So I've finally had a chance to read through all of this again (and the timeline you wrote out) and I'm really happy with how much the bits relevant to Henley line up with my own notes on her!
- A quickish summary of how I head canon Henley getting interested/involved in magic: parents worked in show business as something like producers or theatre managers, she spent a lot of time around performers as a child, she was very energetic and confident and was involved in after-school and weekend activities like acting workshops, acrobatics, dancing, and even a magic class or two, didn't do as much performing arts stuff during high school, studied engineering at university, did one engineering project in her second year that was essentially an escape illusion trick and her research into and love of the subject snowballed from there, graduated and for a couple of years had an entry-level architectural engineering job but she knew that her magic hobby was her true passion, had already been to a show or two of Danny's and when she heard he was looking for a new assistant she didn't waste any time in tracking him down
- I'm thinking I'm going to make Henley's birth year 1980. It's a few years younger than Isla is but it just works better with my timeline for her because I don't want to put too many years in between her graduating university and her becoming Danny's assistant. Is Henley being four years older than Danny alright with you?
- To be honest, it's taken me a bit of time to wrap my head around Henley's feelings for Danny. I have to imagine what things must have been like in the beginning. How excited she must have been to finally be doing magic as her career and bonding with somebody else over that shared passion. She probably really admired Danny because he was so young and already so talented and following his dream. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he was probably nowhere near as fashionable back then as he was in 2013 and didn't do anything with his head of curls and I'm gonna have to say she was into that haha. I love that you mentioned the black rose because that's my favourite deleted scene. I bet a gesture like that definitely gave her hope for something more. That said, I don't think she's been yearning for Danny all these years that she's been in LA. Maybe her crush on him was reignited a little bit when they were in the Horsemen together, but I think her "unrequited love" isn't necessarily a love of romance and marriage and sex and babies. She just really freaking cares about him, despite how much of a dick he can be. She has so many happy memories of their time together and all she wants is for him to acknowledge that they have a history and a bond and that they're friends. There definitely is some attraction there but I think if they ever worked out how to have a healthy friendship then she would realize that that's all she ever really wanted or needed from their relationship. She just wants him to show that he cares and respects her.
- Now for the elephant in the room: Henley leaving the Horsemen. It has been a while since I watched NYSM2, sadly, so I'm kind of going off what I'm reading from you guys and seeing in gifsets on tumblr. It's a little frustrating for me not having a totally clear answer on why she left, and I've also concluded that it was for a mixture of reasons. I do think that she got tired of waiting, of having nothing fun and exciting to do. I'm reminded of that scene in the elevator where she says that she wouldn't regret the experience even if it turned out there was no Eye. It was always more about the experience than the reward for her. I think she was expecting it to be more of a constant thing, and she felt like she was missing out on life by waiting around. But I believe she could have stuck it out if personal relationships had been going well, which is why we can probably blame Danny a little bit.
- And it's not just a matter of WHY she left but HOW she left. Did she just go to Dylan and tell him? Did she find some other way to contact the Eye directly? Where was she and what was she doing during the events of the second movie?!?!
Alright, this is a pretty long comment. Sorry! (As is always the case with me, there is no pressure to reply to it quickly.)
no subject
- A quickish summary of how I head canon Henley getting interested/involved in magic: parents worked in show business as something like producers or theatre managers, she spent a lot of time around performers as a child, she was very energetic and confident and was involved in after-school and weekend activities like acting workshops, acrobatics, dancing, and even a magic class or two, didn't do as much performing arts stuff during high school, studied engineering at university, did one engineering project in her second year that was essentially an escape illusion trick and her research into and love of the subject snowballed from there, graduated and for a couple of years had an entry-level architectural engineering job but she knew that her magic hobby was her true passion, had already been to a show or two of Danny's and when she heard he was looking for a new assistant she didn't waste any time in tracking him down
- I'm thinking I'm going to make Henley's birth year 1980. It's a few years younger than Isla is but it just works better with my timeline for her because I don't want to put too many years in between her graduating university and her becoming Danny's assistant. Is Henley being four years older than Danny alright with you?
- To be honest, it's taken me a bit of time to wrap my head around Henley's feelings for Danny. I have to imagine what things must have been like in the beginning. How excited she must have been to finally be doing magic as her career and bonding with somebody else over that shared passion. She probably really admired Danny because he was so young and already so talented and following his dream. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he was probably nowhere near as fashionable back then as he was in 2013 and didn't do anything with his head of curls and I'm gonna have to say she was into that haha. I love that you mentioned the black rose because that's my favourite deleted scene. I bet a gesture like that definitely gave her hope for something more. That said, I don't think she's been yearning for Danny all these years that she's been in LA. Maybe her crush on him was reignited a little bit when they were in the Horsemen together, but I think her "unrequited love" isn't necessarily a love of romance and marriage and sex and babies. She just really freaking cares about him, despite how much of a dick he can be. She has so many happy memories of their time together and all she wants is for him to acknowledge that they have a history and a bond and that they're friends. There definitely is some attraction there but I think if they ever worked out how to have a healthy friendship then she would realize that that's all she ever really wanted or needed from their relationship. She just wants him to show that he cares and respects her.
- Now for the elephant in the room: Henley leaving the Horsemen. It has been a while since I watched NYSM2, sadly, so I'm kind of going off what I'm reading from you guys and seeing in gifsets on tumblr. It's a little frustrating for me not having a totally clear answer on why she left, and I've also concluded that it was for a mixture of reasons. I do think that she got tired of waiting, of having nothing fun and exciting to do. I'm reminded of that scene in the elevator where she says that she wouldn't regret the experience even if it turned out there was no Eye. It was always more about the experience than the reward for her. I think she was expecting it to be more of a constant thing, and she felt like she was missing out on life by waiting around. But I believe she could have stuck it out if personal relationships had been going well, which is why we can probably blame Danny a little bit.
- And it's not just a matter of WHY she left but HOW she left. Did she just go to Dylan and tell him? Did she find some other way to contact the Eye directly? Where was she and what was she doing during the events of the second movie?!?!
Alright, this is a pretty long comment. Sorry! (As is always the case with me, there is no pressure to reply to it quickly.)
<3