arms crossed before her chest, icy blue hues narrowing in on the other. ‘ put it back. ‘ her tone was sharp as it rang through the air, demanding in nature. _thievery _happened to be on the top of her list of things she didn’t appreciate. most of all, as the store owner, of which they had stolen. she took a step forward, chin held high – a _proud _stance, which she had mastered over the years. ‘ if you so direly needed it, you could have simply asked. but stealing it ? really? ‘
that voice reminded them so much of their mother, cold shivers ran immediately down their spine causing them to wince. their eyes slowly moved from the floor up to the woman’s eyes, very piercing, intimidating, scary to say the least from his perspective. barrel scrunched his nose before taking in a deep breathe. “ would have you really given it to me if i asked for it ? “ the dirty blonde asked softly, actually meaning it.
Jim, who had a record slightly longer than he was proud to admit, stood in no position to call someone else out for their own behavior. Who was he to tell someone that they shouldn’t steal when he himself had gotten in trouble for the same crime? I never intended on keeping any of it, Jim reminded himself. The person would always get their stuff back once he’d finished with it. Then again…he couldn’t let himself sit idly by watching someone else swipe jewelry off someone else.
“Buddy, if you’re going to do that,” Jim clicked his tongue and shook his head. “Could you maybe not be so obvious about it? If it was something useful, maybe, but…what are you going to do with that?”
barrel let the hair out of his lungs quickly, his chest quickly moving inwards as he sighed. if he was a faster runner then getting out of these situations would be much easier, no one wanted to chase after a speedy thief, too much effort but alas, barrel wasn’t athletic to say the least. luckily this time it was just someone scolding him but at the same time letting him go for the theft. that both intrigued and annoyed the dirty blonde at the same time, it was nice to meet someone else who was also a bit of both ( good & bad ) but still, they didn’t like being lectured. “ wear it, duh - that’s what necklaces are for ! “ they quickly replied but it was obvious from the blatantly fake tone of his voice that he was lying.
she paused, a smile slowly spreading across her features. so this boy knew his stuff, did he? she truly appreciated anyone who came to her searching for knowledge–not just the basic voodoo stuff, oh no, the true magic. the _powerful _king. “That I do,” she paused, tilting her head curiously, “And I’d be more than happy to give you a bit of a discount if you could answer a question for me. It’s a simple one, really, and it’d be oh so helpful to get your input.”
the dirty blonde raised a brow as they watched the woman pause, hoping he didn’t strike a bad chord or say the wrong things. magic wasn’t exactly something that was to be messed with, especially when it came to things like chaos magic. barrel felt a bit of energy pulse through his body, moving themselves more into the store - mostly because they felt too weird just standing in the same place. “ you want... my input? “ that was a new experience for them, usually their opinion was the last to be called for. “ i mean, i guess if you really want me to. “
“you really shouldn’t do that,” john stated, his voice automatically dropping to a hushed whisper. he knew, really, there was no reason for him to get involved–in fact, if he were smart, he’d probably just turn around and act like he saw nothing.or if he were a better person–which he liked to thing he was, most days–he’d alert someone of the theft as soon as he saw it. but he knew there were guards around–there always seemed to be, these days–and while he didn’t know this boy or _why _he was stealing the necklace, well. he liked to give people the benefit of the doubt. and that meant he should at least warn him about the guards doing their patrols. “they’ll catch you doing that and you’ll get in big trouble. why do you even need that?”
barrel tilted their head to the side, raising a brow at the stranger who had decided to be a ‘good samaritan’ and try to get him to put back the necklace. it was too late though for that, he’d been promised good money for this necklace which meant he wasn’t going to walk away from this conversation without that necklace still in his pocket. “ i really shouldn’t but i did it. “ the dirty blonde shrugged, making it seem like he just did it on impulse before his brow furrowed at the next statement. “ big trouble? nah. “ barrel removed a hand from one of his pockets to wave at the man. “ i don’t. not everything is about need, have you ever just wanted something and you couldn’t have it, so you paid someone to steal it ? i mean - that’s not what i’m doing. “
her day had been slow, until now. one of the few days she didn’t have to work, she had been wandering the city trying to find something to do. she was never one to deal with boredom, and she was just about to give up and go take over the current shift at her tavern when she caught the eye of a young man. now, tiana was no snitch. she believed two things in this world: one, never make an enemy where you can make a friend. and two: anyone with a lot of jewelry wouldn’t miss a piece or two. so when she caught sight of the boy stealing a necklace, all she did was raise an amused brow and say, “that is not the proper way to…care for a necklace, I hope you know that. also, if I was able to spot you doing it, you really ought to be careful who else around here did.”
barrel had been caught his fair share of times but no one really turned down his offer of being their lackey, free labor in exchange for the thing he stole. worked 70% of the time and the other 30% they just returned the item to steal it later. the dirty blonde stood up straight, hands deep in his pockets as his fingers played with the cold silver of the necklace. “ but here’s the thing - i really don’t care. “ barrel shrugged as they raised a brow at the stranger. “ if i get caught, i get caught - been there, done that. “
“of course I do,” she answered with a scoff, turning back to her cauldron once it started to bubble. she reached for a glass jar full of sharp crystals, picking two out carefully to add to her brew, “What kind of witch would I be if I didn’t?” she glanced over her shoulder at the boy, a small smirk on her features, “Are there any particular type you’re looking for? I do have to warn you that my collection leans more towards those with a…darker inclination.” she laughed softly at her own words, shaking her head, “well, I’m sure you know that, considering you’re at my doorstep and not say…glinda the goodwitch. anyways, yes, what kind?”
barrel raised their brows when the cauldron started to bubble, his curious nature wanting him to investigate what this woman was making but her intimidating aura kept him in his place, stuck near the door. slowly he started to regain control of his body again, realizing that this woman wasn’t going to bite his head off if he spoke. arms crossed over his body before he squinted as he thought. “ do you have any ceremonial white magic books, oh and chao magic books? “ he asked before adding. “ gotta know both sides to work the system. “
barrel’s form of work wasn’t exactly well liked or even well known. who’d ever heard of a neutral lackey before, but it work for him and not many things did so they were sticking with it for once. something that came along with being a lackey was the fact that they were asked to do things that would be considered morally corrupt or bad but barrel just evens it out by doing stuff for good people. its a good system. today it was a simple thievery, just a necklace his employer wanted. as they stuffed the jewelry into their pocket, their eyes locked with someone else’s. “ nothing to see here... “
Another day, another spell. That was Ursula’s mantra recently–ever since she had come out of hiding, her business had been booming. It seems that, even after her infamous dealings with King Tritons daughter, people still wanted her help. People were funny little things like that–they got on her for doing bad things, but they still came to her begging for her to solve their problems.
Well, Ursula was nothing but helpful.
Pouring a bottle of unmarked silver liquid into her cauldron–she was making a love potion for some poor sucker that begged her for it–she heard the door to her shop open. Well, she knew it wasn’t Floatsam or Jetsam, so that meant it was a customer. How lovely. “Popping into a witch’s lair without knocking is really a bad idea, honey. But,” she turned away from the cauldron, a smile on her face, “I’m feeling nice today. Is there something you need?”
curious was an understatement when it came to barrel’s interest in magic. he may not have the sharpest mind of them all but he definitely knew how to find strange obsessions, just like knowing a little too much about magic for someone who wasn’t born with the ability to wield it. after months of going through books and books on magic, which took him way longer than it should have because he had to reread most of the chapters but he decided to delve a little deeper, which meant going to the source. “ magic. “ barrel was caught off guard by the woman who was in front of the cauldron, her confident energy intimidated him. “ -books i mean, do you have books on magic? “
“Um, hi, excuse me?” Syrena peeped. She stood outside in the early hours of the morning with the semblances of a tie around her neck. “I…have no idea how to put this on,” She continued and tugged on both knotted ends. “It didn’t come with any instructions and the shopkeeper explained too fast. Do…do people even wear them around here?”
the dirty blonde was enthralled with aimlessly scribbling into a notebook that was originally supposed to be actually taking notes but it was now just an assortment of doodles. he’d had trouble sleeping the past couple nights, something they weren’t super phased by, things like that seemed to happen to them a lot. “ aren’t there clip on ties just for this issue ? “ barrel mused out, his eyes not looking away from the notebook as he still just scribbled around.
Sage lay sprawled in the grass, brow furrowed as she stared at a small wilting flower. The poor thing had been struggling to bloom in this area of the woods for several days and she couldn’t figure out why. Sage sighed, placing two fingers on the stem and shimmying them up along the vine, pouring magic into the plant. For a moment the flower’s coloring saturated, vine, petals and all, but it only lasted a moment before the leaves shriveled up again, a brown tinge staining the plant. Sage sighed, “it has to be some kind of magic, doesn’t it? It should be getting better.”
barrel wasn’t really a fan of nature, he didn’t hate it but he didn’t love it either. the bugs and dirt weren’t really they’re scene but then again, not many places were their scene. deciding to be a bit spontaneous because they had nothing to do for the rest of the afternoon, they took the long way home, walking through the woods. scenic, just good enough for a passing walk, nothing more, nothing longer. “ it could be an omen, oo or a plague. “ the dirty blonde replied as they crossed their arms over their chest. “ been a while since we had one of those, might be interesting. “
miles heizer, twenty-two, genderqueer, he/they, monster | did you see the look on THEODORE ‘BARREL’ BOONE’s face ? they know as well as anyone that a war is coming. i’ve heard they’re a true neutral lackey with a reputation for being rather - dim-witted, - childish as well as + innocent, + trusting. no wonder they’re known as THE FOOL. they hail from the kingdom of halloween town and are a civilian. i’ve heard that in the land without magic, their fable is called the nightmare before christmas. let’s see how long they’ll last.
just a little bout me b4 we go into barrel - hello ! i am izzy, i am 21, i live in est and most importantly, im a disaster mess !! i love marvel & being an idiot so hmu if you ever wanna be dorks or plot, i’d love to plot too !! now onto the good stuff -
back story
theodore boone was a curse. or at least that’s what his mother would call them. happy domesticity and parenthood weren’t exactly normal things in halloween town, which explained why his father immediately bolted after she gave birth. after that his mother made it her mission to let theodore know how much he messed up her life.
the emotional abuse quickly got to his young mind, making them very easily manipulated by everyone around him. he just wanted so hard for people to like him as a kid, he just wanted his mother to love him but she never did, so he let himself get used by people, by ‘friends’, by people who he thought had his best interests.
he’s a bit mentally stunted in the sense that he doesn’t completely understand social cues, definitely on the adhd scale. can be a bit scattered and fickle, a bit overpowering but a lot of his confidence was lost mostly because of the people he realized were using him and weren’t being his friend. it definitely bit out a significant part of his confidence which made him even more easy to manipulate.
as he got older, he found himself learning from his mistakes and no longer just letting everyone use him without compensation. he started to get smarter about the people he let into his life which meant anyone who had money could get him to do almost everything, well actually probably everything. he realized quickly that he had a knack for just doing shit for people, being their lackey, getting paid for it and just living life, no real responsibility or title, no relationship, no disappointment or using. that’s when he started to dabble into more dangerous things, like working for oogie.
theodore adopted the name barrel after he officially ‘joined’ oogie, shock and lock. even though he is a part of the trio with shock and lock, barrel doesn’t believe in loyalty when it comes to things like heroes or villains or bad or good, so he works both sides. he needs money and both sides have money, their personal issues don’t affect his ability to be someone’s lackey.
barrel comes off very childish and kind of stupid, he kind of just repeats a lot of things he’s heard other people say. it takes a while for him to get comfortable around to just actually talk to them mostly because he’s usually being talked over or being told his ideas are stupid. he’s very used to being dominated in his life, his mother emotionally manipulated and even though he lives a morally grey life, he still is very much the least respected member of the trio and he knows it. he carries a lot of guilt, mostly because he feels like he’s a failure because no one has truly loved him which is a wound from his mother.
basics
full name: theodore bradley boone
nicknames: barrel, teddy ( his mother used to call him that )
age: twenty-two
zodiac: aquarius
eye color: blue
hair color: dirty blonde ( sometimes bleached white )
skin color: fairly pale
distinguished marks: slight freckling over his nose & cheeks along with some scars from his childhood
height: 5′10″
weight: 174lbs
sexuality: homosexual ( not closeted but not out out )
gender: genderqueer ( identifies with his male attributes but doesn’t feel connected to being a ‘cis-male’ at all )
