Rust Cartwright

## Rust Cartwright

### Relatives

* Atomus Sharpglaze - Adoptive guardian
* Iron - Adoptive brother
* Dimen Cartwright - Father
* Emery Cartwright - Mother
* Chronus Cogsworth - Grandfather
* Agatha Cartwright - Grandmother

## Character traits

### Likes

* His job
* Clocks and fancy knives
* Tea and chocolate
* Swing music
* Expensive antiques
* Sleeping and napping everywhere

### Dislikes

* When his plans go wrong
* Those who don't *get* him
* Others touching his things
* Isolating himself due to anxiety

### Hates

* Being accused of things he didn't do
* Dubstep *(Blame Iron)*

### Fears

* Closed spaces
* Abandonment
* Losing his pocket watch
* Fights and arguments

## Headcanon Voice

### Accent

English

****Main Page****
**Gallery**

 Welcome. Please try not to break or touch anything.
 — Rust

**Rust Cogsworth Cartwright** is a watchmaker and inventor born in Coperton, who lives in a large workshop located in the Rem Forest with his work and housemate Steam.

He specializes in watchmaking, but also creates, builds and fixes various kinds of machinery, as well as creating small gadgets for fun.

Despite being separated from his family, Rust possesses an important heirloom, which is a pocket watch with the ability to travel in time, that he uses in order to manipulate time around him so that he can finish his work much quicker than the average worker, however he most often finds himself using this in order to slack off and nap for longer.

He also has a passion for travelling and collecting various artifacts, and with the watch's teleportation abilities, he does just this. He's a passionate collector, having a particular fixation on especially old clocks and fancy knives.

In his childhood and teenage years, Rust resorted to a life of theft, going to the past and stealing these same artefacts using the watch's abilities, simply for the thrill of it. Although he has long stopped with this habit, he has left his mark in past timelines and is still a wanted figure in some locations.

Aside from that, he also uses the watch in order to gather more resources for his works.

## **Appearance**

Rust is 167cm tall and has a slim look to him, occasionally appearing to look like he's either sick or malnourished. He has dark tan skin and short black hair which is often a bit messy looking, and he also often wears a pair of gold goggles on his head.

His eyes are teal coloured and he always seems to have eye bags that give him a rather tired look, which does him no favours regarding his sick appearance.

Despise looking tired, Rust has a firm posture and a serious expression most times. This expression is usually of either disdain, discomfort, or most commonly, both.

He wears a cream coloured shirt, a brown vest with golden buttons and a darker brown collar with a cream coloured cravat. He wears simple white gloves and black cargo pants.

Due to an accident in his childhood, Rust lost his right leg, which is replaced by a metal one with colours of gold and bronze, while on its counterpart, he just wears a brown boot with grey spats.

## **Personality**

Rust is an introvert, he's seemingly calm and collected, keeping mostly to himself, all while being very attached to his work and hobbies.

Due to the nature of his upbringing, he sees himself as an underdog, and he often feels misunderstood by others, assuming from the start that he's being plotted against, which often causes him to be overly paranoid of others and their true intentions.

While he's incredibly smart, especially in the fields of mechanics, antiques, history and art, his social skills leave a lot to be desired. He lived most of his childhood and young teen years with a group of homeless orphans in his hometown, and that was the basis of his social skills, but when he left the country with Atomus, it was like he got completely back to square one, not knowing how to interact with the world around him.

He's polite in general, but would rather stay by himself when in larger groups, observing from a close distance. He's very reserved even with his friends, and the slightest sign on losing his trust can cause him to close himself off completely. When upset, he can come across as arrogant or sarcastic, but he is mostly avoidant of conflict whenever possible.

At work, Rust is polite to everyone, chipper even, but he doesn't stand still when being unfairly treated or whenever he feels like he might be getting scammed.

When befriended, Rust becomes a lot more open, being almost too talkative about his interests with others who he feels are willing to hear to his rambles, coming across as quite excentric, with his ideas often being being bizarre and out of the box. He's very attached to his friends and is quick to consider them part of his family when he feels comfortable. But despite all this, his rudeness and paranoid sarcasm still slip through at times.

He's not so good at helping others with emotional problems, often finding himself too bothered by his own self-obsessed issues, which is often. He tries to be helpful, but always unintentionally finds ways to twist the conversations back to himself, often making him feel worse and increasing his paranoia over his beloved ones secretly hating him.

He might have a dark or sarcastic sense of humour and sometimes childish if he wants to tease someone, but he can rarely take a joke himself. When certain sensitive personal matters are brought to the conversation, Rust will very quickly turn anxious and dismissive, becoming easily uncomfortable as he's very secretive about his life.

## **Abilities**

As mentioned above, Rust is in possession of a golden pocket watch, which allows him to manipulate and travel in time with the use of teleportation, this requires a lot of mental energy, and overusing it, might cause him to feel exhausted or lightheaded, especially when bringing friends along for the ride.

Rust also has an interest in drawing, technical drawing to be specific. He also enjoys coming up with clock designs and he keeps various notebooks around. He has an interest in Astronomy, and can easily point out certain constellations in the sky and know certain directions from it.

He also practices knife throwing and self-defense fighting.

## **Relationships**

### **Iron**

    Rust met Iron when following Atomus who was searching for him, into the Rem Forest. Atomus would often talk about how much he missed Iron and how many things they did together and how important he was to him.

Rust not only grew jealous of Atomus' affection for Iron, but also bitter, due to finding the fact that Iron had left Atomus after a family incident, to be something completely insensitive to do regarding Atomus' feelings.

Iron eventually returned, and living in the same house with Atomus, him and Rust were forced to interact with each other. Iron and Rust happened to share a mutual dislike for each other, so the two would often argue and bicker with each other, only to Atomus' annoyance.

Rust kept a bitter view of Iron for having hurt Atomus, but was driven to further depression due to Iron's hatred for him and how their arguments started to take darker turns, as Iron questioned how Atomus could just adopt some street rat he happened to find and then getting to the point that he wished that Rust would just be gone or die.

Rust, being in a low point in his depression, attempted to take his own life out of spite by throwing himself off a bridge, only to be stopped by Zelly, who happened to know Iron and as she gathered with them, not only was she disgusted with his actions, but she still tried to bring the two closer.

Iron felt guilty for what he had done to Rust and tried to redeem himself by being friendlier to him. Naturally, Rust didn't buy any of this, and when he moved to live on his own, Iron would often follow and attempt to help him, despite still getting annoyed by Rust's cold shoulder attitude.

Eventually, Rust warmed up to Iron's company as the two spoke more and eventually became better friends, sharing a brotherly relationship with each other.

They still tend to argue but are quick to make up with each other. Although Rust acts as if he does not care, after all that happened, Iron became the one he trusts the most and they rarely got mad at each other for too long.

### **Steam**

work friends, they're really close friends even if they disagree on a lot of things

Can often be seen arguing over steampunk aesthetic

### **Atomus**

**! OUTDATED !**

~~Rust met Atomus at the young age of 13 when he still lived alone in the streets, building small mediocre machines and stealing for a living. Atomus was visiting Coperton and he quickly got fascinated by Rust's work and talent despite his young age. They began to talk to him and eventually became friends as Rust began to trust him more. Atomus was the first real friend that Rust ever had and when when he found out that Atomus would be leaving Coperton to travel away, he remembered his wish of wanting to leave that town and followed after him.~~

~~Atomus treated him like a son and taught and helped him not only improve on his work but as well as teaching the basic things and manners that Rust had never been taught before.~~

~~Eventually, they moved to the Rem Forest, and as Atomus reunited with Iron and the two became closer again, Rust noticed how Atomus showed less and less interest for him and as such, became bitter towards Iron for stealing his attention.~~

~~After a few events, Rust had left Atomus' home to leave on this home and this caused their relationship to become more distant. They still talk occasionally and Rust looks up to him a lot as they both often talk about their works and interests.~~

### **Zelly**

TW: Suicide mention

Rust met Zelly during a very dark period in his life when he was struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts due to feeling neglected and bullied by his adoptive family. He was at the peak of his despair and had chosen to take his life by jumping from a bridge to a dark river.

That's when Zelly had spotted him and when she realized what he was doing, she quickly flew to catch him as he fell in order to save him. He was terrified and broke down to the intense stress he was under, as he didn't want to be saved and just wanted to end it all.

Zelly managed to speak to him and get him to calm down and talk about what was happening with him. This was the first time Rust had really been vulnerable in front of anyone, rather than constantly keeping his stoic angry persona.

Zelly listened and accompanied him back home, but upon realizing that her close friend Iron was Rust's adoptive brother and part of the problems that Rust was going through, it made her want to work extra hard to help him and make sure they could both get along.

Rust was a bit reluctant with all of this because of his bad terms with Iron, but being quiet and passive, he felt like he had no choice but to follow. Zelly and him were somewhat close at the time as she was the only one Rust truly felt he could trust, even his adoptive guardian Atomus was being really dismissive and cold in reaction to Rust's issues.

Zelly had introduced him to their friend group, encouraging Rust to hang out and being less shy so he could make more friends, but Rust's trust issues only made him more reclusive and he really only spoke with Zelly, fearing that any others would just try and hurt him.

It wasn't long before Rust developed a crush on Zelly, confessing his feelings to her not long after. Although flattered, Zelly could not reciprocate these feelings as she was really just being a friend and trying to help him get better. She simply rejected him, as Rust was ashamed of himself for just letting his heart out like that, embarrassing himself and putting her in such an awkward position.

They still continued to be friends and talked frequently, but the atmosphere still had a lingering feeling of awkwardness to it. He still liked her, but he also took the awkwardness as a chance to leave her shadow and actually try to make friends.

He ended up not being too successful at the later, only distancing himself from the group when things became too overwhelming for him.

With Zelly's help, his relationship with Iron had improved. Rust still thought about his crush on her and wondered if there was still anything that he could do to impress her, but one day, when he happened to be spying on her and Iron due to something she was being really secretive about, catching Zelly confessing her feelings for him.

This revelation broke Rust's heart and despite his friend's attempts of comforting him, he just ended up closing himself again and getting isolated from everyone again as well as disappearing into random timelines in the past.

It was around the same time when he moved to his current workplace as well, so he took the moving away to a different home and starting working as a way to distract himself from the things he was feeling.

He and Zelly somewhat stopped talking, not like they were in bad terms, Rust would just rather avoid her to allow himself to heal from what he was going through.

To this day, he's completely over her and resents blowing such a stupid childish crush so out of proportion like he did, however, he is still grateful for her help. They don't really talk that much, but when they do meet, they're quite friendly and have a good time catching up on how things are going and enjoying each other's company.

### **Blade**

Rust and Blade never had much of a close relationship as they never spoke that much. Rust simply found Blade repulsive to be around, and as he heard from Iron that Blade had a strange hatred towards him, Rust began caring less and less for him.

Most recent encounters revealed that Blade's hate came from him being protective over his sister Zelly, due to Rust's crush on her when he was only 15 years old, as well as his close relationship with Iron. Rust feels annoyed by this, but he cares so little for his being that he just finds his presence irrelevant and ignores him.

### **Dimen**

**! OUTDATED !**

~~Their first meeting didn't go that well as Dimen claimed to hate him and Rust got hateful of him after knowing his mother was dead and he had no one else from his real family other than his father. After a while they got in less awkward terms. But Rust still holds a grudge and despises him, but can't help feeling hurt and stressed with his presence, mocking and using sarcastic jokes to hide his real feelings.~~

They're too much alike and this often causes them to fight a lot. Maybe one day, they'll put their differences aside, maybe not

### **Emery**

**! OUTDATED !**

~~Rust and his mother Emery sadly only had very short interactions with each other. He only got to know her at the time of her death when he traveled back in time to prevent her from being shot and killed.~~

~~But despite his attempts of going back over and over to try and change her fate, she ended up getting killed every time.~~

~~After seeing her die so many times, Rust had to choice but to give up and approached her, with her last breaths, she managed to recognize him as an older version of her son, and as he kept apologizing for being unable to save her, she still forgave him and gave her last breath as she died in his arms.~~

### **Ether**

Ether is Steam's childhood friend, and while Rust and him never had one on one conversations, they have met at some point. Rust found him quite arrogant, and while he admires his lifestyle, something about him really bugs him. Not a feeling he isn't familiar with, but he's not someone Rust gives much thought to.

### **Kathleen**

Childhood friend from the group he used to hang out with, old crush that never went anywhere

### **Marshall**

Childhood best friend from his group. Probably in awkward terms

### **Mallow**

Childhood friend who he used to help whenever she needed help with limb enhancements

## **Backstory**

2021 update - I haven't read this in years so I'm unsure of how accurate it still is, sorry if there's any awkward text :')

*TW: Suicide, Self-Harm mentions*

The Cogsworth family has known generations of oddities, possessing an ancient power of time manipulation passed down for generations, compressed into simple pocket watches, small portable time-travelling devices that would cause utter chaos were they to end up on the wrong hands.

Members of this family were often eccentric, highly praised, having participated in numerous events to help the country of Coperton, doing history research and the like. The Cogsworth were one of the earliest pioneers in the founding of Coperton, a well-respected family.

But of course that even the most respectable of families come across a few bumps. And one of such bumps was Dimen Cartwright, as he refused the family tradition of using time manipulation in order to help others, in favour of focusing on his writing career, he was met with large disapproval, especially being the son of Chronus Cogsworth, a very respected time traveller.

His father often kept a close eye on him, hoping to change his ways and getting him to have a more productive purpose than writing, but his efforts were in vain as Dimen was decided on going as against this time manipulating nonsense as he could.

Raised in a rich environment, spoiled with comfort, Dimen refused the change that was so demanded from him, but this also made him secretive and anxious over the family's opinions of him. Dimen was raised alongside an orphan girl named Emery, who, thankful for the care that the family had given her, worked as a maid in the family mansion.

The two had always had a particularly close bond, closer than most would expect or find acceptable for someone of Dimen's rank, due to Emery's simpler job as a maid, as well as the incestuous undertones due to them having been raised almost in a sibling-like relationship.

Dimen kept this relationship hidden from his parents, especially his father whose expectations were low enough as it were. Not wishing to bring problems onto Emery's side and even getting them separated.

Although he'd need an heir eventually, upon finding out that they'd be expecting a baby soon, Emery's unexpected pregnancy was anything but convenient at the time, and, not wanting to get rid of the baby, the couple grew anxious over their secret relationship being discovered. Rather than coming out clean to the family, they remained secretive and desperately sought out a solution, deciding to find a way to get the attention out of Emery's pregnancy.

Arranging to meet with an old family friend, Dimen found himself involved with the Sonata family, much to Emery's dismay, getting together with the family's daughter Evelynn, while meanwhile, Emery created some false narrative about the father being a lover she had outside the mansion.

Chronus, being absent as usual, bought this story with no question, but all the lies and hiding were taking a toll on Dimen and Emery's relationship as the two had to keep their own relationship even more secretive than they already were.

This only increased Dimen's ever-growing paranoia, and Emery's fear, who despite always having trusted him, had begun to doubt Dimen's feelings for her.

The two began forging plans of running away so they could finally be together without hiding from everyone. But with the established relationship with the Sonata family resulting in the idea of an engagement between Dimen and Evelynn, this became even more difficult, especially with Evelynn's interest in befriending Emery, as the maid had to keep herself from showing much reaction to Evelynn's infatuation with Dimen.

With many eyes on him now, Dimen realized that running away with Emery would be impossible, especially with her soon giving birth, and their lack of plans once they left, being little to none.

Months later, a baby boy was born, having been named Rust by the couple in secret. They decided that they would raise him in secret until it was time to tell the truth. Many didn't buy Emery's story of a mysterious lover, although the child looked the most like his mother, the familiar teal eyes like Dimen's only confirmed the suspicions of some of the workers who long knew of the couple's poor attempts at remaining secretive.

Emery had grown exhausted with the constant anxiety of hiding, seeing Dimen with someone else, having said someone trying to befriend her and so forth. Dimen and her could only ever be together at night when everyone else was asleep, but it was barely any time and Dimen barely had a chance to be a parent, only having those quiet moments at night. Although Emery found comfort in these moments everything else was just becoming too overwhelming.

Chronus had been absent for over a year, as the keeper of the watches, when he first heard the new watch for the future heir start to tick, he froze, knowing this meant the heir had been born. And having heard the news of Emery's mysterious fatherless child, he was quick to put two and two together and realize with great disappointment what had happened, the whole involvement with the Sonata family raising even more questions.

The couple's anxiety only grew higher when Dimen received a vague letter from his father, claiming that he was coming back from the country and that him, Dimen and Emery were going to have a very serious conversation.

The news spread across the mansion, and more and more eyes were on the couple, and Emery was often overwhelmed with fear. Not wishing to become separate from her lover and her child. Somehow Evelynn never got the memo, although having her own raising suspicions about the couple making her realise what Dimen was trying to do by getting her involved.

The day when Chronus would return was coming near, and one night, in a panic, Emery fled from home, taking Rust with her, she couldn't bear living in fear and guilt for the rest of her life. It was a rainy night, and Emery's running cloaked figure was spotted by a nightguard, who mistook her for a thief, due to it being a rich neighbourhood, often targeted by them.

The guard and some others made chase as the woman, who as soon as she spotted them, looked horrified and fled as fast as she could, fleeing into the woods at the edge of town. Holding her son close, she kept running, but with the dark woods and the rain, she failed to see what was in front of her and she tripped, falling down the hill.

The impact had killed her but her son had survived, as soon as the guards had found her, they mistook her for a kidnaper and took the child in.

Dimen was never aware of what had happened, the next morning he went to check on Emery and upon finding the letter that she left for him, he panicked and got up, rushing to the door, right as the guards had identified Emery and had come to give him the news. But the child had survived, and as Dimen held him in his arms again, an overwhelming feeling of sorrow and guilt came over him.

He couldn't deal with it.

As willing as he was to raise Rust on his own, Dimen just wasn't capable of living with the grief, much less able to raise a child on his own. Evelynn left not long after Emery's death, and Dimen was shunned by his family for his actions and having an illegitimate child, as well as being an indirect cause for Emery's death.

This broke him, and with Rust reminding him so much of Emery, the pain became too much for him. He was neglectful, unable to care for himself, much less for Rust who had to be taken care of by workers in the house.

Most of the family wanted nothing to do with the situation after that, and unable to live with the situation anymore, Dimen ended up deciding to put Rust up for adoption. Knowing he would never be a good parent for him and hoping he'd be adopted by a family that would love and raise him properly. The sight of the child only brought Dimen bad memories, and he feared that he'd project his bitterness and anger at him.

Sending the pocket watch with him, his family was unaware of this, but by the time they found out, it was too late. Meanwhile, Dimen repressed the memories, ending up denying that he ever had a son if someone were to ask him.

Years passed and Rust ended up growing up and being raised in the orphanage, never learning of his origins or knowing who his parents were. The only hint he had was the pocket watch that he cherished with his life. The unusual attachment to the inanimate object often got him mocked and hurt by other children. And being shy and quiet was usually an invitation for him to be targeted, even more, caretakers included.

This abuse had taken a toll on his self-esteem, and at the tender age of 7, Rust had learned to believe that no one was ever going to want to adopt him and that he was worthless and was meant to be alone and live out the rest of his days in the orphanage.

Despite being easily manipulated into thinking these things, Rust was a smart child who was willing to fight against this future, and as such, he devised a plan to gather all of his belongings, sneak out and escape the orphanage in order to live out on the streets, it certainly would be better than staying in there forever.

He remained hidden most of that time, but his portions of food didn't last for too long, and when hunger came to him, he resorted to stealing food, but he was no good at it and was quickly chased down. But luckily for him, the ones chasing him weren't authority figures, but rather members of a group of homeless Drimare from the town, who looked into getting him under their wing.

In this group, Rust found warmth and a family that he truly felt he could trust, and they took him to their hideout, where he began to hang out with the members more of his age, especially a pair of Tabby twins and some others. As he grew up with them, he became more outgoing, becoming one of the group's troublemakers. Sure they were bandits, but only the most experienced were allowed to go out to steal for the group.

During this time, Rust had found an interest in building things, but he still felt bored immensely by the idea of being closed off from the world in yet again. Out there, were many more interesting resources that he could use for his inventions, so secretly, after much convincing, Rust and his best friend Marshall would occasionally sneak out in order to gather resources for whatever crazy ideas that Rust was hatching in his head. They were no older than 10 at the time and were often unsupervised. They got in trouble many times, but this never prevented them from making a habit out of these trips.

No matter what, Rust would always carry his pocket watch everywhere he went, the same pocket watch from his family, while he was protective over it, he also treated it as some sort of lucky charm, being blissfully unaware of its origins, or the power it possessed.

One of their trips for resources was seemingly going as normal as usual, Rust would do all the handiwork, while Marshall would keep an eye out and help them escape if anything were to come up. The outside of the building they were stealing from was covered in moving gears, and as Marshall heard the sound of someone approaching, he called out to Rust and the two of them proceeded to escape through the window, climbing onto the moving gears.

Due to years of doing this, they were both very agile and quick, but Rust's agility compared to Marshall's cat reflexes often made him stay behind, and them only being young pre-teens at the time didn't help due to their small stature. As Rust reached to grab Marshall's hand, his foot got stuck in the moving gear, and he lost grasp of his friend's hand.

The moving gear was mercilessly devouring his leg, and as he struggled to escape, Rust nearly saw his entire life flashing before his eyes, the pain was too much and all he had were visions of the pocket watch, other than being a pretty looking time machine, to Rust, it was completely useless, but yet, dropping everything else, he clinged to it anyway, thinking of home as Marshall kept trying to pull him out with no avail.

And suddenly in a flash, they were gone.

As if instantly, the boys were teleported back into the hideout, terrifying everyone as Marshall was more shocked and confused than anything, but Rust didn't have much of a reaction, being passed out on the floor, blood everywhere, not realizing that one of his legs didn't come along for the ride. While one of his hands clenched his friend's, the other one held on tightly to the pocket watch.

A lot of things changed that day, but even as he got used to his new prosthetic leg that he built himself with the help of the most experienced adults in the group, Rust was no less fascinated about what had happened that day, traumatized yes, but mostly fascinated. Being basically forbidden from leaving the hideout until he got better used to his leg, Rust grew to obsess over the pocket watch, wishing to understand what had happened that day.

This had created an awkward distance between him and his friends, especially Marshall who insisted that he calmed down with all the inventing all the time, but to no avail, leaving Rust to experiment mostly on his own as he tried to remember what had happened that day. Until one day he just... did it, teleporting outside and realizing that the world around him had paused, and another click to the watch undid this effect.

Rust rushed back to the hideout, already thinking of all the ways the watch's abilities could help his community, but they were quick to reject this, seeing it as a dangerous tool, not failing to point out what had happened to Rust's leg, and fearing that the teleporting process would leave more limbs behind and injure them. Rust was also forbidden from tampering with it, but of course, he didn't listen.

His inventions, which were usually appreciated and helpful, were now met with rejection and scepticism, and even his friends weren't so sure on following whatever crazy plans he tried to come up with. No matter how much he tried to reassure them. This distance caused him to go back to being closed from everyone, feeling unappreciated and put down for what he assumed was his own weirdness.

This aura of awkwardness eventually passed by, but things were never the same again, and one day as he walked through town, Rust, who was now around the age of 13, came across a traveller from the neighbour country, a young adult at the time, the clean modern attire of that of a scientist was very evidently of Soarite origin and Rust just knew this stranger probably had some of those fabled powerful crystals native to that country with him.

Just because his group didn't care for his experiments, it didn't mean he was stopping himself from doing something great. He had always wanted to work with soarite crystals and their psychic energy, now if only he could reach for the man's bag...

A gloved hand suddenly held his hand as the traveller looked to see who was pickpocketing him, and realizing that it was only a young teenager, he just assumed Rust was a homeless child. Rust was frozen in shock by this, but rather than running off, he ended up directly asking the man about the crystals. A conversation started, and upon realizing that this man was an inventor of sorts, Rust became fascinated with learning as much as he possibly could from him.

His name was Atomus and he had recently moved in after some events that had occurred in his own life and Rust had begun to entertain this idea of becoming his pupil, and finding someone new who would appreciate his work and support him was very exciting to him. Atomus also took on the role of a parental figure, and Rust became less and less present in the hideout, alienating his friends in his own chase for a dream life.

He never told Atomus about his watch, even though he was curious about how it worked, he didn't want to risk having its use being disapproved of, but he still wanted to follow him wherever he went until Atomus told him the news that he was moving out again. He had been building a machine to track his adoptive son who had fled from home a year ago and Rust was in shock.

Atomus had never told him about this mysterious son, and now he was leaving to go find him?! This broke his heart as the whole fantasy life he had created in his mind with this figure he so admired was now slipping from him. He felt isolated and rejected again. This other kid was like Atomus' assistant and Rust grew jealous of this character he had never met before while being sad about losing the only one he felt that valued him and his work.

Seeing Rust so distraught, Atomus decided to invite him along for the trip, and as his friends were too starting to make their own living, Rust didn't think they'd even care that was gone, and without warning or giving anyone any closure, Rust just left with Atomus.

The Rem Forest was their destination, a sanctuary of sorts where the mysterious son character had chosen to hide in.

Rust took notice of Atomus' chipper mood becoming gloom as they reached their destination, regarding some regrets he had with the other boy, but Rust always chose to look past it. To him, Atomus had done nothing wrong and he wanted to support him as much as he could.

They moved in and Rust had grown tense and quiet, being so far away from his hometown in the middle of some forest was really slowing down his work, and as such, he began to use his pocket watch to teleport back into town to scavenge for resources, resorting to theft in some occasions, but using the watch to always return home safe.

He kept this a secret from Atomus however, being terrified of the thought of disappointing him in any way or even being kicked out. But Atomus didn't appear to care, being too concerned with finding the missing son, only becoming frustrated when Rust tried to get him not to think so much about it all. For Rust, their close relationship seemed to be gone, making him feel like an intruder their house.

They eventually came across the one that Atomus was looking for. Only a year older than Rust, his name was Ronald, and upon seeing each other, him and Atomus argued and spoke of personal matters which Rust had no context for, becoming a standby for their family drama. Whatever it was that happened, Atomus was distraught and Rust jumped to his defense. Whoever this guy was, Rust hated him already.

Ron didn't pay him much mind at first but eventually felt like Atomus had picked Rust off the streets to just replace him and a rivalry between the two was starting to grow. Atomus and Ron eventually put apart their differences and made peace, and Ron agreed to go back to living with him, albeit now on the forest rather than their home in Soarite.

Rust felt as if he had been literally put to the side and this only caused him to recoil more, even though Atomus tried his best to treat the boys equally, Rust always felt like he was "the other one".

Ron too had a hard time adjusting to this change, so him and Rust would frequently have arguments and regular snark offs when Atomus wasn't looking. Rust tried to act cold and detached but this only provoked him further as the fights became more frequent and intense.

Because of this, Rust was beginning to get depressed and homesick, his trips to his hometown weren't enough and he felt stuck in that house with a brother who hated him and a father who was hardly able to get the two of them to stop fighting. While a part of him wanted to escape and go back home and reunite with his friends, another felt pressured to stay. Whether the pressure was from Atomus or Rust himself, this took a toll on his mental health.

This made him irritable which annoyed Atomus because of how conflicting him and Ron were, and most of the scoldings landed on Rust's side, and afraid to upset him more, Rust refused to stand up for himself.

Keeping all these secrets to himself made him depressed while also making him develop an anxiety disorder, and this caused Rust to eventually resort to self-harming out of self-hatred, wishing he could die, feeling like Atomus regretted adopting him into the family while Iron would be glad he was out of the picture.

This lasted for a while until he couldn't take it anymore and he decided to end his life by jumping off a tall bridge over a river in the forest. He figured he'd be doing Atomus a favour, not seeing a point in going back home anymore.

As he fell, however, he was spotted by a girl named Zelly who as soon as she saw him, immediately flew to save him from certain death. She comforted him and walked him back home, only to be surprised to see Ron opening the door, her brother's best friend and her crush. Hearing about the horrible things that happened between the two of them, she set up an intervention to help them get along, much to Rust's dismay, who just wanted to stay alone after all that.

Atomus grew distressed after what had happened, and while the relationship with Iron was nowhere near as turbulent as it was, things were still really tense. Even as Rust joined his and Zelly's friend group, he still felt out of place.

Tired of feeling sorry for himself, he decided to go explore the forest that was his new home, as neither Atomus or Iron seemed to want to go back to their home country, Rust figured he should become more acquainted with the area. Being around 15 years old now, Rust explored old ruins and such, and on one of his trips, he came across a tall abandoned building, with architecture that he recognized as the same one from his country.

He became fascinated by it, spending those next weeks exploring its many floors and rooms. It had old and untouched furniture that showed that no one had lived in that place for decades and Rust felt the temptation to move in himself, already thinking of all the ways he could renovate it all, seeing all the space to put in all the things he had hoarded for all those years.

He has been told over and over that he should make a living out of the work and inventions he did, and with how uncomfortable things were at home, Rust saw this as an opportunity to once again run away from his problems and into a new home where he could feel comfortable being himself as well as to heal from the things that happened..

He turned the building into a warehouse, his workshop and personal home, away from everyone, to finally focus on himself. Atomus supported him on this, despite thinking he was too young to be making all these decisions, but their relationship became more distant as time went by.

Ron however, was the opposite, in an attempt to redeem himself, especially after Zelly's interventions, took an interest in Rust's work and his whole project of moving out and making his own shop. Rust begrudgingly allowed his presence, seeing Ron as more of a nagging older brother rather than a bully.

When on his own, however, Rust got to work, using his watch's time and teleportation abilities to gather the supplies he needed to open shop. The more he used it, the more he began to question his origins, wondering why such a powerful machine was in his hands and what it could all mean for him. But he eventually opened the store and buried himself in work, rarely seen in his friend group as he often claimed to be busy, and so he isolated himself from the world, being at peace, just as he liked it. In a way, escaping from the intrusive thoughts that always followed him.

This wouldn't last long, as about a year later, a girl by the name of Steam Vapora came in the building, feeling outraged by what had happened to it. Rust realized her last name was familiar and recalled some old books and documents in the house that had that same name. Steam claimed that the building belonged to her family's ancestors, built during one of their travels and that she was there to see if everything was in place, as well as to grab some of the junk back into the old country, not expecting it to be taken over by someone else.

She demanded that Rust packed his things and left, but he refused, having built his shop and having a steady business going on. She didn't care for this, feeling disrespected in what was once a part of her family's history, but Rust wouldn't budge. And having travelled all the way from Coperton, Steam invited herself in and claimed she'd spend as long as it took until Rust left. She wasn't much younger than him either, and Rust wasn't going to take orders from her.

Steam kept threatening on calling her family and getting him kicked off, and while Rust didn't take these threats lightly, he always managed to convince her to do otherwise. Steam became interested in Rust's business however and seeing how many clients would show up made her start having second thoughts about getting him to leave and leaving the workshop back in its abandoned state.

She was good at mechanics, especially regarding vehicles, and suggested they'd expand the shop to include all that. Rust was surprised that she even suggested this, the two had started to tolerate each other and Steam decided that either she would work with him, or she would take back the building. Rust knew she wouldn't do the latter, regardless of what he said, but choose to entertain her and say yes to becoming workmates.

Rust missed his privacy, but Steam respected this enough for him to be more relaxed. However, conversations regarding family eventually came to light, and as Steam realized that Rust had no idea who his family was, she became curious, and as Rust had a curiosity he had grown used to suppressing, she insisted that he'd go and find out.

*Work in Progress for an indefinite time :[ This whole part of his story is getting reworked*

## **Trivia**

* Rust's design was inspired on a guy from one of my high school classes, he had really messy black hair, eyebags and would often miss classes. This inspired me to want to create a character that had a similar "tired emo" vibe to them.
	+ His personality was initially a mix of the "*Tsundere*" personality archetype mixed with the genius inventor character cliche
		- I guess he somewhat kept that?
		- He also took inspiration from Akemi Homura, due to both being sensitive but stoic characters with time-based abilities
* Rust has a whole act of speaking really fancy English when talking to new people and clients, in order to appear more sophisticated than he is. This is immediately dropped whenever no one important is watching
* His favourite flavour of anything is chocolate

## **Navigation**

**❂ *Rem Forest* ❂**

**⚙ *Coperton* ⚙**

 Locations | Coperton ✦ The Capital ✦ The Library ✦ Rich Residential Zone ✦ The Suburbs ✦ The Mines ✦ The Coast ✦ The Countryside