to Alex (a dalmatian) being adopted.
	+ William Adler, a coyote from The Smoke Room, also technically has a child of a different species than himself due to his former wife being a wolf, but in this instance his son is still half coyote like his father.