Barley

Barley is not the child of the Scarecrow from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its sequels, but just so happens to be his successor. He is agender, and while he had once briefly considered using they/their, Barley is most comfortable with and strictly uses he/his pronouns.

Barley is rather excited about his destiny, the brains that he'll acquire, and the adventures that will come with it, Admittedly though, beyond the obvious, he lacks a complete picture as to what his destiny is going to like in the first place,

While he's rather uncomfortable with the idea of his future companions not wanting fulfill what their destiny, he doesn't seem to mind (nor necessarily care) if others go against the tide. Barley also doesn't seem to mind within-Oz story divergence in places where it doesn't affect his longing to eventually live/explore away from the reaches of Munckinland. Although he's more or less neutral/apathetic than Royal/Rebel. He proclaims to be a Royal due to his self-centered thinking in regards to his destiny, lacking sensitivity towards his story mates' feelings on following their predestined fate. This is also a result of having misconceptions on what a Royal even is, given his often guileless nature.

Personality
Upon first impression, one may notice that Barley tends to expresses a set of seemingly defined traits: optimistic, curious, and a wee bit of naivety. Understandable given he's fifteen (months old) and a relatively new student, his excitability can come off as quite overwhelming to some if his peers. His lack of life experience can be something of a setback, but whether he's meeting new people or reading scholarly articles on the MirrorNet for fun, the next Scarecrow of Oz expresses an eagerness to learn that goes often underestimated by the brain-having populace.

Being both impressionable and at literal-minded as he is, Barley doesn't always trust his intuition, even in scenarios where he happens to be right in the first place. He's used to others basing his intelligence on misconceptions of his tale, which makes him all the more determined to receive the brains that play a key role in the original Scarecrow's story arc. In a way he's rather dependent towards the role, as though taking it away from him would rob him of the benefits of an otherwise fulfilling life. As he lives with the farmer who (accidentally) brought him to life, Barley would rather fulfill his destiny than live under a constant, neglectful cycle of being the Munchkin's 24/7 bird-scarer.

The Rebel cause is a tempting fate, sure, but what good would rebelling do if the path that's set in in yellow brick yields more hope for him than the life he currently lives? After all, who wouldn't want to live a Happily Ever After surrounded by friends, helping to settle disturbances in the land he calls home? He can be quite heedless, as he isn't all that mindful of why his more fortunate-fated storymates wouldn't want their Happily Ever Afters to be set in stone.

Not that he has the mind to admit that he's lonely, but that may be his ditzy-genius tendencies getting in the way a pinch. In the meantime, Barley remains upbeat and candidly fascinated by the customs, culture, and pretty much everything that the land of Ever After has to offer.

Appearance
Barley somewhat lanky limbs, his shins and forearms being stakes with the rest generously clothed. He's taller than your average Munchkin but relatively average height for a student his "age." Worn blue Munchkin farm clothes, a long-sleeved blouse and pants, form the base of body and is stuffed with fresh hay. When he isn't wearing any outer accessories, one can easily note the rope that is tied around the joints of his arms, legs, his waist, the gloves and the knot that keeps his head attached to the rest of his body.

His medium brown, earth-toned sack of a head is also stuffed and is stitched atop with coarse, literally straw blonde hair that is styled into twists, and his face is painted on with a triangular brown nose and a lopsided smile with stitches serving as dimples. His button eyes, while both the same size, are mismatched in size in color, as while one of the blue buttons is threaded through its back. the other eye is criss-crossed Barley's hands and feet can be attached and detached easily with hay for basic stuffing, wads of cotton to fill in small gaps such as with fingers, and rope to keep them from falling off, and may switch for different pairs when he deems fit.

Basic Summary
We all know the tale, or at least so it seems: A little girl from Kansas gets swept away to a magical land and goes to seek the titular Wizard, meeting three quirky companions while defeating not one, but two Wicked Witches all by accident. Of course, including plenty of differences between the books and a certain renown film, there is plenty more to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz than Jade Encrusted Bugs cares to describe.

Because the creator of Barley assumes that the readers care more about gangly stuffed teenagers than being infodumped, the Scarecrow's character shall be summed up in a rudimentary nutshell: He rules over the land of Oz after Dorothy goes home for a while, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, General Jinjur and her Army of Revolt kicks his straw butt off the throne because she's a strong, independent Ozian who don't need no male rulers, insert-stuff-here, yada-yada, more filler, and as also mentioned, he becomes Princess Ozma's third in command, among many more details that would take a whole page and more if Bug were ever to accurately sum everything up. For everyone else's convenience, it's better to read the original Scarecrow's wikipedia page for those interested.

How Barley Ties Into It
Although one would think that he would synthetically create his own offspring, the Scarecrow of Oz much had the smarts to be critical. He was and still is somewhat skeptical of the idea that the Land of Oz would cease to exist under certain circumstances. That said, he had to create a child for the sake of appeasing to a certain impatient Headmaster, and began the painstaking process of gathering the ingredients to create The Powder of Life (a substance introduced in The Marvelous Land of Oz).

The process was slow and quite frankly, many of the main Ozian children were in their freshman year So one day, sometime in the middle of that time period, a rich Munchkin farmer decided to take things into his own hands. Having already acquired the Power of Life via unexplained means, he used it on a scarecrow that he’d helped to construct with the farmer who owned the cornfield nearby. Said cornfield-owning farmer meant for the aforementioned scarecrow to be used to scare the crows targeting the field in question, but it wasn’t until the day after that he noticed the (presumed inanimate) lifeform struggling to slip out of the post ‘it’ was tied to.

But of course, the now living scarecrow did not like being called an ‘it’, and that was exactly how Barley came to be.

Family
Currently speaking, the Scarecrow of Oz acts as more of a mentor than a father to the straw-stuffed teen. It was even Barley's decision – based solely on seeing his creator/the farmer as a potential parental figure – to live with the field-farmer, with the original Scarecrow taking the time to check in on him and the farmer’s family a few times a week (whenever Barley is back in Oz on break, at least). Little did the straw-protege know, his assumption couldn't have been the furthest from the truth. Visitations aside, Barley more often than not dwells upon the same, shoddily propped up post in the middle of the cornfield, the very post he once tried to escape from. Although the young scarecrow considers the cornfield farmer his dad, said farmer wants nothing to do with him.

In fact, anyone with enough sense would question Barley’s logic. Really, most would question why a man who uses scarecrow-duty as an excuse to ignore his “kid” would actively want to raise him. A man who doesn’t particularly care that said “kid” is not too fond of staying outside at nighttime and would rather seek shelter than dangle on a pole with nearly no means of escape.

Meanwhile, Scarecrow remains unaware of the neglect and abuse Barley faces under such circumstances. The farmer and his family put on an act to save face in front of the Ozian figure. While one would wonder why the farmer didn't reject the proposal in the first place, the Munchkin man preferred being under the good graces of the Scarecrow to make himself seem more esteemed, albeit at the expense of exploiting his protege. This may also have been a strategy to better his chances of survival through important, Ozian connections for when the new Wicked Witch takes over Oz, and for the time when the next witch/warlock/magic-user eventually melts to their death.

Sometimes Barley wonders if the farmer would consider treating him like family if he were to ever have a brain; to have qualities of a "real" person, considering how the farmer treats him as an object already.

Friends
Barley is quick to trust most anyone and considers many students, Ozian or otherwise, to be his friend  – whether they want to be or not. His excitable demeanor can be quite a bit polarizing, but he's all the more eager to form friendships nonetheless.

Cordelia Chopper
Barley met her after literally crashing into her upon arriving at school via wishing well teleportation (as described in the Ever After High novels). Despite the crash-and-meet, the odd duo managed to become friends; he admires the girl for her thick skin and assertiveness, meanwhile Cora finds his positivity and quirky mannerisms endearing. Ever since Legacy Day, however, there's been an elephant in the room. Cora doesn't look forward to the next Wicked Witch/Warlock/Spell-caster enslaves the Winkies (among many other things, including the human-to-tin transformation). but Barley doesn't understand her concerns, assuming that having a new tin body/potentially ruling over Winky Country again is more than enough to make up for any losses she may have. Things are a bit rocky, but the two are still good friends in spite of it all... well, as long as destiny isn't brought up.

Airmid Valerian
Albeit out of ignorance, a number of acquaintances that happen to know Barley consider him "brainless," Airmid wasn't one of them, and they've both certainly passed that beginning stage. Along with treating him as a person worthy of her intelligence and knowledge, the next Physician of Death sustains the scarecrow's learning-bent enthusiasm. They're true brotp material companions who can talk to each other on varying subjects without the anxiety that comes with being looked down upon.

Bathilda Waits
When the future waiting-maid came across him, Bathilda didn't intend on having a soft spot for the young scarecrow. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked, or specifically after tricking him into doing her clothes-shopping. When the two arrived at a boutique at the Book End plaza, the following conversation ensued: Cue the maid-of-honor, who happens to be a trans girl, trying very hard to maintain her drama-causing badassitude while showing empathy towards a socially dysphoric MOGAI scarecrow. Instead of leaving the straw-teen at the boutique to finish her clothes shopping (as was the plan), Bathilda went in with him and helped deconstruct Barley's internalized cissexist views, even offering to to buy some cute dresses and feminine-labled accessories for him and herself. They've made ties ever since, and although Tilda tries to be covert with their friendship (a transgender villain-girl hanging out with a non-binary scarecrow might make the latter a target; she wouldn't want that), Barley nonetheless sees her as something of a role model given that she was the very first person to validate his (lack of) gender. Along with shopping, the two like to gush about theatre and the humanities together.
 * Tilda: ~jokingly~ So anything you'd buy yourself?
 * Barley: Weeeeeell, I really like those dresses! But I think those are girls' clothes. Not that I can think, but-
 * Tilda: And who told you that?
 * Barley: Uhhhh... ~scratches head~ I 'unno. But all the girls wear dresses in magazines and school, not the guys. I think girls are lucky like that.
 * Tilda: Well on't believe it just because you see it. Folks can wear can wear whatever the hell they want, right? No rules against it.
 * Barley: I guess so... ~shifts uncomfortably~
 * Tilda: Hey, you gonna go in or what? You look like a guy with th-
 * Barley: Nono, that's it! I know I'm not a girl, and I'm supposed to be a guy, and maybe I am a guy and I need the brains to know it, but, ~beat, lowers voice~ I dunno if I feel like it. I just. I don't feel like anything. I'm just me. Maybe it's all me and I'm too brainless to know. ._.

Pet
At the the Land of Oz's potential Animal Calling, Barley came across a grackle that had been injured by a flock of crows. The bird had gone blind from their ruthless attacks, so the straw-kid used a spare needle and thread to sew on a pair of blue button eyes in replacement of the ones that had been gouged out. Though Barley doesn't treat him as a literal pet as per Ozian tradition, the grackle was thankful and adopted the nickname "Buttons" Barley gave him while patching the avian up.

Buttons was and still it the only one Barley has for support whenever the Scarecrow isn't in Munchkinland. The grackle. When it rains or when the cost is farmdad-free, Among other basic necessities, the bird would often sneak the young scarecrow into the farmer's shed and use the man's Munchkin almanacs to teach the teen how to read and write. And because Ozian magic is a rather unpredictable beast, Barley can still understand and communicate to Buttons while in Ever After, possibly as a result of the buttons sewn onto the bird's eyes.

Romance
It's been said once and it'll thus be said again: Smarts before hearts~

But seriously, his love life isn't taking priority over his living circumstances. Could it be said that, deep down, that he may or may want some sort of meaningful companionship, thus why he wants to stick to his story? Perhaps. Does it mean that said companionship has to be romantic? Until he finds reason to, not really. If he were to theoretically be tied down to anyone, then gender would be of least importance to him in the search for love.

Basic
[TBA]

Legacy Day
[TBA]

Fanfics, Journal Entrees and Other Appearances

 * The Road to Oz Ain't Paved in Gold
 * And more to come~

Quotes
"Hi-hi, I'm Barley! We're married now, does that mean we're friends? This really nice boy said so and said your name but I completely forgot. BUT I know it starts with a 'D' so when I asked for names you were the first person pointed to, so you must be the person I'm married to!"

- Barley upon thinking that he has been married to the random lass he just came across, all while not knowing what marriage was at the time

"Hmmmmmmm, that is a hard one! If I said myself that wouldn't do, because I’m very much animated. But then again not many have seen a living scarecrow before…"

- Barley upon being asked what his favorite inanimate object is

"Well, I don’t have brains so I really can’t answer. It makes it harder to think. Can I thi-? Oooooh now I know, it’s straw! It keeps me moving and well, so why would it not?"

- Upon coming up with a conclusion to the question mentioned above

"Is it because they don’t know I’m stuffed? The last time a crow found out they ate all the ears in the field and started pecking at my stuffing. How rude! Maybe they’re nicer at Ever After. Everyone seems nice here."

- Barley on the subject of the rather peculiar behavior of crows outside of Oz~

"Weeeeell, dad gave me this Ozian almanac and it looks really-oh! A-and there’s this dictionary at the library and this one book about sparkly vegans but they don’t look like they eat lots of vegetables. And then there was this book on human atom…anna…anatomy! But it’s confusing because boys have these wobbly things under their clothes but the girls don’t-oh yeah! And there was this one book about…"

- The reason why you should never ask about Barley's favorite book: He can't decide! He does have a slight preference for non fiction works, however

"HeeeEEEEE-Lookitmelookitme! I have a shiny!"

- Upon accidentally saving the life of an oversized insect

Notes and Trivia

 * The future-Scarecrow loves to read, anything nonfiction and informative being his favorite. As Barley cannot sleep, he often spends his evening hours reading lifairy books to himself o looking up random encyclopedic facts on the Mirror-Net (usually under his bed-covers with a flashlight on, as so not to wake up his rather grumpy roommate.
 * Yes, the dress-tunic Barley is wearing in his new basic outfit was in fact bought while shopping with Bathilda.
 * Barley doesn't have a proper last name, perhaps since he never learned his "dad's" surname. Even more so, Barley only received a first name once his "father" had come with it on the spot upon receiving the scarecrow's admission letter. Chances are "barley" was the first word that came to mind, a name that has stuck ever since.
 * Like the Scarecrow before him, Barley doesn't tire and cannot feel physical pain. Although he doesn't realize it, being a magically reincarnated scarecrow and having non-human immunity is his actual magic touch.
 * Also similar to him, he can see fairly well in at night, or at least better better than humans, rendering his phobia of the dark somewhat irrational. He can't see quite as well during nighttime like the original Scarecrow, however, but makes up for it by having heightened hearing.
 * The crows back in Oz, who are not too fond of being fooled with stuffed placebos (and are probably not too happy that the last Scarecrow killed 40 crows under the control of the Wicked Witch Of The West), often tease and undermine Barley for lacking a brain. They have also been known to use his not quite as keen eyesight/exceptional hearing to their advantage, taunting and scaring the wickedness out of him during those lonely Munchkin nights strung above the cornfield. Although he doesn't know it is the crows' doing, this unfortunately is the main reason that his fear of the dark persists.
 * Jade Encrusted Bugs wasn't exactly sure at first whether to make him look like an EAH-styled human with cloth-like skin or make him cartoonishly humanoid, so she may or may not have had Hoodude from
 * He likes to collects pins. He's especially fond of safety pins. Don't as why, he just likes them. In fact, he just so happens to like many a pin-esque object: Earring backs, hooks used on necklaces and bracelet clasps, and the like. He often uses them along with various "shinies" that he finds (read: anything small and sparkly that's broken) to make homemade jewelry in his spare time.
 * For the exception of restyling small pins for his hat/scarves/coats, however, he cares more about making them than actually wearing them. He doesn't think to sell his creations, so he usually has his designs hidden in his coat pockets/stuffed in random nooks and crannies about his dorm room, to the chagrin of his roommate. He has no qualms about giving them to others however, especially when they ask.