Dylan only ever really loses his temper when he’s with people he cares about, pushing his buttons for nothing seemingly important — or when he’s already repressing some negative emotion, but that’s a conversation for another day. When he gets a flash of anger, obviously frustrated, sharpens his tone and brings up his volume… you’re probably fine in the long term.
Because Dylan doesn’t snap at people he genuinely hates. No, he swallows it, smiles, wishes you a good day and apologises — and then he lets that hatred simmer until he can find a way to retaliate. His temper is hot, but actual, legitimate anger is cold and contained and something he will make absolutely sure you know he’s only not acting on it because for now, you’re more useful in one piece than not.
That terrifying sentence aside, Dylan is usually pretty good at keeping his cool, remaining calm especially when others start spiraling. He will defend himself, but for the most part, he prides in being able to swallow it down until he can process it properly… but god fucking help you if you attack on someone he cares about.
i. it’s hard to believe i’ve worked here for almost fifteen years. time flies. #ilovemyjob ii. only way to start the day. don’t worry @d_rhodes, i grabbed you one too. iii. alright, who’s been giving him table scraps? iv. game was close but he did good. #soproud v. i truly believe that @d_rhodes and i singlehandedly keep the takeout business in vegas running. vi. dragged @d_rhodes to audrey’s career day. pretty sure ‘uncle dylan’ is the new favorite.
it’s not the first time thaddeus has wondered if he will ever stop being surprised at how like his father dylan is. not so much in appearance, he’d done a hefty amount of his own research after all, had forced himself to get used to eyes a familiar shade of brown and a peculiar way of carrying himself long before agent rhodes showed up in his office, but in behavior. he wonders if dylan is even remotely aware of the echoes of a dead man written in almost his every move and word.
for a moment, just a moment, he entertains the idea of telling dylan so, of telling him more, that lionel used to say heavy things flippantly as if it he could devalue them, how he had also hidden pain in an innocuous tone. once he’d start though, he knows he wouldn’t be able to stop. he’d tell dylan how proud lionel was of him, how his every other word had been praise of his boy, how he’d had such plans for bringing dylan into the eye properly, making him a part of the magic the way he was meant to, not the bastardized concoction of revenge plans and attempts for reconciliation his recruitment became. for a moment, he entertains the idea of telling dylan everything he’s been waiting to for the past thirty years.
but thaddeus bradley has always been a coward man of secrets. and so instead he cocks his head to the side and chuckles, swallowing down decades worth of emotion with practiced ease.
panic! at the disco starters // no longer accepting
“ you don’t. ” maybe it’s not the answer dylan’s looking for, maybe he’s looking for reassurance, or seeking confirmation that he’s not changed so much as to arouse suspicion from their colleagues, but it’s honest. the dylan ( shrike ) rhodes he sees now bears no resemblance to the man who stood in front of him mere days ago. it’s incredible, he’s decided, what knowing that the man you had trusted with your life for years wasn’t what he’d claimed to be can do to the way you perceive him. but then that’s a struggle meant for a few hours from now, when he’s alone with his thoughts and staring at the text that saved his career and wrestling to reconcile the honor he’s worn proudly for years and loyalty to one of his few friends — a GOOD MAN, he knows in the core of himself, one he still trusts in spite of his crimes.
and so a familiar smile will come to replace a tired frown, and warmth will find its way into his grave tone as old patterns reestablish themselves, as though the foundation of their partnership hasn’t been thrown off-kilter. “ you look like even more of an ass than usual. ”
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.
