#i warmly welcome it all btw welcome new fans

[thunderstomm]

That "we like the clue board now" clip from Trolls 3vreally describes the state of the trolls fandom right now huh.

[celebrimbor-loves-you]

I've just thought about WHAT A DAMNED ISOLATION WAS ALL MAEGLIN'S LIFE

JUST okay okay so. Eol wasn't a great fan of letting his son know the world except of Nan Elmoth, so he was literally imprisoned in his dad's land. All he had were Aredhel's forbidden stories about noldor, about Himlad, and Hithlum, and Doriath of Elu Thingol (his kin too btw)

Then he escaped. He saw feanorians' land and his half-uncles maybe too (but I'm not sure just I love to think he really did). And again: all he had was his mother who was his leader. It was fast ride so he had no time to be curious about EVERYTHING

I think he was

Gondolin. He is welcomed and warmly greeted but he is also told he'll nevel leave Turgon's city the other way but death. But at first days he had no time to think about it bc IMAGINE HOW DIFFERENT FROM NAN ELMOTH Gondolin was and imagine what a wonder it was to a little forest boy who saw nothing in his short life...

And he's probably always following Aredhel like she's a guide and she show him the city and all around it and tells him SO MUCH so it is uneasy for him to fall asleep at night HE HAS GOT A MILLION THOUGHTS IN HIS HEAD

and then Eol comes

Maeglin AND IT IS NOT UNEXPECTED did not happy about returning to the forest. Gondolin is a golden cage, but the cage is too big to discover it in one or two days so now he see city like a new endless universe

And Nan Elmoth is VERY VERY little compared to Gondolin and the mountains around.

Eol tried to kill him but he killed Aredhel instead — he killed EVERYTHING MAEGLIN HAD IN GONDOLIN. He killed everything he knew in Gondolin, to say right. And Turgon commanded to kill Eol, and Eol is dead. All old Maeglin's life is dead with his parents and Gondolin is really one prison he got instead of another.

He was isolated, HE IS isolated. When Nirnaeth Arnoediad happened he was not for a bit BUT all he saw were war, blood, agony, despair and pain — not good at all. And he has nothing fine in Gondolin: his love is not a sort of love in return, he's highly glorious and he's a lord of his own house but everyone and everything is strange, unusual and so on. No matter he might hate his life in Nan Elmoth, but he lived there till he was born and it was easy to get used to. And he had AT LESS two elves who loved him in those times... Now dead, yes.

No matter what people say just— Maeglin's life is a tragedy and I don't think it was hard for Morgoth to break his mind.

It was already half-broken.

[itefi-n-ferlet]

how would you envision a kid or kids that freed and laxus adopted? I just need fraxus daddies in my life 💞

Hi! Sorry that it took me time to answer this, Fraxus is not one of my usual ships, so I did not know whether to answer or not. And well, I didn't come up with a design for him, I'm not good at drawing, but I said to myself, my strong point is writing, 🤔 after all, I'm a fanficker, so I decided to respond in this way. I hope I do not offend any Fraxus shipper with this headcanon, 🤞 even if it is not one of my ships I think it is a nice ship and I treated it with all the respect it deserves. 🙌 I apologize for any typing errors as English is not my first language. 😅

💛 FRAXUS ADOPTIVE SON HEADCANON 💚

》The first time they meet the boy was in a town were they were on a mission, the boy saved them from drinking a poisonous beverage.

》The second time they found the boy, he was lying on the street unconscious.

》They took him to a doctor and learnt from the village people that the boy is homeless and a orphan. A Dark guild killed his family when he was three (right now he is seven), that Dark Guild used people as experiments to practice forbidden spells and curses, the dark guild was taking down by a group of braves and unknow mages, Laxus realizes it was Crime Sorciere who defeated them.

》The doctor says to them that the boy has an strange disease and he doesn't know what to do.

》They decide to take the boy to the best healer they know: Porlyusica.

》Even sick, the boy talked a lot with them during the trip. The only way to stop his chattering was when illness caused him to pass out, or when Freed taught him to write letters using his magic, or when Laxus loaned him his headphones.

》The boy decides that he wants to have long hair like Freed, but he gets sad thinking how many years that is going to take and that maybe he doesn't have that many time. Freed and Laxus feel their heart ache a lot.

》Porlyusica receives the request in her usual bad mood, but agrees to treat the boy. Obviously, she throws Laxus and Freed out of her house, but first, the weak boy, between sobs, asks Laxus to lend him his headphones, Laxus agrees immediately.

》Freed decides to camp outside Porlyusica 's house still defying the healer's bad mood.

》Laxus is the one who brings his meals every day.

》Evergreen and Bickslow offer to fetch whatever rare medicine or herb Porlyusika needs.

》One day the boy gets really sick, Porlyusica asks them to prepare for the worst in the next days.

》Freed cuts his hair as an offering to the gods for the boy to get better.

》Seeing the sadness of his friends, along with Freed's hair, Bickslow offers one of his "babies/dolls" as a sacrifice on the altar of Kardia's cathedral and Evergreen her most favorite fan.

》Laxus asks his grandfather for help. Makarov sees how desperate he is and advises to find Wendy and bring her back immediately.

》Like a miracle, Team Natsu arrives a few hours later to town, Wendy goes to help the boy but she can only help alleviate the symptoms a bit, but when Porlyusica leaves her alone for a moment, Wendy asks Irene's soul piece inside her if she can help the boy, Irene feels sorry for the boy and analyzes him and realizes that the boy is actually linked to a curse, if they could find out what curse it is, she could remove it.

》Wendy says this to Laxus and he remembers that Crime Sorciere took care of that dark guild, so he looks for Erza to communicate with Jellal, again, luck is on his side (or rather Freed's offering continues to take effect ) because Jellal is with Erza in the guild and informs him of what happened years ago in that town and that he knows pretty well wich was the curse that those dark magicians were perfecting using the citizens.

》Upon receiving the information, Wendy and Irene can remove the curse, Porlyusica takes care of the last symptoms with her herbs.

》Laxus can't help but feel a lump in his throat when he arrives at Porlyusica's house and is given the good news, Freed breaks down in outrageous tears and Porlyusica throws them all out of her house again.

》The first thing the boy asks Laxus after he fully recovers is if, now that he is no longer ill, he can no longer use his headphones, Laxus smiles gently and tells him that those headphones are already his, that he gave them to him as a gift.

》Makarov seeing his grandson so happy and relieved asks Laxus if he is going to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and take children without families into his care, to Makarov's surprise, Laxus smiles warmly.

》When Laxus tells Freed about the idea his grandfather gave him, Freed tells him that he had already sent Evergreen and Bickslow to get the adoption papers in the boy's hometown and he just had to sign. Laxus is surprised, but then he just lets out a long sigh and signs the papers.

》The guild throws a big welcome party for the boy.

》Aside from the great news that he already had amazing parents, a loving grandfather, and a large family by his side, the boy's favorite gifts were the huge cake Erza bought for the party, and his parents' request to Lucy to use the Cancer's key to growing his hair long and beautiful like his father Freed had before offering it for his salvation.

》His favorite way of wearing his hair from then on was in a high ponytail with his father Laxus' headphones decorating it.

... FIN...

Hope you like it!! Btw, I didn't give the boy a name cause I am really bad at choosing names. 😅

[alicemitch09writes]

hey alice! i’m the *new suna stan* from before lol

thanks so much for the hcs!!! i enjoyed them a lot ❤️❤️❤️ i was also wondering, what would be manager’s dynamics with the rest EJP Raijin? Would it be the same as her dynamics with Inarizaki? i’m super into this world that you built in hyogo i cant even hahahah i also imagine what kind of friends manager has in uni and basically her whole journey to healing from her past 😊 i hc that sunarin probs gets jealous of some uni guy friend of manager for some reason or wtvr because jealous suna is *screeches*

do u have 🥨 anon already? if not, may i be ur pretzel anon 💕💕💕

awwww, pretzel anon it is! hello and welcome~

Honestly, those stories were half-made and half based on the real-life experiences of family, friends, or students of mine.

Soooo her relationships:

UNIVERSITY

Since it was a new town, she definitely took time to get to know people. However, a few people remembered her from her days as 'Inarizaki's Fox Keeper' players, ex-managers, and fans. She made a group.

However, her constant remains: Inarizaki seniors, Miya twins, and her family.

Also, her therapist's child just happened to be a senior at her university so they became friends. It was through him that she heard of an on-the-job-training/internship with EJP Raijin.

Some clubs tried to ask her to be their manager, but she kindly declined, wanting to focus on her studies first. She was, however, a consultant.

She befriended a few of her neighbors - each, from differing colleges and interesting backgrounds.

Suna doesn't have to worry much about her friends, because that one friend is Asexual, and the rest are in relationships.

EJP Raijin

The first person she befriended was Murase-san. Actually, her full name is Akira Murase, 7 years older than her, and was really good with PR. However, she's heard of Reader's reputation and was happy that she actually considered doing her internship with them.

When she added that she can speak 3 languages: English, Japanese, and her native language, that's when Murase-san decided then and there that she'd be her favorite person.

EJP Raijin team is....hmmm, I would say a mix between Kamomedai and Itachiyama. I'm saying this because I'm trying to recall my experience teaching students there (an actual school btw, or was it a university)

Also, as of writing I'm looking at the Wiki page of JT Thunder and wow, since I'm basing the team off them, the inspiration team is pretty reputable.

Anyway, they're all generally nice, competitive, passionate, and abnormally tall.

The team are nice enough and warmly welcomed her, taking an immediate liking to her after sharing her analysis on the team's play and points they could improve on.

Some of the players are family men, so they treat her like a daughter. Some are single men, who tried to hit on her, only to receive her poker face and cold stare. And some are foreign nationals trying to fit in and adjust, who usually cling to her almost immediately because of how she can understand them (think back to the scene with Aone).

Suna gets jealous at that, sending them cold stares and blocking them so hard during plays to the point that it was frustrating. But the rest of the team get a laugh out of it.

When she graduated university, it was honestly her own decision to work for EJP Raijin. And how could she not? The pay was good, as was the environment (after two years of interning with them), and she loved the thrill of the game. Also, she was dating one of their players.

The owner of the club has also taken a liking to Reader, which is why they got a discount when she and Suna were buying a car.

[shibalen]

1/2! Hi! could I have a male romantic hq matchup if thats ok? w a dark box + a jewellery box pls! I'm 5'5, she/her w long dark brown hair w the front half of my right side dyed white, green eyes + tan skin! I'm super bubbly, loud, naturally v flirty + my love language is physical touch! I LOVE working out + I'm a HUGE foodie. I'm stubborn + impulsive, luv rain/storms, coffee + PDA. I'm emotional, confident, bold, giggly, energetic + observant! I ramble but I'm a gd listener + v playful!

2/2 im v playful + luv teasing! I'm spontaneous, optimistic, passionate + ambitious but I tend to overwork myself. I'm empathetic + love comforting others, it takes a lot to make me super angry too! I'm pretty straight forward - I try my best to be upfront about my feelings! I LOVE autumn/winter, cooking, BOBA + outdoors (but also love cosy nights at home) I really value honesty + loyalty. my ideal type is someone tall, protective + doesn't mind physical touch! (I also luv late night adventures)

Sorry I ran out of characters but I just wanted to say thank you so much in advance! I literally had notifications on so I didn't miss your matchups being open lmao <3 a nickname incase u need it is Ains btw!

♡︎ matchup for @hvnlydmn

hello, dear! aww, i'm so happy you think my matchups are something worth not missing. thank you for requesting, hopefully you enjoy this!

haikyuu: i match you with . . .

osamu miya !!

• under that calm exterior Osamu is competitive and has a small wild streak in him. you would do good in bringing out that side of him more often with your extroverted nature !!

• he finds your boldness and passion endearing and will help you keep your feet grounded in cases your impulsive tendancies might cause trouble for you.

• while your external demeanours differ, you hold the same core values which is incredibly important. like you, Osamu prefers being honest and will understand your point of view even though he might have a different opinion.

• that being said, you're both extremely patient and heated arguments take place only once in a blue moon. even then you manage to work out your differences quite fast.

• maybe it's because of your profile pic but i get the feeling you were a fan of Atsumu first, being part of the cheering squad in high school.

• you had no problem approaching either of the twins despite their popularity. they liked your confidence and energy so quickly accepted you.

• at first you wanted Osamu to help you get closer to Atsumu, but oops, along the way you two ended up falling for the other instead ! your personalities complimented each other, plus you had lots of common interests !

• i love how your first impression dynamic is the fun ray of sunshine x the quiet chill one even though y'all can be equally chaotic and observant ♡︎

• Osamu puts action over words and likes showing you his affection through small, casual touches as you go about your day. locking your fingers, putting his arm around your waist or shoulders, caresses of your cheek/head/hands.

• also, giving you massages after a tough day !! it's sweet and intimate while you can talk about anything and everything, or say nothing at all ♡( ◡‿◡ )

• insists being the one to brew you coffee. he knows his coffee is the best and it's what you deserve.

• playful teasing 23/7 (including snack breaks) just saying. having a brother like Atsumu has had its effects.

• Atsumu and you sometimes gang up and lovingly bully him. don't worry though, even against the two of you Samu can stand his ground (or be petty and give you a cold shoulder to tease you even more).

• though if someone else starts crossing the line while they're teasing you, Osamu will lowkey throw hands. he won't make a scene but anyone with the guts to brother you should be prepared to face pain the consequences.

• your dates often consist of visiting new restaurants/food booths, home-cooked dinner dates or picnics + hiking. sometimes he'll join working out with you.

❦︎ darkbox, timeskip

• it started with the little things: missed calls, skipped dinners, forgotten good-mornings. with Osamu busy with the restaurant and you having your hands full with your own job, your schedules only seemed to drift further apart.

• but then the words you exchanged irl became less frequent and finally the physical touch between you faded nearly into nonexistence because you hardly even saw each other.

• it was like a ticking time bomb. Osamu and you were aware of it but neither of you knew how to stop it.

• though you talked through messages and calls it just wasn't the same. stressed and worried, you did your best to remain calm, however this only made things worse.

• to you, it felt as though Osamu didn't care about your relationship anymore since he always looked and sounded the same, ever so nonchalant. yet in truth he was trying his hardest to look composed so you wouldn't worry.

• in the end, you both saw it best to take a 'break' until your careers became stable again. the saddest part: you did it for the other though neither of you wanted to.

• to forget your depression you became more involved in your work than before, up to the point of overworking yourself.

• meanwhile, Osamu, too, drowned himself in exhaustion. no matter how stoic he appeared it was clear he was all but focused. he kept wondering if you were okay, eating properly, getting enough sleep, or even if you wanted to start seeing someone else.

• worries if you'd rather have broken up with him for good because he wasn't good enough.

• thank goodness Atsumu, being the better and smarter twin™, called his brother out on his bs. too bad Osamu was a stubborn bastard and took forever to realise he loved you too much to be taking some 'pause' from you.

• his blood ran cold and his heart dropped to his stomach, however, when you weren't answering any calls or texts for days. you always answered him after a day at most.

• gosh, he was so anxious something had happened to you that he cancelled everything to rush to your place.

• it turned out you were taking a a week off from the world after too much work and getting sick. all well and good but the boy almost stumbled to his knees from the relief.

• instead, being himself, he just went: "stupid. ya really have a talent for getting yourself into situations like these."

• but thankfully you knew what he meant and how to comfort him. obviously you both fessed up that despite the problems you didn't want to be apart from each other again.

• from that incident onwards you agreed to always openly talk about your feelings. even if it meant being a little selfish, you knew the other would always be there for you ♡︎

𑁍 jewellery box

— favourite memory with you:

after a loss at an important game, you were the one to cheer him up. it was mid-autumn so the nature was filled with colours. you invited him out to rake leaves and jump into the heaps. Osamu thought it was ridiculous at first but couldn't help but smile at your sweet attempts to help him. you weren't together yet back then but it was definitely the moment he realised he felt something stronger for you than friendship ♡︎

— favourite activity to do together:

cooking and taste-testing! it's just so domestic. he gets to cook and spend quality time with you—what could be better? also, image standing in front of a stove, just cooking, when he comes up to you from behind, quietly wraps his arms around your waist and nuzzles your neck.

— favourite place to kiss you:

your forehead and neck. he jokes you're too short for him to reach your lips when he actually just loves the intimacy of it, same with your neck.

— favourite nicknames to call you by:

short-stack, plum, Ains. just your own nickname or something silly/teasing. he doesn't think having a nickname is that important.

— favourite thing about you:

how empathetic and understanding you are. many have gotten the wrong impression of him of being aloof before, so he loves you for caring to look further than meets the eye. not only with him but everyone else as well.

runner up: Kotarō Bokuto

this is my first time writing the extra additions so feedback is warmly welcome. remember to take care ♡︎

[you-never-liked-this-sweater]

Guess who’s back? I’d like to request a Connor x Reader where the reader is a youtuber with like 5K subs and she accidentally dissed Con in a livestream or something

Connor Murphy X Reader: Anonymous Until You’re Not

Words: 3845

Warning: Swearing, smoking

Reader Pronouns: they/them

Author’s Note: Again, it’s been a while, I know. I thought I would write thisshorter story to try and get back into the rhythm of doing requests. I hope youguys enjoy this one.

———-

You adjusted your microphone for what seemed liked the twentieth time,making sure that it was out of frame but still picked up your voice. Youchecked the lighting, your camera angle, and did one last overall sweep of yourequipment. Once you were satisfied, you took your place in your gaming chairand stared into your reflection, smoothing out your clothes and fixing yourhair before pulling on your headset. You never showed your face on screen sothe camera was angled to show only your mouth and below. It was a good way tokeep yourself anonymous while still allowing your subscribers to know you alittle more personally. 

“Perfect”, You breathe out as you took in your appearance onscreen. 

Finally you placed your hand on the mouse and clicked ‘live stream’,the little red dot on screen lit up as your subscribers flooded onto thestream.

You smiled warmly at the camera, “Hey guys, it’s (username) again.Welcome to my scheduled live stream tonight. Thought I would keep it chill,maybe stream some mindless games and do a Q&A with you guys so you can knowa little bit more about me. How does that sound?”

The chat lit up with praises and confirmation that they loved the idea.Your subscribers were always so positive, and streaming with them was always somethingthat you enjoyed because even if you had a rough day they made you smile.

“Alright, then guys. Let’s get started,” You launchedMinecraft, knowing you could easily multitask in that game, and turned to thecamera while it was loading up, “So you guys can submit questions into thechat, or if you donate you can attach a question to those as well. I will tryto answer all of the donation questions because you guys pay for that to grabmy attention. But I’ll definitely try to answer stuff from the chat as wellbecause I understand that not everyone can donate. Just please be respectful inthe fact that I may not want to answer some questions. And also please berespectful of other people on the stream. Thanks!”

The questions began to flood in and you picked one at random to read offfirst.

You hummed, scanning the chat, “Alright, let’s see…First questionis from GalaxyGal who asks, ’when is the last time you got scared?’Oh, I like that one, because I get scared kind of easily.” You crossedyour legs in the chair and began loading up a new world in your game, “Itwas at school about a month or so ago, I think. There’s this overhang over theexit towards the student parking lot, and people go there to smoke. I wasrunning late so when I was sprinting inside I ended up plowing into one of theguys who was headed out back for a smoke. I thought I was going to get yelledat or worse cause of the rep this guy has at our school. It was really awkwardand I was kinda terrified. But in the end he helped me up and I dunno…”You trailed off momentarily, thinking about your encounter with Connor. Youcouldn’t tell your friends at school about it, but your subscribers werestrangers. So thoughtfully you added, “He’s actually kind of cute andwe’ve been talking more in class and on our spares when I see him around. Iactually kind of really like him. I don’t know, maybe something good will comeout of me almost running him over,” you laughed to yourself.

———-

Soon you were mining blocks and building a quaint house while yoursubscribers sent you questions that you tried your best to answer. It was aboutan hour into the stream so the majority of your subscribers had made it ontothe stream, putting your viewer count at a little over five thousand. 

“Alright, the next question is from…” You trailed off as youreyes scanned the chat. Then a donation popped up and you smiled, reading themessage, “…JulesDitto, who donated $5. Thank you Jules. Julesasks, 'I think we go to the same school but I’m too scared to go up at talk toyou. If a fan recognizes you in public is it alright for them to come up andsay hi?’”

You thought about it for a moment as you hummed to yourself, placingsome more wood planks down in your game.

You smiled, “Of course you guys can come and say hi to me if yourecognize me in public. I’m a little more awkward in person but I’ll never berude or upset if you want to come say hi. And Jules, you think we go tothe same school? That’s so cool, I didn’t know that I had fans from my own hometown.”

Another donation popped up almost immediately from JulesDittoagain and you smiled again, reading aloud.

“JulesDitto, who donated another $5, responds with ’I’mpretty sure we go to the same school because you’ve mentioned the weird kidbefore earlier in the stream and in some of your other videos. But anyway, allof my friends love your videos. Thank you for picking my question btw!’”

You play your game mindlessly for a few moments as you think about whatyou just read, trying to figure out who they could have been talking about. Theweird kid. You didn’t talk about anyone on stream before from your personallife besides when you talked about that one time when you ran into…

Then it clicks and you look to the message in confusion, “Do youmean Connor?”

And just like that, the chat flooded with people confirming that theywent to your school. You realised you said Connor’s name on stream, and youalso just told over five thousand people that you thought he was cute. 

“Let’s um…let’s move on to a new question, okay?” You try tomove things along. 

Your face pales as you stare at the chat. You wanted to answer anotherquestion to change the topic but now all the questions were about your school,your personal life, and Connor. 

You scanned frantically but couldn’t find anything in the sea ofmessages, randomly picking one from the chat, “Uh… MemeMaster asks,'You think Connor is cute?’” This was exactly what you were hoping toavoid. “I would really appreciate it if you guys didn’t ask me questionsabout my personal life. I will not be answering anything about my personal lifeoutside of streaming, or anyone from my school. Next question.”

The chat was moving quickly, all with questions about Connor, school, andeven other kids at school that you knew. You were getting annoyed. Yoursubscribers never acted like this before. You were reaching your boiling point.

And then a donation came in for $1 from anonymous and a messageattached to it which read, 'If you’re attracted to that freak then thatmakes you a freak too.’

You slammed your hands down on your desk, shifting the cameraunintentionally in the process and suddenly your face was visible, “Dropit! Just fucking drop it! I don’t like Connor and I never fucking will! He’sjust some terrifying freak that I don’t talk to! Stop asking me about personalshit! It is none of your business! Just…” You felt the tears welling inyour eyes and quickly stopped streaming. You took off your headset and pulledyour legs up to your chest, burying your face into your knees. You wereemotionally drained and embarrassed, and there was only one thought runningthrough your mind.

If only I didn’t have school tomorrow. 

———-

The drive to school went by much too quickly. You were hoping that therewould be traffic or you would get stuck behind a public bus. But unfortunatelyyou got to school in less than 10 minutes. 

You got out of your car and numbly walked towards the school, hopingthat none of the kids who saw your stream would be in school that day. The gripyou had on the strap of your bag tightened at the thought. Then you glanced upat the door and froze. Connor was standing there, staring at the ground with acigarette in hand. His gaze shifted up at met yours and you felt nauseous, butyou kept your mouth shut, your gaze fell to the ground, and you made your wayinto the school. He took a drag from the cigarette as you approached but didn’tsay anything.

Then you heard your own voice from behind you.

“I don’t like Connor and I never fucking will!”

You bristled, suddenly unable to move your legs. You looked behind youto see someone walking from their car towards the front of the school, holdingtheir phone up to their friend.

“He’s just some terrifying freak that I don’t talk to!” Your own voice fadedaway as they disappeared around the corner.

You slowly turned your attention back to Connor who was still looking atthe ground. He let out a breath and a swirl of smoke drifted around his face.He glanced up at you tossed the end of the cigarette onto the pavement.“Some stream last night, huh?” He didn’t sound upset and that’s whathurt the most in that moment. 

“Connor, I’m so sorry,” The words starting coming out beforeyou could properly think of something meaningful to say. You just need him tohear your side of the story, “I didn’t mean-”

“Sure you did,” He snapped, cutting you off. He took a steptowards you and you took a step back. His eyes narrowed and he scoffed,“I’m just some terrifying freak, right?” He turned and headed inside,leaving you outside alone.

Your hands pulled at the strap of your bag, trying to fight back thetears welling in your eyes. Slowly you headed towards the doors and pushed themopen. 

You were met with a crowd of people all excitedly turning and swarmingtoward you when they caught sight of who it was.

“It’s (username)!” Someone called out.

 Confusion filled you as you realized that everyone loved you. Theywere excited to meet you and a lot of the other students wanted photos. Thiswasn’t the reaction you were expecting after your outburst at the end of thestream; but somehow it didn’t matter that none of your subscribers were upsetwith you. Because knowing they weren’t angry didn’t stop the horrible way youfelt about what you said about Connor.

———-

The day dragged on, classes were slow with Connor ignoring you, and youwanted to hide between classes because you were hounded by students who wantedto talk to you. If this was what being popular was like, you didn’t want anypart of it.

When the end of the day rolled around, you fled towards the studentparking lot with the plan of hiding in your car to avoid the crowd of studentsfollowing your every move until the parking lot emptied out. When you pushedopen the back door, you heard a huff beside you.

You looked over and saw Connor, who was sitting down and leaning againstthe side of the building. His eyebrows went up and he scoffed when he saw whoit was, “Oh, it’s you. I thought I was going to get another earful fromone of your lackeys again.”

“Fuck. I-I’m sorry. Have they been harassing you too?” Youlooked down and frowned, your fingers twist together nervously, “I’ve beentrying to get away from them all day. I can only imagine what they’re doing toyou. I’m so sorry…”

Connor’s brow furrowed and he was silent for a moment before he tappedthe ground beside him, “Come here.”

You hesitated, looking at him in confusion.

His eyes narrowed, “You wanted to explain, right? Then sit down andexplain before I change my mind.”

You did as you were told and took a seat beside Connor, your arm lightlybrushing against his. You looked down and your fingers as they twisted togetheron your lap, “Did…did you see the stream?”

“No, but trust me when I say that I’ve heard enough of it,”Connor snaps beside you, lighting a cigarette. 

“No, you haven’t. What you heard was out of context. I know what Isaid was unforgivable but I still want you to understand that I never wanted tohurt you,” You say quickly, looking over at him, “My channel issupposed to be anonymous. I don’t use my name and I don’t show my face and Inever talked about my personal life-”

“Well that sure worked out,” Connor muttered as he took a pufffrom the cigarette. 

His words stung but you knew you deserved that. You took a breath andcontinued, “I was doing a Q and A and I started talking about you-”

“I heard,” Connor cut in again, blowing the smoke above hishead.

“No, you didn’t! I was talking about how cute I thought you wereand was hinting at the fact that I liked you!” Your face went red as youblurted it out, tired of him cutting you off.

Connor choked on his own spit, turning away from you as he coughed intohis sleeve. It took him a moment to recompose himself as he looked over at youin confusion, “No you didn’t. I don’t know what kind of game this isbut-”

You scrambled for your phone and began opening up your stream, skippingforward to the first question you answered, “If you don’t believe me thenjust watch it?” He stared at you, visibly torn on the matter.“Please?”

He sighed and shifted a little closer, taking your phone from your handsas he pressed play.

Your own voice came through the phone, “-I was running late sowhen I was running inside I ended up plowing into one of the guys who washeaded out back for a smoke. I thought I was going to get yelled at or worsecause of the rep this guy has at our school. It was really awkward and I waskinda terrified. But in the end he helped me up and I dunno…” Youtrailed off in the stream and Connor stared intently at the screen, watching asyour cheeks tinged red and a small smile pulled onto your face, “He’sactually kind of cute and we’ve been talking more in class and on our spareswhen I see him around. I actually kind of really like him. I don’t know, maybesomething good will come out of me almost running him over,” youlaughed gently and your smile widened on screen.

He tapped the screen and it paused as he stared down at your phone, eyeslocked on your warm smile.

“I never wanted to say your name on stream,” You continuedyour explanation, “One of my other subscribers said they thought they knewme from school and they said they knew because I mentioned you in that storyyou just heard. But they went about it really indirectly so I was confused andsaid your name out loud and then everyone knew who I was and…” You trailedoff and took a breath to recompose yourself, “A-And then they all keptsending me questions about my personal life and school and you- God, they justwouldn’t stop asking about you and then they started calling me a freak and Ijust blurted it out and I know it’s unforgivable but I just wanted you to knowthat I…I am so, so sorry, Connor…”

He was quiet for a few moments before he muttered out a quiet,“Why?”

Your brow furrowed, tears lingering in your eyes, “I just said thatI didn’t mean to-.”

“No,” He says and looks over at you, cheeks red and eyesfilled with confusion, “Why would you like me?”

You blinked, surprised that he would focus on that part of your summaryof last night’s events. You began stumbling over your words as you avoided hisgaze, “I-I don’t know? I just, I think you’re funny and I love justsitting with you and talking about random things because you have such a weirdway of seeing the world and that’s just amazing to me. And you’re sounbelievably attractive in general but I also find everything you do superattractive too? Like you get these wrinkles in the corners of your eyes andyour nose crinkles up when you laugh and it’s so cute. And you always smellamazing and you have the most beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen. I just…” Youtrail off and finally look up at Connor who is staring at you in amazement anddisbelief. “I just…I like you a lot." 

Connor seems unsure of himself but slowly reaches a hand out toward yourface. His fingers ghost along your cheek and move carefully behind your neck asif he was scared of scaring you off. He shifted his body a little so he wasfacing toward you and you could feel his hand shaking ever so slightly. Hiseyes darted up to meet yours, searching for any sign of rejection. Youcarefully reached out to him and placed your hand on his forearm, steadying thehand resting behind your head. Then slowly he leaned closer and his lipspressed against yours. He seemed so unsure of himself, body stiff againstyours, before you leaned into the affectionate gesture. He let out a softbreath through his nose as he relaxed against you. You could have stayed likethat forever.

Then he slowly parted from you and watched your expression carefully,"Was that okay?”

You couldn’t help but let out a breathless chuckle, cheeks bright pinkas you smiled, “Of course it was okay. It was better than okay.”

A smile pulled onto his face as he looked away from you, “So, Iknow it’s kind of obvious but I like you too.”

Realization hit you and you frowned, “Oh my God, you felt that way aboutme, and then you heard what I said about you on my channel. I am sosorry-”

“Let’s just forget about it. Please,” He cuts you off andsmiles weakly, “I know better than anyone how difficult it can be tocontrol your emotions sometimes. You didn’t mean anything you said and I knowthat.”

"But everyone else doesn’t,” Your frown deepened as you staredat him, “They’ll keep harassing you about this stuff.”

Connor picks at his nails, “It’s not like I’m not used to it oranything.”

You sat up straight suddenly, “I have an idea but you have to trustme.”

He smirks and looks back to you, “Oh man, I don’t know if I can dothat.”

You nudge him and smile, “You don’t have to do much. Just sit thereand look pretty.”

Connor scoffs and looks away from you, pink dusting his cheeks but he waits patiently for youto carry out the plan you had come up with. You open up your phone and selectyour preferred streaming platform. Once the app opened, you selected to uploada video and the option to live stream popped up. The sight of it made Connor uneasyand he winced, “Y/N, look, you don’t have to do this.”

“You don’teven know what ‘this’ is. Just please let me make this right,” You turned andlooked at him briefly before you looked back to your phone and held it out infront of you before pressing the button to go live. The instant you came onlineyour subscribers began flooding online and that’s when you realised yournumbers grew since last night from your original 5k to a little over 8k. You swallowedthickly and slapped on a smile, assuring you were the only one on screen forthe time being, “Hello everyone, I thought that I would come online and do alittle impromptu livestream to set a few things straight. Give myself a sort offresh start.”

Thefeeling of Connor’s hand resting on your calmed you slightly and you glanced athim and gave him a gentle smile as if to say thank you, before you turned backto the phone.

“Most ofyou know me as (username), but others may know me as Y/N. I go to high school. Andas a lot of you know, when you’re in high school, there’s a lot of pressure onbeing popular. But that’s not something that I wanted. I wanted to remainanonymous and be myself while making videos for you guys so that I never had toworry about what would happen at school the next day when people saw my video.But I don’t have a choice to be anonymous anymore so I might as well embracethat and let you guys into my life. Hello, my name is Y/N. I like video gamesand dad jokes. I like bad movies and good music, and bad movies with good musicin them. I also really like my best friend.” You paused for a moment and agentle smile pulled onto your face, “I’ve had feelings for him for a while andI’d like for you guys to meet him.” You tilt the phone and lean on Connor’sshoulder so that the two of you are now both in frame, “This is Connor. Some ofyou know him already but for those of you that haven’t met him, I’ll tell you abit about him as well. He’s got an amazing sense of humor and is one of thefunniest people I know. He picks the best music for road trips. And he has thesoftest hair I’ve ever felt.”

Connorsnorts a laugh at that and looks away from the phone, clearly embarrassed atthe statement, nearly shoving you off of his shoulder in the process.

You laughalong with him and your smile widens as you add, “And his laugh is…perfect.”You trail off staring at him for a moment before you look back to your phone,nibbling your lip, “Anyway, this is me. You can unsubscribe if you’ve heardsomething you don’t like. But if you’d like to stick it out, I’ll see you forregular uploads every Thursday.” You stopped the stream and sighed, droppingyour phone onto your lap before you looked to Connor, “So how’d I do?”

“Thank you,”He was smiling at you and he leaned in, hugging you tightly to him, leaning hishead against yours, “Consider yourself forgiven.”

Youhugged him back as your eyes closed, snuggling in to his embrace, “You mayforgive me, but you better believe I will spend every day for the rest of my lifemaking it up to you for what I said on my stream.”

Hechuckled and you felt him smile against your cheek, “I’m gonna hold you tothat.”

[cherylbombshellrpsarchive]

STORY TIME,  GUISE!

Here we go! Sit back, pull up a blankie cuz I’m about to spill details about meeting Stephen Amell and Kirk Acevedo from Arrow fame at Motor City Comic Con today. Under the cut bc this mayyyy get long, and also PHOTOS!

SO! First up, we went and met Stephen! My sister and I arrived at the convention around 10:15 this morning, and we got through the line pertty quickly since we purchased our tickets before hand. We immediately got in line for the Stephen Amell autograph bc the line was already starting to get long. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get any photos with him at his booth because of the length of the line :( Anyways, we finally made it to the front of the line by 11:00, and I picked out the photo I wanted autographed. I also had pulled out the AWESOME mirror I had etched by my big brother that I gifted to Stephen. FINALLY I was face-to-face with the one and only Stephen Amell! He said “Hey” and asked us how we were. I gave him his gift and he LOVED it. He was so gracious and humble about it the whole time! He loved how we had it completely personalized for him and had has favorite things on it, including Nocking Point. He thanked me and proceeded to sign my photo for me.

His gift (image from my brother’s business FB page: facebook.com/kraftydaddy):

Anyways, so we left Captain’s line and we began walking around for a while, while we waited for the photo op time since we still had an hour to kill. We bought t-shirts and I got a free Arrow bag with my new swag. Finally at noon we got in line for our photo op, and I chatted with fellow Arrow fans about the season finale and what we think is gonna happen, Ya know, obvs, since David Ramsey let it out that Felicity is gonna be pregnant, that Oliver will be out soon enough ;) The line moved pretty quickly enough. I WAS planning to have Cap show off his abs for our photo since we had been deprived of them all season long, but he had put his fave jean jacket on and so I settled for a sister sandwich pose with Stephen as the meat ;) We got in the room and Stephen once again warmly greeted us and we got into our pose and the photo was snapped. It went by really quickly! Also, lemme just tell y’all rn, that Stephen is MUCH more gorgeous in person and smells amazing ;) HD does a good job at showing his good looks, but MAN meeting him in person is SO much better! Anyways, we left the room and our photo was already waiting for us. I purchased a neat little sleeve to keep our op and autograph safe until I can get them framed. I’m on the left btw! :)

After that, we went and browsed some more and we eventually wound up by the celebrities again, and we decided to get in line and purchase a selfie with Kirk Acevedo, aka Ricardo Diaz! We only had to wait for a couple cosplayers in front of us to get their stuff signed, and since we were the only ones in his line we were all able to take our time and chat with him. Kirk is actually a REALLY funny dude, and was awesome about taking a photo with us and talking all things Arrow. He even told us he WILL still be around for Season 7, so we definitely haven’t seen the last of Diaz and his quest to take over Star City. I also laughed every time he referred to himself as The Dragon. Anyways, here’s out photo with him as well:

We also took photos with a bunch of awesome cosplayers there, but I’ll refrain from posting them here. If you wanna see them, you’re more than welcome to ask for my Facebook and friend request me so you can see more of our day at MCCC :)

[ravenvsfox]

Have you ever written/ would be interested in writing a fic where blue, Ronan, Adam, Gansey, Noah, and Henry join the foxes?

(a real live crossover, I’ve never done this in my life lmao!! btw I didn’t know how to write a ghostie into a PSU sports team so I’m afraid noah’s not in this one)

“That’s a bad omen if I’ve ever seen one,” Dan says mildly, shielding her eyes from the sun. Neil follows her squinting gaze to the border of the baking sidewalk.

There’s a raven watching them from the dust, glossy wings folded out a little like it’s preparing for flight. It’s pinprick eyes are black beads tossed into pitch fabric, near invisible.

The foxes watch it preen and hop towards them. Neil gets a sinking feeling that it isn’t wild, that its strut and challenging eyes must belong to some rotten nest.

They’re grouped at the entrance of the court: Dan installed at the edge of the parking lot with a hand on her hip, Allison splayed all over the wall wearing sleek white shorts to match the paint job, Andrew and Neil tipped back into the sun-sharp grate of their car. The others are dotted along the unruly grass and perched over cars, sweating through the wait for fresh teammates with fresh problems.

The raven cocks its head and paces closer. Nicky coos at it. Matt tells it to fuck off good-naturedly.

“How about you go ahead and fuck off first?”

Neil looks evenly over to the source of the voice, feeling trepidation slither down his neck like ice under the collar.

A boy walks towards them with an unfriendly mouth and a mangled cut-off t-shirt, tattoos and scars jostling for a place on his body. He looks like what Neil expected when he first heard of the foxes. He looks like the popped blade of a box-cutter that someone forgot to sheath. He has a vicious BMW at his heels like an afterthought.

“Dibs,” Nicky says, breathless.

“Oh, sorry, I was talking to the bird,” Matt explains.

“And I was talking to you,” the stranger replies, holding eye contact until it feels like a raw vein pinched between fingers. The foxes shuffle and kick up dust and exchange looks.

“You’ve gotta be one of our new recruits. No one but a fox is going to start shit over a raven,” Dan says, half smiling.

“He’s defending her honour,” someone says, and their attention all swivels again.

The newcomer walks up with his hands clutched in his pockets, smiling with a third of his mouth, eyes serious and deep-set in his tan face.

“Adam,” he introduces, expression jumping. “That’s Ronan. He likes to make bad first impressions. It’s his favourite sport after exy.”

Adam winds and locks into the space at Ronan’s side, and they bump fists in a way that’s more brushing knuckles than anything else.

“Parrish,” Ronan says thinly. “They already insulted Chainsaw. We have to drop out.”

Neil can feel Andrew watching their interaction with hooded eyes.

“She probably deserved it,” Adam says. “You usually do.”

“Aren’t you bringing the rest of your hick pals?” Allison asks, scanning the perimeter of the parking lot, scarcely registering the thready challenge in her own voice.

Ronan takes a step forward and Adam yanks on the leather bracelets snaked around his wrist. The raven flurries in the dirt, unsettled by his agitation, and then swoops up to anchor herself on Ronan’s shoulder.

“Ronan,” Adam pronounces slowly, like he’s not in any hurry to stop him. “Don’t waste your limited attention span. We knew this was going to be how they are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nicky asks. “I’m very personable.”

“Of course,” Adam says kindly. “We’re just used to less— bluntness.”

“Speak for yourself,” Ronan mutters, and Adam twitches a smirk.

“People like to trick you into accepting an insult, where we’re from.”

“I can gift-wrap my shit-talking if you’d prefer?” Allison says, and Adam narrows eyes at her for a second.

“Tempting,” he says.

“Can’t make any promises for Josten, though,” she continues. They look over at him. Neil blinks back, not bothering to disprove her.

“Hey beautiful,” Nicky calls to Ronan from his spot on the grass. He’s cross-legged, leaning back on his hands, obviously bored. “What position are you?” He lilts position into a proposition. Ronan blinks and Adam stiffens and Nicky smiles, enjoying the tension. “You have the arms for offence.”

“Yeah,” Adam says woodenly. Neil can see Adam’s hands curl, stiff when they straighten out again. He recognizes the sticking muscle and bone of a person who’s had to practice packing their anger into a box and sliding it back on a shelf. “He’s a striker. I’m a goalie.”

Neil snorts, and Andrew moves his head to the side, a slow, hesitating shake.

Kevin nods. “Your stats are good. You work best with your friend Richard, the both of you.”

Ronan snorts. “Oh, please call him that.”

“I’d like to see you on unfamiliar turf,” Kevin continues, undeterred. “It looks like you’re in a rut, based on your tapes. You’re too static, you rely too much on each other.”

“We always win,” Ronan argues. “We rely on each other because we’re a team. Don’t know if you’re familiar with the concept.”

“Raven boy’s a bitch,” Matt laughs. “I like him.”

“Not mutual,” Ronan says icily. The raven tucks it’s beak into his buzzed hair and makes a mournful noise. He puts an absent hand to her side.

“You’re coming in late to a developed team. You can’t expect your group dynamic to fly here,” Kevin says. Neil nods without thinking.

“Too fucking late, I’m already expecting it,” Ronan says, eyes flickering between Neil and Kevin like he’s considering who to punch first. “And we didn’t exactly come here for the Pig-orange uniforms, fuckass. We know how the team works. We liked the way you fight when there’s a 99% chance you’ll lose.”

“Pig orange,” Aaron repeats incredulously, at the same time that Renee asks:

“Is that a crucifix?” She jostles the conversation off its tracks without really trying. Her eyes are kind and critical, hooked on the inked cross hugging Ronan’s ribcage, peeking out of the deep slit in the side of his shirt.

Ronan eyes her, gaze fixed on her necklace and the rebellious rainbow fan of her hair. “Yes.”

“You wouldn’t know he was a Catholic by the mouth on him, but Jesus has more of his attention than I do,” Adam says wryly. It’s an odd, hasty sort of interjection. He runs hands over his own arms like he’s cold, and Neil considers that he hadn’t planned to reveal so much.

“We’ll have to go to service together,” Renee says sweetly, and Ronan nods unexpectedly.

They’re all skirting around this new dynamic that’s too big to touch, fumbling through a warped, antagonistic set of pleasantries, and the strangled zip of a caught engine rips closer. A car in blazing fox orange kicks and screams around the corner and into the parking lot.

“The cavalry,” Ronan observes flatly.

“Nice to see that Gansey still thinks he’s important enough to be fashionably late,” Adam replies, and Ronan makes a face.

“Don’t say ‘Gansey’ and ‘fashion’ in the same sentence.”

The car rolls up, parks smoothly and then takes its time straightening up. The doors scream and slam open and closed. The contents of the car turns out to be a trio of drastically different kinds of people — a boy in a viciously orange polo shirt to match his car, a girl in what looks like three skirts of three different lengths, and a boy with hair taller than Matt’s, collar crisp and pale against his tan neck.

“Hello,” the first one calls warmly. “Very sorry to be late, we were a titch held up in Henrietta.”

“Is he for real?” Matt asks genuinely, and Adam laughs, delighted.

“They’re not buying the southern charm, Gans,” he says.

“I can’t imagine why not,” the girl says, shoving Gansey in the side until he stumbles mid-stride. “It’s so natural.”

Gansey looks flustered by the time the three of them reach the group, but he takes the time to clap Ronan and Adam on the shoulders. The girl hip checks Ronan as soon as she’s close enough, and he wrangles her into a chokehold. Renee laughs, impressed or endeared by his form.

“We’re very much looking forward to playing with you,” Gansey says earnestly.

“Are we sure he qualifies as a fox?” Nicky asks. “He’s very—uh. Perfect.”

Gansey looks greatly disturbed by this, and the girl rolls her eyes.

“Looks can be deceiving,” Renee says, smiling a little, and Gansey sends her a cracked, grateful smile in return. It’s drastically different from the spectacle of an expression he’d been sporting until now.

“Anyway,” Dan says loudly. “Good to meet you, welcome, etc. We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other this year. Remind me who’s who?”

“Oh, pardon me, I wasn’t—” Gansey starts, and the girl reaches up to slap a hand over his mouth.

“That’s Gansey trying to put his foot in his mouth. I’m Blue, this is Henry.”

“I’ve heard good things,” Henry says. “I’ve heard a lot of bad things too, all of them legendary.”

“’Blue’?” Allison interrupts. “That’s not a very funny joke.”

“Interesting. That’s what I keep saying about your team,” Blue says narrowly, and Dan laughs, startled.

“You’re going to be a handful, aren’t you?”

“Oh, a couple, at least,” Blue replies. Gansey smiles at her like he doesn’t know he’s doing it.

“You’re a striker,” Neil guesses, speaking for the first time, and Blue cocks her head at him.

“Dealer,” she corrects.

“Backliner,” Henry says, waving. “Best defence in Virginia.”

“Striker,” Gansey says, gesturing to himself. Ronan reaches over to knock fists with him, and Gansey grins as he accepts. Neil remembers reading something about a striker duo with history and balance, and they’re wearing that legacy all over them.

“Should’ve known,” Neil says mildly. “You don’t have the height,” he tells Blue. She bristles.

“And you do?”

“I use this height to my advantage. Do you?”

“I use everything I have to my advantage,” she grits. Neil suppresses a smile.

“We’ll see.” He privately thinks that some or all of these new recruits are going to burn out as soon as they realize that they were paddling in still waters, and now they’re facing a tidal wave.

Dan jumps back in to introduce their side of the team, and Neil lets the mindless back and forth rush around him without any information really finding purchase in his brain. Andrew is dead silent at his side, but Neil can sense his interest from the way he keeps shifting position, near imperceptible. Ronan’s taken to chewing on his wristbands, and Andrew’s eyes are caught up on the silver fingers of scar tissue at each of his wrists.

“Twins?” Henry asks, pointing two fingers at Aaron and Andrew.

“Guess which one’s evil,” Matt jokes.

“Trick question,” Dan tells them conspiratorially. “It’s both.”

“There’s power in twins,” Blue says sagely, like she’s repeating an old family adage. Andrew pushes off of the car and walks towards the door to the court, apparently out of patience. Neil watches him go distractedly.

“Can we see the court?” Adam asks, and Neil glances back to find his eyes fixed on the stretch of the building, twitchy and eager. He has the unsettled look of someone who’s been living outside of his comfort zone for long enough that he shakes when he faces it again.

“Oh fuck, please let’s go inside,” Nicky says, wobbling upright and brushing grass off on his shorts. “I’m burning to death.”

“Lucky we’ve got a replacement backliner,” Aaron says. Henry cocks finger guns at them, absurdly. Nicky considers him, lips pursed, and then looks back at Aaron.

“But do you have a replacement cousin?”

“Cousin?” Gansey asks, curious. “Excuse me but you don’t look— I mean you—“

“Stop,” Blue says, holding the bridge of her nose.

“Come on,” Dan laughs, sidestepping conflict. “We’ll give you the tour.”

_____

Neil finds Andrew in an aisle seat halfway up the rows facing the plexiglass cage of the court. He understand immediately that he wanted to be removed but present, to have as much physical upper ground as possible.

He shifts and relaxes when Neil sits next to him, and Neil considers that he also picked this spot so that the two of them could speak.

“What do you think?” Neil asks.

Andrew says nothing. The new foxes file into the box below, and Neil watches Ronan go immediately for the racquets stored against the wall. Henry is already shoulder to shoulder with Nicky; they’re like two springs set off at the same time.

“We need to keep an eye on Ronan, I think,” Neil continues, seeing the madness progress and evolve, seeing the court bloom fuller than it’s ever been.

“Not him,” Andrew says. Neil follows his steady gaze all the way down to Adam, who’s turning a slow circle at centre court. He can’t tell if he’s awestruck or judgemental, and he’s unnerved to find that it might be both.

“He’s hiding something,” Neil agrees. Ronan brought his raven inside with him, ridiculously, and it circles and lands on Adam’s forearm. The five of them are strange in a new way; they’re a shape Neil’s never seen before.

“Richard,” Andrew starts, mouth curling, “can’t decide who he wants to be.”

Neil doesn’t point out that he was the same way when he came to the foxes. “I don’t like that they’re already a team. I don’t know if I can unmake them so that things fit better.”

“You cannot unmake people like them. They think their weaknesses are strengths.”

“I can,” Neil argues. “What do you think I was doing all last year?”

“Ruining my life,” Andrew guesses.

“Taking you apart. Reprogramming.”

“You did not succeed.”

“We did,” Neil says. “We won.” He looks out into the activity below and finds Gansey and Matt peering up at them. Gansey waves and smiles like he’s in a parade. Renee and Blue are stooped together over something, but Neil’s sure he’s imagining the glint of a switchblade.

“I wonder if they realize how hard this is going to be. This isn’t Richmond.”

“Henrietta,” Andrew corrects.

“Even worse,” Neil grimaces.

“We’re inviting Adam to Columbia,” Andrew says suddenly. It’s disarming to be let in on his plans, like his carefully cultivated filter is missing. Or maybe Neil is his filter, now.

Neil looks sideways at him. “I have a feeling that Ronan won’t let him go alone.”

“I have a feeling he doesn’t need to be let,” Andrew replies.

They peer back down at the team. Ronan grabs Adam’s hand and kicks Blue in the shin when he passes, apparently trying to rustle up some sort of three-on-three. Neil stands on instinct, watching the exchange of racquets between hands, the freshly printed jerseys, pristine orange on white. Lynch. Parrish. Sargent. Cheng. Gansey. Excitement leaks up into the stands.

“I’m gonna join,” Neil says, distracted, feverish. He’s so antsy to feel this new team’s skill set held against him like a threat, so different from tapes and talk and promises.

“Win,” Andrew says, and Neil grins at the challenge.

“They’re just more ravens,” Neil says. “I’m not worried.”

Part Two  Part Three

[bluegreenamber]

A New Story ch. 2

(AN: Chapter 2 already? Chapter 2 already. Which means that I'll probabaly be posing the mod application soon, so look out for that if you want to. Man, I'm really just raring to go on this thing. I'm so excited and impatient to see where it goes. While I love writing vaguely, I do have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of making things this vague. Like I know it's necessary for the story, but I really like developing detail ya know? But I know it's (hopefully) gonna be worth it when the mods come up with their own stories and details for the character. That's what I'm aiming for anyway. Btw, I try to never throw away a good name. Aaaand liftoff!) The room was big. It was about the size of a movie theater. And the fact that there was less than twenty people filling that space made it feel all the more grand and ginormous and empty. Almost all of the people were young men. They all mingled and introduced themselves, none of them certain what they were doing or what was going to happen but unwilling to pass up the chance to meet new acquaintances. There was another pair of people that had come there together besides Tom and Edd, and the rest were there individually. The pair was Pat and Paul, and the other’s names were Tord, Matt, Eddie, Jon, Mark, Laurel, Jason, Silas, and Maggie. Laurel and Maggie instantly clicked due to their “girl power,” but all of the guys accepted them into the group just as easily as anyone else. They all became fast friends and apparently had very interesting stories to tell. Paul and Pat were just looking for a new, exciting experience and, no matter how much teasing they received from the others, wouldn't disclose the exact relationship they had with each other. Tord was looking to start an army, and that's all he would tell. Matt was on a mission to find love and fame in some exotic place. Eddie was “looking for something more,” seeming to be obsessed with the supernatural and evolution. Jon simply said he wanted to start a new life, not meeting anyone’s eyes. Mark was a psychologist looking to study the personal mental and emotional effects of this experiment. Laurel wanted to escape her old life, making only vague but pointed comments about how awful it was. Jason admitted to having been bullied and disowned and accumulating several mental and emotional problems that he thought the program could fix. Silas was an ex-soldier with a “complicated past” that he wanted to put completely behind him. Maggie was the daughter of a very wealthy businessman and had gotten tired of the rich girl life. Tom and Edd tried to be as honest as they could without giving too many details about what had led them there. Tom obviously didn't want these acquaintances to know everything about his little trip to the hospital, and after years of being his best friend, Edd could tell that much. Several minutes of conversing and getting to know one another and exchanging stories later, a lady strode in. Everything about her screamed important businesswoman. Her perfect white button-up blouse and black pencil skirt, her stiletto heels that made a loud click-clack sound as she stepped, her perfect, almost regal posture and air of importance. She smiled warmly at the group as the room quieted down into dead silence. “Welcome, participants. It's so good to see you.” She looked at them, her gaze seeming to land on and analyze each individual. “Are you ready?” The participants glanced at each other. “Ready for what?” She was unfazed by their confusion. Her expression didn't change in the slightest. “The last day of your lives.” The participants all felt a chill go down their spines at the lady’s ominous words despite knowing what she really meant. The lady continued to smile the same smile, which reassured some and worried others even more. She ushered them out of the room and down a series of hallways, telling them random information about the program and the organization and how it all began. The attention span of the group varied with each person. Eventually, she recaptured everyone’s attention by telling them they were all going to be separated. Tom and Edd shot worried glances at each other, and Pat and Paul looked downtrodden, but no one said a word. All of them were sent to individual rooms next to each other. The rooms were the same: exact replicas of the typical patient's room in a doctor’s office. Assistants were waiting for them with identical smiles. They were first informed of how the treatment worked. They would be cloned there, and the clone would be used to fake their deaths by providing a body that would be identified as theirs. They would then be free to do whatever they pleased. They could go anywhere and be anyone, and the world would be forever ignorant. Then, the participants were asked the same questions. What would they like to include in their treatment? Complete or partial memory erasure? Plastic surgery? Where would they like to go, and who would they like to be from now on? Would they like to be monitored by the organization after they're released? Was there anything the organization could provide to further accommodate the participants in their treatment? Stuff like that. Naturally, the answers were different for each person. Some requested to stay together, and their wish was easily granted. After the questions, a hair sample was collected from each of the participants and sent to be used as DNA for the cloning machine. It wasn't even an hour later that the participants were told that everything else was ready for them. All of the proper procedures were then taken care of for those who chose to go through with them. The rest were already being sent out into the world. Eventually, all of them got to take the first step in their journeys for a new start.