#becomestorm

[panacaeus]

     hey SHUT UP NINE

[erudite-rebel]

i gasped when i saw your magnus archives au because i'm a huge fan and your artwork on head archivist ooblek is so incredible. do you have any stray headcanons on it, or maybe how grimm translate to entities, or anything really because i'm so fascinated with this concept.

//You got a big storm comin'

Soooo TMA AU was basically caused by @nightmarebcrn and @jinxedcrow getting me into The Magnus Archives and the subsequent chaos thereafter. Barty was actually built slowly after I began season 3 I think (but it may have been season 2 or even earlier. I remember not realizing just how bad I was setting him up for pain). I'm gonna give a write up with as few show-spoilers as possible beyond the basic concept (Entities) and I will chew on the Grimm bc I didn't quite work on them when I developed this but now that you said it that brain's a-firin' away.

So!

The Archivist of Beacon AKA Why Barty Can't Have Nice Things

While I have written a statement on Barty's past, I'll do a quick write up of his history and who he is as the Archivist.

With all of my iterations of Barty, he is neurodivergent. He has Aspergers (low-spectrum Autism) and ADHD. This presents primarily in hyperfocus, being less than adept at social situations, a tendency to shy away from direct eye contact, and stimming (bouncing his leg, jittery movements, counting in dead languages).

Different to his canon verse, Barty is an only child and his parents were of equal age.

His first contact with the entities was when he was a young boy. He was raised primarily running around a now closed, privately run museum that operated near Oxford University. While no doubt several of the items within have made their way into the Beacon Artifact Storage, at the time he was aware of nothing specifically evil. A new lot acquisition included an unusual set of canopic jars that were written off by several scientists as very good fakes. Despite that, one of the employees – Dr. Herbert Renshaw – became obsessed with them and succumbed to their lure. He killed four people by removing critical organs and permanently disfigured a fifth before disappearing with them. While Barty witnessed the attack which killed his parents, and saw what it entailed, he repressed much of it for most of his life. Working at Beacon brought most of it back.

After his parents died he was looked after by his grandfather, who was a strict and no-nonsense veteran of the second World War. The arrangement lasted only two years before he died of cancer and Barty was released into the foster system, inheritance waiting for him when he turned 18.

Shuttled through foster homes, Barty became something of a punk. He had a big chip on his shoulder, was lonely and desperate for a place to fit in when there were so few that could address his needs. Finally he was sent somewhere with a reputation for 'curing' delinquency. Without knowing it he entered a residence under control of the Web.

Qrow Branwen was in his year in high school. While he and Barty didn't at once know each other, as they were both rather withdrawn and loners, they eventually grew close because of similar interests and attitudes. After a few months Qrow spotted a tell-tale scar on the back of Barty's neck. He'd escaped the same boys home the year before in a bid to be placed elsewhere with his twin. Suddenly frightened for Barty's life, he hatched a plan to help Barty escape. Because Barty was far more under the influence of the Web than Qrow had been it had turned into a rescue mission than a run away. The two of them burned the home to the ground and somehow managed to evade implication.

Barty went to stay with Qrow and Raven with their foster mother, Morrigan Branwen. She was careful to help with his needs, and Barty loved her like a mother, though he never considered Raven or Qrow his siblings. In Qrow he'd developed a bad crush that quickly turned into a deep, devoted love. While Barty wasn't much given to the concept of soulmates, he considered Qrow exactly that.

He and Qrow both were accepted into University and he'd thought they would always be together. Eventually though Qrow began to fade away from him, consumed by something else, and dropped out of University. He cut off contact and disappeared. Barty didn't see him again until Morrigan's funeral and never got any explanation for what happened.

Years later Barty obtained both his doctorate in history and a degree in archaeology. His interests were always skewed to the occult, though something always kept him back from pursuing the real deal of the supernatural. He was looking forward to a life of academia, though something always felt empty to him. Sometimes he'd see a familiar face in a crowd and his neck would itch before they disappeared. He never really gave up the torch he carried for Qrow either, despite trying to move on.

After a talk he gave on  a lesser known cult during the height of the Egyptian empire, Dr. Ozpin Newman approached him about a job as Head Archivist in Beacon Academy. He might not have accepted the position if he had already been tenured, but Barty had a shaky research position at the University of London, and Ozpin was offering a good contract. Despite knowing Beacon's reputation he agreed... no one could deny the credentials of a Head Archivist of a major academic institute, even one with ties to potential supernatural research.

It was there he is reunited with Qrow again and settled into his job, hardly questioning why Ozpin might want him... why he made such an excellent candidate for  Archivist. He was determined to set the archives right after Maria Calavera's treatment of them, set on making a difference, trying hard to hold onto the belief that encounters – despite having been involved in two such events on his own – were rare.

Fear has a way of catching up, has a way of mutating you, as he was ensnared by The Eye, and caught up in a careful game of chess between Avatars. Guilt is acid in his veins as he loses his employees one by one to different entities. Scars began to pile. Secrets began to be revealed, whether the information merely curled out towards him, or a few careful worlds could force them from the lips of those he put question to.

Eventually he had to wonder if he was even really human anymore... when the voyeuristic statements of fear were far more nourishing to his body than food. But surely it's human to be willing to kill to protect Qrow and his people, to make the world right again?

So, that's kind of a basic write up. As for Grimm, I am currently toying with creatures that are far more horrifying than their base in RWBY. The Grimm are soulless manifestations of dangerous concentrations of fear given form, residual negative energies forming into mindless beasts able to be controlled and guided by their Avatars, provided that Avatar embraces its calling. Tools to reap yet more energy for the entities beyond the veil.

[myriod]

she sat in her usual spot- on top of the glowing sign outside the venue that displayed the week’s performers. usually, she would just watch the people go by and sometimes poke at them to mess around. occasionally she would sing, not that anyone could hear her without her mic on.  mallory continued watching people until she saw one person walk up with a camera and who looked very interested in the building. this piqued her interest, especially when they looked around before ducking down the ally and finding the door to the backstage of the venue.  “ oh this is gonna be interesting. “ she mumbles to herself before standing from the sign and stepping through a wall, taking her to the nosebleed seats of the theatre. 

@becomestorm​

[fourtune]

clover vc : you leg long

[raisefated]

“ how goes it, liè ? the grapevine says you attained your licence and then became atlesian fugitives within the month. how spectacularly talented you are. ” — @becomestorm​.

[ofthieveryandaddictions]

🍯

oh shit oh shit what dont we already know about his food preferences

ok so to recap we already know he loves sweets and desserts and will live on them given the chance

he will not eat meat due to texture issues

i guess

it’s already established that his favourite dessert is strawberry shortcake, but! his favourite fruit is actually mango and the only time he’ll tolerate a fruit salad type concoction is if there’s mango in there.

This is the key to making him eat somewhat reasonably.

[sunscathe]

@becomestorm​​  said    »   they'd long since established ren's habit for kissing dragoness' hands, whichever one. the affection came to them easily, some poetic resonance in how tenderly they treated that which could hold so much power. ren's capability to gracefully accept affection however was still a work in progress, meeting orchid tones and her lips upon their knuckles for the first time with slight shocked expression, and then, slowly a blooming flush ren tried desperately to scoff away.

     ren  sees  themself  as  shattered  stained  glass  spread  across  a  bed  of  overgrown  grass   ,   but  yang  simply  sees  them  as  a  masterpiece  who  has  learned  the  art  of  piecing  themselves  back  together  one  step  at  a  time.  art  in  the  flesh   ,   gracing  her  presence  everyday   &.   leaving  ichoric  muscle  in  chest  to  beat  like  a  racing  piston.  content  is  gold  dragon  to  simply  linger  here  in  ren ‘ s  bubble   ,   head  affectionately  rested  against  their  shoulder  while  one  hand  is  preoccupied  with  scroll   &.   her  prosthetic  woven  around  the  piano  fingers  of  her  beloved  in  a  loving  hold.  ren ‘ s  hands  have  always  been  one  of  yang ‘ s  favourite  treasures.  they ‘ ve  seen  so  many  horrors   ,   held  things  which  never  truly  belonged   ,   wiped  emotions  with  a  single  flick  of  wrist  in  an  act  of  self  protection   ,   painted  with  proof  of  survival  in  the  shape  of  scars  scattered  across  each  finger.  yang ‘ s  never  thought  of  them  as  ugly  reminders  of  ren ‘ s  past.  they ‘ re  beautiful   ,   works  of  art  just  like  the  lotus  grown  into  them.  she  vowed  to  love  them  no  matter  what   &.   scars  are  the  last  thing  that  will  stop  draconic  persistence  to  show  them  eternal  affection   &.   adoration.    her  thumb  strokes  along  their  knuckles   ,  idly   &.   out  of  mere  instinct  to  convey  her  love  even  in  the  smallest  of  ways.  yang  can ‘ t  feel  warmth  in  her  prosthetic   ,   to  be  truthful   ,   but  it ‘ s  in  moments  like  these  where  she  swears  she  can  feel  ren ‘ s  heat  melding  with  her  own  as  if  her  arm  was  never  lost  to  begin  with.  it ‘ s  a  special  feeling   ,   one  she  wishes  to  never  share  with  anyone  else  so  long  as  she ‘ s  alive  in  all  of  her  glistening  gold  glory.

      &.  that  is  exactly  why  when  ren  comes  to  lavish  gold  plated  digits  with  their  affections   ,   yang  is  ever  swift  to  strike  before  them  by  bringing  ensnared  hand  to  lips   ,   peppering  sickly  sweet  kiss  after  kiss  to  each  knuckle   &.   scar  she  can  reach.   ❝ you  make  me  so  happy. ❞   dragoness  coos   ,   a  content  hum  bubbling  saccharine  in  throat  to  match  the  lovesick  grin  stretching  the  curvature  of  lush  lips  ,  not  once  halting  in  her  actions.  along  the  back  of  ren ‘ s  hand   ,   then  to  palm   &.   wrist  where  yang  then  lingers  over  their  pulse  just  to  feel  it  race  as  their  prince  -  esque  qualities  are  turned  against  them  so  easily.  in  the  blink  of  a  lavender  hued  eye.  scathing  eyes  watch  their  reactions  with  glee  twinkling  within  vibrant  irises   &.   a  bout  of  sweet  summer  chimes  shall  bubble  forth  the  moment  a  flourish  of  pink  blankets  o ‘ er  their  cheeks  in  a  fashion  yang  has  only  seen  a  handful  of  times  before  now.  pun  definitely  intended.  another  kiss   &.   another.  more   &.   more  before  she  ultimately  decides  to  bring  their  hand  back  to  her  lap.   ❝ really   ,   really  happy.  ‘ an  i  love  you. ❞

[ultravioletvoleur]

From: @becomestorm​ Message: arcturus ----------

Come Ask The Sun About Space

Arcturus: Have you cried out of something other than sadness?

"...Once, that I can recall. My childhood wasn't easy, but then again, what Huntsman's is? Still, I had it rougher than some. Most, really. But I tried not to let it get me down. It did end up putting me in with the wrong kind of crowd, and I got tossed in a labor camp as punishment for some of the crimes I committed running with them. "Just treatment, equal to any man" my ass. Anyway, I was stuck in there for, I dunno. Three to three and a half years. I entered at 11 and left at 14. I would've been in there longer if there hadn't been a man who'd taken special interest in some of the children from my orphanage, He followed my trail all the way to the authorities and bailed me out because he believed that no sin was too great to forgive, doubly so for a child. On the day he handed me the adoption papers, I cried like a little baby for a solid fifteen minutes out of sheer happiness and relief that maybe, just maybe, I could make something of myself more than just a thief."