#halcyon moments and unpredictability; courtclover

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover sent:  ❝ Hey. Don’t swear. We’re werewolves, not Swear-Wolves. ❞

---

“Where in the Lycanthropy Handbook does it say not to swear?” asked Bart with an air of amusement, completely oblivious to the fact they had a squirmy little girl having trouble keeping her ears round and human sitting between them. 

Not that he thought damn was much of a swear. He could go far more colourful than that, and Clover knew it. 

“I’m afraid my parents forgot to give me the manual before they passed.”

[erudite-rebel]

Closed starter for @courtclover! 

---

When on missions of this sort, Bart is no stranger to being tracked. Even out in the wilderness where you expect to see nothing and no one, places where nothing more than animals and Grimm should roam, you found people. Whether it was idle curiosity or outright enmity was the real question. Plenty of people wanted what Bartholomew was after, whether it was for personal collections, profit, or Salem was the real question.

The feel of someone watching him had persisted over a day now. His aura was constantly activated because of it and he darted fast and so far hadn't dared to sleep. Still, he wasn't about to put off his mission for anyone who might harbour ill intent. He had a job to do, a cache to recover, and classes to teach again in a few weeks.

The Marron Steppe was windy this time of year. He felt damn near buffeted by it as he packed his base camp, double checked his alert system – if something were to befall him, and check-ins weren't made, at least Qrow and Ozpin would know to look for him – and took one last look at the entrance.

It wasn't much. Years of erosion had worn down any exterior walls leaving small piles of crumbled masonry behind and only a few remnants of what was no doubt once a beautiful place. With one last glance back behind him, and praying he wasn't about to be stranded because of a sabotaged transport, he headed inside.

Preliminary looks with drones and air testing said that it was relatively safe. Barty had an escape pack on the off chance one of his monitors registered low oxygen levels, and he checked the pin on his chest again to be sure as he went. Antiquity and his other weapons were hooked into his belt, at the ready for any unpleasant surprises, but so far none came.

He'd already placed glowsticks at regular intervals as he went. The glow would last 12 hours, which was more than he needed. They cast a yellowish hue over walls that showed a march of time. The further in he went, the less evidence there was of the inexorable march of time. Smooth walls from harsh winters and winter winds became defined stonework, carvings. One's he'd spent time cataloguing, photographing, video taping, rubbing. It's a pity that these places need to be hidden from the public, at least until the danger was past.

The ante chamber was lit by stronger dust power lights. The glow they cast was white and stark, turning the place into something that could almost look like a tourist attraction as he stood there and looked up at the massive door.

His eyes moved over the familiar pattern of runes. Circles and loops that he'd become more and more familiar with since training under Ozma were etched into the stone, representative of the lines of magic, the ebb and flow of energy.

He had a similar one tattooed on his left arm. He removed his jacket, throwing it over one of the crates he likely wouldn't need, and opened another. A moment of leafing took him to a bookmark and he spent a few minutes looking up and down from the text to what was there, careful to not confuse runes as he lifted his left hand. While he himself had no magic, he had an aura and he had a tattoo that Ozma had guided him in creating. He wasn't powerless.

And of course, if this didn't work there was always explosive dust.

Carefully, not wanting to screw up a single step, he pressed his fingers to the first rune against stone that felt warm with magic that hadn't yet faded. The lines glowed a bright blue that settled into his veins not unlike the feelings of the relics, and he continued. One by one, careful to follow the arcs and paths, he let his aura feed into what had been lost to humanity over the course of thousands of years. He couldn't help but smile as he did it, the hairs on his arm rising, sensation tingling up and down his spine and over his scalp. This part never got old.

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover​ sent:  "Congratulations, Barty!" Clover awards the professor his prize, a soft kiss to his cheek and a real four leaf clover. "Lucky you, huh~" He winks at Barty.

---

He’d been moody all morning, but it was hard to maintain a good bad mood when Clover came around with that grin and dancing green eyes.

He looked down at the tiny plant in Clover’s fingers. “...Where on earth did you manage to find this in Atlas?"

His cheek tingles from the kiss as he takes it, and despite his words he’s smiling. “Don’t they have ordinances for herbs like this deemed ‘pests’ by the rich?”

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover sent:  "Barty, are you busy?" Clover gifts him a hot cup of coffee as a means to butter the professor up. "I was thinking since you're the Grimm expert, is there any evidence of a penguin Grimm maybe?"

---

Barty was daydreaming, chin in hand as he looked out the window and floated away on mental thermals of fantasy. He was so swept up he didn’t hear the ace operative’s approach, but when the paper cup was set down in front of him he snapped out of it.

“Thank-you, Clover. But I wouldn’t call me the Grimm expert. Professor Port holds that title here at Beacon,” he said. 

Not that he could really blame someone avoiding asking a question of his colleague. Peter was an honorable, kind man. He was also a tad-long winded and boastful, and it made for difficult answers.

“But... penguin grimm?” He considered it. “Not off the top of my head, but I might have a book with some rarer Solitan Grimmology about.”

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover​ sent:  Cuddling together, naked in the afterglow does Clover have the chance to run his fingers through Barty’s soft plumage. No light in the shared bedroom to catch beautiful colors, but still Clover plays with the locks, humming lowely to a tune.

---

A pleasant ache in his muscles settles in with the satisfaction of of the act they’d just finished and even more so with Clover’s gentle hands in his hair. Bart is drowsy, but not enough to nod off entirely, not when the ace operative is petting him like this.

“You know, you’re on the right path to make sure I never let you up again. Or possibly hypnotizing me. I’m not sure yet,” he mumbled, ear pressed against Clover’s chest to feel the vibrations of his song.

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover​ sent:  "Hey Bart, I found this in your little dig down over there. Doesn't look like a Dust crystal?" It looks like a stone in Clover's hand and it's.../it's pulsing/ a bright green color!

---

“I - what?”

If the rock had been innocuous Clover would have been in trouble for just picking something out of the trench without documenting it or even being in there with his say so, and it was a lecture for later.

Instead Barty full on flinches, eyes almost comically wide as his heart ratchets up several hundred beats and adrenaline floods his system as he beholds whatever the hell that is is.

He has no smile to offer in return as he jumps backwards and out of his own trench, eyes on the stone because Dust doesn’t generally do that, and if it’s magical...

He dashed to his bag. “Put it on the ground GENTLY and come over here!” He’s fishing out his Geiger counter and dust scanner. “If that thing doesn’t end up killing us you are in so much trouble, Clover Ebi!”

[erudite-rebel]

Continued from [X] for @courtclover! 

---

He couldn’t say he was sorry he missed his mother, though he was sorry she had the nose of a bloodhound rather than something more befitting of being a hummingbird like she was. Somehow she always found those damnable albums no matter how hard he tried to shove them out of the way. 

He offers a smile to Clover, running a hand through his hair. “She didn’t stay long then?” he asks, walking over to whichever one was open in Clover’s lap. She rarely did, and tended to flit in and out if she happened to be at the university to talk to the Curator, with a gift of cake and some small talk.

“Oh, gods. Look how small I was. I was a wretched looking child, wasn’t I?”

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover liked for a vibe check!

---

“Vibe check!” 

Barty broke underneath of Clover’s guard with a swipe of Antiquity in her quarterstaff form, a grin on his face before he pressed his hand flat to Clover’s chest. Using his own momentum and stored kinetic force he let out a burst of speed to pin the Ace Op to the wall.

He couldn’t help but grin. 

The faunus leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. “Mm. Pass.”

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover sent:  “Happy Birthday, Handsome~” Clover warns before tugging on the professor’s gaudy yellow tie and he captures Barty’s lips in a kiss. It starts off slow and sweet before it deepens and passions leave them breathless. “I couldn’t...I brought you—ha—cake.” Words are broken up with breathes, he’s meant to say he brought cake to celebrate the professor’s birthday, but it seems they’re already starting with the desserts.

---

A hand curled in his tie is as effective as anything to distract. Barty’s attention is snatched from his book at once, mind blank the second Clover’s lips touched his own. 

The kiss deepens. Clover tastes sweet, like he may have been sampling icing. Bart can’t help but shiver as he reaches up to pull Clover closer, a hand on his jaw. He’s flushed when the ace op pulls away, blue eyes hazy with want.

“Mm. You always bring some with you,” he can’t help but joke as a long hand slides down to grip Clover’s ass. “This just makes me extra lucky today.”

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover​ sent:  ‘ close your eyes and try to get some rest. ’

---

His eyes stayed stubbornly open, looking over at the other man. Bart wasn’t exactly a stranger to getting sick. It happened with no provocation at all, and it wasn’t odd for him to try and teach swaddled in sweaters trying to keep warm.

“I don’t want to,” he said, blue eyes a bit too bright, cheeks covered with uneven patches of pink. “It’s just a stupid fever... and if I sleep I could torpor, and miss your whole visit.”

It would just figure he’d manage to get sick on a weekend Clover arrived.

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover​ sent:  " if i crashed into the ocean, i would simply not drown. rip to steve rogers but i'm different. "

---

“I knew showing you these movies would be dangerous,” said Barty with a chuckle as he leaned forward to pick up the bowl of caramel popcorn. “Am I going to have to fashion you a giant shield to go with your fishing rod?”

He leaned into Clover’s side, lounging along the couch, and offered the bowl  as he took a few for himself.

[erudite-rebel]

Closed starter for @courtclover!

---

"I’ve put in some enquiries about you.”

Barty looks amused as he approaches Clover. A few of the other operatives from Atlas exchange knowing looks before clearing away, leaving the two of them alone. Barty sinks down into a vacant seat and leans in, tapping a little book on the tabletop. 

“And it’s my understanding that the illustrious General Ironwood is willing to let a high bidder borrow you for missions, when their usual partner is away.” 

Qrow Branwen wasn’t due to return for some time, a mission that required urgent attention in Anima. It left Barty a bit at odds when one came up for him, especially when it was something of a rush job. But considering everything that had developed between himself and the ace operative, a solution had presented itself quite cleanly.

“How does investigating a buried temple full of Grimm sound to you, Captain Ebi?” he asked seriously, blue eyes glittering in the light. “I’m certain there will be a more official meeting about it, but I need a partner, and I can’t think of a better vacation with someone I love than adventure and history and a bit of tropical sunshine.”

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover​ sent:  don’t do this. don’t get my wires crossed.

---

Clover was staring at Barty accusingly, as though he wanted to be mad. To be fair, Barty did deserve it a little, but he’d made sure to know that Clover’s distaste for coffee was just that - distaste. He’d ensured everything in the beverage was safe to drink, that he was allergic to nothing, and not even a smidgeon of mint made it in.

Barty said nothing at first, sipping his own drink that was also a calorie laden sugar bomb, though it had four shots of espresso instead of the two Clover’s had.

“Look, you like it. It’s one way you can share coffee with me, just the same way as I can share tea with you, right?” he lifted a hand and hooked a small dob of cream from the top of his drink and sucked it off the tip of his finger thoughtfully. “I think coffee, mocha, and sea salt and caramel go nicely together. It’s like drinking dessert.”

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover​ sent:  ✘ - “My love, am I bonnie? How bonnie am I? Bonnie enough for a kiss?” Clover asks grinning as he lightly plays with Barty’s hair.

3/10

---

“The bonniest of lasses,” he teased back as he shivered pleasantly with the feel of Clover’s fingers in his hair. He was thinking to the sea shanties he’d been listening to since Clover had come to stay. He didn’t mind them, but he might have to introduce his boyfriend to the Dropkick Murphy’s and see if he could bridge the gap. “You are indeed pretty enough for a kiss.”

He leaned in and pressed his lips softly to Clover’s.

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover​ sent:  "In the name of science and history doctor, you may slap it. Once."

---

Barty was willing to say bet on the once. He raised an eyebrow, smirking at the other man. “I’m assuming you mean open handed and not a ruler?”

His eyes slide down, not so subtly checking out what’s on display, before he looks back to Clover’s face. One hand braces against the wall past him and he leans down, lips a few inches away from Clover’s.

“If we want to be accurate in our observations and measurements, come to my quarters later and I’ll brief you on the scientific method before we settle on some parameters, hmm?”

[erudite-rebel]

@courtclover​ sent:  ☃️ (Random generator says... 13!)

---

Barty’s eyes were wide as he looked up at the shifting aurora. He’d never seen anything quite like it in his life... he’d only been to Solitas once before, and he hadn’t been lucky enough at the time to see any.

Now he felt dumbstruck, head tilted back as he watched the shifting greens, blues, and teals dancing across the sky. He’d seen videos of course, but nothing compared to this, the real thing, the flashing colours. One could truly understand the early human belief that it was the divide between the afterlife and their own.

It became apparent after a moment he was being watched. Barty jumped and turned to look at Clover, breath puffing up from his lips. A red warmth rose to his cheeks entirely unrelated to the cold. “Ah, sorry. Got distracted. What were we doing again?”