YouTube prohibition noir AU

[xt1me]

Well, I was having a terrible time recently. Everything seems to be sorted now but after all that I think I’m going to try typing out a self-indulgent not!fic.

 

 

Some time ago I read a multi-youtuber noir prohibition AU.

It was a WIP but I never bookmarked it and lost it. When I found it again it had updated a few times & I couldn’t remember what chapter I was on. I decided that I would have to re-read the whole thing but it was so long that I was better off waiting until it was finished.

That fic was part of the Royal Flush series and the latest one, Playing Phantom Cards, updates very regularly & it’s nearly done now so I should catch up sometime soon.

 

The thing is, it reads like a very good Noir style story. And any good Noir story can only end a certain way. The best you can hope for is an ending that’s bittersweet. But it did get me thinking how I would go about doing my own probation era fic.

 

Now, I really don’t know enough about the probation era, or old timey America, to actually write one. So this would all probably be taking place in some imaginary amalgam city. Maybe make it full on AU just to gloss over any historical inaccuracies. But I’m not writing this, so I don’t have to worry about it.

I would make the place all the YouTubers were living in maybe a smallish section of a larger city. I had an idea of maybe there being a stream off a river that goes though it for smugglers & so I could make streamer puns.

Anyway, this section of the city, let just call it Youtubia since I can’t be bothered to come up with something better, was run by one of the smaller gangs in the city. They were in the middle of 2 or more larger gangs, keeping their place more out of the other gangs not wanting a war to start over the territory than anything else. Only one day the police, in a vain effort to look like they were doing something about the crime in the city, swept in & took out all the higher ups in the gang. (They couldn’t go after the bigger gangs so took out these guys, not caring about the power vacuum it would leave.)

So if I was writing this, that’s where I would start. The bigger gangs around Youtubia gearing up to take over, the dregs of the original gang left floundering & the civilians, residents & business owners in Youtubia about to be caught in the cross fire.

Taking inspiration from the Royal Flush series, Mark would have been working in a club run by the old gang. Not anywhere high up at the time but he would use the flamboyant Warfstache persona to hide who he was while slinging drinks. Just so he was covered if it was raided or something. As the main person running the legitimate side of things he’d also be a point of contact from the lower levels to the higher ones. At least until all the higher ups got arrested (or killed) when the cops swept in. It should have dismantled everything then and there, but as the one person all the lower levers knew they all ended up reporting to him. He probably could have left things dissolve but when it became clear that the bigger gangs were gearing up to take over the place, he knew he had to do something before he lost everything in a bloody gang war.

So he made up a boss.
And so Darkiplier was born.

He had already made up the persona of Warfstache, having that person pretend to be reporting to someone else was easy. He did it mainly because he still didn’t want to risk getting caught as Mark but no one was going to follow the flighty Warfstache as the boss (he still has a gun he waves around, he’s still part of the mob after all).  It was never supposed to be an actual character he played; it was only supposed to be a name to tell people that was in charge just so things could keep running smoothly.

But as it became clear he couldn’t just keep acting like things were before & more and more clashes happened with the other big gangs it became apparent he had to act the part. Out of necessary he kept Dark mysterious. But he gathered a few trusted people to him.

Maybe Bob & Wade are enforcers that are in the know. And Ethan was a runner/delivery boy that most think is too ditzy to know anything but he’s actually a trusted member of the inner circle as well.

Is some of the various business in Youtubia that he trusts are in the know? Maybe, but they all have a vested interest in keeping the status quo.

In fact, there was one night that the bigger gangs were planning to use to trash the place & take over. I’m pretty sure “Devil’s Night” was not an actual thing back then but this would be why it’s an AU. So this happens at Halloween.

This would be where I’d have all the YouTubers together to fight. Possibly scattered throughout Youtubia. They wouldn’t all be gang members, some would be business owners or residents living there but they’d all know they were better off with a local gang in charge then one of the bigger ones.

Now gang wars don’t have uniforms so someone has the idea that all the Youtubia residents should wear something colourful to distinguish themselves on the night. Most use some sort of temporary hair dye or something (& that’s how we get the YouTube hair that people did a couple of years ago) but some of them use faced paint, or costumes. I’m going to say there’s an entertainment district in Youtubia with a theater & stuff.

Mark totally goes around with a baseball bat that night. (a la the Author in that one video)

But anyway, with all the locals defending themselves they not only beat back the invaders but a bunch of weird rumors spring up about the place after that.

About how Dark is a demon that the old boss summoned out of desperation but didn’t word his deal right & now is running the place. That’s why so few people have seen him. And he’s trapped in Youtubia, that’s why he never tries to expand his empire. (The real reason of course is that Mark never wanted an empire in the first place & he hardly has the resources to do more.)

I don’t think his other ego’s would be full on characters, maybe they’re just names in the books to fill up space to make it look like his operation is bigger than it actually is.

 *

Adding in other YouTubers let’s start with the biggest. I still don’t watch PewDiPie but I liked the idea in the Royal Flush series of him being a rich lord financing the gang. I don’t know if I like the idea of him being old money who’s family lost everything but the title and he clawed his way back up to the top in America with some shady schemes. Or if I like the idea of him being a new money who bought a title to seem more legitimate. Either way I like the idea of him being a bit of a con man.

 * 

I think I have a good idea for Jack and Anti.

Seán was living in Ireland with a twin brother called Anthony. (I’m not touching anyone’s real family in this BTW.) They were both pretty wild when they were young but Seán grew up and Anthony grew older. No one was surprised when Anto (a common nickname for Anthony in Ireland) fell in with a bad crowd.

Now Seán may be the nice one when compared to Anto but that doesn’t mean he escapes violence. He falls into the fight against the English (I’m pretty sure the dates don’t line up for this but the good thing about making this a full AU & the fact I’m not going to write this means I don’t have to care about real world history) and when the rebels need some more mayhem then usual he knows who to call.

So the brothers work together for a time. Anto’s criminal friends call Seán AntDhó (rhymes with Anto, dhó being the Irish for the number 2. I’m going somewhere with this I swear) to poke fun but no one wants to mess with Anto so they leave him alone.

But then Anto gets caught.

And, of course, he’s not the type of person to go quietly.
He gets his throat slit and his body hung up as a warning.

Seán can’t let them get away with that so he manages to get the body down & bury it in secret but it means he has to flee afterwards. With Anto’s criminal contacts he’s able to change his name and get to America.

Jack tries to build a new life in Youtubia. But the past isn’t easy to shake off and criminal gangs can be more persistent then the government.
Someone lets slip to the Irish gangs in America that he arrived. Maybe most don’t get all the details but Jack does have some skills that the Mob would find handy & he’s in their debt.

Transatlantic information exchange being what it is though, his nickname was given but it was written down using roman numerals instead of numbers so it looked like AntII. Or Anti.

And, of course, rumors being what they are the Irish Mob in America didn’t realise that there were 2 of them so the stuff Anto did gets attributed to Jack. Even the fact he got his throat cut gets circulated around.

So the Irish Mob goes to lean on Jack to work for him but Jack snaps, he’s had a really hard time after all, and fights them off. Maybe laughing hysterically since he just can’t escape it. But he scares the ones sent to jump him enough to escape.

He somehow meets up with Mark & joins the YouTuber gang just to get the Irish off his back.

I like the idea that all sort of rumors circulate in the Irish Mob about him & thus to the other gangs as well. I had an idea of a scene where he’s in some sort of neutral met up, maybe running an errand or negotiating something, and gets offered bread & salt and some milk. And he realises at least one of the them thinks he’s fay (or at least a changeling). It’s so funny that he’s actually on his best behavior for once, something that doesn’t dispel the rumors any.

He's defiantly out with green hair & a knife on Devil’s Night but maybe he has some fake blood on his neck too.

 *

Another person I had ideas for in this AU is Thomas Sanders.

Let’s say there was an old theater called the Vine but it went out of business so he had to move to Youtubia. Roman is his stage name. Not an unheard of practice. Nether is the fact that Remus is the name he used for roles he wanted to play that won’t look good for future work. The riskier plays maybe or ones where he’s playing a villain. A pretty common practice really amount actors. It’s a bit of an open secret about the theater crowd but not the general public of course.

Things started to get more complicated when he decided to open a gay bar in Youtubia. (In those days most gay bars were run by the Mob because when everything is illegal it’s all left to the criminals). He couldn’t risk getting his chances blown for future acting jobs so he invented the character of Patton. He didn’t believe there should anything intently sleazy about being how you were, so he made Patton be an overall nice and wholesome welcoming fellow. Of course the persona he created wasn’t exactly the type that would believably run the hard day to day needs of running a business so he created Logan as a person who could be strict with suppliers and the like. They’re set up as twins with Thomas’ close friends like Joan & Talyn knowing the truth. And the bar/theater he runs has all sorts of hidden passages he can use to maintain the charade.

Virgil came about differently. Thomas knew he was going to be dealing with criminals after all & he wanted to get the lay of the land first. So he found out a place where a bunch of members of various gangs met up for drinks. Not the nice place the hire ups might meet but more of a place were thugs for hire go, ones that could be working for one gang one week and another the next. He sure as hell wasn’t going into a place like that as himself but he thought he was so clever going in disguise. He had also done his fair share of backstage work in his time in theater & crew have a lot more in common with ninjas then you think. He knew enough about misdirection and stage presence to pop up behind people unannounced. Which was enough for him to be able to sneak around until he could follow someone into place.

Once he was in there, he thought it best to act like some of the regulars. Not the puffed-up thugs with something to prove. He didn’t want to get in any fights. He picked the quiet ones people left alone & acted like them. And he’s a good actor. The only thing is the people in a place like that, that people left alone where hired killers and the like. Not the crazy ones, but the steady & thus more dangerous ones. Keeping quite and mysterious (so as not give the game away) meant it didn’t take much for him to get the reputation as an assassin, moved in recently looking to get the lay of the land. After all, when your whole job is not getting caught then no one can prove you did anything at all (of didn’t do anything as the case may be).

That’s not to say that there were no close calls but he manged to stay in character & have his panic attacks later so no one figured him out

Janus came about when he needed to distract some gang members, maybe some friend got in trouble or something, and he disguised himself with stage makeup (after all most people remember scare before they remember the face behind them) & purposely got caught & allowed himself to be intimidated into “giving up” the info they wanted (all lies off course). Not the safest thing he could have done but the act was handy so he keeps it in his back pocket in case he needs it again.

Virgil’s the one he dresses up as for Devils Night. He probably uses some stage props or something to confuse the gangs trying to attack the theatre. Maybe he has some sandbags & ropes set up so he can make some batman-esk quick getaways.

 *

I thought the Game Grumps should be some sort of underground fighter duo. Like bare knuckle boxing or something. I had no real reason for this decision other than the fact that they are both tall. Since I didn’t want to just make everyone a gangster.

Like maybe Danny started off with Brian as a duo. Brian having not gotten a job as a professor yet but needing to support his family. He’s always masked so as not to ruin his chances for legitimate employment in the future. But when he gets a position in a university Danny teams up with Arin who own previous partner went off to do his own thing.

Arin himself is such an angry dude in the ring that few people realise that he’s actually a savvy business man. That he doesn’t just work for the Grump Gym but he’s actually the owner.

During Devil’s Night Arin has a pink streak in his hair but Danny & Brian are in their full NSP costumes.

 *

I’m not sure if MatPat has a legitimate job or not, maybe as a journalist (if so it’s probably for a tabloid) or a novelist or something. But for the criminal underground he’s an information broker. He keeps track of all the rumors circulating in Youtubia and the surrounding area & sells them at a price. The reason he’s kept himself from being taken out by an angry customer or target is because he never sells facts, just theories. So instead of selling that fact that Jimmy the Fixer is hiding out in warehouse 3 down by the docks, he’d say that rumor has it the guy was seen near the water. Maybe for a bit extra would provide that 3’s a lucky number today. He’s managed to find the line between useful enough that various people, both above the law & below it, find him helpful but not so knowledgeable that people feel threatened by him. He’s got a family after all. But he knows a lot more then what he sells.
He can also do a pretty convincing insane act if he needs to be intimidating.

The GT crew are probably informants & stuff.

He probably also gets a kick out of the more esoteric rumors that circulate about the other YouTubers & stirs things around sometimes for a laugh.

I don’t know if he should be out in lab coat for Devil's Night or in a bear custom as a FNaF the musical homage.

 *

Nate did a number of odd jobs until he made enough to make it as a musician so that's how he knows some of the criminal element.

Thinking about what could possible equate to Pokémon parodies in this ‘verse got me thinking of what PokéTubers would be. And an animal fighting ring seamed too on the nose. But then I got thinking if I wanted to still use the name Pokétuber how would that make sense. Then I thought of Mudlarks. After all most Mudlarks were kids right (though this was in Victorian time, but AU, so the timelines don’t have to line up) & pokémon’s is a thing most people were into as kids. And the name makes sense if you think about it was literally poking about in tubes. Anyway, it was just a stupid tangent.

Continuing my ideas for the guys making there own egos I figured that his came about by accident.

He was working as a musician in some dive that let the performers say in the back or something. But the owner was being leaned on by one of the bigger gangs and was failing in the payments or something. So the gang sends a bunch of guys to burn down the place not caring who was in there at the time. The place was hardly up to code so there wasn’t any easy way to escape. Maybe he was the only one there or maybe the others were able to get out another way but Nate made it down to one of the exits only to hear the thugs still outside, making sure the place burnt down. But he lucked out because though there was lots of smoke there was less fire. Now I have no idea when smoke machines were invented (so this is probably anachronistic but, again, full AU so who cares) but I do know that the boiling point of the oil used to give off the smoke is pretty low (or dry ice if you’re using that instead). But the place has a bunch of canisters of the stuff that “fell off the back of a tuck” so Nate throws it out of the exit before him to cover his escape. With the amount of heat everywhere it pretty much floods the place (I have no idea if this is actually what would happen btw) and Nate barrels through the thugs maybe swinging at them with a piece of burning wood as he tried not to get shot.

From the thug’s point of view, he appeared out of the smoke like a demon & flinging fire. He was problem still dress up from a performance or something. (like the Phantom music vid)

And of curse everyone knows the stories of musician and devils so a rumor starts circulating that he either is a devil or sold his soul to one (I may be bowing a little from that other fic I wrote). Nate of course thinks it’s hilarious & never confirms or denies anything.

He was totally in his Natemare getup for Devil’s Night though.

 *

Humm, who else do I watch on YouTube that I can include in this?

How about ‘Leg’s’ Madej & ‘Night Night’ Bergara team up with ‘Big Apple’ Steve when they leave Buzzfeed, a sweatshop (this is not a commentary about BuzzFeed’s actual business practices as I really don’t know enough about them). Maybe they run the Watcher Detective Agency as they try & go legit following the example of the Try Guys who left to run a general store.

 

***

I don’t know who else to add for now so I think I’ll leave this here.
I have a soft spot for backstage stuff & misdirection so I like the idea of all the mobs outside of Youtubia leaving them alone because they get the reputation of being basically NightVale (not that the higher-up’s of the rival gangs admit to it or anything), something most of the citizens in there either don’t realise or actively encourage.