so many relics such as this one were stashed away in a place where no one would find them for long centuries, kept safe among shelves of old letters, and trinkets left after those merlin could barely remember. that’s why his fingers slide against the eye with a cautious care, as the power of it tingles against his skin. it has been so long since he’s felt something like this. ❛ this is no toy, and it shouldn’t be kept by someone who would abuse its power. ❜
the warning is noted, but to merlin it holds no meaning other than an empty promise. he doesn’t wish to fight for an object long lost, yet it’s clear by the way he holds onto it that he easily could —— if it proved necessary. ❛ who owns it now then? i can only tell you so little without knowing more, i’m afraid. ❜ he has only allowed himself to be found to find out more, after all ; but that remains unsaid.
words stand still in his mouth, unmoving behind closed lips as dylan weighs his options — it is not in his interests to jeopardise an organisation he’s spent his life protecting, but the man requires answers for answers. “ i work for SOMEONE. her family are collectors passing it down from parent to child. they’re just looking for a name and an origin. all we know is it’s been with them for hundred-two hundred years. ”
it’s vague enough to not give anything up on the organisation, just an indication of the object’s age. the relic resembles neither the eye of the horus nor the eye’s current insignias — there’s no reason to believe its origin story has anything directly to do with the organisation. “ it’s POWERFUL, i know that much. if it’s dangerous, it’s going behind locked doors. ”
❛ Where did you find this? I haven’t seen such a thing in centuries… ❜ Fingers slide over the object, dirt revealing runes so old it takes a moment for him to remember how to read them. A strange feeling seems to overtake him for a moment, and he reaches back to times that ended so long ago ; before his hand closes over it again, and his gaze turns up.
❛ I don’t know what it is that you expect of me, but I cannot help you with this, nor should you possess it. It’s better if I take it. ❜
open.
the eye’s history is longer than dylan can comprehend, and impossible to count — too many times has it fallen off of history’s pages, relocated and changed only for the next generations to use its potential once again for anyone to permanently chronicle its journey in a way that would not get lost in time… and the same mystery clouds the oldest magical objects hidden deep within its collections. “ i CAN’T let you do that. i ain’t mine to give away. ”
it’s half a reassurance, half warning — this conversation will end with dylan holding the ring, but hopefully in mutual understanding or civil disagreement: he’s not here to pick a fight if he doesn’t need one. “ if it makes you feel better, it’s not mine to use either. ” the look the other gave it was too long ( too longing, almost ) for dylan to have doubts: he might actually walk out with information this time. “ i’m just looking for some answers before it goes back on its shelf. ”
Hello, my name is Aurora, I’m 21 years old and Finnish. EET time zone, naturally not a native speaker — if my replies make no sense, please let me know, it’s either because of me being tired or fucking up grammar. Please tag choking, somnophilia, eating disorders, suicide and bluespace, including screenshots of the dash: essentially, if the sides of the picture are the same colour as the dash, tag it.
selectivity
I am open to ocs and crossovers. This blog is mutuals only: threads, plotting and im are only for people who I have followed back. However, non-mutuals can send me asks and memes and reply to opens. I do tend to form mains and practice exclusivity, especially shipping exclusivity: the list can be found here. Note that I fully admit to being a lazy ass about checking my followers: I am currently using an extension that hides my follower count, so it is up to my own memory to remember to check the list: thus, it can take up to anything from a week to a month to check out a blog — more, if it’s a muse from something I haven’t seen yet.
pre-established relationships
If you have a non-romantic relationship idea (friends, colleagues, even family) between our muses, chances are I’ll be up for that, but do please run it through me first. This is twice as important for Horsemen ocs. The Horsemen and the dynamic between them form a large part of Dylan’s life, so I am more hesitant than most about writing with them because I need to understand why Dylan would have chosen them. I hope you can understand this.
shipping
Shipping-wise, Dylan is free game, but only if it happens with chemistry. This is even more highlighted by the fact that I play Dylan as demisexual, meaning that he doesn’t feel sexual attraction to anyone until he has a strong relationship with them, platonic or romantic.
Statistics
FULL NAME: Dylan Caspian Shrike
ALIAS: Dylan Rhodes (active from 1990 to 2015)
AGE: 44
BIRTH DATE: December 21, 1971
GENDER: Cis male
ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Panromantic
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Demisexual
RELIGION: Atheist
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: English (native), Mandarin, Cantonese, French, Italian, some Greek
CURRENT HOUSING: Apartment connecting to The Eye’s headquarters in London
OCCUPATION: The “fifth” Horseman, leader of The Eye’s western base. Worked as a mole in the FBI until being exposed publicly at the end of 2015
relationships
PARENTS: Lionel Shrike (deceased in March 6, 1984), Henriette Shrike (deceased in October 20, 1988)
SIBLINGS: None
SIGNIFICANT OTHER: Currently, none
CHILDREN: Unable to have
physical traits
EYE COLOUR: Brown
HAIR COLOUR: Dark brown, greying
HEIGHT: 5'7½
BODY TYPE: Short, square, somewhere between builtfat and chubbyfat.
personality
INTELLIGENCE: Book-smarts: studied engineering in college, degree in Criminology, mathematical brain. Strategist by nature.
DISPOSITION: Intelligent and calculating. Extroverted, but prefers a small social circle. Needs to feel in control, tends to take a leadership position very easily, as well as responsibility over others. Strong moral compass and need to see justice served.
Biography
Dylan Caspian Shrike was the first and only child born to Henriette Wilson, a former actress, and Lionel Shrike, a famous magician and a member of The Eye. The family lived in an apartment New York they owned, greatly relying on Lionel’s profession to supply for them. Partly to this, Lionel was largely absent at home, always performing, practicing, or travelling to China to buy equipment for his tricks. Dylan always knew his father first as a magician, and only then as a father.
This not-ideal but functioning life came to a stop when Thaddeus Bradley revealed how all of Lionel’s magic tricks were done in the pilot of his show, leaving the family unsure how Lionel’s career would handle such a blow. In an attempt to regain spotlight, Lionel insisted on doing a trick Thaddeus had called impossible: to break out from being handcuffed in a safe in the middle of a river. Dylan watched his father go down in the safe but the metal the safe was made of warped, making the escape impossible and causing Lionel to drown. Because his body nor the safe was ever found, his life insurance claim was denied, and the family was left without a penny.
Dylan always blamed the death of his father above all on Thaddeus Bradley, and after his mother had to give him up for adoption at the age of 12, Dylan started to plan for revenge. He spent most of his teenage years in a group home and two foster families, copying his father’s tricks and practicing some of his own, never specialising in anything in particular, finding himself more interested in the behind-the-scenes work that went into the larger tricks.
He started to study engineering in college, but The Eye gave him another task: take a new identity — that of Dylan Rhodes — and move to study Criminology in order to become a mole in the FBI. This alias gave him a possibility to start working on his plan to bring those responsible for his father’s death and the hardships that followed: a group of magicians that would bring the art back to a global spotlight whilst using their abilities to deceive for a greater cause. Gathering resources, perfecting his plan, and making it possible to do without known help from The Eye — as is required from applicants — was a long process, but he finally got it to motion in February 2013.
