Sam Cohen

> *"That's your thing, dud. Mediochre calculates, Joseph shoots, Dhampinella overpowers people, Rowan finds information and you make people feel better"*
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> Charlotte thanks Sam, during the final battle with the fairies (Book 4, *Sent into Mediochre-Drive*).
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**Sam Cohen** is a half-werewolf inhabitant of the Edinburgh Dusk and romantic interest of Rowan Berry.

## Traits

Being a half-werewolf, as well has having "a screwed-up, semi-canine ribcage", and being allergic to silver, Sam is slightly obsessed with the moon, mostly because he's terrified of his monthly partial transformations that it forces him to undergo. His teeth and fuzzy hair give him a canine quality, but "in a nice way", at least according to his girlfriend, Rowan Berry.

## Chronology

### Caught Mediochre-Handed

Sam first turns up sitting on the stairs of the mostly re-built Edinburgh Dusk, staring out at the moon through a hole in the wall, where the rebuilding hasn't yet been completed. Rowan finds him and they exchange introductions. Sam gives a socially awkward spiel about his werewolf heritage before ending with, "I'm Sam, by the way." When Rowan asks him if he's been working on the Dusk, he explains that he hasn't but he just feels safe there. The first indication that there is an attraction between them is when they forget to let go after shaking hands, prompting Tsukiko Shinju, the only other person still at the Dusk this late due to physically being unable to leave, to suggest they get a room.

Sam is later seen later in the Dusk being taught to play chess by Rowan. Tsukiko makes a comment about the fuzziness of his hair, which causes him to subconsciously flatten it. Sam then joins Rowan and Charlotte on their attempt to insert themselves into Mediochre's investigation tracking down the escapees from the Stig Unit. Sam specifically gets involved because one of the branches of his bank gets robbed in a way that seems to have been done by an experienced mantically-inclined criminal. By impersonating investigators and talking to police at the scene, Sam, Rowan and Charlotte learn about the existence of Floor Theta.

Sam then accompanies Rowan and Charlotte when they visit Melinda Quinn to find out more information, who puts them in touch with the personal assistant of Mr DeMort. By following a chain of contacts from DeMort's PA, they manage to track down the team investigating with Mediochre, but by this time it turns out that Mediochre has already given them the slip to go confront the Scissorman personally.

Some time after that, Sam leaves to go prepare for the full moon, and Rowan decides to stay with him. It initially appears that the full moon is going to pass without him transforming this time, but then his organs start failing as his body starts suddenly trying to go into the transformation after all. After a while the partial transformation passes and his body returns to normal. Sam and Rowan hug.

Sam and Rowan then turn up hand-in-hand at the site of the missing MAB Gov Building where Professor God is trying to retrieve Maccabeus Fervour and his prisoners from the pocket dimension they've been trapped in. It is discovered that Sam's status as a half-human, means that Professor God can match his half-human signature to the half-human signature of Dhampinella, on of Fervour's captives, and use that to open a pathway to bring them back.

After this, Sam rejoins the team that are hunting down the Floor Theta escapees. Sam and Rowan go to Archie Elijah in the hope that he can help them track down Thunderbolt Charlie, so that she can help them track down Darrel Snake, who they hope will lead them to the Choromancer. Archie gives them the address of Carmen Watford, Thunderbolt Charlie's wife, and Charlotte joins them en route to the stakeout. When Carmen then tries to run, Sam finds himself blocking her way. He hits her ineffectually and he whimpers "like a pained wolf" when she burns him on the wrist with her pyromancy. Sam is dragged away to safety by Rowan after Carmen's escape fails and she gets killed accidentally by a lightning bolt from Charlie. As they make their escape, Sam's half-human chest gives him troubles. As he pauses for breath, Springheel Jack appears and strikes Thunderbolt Charlie with his claws, causing her to erupt in a burst of energy. Their mutual deaths allow Sam, Rowan and Charlotte to escape.

Sam is seen with the rest of the team after Mediochre gets kidnapped by Simultaneous Velocity Carnage. After establishing there is nothing more they can do right now he, Joseph, Charlotte, Rowan and Dhampinella go for lunch. They are ambushed en route by Jonathan Scruff. Mistaking Jonathan for a gunman, Sam vaults over a railing for cover. He sees Charlotte collapse as a result of Jonathan's phobiamancy, and attempts to vault back over the railing but collapses partway through as the phobiamancy spreads to him causing him to hallucinate another partial transformation. After being snapped out of her own fear hallucination by Mediochre, Rowan then manages to snap Sam out of his partially by very half-heartedly confessing that she "maybe" loves him "a bit", which Sam notes, upon recovering, is "good enough for [him]".

Mediochre then sends Sam along with Rowan and Charlotte back to alert the MIPF, about the location of the Scruff Brothers, and Simultaneous Velocity Carnage, who had turned up with Mediochre.

Sam is then seen at the debriefing after the death of Jonathan and the arrest of Carnage sympathetically patting Charlotte on the shoulder after she is unable to stay awake after being enthralled and forced to dance by Valentine Scruff. Sam returns to the Dusk once the last of the Floor Theta escapees are subdued.

## Trivia

* Sam chose the name Cohen after the singer, Leonard Cohen. He was planning to call himself Sam Miyamoto after Shigeru Miyamoto the creator of the Mario franchise, but him mother requested something "ethnically believable." This suggests that Sam is actually Jewish.
* Sam is half-werewolf on his mother's side, and refers to his mother as a wifewolf.