Chapters: 3/8
Fandom: Now You See Me (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: J. Daniel Atlas & Henley Reeves, J. Daniel Atlas & Lula May & Merritt McKinney & Henley Reeves & Dylan Rhodes & Jack Wilder, Henley Reeves & Original Female Character(s)
Characters: Henley Reeves, Lula May, Merritt McKinney, J. Daniel Atlas, Dylan Rhodes, Jack Wilder, Original Female Character(s)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Chronic Illness, Movie: Now You See Me 2 (2016)
Series: Part 3 of paranormal au
Summary:
Henley's selkie skin goes missing. The Horsemen gain a new member whose self-decapitation tricks are a little too realistic.
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Now You See Me (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Alma Dray & Dylan Rhodes, Dylan Rhodes & Jack Wilder, J. Daniel Atlas & Merritt McKinney & Henley Reeves & Jack Wilder
Characters: Dylan Rhodes, Jack Wilder, Alma Dray, Merritt McKinney, Henley Reeves, J. Daniel Atlas
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Medical Procedures, Whump, Disability, Physical Disability, Disabled Character
Summary:
“It wasn’t supposed to go like this,” Dylan says, not sure if he’s talking to Alma or Jack or even himself.
“His leg,” Alma says, hand over her mouth. “He…” she trails off into French, muttering what might be prayers or curses.
Jack chooses that moment to try getting up, frantically pushing himself away from them and crying out in shock when the movement jostles his injuries. He collapses back against the asphalt, frustrated tears leaving trails through the grime on his face.
In the distance, sirens wail.
(or, Jack Wilder is in the car when it crashes a few blocks too early.)
Chapters: 1/8
Fandom: Now You See Me (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: J. Daniel Atlas & Henley Reeves, J. Daniel Atlas & Lula May & Merritt McKinney & Henley Reeves & Dylan Rhodes & Jack Wilder, Henley Reeves & Original Female Character(s)
Characters: Henley Reeves, Lula May, Merritt McKinney, J. Daniel Atlas, Dylan Rhodes, Jack Wilder, Original Female Character(s)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Chronic Illness, Movie: Now You See Me 2 (2016)
Series: Part 3 of paranormal au
Summary:
Henley's selkie skin goes missing. The Horsemen gain a new member whose self-decapitation tricks are a little too realistic.
howdy folks it's been a while have another nysm not!fic. this one includes a bonus actual prose scene 3/4 of the way through btw
previous: king edward ii au
nysm not!fics #6: "Love Potion" jacklula
at some point during ny2m, chase sees lula flirting with jack and goes "i'll help her along; it's not like they're gonna live long enough for it to backfire" and hypnotizes jack to be receptive to her flirting
canon happens, chase loses, doesn't undo the hypnosis, and jacklula get together
but something is ever so slightly off. jack keeps having these flashes of, not disgust, but wariness? when lula interacts with him romantically. he's not sure how to describe it, really.
he tries going to danny, but danny blows him off--- it's just something he's not used to and lucky to have, after all. jack remembers henley's goodbye and doesn't ask danny for romantic advice any more
he almost says something to dylan next, but this isn't the sort of thing he needs to bring up to the new leader of the eye. dylan has enough on his plate.
by this point, the flashes are strong enough that lula is noticing his reactions. "if you don't like when i do XYZ, i'll stop," she tells him, and jack, guided by the hypnosis, says "i love everything you do to me"
lula is the one to go to merritt, with a "hey, is jack acting different than he used to? i'm not trying to like, mind meld with him, y'know? i wanna date jack, not a pushover who agrees with everything i say."
merritt hadn't been looking too hard, but now that lula mentions it, jack is acting off from how he had before lula. or, more accurately, as merritt thinks through the timeline, he's been acting off since they got sent to macau.
jack knows there's something wrong now, but he can't articulate it, and every time he tries to bring it up with lula, he can't. he can't stop his physical reactions, though, and lula has noticed
finally she sits him down and goes "hey, i know you say you're fine with whatever I do, but i can see your reactions, and you don't seem fine. i'm not comfortable being intimate when you react like this to me trying to hold your hand."
jack: are you... breaking up with me?
lula: i mean, i don't really want to, but you clearly aren't happy
and that's enough for the hypnosis to break, because lula has called it off.
jack quite literally throws himself across the room, shoving himself into the bathroom and hyperventilating a bit because he was starting to like lula before chase got to him. she was funny and smart and talented and hot and into him, but he didn't want it like this
rest under the cut due to length
lula is freaking out because she tried to let him down gently (ish. she tried, merritt, but he's having a panic attack in the bathroom and you were his roommate for a year; surely you can talk to him)
merritt sits in the living room with a book and lula goes to have a little freak out of her own in her room.
jack gets himself calmed down and composed and comes out of the bathroom expecting to have lula still there. he wants to make it right, because he's just been leading her on this whole time, hasn't he. he should make it up to her. he's prepared to white-knuckle his way through a date as an apology for freaking out so much and making her think he doesn't love her, because he does love her.
he thinks.
he should love her, at least.
but lula is gone, and merritt is just looking at him the way he does when he's actually nice, instead of faux-nice like his performances. this is the merritt that intuited jack's father was an angry drunk and stopped drinking in the safehouse. this is the merritt that figured out jack doesn't like thunderstorms and stayed up watching dumb action movies with him to drown out the storm. this is the merritt that clocked jack's restlessness and started teaching him mentalism
and jack just kinda collapses onto the couch, head buried in his hands, and says "i think i'm broken"
merritt raises an eyebrow: "i think something happened in macau, something to do with lula."
there's a pause. jack doesn't move, but merritt keeps going. "I think my brother has always had it in his mind that he's a romantic, and he's never had any qualms playing cupid."
jack sits up. "but i do like her." a beat. "or, at least, i did like her."
merritt pats him on the back. "it's up to you what you do with it now, but my advice? figure out where your head is at before you take it to her. she's tough; she'll be fine"
while jack is having his panic attack and talking with merritt, lula is freaking out in her room
instead of the relatively comforting presence of merritt, she is found by atlas, and atlas has been a little in his own head abotu all this.
he's very atlas about it, but he does clock something's up with lula
"i think jack and i broke up," she says
"well shit," danny says.
"i think it was me. he was flinching every time i touched him or kissed him or flirted, but he would say he was fine."
"is he---" "merritt's with him. where's the fucking gym in this place danny i need to---" "wanna go get drunk"
atlas and lula go get properly sloshed bc atlas doesn't do heartfelt conversations. (this is post-ny2m atlas, not ny3m atlas)
the issue here is that the next day, when jack is ready to go talk to her, she's hella hungover
"I really did like you, before," Jack says. "I didn't hate it all."
Lula downs half Merritt's rancid hangover cure, regretting the fifth round of shots, and the fourth, and the third, and maybe even the second.
"I don't ever want my boyfriend to be scared of me," she says. "You say you were fine, but you flinched every time I grazed you."
"I..." Jack takes in a shuddering breath. "In Macau, while you all were practicing your cardistry, Chase cornered me. He... Merritt says he's always liked playing Cupid. I guess... I was a guinea pig."
"Because I kept flirting with you," Lula says, the realization working far better to clear the sluggishness than any raw egg could. "He wanted to play matchmaker because I couldn't keep it in my pants. Jack, I'm so---"
"I did like it," Jack cuts in, then grimaces, correcting himself. "Some of it. I did like you. I do, still, I think."
Lula takes another swig of hangover cure, making a face at the taste. "I don't want you to lie to me, Jack. Not now. Don't try to save my feelings, okay?"
"I'm not ready to date again, but... don't count it out?" He smiles, not one of his camera-perfect stage smiles, but something smaller, a little bit self-deprecating and leagues more real than anything he's flashed her way since. God, not since Macau, or at least London. "I have to get my head back on straight--- everything's all jumbled up. I wasn't lying to you, at Iong's. There really hadn't been anyone before you. I didn't think I could."
That is a little flattering, but Lula's brain is replaying Chase cornered me; Chase plays matchmaker; Chase cornered me; Chase plays matchmaker.
Her feelings aren't Jack's problem, though. She pastes on her own wide smile, sticking out a hand. "Friends, then?"
Jack laughs, quiet but real, and reaches out to take it. "Friends." He cocks his head to the side, smirk playing across his features. "For now."
i think he and lula can work it out, like any ship with a sort of trauma on one side that makes it difficult to have traditional intimacy
but it'll be a long arduous process that lula can't really help with
especially because jack doesn't want to be coddled or seen as weaker so he doesn't really let on how much he is struggling
🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?
Bold of you to assume I do research. Ok actually, I told V that it was CKD for [spoiler] and Vegas wedding bureaus for aro danley. I guess I've also done some research on historical Chinese government structures for an original fiction project I'm working on. Tbh I'm more of a write first, research later for second draft kind of person. And since I mostly publish one-shots, I usually don't get deep enough to necessitate truly Weird research.
🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them
@vyther15 Thank you for literally being my first ever fan with jol fic and sticking with me all these years. And more recently, @dragon-with-a-dagger thank you for letting me ramble about Atlas and the Chinese she pronoun in your house!
🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?
Bad grammar and wall of text. I am not reading All of That.
🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?
❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?
🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing
🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before (optional)
Hi V!! Thanks for the ask <3
(the ask game in question)
🔪 Hmm, I don't do super extensive research so I'm not really the type to go on massive deep dives. However, I'd say a main theme is probably medical stuff? I've recently been researching CKD for Reasons. Actually wait. This question isn't about the depth of research. Weirdest topic is that one time I looked up marriage bureaus in Las Vegas.
❄️ I'll give a different answer than the one I gave Jay: I really really want a danley roleswap au, and in my mind either mads or serra is the one who would do it justice. I would also entrust this to you because I know you understand Henley. I want a version of ny2m where Atlas leaves instead of Henley, and see how that changes the story.
🍅 I think I could benefit from having a stronger grasp of certain characters by doing actual out-loud analysis before I write them. Sometimes I'll just write based on vibes and, while I don't think I'm usually too far off, I'll definitely see certain analysis metas or other fics and be like "Oh yeah, I didn't quite capture that dimension." Also, related to the first question, I'd like to get better at doing research for writing purposes. As a STEM girlie, I don't have a lot of experience hunting for primary sources and it can kind of overwhelm me, so I'd like to get better at that -- especially reading primary sources in Chinese!
🧃 I'm not too set on it yet, but I'm hoping to eventually get a residency in pathology!
❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?
I keep coming back to this one motif of life debts, I feel like. Have a character rescue another character and the rescuee be forever indebted to them. Idk who would write it best necessarily, but it's definitely on my mind a lot.
🎱 ⇢ post your AO3 total stats
🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction?
🌵 ⇢ share the link to a playlist you love
🕯️ ⇢ on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that?
🛼 ⇢ describe your latest wip with five emojis
🥑 ⇢ you accidentally killed somebody, which mutual(s) do you text for help?
🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love
💌 ⇢ how many unread emails do you have right now?
🌻 ⇢ tag someone you appreciate but don't talk to on a regular basis
🐇 ⇢ do you prefer writing original characters, reader inserts, or a mix of both?
🧃 ⇢ share some personal lore you never posted about before
🎲 ⇢ what stops you from writing more in your free time?
🍄 ⇢ share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings
🧸 ⇢ what's the fastest way to become your mutual?
🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now
📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app?
🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character
🔪 ⇢ what's the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?
🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on
❄️ ⇢ what's your dream theme/plot for a fic, and who would write it best?
🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity
🥐 ⇢ name one internet reference that will always make you laugh
🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?
🍦 ⇢ name three good things about a character you hate
🥝 ⇢ do you lie a lot? what's the most recent lie you told?
🦋 ⇢ share something that has been on your heart and mind lately
🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing?
🍅 ⇢ give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing
🐚 ⇢ do you like or dislike surprises?
🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here
☁️ ⇢ what made you choose your username?
🐝 ⇢ tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them
🌸 ⇢ do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them
🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it
🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?
hello everyone i spent half of yesterday afternoon reading about king edward ii of england and his contemporaries in order to make a loversdeath au, so! welcome to part 5 of my nysm not!fics, an au that started with loversdeath as Edward II/Piers Gaveston historical au and quickly spiraled to be about everything but loversdeath. enjoy <3
previous: mt. knives au
King Edward II au.
okay so. in real history, a lot of these people die, and king edward ii was uh, Not a great king. favored his presumed lover too highly, disregarded his wife, did some war badly, and got overthrown by his wife and her lover and executed. none of the real people involved in the drama i'm stealing were good people, except maybe the few kids who die young (rip joan gaveston you deserved better, as did your younger half sister margaret de audley, who did not die young but still deserved better.)
Character Roles:
Dylan Rhodes/Shrike: Edward I (apologies Dylan fans; this au isn't super kind about him)
J. Daniel Atlas: Edward II
Henley Reeves: Isabella of France (wife of Edward II)
Merritt McKinney: Roger Mortimer (lover of Isabella of France)
Bosco Leroy: Edward III (son of Edward II and Isabella of France)
June Rouclere: Joan Queen of Scots (daughter of Edward II and Isabella of France; in this au, she is adopted bc Atlas and Henley are both white)
Jack Wilder: Piers Gaveston (lover of Edward II)
Lula May: Margaret de Clare (wife of Piers Gaveston; remarries after his death)
Olivia Wilder (oc): Joan Gaveston (daughter of Piers Gaveston and Margaret de Clare)
Allen Scott-Frank: Hugh de Audley (Margaret de Clare's second husband)
Jessie Silva (Jack's assistant in the ny3m deleted scene): Margaret de Audley (daughter of Margaret de Clare and Hugh de Audley)
Charlie Gees/Vanderberg: no direct analogy; he is the illegitimate son of a wealthy lord, and his backstory is essentially the same as canon.
Veronika Vanderberg: Ralph Stafford (supporter of Edward III and kidnapper of Margaret de Audley)
the plot (that which cannot be inferred by this character list, that is) will be under the cut, bc this ended up longer than i expected.
NY1M+NY2M
Dylan (or other character of your choice; not required to be dylan) is the king of England. He has a son, Jedward Daniel Atlas, who is believed to be the second coming of King Arthur (edward ii was literally believed to be arthur reborn at first).
Atlas grows up, meets Jack Wilder, and grows super close. Dylan hates this, because he's homophobic he wants his son to marry a woman in order to have heirs, because those are important, and also because Jack Wilder is too low on the social ladder; he's not high-ranking nobility.
Atlas asks Dylan if he can bestow a title upon Jack. Dylan responds by cutting off Atlas's household for a bit and exiling Jack to Aquitaine.
Dylan dies in battle. Among his last words are a demand that Jack remain in exile in Aquitaine.
Atlas becomes king of England. His first proclamation is to bring Jack out of exile and promote him to Earl, a title typically reserved for relatives of the royal family. He also arranges Jack's marriage to Atlas's cousin, Lula (Margaret de Clare was Edward II's niece, not cousin, but that has been adjusted for age purposes here)
Atlas agrees to marry Henley Reeves, princess of France, and travels to France for the wedding. While he is gone, he appoints Jack regent. The rest of the nobility are displeased by this. (Isabella of France was 12 when she married Edward II and came to England; that has again been adjusted here for modern sensibilities)
Henley and Jack become friends. Henley and Atlas have Bosco and adopt June.
The court and nobles bring forth a petition to the king to have Jack removed from his post and exiled. Unable to withstand the political pressure, Atlas agrees to exile Jack, but not without granting him a ton of land and other stuff. Jack is exiled to Ireland, where he is "the King's Lieutenant in Ireland"
Time passes. Atlas does kingly stuff. Henley takes a trip home to France, where she meets Merritt and begins an affair.
Atlas strikes a deal with the nobility and brings Jack out of exile. Jack returns to earldom and spends so extravagantly that the nobles get mad at him again. He is exiled a third time, on pain of death if he returns to England.
Lula has Olivia, and Jack breaks his exile to go visit her. the nobility tracks him down and executes him. (Piers Gaveston was executed 2 months after the birth of his daughter Joan, and was not given a proper burial until Edward II successfully petitioned the church to have him un-excommunicated).
of course, Jack is not actually dead. he fakes his death and moves to France, becoming friends with Merritt and getting updates brought about his daughter and bff (lula) and bf (Atlas) by Henley when she makes the trip over the channel.
Atlas arranges Lula's remarriage with Allen Scott-Frank. They have a daughter, Jessie. (The timeline here is a bit fudged; it took a while longer for both the marriage and the daughter to come about).
Henley and Atlas start to scheme about how to fake Atlas's death so Henley can rule and Atlas can go hang out with his boyfriend eating drinking wine and eating cheese in Paris.
Atlas acts like a raging dick and terrible king. Henley builds support with Merritt and ousts Atlas. She makes Bosco king and herself Regent, and then orders Atlas killed. Atlas "dies" and goes off to France to hang out with Jack.
(Edward II actually found another favourite after the death of Piers Gaveston, Hugh Despenser, and lavished him so much that Isabella of France got fed up and overthrew him).
Once Bosco turns 18, he takes over as king and demotes Henley and "executes" Merritt (merritt goes to france with the other faked death crew to bother them).
(Edward III did oust Isabella of France when he turned 18 and she was exiled for a bit before reconciling with her children and her grandchildren. Roger Mortimer was executed by Edward III at that time).
NY3M
Charlie's mom is killed by Veronika and Charlie almost dies.
He ends up in June's castle and through shenanigans not unlike Merlin+Arthur or Gwen+Morgana bbc merlin, becomes close with June.
Charlie tells June about his revenge. June goes "we should tell my brother the king about this." they tell her brother the king.
Her brother the king (Bosco) says "I am 100% on your side; Veronika needs to go. Unfortunately, I cannot take her down without losing like, 90% of my support base, and that's how you get a coup. Can i secretly fund you as you undermine her and bring her low enough that I can execute her?"
Charlie+June needle Veronika, making her paranoid and such. Veronika kidnaps Jessie for political clout, and Bosco can't actively do anything about it. (Edward III supported Ralph Stafford and, instead of returning Margaret de Audley to her parents, created Hugh de Audley as the 1st Earl of Gloucester. Ralph Stafford and Margaret de Audley went on to have 6 children that survived into adulthood).
The faked-death crew all get a message from June+Charlie and show up to A Christmas Carol veronika and rescue Jessie.
Veronika freaks out, loses all her political power, and is accused of and executed for treason by Bosco.
The faked-death crew fuck back off to France to day drink (and play Robin Hood) and Charlie gets all of Veronika's land and money, which he uses to improve the lives of the peasants in his domain.
If anyone has the desire to write this au, please please please let me know. It has so much potential. It also has so much plot and I cannot commit that much time to it.
Additional ideas I did not include: Walter Mabry as Hugh Despenser. Tressler + Bradley as various Earls who were part of the disagreements over Piers Gaveston. Alma Dray as Edward I's wife Eleanor of Castile.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Now You See Me (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: J. Daniel Atlas & Merritt McKinney & Henley Reeves & Jack Wilder, Alma Dray/Dylan Rhodes, J. Daniel Atlas & Merritt McKinney & Henley Reeves & Dylan Rhodes & Jack Wilder
Characters: J. Daniel Atlas, Merritt McKinney, Henley Reeves, Jack Wilder, Dylan Rhodes, Alma Dray
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Movie: Now You See Me (2013), posting this during the ao3 blackout like a soldier under artillery fire, some danley if you squint, everybody is a paranormal creature
Series: Part 2 of paranormal au
Summary:
To be clear, Jack Wilder isn't one hundred percent jazzed about being a werewolf.
okay i've got a shorter nysm not!fic today; this one is less a coherent fic idea and more potential character beats. this is called the mt. knives au for reasons that i can explain if you're really curious but essentially is just an inside joke with @jianghuchild who helped me draft some of this.
Previous: 5th horseman alma au
the mt. knives au is, essentially, an au where all the og horsemen ended up with a disability of some sort in between ny2m and ny3m.
atlas: hard of hearing. heat exhaustion + infection in australia messed up his ears good. uses hearing aids and keeps it under wraps until the death cube, where they get wet and stop working. knows some ASL and is pretty good at reading lips.
lula: amputee. toxic shock syndrome+complications=loss of limb. she loses part of one of her legs, and when she's not wearing a prosthetic, she uses crutches to get around. she incorporates it into her act, but she's not pleased about the death cube either bc her prosthetic is not designed for water
jack: cane user. broke his leg badly like a year after the horsemen broke up. can get by with just a leg brace under his dress pants for the length of a show on the cruise ship, but not the kinds of things they do in ny3m. He's limping by the end of the movie. usually uses a cane, but does his attempted confession to Lula in a wheelchair bc he strained it so much
henley: low vision/partial blindness. not quite sure what caused it, but it effects some of the more finicky tricks she used to be able to do; she's adapted her escape act to work with her vision. She does her tricks haptically and knows her locks by feel. sometimes mixes up with horseman she's looking at. is learning braille and is a whiz at figuring out text-to-speech and screen-reader functions. her tarot card from the ponies is embossed with braille text.
merritt: alcoholism. but it's actually treated as an addiction instead of a mild joke for a less-important (unfortunately) member of an ensemble cast; he deals with withdrawal symptoms and cravings and gets mean about it (and feels worse bc he didn't want to get mean).
Dylan: chronic bronchitis. Got it from his dip in a river in a safe. I don't have anything more for him bc he doesn't really show up enough for it to matter in ny3m
Chapters: 1/6
Fandom: Now You See Me (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Charlie Vanderberg & Jack Wilder, Lula May & Charlie Vanderberg, Merritt McKinney & Charlie Vanderberg, Henley Reeves & Charlie Vanderberg, J. Daniel Atlas & Charlie Vanderberg, Past Bosco LeRoy/June Rouclere/Charlie Vanderberg
Characters: Charlie Vanderberg, Jack Wilder, Lula May, Merritt McKinney, Henley Reeves, J. Daniel Atlas, June Rouclere, Bosco LeRoy
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, in which the ponies are ‘the furies’ and are the experienced magicians, and the horsemen are the newbies with the mystery cards, Hurt/Comfort, Slice of Life, Magic, Street & Stage Magic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Con Artists, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, POV Charlie Vanderberg, Charlie Vanderberg Needs a Hug, Lula May Needs a Hug, J. Daniel Atlas Needs A Hug, Henley Reeves Needs a Hug, Jack Wilder Needs a Hug, Merritt McKinney Needs a Hug, just assume everyone needs a bit of a hug, Found Family, Team as Family, The Horsemen as Family (Now You See Me), set during the proverbial year of living dangerously, as merritt puts it in nysm1 canon, 5+1 Things
Series: Part 2 of the tower reversed (furies au)
Summary:
Charlie knows by now that these kids are brilliant, terrifying, beyond talented–and completely alone, except for him. He’s not exactly sure that he’s the mentor they deserve, but the Eye sent him here for a reason, right? They must need him.
He might just need them, too.
…
Five times Charlie took care of one of the Horsemen and one time they took care of him.
🌈, 🤍, and/or🎙️(or any you want to answer but haven't been asked)
Ooh hello!
(Referencing this ask game)
🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?
Ok this is kind of silly but I actually really struggled with Mr and Mrs Smith (except they're both idiots) -- which, I think, shows in the low-effort title! It was supposed to just be a fun romp, but for some reason I had so much trouble getting it to gain any sort of momentum. I must have spent a solid week just staring at a blank document and turning the prompt around in my head over and over until I finally managed to eke out this fic.
🤍what's one fic of yours you think people didn't "get"?
I'd have to go with A Dream of Golden Millet. To be fair, this fic fought me as I wrote it, so I myself don't even know how successful I was at the whole mortal trial tragedy thing. I think, more than anything, I wish I could be more proud of it? It's not even like the comments were bad or anything, I just have weird feelings about it. Which is funny, because I'm quite happy with my other lbfad tragedy fic!
🎙️which one of your fics would you like someone to make a pod-fic of?
Honestly any podfic would be a massive ego stroke for me but I think a podfic of twice shy or mouth on fire would be really fun. They're both self-contained and have that intimate vibe that would be really cool to hear in audio.
✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)
💘Is there any posted fic you want to rework/re-edit/re-write?
💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?
🌈is there a fic that you worked *really fucking hard on* that no one would ever know? maybe a scene/theme you struggled with?
🦋what are you most insecure about when you post a fic?
🌻what makes you want to give up on writing? what makes you keep going?
🌿how does creating make you feel?
🍉in what ways has writing helped you process trauma and/or navigate through your own life?
🎀give yourself a compliment about your own writing
🎈describe your style as a writer; is it fixed? does it change?
🎉how often do you celebrate completing & posting a work? how often do you give yourself the credit/validation that you seek from others when you post? (if you don't, you should!)
💞what's the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language
💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?
🤍what's one fic of yours you think people didn't "get"?
🕯️was there a fic that was really hard on you to write, or took you to a place you didn't think it would take you?
💥find your least kudos'd fic - say something wonderful about it.
🍭why did you start writing?
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hello all, have another nysm not!fic that i really want to write but probably never will bc it's too plot heavy; feel free to write your own fics based on this concept!
previous installments:
1: 5* times a horseman admitted something personal/tragic to atlas while under the influence and 1 time he revealed something to everyone stone-cold sober
2: aro!danley secret marriage au
3: 5th Horseman Alma au
au where Alma is the mastermind and Bubu is the leader of the Eye instead of Dylan and Thaddeus. The backstories for Dylan and Thaddeus stay the same (dylan son of lionel shrike; thaddeus "business partner" of lionel shrike, etc), but Alma idolized Lionel Shrike and crafted a revenge plot to avenge him.
bubu as leader of the eye is mostly because Women and also it doesn't undo previous characterization, catharsis, or worldbuilding
in this universe, dylan's fbi persona is real. he hates magic and is a hardass and a bit of a buffoon. however, when he gets the horsemen case and gets paired up with alma, she wears him down a little. the scene over the seine at the end of ny1m is him putting the pieces together that everyone the horsemen took down was involved in some way with his dad's death and confronting alma about it. he is then let in on the secret of the eye and does some behind-the-scenes stuff for ny2m
in this au, bubu is the leader and li is her errand boy. he knows one magic trick and he's not even good at it (the thumb thing he shows off when we first meet him). however he knows where everything is in Iong's and he has the phone numbers and account numbers and addresses and aliases of everyone in the eye "memorized" (it's all coded through six levels of cipher in a notebook that only leaves his person when he's in the shower)
the woman in nola she gets a room from (Marie Claire) is in the eye. this is unimportant except for me making the eye a bunch of elderly women of color, alma, and li
alma saw lionel shrike perform on a europe tour, got interested in magic, ended up in the eye somehow, decided to get revenge on everyone who fucked over her hero
she gets assigned the horsemen case after vegas and meets dylan rhodes. she does not know dylan is shrike's son.
rest of the thoughts are under the cut
her being the fifth horseman makes her anger at consistently getting sidelined even more upsetting bc like. the sexism ain't it chief, but she can't control the narrative nearly as well if she's not there to direct it
thaddeus, who was still lionel shrike's business partner and etc (just not in the eye), thinks alma is trans!dylan shrike, because he figures out that it's all centered around lionel, and that alma is the one mostly in charge, but he can't figure out what the connection is.
(via @jianghuchild after looking up how interpol works) "Ok wait: Alma's not "Interpol," she's French police sent by Interpol to work with the American FBI in ny1m. Idk how this changes ny2m BUT in ny3m she's actively involved in the gendarme so she's there. Idk how much we care about saving Thaddeus but hey maybe someone else can get shot"
in ny2m, dylan is still digging into the horsemen and ends up in macau following a lead and still gets sent down in the safe as a fucked up initiation into the eye, because i think it's dumb he forgave thaddeus but i have no qualms with him forgiving the hot woman he has a crush on for nearly killing him.
anyway the dylan fiasco (him getting put in russian prison and breaking everyone up) can still happen. he's just joined the eye. his first mission goes extremely sideways and he gets caught. the horsemen are extremely split on if they go rescue him and it turns into a thing and they break apart. alma, who was on team "leave him there" was actually trying to push the horsemen away so she can go rescue dylan on her own without risking the rest of them.
she breaks dylan out, he gets sent to macau. bubu and li teach him the more administrative side of things in the eye. alma goes back to france and rebuilds her cover as french police. she reconnects with lula on accident. lula reams her out once she figures out what actually went down. they hook up a few times but it doesn't last.
alma shows up in the chateau instead of thaddeus. there's yelling. they find out that dylan isn't in prison anymore. alma gets shot like thaddeus did, but gut wounds are only fatal in cinema if the character wants to die so she's fine and gets to help lula break jack+june+merritt out of jail.
lula: okay here's the plan. we get outside and alma drives us to the rendezvous.
jack: alma's here?
merritt:your plan doesn't say how we get out?
lula: i was busy!
jack: also we have to go get june
however alma ends up in french prison after breaking them out; merritt still ends up in veronika's custody.
post-ny3m is all of them coming together to break alma out of prison in a parallel to what broke them apart in the first place
