#HE JUST RAN UP THE LEADERBOARDS SOMEHOW!? | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

tarosin · 3 years ago

Text

The great adventures of y/n tommy tubbo and ranboo - the best mcc team

this is an extra to the great adventures series

the moment you found out ranboo got into mcc you instantly ran into the room you were sharing pulling him into a hug you were honestly so proud of him and he was going to be with tubbo

“BOO I'M SO PROUD OF YOU YOU'RE GOING TO DO AMAZING”

unfortunately, you weren’t going to be in mcc this month but that didn’t stop you from being over the moon for your friend. when it was finally time for mcc you wished your friend good luck and apologised for not being able to watch his pov as you weren’t about to break the tradition of watching Tommy after all he was your first and biggest supporter. 3 hours later the event ended and everyone who was watching ranboos pov heard you faintly screaming at Tommy over discord whilst tubbo sat laughing and ranboo was concerned, he heard from Tommy that you would often yell at him however he didn’t believe that he was being honest

“FUCK YOU TOMMY STOP LAUGHING YOU HIT ME IN TO GET TO THE OTHER SIDE ON PURPOSE THEN LAUGHED ABOUT ME NOT BEING IN…..fine when I get in I’m requesting to be on Scott's team…I’m still mad at you but you did great I'm so proud of you congrats Tommy I’ll see you soon goodbye”

at the start of the next month, you received a message from Scott

Scott: so I have a few things to tell you 1 - how would you feel about becoming head twitch mod it’s only fair you’ve been my mod for a while and 2 - welcome to mcc make sure to fill in the form asap!

y/n: 1 - of course I’d love to be head twitch mod and 2 - heh??

not long later you received a form at the same time as your friends, you decided not to tell anyone and somehow you managed to keep it a secret, Scott agreed to lie to the others about whos team they’re on as he knew how excited everyone was going to be. today was the day your big secret would be released, you Tommy tubbo and ranboo were sat outside when the notification went out announcing the team honestly you’ll never forget the look on their faces when they realised

MCChampionship_ tweeted: 👑announcing team green guardians 👑

@tommyinnit @tubbolive @ranboosaysstuff @y/n

Watch them in MCC on Saturday, August 28th at 8 pm BST!

“Y/N WHAT THE FUCK”

“congrats y/n”

ranboo didn’t say anything he just tackled you into a hug like you did last month when you found he was in mcc. Tommy and tubbo were still processing what they just read

“Scott fucking lied to me”

“aye I told him to”

“what the fuck”

from then the four of you would constantly stream with each other on the mcc training server, you were a strong team when you weren’t yelling at each other.

time flew by soon enough it was the 28th of August. Tommy genuinely couldn’t believe it his best friend was in mcc and on a team with him and he genuinely believed you all had a decent chance in winning as you were a strong team. Tommy invited you over to stream mcc he claimed it was because there would be three people trying to stream in the same room, in reality, it was because he wanted to see your reaction and be there for your first mcc.

Tommy let you stream from his room he had spent the previous night getting advice from tubbo on how he managed to set up so he could stream with ranboo in the same room.

“you ready y/n”

“of course I’ve been watching and learning from the best”

you and Tommy set up and joined the discord call and the mcc server, it was finally time. similarly to ranboo this was something you had wanted to do since Tommy told you all about it on your way home from school one day. 30 minutes later it was time for the games to begin and this is where the chaos began.

“you know what I hope it’s build mart”

“what the fuck y/n”

“fuck you I’m good at build mart- oh you’re joking it’s fucking parkour tag”

this is when you realised that two screaming teenagers in the same room both trying to stream the event wasn’t the best idea, you and Tommy would constantly scream at poor ranboo who was just trying to hunt the other team

“RANBOO CATCH THEM”

“really y/n?! I thought I’d let them win this round”

unsurprisingly your team was doing great you had won 7/8 rounds but there was still one more round, determined to be the one to get dream you decided to be the hunter

“y/n don’t worry if you can’t get them we’re doing well”

“Y/N IGNORE RANBOO ME AND TOMMY DON'T WANT TO LOSE”

“not putting pressure on me at all thank you boys”

being close friends with technoblade gave you an advantage you didn’t expect due to the fact he helped to “train” you for your first mcc which ended up being the reason you were able to catch them all and then helped the others avoid being caught

“tubbo he's to your left TUBBO I SAID HES TO YOUR LEFT WHY ARE YOU GOING LEFT TOMMY RUN RUN RUN RUN ranboo you’re doing great”

“NO WAY”

you had just successfully won the round against dream sapnap George and quackity and you would never let dream live this down

“do you guys think dream will let me be in one of his manhunts now”

“no”

“fuck you tubbo you’re just mad you couldn’t catch all the runners in yellow yaks. you couldn’t catch jack manifold”

so far everything was going well you were currently in 4th place and your team had high hopes. you all felt the need to confirm to your chats that you’re all not actually mad at each other and not to worry about everything.

the next game was survival games ranboo wasn’t ready for this due to the last mcc where he died pretty early on, it started well you all stuck together as a team until the game was nearly over and you got distracted by a chest and ran away from the others whilst they were fighting another team this ended up being a happy accident in disguise you got the notification that Tommy tubbo and ranboo were killed fighting another team

“oh fuck”

“WE COULD HAVE WON WAIT Y/N DID YOU DIE”

“no”

tubbo could practically hear your smile as you explained to them that you ran off and was currently under a tree watching the others fight, you used the fact they died in the game to your advantage they would tell you if anyone was coming to attack you whilst you ran around collecting loot avoiding the others shooting arrows

“AYO STOP FUCKING SHOOTING ME ITS MY FIRST MCC LET ME WIN”

“Y/N HAVE YOU GOT LAVA”

“I DO AAAAAA PISS OFF LET ME WIN”

“USE THE LAVA YOU CAN EASILY TAKE OUT HALF OF THE REMAINING PLAYERS”

to everyone’s surprise, it worked due to the border being smaller so there was less room to run soon it was you vs punz at this point you were determined to win

“GO Y/N GO GO GO HIT HIM YOU CAN DO IT”

“you’re doing so well y/n”

some may call it beginners luck but you ended up winning the fight against punz

“LETS FUCKING GO Y/N”

“I DID IT OH MY GOD”

the next game was hole in the wall and long story short you sucked, ranboo on the other hand did not. it didn’t take long for you to fall every single round. this helped the others though as you were able to yell which side the wall was coming from

“fuck this stupid game the wall hates me”

“y/n you're supposed to jump through the gaps“

“you know what no I’m going to get on a sapnap alt stream by glitching through”

this didn’t work you died again

“well fuck there I go I guess you’ve got this though guys Tommy you’re doing decent”

“I'm doing great thank you- oh I died FUCK YOU FOR DISTRACTING ME”

“blah blah blah GO TUBBO AND RANBOO”

you couldn’t believe it ranboo was one of the final people remaining, unfortunately, ranboo jumped too late resulting in him falling but nonetheless you were proud of him

“unlucky boo you all did great”

the next game was battle box the four of you had been practising this a lot so there was a lot of pressure to do well especially since you were now in the top 3 on the leaderboard, the strategies you made from practicing paid off you managed to win the majority of the rounds, however, there was a lot of screaming and arguing during the last round

“RANBOO STOP STEALING MY KILLS OR I'M GOING TO START HITTING YOU WITH A SWORD”

“he’s been stealing mine too y/n”

tubbo was honestly playing well during this game and you were amazed

unfortunately, the arguing resulted in you losing the round as you were all focusing on arguing which meant you missed the other team rushing to wool

“unlucky boys”

“7 wins out of 9 rounds honestly isn’t that bad we should still be third we just need to stay strong with the rest of the games”

during the break before the last four games, the four of you sat making plans for the next few round

“I want to get to the other side last I think that will be our strength”

there was still a rather long break left so you did what anyone else would do run around the server and yell this was a huge mistake as it messed with the soundproofing resulting in tommys mic picking you up and vice versa

“so I guess we’re streaming like this now”

“FIX IT”

“well since you asked so nicely tubso…no”

tubbo ended up doing the same to the soundproofing in the room he was in with ranboo were in meaning all four of you were now having a scuffed stream as you ran out of time to fix it because before you knew it, it was time to play sky battle

“right we should go left”

“tubbo will get iron Tommy will make the bridge and y/n will do…something”

you did the same thing techno did in the pride mcc and hid occasionally breaking blocks from underneath people so they would fall the others were doing well the game was a mixture of you all encouraging each other and you all cursing each other out whilst ranboo ignored you all and spoke to his chat

“chat I know you can hear double everyone if I could fix it I would but tubbo y/n and Tommy are being too stubborn to fix everything and we don’t have time”

“Y/N WHERE ARE YOU”

“making people fall to their death can we talk about our feelings now because this is stressful as hell”

“NOT THE TIME”

you all did decently you weren’t amazing at this game but that was expected it was something you all weren’t the biggest fan of but somehow you were all still in third place and that was something you weren’t expecting especially for your first mcc

it was now time for sands of time you all needed to do well

“bruh I wanted build mart what the fuck is this”

“we’re not going to win this game boys”

and tubbo would be corrected that that statement, you ended up having a visual glitch making it difficult, Tommy would constantly get trapped in a dungeon like last time things weren’t loading for ranboo you had no idea what tubbo was doing and quite frankly you didn’t want to find out unless it was going to be good news and considering all you could hear was tubbo yelling anything that came to mind you could guess it wasn’t going well. you tried to rage quit a couple of times only to be yelled at by the others every time you disconnected from the server

“Y/N STOP LEAVING”

“I CAN'T SEE SHIT”

“you’re doing well y/n stay calm we’re going to be fine”

“OH I CAN'T PLAY THIS GAME I'M DYSLEXIC”

“CLEARLY WE'RE NOT FINE TUBBO IS STRUGGLING TOMMY IS LOCKED IN A DUNGEON AND I CAN'T SEE SHIT...HAVE YOU GOT THE LETTER N YET”

“no, they’re spawning one in for me”

“could them maybe I don’t know speed up the process”

yeah you ended up losing that game and got knocked down the 4th good news is it was only by a couple hundred points

next up was ace race

“do yous reckon Scott's tested this map”

“aren’t you his head twitch mod”

“you’re right I'll message him and find out”

luckily you all managed to do pretty well, Tommy was off to a great start you tubbo and ranboo weren’t far behind you all agreed to follow each other rather than the crowd which paid off as when everyone else went the wrong way rather than following you all managed to go the right way thanks to ranboo yelling he thinks that he knows where to go and thankfully he was correct which put Tommy first tubbo second ranboo third and you fourth, you all ended up lapping people on your final lap and honestly, none of you guessed this would happen but you weren’t exactly complaining. a few moments later you all crossed the finishing line and were the first team to finish giving you the bonus points you needed to push you to second place

“did you know since I first got into mcc I would put y/ns name down for who I wanted to play with”

“TOMMY OH MY GODDDD”

a few seconds later you showed up on Tommy's face cam as you ran over to him giving him a hug

“you’re doing great y/n we might get into dodgebolt”

“dude we’re winning this shit”

soon enough it was time for the last game (unless you got into dodgebolt) and luckily it was to get to the other side

“we've got this we have actually got this we’re going to get to dodgebolt”

you stuck with Tommy for almost every round mainly because speed bridging wasn’t for you. you were all doing great you were the first team to finish for multiple rounds however you were also the last team to finish for a few rounds

“boys I'm not sure if we’ll get through”

“We all had fun”

“if we get into dodgebolt we’re going to be against dream”

“WILL YOU ALL FUCKING FOCUS”

“no- OW TOMMY HIT ME WITH A PEN”

“IT WAS THE CLOSEST THING WOULD YOU RATHER I CHUCK MY COMPUTER MOUSE”

“will you two quit fighting we’re about to find out the final scores.”

3..2..1

“oh my god”

“what the fuck”

“ranboo and y/n are about to play dodgebolt”

“LETS GO WHAT THE FUCK”

you all did it you successfully kept 2nd place somehow now all you had to do was win dodgebolt against dream George sapnap and quackity. safe to say you and ranboo were nervous as fuck and rightfully so as you all lost the first game

“let’s be serious we need to focus now”

you all won the next round

“LETS FUCKING GO WE'VE GOT THIS”

it was now the third round Tommy and tubbo were now out it was you and ranboo against dream and sapnap

“bruh were fucked ranboo”

ranboo took aim and somehow hit sapnap whilst you took a moment to type a message in chat

y/n: it’s my first mcc how do you feel knowing you’re about to lose

it was now your turn to take aim and Tommy yelling in the background wasn’t helping you and the yelling made you shoot before you were ready luckily ranboo picked up an arrow and was able to hit dream, it was now 1 vs 2 if you won this round you would all be the champions and that’s exactly what happened you all quit yelling at each other hell you muted the discord call so you could focus all you could hear was Tommy next to you occasionally supporting you

“come on y/n final round. you’re about to win your first mcc I’m so proud of you”

“you’re doing amazing Tommy thank you for everything now let’s win this thing”

and just like that, it was over Tommy took the final shot and hit sapnap

you all unmuted the four of you yelling

“TOMMY TUBBO RANBOO I'M SO PROUD OF YOU GUYS”

“WE DID IT WE FUCKING DID IT”

“OH MY GOD”

“WELL DONE EVERYONE”

this time Tommy ran over to you pulling you into a hug he was genuinely so proud of you and the others

“you did it y/n you won your first mcc that’s amazing”

“I couldn’t have done it without you or the others I love you all”

after talking to the other teams and ending stream

you and Tommy stayed on call with tubbo and ranboo

“you two need to make your way back here”

“me and y/n could probably catch a train if we’re very quick”

you nodded and quickly grabbed everything you needed thankfully your good luck hadn’t come to an end yet as you and Tommy were able to catch one of the last trains, Tommy had an arm around you as he noticed you were getting tired after all you did just go through the stress of your first mcc to over 170k viewers you ended up falling asleep on his shoulder a few hours passed and you were at the last stop Tommy lightly tapped your shoulder

“hey y/n were here tubbo and ranboo are waiting for us over there…let’s go celebrate this win shall we”

an: do not publish my work :)

taglist:

@emma0nline @fuzzycloudsz @wtfwriter @bearytime @milkydisaster @dumb-chaotic-bi-energy @uselesssapphickitten @l0ver0fj0y @etheriaaly @xx-smiley-xx @hawarun @kylobensgirl @cawcaw-pretty-thing @reverse-iak @renleicrashed @augustine-is-joy @c1loudee

397 notes · View notes

snoopdoodle · 3 years ago

Note

Could o requests some tony stark and male reader where the reader was a top worker at SI but then peter came around and now he isnt seen/recognized as much, and tony just walks in on male!reader crying? Hope You can do it, love your writing so far :p

SOBS I LOVE THIS- also I think I tried really hard on this, so :] i hope it was up to your standards, and please tell me if you enjoy !! this was my first Tony request, so I tried really hard :} also I went really angsty for this so-

----

Tell Him Later

SECOND PART - Part 2

platonic!Tony Stark x male!reader

pronouns: he/him

summary: life had been hard for you, but your escape is Stark Industries. What happens when your escape turned against you too?

WARNINGS: divorce, blood, panic attacks, scratching at skin

“No!” You yelled as your project flew off to the other. Tony was cackling while holding his stomach. “O-Oh my go-o-o-od…” He dragged out between laughter. His hand slapped the table and there were tears in his eyes. He was breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath again and you looked over at him. “Tony! It isn’t funny! It’s gonna break!” You yelled back at him, although this was the wrong choice as he doubled over in laughter. The table was a mess and you were near tears of laughter from the situation and anger for your project not working. “O-Ok.. come on kid l.. Hehe… let’s get back to working on this… what is this?” He spoke, looking at the mangled robot. He thought it would make you laugh, but it sadly did the opposite. You frowned, your face leaning into your hands as you sighed.

“Tony…” you spoke. You felt tired and upset. Lately things haven’t been going well at home, so the Industry was your only escape. You mother had been yelling at your dad more, for stupid things that he didn’t even do most of the time! The sun beamed down in the lab, signaling that your escape-hours were ending. “Sorry, Tony. I gotta go, Mom’s been wanting me home earlier.” You spoke, lying through your teeth. There was a hint of dread in your already tired sounding voice. ‘Why do things never go as planned for me..?’ You asked yourself in your head. You frowned as your nose felt warm. That was a signal that you would start crying soon. It always happened, and you didn’t know why. Maybe it was genetic.

Tony looked at you, his eyes softening. “Hey, kid… you know, you can talk to me whenever you want.” He spoke, patting your shoulder. You stifled a cry and nodded, your voice was weak with the feeling of tears welling up in your eyes. Tony pat your shoulder again. That was your que. You sped out of the lab room, backpack on your back and your headphones plugged into your phone. You turned on your Spotify playlist as you listened to the opening. Your tears fell at the song. Freaks by Surf Course. You smiled as the song played and as the tears fell down your face. ‘Maybe tomorrow,’ you thought to yourself, ‘maybe tomorrow I’ll tell Tony what’s been happening.. Maybe he can help me.’

It didn’t happen tomorrow. Or the Next day. Or the Next. Tony was gone. ‘Probably fighting... he’s an Avenger, after all. Just hope he stays safe.’ You would tell yourself. Tony came back, although it was after 2 weeks. He brought this kid with him. You thought nothing of it, probably a newbie, maybe he’s showing him around? ‘Weird, how’d he get accepted at this time?’ That question popped in your head so many times, it was almost like the plague. It was strange… eh, whatever. You’d tell Tony what was happening during your lab time today.

‘He didn’t show up…. He didn’t show up! What was happening? Maybe that new kid was asking him a bunch of questions. He'll be back tomorrow.’

Why do you get your hopes up?

2 weeks. It had been 2 weeks since he had turned up to your daily lab time. Your parents had gotten the divorce they needed, but you were still in shambles. The divorce was ugly too. Screaming from both sides, including some yelling from you. However, you were still turning up to work everyday as this would go down at home. Somehow you had remained at the top of the leaderboards in Stark Industries. The first place rank thing, that was the only keeping you motivated to work. You wanted to be like how Tony had described you, “the son he never had.” But there was this one kid, Peter Parker. He had passed your name and made it to first place.

You cried when that happened. It wasn’t even something to cry over, you just bursted out in tears. At other times, this would motivate you, but without Tony’s words of encouragement and with what was happening in your life, it brought you down into a new low. You were full on sobbing, your head ached from the tears, your hands were numb from working. Your eyes hurt and you were sure the whole building could hear your cries. “Why won’t you stop crying, Y/N?! You’re such a baby, mom was right!” you yelled at yourself, crying even more at the thought. Your hands tore at your hair and your breathing got heavier. It was to the point where your chest had hurt and your ears were ringing, but you continued to spew hateful words at yourself. You could barely hear Tony yelling for you.

Tony had been walking down the halls of Stark Industries. He saw that Peter had beat you, and was shocked and proud of him. He wanted to see how you were doing, because he knew that you could bounce back to be even better… or so he thought. When he heard crying, he thought you had hurt yourself, so he turned to the supply closet near the room that he had passed. He waltzed over to there speedily, hoping the injury wasn’t too bad. But when he heard “Why won’t you stop crying, Y/N?! You’re such a baby, mom was right!” come out of your mouth, he clutched onto the med kit and ran to your lab room. When he got there, he was shocked, frozen in place.

Your desk was a wreck and you were full on sobbing. You were tearing at your hair and you had blood coating your hands. ‘That’s… from his scalp..’ Tony realized, his eyes growing wider at the thought. He jogged over to you, noticing your breathing was getting heavier by the second. “JARVIS, What’s wrong with him?!” Tony demanded as he called out to you. “K-kid… hey, can you hear me?!” You looked up with a dead look in your eyes. He was scared for your health, your head was bleeding at an alarming rate from the way you had scratched at it. “It appears he’s suffering through a panic-attack right now, sir. From what is happening, it looks like he will need medical assessment for his scalp.” JARVIS spoke, informing that man who was trying to get your attention.

Tony looked at you, and then around. “W-well how do I help him?!” Tony stuttered back. He couldn’t handle his own anxiety attacks, how was he supposed to help someone through a panic attack?! “Try to get his breathing levels at a normal rate, sir. It could help tremendously.” JARVIS informed. ‘O-Ok..’ Tony tried, you were still scratching at your scalp, the blood was dripping from your hands onto the ground. Your breathing was still heavy. He grabbed your shoulders, and in the calmest voice he could, he started speaking. “Hey, kiddo, look at me. Look, follow my breathing.” You sort of followed, your breathing wasn’t steady in the slightest, and you could barely hear him, but you were trying.

He smiled at the attempt, but still made you follow it. 4 in, 6 hold, 5 out. It probably wasn’t the right breathing method, but it was working. It took 13 minutes for you to get your breathing steady. Tears were still flowing from your eyes, and blood had stained your hair. Tony held your shoulder and you started to feel the pain in your scalp increasing. “I-I’m sorry, Tony…” You spoke, hiccupping during your words. Tony turned over to you, shocked at what you had said. “What do you mean you’re sorry, Kid?” He asked, the worry in his eyes showing. “I was acting like a child, I should’ve been better…” At this point you were spewing all the nonsense out of your mouth that your brain could come up with. Tony was confused at your words and patted your shoulder, stopping your rant.

“Kid, you don’t have to apologize for a panic-attack. You were, and probably are still hurting. Mentally and physically, which by the way, we should get you checked up.” He cut himself off, which made you laugh. “JARVIS-” He spoke, but the AI cut him off before he could speak. “I’ve already gotten medical help, sir. The wait will be 2-3 minutes.” Tony smiled, as you yawned. “Kid, don’t you dare fall asleep, cause I don’t want you dying on me.” Tony spoke, seriousness in his voice as he was keen on keeping you awake and alive. You lulled your head over, sleepily, but your head was hurting. “I want to rest…” You spoke, tired. “Nope, MEDIC!” He yelled as he plucked you from your spot in the ground, alerting the medic of where you two were.

Yeah, you’d tell him later.

#x male reader #tony stark x male!reader #platonic!tony stark #male!reader #avengers #avengers x reader #avengers x male reader #platonic!tony stark x male reader

327 notes · View notes

marshmurmurs · 3 years ago

Note

hey. hey psst. grian & purpled friends au is a banger. you um, you got any more? mayhaps?

Ok so you're gonna have to bear with me for aa few moments since this au is made by someone who hasn't watched Evo in a hot second and someone who I believe hasn't yet finished watching it, so we are mostly working off of fanon and my terrible memory for Watcher stuff

With that said, you've heard of Watcher!Grian, now get ready for Watcher!Purpled too :D

So you’re probably wondering how in the world we got here. It started with Peggy mentioning that Purpled got a clean view of both Tommy’s duel with Dream and Phil taking out Wil. That’s enough for me to start the Watcher propaganda babey!!!

“They watch but cannot be seen”

I'm pretty sure I yoinked this quote from a sign that showed up in some Watcher thing at some point. Purpled sure does watch. I also believe he has done some messing around with replay mod to see inside the prison or something? So yeah, Watcher boy be looking. And the “cannot be seen” part? He’s constantly falling into the background, almost forgotten, and maybe it's in his very nature.

Grian and Purp were both Watchers, though their time as Watchers only briefly overlapped. Purpled was already a Watcher during Evo times, having been picked up by the Watchers while traveling the void in his spaceship. They had promised him he would become something greater than himself, he would be part of something important, he would have a legacy. Purpled went along with them, at first, it wasn’t like he really had anything better to be doing. Besides, the magic and wings he got out of the deal were pretty cool.

It was when the Watchers started looking to recruit Grian that Purpled started to question why he was there. That legacy they promised him, he wasn't sure if they ever delivered on that. If anything, it was the Watchers that were benefiting off of him. The Evolutionists were the only people who were confident in their existence, and even then, they only knew of the group as a whole. They had no idea how many of them there were or of any of the individuals within. He doesn’t think that was ever what he wanted out of joining the Watchers... He wasn’t actually sure what he had wanted out of them.

Purpled noticed the Watchers focusing their attention on Grian, he saw how they worked to break down his will to rebel. Sure, he had joined them, but it wasn't like he had been told all their rules upfront. Naturally the guy who had continuously tested the limits of their patience when they had been some unknown power wouldn’t stop that just because he was one of them now. Grian would push the limits of what he was allowed to do, finding loopholes, dancing around the rules, and even outright breaking them at times. The two interacted a few times and Purpled liked the guy well enough. He liked him enough to break the rules himself and not report Grian when he caught him breaking some rules, he even pointed out a few spots in the rules where the phrasing could be exploited. Still, he recognized the opportunity Grian’s presence provided him. Purpled was no longer the newest Watcher, no longer constantly under their gaze. He could just leave, and if he was smart about it, he could get away and have plenty of time before anyone noticed.

So he did. With a final o7 to Grian, Purpled left. Their final encounter within the Watchers domain went something like this:

Purpled: Hey do you want some advice?

Grian: Sure

Purpled: *walks away never to be seen again within the Watcher’s domain*

It was only later that Grian realized what the advice was, long after he began sneaking out, began testing the limits of what he could do. It was long after he figured out that an eye couldn't really look within itself and he could use the very powers the Watchers had given him to hide himself from them, long after he'd made his own domain, long after he'd slipped away to a land he created specifically to stay out of their sight and reach that he realized what the advice was. Purpled had left. His advice was to leave. Grian had—albeit unknowingly—followed that advice.

Purpled had taken a much different method to getting away. Instead of making himself untraceable, he hid in plain sight. He went to Hypixel and made a name for himself playing Bedwars. With each game he won, with each game he clutched, he amassed supporters. Players, believers and doubters alike, began to bet on the outcome of his matches. Purpled had made himself seen. He knew the Watchers knew he was there, but that was the point. They couldn’t reach him, not without breaking their own rules, at least. Unlike the two Players turned Watchers, the original Watchers cared deeply for and were bound by their rules. Even if they had tried anything, Purpled managed to create his own legacy, making for himself what they never could. Beyond that, he'd found friends, he'd built a community, surrounded himself with people who would look for him and make themselves a problem for the Watchers if they tried to make him go back. They were forced to sit by and do nothing as he continuously broke their most important rule.

Purpled didn't need the Watchers, he never did.

Grian didn't really know how he felt about the Watchers. He didn't think he hated them, not really. The Watchers had given him a taste of true freedom then immediately began to restrain him. They'd given him wings and the power to create worlds in mere seconds, something which would not only take a regular Admin a much longer time, it would require a significant amount of preparation. He was given the world at his fingertips but was limited by the long list of rules the Watchers enforced. He doesn't regret joining them—he wouldn't give up his wings for the world—but they just weren't enough. The more they tried to make him fit their mold of a perfect little Watcher, the more sure of that he became.

It was almost funny, the Watchers had become stricter in order to prevent another Purpled situation. They were trying to ensure Grian wouldn’t leave them too, but in doing so, they had given him reason to. He was a bit curious though, he wondered what Purpled was up to now. Grian hadn’t gotten news about him since he’d left the Watchers.

So Grian went to Hypixel, he wanted to see if he could track down Purpled. He knew the other was there, judging by the leaderboards, but he couldn’t seem to catch him around the hub. He managed to track down gamblers betting on Purpled's victories. Grian followed that lead, tailing the person who was updating them on the results of Purpled's matches. Somehow that person continued to find intel without Grian catching where Purpled was. It made no sense, and if he was being honest with himself, it had long since reached the point of being frustrating. Eventually, after an infuriating amount of dead ends Grian decided he may as well play a few games before calling it a day and heading home. He tried a few solo matches of bedwars and while PvP wasn't really his thing, he had to admit throwing fireballs at people was pretty fun.

Grian finding Purpled wasn't even intentional on his part. At that point he wasn’t even actively looking or playing the game properly. He’d simply started building houses after politely asking people to leave him alone with varying levels of success. After a few games, he received a friend request from the person who had won the last match with a message inviting him to join them for some doubles. Grian accepted after a moment of thought, they seemed polite enough. They had left him for last when it would’ve been way easier and much more convenient to just continue their clockwise sweep.

It didn’t take Grian long to realize that his new companion was nicked, though to be fair, he was too. It’s not that he particularly cared when someone was nicked, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. There was something about this person, the way they held themself, the general energy around them, something that just felt so familiar. Try as he might, though, Grian couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

It was when he noticed the absolute confidence and ease in which his companion threw themself into the void that Grian finally gave in to his curiosity. Players usually avoid the void, and even if they did jump into it for strategic purposes, he's never seen anyone

recover as fast as his companion did. While they ran off to go stab someone who was getting too close to their area for comfort, Grian tried to look past their disguise. He was met with resistance, surprisingly. Usually looking past a Player being nicked was no issue. He pushed harder, it was more than just curiosity at this point, he needed to know who this was, why they were able to resist him. Somehow the results were worse this time. Grian realized with increasing bewilderment that he could no longer even see his companion. His teammate was just gone, there one moment and gone the next.

Grian blinked away the purple in his eyes, focusing on his surroundings. There were no new bridges leading away, his teammate was still in the game, and they hadn't died. Where could they have gone? He continued to scan the island when he was suddenly hit with the overwhelming sense of being watched. There, standing beside him was his teammate, eyes glowing the same purple Grian's had moments before.

"Something wrong, Grian?"

It all clicked for him then. His nicked companion was the guy he had been looking for the entire time, he’d only just now decided to reveal himself. Of course Grian’s Watcher abilities hadn’t helped, Purpled had way more power here than he did. He was just a guest in the other’s domain, he never had a chance of finding him if he hadn’t wanted to be found.

“Y’know, you could have been a lot clearer.”

“Rule 7. Besides, you figured it out, didn’t you?”

Once they reunited, the two realized they still got along well. They agreed to keep in contact, and they did. Grian would sometimes hop onto Hypixel to join Purpled for a few games—always nicked, they didn’t want the Watchers to realize they were in contact— and other times he'd drag him off to a creative world to challenge him to a game of build swap or various flying courses he’d created. The two often swapped tips and tricks for things they were good at. Grian would give Purpled lessons on building, block palettes, and flying (he argued the other only ever really using his wings while voiding didn’t count). In exchange, Purple would try to give him advice on various things he’d picked up from playing bedwars: block clutches, speedbridging, and general PvP.

When Purpled was invited onto the DreamSMP, he was fairly excited. He loved what he had going on with Hypixel and his friends there, but part of him had always wanted this. Ever since he was with the Watchers, overlooking everything on Evo and worlds before that, part of him had wished to be on the other side of things. This desire only grew stronger as he heard the tales of what Grian got up to on Hermitcraft.

The Dream SMP was nothing like he expected it to be. It turned out to be a hardcore world, only 3 “lives” allowed per player. There were also seemingly infinite respawns, though, which made no sense. He wasn’t sure which was more annoying: the unclear respawn rules or the fact that he was never told about them before he agreed to join.

Besides that, there was also some entity with a great amount of power, even more than the admin himself. Purpled had noticed their presence fairly quickly upon joining and he was immediately on edge. He had no information on the being, their power, their motives, nothing. And that felt dangerous. Purpled had unintentionally ended up falling back into old habits from working with the Watchers as he tried to establish himself in this world. He claimed land for his own, carving out his own domain within that of the unknown god while trying to avoid catching their attention. Eventually, once he was comfortable enough within the world, he began trying to reach out, trying to get involved in the things that were happening. He heard there was a war brewing, and if he learned anything from Grian, things were about to get really fun.

They didn’t.

His attempts to involve himself mostly failed, so he went back to doing what he had before. He claimed more and more land and continued watching over events from the sidelines. Things got serious, conflicts got personal, and unless he was directly pulled in by someone he considered a friend, Purpled just watched.

Anyway my excuse for whatever is going on with their designs is that Watchers can control how they are perceived. This is my city and I want them to have cool wings. Also Peggy was supposed to be my impulse control but the memo got lost in the mail and she never got it, so she enabled me instead. Now we have both funky dragon/parrot vibes on Grian and vague alien/phantom/vex vibes on Purpled

#ask #mcyt #grian #purpled bedwars #dreamsmp #hermitcraft #marsh tries #says marsh #writing is pain #gonna go play mc now to cope #au hours #ill come up with an actual name for this au at some point #but that is not now

97 notes · View notes

michelemoutons · 3 years ago

Text

and at last, the post that maybe three people maximum have been waiting for...

em's comfort retro rally videos: a masterlist!

in a much-needed return to this blog's roots, and as an antidote to all motorsport- and life-related chaos, i now present to you: the first edition of em's favorite retro rally videos!

general disclaimer/info: these videos mainly come from the group B era of the world rally championship (wrc), which generally speaking was in the '80s. i am only human, so expect a lot of bias toward my personal favorites...which will become very apparent as you read this list hehe. also i'm not even gonna pretend to be an expert on this or anything. a lot of these are literally just based on Vibes

table of contents

i. my top 5 rally coverage videos

mainly coverage for television, recorded on VHS and uploaded to YouTube by some truly incredible people

ii. honorable mentions

not rally coverage, but retro rally videos nevertheless

often documentaries, mini-doc features, interviews

for all videos, i have indicated the language (most are in english fyi); if any links fail or videos disappear, send me an ask or DM and i'll remove the culprit/find an alternative link.

and now, onward!

(TW for occasional flash photography in many of the night sequences of the videos, as well as a gif included in this post)

i. my top 5 rally coverage videos

in which my bias toward audi sport, mouton/pons, mikkola, toivonen, and vatanen are put on blast for all to see 🥴 i am not an expert in anything i am just very good at research and a whore for aud—[SNIPED]. for the sake of brevity, i narrowed my favorites down to 5. maybe another time i will share all the rest!

also, a general note about the commentary: sometimes, the commentary around michèle and fabrizia can get... weird. keep in mind, they were the most prominent female team partnership around that time, and the first to nearly clinch a wrc wdc, and to modern ears, the commentators really didn't know how to act around them. personally, it wasn't horrible for me, i just ignored the weirder bits, but i understand if others might find it off-putting. also for the sake of your sanity don't read the comments.

5. Rally of the 1000 Lakes, 1984 | finland

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: vatanen/alén/toivonen (full final results)

comments: this was definitely a rally for most of audi sport's drivers to forget: bar stig blomqvist, who came quite close to the podium finishers with a 4:14:01 to henri toivonen's 4:12:57! both hannu mikkola and michèle mouton had to retire from the race, which may lead you to wonder: why does this rank among my favorites? well, it's always fun to watch group b rally cars sailing through the air against picturesque scenery, and this video also contains an intriguing (at least for me!) look at the scrutineering process, with drivers at their most casual.

owie :( they were fine though!

4. Lombard RAC Rally, 1981 | britain

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: mikkola/vatanen/blomqvist (full final results)

comments: hannu winning by 11 whole minutes even after rolling his car in the middle of the forest is actual legend behavior! anyway this was michèle's first wrc outing in britain, and even though she and fabrizia had to retire, they still did quite well, consistently running high in the leaderboards after the first few stages. and that's considering the fact that michèle had a bad cold for much of the rally and had to ask fabrizia to drive the car to service park for her at one point bc she was so tired. which fabrizia did... with a pencil in her mouth. lot of big names in one video—also, jean todt makes an appearance as a co-driver!

shamelessly poached off of one of my text post edits

3. Marlboro Safari Rally, 1983 | kenya

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: vatanen/mikkola/mouton (full final results)

comments: ok can i just say how stunning the video presentation is?? the opening sequence is just!!! the shots of the wildlife! the sprinting giraffes! wow! anyway the visual of drivers in deck chairs just tickles me for no reason, and michèle please tell me what you ask for at the hairdresser's and also where you got that orange blouse (this is obviously not just specific to this rally, she always eats and leaves no crumbs). this was michèle's first entry and only finish in kenya (and of course it was a podium mwah). it was also her last wrc entry in the A1 quattro, as she switched to the A2 for the rest of her program in the '83 season. also this is one of my favorite podium pictures ever.

lksdjffnnkd there's almost too much to unpack... fabrizia somehow surviving in high waist jeans in a hot car... michèle's do-it-yourself shorts... this podium picture was the subject of a very frantic video chat conversation between myself and a friend at 2am a few months ago

2. Rallye de Portugal, 1982 | portugal

links: short recap (eng) | overall coverage 1, stuck in the middle of two other rallies. timestamps in descrip. (eng) | overall coverage 2, very vibey with cool music (ita... also peep walter röhrl speaking italian)

podium: mouton/eklund/wittmann (full final results)

comments: GOD I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH AAAA! michèle's first podium of '82 being a win? this rally being the one where there's footage of her going shopping with fabrizia afterward? (more on that later) them winning by 13 whole minutes? and that's not even considering THEE most poetic victory ceremony of all time! in fact let me talk about that bc the racing and the win aside, that's why it's so high up on my list! literally poetic cinema! it's night, they're standing on top of the car and floodlit and surrounded by cheering crowds but they may as well be the only ones there in their own little world, laughing at each other and barely even having to look to each other when they're raising their hands—like god! shut up! we get it you're besties 😭

i_just_think_theyre_neat.png

and now... last but certainly never least...

1. Lombard RAC Rally, 1982 | britain

link: overall coverage (eng)

podium: mikkola/mouton/toivonen (full final results)

comments: firstly, if you were to ask me about my dream podium, this would be it. hands down, across all series of motorsport, my comfort podium would be hannu, michèle, and henri in any order. (there's such a cute picture of them from this rally on pinterest, standing in order on a staircase. henri is not looking at the camera because he is laughing at something michèle is saying and it's such a Vibe but i cannot find it wah). the battle for second between michèle and henri ran down to literally the last stage, and their times are separated by seconds, which is just wild to me. the context of this rally deserves another post, which i honestly don’t have the energy to make rn, but just take my word for it that it threatens to destroy me if i think about it too hard! anyway this is just such an awesome rally and i’ve watched this video so many times haha

i love this rally so much that i actually had a character in a story i was writing attend the ceremony captured in this picture as a small child and made it a formative moment in her life. no, there is nothing wrong with me.

ii. honorable mentions

(is it obvious who my faves are? yikes)

'Group B - Avec Michele Mouton' (eng) - taken from a longer feature presentation about group b, a segment specifically about michèle. a friend once described its vibes as ‘a synth wave edit of an 80s anime set in a cyberpunk world about racing’

'1983 Audi Sport National Rally with Michele Mouton' (eng) - in which michèle takes journalist sue baker as a co-driver for a spin in an A1 and a rally win. fun behind-the-scenes video

'Intervista a Fabrizia Pons, la Regina delle Note' 1, 2, 3 (ita) - very thorough interview which is mostly fabrizia telling all sorts of stories, including the very entertaining story of how she found out she was going to be michèle’s co-driver. also what a badass title

'2008 Otago International Classic Rally' (eng) - THE BESTIES REUNITE THE BESTIES REUNITE!!! michèle and fabrizia reunite for a rally that fabrizia convinced michèle to join, they suffer some problems but there are plenty of wholesome bestie moments to be had

'Michele Mouton hurls Group B Audi Quattro up Goodwood hill' (eng) - i mean, self explanatory. the sound of the chirping tires? asmr could never. very short watch if you want a quick pick-me-up

'1990 Louise Aitken-Walker feature' (eng) - a video featuring a female rally driver from scotland and her point-scoring run at the rallye monte -carlo. i am convinced that louise was john finnemore’s inspiration or at least an influence for the character of linda fairbairn. no my hat is not made of tin foil what are you talking about

hannu rocketing around michigan back in 2017 (eng)

hannu flying around goodwood in 2015 (eng)

sometimes i listen to fabrizia's recent onboards (yes, she's still at it!) and this one is one of my favorites, from 2016 (ita)

39 notes · View notes

theoneryderlynn · 3 years ago

Text

Ryder & Iris || Ready, Set... Race! 🏁

Location: Lima, Ohio.

Date: Christmas 2021.

Notes: Ryder & Iris compete in a family Mario Kart Christmas tournament @lifeofiris.

Ryder almost ran inside the Rose living room when he heard his name. As he entered the room, he tapped Gabe’s back in a friendly manner with a comment, “Dude, you’re doin’ well, but you know I’m gonna crush you.” He nudged the guy, and plopped on the floor, a controller in his hands, “This is so exciting guys. Who am I playing against now? I swear…BEST.CHRISTMAS.EVER.” The brunette commented, picking baby Mario as his character. It was just a small family competition, but as weird as it sounded in his head, it brought them together. Nothing better than classic, bonding activities.

Iris perked up "Me, me, me!" Iris replied excitedly to Ryder's question. This was a brilliant idea suggested by her almost nephew-in-law, Mario Kart was one of the few games iris could play and was surprisingly competitive at just like the rest of the Roses. Gabe handed her the controller saying she got this but giving Ryder an encouraging nudge. She picked Toadette as her racer. The tracks were randomised to make it more interesting. "I hope you're ready, Ry."

Ryder bounced with excitement as he watched Iris pick her racer, ready to duel, “I keep on forgetting how pink she is. She’s like…super pink. C’mon, baby Mario is the master here. Although…never mind, no racer shaming here.” he flashed Marley a quick smile as she left the room to spend some time with her mom. He knew he was rambling but that was typical for him, especially when he was excited, “I honestly can’t believe this is happening. Okay, okay. Here we go!”

Iris "Yeah but she's also super cute." Toadette was the racer she picked whenever she played, paired with racing in what Iris considered her lucky kart. She promised they'd play nicely, that was one of the ground rules laid out as they were setting up. Iris leant forward and gripped the controls, she was focusing. "Was that your best Mario impression?" she teased.

Ryder “Hey, how about a chocolate Mario collection?! Just imagine a chocolate Toadette; she could be SO AMAZING. Woah, people may actually buy tons of these.” Ryder widened his eyes when this specific idea had just popped into his mind. Okay, he really needed to focus, “No distractions.” He took a deep breath, tilting his head to the side when he heard Iris’ comment, “Impressions ain’t my thing. I’m more of a gamer.” The brunette grinned, looking back at the screen.

Iris "Genius, Ryder, genius. You'd probably be the one to buy tons of it but that also means you'd have to eat Baby Mario," she pointed out with a shrug, "who by the way does actually kind of look like you, I see it." No distractions, right. She also needed to focus. Somehow Iris wasn't off to a good start, in 7th but she'll blame the track. "Com'on powerups! I need a good one. Umm sorry but how are you in third already?" Clearly she'd underestimated Ryder's skills.

Ryder “Well, if it’s a white chocolate baby Mario then you know I’d eat the hell out of it.” Ryder stated philosophically, he knew Iris liked creative ideas so he thought he’d share one of his. Ryder barely blinked when he focused on the screen, squeezing his controller as much as he could, “Suck it, Koopa Troopa, here I come!” He screamed as he moved past one of the racers, “What?” He asked, he was so into the game that he barely noticed Iris’ question, “Wait and see, it’s just the beginning.” He grinned when he collected another coin.

Iris "I mean seriously, we've been playing for like two minutes." Iris drove into a powerup box "Com'on, com'on, com'on," she said as her powerup was being generated - banana skins. "Haha, take that, Baby Peach!" She exclaimed as she drove past her, firing a banana skin backwards in her direction. They also made for good defence. Then she bumped into Waluigi so was now in 5th place and climbing up the leaderboard but with Waluigi on her tail. Iris whined, "Go away, I wanna catch up to baby Mario."

Ryder “Go away,” Ryder grumbled as he almost bumped into a Yoshi, “Dude, seriously, this is a family battle, I gotta get my powerups; go away and race someone else.” The brunette shuffled closer towards the screen for no particular reason, “Two minutes?!” He asked, suddenly facing a perfect opportunity to drift, it felt like they were playing for at least an hour, “Here we goooo!!!” He screamed excitedly, grabbing another banana skin as he made a perfect move, and drove past the Yoshi that was still racing way too close to him, “Ha, here’s the master, bro! I’m second now!”

Iris: "Hey don't dis, Yoshi!" Gabe shouted, eyes glued to the race and making Iris jump a little because she was so engrossed in the game she forgot people were watching. "Ooh mom's gaining on you, Ry."

Iris "Yeah I am!" Iris chimed in bouncing off of Gabe's comment and firing a heat seeking red shell. "I don't know, I've lost all concept of time," she said, too into it. "Not for long someone just fired a blue shell.... INCOMING!"

Ryder “No offense, my bud, this one was just being super annoying. He was obviously playing dirty. Your Yoshi is way cooler.” Ryder mused with a slight shrug. If he wasn’t playing, he would probably tap Gabe’s shoulder to reassure the younger guy, “Just a lil bit, I’m still way ahead.” Hearing about the shell, Ryder took a deep breath. They were halfway through, he was doing so well, he had to make sure the evil creature wouldn’t ruin his effort, “Okay everybody…RUN!!”

Iris At the almighty noise that came from the other room in reaction to the flying shell, Millie and her daughter popped their heads around the door wondering what was going on. "It's very intense," Breeze told before shouting over the noise to protect Baby Mario because he's only a baby. Gabe rolled his eyes at her. "Oooft that's gotta hurt," Iris cringed squinting to look at the damage it had caused Ryder but when she looked he had seemed to recover quite well because he was still in second place. "How is that possible?! Who threw that shell? I think it was King Boo. Was it King Boo?"

Ryder As the other family members gathered to see how they were doing, Ryder knew he needed to prove that he was the clear winner of this race, “Babe, I’m crushin’ it.” He told Marley, trying to sound as confident as he could. Man, this was going to be intense. As the shell had hit him, Ryder laid down and hit the ground with his back. He was gripping his controller so hard that his fingers started to hurt, “Damage control, damage control.” He kept on repeating, he had no idea how he managed to maintain the second position, “I think so. That was nasty as hell!”

Iris "He's not kidding, he really is," Breeze told Marley whilst Iris sushed her. "Ryder, you live to race another race but dude losen your grip your hands are turning as red as Mario's hat." One lap to go, the final stretch, Iris so close to being in 4th and Ryder somehow maintaing second. Will he steal 1st away from Donkey Kong? That was the question and everyone was eager to see how it'd play out.

Ryder “That’s how I roll, Iris.” Ryder told his opponent he couldn’t help it, he was usually very emotional and excited during such competitions. It was one of the most challenging games he’d ever played because he’d got hit by a blue shell and hadn’t lost his position yet. He used a triple banana powerup, and waited for the final drift, “Here you are…” Ryder mumbled when he noticed the Donkey Kong, “It’s now or never!”

Iris Everyone was cheering Ryder on as he got closer and closer to overtaking Donkey Kong and claiming 1st place in this game that had felt like it'd been going on forever with all its twists and turns. Even Iris was cheering for him now, accepting her place in the rankings.

Ryder took a deep breath as he was approaching the final part of their race, luckily for him, he managed to nail the last drift and after a few seconds, he was leading, “He comes, he drifts, he wins!” Ryder screamed as baby Mario got to the end of their challenge. He waited for a moment until Toadette was done as well and raised his hand for a high five as he shuffled closer to Iris, “That was so cool! Thanks!”

Iris Everyone lost it as Ryder drifted at the last possible second to reach 1st. Gabe practically jumped on him and Marley wasn't going to miss her guy's big win. "That was a tough game! The best racer won." Iris beamed at him, returning the high five. "One minute you were here then you were there, I couldn't keep up! You really are good. I had a lot of fun."

Ryder felt the adrenaline still pumping through his veins as he won. He couldn't remember the last time when he was so relaxed and happy. "I told ya, my bro!" He patted Gabe's back and gave Marley a small kiss when she approached him, "Hellz yeah! This is what life's all about!" He added with a chuckle and passed his controller to Gabe, "Okay, it's Gabe versus Breeze now. Prepare for a clash of the titans. You got this, dude." He reassured and fist-bumped his buddy before moving to the side to hug Marley for a bit. "I'm gonna get a bit of hot chocolate; anyone wants some?" Ryder asked.

Iris: had meant it when she said she'd had a lot of fun. This is why she loved Christmas so much, being around family and that included Ryder. They didn't usually compete in a family game of Mario Kart but maybe that could become an annual tradition now. Ryder was good sport. "Oooh this I have to see. But first hot chocolate. Don't start without me. I'll come help you, Ry. Anyone want toppings? Pretty sure I saw a bowl full of Marshmallows and whipped cream and sprinkles in the kitchen."

Ryder knew that hot chocolate was one of the prominent family Christmas beverages, so just as he suspected, everyone was game for it, “I’m gonna need some help.” He replied, Iris was the best person to prepare their snacks. When Ryder entered the kitchen, his phone buzzed. His mother was making sure he was visiting the following day. He quickly responded to her text and started picking up the marshmallows that were already in the kitchen, “Uh, so hot chocolate, and some marshmallows and other stuff…” He mumbled distracted, he was happy to see his mom and his sister, but somehow he feared confronting his dad again.

Iris "See you're skilled at Mario Kart, this is where my skills shine." Iris got to work on making the hot chocolates. She glanced at Ryder when his phone buzzed and frowned when his demeanour changed. She wondered what the text had said. It would be a shame to bring the mood down now. "Everything okay?" She asked, trying not to pry.

Ryder “Hey, you’re pretty skilled too, you were a great opponent. You’re a cool aunt, so of course, you didn’t disappoint.” Ryder chuckled. “Yeah, it’s just my mom.” He shrugged, “I’m seeing my family tomorrow. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, my sister is one of my best friends in the world and I cannot imagine my life without her, but me and my dad…well, this is complicated.” He explained. Somehow this Christmas with Marley’s family was the best one he’s had in years.

Iris "Thank you, I've been practicing. And I can't disappoint-" she added with a smile, "it's Christmas."

Iris thought it was sweet how much Ryder cared for his mom and sister and she knew that deep down he probably cared for his father too but she also understood the complications that came with families. Every family was different. "It'll mean a lot to your mom that you're there. Show up for her. Families can be a complicated thing, Marley knows it too, but remember there will always be room for you in ours.”

Ryder nodded, his eyes stuck on the floor for a moment, “Yeah, this is one of the best Christmases I’ve ever had.” He confessed while putting some sweets into a bowl with a slight smile, “Thank you. I think you’re right, I love them and I know they wanna see me, so I gotta go and just be there for them.” Ryder closed his eyes for a moment, he shouldn’t have brought the mood down. Finally, he cleared his throat, “So, ready to watch another epic game? My money’s on Gabe.”

#para: iris #para: ready set race

3 notes · View notes

iaintyourbro · 4 years ago

Note

Hi! So I read the "Why I think Clerith doesn't work" post. It's a behemoth of an exchange but I'm glad I went through it! So much sense, insight and lovely politeness everywhere! It's a bit off on tangent but my takeaway is that FF7 would stay the same whether Clerith was romantic or platonic, but if Cloti wasn't romantic, the plot suffers big time. Like to the point that it would lose sense. Cloud not loving Tifa the way he does doesn't flow with the tapestry. 1/

That's not to say that Clerith relationship is unimportant but I guess to me it just drives the point further that it could only be Tifa for Cloud. OG Soldier!Cloud may or may not have had romantic feelings for Aerith and if he did, it indeed won't diminish his love for Tifa in any way. But those feelings are fake; Remake Aerith herself says this, OG Cloud himself comes to realize this. Those possible romantic feelings don't hold much substance (if any at all) post-Lifestream sequence. 2/7

It would be almost impossible for Cloud to think of Aerith romantically once he regains his true self because of Tifa and Zack. This development directly negates every moment he may have previously thought of as romantic. This development overwrites Soldier!Cloud's possible romantic interpretations as nothing more than being a decent person and a good friend. All of this tells me that to take Clerith romantically as a plot point would require some extra elbow grease 3/7

that you won't naturally find in the tapestry. To do so soundly, we would need something else that the devs didn't give us. That's not to say that Clerith being romantic is twisting canon to be what it's not, but rather it doesn't matter in the big picture. The story stands on solid ground as it does if they're platonic, and because Cloud's true love already exists in Tifa and they are ultimately endgame, then there's no need for Clerith to be romantic. 4/7

This is what I mean when I say Clerith romance would need something else, some extra elbow grease; it COULD be there but it's ultimately needless. Which in turn leads me to believe that the romantic possibility between them in OG was indeed put there purely for drama's sake and shock value. Some fans ran with that possibility mindlessly but that’s a different discussion. Bottom line is I think Clerith could either be romantic or platonic and it won't affect the plot all that much, 5/7

because the feeling that Cloud is left with as regards to Aerith is crushing guilt (which he thankfully works through in ACC and we can only assume he remembers her fondly as time goes on) while the feeling Cloud has for Tifa is abiding love, which drives his actions in the plot throughout the whole Compilation. /end LOL sorry this take is way too long but I so loved the whole exchange and it really tickled my last 2 brain cells. Thank you for that!! Stay safe and well ❤ 6/7

Uh, “why clerith doesn’t work” with the long ass ask here lol I’m so sorry to do this to you. But correcting/clarifyingone of stuff I said: Cloud and Tifa being “ultimately endgame”, I meant that they are endgame by the devs’ design. Them ending up together was intentional and not just because Aerith happened to die (just as her death was also intentional and by design). 😬 7/7 (?) lol

Hello Anon! You sent me in quite a thing, so let’s get to it! First, I’m glad you got to read through all of that. I think those types of discussions are really amazing especially when people do stay polite and do actually take other opinions into consideration.

I agree with you - Clerith being romantic or not doesn’t really matter overall to the plot. I think the problem that comes up is how extremist CAs deal with the whole thing. Some are okay with Cloud dying to be with Aerith. Some are okay with trashing Tifa - who is like the most important person in the world to Cloud, you find out - to diminish her character. They twist, erase, and lie about canon and story. That’s where shit gets nasty. But no, it wouldn’t matter plot wise either way.

Also I’m putting pictures in this post because they’re pretty. (The one below cracks me up.)

The relationship of those two is important. I think Aerith’s resolution is poorly interpreted because all of her lines aren’t taken in to consideration. The line “Don’t fall in love with me.” It’s bold. It insinuates something. It makes an assumption. It’s the follow up that’s more important to me... “Even if you think you have... it’s not real.” Boom. That is where it is - if you stop listening at the “L” word, this will be lost on you. This is used to foreshadow Cloud’s persona problem AND to say - the point of Aerith being seen as a romantic interest in OG was to show even more of the illusion that Cloud was under. Do I think they needed to make it romantic - no. I really don’t see it as very romantic in OG, but a lot of people disagree with me and that’s okay. Replaying it as an adult, I saw nothing substantial between those two. Early in OG, though, there’s nothing early on between him and Tifa either. Remake, uh... clearly changed that with Tifa.

Regarding Zack and Real!Cloud’s feelings for Tifa: I cannot think that Cloud would be like “well he’s dead so...” No. True!Cloud also has been pining over Tifa for years. His entire subconscious is filled with Tifa, Tifa, Tifa. They’ve translated this underlying feeling in Remake for SOLDIER!Cloud and how he acts around and reacts to Tifa. It’s like Real!Cloud isn’t gonna let him screw up too bad...

Most of the posts you see saying that Clerith is canon or Clerith was heavy in Remake ignore a lot of other scenes. I’ve seen all three resolution scenes. Multiple times. They’re all important. A lot of extreme shippers will not watch the scene with “the other chick” in them because it’s easier to sit in denial of it. Tifa’s resolution is the most intimate. She hugs him and he hugs her back. This is a huge development thing for Cloud. It also was confirmed that real Cloud was like “my turn” when she did that...

Barret’s resolution scene even has a Cloti moment in it regarding Al and his flowers, which is one of the most unexpected and hilarious reactions I saw out of Cloud. Barret’s resolution also covers some history on Avalanche and he gets to talk about the crew. You hear names that you can go back and see on the darts leaderboard on your next playthrough.

Aerith references the Highwind scene (above). The Highwind scene is the one everybody talks about when it comes to Cloud and Tifa. That and the Lifestream (I prefer the Lifestream, but Remake may... uh... make me change my mind... cuz horny jail and all that).

The one thing they did that was, to me, a huge difference from OG was push the romance envelope. So you get scenes like the train tunnel roll, that’s dripping with sexual tension. You get the scene in Tifa’s apartment if you do all of the quests (everybody should be doing ALL of the quests for ALL Chapters), you get another Cloti scene that’s tense. They have a lot of tense, slam in your face moments that I don’t know how people ignore.

If you look at some of these moments and have no clue what this scene is or what this game is about, you’re gonna have thoughts on what’s going on here. I have thoughts and I know what happens. This is one of those “pheewwww” scenes.

None of this was in OG - they kept the romance between Cloud and Tifa pretty much so subtle you’d have to squint to see the few times it happens before the end of Disc 2. The first time Cloud really comes out and says anything, it’s this:

If you ignore Tifa and think Aerith is all there is to see, this line will come out of left field. It still somewhat feels like its out of left field considering how light Cloti is before this point, but it’s like “I don’t care what anybody else thinks of me except you.” I do remember this slamming me in the face like “where’d this come from” and that’s when the illusion starts to spiral out of control. This works perfectly on your first playthrough and then enhances your second playthrough so you can see how many weird things you can point out to foreshadow what’s going on.

Also... Cloud’s illusionary world in the first half of the game is a major plot point that can’t be ignored. Ignoring it means you stopped playing the game before you get to this point. The player starts to feel anxious like something is wrong. You start to question everything, and then you do get resolution to this later on, and I love the way they did it.

But if you want to say Tifa isn’t a love interest, you need to throw the above scene out. Why would he care so much?

Or this. You would need to ignore the Lifestream. All of it. 90% of it is about Tifa. The other parts are about Zack and Sephiroth. But Tifa’s in that section of his mind too, because she almost dies.

FFVII is not a romance game. Especially not the OG. However love or romance is what drove Cloud to try to join SOLDIER, what drove Cloud to completely go ballistic when his mom is killed, his town burned down, and then he comes across an almost lifeless Tifa.

And then... Sephiroth somehow survives this. A Buster Sword going through his skinny ass... walks out and Cloud goes after him again.

Personally, my favorite rendition of the Cloud stabbing Sephiroth scene is Crisis Core because of the music, the way he walks in the room, and then boom.

If they do a mashup of the two: Have him walk in the room, just showing his legs, (and it feels so fucking arrogant the way he does it ughhh) have dramatic music playing, BUT have Sephiroth turn just at the last second like he does in OG so he sees it’s a grunt right away, and then have Cloud say the above line, which they removed from CC for some reason.

You should watch this scene and feel feelings like I do about the way he walks in there

Okay, anyway...

If Sephiroth had walked out of the reactor, he most likely would have run in to Zangan and killed him. My guess is, he would have found a way to recover from his massive would. Zangan wouldn’t have been able to get to Tifa and them, but you could say Cloud could have taken Tifa... but would he have left Zack? So many what ifs... but the point is, he legit goes nuts when he thinks Tifa is dead.

And so Sephiroth tries this again in Remake:

And Cloud also starts to go ballistic until he sees Barret and freezes. So Sephiroth is like “alright I just need him to break not start trying to murder me yet.”

Cloud is upset when Aerith dies. He blames himself. Hell, he almost killed her himself twice in OG. Of course he feels like shit. Of course he feels guilty. He feels she went to confront Sephiroth on her own because of what he did. But he doesn’t really do much after this. They resolve to go after Sephiroth, but he’s able to get through the Jenova fight, “bury” Aerith and go back to get some sleep at one of the abandoned homes.

When he thinks Tifa dies in Nibelheim, he gets stabbed through the fucking chest and somehow, this grunt kid, picks a 6′1″ dude up by just using sheer rage and willpower and throws him into the depths of the reactor. Like holy shit, what kind of feeling do you need to do that? And Cloud ultimately probably saved a lot of people early on doing that.

Cloti was endgame from the moment OG starts. You really don’t know it, though, for a long time. You also don’t fully grasp it the first time you play the game. If you replay it, you’ll see some subtle references to this, such as Cloud getting jealous in Costa del Sol if Tifa is talking to Johnny, Tifa holding Cloud when he sees Jenova in the Shinra building, the flashback he has of her during the second bombing mission, but that’s not enough to say “it’s obvious from the beginning.”

The story’s intent was to have them be endgame. The point of Aerith was to show more of the illusion (for Cloud). Aerith overall is the most important character plot wise. However, it doesn’t matter either way if people did or didn’t see romance between the Cloud and Aerith. The story plays out the same. What you can’t deny is Tifa’s importance to Cloud overall and how the story plays out...

In closing, though, there is NOTHING saying a person can’t like Clerith. Absolutely nothing. They just can’t claim it’s endgame or canon. It never was. The illusion was supposed to be broken. You were supposed to move on from her death. That was that - whether he romantically had feelings for her or not.

But Canon doesn’t mean best. If you don’t like a canon couple, nothing wrong with a fanon couple. People write some good shit for fanon. You just can’t attack, butcher, twist, lie, and bully to push your rhetoric as canon.

Thanks for sending the ask/comments in. I think it’s a great addition to the discussion!

#cloti #cloud x tifa #tifa lockhart #cloud strife #ff7r #ffviir spoilers #ff7r spoilers #final fantasy 7 remake

44 notes · View notes

illyrianwingspans · 5 years ago

Text

Do Not Go Gentle: Red Dust

Link to song: Red Dust (acoustic) by Vincent James McMorrow

Synopsis: Game night for the Inner Circle! What could possibly go wrong?

TW: Mentions of suicide and domestic abuse. Please read with caution.

Ao3 link

Chapter 18: Red Dust

“Another hotel on Pennsylvania avenue, please,” Mor asked sweetly. Sending her daggers with his eyes, Cassian chucked the red piece of plastic at the blonde who added next to the two others.

“Can she even do that?” Rhys demanded, searching the box for an instructions list.

We’d moved on from Monopoly after Rhys, Amren and I won at Pictionary. It wasn’t too hard, considering my sketching skills—Mor thought I was cheating after Amren guessed my rendition of the phrase “big brother’s watching”. It took her, unsurprisingly, lots of convincing that Pictionary was a very difficult game to cheat at, and that I was just a good artist.

“You’ve got quite the talent,” Rhys had commented at the end of the game. “Would you like to draw me some time?”

“I’m more of a painter than a sketch artist. And I’m afraid it would be a disgrace to my talent to try to render you.”

“Why? Because you can’t possibly capture my charm and beautiful looks?”

“No, because I don’t have a canvas big enough to fit your ego in.”

He’d laughed at that, and I’d managed a small, secret grin before we’d moved over to the living room where Cassian was already tediously setting up the Monopoly board. He'd even searched all of us, to see if somebody had smuggled some money up their sleeve while we weren’t looking. I’d thought it was completely ludicrous until he’d found a clump of rolled up fifties in Amren’s front pocket. She’d only smirked like a snake before dropping into her chair.

Only now, staring across the expanse of the board, I realized exactly how ruthless family game night was. It was a sea of hotels and houses, including my own properties—somehow I was better at handling fake money than real money and investments, and found myself neck and neck with Mor at the top of the leaderboard.

“We’re never letting her back here,” Cassian mumbled. “She’s a wizard, Rhys. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

“You’re just pissed because I bought Boardwalk before you.”

“I’m pissed because landing on your spot costs me two thousand dollars, Feyre.” He said before taking another sip of his scotch. They’d brought out one of Rhys’s older bottles after moving on to Monopoly. I was on my third glass of wine, and the effects were beginning to kick in. I couldn’t remember why I wasn’t allowed to drink in the first place.

I rolled a six and landed once again on boardwalk. I handed four fifties to Azriel and said, “Another hotel please.”

“This is why I hate Monopoly. You people hoard all of the properties then raise your rent so high I go bankrupt every time I turn the fucking corner.” Cassian said.

“It’s called capitalism, sweetie, and it’s a beautiful world.” Amren ostentatiously thumbed her stack of money, perched cross-legged on her chair across from me.

“Oh shut up, Amren, or I’ll kick your piece right to jail.”

“Touch my piece and you die, Cassian.”

“Ha! Chance! I get to claim three hundred dollars from the bank.” Rhys said, looking to Azriel. He was the only one anybody trusted to hand out the money.

“There’s no money left,” Azriel said, “the bank ran out last round after Amren passed Go.”

“Well print some more!” Rhys demanded. For the first five turns, he’d only landed on non-buying spaces and spent a few rounds in jail. His meagre two properties beside the Go space only had one house on them, and his stack was very, very thin.

“I can lend you some money,” Mor said sweetly, “if you give me a real raise.”

“Oh, piss off,” he muttered before passing me the die.

“It’s your turn Amren.” Azriel commented drily. He couldn’t complain, he was right behind Mor, Amren and I.

“You men are just jealous because the women are winning. How’s that for a wage gap?” She took the die in her hands and Cassian rolled his eyes.

“At least my wage gap is fictitious,” he said and slumped back against the couch.

“Watch it Cassian, because I make more than you.”

His eyes darted to hers. “Says who?”

Rhys sighed and buried his head in his hands.

“Says the many, many legal documents and payrolls I’ve been gazing over at work.”

“Okay, that’s it—” he went to pluck Amren’s piece, presumably to place her in jail, but Mor slapped his hand away.

“Don’t put your pig hands on her. Us women stick together.” Mor said, arms crossed. Cassian rolled his eyes.

“Exactly.” Amren said and rolled the dice.

“Exactly,” I added from my quiet corner with a nod of my head before taking a sip of wine.

“Fuck the patriarchy,” Mor chanted, fist raised in the air.

“Fuck the patriarchy—” Amren and I repeated, but we were cut off as she counted with her piece until she landed on Boardwalk.

Everyone was silent as Amren looked between Boardwalk, me and her stack of bills, which, though thick, was not enough to pay my rent.

Deadpan, she said, “I’m not paying that.”

“Oh yes you are,” Mor countered, “that’s the rules of life, honey.”

“And to think I was chanting with you just seconds ago.” Amren shook her head, disgusted.

“How’s the patriarchy looking now, huh?” Cassian said, his hands raised with an ‘I told you so’ look directed at Amren.

“Fuck off, Cassian, I can swipe your ass off the board in seconds.”

“But you can’t seem to pay Feyre’s rent.” He refuted pointedly.

“Because I’m not paying her rent. I counted wrong. Oops! I was supposed to land on luxury tax. Seventy-five dollars.”

“If I can’t get my three-hundred dollars from the bankrupt bank, then you have to put your properties up for mortgage and pay Feyre.” Rhys declared, and I nodded along with him. I didn’t give a shit about the three thousand dollars, I just wanted a fair game.

“I’m not paying her three thousand dollars!” Amren cried.

Cassian cooed, “That’s the name of the game, honey! What’d you say? Capitalism is a beautiful world?”

“Yeah, it’s beautiful when you keep landing on all the chance spaces and got all your money from the bank!” Amren stood, fists clenched at her sides.

“You were the one who tried to smuggle fifties at the beginning of the game!”

“You were the one who kept the fifties in your sleeve until we found them five minutes later, jackass!”

From my corner, things were silent. Mor and Rhys got up to interject, and Azriel’s eyes, I could sense, were closely watching me as my heart began to beat faster. All the noise and yelling—

“How about this, how about this! You don’t pay rent, and I move you to where you belong!” Cassian took Amren’s piece and slammed it down on the jail spot.

“Oh, that’s it!” She took Cassian’s piece and dropped it down right beside hers. “Have fun getting your insides rearranged in jail, ass wipe!”

All I could see was his face, yelling in mine, the feel of the study’s floor against my back as I laid there for an hour in agonizing pain, having to cover up my neck with layers of makeup day after day—

Or that last night when he’d thrown the glass and it’d shattered across the wall, how I couldn’t tell the difference between the red wine and the blood on my hands from all the shards—

Then the next thing I knew was the sound of the loud crash, pieces scattering across the floor, and an upset table sitting sideways before me. I looked up at them, mouth hanging open, impending panic completely gone.

Only Amren said, “You know, Feyre, you dug your gave the second you put up a second hotel.”

The phrase rolled so easily off her tongue, an expression she probably used often with friends like this—I didn’t realize it until it played again in my mind. Rhys did, too, because his eyes widened and zeroed on me, then Amren, ready to verbally eviscerate her.

But all I could do was laugh. A full, rich laugh, one I hadn’t let out in a while. It felt good at the start, because just the irony of this entire situation, being in Rhys’s townhouse playing Monopoly with his friends days after I tried to kill myself, was really fucking hilarious. The more I thought of it though, the more it brought me back up on that ledge, back in those moments of absolute agony that I would never shake for the rest of my life. Then, the thought of me, in my grave, and the sad, sad tombstone atop of it. Feyre Archeron. Remembered and loved by no one.

I didn’t realize I was sobbing until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Rhys, the pain and fury in his eyes, and quickly pushed off from the chair before turning towards the stairs.

***

Rhys

I released the breath I was holding after I heard the door close quietly upstairs. It took everything within me not to order them out of the house and run up to her, hold her, wipe those awful tears away and just have some damn quiet for once.

The blood in my veins was hot enough to burn this fucking house to the ground as I turned to Amren. She seemed completely unbothered by the entire thing, if not bored. And though I’d risk my manhood doing so, I didn’t care about being an asshole as I seethed, “You can really be an inconsiderate bitch sometimes, Amren.”

Even Mor flinched. Ariel looked uneasily between the two of us, but Amren only rolled her eyes as she examined her nails. “Rhysand, you cannot say I’m inconsiderate when I have no fucking clue what’s going on. How was I supposed to know that death sets her off?”

Instead of losing my cool, which I was very, very close to doing, I let out another breath and heaved my table back into its original position, thanking my past self for buying something more resistant this time. Azriel and Mor started picking up the little pieces as I said, “Feyre left Cassian’s condo Friday because Tamlin was able to track her down.”

“And you were going to tell me that when?” Cassian demanded venomously. Even Azriel looked pissed, equally for Feyre’s safety and for a breach in security.

“Whenever I found the damn time,” I spat back, “because as you can see, I’ve been very short on that recently.”

“How did he find her?” Amren asked, eyes blazing. It was comforting to know Amren hated the prick just as much as me. Judging from the lethal rage in her eyes, probably more.

“She still had her iCloud connected to his account. I wonder why he didn’t show up days before, but then again, he isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.”

Mor snorted. “Fuckin tool. I like that. Tamlin the Tool.”

I blinked, then refocused, but kind of liking the sound of that as well. “Anyways, he found her but she didn’t let him in. He didn’t see her or hear her, but he still thinks that she’s staying there. For now that gives us some sort of upper hand before he finally figures out that she’s living here.”

Cassian said, “That’ll be a nice homecoming gift if I could sucker punch him in the face.”

“Aim for the balls.” Mor commented quietly.

“I don’t get it. He showed up at the condo. What does what I said have anything to do with that?”

I swallowed hard. I hesitated over whether or not I should’ve told them right away, not knowing if Feyre would’ve wanted it or not, or if she would’ve rather telling them herself. But after tonight, I thought a little sensitivity might be best for her.

Saying the words always felt unreal. Thinking of it, being back up on the rooftop, the moment she leaned forward and I could see her dead, crumpled body in my mind, never failed to steal the breath from my lungs. It was like that constant aching feeling, the one that festered in my chest for so long, slowly leaking back in like dark ink spreading across a white sheet.

“When I got there a half hour later, Feyre was in the middle of a suicide attempt.”

Mor dropped the Monopoly pieces. Cassian’s head sunk into his hands. Azriel released a sigh and leaned back into the couch. Even Amren’s eyes dropped, her head turned away to gaze at the window looking out onto the street.

“What did she—” Mor wondered lowly, but I cut her off.

“I’m not saying how, what happened or anything about that. But I got her help, and I’ve been watching her over the weekend. She will tell you if she feels like it when she is ready, and that is that. But I thought you should know. So we could avoid these kinds of…situations.”

There were a few beats of silence. Amren finally pushed off the couch and went to collect her things. She didn’t say a word as she put on her shoes and count then closed the door behind her. It was expected of her; her range of emotions over the years I knew her were limited. But this one was something that didn’t present itself often.

Shame.

After a few more seconds, Mor said, “I should go talk to her.”

“No, I’ll go,” Cassian said quietly. “I’m the one that left her alone. I should’ve been there.” With that, he took Feyre’s glass of wine from her chair’s side table and wandered up the steps. Mor finally looked to me, then came and sat beside me on the arm of my chair, her hand settling gently on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry we ruined game night.” She murmured. I laughed, and put my hand atop hers.

“It’s okay. I knew this was going to be a disaster.”

“And I’m sorry that you were the one who found her, Rhys,” Azriel added quietly. “I know it can’t be easy after…”

I nodded as he trailed off, unwilling to let those memories back into my consciousness either. “Thank you, brother.”

***

Feyre

I laid on Rhys’s guest bed, numb. It’d been only a few minutes since I’d marched up the stairs and closed the door behind me before dragging myself to bed and letting myself drain out.

It was like poison within me, this dread. Soaking through my skin and staining the sheets and mattress beneath me. A cloud that always loomed behind me, far enough not to notice, but ready to rain down upon me whenever the time was right. I drenched in its waters now and let it wash over me with its all-consuming misery.

A soft knock sounded at the door, then Cassian’s head poked around the corner. He took one look at me, then said, “Somebody’s taken my bed as a hostage.”

I threw a pillow at him. He caught it with ease, a smile on his face, before wandering over to my side. I slid over so he had enough space to sit down next to me. Cassian took my hand in both of his huge ones, their warmth leeching into my cold skin.

“I’m sorry about before. I’m just too fucking sensitive and—”

“Feyre, you don’t have to explain yourself.” He sighed and found my gaze. All I could see in his hazel eyes was pain and concern, bleeding for me, I knew. Quietly, he said, “Rhys told us what happened.”

My chest deflated, but the feeling in my chest wasn’t anger. It was relief. Relief that quickly morphed into embarrassment. I could barely look him in the eye, and all I managed to say was, “Oh.”

“I’m not pushing you to tell me anything. I just want you to know that I am here for you. No matter what, no matter when, one text, one call or email or fuck it, I even have a fax machine—”

I chuckled at that. “I get the point.”

“All I’m saying,” he smiled, “is that I am here for you. We all are. And I should’ve been there for you that night at the condo, and I am so sorry that I wasn’t.”

“It’s not your fault, Cassian,” I murmured, covering our hands with my other one. “You couldn’t have known.”

Cassian nodded, but my thoughts clouded over as I thought of that night again, the moment I’d heard his voice through the door. Looking at our hands together, my eyes wandered up his arms to his biceps, nearly thicker than my thighs, and thought of our time together at the gym. When we worked out, when he guided me through each punch, each kick, I felt like lightning incarnate. He’d armed me with all I needed about self-defence, about fending off an attacker. We’d gone through motions time after time, and he’d drilled me with counter-moves, defensive positions, where to strike and when.

But it’d all emptied from my head whenever I’d faced him. In that ring, I felt like fire. But against my fiancee, I felt like a drop of water in the hurricane I was supposed to be.

“What’s wrong?” The question was quiet. Like he knew prodding wasn’t a good idea, that it would unseal Pandora’s box of darkness ready to careen open inside of me. Maybe it was time I let some of the tendrils slip out.

Unable to meet his eyes, I said, “After everything you taught me, after all the hours we spent together training, it all flew out of my head as soon as I faced him. As soon as I heard him.”

There was no need to specify who he was. The hard look on Cassian’s face said enough.

“I should’ve done more. I should’ve told Rhys, convinced you to get out of there sooner, been there at the condo that night—”

“No,” I said, shaking off his protests, because they were fruitless. “Nothing was going to change my mind about leaving, Cassian. Nothing but what happened that day.” More tears pricked at the back of my eyes, and I was so fucking sick of crying. “In the time I needed it most, everything you gave me was for nothing. I forgot what you taught me. I forgot how to live, and I forgot I was strong.”

“You know what I taught you.” Cassian said, his hand leaving mine to settle on my shoulder. His hazel eyes clung to mine with hope and tenacity. “You survived. You got out of there. You are strong.”

“Maybe I was in the past,” I whispered, throat thick with tears, “but not anymore. I don’t know…” I shook my head, closing my eyes. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself, where I’m going to live, how I’m going to support myself in the long run—I don’t know who I am anymore.”

“Come here,” he said, and I leaned up in the bed for him to wrap his arms around me. My tear-stained cheeks soaked his t-shirt. “We’ve been here with you every step through this. You can stay with Rhys as long as you want, because I know for damn sure he doesn’t mind, and you just told us today that we’ve got a job lined up for you right now. Judging by Rhys’s salaries, you will be very well off before the month is up.” I snorted, and he squeezed me tighter. “And about knowing who you are Feyre, well—the best thing about not knowing who you are is that you can create who you want to be from here on out.” He pulled back so he could meet my eyes once more. “You can be anyone you’ve dreamt to be, Feyre. Nothing is stopping you anymore.” He cracked a smirk of his and added, “Just not a pimp. I don’t think I could support you if you became a pimp.”

I let out another stream of laughter as he hugged me close once more. Then I realize he’d brought not only my wine glass, but the entire bottle up with him. We both took turns taking sips, talking and laughing the night away, until the clock read half-past midnight and he said that Rhys would whip his ass if he was late to work in the morning.

***

By my third heaving into the porcelain bowl, Rhys had rushed into the bathroom and was pulling back my hair. I sagged against the toilet, spitting a wad of bile into the water, and let out a low, painful moan.

“Nightmare?” Rhys murmured as he pulled my hair away from my face. I let out what sounded like a grateful sigh, then heaved once more.

“Wine,” I choked out, spitting once more into the bowl.

From behind me, I could hear his chuckle and threw him a vulgar gesture above my shoulder. He only laughed some more, and kept smoothing my hair back in a calming, comforting way. Another wave of nausea bloomed, and I was vomiting once more.

“Back in the academy, we used to smuggle in alcohol by sewing it into our clothes. Never anything too big, bottles like the ones you get in mini-bars, but enough of them to get us properly wasted. They only every caught us because we’d wake up in pools of our own vomit. We spent those days hosing down our rooms, then doing the old-school toilet toothbrush cleaning in everyone’s bathrooms as punishment.”

I wrinkled my nose as I panted. Even the thought of more alcohol had my toes curling.

Rhys said quietly, “I try not to drink often, though. After the incident I told you about and leaving my job, I got bad for a little while. Obviously you know who came busting down my door after I shut myself in for nearly a month.” His hand was now travelling up and down my back. I closed my eyes and focused on that soothing touch instead of the riot in my stomach. “Vodka. That used to be my poison. I don’t touch the stuff anymore if I can help it.”

“Whiskey,” I said, then spat. “When I was still living at home, that’s what my dad drank. Whiskey. It was like water to him.”

He murmured, “I’m sorry.”

I shrugged my shoulders, then reached up to flush. Pushing off the toilet seat, I went over to the sink and rinsed out my mouth and splashed some water on my face, then popped two Advils just to be safe (Rhys only left five of them in a small container in his medicine cabinet, which I told him was excessive, but he said was cautionary). When I turned back, I saw him sitting back against the wall, his eyes closed. I wandered back over to him, stumbling with the remaining effects of alcohol, and sank down at his side, our shoulders touching. His warmth was intoxicating.

“Nothing to be sorry about.” I dismissed. My head turned to examine him. His eyes were still closed, like he was sleeping. He looked so at peace like this, head tilted back, hair pressed down against his scalp from his pillow, features relaxed.

Beautiful.

Quietly, I said, “You told them.”

He opened one eye, then the other, and told me, “I didn’t know what else to do. And I didn’t mention any specifics or details.”

“No, no, it’s okay, Rhys,” I sighed, closing my eyes once more. My body felt tingly from the lingering buzz. “I’m honestly relieved. I don’t know how I would’ve explained myself.”

“You don’t owe anyone any explanations.”

I snorted. “Suriel said that. He also told me not to drink, but here I am.”

A pause. Then, “Feyre.”

“Oh, Rhys, it was harmless—”

“Feyre.”

“What?” I snapped.

He turned so he was facing me, and put both hands on my shoulders. “If you’re going to get better, if you want to make progress, you have to listen to him. Even though it might be stupid and you feel like it doesn’t seem so bad, you have to listen to him. He is trying to help you.”

“But it was a few drinks!” I cried.

“You were throwing up thirty seconds ago!” Rhys said. His eyes were sharp steel as he said, “I promised I would help you, but you’ve got to put the work in as well. You’ve got to hold up your end of the bargain. Okay?”

“Fine,” I grumbled. “I don’t see how wine will impediment my progress, though.”

Rhys laughed, and his hand reached up to curl a piece of hair behind my ear. “Go to bed, darling.”

That night, I didn’t know whether it was the alcohol or the lasting effects of the night, but I slept soundly.

#dngg #acotar #acomaf #acowar #a court of thorns and roses #sjm #sarah j maas #acotar fanfic #acotar fanfiction #feyre #rhys #rhysand #feysand #feyrhys #feysand fanfic #feysand fanfiction

4 notes · View notes

fanatic-kay · 5 years ago

Text

All’s Fair In Love And War

Ship: Pre-established Lams (Alexander Hamilton x John Laurens) Word Count: 1816 Genre: Fluff Summary: ”Take me laser tagging and then push me into a corner and kiss me. then shoot me and walk away” (from this post)

I wrote this about two years ago and was just reminded of it, so here we are?

Read On AO3 Here!

John Laurens was going to win and nothing was going to stand in his way. Even the devilish smirk of his boyfriend couldn’t deter his determination.

Lafayette and Mulligan decided John and Alex needed a “healthy” outing since they “stay indoors and watch Netflix too much.” Alexander disagreed, claiming one could never watch too much Netflix, but Hercules managed to get him up when he threatened to change the password.

The four packed themselves into Lafayette’s beaten-up car and set off to an unknown destination. Herc and Lafayette quarreled over the music while Alexander quietly sulked against John’s shoulder in the back. John bit back a smile at his boyfriend’s antics and intertwined their fingers instead, brushing the pad of his thumb soothingly against the back of Alex’s hand.

“Where are we going?” John asked, interrupting the argument in the front, rotating his head to rest it on top of Alex’s.

Lafayette glanced at John from the rearview mirror with a scheming smile. “La patience, mon ami, we’re almost there.”

Alexander let out an exasperated sigh, making his annoyance apparent, eliciting a soft chuckle from Mulligan.

“Lighten up Alex, it’s gonna be fun,” Mulligan promised with a charming smile.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Alex huffed, but his tone had a teasing lilt, the corners of his mouth twitching.

They drove for another ten minutes, obscure French music playing from the speakers. Lafayette hummed along mindlessly as John curled into Alex more, watching as the shorter boy trace a line from freckle to freckle on John’s hand. John smiled, pressing a soft kiss to Alex’s crown, nuzzling his nose into the spot. The melodious laugh he fell in love with escaped from Alexander’s lips. Their moment was interrupted when the car came to a halt.

“Prepare for an afternoon of dueling to the death,” Lafayette laughed, unbuckling his seatbelt and exiting the car. The other three boys follow suit, stretching their legs as they gaze upon the illuminated sign over the futuristic building.

John raised an eyebrow. “Laser Tag?”

Alexander, however, practically jumped for joy. “Laser Tag! Loser buys dinner!” With that dignified declaration, he dragged John inside, the other two at their heels.

The interior of the building was dark, John took a moment to let his eyes adjust. The decor had an alien motif. The blacklight illuminated the orange, neon green, and white patterns in the carpet. John scrunched up his nose at the scent of strong air freshener with fake fog and an underlying whiff of body odor. Alex seemed undeterred by the stench and was quick to buy three consecutive games for the four of them with Hercules.

John slumped on a spaceship bench next to Lafayette as the other two boys hunched over the counter, writing something down on a slip of paper. Lafayette tapped his foot against John’s.

“Sourire mon ami, relax,” Laf said. He leaned back on his hands. “It’s like-- oh what’s the game called?-- Call of Duty! But fewer bullets and no grenades. Moins violent. You’ll be fine. You might get your ass handed to you by me, but fine nonetheless.” The Frenchman smirked.

One sentence was all it took. One sentence and John sat straighter. One sentence and a spark flickered to life in his chest. A spark of hunger. A spark of need. A spark that would spread into a wildfire until doused with its extinguisher, victory.

“I wouldn’t bet on that, Marie-Joseph,” John quipped back.

“Laurens, if you are going to try to insult me using my name, you could at least use all of it.”

“You may talk the talk, but let me see you walk the walk.”

“I wouldn’t think you’d be the one to so openly suggest you’d like to stare at my beautiful buttocks.” Lafayette leaned over, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at his friend. John shoved him away.

“Yeah, it’s so I know where to aim my gun to get a laser up your ass.”

“Mon cher, the only gun you want to aim at my ass is your d-,” Lafayette was cut off as a smug-looking Hercules and Alexander sat down and shoved a piece of paper under their noses. Alexander’s loopy handwriting filled the white space.

“What’s this?” John plucked the slip from his boyfriend’s hand, reading the script aloud. “Player One: HamSandwich; Player Two: LockUpUrHorses; Player Three: LaBaguette; Player Four: MrTurtle. Alex, what the hell?” Lafayette had doubled over laughing as soon as he heard the first name.

“It’s our game names,” his boyfriend explained, practically bouncing in his seat. “Herc and I came up with them. Perfect, right?” Alexander was beaming, his smile brighter than the sun. John didn’t even have the heart to tease him. Instead, he covered his hand with his own and squeezed lightly.

“I think it depicts us exactly,” John smiled. “Herc goes crazy for horses, you are a snack, and Lafayette is a pain.” Everyone, including Alexander, glared at John for the use of his pun. “What? That one was good!”

Mulligan sighed and patted John’s head. “If you say so.” John shook his head in an attempt to make the other boy stop. “Anyway, there’s a group of kids in there now, but they should be done in about five minutes, and then the arena is ours for about an hour.”

The boys squeezed on the tiny bench, Alex was practically sitting in his boyfriend’s lap to make everyone comfortable. With each boy as competitive as the other, they naturally trash-talked each other, boasting about how they were going to be claimed victor and placing bets with food and chores. Needless to say, five minutes went by swiftly.

Before he could even react, Alex had pulled John to the starting room when their turn was called. He grabbed the harness and pulled it over his head, securing it around his torso. John followed suit, buzzing with excitement. He then grabbed his gun from its stand, fiddling with the weight and feel of his weapon. He fiddled with the trigger and examined the low-light screen that named the players and scores. Mulligan nudged his side and nodded in the direction of the employee who was explaining the rules of the game. It was mostly gibberish and common sense-- good sportsmanship, no roughhousing, yadda yadda. John was too pumped up on adrenaline, his craving for competition getting the better of him, to listen to the uninterested worker drone on and on.

When the dude was finally done speaking on, the four boys ran inside, casing the joint, before dashing in opposite directions. John began to formulate a plan in his head. If he knew Lafayette, he would stay on the lower levels, taking more of an offensive approach. Hercules, on the other hand, would be on the defensive. Alexander, however, was more of a gray area.

John climbed up a set of stairs onto a landing. He kept his eyes peeled for any of his friends. Lafayette had already gotten a shot in according to the screen on his gun. John jolts and crouches defensively when he hears footsteps approaching. They thumped up the stairs as he positioned his gun. As soon as he sees the targets of a vest, he shoots rapidly. Once his target is hit, he recognizes Hercules and gives him a wicked smile seeing how his vest was blinking red. John runs past him, abandoning the high ground to find another hiding spot.

The first two games went by in a blur. Lafayette graciously accepted victory in the first round, scoring the winning points with an impressive shot at John from across the room. Hercules won the second one with some spy skills he must’ve acquired in between rounds. John was sure he never had heard the man walk quietly, but somehow he managed to learn in twenty minutes. The leaderboard showed a close game.

Player Score

LaBaguette 27669 LockUpUrHorses 27534 MrTurtle 27513 HamSandwich 27501

John was happy at third, as long as he beat his boyfriend, but first was not too ambitious for him. He prepared himself for the last round, knowing the others are pushing themselves to their limits for this. This wasn’t a game, it was war. Casualties were part of the package.

He knew he was being hunted. He knew very well that Alexander was the hunter. He pressed himself against the wall of his “hiding” spot, ready to strike a deal Alex couldn’t resist. The second he saw the tip of a gun around the corner of the wall, he grabbed it. He pushed the muzzle of the gun towards the ceiling before covering Alex’s mouth and pushing him up against the wall.

John leaned forward, his mouth right next to Alexander’s ear. “We’ll do better if we team up against them. They won’t know what hit ‘em,” John explained quietly. “Don’t you agree?”

Alexander nodded. Once John was positive Alex was sincere, he released his hold on him. Together, the young couple crept through the dark maze, determined to find their targets. John scanned his surroundings carefully, searching for any movement or light. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Alex put a hand on his arm and pointed towards a silhouette.

The Hercules-shaped shadow had his back to them, making it a perfect ambush. Mulligan was forced to run away, and with only minutes left, they wouldn’t see him again. They continued through the room to seek out Lafayette. They had revealed their location; he still had the advantage of the shadows.

John’s shoulders were tensed as he scanned the room with his weapon. All of a sudden, all of the air left John’s chest as his boyfriend practically slammed him against a wall. Alexander shot wildly at a dark figure John could barely make out. They heard a string of curses as footsteps retreated.

There was a mischievous glint in Alexander’s eyes that kept John pinned against the wall. Alex prowled forward, and John felt his mouth go dry. He couldn’t help but think about how hot his boyfriend looked, despite being in the ridiculous vest. The two boys now stood chest to chest, barely centimeters apart before an instinct seemed to go off at once and they crashed into each other, locking at the lips.

Alex was forceful, full of passion as he pressed his body against John’s. The heat went straight to John’s head, making it foggy and clouding his thoughts. John kisses back with as much fervor. His hands wander down to grip at his boyfriend’s hips.

When Alex pulled away, John thought it was all too soon. John gasped for air, his brain still hazy. He didn’t notice Alex lazily raise his laser gun and shoot him in the chest until his vest buzzed against him.

“All’s fair in love and war,” Alexander winked and walked away smugly with a swing in his hips.

#hamilton #hamilton au #hamilton fanfic #alexander hamilton #john laurens #hercules mulligan #lafayette #marquis de lafayette #modern au #laser tag #lams #modern lams #kay writes

9 notes · View notes

strayneoculturekids · 6 years ago

Text

Bad Boy!Lucas x Good Girl!Reader

Summary: You went to a prestigious private school. For some reason, the desk next to you always remained empty. But you knew there was someone meant to be there. At first, you thought maybe he had a disease or broken bone that he had to miss class for, but as you hear rumors flit round, you learn that he’s actually skipping. You had no idea as to how he hasn’t been expelled yet.

Highschool AU, bad boy AU, enemies to lovers AU

Genre: Angst (kinda but not really cuz I'm bad at angst) with fluff at the end

Warnings: A bit of sexual harassment (not from Lucas obv), violence/fighting (not graphic)

You looked up from your notebook, momentarily distracting yourself from your class studies to glance at the desk beside you. Empty. Like usual. Every single other desk was filled, and not just in your class, in everyone else’s class as well. There wasn’t a single mistake in this school’s system, it would be bad for reputation. So you knew that someone was meant to be there, sitting next to you. But there never was.

In the midst of your thinking, the bell for the end of the day rang, snapping you back to reality. You slightly shook your head, getting the unnecessary thoughts out of your system and started to pack up your things.

As you left the classroom and got out of the building to walk through the ridiculously large, green grounds of your school, you heard a name that caught your attention. Wong Yukhei. The name that was always called out by your teacher and the only name to never get a response. You started to listen more closely.

“What about him?” said one of the girls in the group

“I heard that he never shows up to class. Ever” Whispered another

“He skips,” said the other, a boy this time

The two girls stared at him in shock.

“Apparently his dad and the principle are super close, so he gets away with anything” Whispered the boy again

After that, you were well out of hearing range from them, the voices fading out. Now, you were never one to eavesdrop but that conversation you had just heard made you a bit more aware. It didn’t take you long to come to realize that Wong Yukhei- or Lucas as he was more commonly called- was the talk of the school. The only boy that had missed more than three days of class. He didn’t just miss only 4 days though, he missed every. Single. One.

Granted, it was still near the start of the school year, maybe he just got an injury over the holidays and wasn’t able to come to school. But the more the rumors flitted around the school, the more they got into your head, and the more you started believing them.

Now, maybe you were making too big a deal of it, he was just missing school. The thing is, it astounded you how he hadn’t been expelled yet. A few conversations even told you that he had never even been called to the principles office either.

You finally made it to the library, surprised at how much you learned just by listening in on a few conversations you would normally stay out of. You went to the front desk, filled out a form for a seminar room and went down to plop your things in the private, sound-proof room.

You were one of the smartest in the school. In fact, not one of the smartest, the second smartest actually. The school had a total of around 3500 students all ranging from kindy to year 12. And you were the second smartest in the entire school. What really itched you was that you were only second. Always second. There was always that one name above yours, irritating you.

You had never taken the time to look at the name, too consumed by the frustration of always placing behind one single person. Today though, you opened your laptop and went to your school’s website, checking the leader-board. What you saw, surprised you. To say the very least.

Wong Yukhei. (A/N: I know Lucas isn’t that smart but bear with me guys)

You blinked a few times.

“No,” you say out loud to yourself “That's- there’s no way! He hasn’t come to a single day of school!”

Suddenly, jealousy worked its way into your systems. How could he be that smart without attending class at all?! Did he only come to school to take tests or something?! You looked over to his picture, He was even ridiculously good-looking?! How the hell is that fair?!

You took a deep breath in and regained control of your thoughts. Just as you picked up your book to start studying and try to leave the jealousy behind you, you heard an overwhelmingly loud laugh. You paused your actions, the loud noise jump-scaring you for a second.

“I thought these rooms were sound-proof,” You said, looking outside the glass room to see, you guessed it, Wong Yukhei

You blinked a few times. He was ever more handsome in real life, a blush threatened to creep its way onto your face but you managed to suppress it by remembering why you looked over in the first place. His loud ass, obnoxious as hell, laugh.

You cracked open the door to the seminar room, he and the other two boys with him, one of them who you recognized to be Kun, also one of the smartest in the school and the other, Chenle, the smartest middle-schooler, with grades that is- definitely not with logic- all looked over to you at the crack of the door opening.

You greeted Kun and Chenle, giving them a warm smile which they returned. You then turned your attention to Lucas, scowling a bit.

“Lucas, I can hear you from inside the seminar room. Loudly. If you wouldn’t mind, can you try to keep it down?” You say, trying to be as nice as possible, still salty about his amazing grades and ridiculously good looks.

“Ah,” He said, smiling brightly and rubbing the back of his neck cutely “Sorry about that,”

You flushed bright red, astounded at how adorable he was. “whatever” you muttered before closing the door again and getting back to studying.

The days went by and you noticed Lucas around the school a bit more, never in class though. His uniform was always out of place, hair disheveled, and somehow you managed to find a new bruise or scratch on his face every-time you saw him.

You’d had a few tests since your first meeting with him. Since then, you’d been studying your ass off, trying to surpass him.

It was the end of the day and you went to the library to study, like always. You opened your laptop and checked the leader-board, not expecting anything different. To your surprise- and joy- you and Lucas were now tying. You smiled widely, glad you had finally moved forward.

Just then, you saw Lucas walk past you, giving you a bit of a side-eye, which surprised you, to say the least. He may have been a trouble-maker, but he had never been hostile towards you. Was he salty that you two were tying? The thought of that being the case made you giddy, you were finally beginning to get ahead of him.

The next day came, and so did Lucas. He sat down in every single class. He did it for the next day, and the next, and so on. Soon enough, Lucas was once again on top of you as the smartest in the school.

He smirked smugly at you when he saw you expression drop when you checked your laptop.

“Oh. It’s on.” you mouthed back to him, squinting

Lucas chuckled a bit at this, completely up for the challenge.

Weeks passed and you and Lucas were constantly battling, the leaderboard switching both your places every time new results were up.

It was once again the end of the school day, and you had gone to the library like usual, what seemed off though is that Lucas wasn’t there like he normally was. It confused you but you disregarded it, focusing on your studying.

Due to your parents’ schedule, you had to walk home today that is, after assuring your family’s butler that you didn’t need him to pick you up, you knew he had other work to attend to.

It was quite late by now, which you knew would happen. So you brought pepper spray and a pocket knife just in case, you were deeply hoping you weren’t gonna have to use either of them.

Just as you had started walking along a deserted street, you hear footsteps behind you. shit shit shit shit shit was the only thing running through your mind. You gripped on the pepper spray inside your pocket and sped up your pace, soon breaking into a run. When you did, you heard the footsteps behind you also get faster and faster. They were getting closer with every step and you were hyper-aware of it.

Just as they were about a meter behind you, you spun around and sprayed the pepper spray, dropping your bag, you turned to run, not looking at the man’s face. He seemed to be in his late 20′s. Going after a high-school girl. Disgusting.

“Argh! Little shit!” You heard him yell, then start running after you, you shut your eyes tight, heart beating at a million beats a second, tears starting to form in your eyes from fear.

The man eventually caught up to you, grabbing the back of your uniform. You wriggled, trying to break free, tears openly spilling from your eyes now. He turned you to face him, you could practically feel his horrific breath on your face.

“no..please...” you say, desperate, trying to get away

Before he could come any closer, a figure from the side appeared, knocking the man off of you. Your eyes widened as he was tackled to the ground.

“Lucas?!” You shouted, finally recognizing the person that saved you

Lucas didn’t respond, saving his energy for the fight with the older man. You stared, hands coming to your mouth.

“Fucking- run!” Lucas shouted to you

“But-”

“Just go damnit!”

Not needing to be told a third time, you ran away from the fight, hearing his grunts in the back.

After a few minutes of running, you made it to your home and realization setting in that you just left Lucas alone to fight a 20-something-year-old. You immediately regretted your decision. Running into your rather large house, your butler stood at the door waiting for you. You grabbed his shoulders surprising him.

“THERE WAS THIS GUY FOLLOWING ME AND THEN HE ATTACKED ME BUT SOMEONE FROM MY SCHOOL SAVED ME AND I JUST LEFT HIM ALONE TO FIGHT WHAT DO I DO?!?!” You shouted at him

After your loud and very quick explanation of what you had just gone through, your butler’s eyes widened and he immediately went to call the police, telling you to stay calm.

A few hours had passed and still no news. You were sitting in your room, stressing over every single little thing. A knock on your door brought you back.

“Y/N,” called your butler “Someone is here to see you”

You immediately opened your door, opening it to see Lucas and your butler, Lucas covered in blood, bruises, and scratches. You gasped, the sight in front of you bringing you to tears.

“You forgot something,” Lucas said, holding out your bag for you with a smile

By this time, your butler had already left and Lucas had invited himself into your room.

Before anything else could be said, you enveloped Lucas in a hug, starting to cry into his chest. He rubbed your back soothingly, telling you it was ok now.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you there- I should’ve stayed and-”

“no” Lucas cut you off “There was no way I’d let you fight anyways. It’s not your fault. Anyone would be scared if they were put in your position. You were sexually harassed, you could’ve been raped if I didn’t show up when I did. Don’t ever be sorry for being scared in that type of situation.”

His words made you cry even more. You dropped to your knees, Lucas dropping with you, still holding you tightly.

“It’s ok now. It’s ok” he reassured “I’m here. I’ll protect you”

BONUS

You snuggled deeper into Lucas, loving his warm and comforting embrace.

“Remember when we used to fight over which one of us was smarter?” He asked, laughing a bit

“Yep.” You said “good times, good times”

“I like it better when we get along.” He said “Dating you is better than battling you, no matter how good of an opponent you are”

You smiled, nodding your head and closing your eyes before drifting to sleep in Lucas’ safe and comforting arms.

#lucas #wong yukhei #nct lucas #nct yukhei #nct #nct imagines #nct fluff #nct angst #lucas imagines #lucas fluff #lucas angst #kpop imagines #kpop fluff #kpop angst #yukhei imagines #yukhei fluff #yukhei angst

146 notes · View notes

stillebesat · 6 years ago

Text

The Butterfly Effect -Always Green (1/26)

Sanders Sides: Thomas Inspiration: from @writing-prompt-s “My domain is time,” said the Genie. “Instead of three wishes, you get three decisions. Go back and choose again.” Blurb: Roman has three chances to change his life for the better. Three chances to fix past mistakes. Three chances to totally screw it all up. But who said life is worth living unless one takes a little risk? Fic Type: Hurt/Comfort Overall Fic Warnings: Major Character Death (mentioned), Suicide (mentioned), Suicide Attempt, Partial Paralysis, Injuries, Blood, Punching/Fighting, Knives, Medicinal Misuse, Toxic Roommates (implied/mentioned), Acrophobia (fear of heights), Falling, Nausea, Bullying (implied/mentioned), Car Accident (mentioned), Prison (mentioned), Negative Self Talk, Panic Attack, Bomb (mention), Surgery (mentioned)

Thomas had had way too much practice in hiding the wave of disappointment that washed through him when his current Warp refused to meet his eyes.

Every time.

He pasted an understanding smile on his face, easily keeping the gleaming rainbow that danced under his opal skin in check as she stood there, shoulders hunched. “Becca, what choice have you made?” He gently prodded.

Her breath hitched as she reluctantly looked up, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Sniffing, she held out the golden pocket watch to him, the circular device swinging on its chain between them.

He already knew what she was going to say from that simple action alone and it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“I choose my old life.” She whispered.

Of course she did. That’s what everyone did.

“Is this your final decision?” He asked, taking the watch back, running his thumb over its etched surface. “There’s no changing your mind after this point.”

A small smile appeared on her lips as she brushed at her eyes, her tense body relaxing now that she no longer held the device that could have given her so much more if she hadn’t squandered her three choices chasing after her old lover. “Yes. I want my life back, I was…” She lifted her head, squaring her shoulders. “I was happier there. Despite…” She bit her lip. “Despite Billy not being in it.”

Too bad she hadn’t realized that when she made her first choice. Thomas twisted his hand, the watch vanishing from the woman’s sight as he sent it back into the time stream to find him his next Warp.

“Alright.” He said, keeping his smile sympathetic as he stepped forward, reality already shifting around Becca as he lightly placed his glimmering hand against her cheek. “What once was, shall now return. I give you back the life for which you yearn.” He brushed a single tear from her cheeks as the world reset around her in a swirl of colors, returning her to the tree swing he’d found her sitting in when he’d pulled her into the Warp.

She breathed deep, the last of the tension leaving her as she sank into the swing, her hands clinging to the rope as she looked up to Thomas. “Thank you.” Thomas dropped his hand, giving her a gracious nod despite the fact he was screaming on the inside, barely keeping the fiery reds and oranges from overtaking the more mellow greens and blues as they danced on his skin.

Why did people do that? Thank him for returning them to their original life? He’d done nothing to help them get to that point. It was like thanking a heart surgeon for not actually needing to operate on them.

He took a step back away from her, his ‘job’ now done. He nodded to her. “I wish you well, Becca.” He said quietly, the wind kicking up around them as he pulled at a ripple of time, allowing the familiar current to surround him and whisk him away, leaving his voice echoing in her ears. “May you continue to find happiness in your future decisions.”

Thomas stepped out of the timestream, his hands balled up into fists as he appeared in the Commons of his Divison’s portion of the Ethereal Plane. With a quick glance around to make sure no one else was present, Thomas let out a string of curses, his skin exploding in vibrant colors like a firework finale as he let his temper surface. He turned to the nearest wall composed of clouds and punched it, a blazing rainbow ball of time energy shooting from his fist to ricochet around the room.

“Dude! You gotta stop throwing those around willy nilly!” Came the welcome but also unwelcome voice of his fellow Time Genie, and best friend, Joan from across the room as they ducked their head, narrowly avoiding getting smacked by the time ball. “Nobody ever wants to get hit with Deja Vu you know.” They stated, waving a hand to disperse the time energy.

Thomas groaned, throwing himself face down onto the nearest couch, the fire opal sheen to his skin shimmering a faint blue. “Sorry.” He mumbled into the cushions. In his defense the room had been empty when he’d released his pent up frustration. It was Joan’s bad luck that they’d chosen to return from their own Time Warp just then.

“Uh oh. Don’t tell me….another failed Warp?”

“You tell me.” Thomas sighed, pushing himself up off the couch, running a hand through his hair to fix it as he joined Joan at the far wall where a large electronic-esque leaderboard gave off an ambient white glow. “How far did I drop this time?”

Joan lifted a hand, running their finger down the list of names as the order shifted and fluctuated on the screen, pausing at a point near their waist. “Uhmm…”

“That’s what I thought.” Thomas turned to lean against the wall, scuffing his foot against the rainbow flooring.

It wasn’t like it was a bad thing, per se, that Becca had chosen to return to her original timeline. After all, part of Thomas’s and any other Time Genie’s job was to show the humans the consequences of their decisions; the possibilities of other lives they could have led had they made a different choice. It was pretty common to have those involved in a Time Warp see just how good their life had been in the first place and choose to return to it.

That was why they were referred to as Greens by his Division. No permanent world altering had taken place with them. Thomas bowed his head, closing his eyes. He was so tired of getting Greens. At this point he’d be over the moon to have a Warp end in Blue. At least with Blues something permanently changed, even if it was so minor that hardly a ripple was felt in the timelines. At least it would be a different outcome from the original and at this point Thomas would take it gladly, even if it wasn’t the Golden Warp he desperately craved.

“Well...maybe your next Warp will be Golden, Thomas.” Joan said, squeezing his shoulder. “This Green streak has to be coming to an end.”

Thomas shrugged off their hand, pushing away from the wall with a bitter laugh. “You say that every single time you know and it’s been like...a millennia since I’ve had a Golden. Admit it.” He turned to them, throwing up his hands. “I’m cursed. I’m never going to see another one.”

And it sucked. Knowing he was Stuck. Never again being able to contribute to another major shift in the world since his last perfect Golden Warp. A Warp where an idealistic explorer had used his last decision to continue sailing across the Atlantic ocean... and ended up discovering America. The choice had changed the entire world...and apparently Thomas’s luck with it. He went from flying high at the top of the leaderboard to the middle of the pack within fifty years as he went longer and longer without another Golden Warp. And with the others continuously accruing more and more Goldens...he only continued to drop further down in the running.

Joan exhaled, shaking their head, the sparkling color of their opal skin swirling to highlight the greens and oranges. “Five hundred years isn’t a millennia, Thomas.”

“Five hundred and twenty-six years, Joan.” He said flatly, flopping back onto the couch, covering his eyes with an arm. “No one else has ever gone this long without a Golden. No. One.”

Calypso had been the last Time Genie who’d suffered from a ‘long’ Green streak and she’d broken it after a single decade. TEN. Freaking. Years. The longest Green streak ever recorded before Thomas had knocked it out of the park had been a measly hundred and forty-nine years and Kenny had celebrated for two months straight when that Golden mark had appeared next to his name.

“Alright...maybe you’re a little bit cursed.” Joan allowed, pushing Thomas’s feet so that they could sit down.

“Just only a lot.” Thomas ran a hand down his face, exhaling. “What about yours?” He asked in a low voice, closing his eyes. “You any closer to beating out Talyn as Numero Uno?”

Joan snorted, resting an arm on Thomas’s knees. “Hardly. Mine was a Blue today.” Thomas could hear the smile in their voice. “They’re on quite the roll aren’t they?”

“Oh no, not at all.” He responded sarcastically, lightly prodding Joan with his foot. “Only nearing their two thousandth Golden in a row and managing to win my best friend’s heart in the process.” He yelped as Joan shoved him off the couch, hitting the rainbow floor with a thud. “Hey!”

“Whoops.”

“Don’t whoops me, you did that on purpose.”

“Had to get you off your Golden soap box somehow.” Joan replied, sliding off the couch and onto him.

“It was the couch, and I was trying wasn’t I?!” Thomas groaned, struggling under Joan’s weight. “Get off already! You’re crushing my lungs!”

Joan only made themself more comfortable. “Oh yes, bringing up the top of the leaderboard totally--”

Thomas gave up pushing at Joan, instead resting his head back on the red stripe of the rainbow floor, staring up at the opalescent ceiling. “I brought up Talyn and was going to segway into convincing you to tell me about your date, but you hardly gave me the chance there did you?”

“Next time try starting with ‘How did your date go, Joan?’ It will probably work a lot better.”

Thomas rolled his eyes. “Duly noted.” He shoved halfheartedly at them, already knowing that unless his best friend decided to move, he would be stuck acting as a cushion. “So? You going to tel--” He cut off as a wave of rainbow colors raced up and down his body. Seriously?!

Joan’s eyebrows shot up, their own opalescent skin shimmering yellow and blue. “Already?” They asked, lifting themselves back onto the couch. “Didn’t you just get back from a Warp?”

Thomas let out a moan, running a hand through his hair. Great. More bad luck. His watch had managed to find a candidate before he could properly unwind from the latest disappointment. “Yes.” He pushed to his feet, brushing off his uniform. He hated working doubles.

“Call out sick.”

“Oh yes, that totally will work because we Time Genies get sick sooo often.” Like never. Thomas offered Joan a tight smile. “I’ll be fine.” Probably. Maybe this human wouldn’t be so obsessed over lost love like Becca had been. No...with his luck this human would be obsessed with getting rich, or maybe finding fame. Probably both.

“You sure?” They asked, raising an eyebrow. “You don’t have to answer right away you know.”

Thomas shrugged. He could wait. Listen to Joan talk about their date with Talyn and watch them turn all fiery pink and gold over it, but why let the Warp hang over his head like this? The sooner he got this next Green Warp out of the way the quicker he could retake possession of his watch, lock it up for a week, and be able to listen to his best friend with his full focus.

“You know what they say, Joan.” He reached for the ripple of time that would take him to his new Warping buddy. “There’s no rest for the wicked.” He winked, giving a two finger salute to them as he vanished from the Commons.

To Be Continued Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26

#The Butterfly Effect #stillebesat #TS Big Bang #Thomas Sanders #Joan #Sanders Sides #Talyn #Calypso #Kenny #Negative Self Talk tw #Surgery tw (mentioned)

194 notes · View notes

goldensunflowers98 · 7 years ago

Text

Jailbird

Sparrow’s POV

“Walk faster, inmate. We don’t have all day,” I flinch as the loud guard shouts in my ear and I frantically begin to shuffle my chained feet faster down the aisle of the bus. Finding an empty seat in the very back and away from the harsh, rude officers, I somehow sit down and wince as the cuffs dig into my sensitive skin.

The bus rumbles and backfires a few times before it finally starts and begins to roll away from the courthouse where I was just convicted of a crime I didn’t commit. It was awful and heinous what they accused me of and my heart aches at the thought of it, a tear streaming down my cheek as I lay my forehead against the cool window.

Ever since I was little, I’ve had the worst luck, always in the worst place at the wrong time, and I just so happened to be the one to find my best friend dead in her bed room. I just so happened to pick up the bloody knife in horror as her parents walked in to see me covered in her blood after I tried to shake her awake. That was all the evidence they needed apparently.

That was six months ago and today, I received my final hearing and was charged with twenty-five years in prison for the murder of my best friend. The real kicker, another part of my horridly bad luck, was that there was no more room and funds to send me to the woman’s prison. So, currently, here I am, on the bus to the men’s correctional facility and I am terrified.

The bus ride is long, lonely, and all I’ve seen for the past twenty minutes is pure desert. No civilization in sight, cacti everywhere, and I’m pretty sure I saw an entire skeleton of some random animal about a mile back which really got my spirits up.

My eyes must have closed because the next thing I know, a guard is in my face and screaming for me to wake up. Jumping in fear, I wobble to a stand and let out a squeak of pain as he grips my arm tightly to stabilize me before shoving me forward. Ripping myself out of his grasp, I shuffle my feet quickly and the familiar sound of my chains rattling fills my ears and sends my stomach into a nauseous, swirling mess.

Exiting the bus, my entire body seems to be engulfed in sweat as the hot, desert sun beams down at me with a ridiculous amount of brightness. “Move it, inmate,” the guard who’s muscles are bigger than his head shoves my shoulder as I let out a gasp of pain.

“I’m moving, you hulk-like, freak of nature,” I grumble under my breath as I look up only to gasp again in shock. A huge faculty made of stone and cement towers high as a tall, electric fence surrounds it. Guard towers are at every corner and a shiver goes down my spine as I see their huge rifles and angry scowls.

What scares me even more is the prisoners who stop every thing they are doing to stare a hole through me like they’ve never seen a woman before. I gulp as I come to the realization that most of these men really haven’t seen a woman in years and I was probably going to become someone’s bitch or attacked on a daily basis.

Why is my life so horrible? What did I do to deserve this?

Entering the building, my lungs are already screaming for air that isn’t humid and dry as we make our way down the long corridors. Loud screams of obscenities and heavy, iron doors slamming shut cause me to jump in fear as the guard snickers to himself. If it wasn’t for the heavy, eye watering stench of body odor and testosterone, I would have given him a piece of my mind.

Entering a small room, it seems like a whirlwind as I am fingerprinted and my mugshot is taken before I am handed a bright orange jumpsuit that is definitely not my color or good for my figure - which I am thankful for because maybe it will keep some perverts off my back - and forced to change into it.

After, I have to fight back my tears as I am sexually groped and touched as they do a “body search” before they agree I am good to go to my cell. I am slightly relieved as they uncuff my feet and the sharp pinch of metal wasn’t against my ankles anymore and we begin another long walk down a corridor.

Coming to a large, white, metal door, I cringe as I hear the loud screams and yelling from behind it and it becomes even louder as the guard unlocks it and pulls it open. Men in their cells immediately set their eyes on me and begin to yell horrible things at me as I flinch and close my eyes tightly, allowing the guard to lead me to the end of the row of cells.

Unlocking the cell door, the guard shoves me in before he demands to see my wrists. Uncuffing me, I rub my sore wrists as I look around at the tall bunk beds, the toilet in the corner of room, and a small stack of books in the corner. What my eyes seem to focus on the most is the man, sleeping in the top bunk, unaware of my presence.

“Styles, wake the fuck up! Meet your new cell mate,” the guard snickers to himself, a sound I was beginning to loathe, as he walks out and slams the cell door behind him, leaving me alone with this man named Styles.

I’m sure I looked like a frightened animal, backed up and shaking in the corner, as the man let out a growl of anger and started to sit up from his sleep. I watch with wide eyes as he jumps down from the top bunk and lands in front of me.

Holy shit.

One of the most beautiful men I have ever seen stands in front of me with a cocky, mischievous smirk on his face. Looking me over, he runs his hand through his short hair that was beginning to curl at the edges and around his ears, giving him an innocent, cute look if he wasn’t, y'know, in prison. His eyes were as viridescent as leaves in spring, sparkling like emeralds. His lips looked like the soft petals of a baby pink English rose. I also couldn’t help but stare at the deep dimple imbedded in his cheek as his smirked devilishly at me.

Devil. That seems right. This boy is pure sin.

“Hmm,” he hums, reaching up and moving a strand of my hand out of my face as I try not to flinch too harshly. “I knew we were getting a girl. Didn’t know she’d look like this.”

My eyebrows furrow as I try to figure out if that was a compliment or an insult, but the other thing that got me what his thick, English accent mixed with his morning voice that made me a bit weak in the knees.

“What’s your name, pretty girl?” He asks with another smirk as he lifts his arm and rests it on the wall above my head, cornering me even further.

I guess the previous comment was a compliment?

“S-Sparrow. Sparrow Matthews, ” I whisper quietly, looking down at my feet and trying not to swoon at the sight of his piercing eyes looking into mine.

Swoon? He is a criminal, Sparrow. Get yourself together.

He hums again, his eyes scanning my face as he bites onto his lower lip. “A little jailbird… What are you in for? Shoplift a Gucci purse at the mall because Daddy didn’t give you the money?” He mocks me, laughing lightly and while it was a wonderful sound, I didn’t like how he automatically thought I was some spoiled, rich, stereotypical girl.

“Murder,” he looks stunned for a moment at my confession before pride and amusement fill his eyes. “But I didn’t do it.” I add quietly, looking down and picking at my nails.

“Nobody is innocent,” he says with a humorless chuckle. “Aren’t you going to ask me what I did? Aren’t you curious on who you are going to be spending your nights with for the next, what, fifteen to twenty years, give or take?” His voice was like syrup, trickling through my veins. So sticky and sweet.

“What are you in for?” I ask softly, still uncomfortable at his closeness. His arm was still above my head and I could smell his shower gel that smelt of pine along with the sweet natural scent of musk from his body. It was intoxicating, honestly.

This is not good. Why did I have to never have sex before I got thrown into prison? Now here I am, having sexual thoughts about my cell mate who is probably a homicidal maniac.

“Murder,” he shrugs carelessly before continuing as I stare wide eyed. “Robbery, stalking, kidnapping, gang affiliation, drug possessing, the selling of drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest, deadly weapon, there’s was that one time when I ran over that cop with my car so I’m not sure if that charge was with resisting arrest or vehicular homicide,” he continues on and on as I try not to choke on my own spit. “Oh, and, unlike you, I did do it.” He says wickedly with that stupid, devilishly handsome smirk.

“Wow…” I cough slightly, hiding my gulp of fear. “You really, uh, aimed high and had your plate full, didn’t you? Bet you got a gold star on the criminal leaderboard, huh?” My horrible awkwardness kicks in and he stares at me blankly for a moment. In that moment, I close my eyes and wince as I wait for him to smack me across the face, but I am shocked when he starts laughing.

“You’re funny,” he says simply, licking his lips before he shows off his beautiful, crooked grin, staring deep into my soul.

That’s when I realize just how close he is and begin to wiggle my way out from under him. “So what’s your name? I seem to know all of your lifetime feats but I still don’t know who you are,” I sit on my bunk bed, trying not to make a face as I realize it is harder than a cinder block. Oh, great. I see many sleepless nights and back aches in my future.

“Harry,” I nod, thinking the name suited him, as he leans against the wall and crosses his arms with that smirk, as if waiting for my reaction. “Harry Styles.”

I stiffen, my eyes widening a bit, as my blood seems to run cold. Harry Styles is a name that everyone in the country knows. For years, he brought fear and horror as he ran the largest gang in the England before he brought his terror to the States. He killed anyone who wronged him and got in his way and the streets were rampant with crimes, filled with his men doing his bidding for him.

No one knew where he was or what he looked like for years. He was like a ghost, one minute he was there and the next he had disappeared and left devastation in his wake. Until late last year, one of his men turned on him and released information to the police on where he was. He was arrested and taken into custody, but no one knew which prison. Most suspected he was dead, but here he is. Right in front of me, very much alive.

And, I get to share a cell with him. Once again, how amazing is my luck?

“Oh,” I finally spit out, blinking several times to wipe away the daze in them as I stare up at him. “Y-you’re… You’re a lot taller than I expected.”

Face palm. Why the hell am I allowed to talk to other humans?

He stares at me for another few moments before he starts to laugh again. “You’re an interesting, little bird, aren’t you? Haven’t met anyone like you in years. You barely reacted when I told you my name. You’re funny, nice, kind, pretty, and you smell great… I like you.” He says, making me feel some, sort of, relief.

Harry Styles, mass murderer and the man that was once at the top of America’s Most Wanted, likes me. What kind of person does that make me? Oh, well. As long as I’m not the next on his chopping block, I’m good.

“You’re mine now.” He says simply, in a no bullshit tone, as I choke on air, gaping up at him like a fish out of water.

“Excuse me?” I cough out as he stares a hole through me, his eyes becoming more piercing as he glares.

“I said you’re mine now, little bird. Do you have a problem with that?” His voice was harsh, yet mocking as I try not to shake with fear. “You need someone to keep you safe and I need someone to care for, if you will.”

“I haven’t even been here over two hours! W-We barely know each other! I could be crazy! Loco in the head! I could like to do weird shit, like stab people during sex! You don’t know me! I’m in prison, for goodness sake!” I ramble out in a panic because even though he is hotter than hell itself, doesn’t mean I want to be Harry Styles’ bitch for the rest of my days.

He laughs loudly at this, as if I’m the funniest human on the planet. “You’re a virgin. I can sniff you girls out from a mile away,” I frown at this, sniffing myself lightly. Do I smell? Can you smell a virginity? What? Is it that obvious? That’s depressing. “Besides, you can’t be any more crazy than me.”

“Buddy, listen, you don’t want me! You’re right! I’m an innocent! No experience whatsoever! What even is a penis? I’ve never seen one! Are they real? Who knows-”

“I can gladly show you one,” He smiles wickedly as he starts to untie the drawstring on his orange sweats and I let out a shout of panic, stopping him.

“I’m okay being in the dark! I don’t have to see it!” I laugh nervously as he stares at me with some sort or adoring/amused look in his eyes.

“I’m going to have to piss eventually, darling,” he shrugs as I shake my head, trying to hide my panic. It probably isn’t going so well. I wonder if he can sniff that out too? He’s like a damn werewolf, all possessive, growly, and what a sniffer he has. Plus, he’s like supernaturally sexy. Definitely a werewolf.

“We will cross that bridge when we get there. But, seriously, you don’t want me! I’m sure I’m nothing like all those girls you’ve had in your bed. I won’t be able to keep up! Plus, I’m sure you’re into some kinky stuff and you are talking to the most boring human on earth, mister. So, in conclusion, I’m not letting you sink your teeth into me, big boy! Glad we could have this discussion. G-Great talk!” My voice is cracky and nervous as he just laughs at me now wholeheartedly.

Before he can speak, a loud bell rings and scared the hell out of me. “It’s time for lunch,” The cell doors slam open and he steps out, standing in the doorway and just stares at me with that stupid smirk. Standing shakily, I peek out to see all the terrifying men walking out freely, a few of them eyeing me like creeps.

“Sure you don’t want to be mine? I can keep you safe, little bird. I promise I won’t even clip your wings. Scout’s honor. All I ask in return is someone soft,” he leans in closer, his hot, minty breath from the gum he’s chewing hits my face, as he trails his finger down my neck and moves my hair out of the way, sending a shiver down my spine. “Warm,” he leans in closer, his lips parting slightly as I tremble.

“And kissable,” I almost hit the floor as his wet, soft lips press against the throbbing vein in my neck and I let out a small squeak, gripping onto his white tank top that showed off his delicious muscles brilliantly. He catches me as my knees buckle, his tongue licking a small stripe up my neck before he bites down slightly, making every horny thought I’ve ever had enter my brain at once. “To hold at night…. I get quite lonely, little Sparrow.”

“Oh, God,” I whimper out as he places another kiss on the mark that I’m sure is on my neck. His voice saying my name made it even worse.

Hey! I can feel you judging me! What can I say? I am a weak, sad virgin who has no self control and also has Harry Styles kissing on my neck. If anyone can help defend me an scare off the heathens in here, it’s got to be him! Can you blame me at all for considering this?

Plus, he’s crazy! He has murdered more people than I can imagine and it’s probably best that I not piss him off, especially since I am in such close quarters with that man. He could smother me in the night with my own pillow if he wanted!

“Wait, wait, wait,” I somehow push him away from me and try not to pay attention to the lustful look in his eyes and his beautiful, swollen lips from kissing on my neck. “Let’s put a pause on this, okay? This is me putting this on pause,” I poke his chest lightly as he looks down at my finger before looking back up at me with a devilish smile as he nods in amusement.

“Since you seem very… determined and I am very terrified of walking into that cafeteria by myself, I will give you a… test run. Yes, that’s right. A test run to see how you do before I agree to anything of the notion of belonging to anyone because I am not an object to be owned by someone no matter how delicious that person may be,” I trail off awkwardly as he lets out a chuckle, wrapping his arm around my shoulder possessively, pulling me closer to him, and pressing a kiss to my forehead.

“Oh, little bird, it’s so cute that you think you have a choice.”

______

Walking into the cafeteria under Harry Styles’ arm was not how I expected my first day in prison to go. “Over there is where we will sit everyday for lunch,” he points to a table in the back where four other boys sat, eying us curiously. I nod, looking away shyly from their gaze, as we continue walking.

“What the fuck are you looking at, huh?” Harry suddenly barks in a man’s face, making me jump at the sudden yelling and change of character. This is the Harry Styles that everyone is scared of. The man, who had been staring at me lustfully since we walked in, looks terrified as he shakes his head quickly. “Keep your eyes to your damn self and don’t look at her again, nosy fucker, unless you want me to rip them out of your fucking head.”

By now, everyone was staring in curiosity and when Harry looks up and gives them a glare that makes my blood run cold, they all look away in fright. “That goes to all of you motherfuckers too. She’s mine. If I catch you breathing near her, thinking of her, looking at her, or worse, touching her. You’re going to wish your mother and father never fucked and gave birth to you. Am I understood?”

Seeing them all nod in fear and the guards do nothing to reign him in, I realize Harry Styles is the one in charge here.

Getting in line for the food, Harry is surprisingly a gentleman and helps carry my tray for me. We receive beef steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, the choice of green beans or a vegetable medley, a roll, and a jello cup. It was surprisingly a decent meal.

Seeing me eyeing the jello cup, as I do indeed enjoy a good cup of jello, Harry turns back to the woman serving the food. “I need another jello cup.” The woman hesitates, probably because we aren’t allowed extra. “Now.” He snaps, making her let out a squeak of fear as she hands him the jello.

“Here you are, my little bird,” he smiles at me kindly, placing it on my tray as I smile awkwardly. Now his pronouns are even becoming possessive. Great. I really don’t think I thought this through. “Follow me.”

I follow him to the back table where the four boys say talking amongst themselves. They become quiet as Harry places our trays down and as I go to sit in the seat next to him, I squeal quietly as he grabs my hips and pulls me into his lap instead.

I try to move back, not very comfortable with this position, but I freeze as his mouth comes close to my ear and he whispers warningly. “Stop trying to fly away, little Sparrow. You don’t want me to clip those wings, do you?”

After this, I try not to move much as I quietly begin to eat my food, his arm tightly around my waist.

“Going to introduce us to your new friend, Harry?” A bright blued eyed, brunette boy chirps, amusement in his tone as he eyes the two of us.

“Sparrow, these are my mates. Louis, Niall, Zayn, and Liam. Boys, this is my new cell mate and little bird, Sparrow. Isn’t she pretty?” Harry hums, looking up at me fondly as he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear as I try not to blush.

“Very… So when is she going to become our little bird?” A man with jet black hair and brown eyes, Zayn, speaks as I squirm awkwardly. Feeling Harry’s arm becoming tighter around my waist, I look down and my eyes widen as I see him fuming with anger as he glares a hole through the man.

“Never. You are not to touch her ever, am I clear? The second you lay a finger on her is the second I will cut said finger off. She’s mine. I claimed her the minute she walked in and she will stay mine. I will be happy to knock your teeth out, Zayn, if you want to challenge me on the subject,” Harry smiles mockingly as he bites into his roll, his eyes never leaving Zayn’s now wide and frightened ones.

“Damn, I was just asking. Didn’t have to get all mean and shit,” Zayn grumbles to himself as he stuffs his mouth full of potatoes and looks anywhere but Harry and I.

“So what do we do after this?” I ask quietly as I scarf down my food like a rabid animal as I hadn’t eaten all day and my nerves were finally recovering from being shot from being in court all day and, you know, going to prison.

Looking up at me, Harry chuckles before he leans up and uses his thumb to wipe off a spot of gravy from the corner of my lip before sucking it off his finger. My cheeks flush at this and I become hot, barely hearing anything he says afterwards.

“After dinner, we have free time for two hours where we got to this big room full of couches, a ping pong table, a television from like the seventies, some crayons and sketch pads. Stuff to get our minds off the fact that we’re in fucking prison. Some use the time to call their family or take naps, that sort of thing. After that, we go shower for an hour. Then, if you’re required you go to group therapy or you go to your cell and get ready for bed. Then, we wake up at the crack of dawn, eat breakfast, shower, go to our designated jobs for about five hours, then lunch, then yard time where we can see the damn sunlight for a few hours a day, then we chill in our cells for a bit, then dinner at six, and you know the rest.”

Taking in all the information, I nod and try not to become overwhelmed with sadness that this is now my life. “Well,” I make sure to swallow my bite of beef steak before continuing. “Where do I shower? I’m a girl and this is a boy’s prison,” I ask as the boys all stiffen and look at each other as if realizing they might have a chance to see some breasts if they’re lucky.

Harry scoffs at the fours boys actions. “Try not to act like prepubescent teenagers that have never seen a pair of breasts. I’ll watch over you, Sparrow, as you shower. Make sure no one tries to pull a move on you.”

I nod, thanking him quietly, before we all begin to eat in silence. Soon, lunch ends and we are all directed to a big room, identical to the one Harry described, for free time.

“I normally go sit on the couch and relax, but do you need to call anyone? Let your parents know you’re okay?” Harry asks as I shake my head.

“My parents told me they want nothing to do with me after I was arrested. I don’t really think they’ll appreciate a call from me now that they are finally rid of me,” I frown, feeling myself begin to well up with tears as I look down at my shoes.

“Hey,” Harry thumbs my chin, making my look up at him and I’m surprised to see sympathy in his eyes. Who knew the mass murderer is capable of emotion? “You don’t need your piece of shit parents, especially after they threw you to the curb when the times got tough. You’ve got me now, little bird. Don’t you worry,” he surprises me by placing a kiss on the tip of my nose. “Now follow me,” he ruins the moment completely by slapping my ass harshly, making me squeal in pain, as he walks ahead of me to the couches.

“Totally uncalled for!” I grumble, rubbing my sore cheek in pain and stumbling to follow him.

“Hey, pretty girl, you look like you need some help rubbing that tight, little ass of yours.” A man with a terrifying smirk on his face suddenly stands in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. My eyes widen as I shake my head frantically, trying to push past him and look over his shoulder to find Harry.

“Where are you going? I’m just trying to help,” he suddenly reaches down and is grabbing my butt in his palms as I let out a scream, jerking away from him as tears blur my vision.

“Don’t touch me, you creep!” I shout just as I see a fist colliding with the man’s face before he hits the ground. Gasping in shock, I stumble back as I watch Harry start to mercilessly beat this man’s face to a bloody pulp.

“I told you not to fucking touch her! I told you, you son of a bitch,” he spits in anger just the guards actually do something and pull him off of the man.

“You just earned yourself a shot, Styles, and no more free time for you. Go shower then to your cells, inmates,” I’m in shock as the guards grab me as well in their tight grip and begin to pull us away.

Harry is still seething with anger and I sniffle, trying to contain my tears of fright, as they drag us down the hall and to, I’m guessing, the shower room. Shoving us into the room, they block the door so we can’t leave and no one can come in. “Wash up and fast,” they hand us our shower caddies before shoving us forward again.

Harry growls under his breath at the shoving and mishandling before grabbing my hand and starting to drag me to the showers.

“I told the warden having a girl here would cause problems and now look, we have extra duties having to make sure the princess doesn’t get attacked or sexually assaulted.” I frown as I hear the guards talk about me as Harry turns on two showers.

“Ignore them, Sparrow. They’re assholes that don’t give a shit about any of us. Now, shower quickly so we can get back to the cell and I can get some damn sleep,” he sighs as I notice his knuckles bleeding from beating that man.

Gently grabbing his hands, I softly rub my thumb over his wounds as he lets out a small hiss of pain. “Thank you… For helping me,” I whisper, looking up at him from under my lashes. He earned my trust tonight.

His hard scowl softens as he sees my teary eyes and he lets out a sigh as he smiles gently. “I told you that I’d protect you if you belonged to me. Hopefully, I passed your little test run. Besides,” his normal smirk comes back full force. “I’m the one that smacked your ass in the first place so it’s the least I could do. It’s quite nice, by the way. Wouldn’t mind having another handful of it again in the near future.”

I roll my eyes playfully as he lets out a loud laugh and climb into the shower, pulling the curtain and standing out of the way of the water as I strip quickly. I am pleasantly surprised that Harry doesn’t even try to pull a move on me.

My shower is quick but I appreciate every second of the warm, steamy water relaxing my muscles and migraine as I bathe in the shower gel Harry hands me over the wall since I didn’t have any yet. I couldn’t help but inhale deeply as I rubs the suds into my skin, loving the scent of the criminal that was actually kind and cared enough to protect me.

Finally, we finish and change back into new clothes before we are escorted back to our cell. It was odd walking down the corridor of cells without hearing the curses and screams of the loud, obnoxious men but I welcomed it with open arms.

The guards shove us into the cell and once again, I can’t help but flinch as they slam the heavy, iron door shut. That sound was definitely going to haunt my dreams tonight. “No funny business, Styles,” One guard warns Harry, earning a roll of the eyes from him, before they walk away.

“C'mon, little bird. Let’s get you to bed. You’ve have a long day, haven’t you?” His voice is shockingly soft and gentle as he ushers me over to my bottom bunk. Laying down, he helps tuck me in under the paper thin blanket before he tucks my wet hair behind my ears, staring down at me with what looks like an adoring gaze.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” I ask quietly, nibbling on the hang nail on my index finger nervously. He sighs at this, running his fingers through my hair once more and untangling it by himself as I couldn’t afford a brush yet.

“There’s something about you that screams innocence and that you need protecting. I may be a murderer and a criminal, but I’m not a man that condones sexual assault and lets myself sit there when someone, especially a pretty little bird like you, is getting attacked. Plus, you remind me of someone I once loved and I didn’t have a chance to protect her, so… Maybe you’re my second chance.”

I stare at him with wide, doe eyes, surprised he opened up to me at all, as he lets out a sigh and shakes his head, his gaze becoming hard like stone again. “Get some rest. You need it,” he begins to stand and I barely think as I wrap my tiny hand around his wrist, stopping him.

“W-Wait,” I mumble as he looks down at me with raised eyebrows. “I-It’s cold in here and I’m already shivering… A-and we both have these horrid excuses for blankets…” I trail off as he begins to smirk devilishly again.

“Miss. Matthews? Are you inviting me into your bed? But we’ve only just met!” He says in a dramatic tone as I let out a giggle and playfully roll my eyes.

“Lay down before I change my mind.” He smiles, stripping out of his tank top before he climbs into the small bunk with me, his warmth instantly making me stop shivering. His muscular, big arms wrap around my waist and he allows me to rest my head on his chest as his hand plays with the ends of my hair.

His slow, relaxed breathing almost lulls me to sleep when I hear him whisper. “Little bird?” I hum in acknowledgment. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t think you murdered anyone.”

I smile softly, my cheek pressed against his bare skin. “Thank you… I’m actually happy I got stuck in this cell with you because you’re actually nice and I’m still trying to figure out if you’re a werewolf or not… I really wish people saw this side of you instead of thinking you’re some awful person incapable of feelings and mercy,” I mumble, rambling like always. I wince at my insensitive words, scared I could have made him upset before he lets out a low chuckle and kisses the top of my head.

“Go to sleep, my little jailbird. It’s a long day tomorrow.”

This is definitely not how I expected my first day in prison to go.

#harry styles blurb #harry styles imagines #harry styles fantasies #imagines #one direction imagines #Harry Styles #harry styles imagine #one direction #harry styles au #alternate universe

195 notes · View notes

kpop-wetdreams · 7 years ago

Text

Candy Cane Assassin

[one shot; college!AU]

Author: Kpop-Wetdreams

Pairing: Taehyung x Reader

Rating: PG [fluff & sfw]

Author’s Note: This is inspired by the many wonderful episodes of Community and the insanity they get into with paintball assassin! As part of the BWK Winter Exchange between @kwriterskollection and @bangtanwriters-net for my Secret Santa! I hope you enjoy!

Word Count: 2,516

It was mayhem. Complete and utter mayhem. You had no idea how the school was going to clean up after this mess but you didn’t care. You didn’t even know how it even got to this point! It seemed like it was just a few days ago that your friends were convincing you to join the schoolwide game of paintball assassin that would be taking place on campus on Saturday when there were no more classes and no one on campus other than the participants. You didn’t even know how such an event got sanctioned let alone was ran and organized the school. Your friends had shrugged when you posed that question to them answering you simply with that it was a ‘community college and anything goes’. You were skeptical as to the scale but this was insane! This was like something straight out of the movies and you didn’t think such things happened in real life!

Saturday had been like any other day. Just a normal day. The sun came out, you woke up and got dressed. Unfortunately, it was like most Saturdays where you found yourself heading to school despite it being the weekend. The only difference was today, you weren’t heading to campus to study but to take part in a student event. Your friends had been so giddy and their energy had been infectious that it was impossible to turn them down. You could feel a sense of dread fill you as you signed the waiver that waved the school of liability should you become injured on campus due to this event. Your eyes narrowed as you read the waiver and looked at your friends, contemplating if this was a good idea anymore but their insistent nagging had you signing on the bottom line. The next thing you knew you were given a paintball gun that was painted to look like a candy cane along with red and green paintballs themselves. You looked at the paintball gun, holding it up to your friends. “Is this supposed to be festive?” you ask mockingly as you all laughed. As you all stood in the crowd of at least 150 to 250 people, the PA system overhead blared to life.

“A few rules to make sure everyone stays safe and has a good time! If you are shot in the chest or the back, you are eliminated. Limbs shots such as legs and arms do not count. Headshots are strictly forbidden and if you are found guilty of administering such a shot, you were be eliminated and possible further action may be taken upon you from the college’s disciplinary committee. The leaderboard will be constantly updated and displayed by the various monitors and TVs throughout the college. If you leave the college premises, you will be eliminated. Physically attacking another student will also see to your elimination. As time progresses, we will announce buildings and structures that will become off-limits effectively making the playing field smaller and smaller. The battleground will continue to shrink in size until we are left with a single victor.”

You turn to your friends, eyes wide in alarm as you can see people getting more and more excited about it. “They can’t be serious right? Do people really attack one another at these things?”

“I hear a girl had to be taken to the hospital last year!” Sam said, bouncing up and down, unable to contain herself.

“What the heck are people so determined to win for?! ISN’T THIS JUST FOR SCHOOL SPIRIT AND SOME HOLIDAY FUN?” You ask horrified at what your friends had managed to talk you into.

“....you signed up without knowing what the prize was?” Jack asked, and eyebrow cocked at you and you waved a hand at him.

“Like I said, it wasn’t important at the time! I thought this was just for fun!” You whined wondering if it was too late to withdraw your name from the lot.

“You better bring your A-game __________ because the prize is --”

Just before Chelsea could finish her sentence the PA system blared to life again.

“As you know, the winner will receive PRIORITY REGISTRATION. Which means they will have first pick of all their classes for the upcoming semester. You will be given 15 minutes to situate yourselves. When you hear the siren blare over the PA system, the game will have officially begun. Good luck to you all and keep the spirit of the holidays in your hearts and in your holsters!”

With that everyone started to take off running in every which way. Panic welled up inside of you as you felt increasingly overwhelmed. Priority registration?! They had to be kidding! Just thinking about what you could do with your schedule made you tingle with adrenaline as you felt your competitiveness bubble to the surface. I could make an airtight schedule and have a 4 day weekend! You thought to yourself. You were about to ask your friends about what all their strategies were when you realized that you were the only one in your group of friends that was still standing in the open grass area. “The traitors!” you gasp as you held tightly onto your candy cane paintball gun and the precious paintballs.You ducked into the first building you could which happened to be the library.

You were surprised at the sight that greeted you as all the bookshelves had been covered with plastic as if they were all wearing raincoats! Probably for the best. You thought to yourself as you thought about the practicality of it all. You had to wonder how often the college did events such as this if they were so prepared! This was the first year you had attended the college but even you had heard the stories that were inspired from these events but you always thought they were over exaggerated and dramatized but you realized that maybe everything you had ever heard about these events had been right after all. The sound of the siren over the PA system drags you out from your thoughts as you run towards the back of the library where you knew there were some big cabinets. You threw the first one open and to your surprise, there was already someone in there! You gasp as you quickly ducked and heard the sound of a paintball gun firing over your head. From below you whip out your gun and squeeze the trigger, closing your eyes bracing for the feeling of a paintball exploding against you but it never came. Instead came a sound of a groan as you allow yourself a peek, opening one eye. You had managed to hit the person hiding in the cabinet squarely in the chest and they were holding out their paintballs to you.

“Uh… thanks?” You said as you pocketed the additional ammunition.

And that’s how the game went. It had to have been what… 4 maybe 5 hours since the start of the game? You were one of the lucky ones to still have survived and you had even found a survival fit. Inside there had been a bottle of water, some trail mix, and more paintballs. The library had been one of the first buildings to be eliminated in the playable area shrinking. That had been one of the most perilous situations for you, the run from one building to another. There had been shooters guarding the doors but you had been one of the few making the run at the same time and though it wasn’t ideal, you had used some of the other students as meat shields. You felt a little bad but hey, at the end of the day you were fighting for your 4 day weekend.

He was at the top of the leaderboard. Though the only shot that really mattered was the final one that would determine the victor from the loser, the school was tracking who was being eliminated by who and Taehyung Kim was leading. You recognized the name from your English Literature class. He was a handsome guy that was always laughing and goofing around, sporting name brands and seemingly without a care in the world. You knew it wasn’t fair to judge him on just what you saw on the surface but you couldn’t help it. He somehow always managed to stand at the top of the class without breaking a sweat while you studied until you had bags under your eyes. What you wouldn’t give to put a bullet right in the middle of his chest, well, a paintball of course…. You weren’t the violent type…

You re-tie your hair into a messy bun as you listened to see if you could hear any footsteps when the PA system blared to life which made you almost jump out of your skin.

“We finally have a showdown ladies and gentleman! ___________ and Taehyung Kim are the final assassins in this campus-wide game of Candy Cane Assassins! The battleground for this final showdown is the main gymnasium. All other buildings and locations will be eliminated in 1 minute. The countdown will start at the end of this announcement. GOOD LUCK TO OUR FINALISTS!”

“WHAT?!” You exclaimed in disbelief as you sprinted towards the gym. You weren’t far from the main gym but you weren’t exactly close either. You knew that there were multiple entrances into the main gym and you prayed that you and Taehyung wouldn’t be entering from the same door as that would make for a very anticlimactic end if he just shot you in the boob when you arrived. You ran harder than you had in your entire life. You, the person that wouldn’t even run for the bus. Your chest was heaving and your breathing heavy as you ran towards the doors closest to you. You were surprised to see the doors thrown open but you didn’t have time to think about it as the countdown that was playing over the PA was counting down from only 10 seconds now.

With the final push of your energy, you managed to get your body through the doors as the countdown finished.

“Congratulations to both participants to making it to the main battle stage! To us, you’re both winners but of course, only one of you can walk away with priority registration today! Good luck to you both and remember, embody the spirit of the holidays!”

You sneered at the PA. You swore you were going to find the announcer for this when it was all done and said and you would surely empty a clip of paintballs onto them and see if they feel like embodying the spirit of Christmas after. Once you got a chance to catch your breath you were really able to take in your surroundings.

“WHO HAD TIME TO SET THIS UP?!” You muttered in utter disbelief. A maze of sorts had been erected in the gym, taking up the entire floor. They had decorated everything like a winter wonderland complete with fake snow. You couldn't believe your eyes but you knew you couldn’t afford to be wasting time gawking at your surroundings, especially when you had made it so far. You walked lightly around the maze, hand on the wall to keep yourself orientated, trying to be as quiet as possible but it was hard. The more dead-ends you ran into, the more you were becoming frustrated but since Taehyung hadn’t found you yet either that meant he was struggling just as much as you are.

A loud sound resonated through the gym as something fell and your head whipped towards the source of the sound. You walked back towards the sound carefully and that’s when you realized that the walls of the maze were starting to fall and give way. That meant that soon enough if you didn’t find Taehyung, you would be standing in plain sight as would he. That put some fire back into your belly as you jogged through the maze.

A shot whizzed by you, narrowly missing your shoulder. Your eyes widened as you quickly took a turn, any turn to put some distance between you and him. It had to be him, there was no one else and it was a damned shame that he had found you first. When you rounded a final corner, you saw that it was a dead end. You cursed, doubling back and pressing yourself against the corner, waiting for your target to round it. You hoped that Taehyung would be reckless and just come running around the corner and lucky for you, he did. You cocked your gun and pulled the trigger.

Nothing.

You look at your gun and then at Taehyung’s face 5 feet away.

“Looks like someone is out of ammunition.” He said cockily, advancing on you. You panic, there was nothing left to do but you had to think of something! You were so close to the finish line you could practically taste the egg nog that was sure to be waiting for you.

“You know if you wanted to get me alone ________ you could’ve just asked. This was a very elaborate way to try to get my attention.” Taehyung snickered as you glared.

“You’re so conceited! Why would you think I liked you?” You spat, backing up slowly trying to come up with a way, any way to win.

“...All that flirting? The laughing… the subtle touching. You can’t tell me it was just me.” Taehyung said surprised. You took advantage of his surprise as you lunged forward and relieved him of his candy cane paintball gun.

“Hey now! That wasn’t fair. How about this ______, me or the priority registration.” Taehyung offered with a smile. “Think of how much fun our date would be! I know you like me too.” He pressed and you faltered.

What does he mean too? Does he like me? You thought trying to figure out if he was just playing games with you. Your eyes narrowed as a smirk pulled on your lips and you pulled the trigger, “I’ll take the priority registration thanks.” you say as the paintball hits him square in the chest and his black hoodie is splattered in red paint. Taehyung laughs which made you laugh too as he walked over and shook your hand. Taehyung leaned forward and whispered in your ear, “Jokes on you, I’m not even enrolling next semester. I hope you’re as good at running away from me as I am at chasing you down.” he said as he winked and left you with your mouth hanging open wondering just who the victor was in this situation.

As Taehyung walked away from you when the final maze walls fall away he waved back to you over his head without turning around, “Don’t forget to embody the holiday spirit __________.”

You blink as your friends came running and hugging you tightly congratulating you and you couldn’t help but think about what a date with Taehyung Kim would be like after all.

#kwriterskollection #bangtangwriters-net #secret santa #candy cane assassin #kim taehyung #taehyung fanfiction #v fanfiction #bts fanfiction #taehyung imagine #v imagine #college!au

9 notes · View notes

pixelproductions · 5 years ago

Link

How to Use Interactive Content Marketing Platforms to Drive Business

Customer engagement is key when using Interactive Content Marketing Platforms to Drive Business because it’s entirely based on audience interaction.

Interactive advertising is a customer-oriented method of advertising that engages the customer as well as requires their interaction.

The most preferred kinds of interactive advertising and website marketing using content are polls, studies, quizzes as well as video games. This type of web content can assist you to drive recognition, involve your audience, produce high-converting leads, transform to sales, or nurture brand commitment. Interactive content is a very efficient means to break through all the noise your customers hear and also offer genuine value, guidance and also education while allowing the individual to straight engage keeping that web content.

Interactive web content isn’t really a new thing, but it has only just begun to gain significant traction among online marketers in terms of turning potential customers into sales. This is exactly what we’re going to look at in a little more detail…

Methods to use interactive content marketing platforms to Drive Sales

Interactive Content Marketing And Advertising

Since interactive content marketing entails making use of content to involve your audience based on their participation, it’s critical to make sure that your website and your advertising materials are tailored to do just that.

By Promoting the Social Network

Instead of routing followers to your normal post, create a new experience by getting them to engage prior to visiting your website content. For example, Orbitz ran an interactive test on its website so individuals could figure out just how deserving their traveling partners were, but enticed the user to act on social channels first.

By Improving the Website’s Customer Experience (UX).

If you’re continuously providing an incredible individual experience or UX, you can anticipate individuals to bookmark you as well as likewise go back to view future content. User experience is one of the biggest factors in drawing in new traffic and keeping existing customers engaged with your brand.

By Promoting Hu

man Nature

It’s not human nature to fill out a boring form just because, but people are drawn to games. That’s why gamification has actually come to be such an important part of interactive content strategy. For example, a hub involves, a worker involvement platform, makes use of gamification to help boost worker participation. There’s a public leaderboard so workers can contend along with benefits connected to quizzes and also prizes.

By Boosting Brand Exposure and Loyalty:

With More Social Shares Comes More Brand Name Direct Exposure as well as Commitment.

Word of mouth stays one of the most effective assets for any kind of marketing professional. If individuals are speaking about your service, you have an advantage in the sector. And if you supply a rewarding, enjoyable, amusing, or academic experience, you’ll win visitors’ commitment.

Interactive Web Content Supplies Better Data to Enhance Your Buyer Persona and also Your Sales Funnel.

Interactive web content is incredibly efficient at every phase of the sales funnel. As your customers relocate more detailed to a purchase, you can continue to involve them with top-notch, interactive web content. While UX is indisputably essential, you additionally wish to collect data. Surveys, surveys, and either-or quiz reactions are the very best ways to gather data regarding your target market.

Use Interactive Web Content to Enlighten Clients

Interactive web content is the perfect medium for educating, which is a critical factor in the buyer’s journey. A recent study showed that;

• 25% of people reported that they used interactive web material somehow, along with the top reason for doing so was to inform their target markets.

• 93% of the interactive team reported their item was rather reliable or incredibly trustworthy in educating customers, versus 70% for the passive group.

• To give this affirmation additional power, 45% of the advertising experts in the interactive team reported that their product was “really effective” at enlightening customers– vs. a simple 6% in the passive team.

See EmailMarketingROI.com for a circumstances of a reliable scholastic calculator.

Get Lead-Gen Goals

Whether it’s an analysis, a calculator, a research study or a few other layouts, you need to establish which kind of interactive content is the best suitable for your firm to attain your list building purposes and also maintain your C-suite satisfied. This may include some trial and error, yet right here are several of the advantages and downsides you’ll discover with each type.

Evaluations: Evaluations (or examinations) are one of the most recommended sorts of interactive internet content. They can be used by both B2B as well as B2C organizations. Like all interactive material, quizzes need either an interactive tool system or some personalized web development, so they’re generally a little a financial investment– though not as much so as several of the various other kinds of interactive content.

Calculators: it allows people to input selections to develop a unique numerical response. Calculators generally ask for much more time to develop as well as produce than evaluations do, as a result of the truth that service stakeholders should choose the outcomes provided in addition to back-end calculations that need to be created prior to launch. Nonetheless, calculators can additionally be the very best kind of interactive material to bring in leads because they normally use essential numerical details that assists the individual make purchase choices

Interactive books/ Whitepapers: Despite the fact they have in fact been around for a while now, whitepapers and additionally electronic books are still effective lead-gen tools for numerous firms. Lead-gen acts in a similar way that it would certainly for a common publication or whitepaper (a touchdown website with a gated type) or marketing professionals may pick to embed a kind directly in the PDF, with the choice to fill it set on “continue analysis.” Ion Interactive does a magnum opus with its interactive white records.

Reinforce Links with Existing Clients

Every company needs to pull in customers, along with they need an excellent list building technique to do it. So just how do you keep your existing clients excited about your brand? There are a range of materials that benefit promoting your existing consumers, including customer e-newsletters, occasions along with forums.

As an instance, you can produce an interactive survey to ask your present consumers exactly how they’re doing as well as demonstrate just how their responses stack up with various other participants. Interactive content can be a fantastic device for marketing experts. Efficient interactive material allows the private to dive in, connect, take pleasure in as well as gain understanding without appearing like he/she is being offered to.

Content Marketing And Advertising Campaigns

Interactive internet content can suit every part of your advertising and marketing landscape. Below are some instances:

Paid Media: Interactive CTAs generally drive higher click with rates as well as conversions than fixed CTAs considering that they influence the customer to entail.

Events: There are several methods you can incorporate interactive product right into events. With the information you gather from their interactive inputs, you can also individualize material specifically for them.

Blog site: Installed tests with lead forms directly right into your blog to collect leads from what or else would definitely have been ungated, recognition material.

Social Network: Social media site website is just one of the most efficient mediums for interactive internet content as a result of the truth that people are keyed to involve by sharing, taste as well as likewise engaging with others’ product.

Interactive content marketing platforms drive customer engagement through every channel when done properly. How are you using it as part of your inbound marketing program?

#interactive content marketing platforms #interactive website content

0 notes