#in the sense that it’s a kids show from korea targeted towards little kids

[hippie-self-shippie]

guys i think i have a new crush but i can’t say who she is it’s too embarrassing…

[yoonpobs]

bodyguard | kth | m

pairing: kim taehyung x oc

genre: enemies to lovers, Bodyguard!AU but oc is the bodyguard, fluff?

warnings: eventual smut, sexual tension, light choking, suggestive content bc oc is a minx and so is tae, i'll add as the story progresses, kim taehyung as a rich kid

words: 2, 138

summary: you protect taehyung from people but forget about the biggest threat. yourself.

“You’re who Namjoon hired?”

You’re used to having bewildered expressions when they find out that you out of all other possible candidates was what your agency decided to provide clients with rather than an objectively more stereotypical option—the big man.

But you were here for a specific reason and you knew that your duty lied in your responsibility to the man in front of you, even if his expression of doubt irritates you.

“Yes, Mr Kim. My name is ____.” You bow your head slightly, hands held together by your pelvis as you stand with your back straight.

The man in front of you glances over at his assistant, who only shoots him a firm nod as if to tell him that he was in fact stuck with you, despite all the uncertainties he may have.

Frankly, when Seokjin first recruited you into the agency, you were merely meant to be in charge of off-field duties and act as intel for field agents, but few of your previous mentors recognised your potential and physical agility when it came to mandatory training and pushed for you to be trained as an official agent rather than a tech lady.

You were lucky that a few of your colleagues had long ditched the misogynistic mindset that women were biologically weaker than men and would serve as a liability to the agency, but there were still a few higher-ups that were traditional in every sense that stuck their noses in your business when Seokjin would assign you to high profile clients.

Kim Taehyung was no different, but you were sure he fell into the latter of the traditional man. He did come from a lineage of old money.

“But you’re a … woman.” He says slowly, eyeing you up and down.

Even the outfit you were in was far off the usual appearance that most bodyguards would take on the first day of work. A long dress with a maxi slit by your leg, which left little to imagine what lies beneath. You bite your tongue to keep the snarky remark down and nod your head tightly to your new boss.

“I best fit the requirements you listed out to my agency.” Is your simple response.

His assistant steps between the two of you before your boss can say anything else, and based on your observations you note that he probably is the rationale behind Kim Taehyung’s mind; the reasonable and objective one.

“I’ll show ____ around headquarters just so she’s aware of the layout.” His assistant says hastily.

You don’t miss the last look your boss gives you, and all you do is bow your head before you turn on your heels, pulling out the gun in your garter and hold it behind your back—ready for duty.

“Jesus fucking Christ, _____.”

You’re used to hearing Taehyung sneer at you. It was something that you needed to get used to when you first were hired for the job because while he was known as an icon, a genius behind his father’s legacy—he was still wholly immature in every sense of a man child.

“Yes, Mr Kim?” You say blandly, flipping through the brochure that was laying idly on his coffee table; clearly ignoring the glare he was shooting you as he wraps the robe tighter around his frame.

Before he can open his mouth to yell at you again, you see the silhouette of the woman that was previously occupying his bed scurry past by the two of you, offering a meek bow of her head towards Taehyung before she’s out the door.

Your eyes follow her uninterestedly until you hear the click of the door, signalling that she was out and gone.

“What is your problem? Is my sex life something you need to protect too?” Taehyung spits.

You skim your eyes over his frame and spot a few marks littered along the expanse of his neck before your eyes rest on his tightened expression; your own one remaining impassive.

“My duty is to ensure you’re safe.” You remind him.

He scoffs, running a hand through his tangled hair—a clear testament to what he was engaging in before you had shamelessly kicked the woman out, mid-progression.

“Hyunbi is harmless.” He sneers at you.

You note that his erratic behaviour was likely a symptom of being cock-blocked, so you hold your tongue and just level him with an unimpressed stare.

“Hyunbi is the heir to the Im group. Need I remind you that her father’s company is the one that threatens your stockholders?”

Frankly, you try to engage with Taehyung on business matters as little as you could because all you were here for was to protect him and ensure that his head wouldn’t be served on the plate of an assassin that was out to get him.

You scoff to yourself because men were truly blinded by their desires and he would’ve risked his family’s fortune because he wanted to get laid.

“Okay, and? She was about to suck my dick not steal intel to the company.” He scoffs.

You don’t say anything but drop the files you found in her purse as you were doing your much-needed background checks on the woman that was visiting on such short notice, especially given the fact that she managed to bypass the system on being on the list before she was sent up.

The moment the beautiful women stepped foot into the apartment, you knew something was off about her. It was intuition from years of training under your belt, but also a womanly instinct. An intuitive sense that told you that she was going to wreak havoc if she could, and it was your duty to prevent that from happening.

“What’s this?” He picks up the documents to skim over the contents.

You don’t say anything but keep your eyes focused on his expression when you see it morph from confusion to realisation and pure mortification.

“She was going to blackmail me?” He asks in a disbelieving tone.

You nod your head.

“And if I hadn’t intervened then she would have probably falsely claimed that she was carrying your child.”

Taehyung shoves the documents aside and rubs his hands across his face, releasing a grunt as he lays back into the expensive leather of his couch.

“I can’t even get laid.” He huffs.

You roll your eyes.

“Taehyung,” You call out to him sternly, and when he opens one eye to look at you, only then do you continue, “You need to be more careful with who you fraternise with. You’re the CEO of the biggest manufacturing company in Korea and that is bound to make you a target to competitors. I can’t be cross-checking every single person you come across because my job is to protect you from physical harm—not be your mother.”

He narrows his eyes at you, and you see the petulance skim the surface of his iris as he leans forward, ensuring that his gaze is kept on your blank expression.

“So, that’s it? I can’t fuck around with anyone? Just because of my position? That’s a load of bullshit ____.” He snaps.

You purse your lips and give him a pointed glare.

“Stop twisting my words. Fuck who you like but be smart about who you stick your dick into.” You tell him lowly.

“Then I might as well fuck you, right? You’re the only person I can trust.” He sneers, leaning closer to you.

Your eyes widen, and your stoic demeanour is interrupted with his blunt words.

While you couldn’t deny that your boss was undeniably attractive, and alluded major sex appeal—he was still your boss and you would never cross professional boundaries no matter how much your body betrayed you. Even the Taehyung’s banter got much more … explicit and flirty, you brushed it off as him being himself. But he’s never explicitly stated anything like that before.

When you realise you’re gaping at him, you quickly try to compose yourself but unfortunately for you, he immediately catches on your surprised expression and bathes in it.

He smirks at you, standing up to walk across to where you were sat and plops next to you, a bit too close for a boss to be to his bodyguard.

“I’m right, aren’t I? You said to be smart and fuck someone who won’t have anything against me.” He whispers into your ear and you try to stop the shivers that travel down your body.

Taehyung notices how tense you are and reaches an arm to trail down your neck, slowly and teasingly until it rests on your hipbone.

You curse yourself for wearing only a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, since it was meant to be your day off until you were made aware of Hyunbi’s visit.

“Watch your mouth, Kim Taehyung.” You grit.

He snorts but nuzzles his nose into the column of your neck, and you feel the hot breath fan across your skin.

“You’re not denying it. Does that mean you want me to fuck you? Nice and deep?” He whispers the words against your skin and you can’t help the involuntary clamp of your thighs.

Taehyung, even as dense as he is, picks up on your movement immediately and reaches his other hand to keep your thighs apart, large hand sprawled across your thigh and you marvel for a moment at how big his hands are.

“Bet I could fuck the uptightness out of you, sweets.”

“Did you forget that I know everything about you?” You hiss, attempting to sound threatening but that only causes Taehyung to grin wider.

“Ooo. I love it when you get bitchy with me.” He teases, rubbing a circle with his thumb on your inner thigh as you feel desire pool in your belly.

“You’re insufferable.” You huff and you hate the way you sound breathless.

“Did I ever tell you how much your bitchiness turns me on? Always dreamed of shutting you up with my cock.” He confesses against your cheek this time and your eyes widen comically, your own hand clamping over his one over your thigh.

As Taehyung momentarily gets distracted with mouthing at your ear, you come to your senses and realise that you’re becoming the pawn in his game.

You quickly flip him over, until he’s settled under you with your knees sprawled next to his thighs, pelvis’ nearly touching as he smirks at you.

“Listen, Kim,” You whisper, leaning down until your noses are touching and you can spot every freckle on his face. He leans up to chase your breath but you don’t allow him the satisfaction of caving in.

“You’d never be able to handle my pussy.” You grin at him.

His eyes darken, and you feel his hands rest tightly on your hip.

You straddle his thighs and lean in until you’re sure his cock feels your pussy against him through the barrier of his robe and your shorts.

“Try me.” He challenges, mirth dancing in his eyes.

“You know why?” You lean into his ear to whisper, and your hands trail down his chest slowly and seductively until they reach the opening of the robe where his pelvis is, touch teasing and suggestive, especially when his breath hitches.

“Why?” He attempts to grind up to you, blinded by his carnal desire.

“Because …” You bite his earlobe and hear the grunt he lets out, cock unmistakably hardening until your core.

“Once you fuck me, you’ll never be able to fuck any other pussy without wishing it was mine.” You say as you pepper kisses down his jaw, right up to his chin until your lips are hovering above his.

But as soon as he attempts to close the distance, you push yourself off of him and return to your stoic and professional stance.

“You have a meeting with your investors in twenty.”

Taehyung gapes at you, the outline of his cock clear against the thin material of his robe as he releases heavy breaths of want as he looks at you in disbelief.

“You can’t be serious.” He snaps.

You shrug your shoulders and cock your head to the clock behind him.

“Good luck getting ready, Kim.” You say with a final smirk, enjoying the fact that you had him frustrated and high.

“This isn’t the end, _____.” He says lowly.

“You better hurry up and hope you finish in less than twenty minutes.” You tease, and you see the tip of his ears burn.

“Maybe I’ll give it five.” You say, flipping your hair over your shoulder and making sure to add a little sway to your hips when you walk away.

You briefly hear a fuck being uttered when you open the door to leave, and you feel triumphant with what you left him with.

[neo-culture-mafia]

Glory of Neo Culture

What was this all for? Saying goodbye to your family...for this? Drowning away college days for motorcycles and guns? Throwing away any chance of having a future; not to mention a future with a significant other. You had 21 brothers who were your ride or die, leaving you hopeless with the possibility of running away for they had a team on every continent ready to look out for you, but never leave you alone. 

Life was uneasy and it was a daily hassle to get up and go to training -- but you were still there laying people on their asses. You needed a release from something and it never came as a clear answer. It was always hidden within one of the boys. 

When you had a hard time looking over a small group of students, Taeyong was there to show you how to make yourself known. He was your all-time role model and it made you happy that he gave a damn about people, compared to some of the other mafia leaders of this world. “Make yourself bigger than you really are and get mad. They’re not gonna listen to a little pip-squeak with a small voice who is always nice.” He said lightly flicking your forehead. You nodded and waited for his next direction. He went over and sat leisurely at the edge of his desk. “Alright, now get angry.” 

With Taeil, you never had a frowning moment -- even when you thought you were alone. When you had a secret relationship with a boy on the outside he knew about it. He also knew when it fell through and you were crushed but never let anyone inside your bubble. He was there with a cup of tea and a shoulder to cry on, without letting your secret get to any of the other boys. You didn’t even know he was sitting inside your closet. You just heard a thud and a curse before Taeil popped out with 2 cups of tea in hand and a package of your favorite cookies. He sighed as he set them down; grabbing a bunch of tissues from your dresser. He shook his head as he came over and wiped your tears. “Men are pigs.” 

Johnny looked at you as a younger sibling. He always played around with you on the daily. He made you fight for yourself, even when you thought you couldn’t do it on your own. When the tin roof of the bomb shed was blown off, Taeyong sent you two to go fix it. Johnny put you in charge of lifting the roof off the ground; the jagged metal posing a threat to your soft palms of flesh. He watched you struggle and groan at the tough task; denying you any help even when you were pleading. Finally, his denial pissed you off and you managed to lift the whole roof onto the side of the shed. He was standing right there, ready to give you a hug. He was a man with ways of teaching lessons. “You don’t know how strong you are till you need to be. Then you just have to find the things that make you ten times stronger.” 

Yuta never came around much from Japan to be lovey-dovey towards you, yet you knew he still cared. When you choked during a mission and everyone was mad at you on return, he was the first one to call you just to make sure you were alright. “Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.” You said ripping your jacket off and throwing it on the ground in frustration. You were throwing a temper tantrum behind the privacy of closed doors, even though you were in the mood where you didn’t care if anyone else saw. “I’m so fucking stupid. I just had to fucking pull a damn stupid trigger.” You said punching your bed over and over again. The intercom buzzed on your wall next to the door. You groaned loudly and marched over, accepting the call. “Hello?!” You asked after a couple seconds of silence. “Hey. It’s Yuta.” He said and you just froze, crumpling into a ball underneath the intercom. “Listen...I know everyone is probably pissed at you...but I just wanted to say that I am super proud of you.” He said and you could feel the tears pool in your eyes. “Thank you.” You mumbled, bringing your knees to your chest. “Just know that everyone makes mistakes. It will be okay...You did good, kid.” 

Kun was like a dad. Whether it was in person while he was in Korea, or when it was over Skype when he was in China; he always talked to you and made sure you had enough to eat at dinner and you drank enough water when you woke up every morning. He also made sure you had someone to go to for anything: cuts, bruises, or maybe just ranting about the most random topics till 2 in the morning. “So I told Jess, you use the sniper for long range instead of an automatic.” You shook your head. He shook his head too, throwing his hands into the air. “Unbelievable.” He scoffed. “I know right! It’s common sense!” You exclaimed and he laughed at your cute expression to your story. “I swear, I’m in training with a bunch of morons.” You shook your head, grabbing your drink Kun had made for you. “You couldn’t have said it more perfect.” He said grabbing his drink and clinking it with yours.

Every single Thursday, you met Doyoung for your usual gossip session. You would both walk to the same coffee shop about 2 blocks away, and make the afternoon free for each other. “Did you hear about the 2 new students in tier 6?” You asked as your drinks were delivered. He sat back in the chair, sipping his cold coffee. “Spill the tea.” He said as you began. “They were caught making out in the locker rooms after training. Mark was pissed, even though Jaemin found them smooching on each other.” You said and he grew a disgusted face while you nodded, confirming the story. “They both got toilet duty for 2 weeks and permanently moved dorms.” You said and he rolled his eyes. “That’s super disgusting. But you know what’s more disgusting? The outfit that Taeyong wore to the Asiatic Leaders meeting last week, like, all he has to do is ask for my help.” 

Ten and you were like besties who never separated from each other. He always confided in you about some of the students he taught. You always went him to learn new ways to take the boys down when they were annoying you. So, when he was told he was being relocated to China; you were the first person he told. You both were a mess as you both held each other the night before his plane left with Kun and Lucas where they would join Winwin’s team. “This isn’t fair.” You cried as you hugged him tighter. “I know, nothing is fair anymore.” He sighed, rubbing your back. “Who am I going to go shopping with? Who am I supposed to go see the new romance movie with? We...we...that was our thing...we would sit there and laugh the who-whole time at the stu-stupid couples.” You cried and he just held you more. “I know. I’m not dying. I’m just, moving.” He said and you just groaned. “You still aren’t here.” You countered back. He just sighed but held you tighter if that was any way possible. “I am, you just have to look real hard. I’m always here.”

Jaehyun was like your dumb older brother even though he was highly intelligent. He would be the type to use you as an armrest, and ‘lose’ his balance, making you both tumble to the ground. He was still very protective like a usual older brother. You were on the way to the usual gossip session where Doyoung was already waiting. You walked through the lobby to the main gate and Jaehyun was walking through, eating some cereal. “Woah woah woah. Where do you think you are going, dressed like that?” He asked, motioning to your outfit with his spoon. “Going to meet Doyoung?” You questioned looking at your own outfit. It was what you usually wore. “Well, you should dress like it.” He said as he set his food down, taking his flannel off and throwing it on you. “Now...just button it...all the way to the top. And...wear a hat-” “Jae, it’s July.”

You and Winwin had a good relationship even though you were both stationed in 2 different countries. He would help with anything he could, whether it was with homework or it was figuring out how to fix your laptop over the phone. “Okay, just one more question.” You said and he hummed in agreement. “A bullet is shot from 15 feet away and reaches the target in 2.6 seconds. What type of gun is it?” You asked and you thought to yourself. All you heard was a loud bang from the other side of the phone. “Winwin?!” You called, your worry coming over. “Well, I can tell you for certain that it isn’t a Glock.” He said and you groaned. “You’re not supposed to shoot your men!” You said from your side of the phone. “Hey! I was helping you with your homework!” 

Jungwoo makes your sides hurt whenever you see him. Always making you laugh and forget about the situations that made you want to curl up and sleep the day away. You were sitting on your bed, playing with your fingers because you just couldn’t fathom being by yourself. Your thoughts always got the best of you when you were alone. Your door busted open and you jumped. There stood what you presumed to be Jungwoo. His whole arms were filled with blankets and snacks. “We just got Easy A on DVD, and I need a movie buddy.” He mumbled behind the fluffy blankets in front of his face. You chuckled as you ran over and helped him drop the stuff neatly onto the floor. You both spent the whole night chilling and watching romantic comedies while complaining about your single lives. 

You never had a dull moment with Lucas. He was just there in the background to make you laugh. You were all sitting in a serious meeting where you were negotiating with a Japanese triad that was looking for land in Korea. You sat next to Lucas with more members lining both sides of you. The curtain was dropped and you were all met with more men on the other side of the room. You all did greetings and then sat back down. Yet, Lucas kept rubbing his teeth with his finger. You kept bumping him with your elbow, telling him to knock it off and he was being rude. “That thing.” He mumbled, picking at his front tooth, staring at the other mafia boss. You concentrated on the boss and realized he had a piece of seaweed on his front tooth. You had to cough a little to suppress your small giggle. Lucas kept rubbing his teeth, making it harder for you to keep your composure. You both lost it when the leader laughed and the food flew onto the table in front of him. Lucas maintained a horrified expression as he began to point at the piece of food. You grabbed his hand and put it back down as he couldn’t help but stare at it more. You both got in trouble for being ‘rude’.

Mark was actually the one who needed you. He deemed himself as an outcast to some of the new students. He would come to you in embarrassment just to have you tell him there was nothing to be afraid of. You were making yourself a quick snack in the Junior Forces dorm. You grabbed the knife to cut the sandwich when you felt a hand on your shoulder. The hand was pulled so your grip with the knife was next to the person's neck. Yet, your weapon hand was grabbed and pinned behind your back, while the other person’s arm held your back to their chest so you couldn’t move. You looked up, seeing the familiar deep brown eyes. “Oh...uh...hi.” You said as he let you go. He put distance between the two of you. “Hey...I need help.” He said as he scratched the back of his neck. “With...?” You asked and he sighed. “How do I talk to the new students? They’re all so young and cool and I’m -” “Old?” You cut him off and he furrowed his eyebrows. “I was gonna say boring...but gee...thanks.” 

You were in China because Taeyong thought you were at high-risk as you were the only girl in the main unit. A huge rival gang that was known for doing things to young girls were going around and following you. So, to throw them off, Taeyong sent you to stay with Winwin and Kun for a while. You were welcomed with open arms from everyone...except the boy from the end of the hall that always had his nose crammed in a book or in his computer. Everyone tried to tell you Xiaojun was an awesome person to be around, you just had to be in the right place at the right time. So when it was during your midnight snack run, it was a shock that was a good one. You walked into the dimly lit kitchen as you were greeted with the fridge and cupboards. You poured yourself a glass of milk and sat with the Oreo package at the island as you texted everyone back home in Seoul. “You’re quite oblivious of your surroundings, you know that right?” A new voice made you jump. “Hello?” You questioned looking around in the darkness. The lights flicked on above your head and you were greeted with Xiaojun who had been standing across from you the whole time. You both stared at each other, trying to figure out what the other was going to say first. “You have good taste in late night snacks though. I’m impressed.” He chuckled motioning to your snack. You looked over to his and saw the exact same thing was in front of him. You smiled a little. “Well, I guess great minds think alike.” 

Hendery kept you on your feet. Whether it was having random dance breaks in between training sessions, or even in the middle of mission run-throughs. You both got each other when everyone else thought you were weird. He was also the only one who could deal with your sass on a daily basis. “Hendery, donkey looking, pink-loving headass.” You said coming behind him and hitting him upside the head. “Yo. Not cool.” He flicked your forehead. You both started pushing each other, alarming the other members. “Hey! Break it up!” Ten said pushing you two away from each other. “You gonna make me go crazy.” You said, puffing your chest out. “Come at me, short stack.” He said and you both ducked under Ten’s arms. People yelled and tried to grab both of you, but it was too late. What was about to come next was never expected by anyone. You both laid down on your stomachs and got into an intense session of rock, paper, scissors. You were victorious and got up to parade around the room while he laid their defeated. 

You found quality and peace in Renjun’s silence. You both would sit there and do something so domestic, yet you both understood it was needed. You both sat there and sketched your respective drawings, sometimes showing the other to gain feedback. The other boys would try and crash the peace; especially Chenle and Jisung. “Y/N, do you hear something?” he would ask after so many minutes of the 2 children trying to get both of your attention. You listened to the whines and pleas for the 2 boys to answer them. You shook your head, looking at the smirking Renjun. “No, I don’t hear anything. Must be the wind?” You questioned and he nodded, both of you returning to previous activities. The said pests eventually gave up and left. Renjun scooted closer and gave you a fist bump. He chuckled and shook his head. “No one has played along in the past 2 weeks.” 

Jeno was the main man you would go to when you had problems with another student or member. Ever since he became a full member of the 127 Unit, he took up some classes so he could teach his practice to aspiring students of the Neo Culture compound. “Jeno.” You said, walking into his empty classroom. He stood, writing something on the chalkboard as various glasses and beakers boiled behind him. “Hello, Miss. Thang.” He winked as he set his book down. You rolled your eyes as you walked behind his desk. “I’ve been having trouble with one of your students.” You sighed, crossing your arms. “And...what would you like me to do about it?” He asked as he flipped through the pages of his textbook. “Talk to him or something. Just, do something.” You grew frustrated. “Woah, calm down. What’s up?” He asked, putting his hand on your waist. It didn’t mean anything, he did it to most people. You saw a flash and looked over to the doorway where the student stood there with their cell phone out and pointed towards you. “That!” You yelled pointing to the kid who began to run down the hall. Jeno wasted no time in running after him out of the door in his classroom. He cut the kid off and grabbed the collar of the boy’s shirt. You followed out as Jeno grabbed the phone of the boy. “Unlock it. Now.” Jeno said. “It’s my phon-” “Wrong, we provided you with this phone. Unlock it. Now. I don’t repeat myself.” Jeno said and the boy quickly unlocked it. The camera roll was filled with pictures of you with various members. Yet, the photos were edited to make it look like it something it wasn’t. “Did you have her permission to capture these?” Was all Jeno asked. The boy slowly shook his head ‘no’. “Maybe you’ll learn some respect after this.” He said with a wicked smile and the phone was thrown onto the concrete where it shattered into what seemed like a million little pieces. “Let’s go.” Jeno guided you back to his classroom while the boy cried on the ground where his phone now laid, broken beyond repair.

He was an older brother figure that was always overprotective much like the others. He just knew how to take it to the next level though. You walked into the class you would be teaching. You would be teaching new students about the subject of disguise makeup. You worked alongside Donghyuck, where he would teach the students how to act on decoy missions and creating a real backstory on the spot and what to do when missions go wrong, while you teach them about meltable prosthetics and hideable wigs and makeup, along with concealing weapons. It was the first day and you barely got past your introduction before the door opened to Donghyuck in a pair of sunglasses and a floppy hat; his neck adorned in a feathery scarf. “Hello. Sorry I am late for the first day.” He spoke in a high voice, trying to sit in an empty seat. “Yah, get out. I’m trying to teach.” You chuckled along with the class as he put his purse on the desk, pulling out a compact. “Excuse you, but you do not know me. Don’t use informalities.” He said in a posh voice, throwing his scarf over his shoulder more. The class laughed, but you were getting more impatient. “Yes, I do know you. You’re Mr. Lee who teaches next door. Next door, where you’re supposed to be. Not in my classroom where I currently have a class.” You said and he sighed. “How are you so sure it’s me?” He asked, forgetting to use his girly voice. “Well, 1) You must’ve hit puberty rather quickly because you voice dropped in a record time and 2) Your member tattoo is showing.” You motioned to his forearm where a tattoo sleeve was not hidden. He cursed under his breath and took off his ‘disguise’. “Alright, you got me.” He said standing up and putting his regular glasses on. “I just wanted to make sure to come and help introduce you properly.” He said coming over and putting an arm around your shoulder. “I also wanted to mention that if any of your students misbehave, I have some gym socks that need some hand washing.” He said and everyone pulled their chair in closer, sitting up more straight. “Thank you...now get out.” 

Your late night rendezvous with Jaemin always surprised you. Whether it was burning down an old barn to sitting in his bed and listening to some music, some nights were reserved especially for him. You both laid in the bed of his truck, random music playing over the radio. You both had been driving around the whole night where you talked about the things you couldn’t say to other members. “Listen...I want to say something and I don’t want you to get weird about it.” He sighed and you just looked at him. You knew he didn’t want to look at you in fear of something. You turned your head back to the night sky. “Shoot.” You said and he sighed. “I really...appreciate you? I’m not good with feelings and especially the concept of family...but you just make everything easier. I don’t need to be completely self-destructive when I’m with you. You just...get me and it-it makes me feel like I’m not alone anymore.” You looked over and saw his eyes closed, yet they shook as the fluid built up behind them. You didn’t say anything and just hugged him as that’s all you could do. It seemed like the only logical thing at the moment. You weren’t good with feelings either, and he understood that. You both just needed to be here at the moment. 

Yangyang was one of those special cases where you both hated each other until you realized you were both stronger together. You both competed in China while you were staying. You both spoke many languages so you tried to confuse each other by speaking some that the other couldn’t understand. You both were super active and hyper, making you and him race each other at training. It wouldn’t start as a race, but it would turn into who could finish warm-up first. But one night, he heard you get emotional behind your bedroom door. He wanted so badly to open the door and tease you for crying until he learned the context. “What-what do you mean I can’t come back?” You whined and he felt your pain. He moved around as a kid and all he wanted to do was go ‘home’...but he didn’t know where ‘home’ was exactly. Now it was him and the guys. “But I’ve been here for so long.” You sighed, and he could hear the desperation in your voice. “Ok. Fine. It’s whatever. I’ll talk to you later, Tae.” He heard a couple sniffles and the door opened to your puffy eyes and face. You both just stood there and looked at each other for a couple seconds. “What?” You asked and he just shrugged. You walked past him, and usually, he would push you into the wall playfully, but now he knew that you needed someone. He followed you to the bathroom like a lost puppy while you threw cold water on your face. You patted your face and looked at him. “What do you want, Yang?” You asked looking at him, not really in the mood to play around. Yang yang looked down at his 2 ice cream sandwiches that he was going to eat in front of Xiaojun to make him angry. “Here.” He said pushing one of the desserts into your hands. “I know what it’s like to want to go home. And I know the feeling of not being able to. Just...find me if you need to talk...” He said and you just nodded, smiling to yourself. “Also, I’m sorry for being a jerk. I just wanted to tease you a bit...but I let it get out of hand.” he said. You forgave him. He smiled at you before running back to his room like the nervous dork he usually was. 

The darkest days could be turned upside down by your favorite dolphin companion, Chenle. You both were the pranksters in the compound. You filled Jaemin’s hair dryer with flour and replaced Jeno’s favorite cat socks with baby socks to freak him out. You both sat outside of Jaehyun’s bathroom. The water turned off and it wasn’t long before you both were met with the screams of your older. You both snuck back down the hall where you both erupted in laughter. He stormed down the hallways, purple hair dye running down the back of his neck. He totally missed you and Chenle as he marched into Taeyong’s office, where he was already waiting for his grape headed co-worker. In fact, it was Taeyong’s idea...but you and Chenle carried it out. Some students gathered to see Jaehyun look red as a tomato in the face and purple as a grape in his hair. You and Chenle high-five each other as you both ran to the post office to mail a box of fruit to Ten in China. 

Jisung just wanted someone to take him seriously. He wanted someone to have a decent conversation with without being brushed off as an annoying kid. He was wise beyond his years and you were the only to seem and get that. “So I was thinking, with the misso-” “Nah. Won’t work. Just go back to coloring or something.” One of the new members said, flicking Jisung’s notebook towards him. “Oh...okay.” Jisung nodded. The older boys got up, leaving Jisung alone and feeling embarrassed for even trying. You quickly got up, walking over and sitting down next to him. “I want to hear.” You said and his eyes lit up, but they were masked with the fear of rejection. “No. It’s okay. You probably have to get ready soo-” “Jisung. I want to see. Really.” You said and the look on his face was priceless and incomparable to anything you had ever seen before. He nodded, opening his notebook again to the diagram he drew up. “Okay, so the huge mission coming up...instead of doing an on-ground attack...how about an air-attack? We’d hit them in their weakest point. They’re already expecting something on the ground--so we should surprise them.” Jisung said you and you sat there, silently. The smile on his face slowly but visibly fell. His hands rubbed against his jeans as the fear of rejection began setting in. “But also, it’s a really dumb idea. I was just thi-” “That’s an amazing idea, Jisung. I’m just pissed that no one thought of it before.” And the smile was the widest you had ever seen on that boy’s face. 

But if this is what you treasure and hold so close...why are you running? Why did you pack your bags in secret a month before you left? Why did you tell Jisung that you and he could go get ice cream next Sunday if you knew you wouldn’t be here? Why tell Jungwoo that you would go see the new romantic movie this Friday if you didn’t plan on staying here for the next 24 hours?

Why?

Out of all the love...all of it...why leave? You were safe. The boys would go through hell and back to get you what you needed because they understood you better than anyone could. 

So as you packed your bag and grabbed your keys, you told Taeil that you were going to pick up more milk. Yet, they all knew your plans. They already had posts set up to bring you home if you wanted to. The boys understood you needed space, and time. You just needed an escape from reality. Yuta flew in men just to put up more post and protection. Kun and Winwin were on the edge of their seats, waiting for the call to say you left Korea and were on your way to China. Ten is in Thailand, just for the crazy chance you chose to run off to his homeland. Lucas is back in Hong Kong for the same reason Ten is in Thailand. Johnny left 3 hours ago for his plane back to Chicago. Mark left right after you did for his plane back to Canada. Renjun and Chenle are split up in China, just to make sure that if you got over -- you would be safe and looked after. Yangyang is in Germany again, covering Europe for the unlikely chance you run to Europe for a safe haven. 

Taeil gulped down his water as he watched you roar your bike to life and looked back at the compound. Taeyong popped up next to him. “She’ll be back. It’ll be okay.” Taeil nodded to calm the buzzing anxiety of their leader. 

You were running to Europe for a new start. You were now stuck in traffic and ready to get to the airport. Your earpiece beeped. You answered it, already knowing who it was. “Hey, Taeyong.” You sighed. “Hey.” He spoke quickly. 

“Listen...” he started off and you knew he knew about your plan. “...I understand that you need to do what you need to do...but we have someone on every continent ready to bring you home if you’re ready or you need help.” He said and your throat got dry. “Yeah?” Your voice cracked. “Yeah...” He trailed off. “...we will always be looking over you. Just remember we’re all a plane ride away.” He said and you nodded, sniffling some emotion back. “...we all love you, y/n...” He trailed off and you couldn’t help but cry a little. “I love you all too.” You cracked into your mic. 

“Just please remember we’re here...and we won’t forget about you.” Taeyong said and you nodded, humming in response. “Of course.” You mused. “Well it’s time for me to go.” you confessed and you heard a sharp intake of breath. “Of course, of course. Just remember to call regularly.” He said and you agreed. “Alright. See you later.” He said and you lost it. No one ever said ‘goodbye’ to each other in the unit because it meant forever. 

“See you later.” You said and he hung up. You were still stuck in traffic as you approached a tunnel. A car horn beeped behind you. You turned around to see Haechan and Jeno in a car, waving you to go ahead of traffic. 

You nodded and revved your engine as you quickly looked back at them. They looked like they were in pain as you nodded to them a ‘farewell’. They both jokingly blew you a kiss. You caught them and threw it in your pocket. You revved your engine and began swerving in and out of free spaces around cars. 

This was it...your family wasn’t going to give up on you...it was the glory they held within eachother...the glory of neo culture

...this is it...

[manggojooz]

GAME OF TAG

My note: Thank you to @softmingukie​ for tagging me in this! it’s been a boring long weekend for me and I haven’t had motivation to get much done but of course when it comes to these things... #priorities 

Rules:

tag the person who tagged you

answer the questions

tag 10 people

Questions: 

how tall are you? 160cm, hopefully a little taller in the mornings xD

what colour and style is your hair? my hair colour’s naturally brownish, had a lot of issues with it when I used to be in school =/ and it has natural large wavy curls, giving rise to stark contrasts between my good hair days and bad hair days lolz

what colour are your eyes? brownnnn too

do you wear glasses? yeaaa since I was 8 T.T 

Do you wear braces? nope, never worn them before, got pretty good alignment thanks to my mum’s fussing when I was a kid (sometimes it pays to listen to your parents) 

what’s your fashion sense? varies with my mood, sometimes it’s super oversized and homely looking... sometimes I prefer neat looking outfits. but generally I’m a huge fan of oversize tops and recently into pastel colours (bought a lavender coloured denim jacket at that) 

full name? "if i tell you i will have to kill you” xD just call me manggo <3 

when were you born? 24 January (contemplating really hard whether to reveal my age, maybe not for now... feeling very old T.T) 

where are you from and where do you live now? I was kinda ‘Made in China’ but I grew up in Singapore and am still living here

what school do you go to? see this is why I’m feeling old, coz i don’t even qualify for answering this anymore T.T I’m unfortunately and very unwillingly a working adult now

what kind of student are you? I used to be really diligent in primary school (elementary school), then in secondary school (the equivalent of junior high I guess?), I went to a pretty good school and it all went downhill from there hahaha, not really my results but just my attitude towards grades-based stuff in general. I just tried to make sure my grades aren’t diving and whatever extra time I had I will definitely not be studying xD Not discouraging anyone from studying! keep a reasonable target, make sure you aren’t falling behind then you will have justification for spending your one and only youth doing other things you like too 

do you like school? this is cliche but when I was in the system it didnt feel all that great, however on hindsight yes school is actually not that bad, I will go back to school again if I had the chance. especially university, I literally had classes 3 days a week T.T gimme back my 3-day work week!!! 

favorite subject? Chinese! surprise surprise, but then when I was in Junior College (high school) I didn’t have to take it anymore and then my favourite subject was biologyyyy. If anyone’s interested to know, my English grade was horrible and it was kind of like my “complex” until maybe when I was around 17-18 yo

favourite tv shows? there’s so many how do you even pick a favourite? In the Korean TV world... i used to be a huge fan of running man. I love OCN shows like Vampire Prosecutor and God’s Quiz. And I’m generally a sucker for a good romcom, some of my favourites are like My Name is Kim Sam Soon (hahah oldddd), My Girl (another oldie), Secret Garden, Goblin, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, Miss Hammurabi, My ID is Gangnam Beauty

favourite movie? animated movies... coz i’m childish like that and anything marvel recently. if i had to pick, i will pick how to train your dragon (the first or the second one); for the record, the HTTYD soundtrack is my favourite OST of all time... hands down (”test drive” anyone?)

favourite books? seriously how do people pick such things? do comics count? if so, Calvin and Hobbes (I wasn’t kidding when I said I’m childish) but if comics don’t count then I’m into poetry books recently, highly recommend I Wrote This For You by Iain S. Thomas

favourite pastime? just walking while listening to music... I’ve read somewhere that when you listen to music while doing a certain thing sometimes your memory links them together and I think it’s true. so I would like my music to help me remember the feeling of sauntering somewhere nowhere...

do you have any regrets? not starting to write earlier... =/ 

dream job? something that i enjoy doing and that can make a difference to the world. it’s a dream because I dunno if such a job exists for someone like me... although i really shouldn’t be so ungrateful, my current job isn’t all that bad... 

would you ever like to be married? I think I would like to be... but as I grow older I realise so many things about the world and sometimes I just wonder whether getting married really should be a priority? that, and also whether anyone will marry me T.T 

would you like to have kids? hmm... this is a tough one... as of now I honestly feel like it’s a ‘no’ but I do wonder whether I might regret it later. Maybe adopting? maybe fur babies instead? 

how many? i only ever fantasise about having dogs now... 7 of them actually 

do you like shopping? yessssss, i never believed in retail therapy when I was younger but now i am a believer... 

what countries have you visited? does China still count? (Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau??), NZ, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, France, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Morocco and of course South Korea <3 

scariest nightmare you have ever had? someone and me drowning in a car because I drove it horribly into a construction site that had a huge puddle that was more like a lake... T.T either that or not knowing the answer to a math exam question... 

any enemies? my self doubt occasionally and people who pick a fight with me because i refuse to eat shark’s fin o.O like dude... you go ahead and eat it if you want, I’m not stopping you but I won’t eat it ok? (this is such an asian thing.. i can’t) 

any significant other? been single for so freaking longgggg  

do you get along with your family? immediate family - yes very; distant family - generally yes too but a few i cant deal with. thank goodness we aren’t in the same country i guess haha

do you believe in miracles? logical me says no but i’ll veto that and say yes... if not what courage sustains me anymore?  

how are you? it’s hard to describe it... I’m ok but i’m also not ok... like i’m not suffering, I am not doing badly which puts me in this limbo where I am not motivated enough to change anything but yet I don’t feel like this is all good and well either, if you get what I mean

My taglist of 10 people - whom i wish to say hello to becoz, in an over simplistic way, either i follow you or you follow me and i adore you: 

@chimchimsauce​ @jikooktemple​ @carry-on-my-wayward-bts​ @let-your-dreams-breath3​ @9uk​ @kimvante​ @kyungsooskhakipants​ @ren-lotus​ @rain-fall-2019​ @betysotelo18​ 

no pressure to do this though! just a shout out to say hiiii~~ hope you are doing well! chowzz~

[thegameison97]

Game of Tag: Part 1 // Her Arrival

Word count: 1.5K

Pairing: (Gabriel x Reader)

Summary: All throughout the year in the small town of Lawrence, Kansas, a group of highly competitive friends hit the ground running in a no-holds-barred game of tag they've been playing since they were kids in grade school - risking their necks to take each other down with the battle cry "You're it!". This year, Y/N finally moves back to her hometown after years of working on her career in journalism in NYC. And now that she's home, she is again drawn back into the elaborate game that has spanned the past 30 years. That's not all, though. Y/N is also reunited with Gabriel Novak. A guy with whom she's had a tiny bit of a thing for ever since they were children. She just doesn't know that he, too, has harbored the same feelings all these years. Still, that's not the only focus of this story. You see, Gabriel is also the only undefeated player in this elaborate game of tag. And this year, everyone is going to make it their mission to finally get him. However, he knows they're coming... and he's ready. NOTE: This story was inspired by the trailer for the 2018 movie called "Tag".

Game of Tag Master-Post

Master-List of FanFiction

It was at moments much like these that one Jessica Moore-Winchester was glad she had come to live in a town where everyone was so close with each other. A town where just about everyone knew everyone. A town that, no matter who you were, you could hear about something exciting happening for someone and actually be genuinely excited and happy for them yourself.

"Meg is going to love it, Cas. I'm so happy for you!" Jess squealed excitedly, leaning against the coffee counter Castiel Novak stood behind as he showed her the diamond-surrounded ruby engagement ring he planned to propose to his girlfriend with.

"Thank you, Jess." Cas chuckled, closing the ring box before placing it back inside his jacket pocket. "It's been ten years, so I figured it was probably time. Just hope she says yes."

"She'll say yes." Jess rolled her eyes playfully, tapping her fingers against the top of the counter. "At least you didn't wait thirty years and not tell the person you like that you actually like them. You know, like a certain someone we know."

"Hey, he's not the only oblivious one." Cas pointed out as he went about making Jess her regular vanilla bean latte. "She's the one that moved away."

"To further her career." Jess reminded him. "Granted, she hasn't been home in a while, but she has come back for visits before. And besides, it's not like you can get that far in journalism when you live in this small town. Anyway, it doesn't really matter. She's moving back."

"Thank the universe for that." Cas sighed as he handed Jess her latte. "Maybe now one of them will finally do something about the thing everyone else has been seeing for the past thirty years."

"One can only hope." Jess giggled slightly, taking a sip of her vanilla bean latte and sighing contently as the warm liquid went down her throat. "Just out of curiosity, did you tell him that she's coming back? You know, for good?"

"Mm, sorta." Cas shrugged as he walk around the coffee counter and made his way over to the pastry counter to grab himself a chocolate chip muffin. "He knows that she's coming back to town. He just doesn't know when, and that she's coming back to stay."

"I see." Jess nodded as she watched Cas take a bite of the muffin he had grabbed for himself before making his way back behind his coffee counter.

"Yeah, I figured it'd be more fun for Y/N herself to tell him." Cas chuckled as he set his half eaten muffin down on top of the counter. "Gabriel's reaction will be great."

"Oh, you know it will be." Jess let out a laugh as she took out some change from her purse to pay for her latte. "Well, I suppose I'll see you later then."

"Of course." Cas smiled at her as he took the change from her before suddenly taking her gently by the wrist. "By the way, you're it."

Jess gasped. "How dare you! Giving me a false sense of security. Who tagged you?!"

"I did." A voice said from behind Jess, making her turn around to see a grinning Charlie Bradbury standing in the archway that led into her bookstore from Gabe and Cas's bakery/coffee shop.

Cas glared at her slightly. "Way to ambush me this morning, Charlie."

"Hey," She laughed, holding her hands up defensively. "don't blame me for getting here first."

Cas just rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to Jess. "You and Sam still planning on taking that spring trip?"

"Mm-hm." She nodded, checking the time on her phone. "The Cayman Islands are a-callin'. Anyway, I'll see you around."

"Later!" Charlie smiled, walking over to the pastry counter before placing a book on top of it. "Oh, and Cas? Here's the next book in the series Gabriel's reading. Tell him I dropped it off."

"Sure." He replied before Charlie made her way back through archway and disappearing into her bookstore. He then turned his head back to Jess, said woman opening the door just as a certain someone entered.

"Gabriel." Jess grinned mischievously, immediately reaching for said man who immediately dodged her and rushed to the pastry counter.

"Sorry, Jess, but you're gonna have to try a lot harder than that." Gabriel Novak smirked before noticing the book Charlie had left for him on the counter. "Ah, I see Charlie stopped by."

"Like not even a minute ago." Cas chimed in before looking to Jess who still had her hand on the door. "Don't worry, Jess, we'll get him one day."

"That's alright." She waved him off. "I have another target in mind anyway."

"Who?" Gabe tilted his head from where he now stood behind the pastry counter, his finger drumming against the book Charlie had left him.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Jess just smirked before actually walking outside and letting the door close behind her, the bell chiming as it did so.

"Tagged her then, huh?" Gabriel questioned, glancing over at his younger brother.

"Yep." Cas smirked before popping the last bite of his chocolate chip muffin into his mouth. "And I have a decent idea of who her target is."

"And who would that be, little-brother-who-steals-treats-when-I'm-not-here?" Gabe questioned.

"Don't worry, older-brother-who-actually-owns-this-building-and-can-afford-to-give-away-a-free-pastry-here-and-there, you'll probably find out soon enough." Is all Cas replied with before turning his attention to the door as the bell chimed, signaling a customer's arrival.

***

"There's no place like home."

That was the thought that ran through Y/N Y/L/N's head as she exited the terminal and started making her way to the baggage claim area.

I mean, don't get her wrong. She loved her career. She loved what she did. She moved to New York City to exercise her full potential in journalism. And she felt like she had done that. For the most part, anyway. After all, she had traveled on assignment to places like Cape Town in South Africa, Athens in Greece, Sydney in Australia, and Seoul in South Korea. You know, along with numerous other locations.

Y/N had gone to NYU before going to work and becoming the head of her firm's international department. She had originally started out traveling and reporting on the best tourist spots, but had grown and moved towards the deeper and more emotional stories of different locales.

Anyway, now that she felt she had gotten all she could out of what she had set out to do, Y/N had made the decision to move back to her small hometown of Lawrence, Kansas. She missed everyone. Her parents. Her friends. Everyone.

Don't worry, though. It wasn't like she was going to be sitting around doing nothing. She had already lined up a job as the co-editor of the local Lawrence newspaper. The previous co-editor had quit and Y/N's friend Kevin had called her up and offered her the position. So no worries there.

Y/N smiled to herself as she arrived at her designated baggage claim, she really was glad to be back home. And since she hadn't seen anyone she recognized waiting for her in the airport, she assumed she'd be making her way into town by herself.

Key word: Assumed.

"Surprise!" A familiar voice exclaimed before Y/N felt arms wrap around her. "Tag, you're it!"

"Jess!" Y/N laughed happily, returned her best friend's hug. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you. And hey!" She pulled back from their embrace. "You just had to get me as soon as I got into town, didn't you?"

"Obviously." The blonde rolled her eyes playfully, adjusting her purse on her shoulder. "Same as when, whoever's it at the time, gets Balthazar when he comes for the summer."

"Yeah, well, we got a few months before that happens." Y/N giggled before grabbing her suitcase off the luggage carousel when she spotted it. "Now, it's getting dark outside. I suppose I should get to my parents' house."

"Of course, but first," Jess began as she grabbed Y/N's carry-on bag from her. "I'm taking you to dinner. We need some girl time."

"I miss girl time." Y/N sighed fondly before they began making their way out of the airport.

"We'll have girl time tonight and then you can get reacquainted with everyone, starting tomorrow." Jess responded as they walked out of a set of sliding glass doors. "Oh, and maybe figure out who you're going to tag."

"Definitely." Y/N nodded with a laugh as they reached Jess's car before getting all of Y/N's stuff in so they could make there way into Lawrence.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this. Sorry if it was a little boring. I had to get the story started somehow. Future parts will be better! 😁

💋 Love always, ~Maddy

P.S. ~ Let me know if you want to be added to my forever tags. And if not, if you just want to be tagged in this series, let me know!  :)

[kadobeclothing]

What Is Twitch? How Do Brands Use It?

For over a decade, I’ve been a dedicated fan, buying each new release and playing them over and over again. Eventually, my interest in the simulation game led me to find a community of others who feel the same way. So, I started watching YouTube videos of people playing the Sims. Most of the YouTubers promoted their Twitch accounts, where they would broadcast live play-throughs. I didn’t pay attention to Twitch at first, but eventually, curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check it out one day.

Warning: Twitch can get highly addicting. The first time I tried Twitch, I was on the platform for three hours, exploring the content of my favorite YouTubers and chatting with others, like in the screenshot below:

Source The streaming platform gave me a larger community to connect with because of the chat section in each broadcast, where users can comment on the content they’re seeing. The streamer can also interact with them, making the experience feel more natural. But, other than a streaming platform, what exactly is Twitch? In this post, we’ll explore what twitch is, and how you might use it to engage with prospects and increase brand awareness. Let’s begin by defining Twitch. Then, we’ll talk about how Twitch is used and what it’s used for. 

What is Twitch?

Twitch is an online platform for live streams. Its users can either broadcast a live stream or watch other streamers. The streamers usually give gameplay commentary, while the viewers connect in a chat on the sidebar

When you visit Twitch, you’ll see a screen very similar to this:

The homepage is curated based on previous activity, so though this screen is covered with gaming content, streamers don’t have a limit on what they produce. While Twitch is largely a platform for live gameplay and commentary, talk shows, cooking shows, sporting events, and gaming conventions also pop up on the site. Twitch enables fans to connect with streamers. It allows users to watch content they’re interested in on a platform that supports long-form, live broadcasts. For instance, you might find that it’s not abnormal for streams to be over an hour, or sometimes even two hours. It’s not all streaming, though. In fact, the platform has its own convention, TwitchCon. This bi-annual event celebrates the streaming industry and is a chance for the platform’s broadcasters to connect with their fans and peers in person. Fans can attend sessions led by their favorite streamers and buy branded merchandise from a slew of vendors and event sponsors (For example, Doritos is a proud sponsor of TwitchCon). Though the streamers produce the content, Twitch has a dedicated fanbase that expands across the globe. To get an idea of Twitch’s users, next, we’ll go more into depth about Twitch’s primary audience. Who uses Twitch? Twitch’s audience is mainly comprised of teen gamers. Let’s look at that a little further. When SimilarWeb studied the web behavior of Twitch users, they found primary keywords this audience searched for were “games,” “computers,” and “technology”. From that information, we can infer that the majority of Twitch users are interested in games and the technology needed to play them. In the same report, it was also noted that 22% of traffic comes from the U.S., making it the country with the most representation on the platform, with Germany, Korea, and France not too far behind. It’s also important to note — according to Twitch, the platform has over 28 million unique users per month in the U.S., who watch, on average, 95 minutes per day. And, of those users, 80% are teen males. Though the audience has a large teen male presence, know that this isn’t the entire platform’s user base. In fact, my favorite Twitch streamers are adult women of color. So, if you’re thinking your audience isn’t on Twitch, they actually might be, just in a smaller number. Still, as marketers know, those numbers could be an essential part of your target audience. If, by now, you are mulling over a few ideas about how you can fit in Twitch into your marketing efforts, let’s talk about how brands are using Twitch, next. 6 Ways Brands Use Twitch Brands use Twitch to increase brand awareness, target specific audiences, produce branded streams, and leverage influencer marketing. Twitch reports that the platform is great for scaled engagement and reaching specific campaign goals. Because the site is powered by visual content, let’s explore some examples to back up these goals. 1. 1,000 Dreams Fund Tactic: Brand Awareness 1,000 Dreams Fund is a non-profit devoted to providing 1,000 university women with grants to help them achieve their dreams and provides new grants every academic semester. The people behind 1DF partnered with Twitch to bring the program to streamers. The Twitch spin on the fund gives financial assistance to streamers who are female and currently attending university, to help with school expenses. For example, Twitch might provide financial aid for conventions like TwitchCon, conferences, new hardware, or educational programs that are devoted to creative pursuits. For Women’s History Month, Twitch’s Facebook account ran an ad that supported the fund, bringing awareness to 1DF and what it does for women streamers.

This gave an entirely new audience an introduction to the non-profit. It also showed Twitch’s diverse user base, and highlighted a cause the company supports. 2. WildEarth Tactic: Target Specific Audiences WildEarth (WE) is a broadcaster that shows the day-to-day lives of animals, led by expert zoologists in Johannesburg, Australia. Recently, the site’s leaders decided to expand their broadcast onto Twitch in order to broaden their audience. The streams are short, which is unusual for Twitch, but makes sense for WildEarth. Content includes a sunrise safari led by expert Lauren, in which she focuses on animals she sees on her drive and provides information about them.

Source In the clip above, Lauren talked about how elephants are shy but friendly. Most clips on the channel are similar in that they show close-ups of animals making their homes or other animals roaming about. WE is aimed towards younger viewers, so it’s no surprise that broadcasts have expanded to Twitch and YouTube. Some clips even have kid-friendly titles with emojis and current slang to attract these younger viewers. 3. Nissin Noodles Tactic: Lead Generation Streamer Pokimane boasts over four million followers on her channel and plays mostly role-playing, fantasy games. Recently, she partnered with Nissin Foods to produce a branded League of Legends broadcast. The broadcast featured her making the instant noodles during a stream. To keep the content fun and engaging, Pokimane added a ‘Slurp Meter’ graphic on-screen that measures the volume of her eating her meal.

Source If I were a younger viewer watching this stream, I would think about how it would be easy to prepare and eat Nissin Noodles while using Twitch, as Pokimane did. I would want to use the ‘Slurp Meter’ to measure the noise-level of myself eating and report back to the community in the comments. Nissin’s branded stream has been seen by over 11,000 of Pokimane’s fans. This marketing technique cemented Nissin as a brand associated with her community, showing how their product fits into the gaming lifestyle. 4. PSD Underwear Tactic: Influencer Marketing Ninja is one of Twitch’s most-followed streamers. For perspective, 14.7 million is half of the platform’s U.S. user base. It’s also the number of followers Ninja has. To get those followers interested in their brand, and celebrate TwitchCon 2018, athletic underwear brand PSD gave the streamer a bus. No, really. A bus: 

Hitting the road and heading to TwitchCon with our newly wrapped @ninja bus!

pic.twitter.com/AHKDI1ocVC — PSD Underwear (@PSDunderwear) October 25, 2018

PSD’s marketing campaign used TwitchCon to build brand awareness with its ‘Ninja Bus’ and corresponding Twitter post. This partnership is a change for PSD, which usually partners with basketball, football, or wrestling athletes. A video game athlete partnership could be part of a strategy to attract audiences on a different platform. It also shows the flexibility of the product. If I were a Ninja follower attending TwitchCon and saw the bus, plastered with Ninja’s branding, my very first instinct would be to Google PSD and browse the products. This advertisement speaks for itself, and no doubt earned some looks at TwitchCon. 5. Indeed Tactic: Paid Advertising In a similar practice to Facebook and YouTube, Twitch plays video ads before their streams, also known as pre-roll ads. This Indeed ad shows a case study about how a Twitch streamer and digital artist used Indeed to connect. The streamer was looking for a designer to make her streams more engaging and found her talent on Indeed, a career search engine.

Source The ad paints a picture of how gamers, streamers, developers, and creatives can use Indeed to find support for their work on Twitch. It shows how a streamer can leverage Twitch to find talent — and how talent can find work. 6. Wendy’s Tactic: Lead Generation Popular gaming series Animal Crossing has a new addition, New Horizons, that came out in March 2020. Marketers at Wendy’s knew Twitch would be flooded with Animal Crossing streams upon the release, so they decided to capitalize on that. The campaign is simple: a gameplay broadcast, following the Animal Crossing adventures of the store’s mascot Wendy. There are several clips and streams on the account, and most of the titles include “Free Delivery” to remind Twitch users that they don’t have to leave the site to eat Wendy’s.

Source Notice the extra steps the campaign takes for the branded stream. In the bottom left, there’s an advertisement for free delivery from Postmates and GrubHub. At the top is the title of the campaign, “Choppin’ Trees & Free Deliveries,” as well as the logos of participating brands. Should your brand leverage Twitch? You might be unsure about using Twitch in your next campaign, and trust me, you’re not the only one. However, as we’ve seen, multiple brands use Twitch to promote their brand by catering to a young audience. If your company has a similar goal, then Twitch might be a great asset to you. If you’re interested in influencer marketing, you might think about using Twitch, as well. Influencers expand your audience by endorsing your brand, as we saw with Pokimane’s noodle stream. Another benefit of leveraging Twitch is boosting leads with ads. Take haircare brand Head & Shoulders, for example. To market their new men’s styling creams, the creative team partnered with the platform to run a contest, in which Twitch users could win 100,000 Bits, which is the site’s virtual currency.

Source The target audience for this campaign is men, so the team behind the campaign knew they would have an audience on Twitch. This is also another great reason to use the platform: if your audience is mostly male. Recall that 80% of Twitch’s users are teen males, so if your product needs that kind of audience, look to Twitch. Alternatively, if your audience is using Twitch as part of their web behavior, you might look into investing in Twitch content. While you don’t have to create a Twitch account and start uploading numerous streams, you can go the Indeed route and use an ad that relates to Twitch’s users. For instance, maybe the company you work for sells computers. A great way to leverage Twitch in a product marketing campaign is by making an ad that shows a popular PC game on the platform right now, like League of Legends, and how it works with the computer you’re aiming to sell. Twitch is an expansive platform where creatives can engage with subjects that interest them. Remember, Twitch isn’t all about games — there are other categories on the platform too, like cooking and live event broadcasting. You can leverage Twitch in multiple ways and reach an expansive audience by doing so. As a casual Twitch user, I look forward to seeing what you come up with for your Twitch campaign.

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source https://www.kadobeclothing.store/what-is-twitch-how-do-brands-use-it/

[violetsystems]

#personal

Somehow my Instagram started working again.  It was dark for the entire semester since February.  It was only until a day after graduation where I regained functionality of both accounts.  No emails, no reasoning, and no real warning or explanation.  I wasn’t able to follow back, comment or link to things in chat for all that time.  So I stopped posting to it about a month ago.  During that time nobody really interacted except people I didn’t know.  Mostly fashion and coffee businesses some of which were places I’ve visited in New York.  One of those places I discovered had a small shop in a shared work space near my work.  Since I couldn’t follow back or interact I decided to go there in person.  It felt like a good excuse to develop connections to places I could visit in New York comfortably by myself.  They have a shop in the World Trade Center and one in Queens.  I ordered a bag of coffee beans from them which was one of the packages that was stolen from my porch.  I’m always telling myself these days never to draw conclusions to any of these things.  Even if everything after all this time seems highly suspect.  I have the disadvantage of being too smart for my own good.  I also force myself to be an optimist more often than I should.  Returning to Instagram with a few innocuous posts felt ok at first.  I posted my run from the other day.  Some Chinese Finstas responded.  I posted a photo of a book on the color pink at the coffee shop and checked in.  I bought a new yoga mat on clearance at target.  It has a sparse pink font with midnight blue foam.  I posted that.  I made an informational post of something related to work.   A 3D model of a pokemon made on a makerbot in our lab.  The interactions were small at best.  It felt more wrong than right.  I have a habit of being too extreme about things.  Quitting and walking away from bullshit and never telling anyone.  Nobody ever asks.  Nobody ever really interacts in a genuine way where I think it’s worth my time.  Mostly because people have wasted so much of mine over the years.  Tumblr has been way different for reasons only we as users have come to understand.  I don’t even understand my relationships on here fully.  But they make more sense than trying to revive my interest in a being openly spied on in public.  Which happens without having to use Instagram sadly.  These times are wacky what can I say?  For all the concern over my affairs nobody really knows what I do or how I feel about it other than here.  Nobody.  Care.  Me.

What has “the public” actually done with me and my data over all these years?  I hang up on enough surveys to know nobody really cares about my opinion.  Nothing ever gets fixed.  I also don’t really stick around to listen to excuses.  I’ve shut done entire segments of my life over the last two years out of futility.  Instagram was no different.  When I disappear I ask myself what audience is still there.  I know perfectly well how it feels to be completely abandoned.  Everybody on here knows I’ve been more or less completely alone in all my problems.  We’ve all come to discover that the problems aren’t actually my own.  I butt heads with society as much as anyone else maybe.  I cover a lot of ground.  This morning I have to bus back out to the suburbs to mow the lawn and bring my mom sour patch kids in the care facility.  It’s like an hour and a half each way.  People will watch and follow.  You’ll tell yourself it’s a small city and yet you remember how small Seoul or Tokyo is.  How you’d run into people magically around corners.  How serendipitous it all is!  People forget I’ve travelled to Korea around fourteen times by myself.  People never ask.  People think I’m stuck up for even mentioning it.  Or shut me down before I could even explain.  People will explain it for me.  But people will never actually listen.  They’ll never have the guts to approach me directly about any of this.  And this is a confidence I’ve learned through a hellish experience of trying to live by my own dreams and ruleset.  I tell myself I should have been more.  And then I realize what I already am.  Successful, free for the most part and pointed in a direction I feel comfortable with.  I don’t ask for advice.  I haven’t for a long time.  I do still reach out to people.  I’m cautious about what I share.  A friend told me they knew people out there appreciated both the little and big things I do.  That people notice I do this in the most subdued and polite way possible.  They said I just put one foot in front of the other.  I go out and run without much effort.  It’s something I’ve always loved to do.  It’s been my therapy for longer than anyone could imagine through all of this.  And it’s been just me working through my feelings about all of this.  I share it here with all of you.  Some of you I know.  All of you I respect in some way or another.  And this kind of interaction has been much more safe and healthy for me all this time.  Because when someone supports you behind the scenes here, you know they are genuine about it.  It’s unspoken and true.  That people understand what you are going through.  More importantly they understand why you do what you do to make it through.

There are a lot of rash things I could do to make things right.  I’ve always thought in this process the most effective thing to make right was myself.  A lot of me discovering my confidence has been about being around influences that are compatible with my goals.  My goals are complex.  My life even more so.  I’ve had to abandon things I loved to do like make music to feel safe.  Taking photos online as well.  Social media is an extension these days of how you present yourself in public.  Being social, comfortable with myself and genuine is something I’m very good at.  It isn’t always respected in real life or on the internet.  Why do we put up with it?  We in America are taught to want and have it all.  There isn’t enough to go around these days.  Money is fucked.  So we develop other obscure ways to devalue each other.  Social value and clout exist in a vacuum of hidden gatekeepers and cabals of elite bullshit.  Think bitcoin backed by hot air and broken promises.  Groups of people who can’t value themselves alone or support people without a catch.  And so there’s any number of scams evolving on a day to day basis.  Narratives to get lost in.  Roles to get pigeonholed in.  Debt to get lost in.  Treat yourself and pay for it later.  I’ve been pragmatic about everything in spite of this for awhile.  I quit drinking.  I kept a spreadsheet of my finances and what I spend.  I budgeted out the things I wanted and needed.  I coached myself out of a mess only to find the world is messier than I ever imagined.  If it were simple enough to shut the door on everything and start fresh in the world I would.  I’m back in New York in a couple of weeks.  My plan has evolved into a visit every two months.  I was talking with someone who had said they knew people who worked there but lived elsewhere.  Artists renting out studio spaces to show and produce work.  I imagine a regional manager or director would have a similar lifestyle.  Visiting coffee shops and meeting with staff.  I travel a lot and I don’t mind it.  It’s not something I couldn’t conceive for myself some day.  It beats trying to become a musician in an over flooded mess of people who don’t really care about anyone other than themselves.  I imagine like now I’d be looked at as successful.  I’d be overlooked just as much.  Maybe I’d be in an environment where being picked over all this time would be appreciated.  In my mind, I already am.  I have been since last August.  I’ve just been trying to figure out ways to make that more sustainable and real.  None of those solutions are particularly easy or concrete.  Neither is running six miles before work when nobody really knows how hard it is to move forward.  It isn’t that hard.  You put one foot in front of the other.  The hardest part is to know where to run to.  Flock of Seagulls not withstanding I’m running towards you not at you.  It’s an aggressive but steady pace.  One that I’ll run laps around in Central Park by the end of this month.  <3 Tim

[vettery]

Small Talk on our Awkward Orange Sofa with Steven Tiller, Founder of SeaVees

Vettery’s Clark Winter sat down with Steven Tiller, Founder of SeaVees to discuss the growing interest in casual culture, the inspiration for his company, and why he loves shoes. Based in Santa Barbara, SeaVees is a men’s shoe brand from the 1960s that pioneered the original way to go casual. While dormant for almost 50 years, SeaVees has been restored creating a vintage shoe in today’s surging sneaker culture.

So I am intrigued… it seems the story goes something like this. You were working in Boston designing shoes for Cole Haan and at the drop of the hat, you flew to Japan to be inspired by the wayward shoe brands of our past, when you stumbled upon a pair of SeaVees shoes and decided to resurrect them to their pinnacle as an iconic surf culture shoe. Am I on the right track? You are more or less on the right track. I had actually started my career at Cole Haan in Maine where I thought I’d learn the ropes for a few years before moving to California and starting my own brand. Cut to 18 years later and I was still in New England (working for Sperry Topsider in Boston) and not any closer to realizing my dream. With doubt and disenchantment setting in, I began to search in earnest for the right opportunity. Ideally a sneaker brand with a heritage, a once-proud brand in need of a resurrection. It was behind glass in a secondhand store in Tokyo where I found my first pair of SeaVees. I love casual shoes more than most, in fact I even wrote a post about them (“Kicks”). Unfortunately I didn’t know much about SeaVees at the time… tell me why I should add them to my quiver. You are not alone. This brand was off the radar for most after going dormant in the early 1970s. I was an obsessed aficionado of the category and even I had never heard of SeaVees. I soon discovered SeaVees was born in 1964 and was the original casual sneaker. With a groundbreaking advertising campaign throughout the 1960s, SeaVees pioneered the transformation of the sneaker from gym shoe to casual shoe. To “Show Up In SeaVees” meant you could enjoy the comfort of a sneaker with the sophistication of a more refined footwear choice. Today we honor the brand’s 1960s origin with a "vintage vibes meets modern tech" mantra by making contemporary amendments to classic design. The result is a timeless sneaker of exceptional quality and comfort that you can confidently wear in any social setting. California seems to be an woven into the fabric of the SeaVees story (and you for that matter!). What is it about California that resonates so much with you and the vibe of the brand? California provided the creative origin of the brand back in the 1960s when the Golden State in its golden age defined the coastal casual lifestyle. As a landlocked kid growing up in Oklahoma, I always aspired to be from California so I understand its powerful magnetic pull. Most of us have a reverence for the escapism that is promised with the warmth of the sun. Responding to that lifelong yearning is what resonates with me, is what SeaVees means to me. A wise man once said, “You spend most of your time in your bed or on your feet, so it’s important to invest in both.” If we opened up your closet, what shoes would we find in your assemblage?

SeaVees. You’d be shocked by the number of shoes in my closet. I definitely have issues - there is literally a sea of SeaVees. I have a pair of Nikes for trail running and a pair for the gym. And I have held on to a pair of Prada Chelsea boots for so long they have now officially taken on vintage status. Other than that I show up in SeaVees everywhere I go, for every occasion. How do you think about your competitive landscape-- is your target demographic currently wearing Vans/Converse or are you hoping to be the first foray into fashionable sneaker for the guy wearing his father’s crusty old New Balances? Both. Come one, come all. Today’s consumer has grown up in sneakers, and unlike the generations before him, he’s not being told at some point in his life to get out of those smelly gym shoes he wore as a kid. Still, while he respects the brands he grew up wearing, at some point in his early adult life he’s looking for something a little more evolved. A clean and sophisticated design he can easily dress up or dress down and look appropriate for most any occasion. As he comes of age and develops his own sense of style, he’s willing to pay a little more for the quality, comfort and class offered by SeaVees. Men’s style has certainly has become more casual these days. How do you see that fitting in with the SeaVees brand?

As the category creator of the casual sneaker, this movement truly hits the core of our brand. Todays athleisure or everyday casual style is just a modern day translation or evolution of what SeaVees was initiating back in the day. With the discerning modern sneaker consumer our heritage grants us an authentic voice in this movement. There is a certain cool factor that permeates throughout the SeaVees brand. In fact, I’ve read that you said,  “California in its golden age was the certified hub of all things cool, so I’m equally inspired by Steve McQueen’s hot-rod culture, Jack Kerouac’s San Francisco Beat scene and Richard Neutra’s Desert Modernism.” Who or what in today’s society inspires you/represents all things cool? I am most inspired by new music and travel. I’m on an undying daily quest to discover my next favorite band. I spend way more time reading music blogs and deep diving on Bandcamp then I do studying the latest fashion trends. And since the day I was dropped in Paris at 19 years old with a backpack, $500 in American Express travelers checks, and not knowing a word of French, I’ve been addicted to the adrenaline rush of foreign travel. Somewhere along the line I converted culture shock to a familiar comforting pang that never fails to inspire. How would you describe your personal style? Smart casual or dress casual. I tend to twist the traditional in a thoughtful way. I subscribe to the over/under rule of style. When the occasion calls for casual attire, I will err on the side of being slightly overdressed. For a dressy occasion - when I’m certain most guys will be wearing dark suits and wingtips - I’ll make a less serious statement by slightly underdressing. I’ll leave the tie at home and have my pant leg cropped just-so to show an irreverent bare ankle - and of course to show off my SeaVees. A classic, relaxed elegance is what I’d like to always represent. What is your favorite SeaVees shoe?

My favorite SeaVees style is the 06/64 Legend. It’s our most iconic style as it celebrates the original brand’s launch in June of 1964 and is the shoe featured in the old advertising campaign. This style is a re-creation of the shoe I discovered in Tokyo, so it holds special emotional status for me. I feel it best defines SeaVees today as it appeals to both modern and classic tastes. It’s familiar in styling but its high sidewall gives it an aggressive edge. Looking to the future, does the SeaVees brand extend beyond footwear into a fully fledged fashion/lifestyle brand? I certainly envision a SeaVees future that embraces the 1960s coastal casual lifestyle across multiple product categories. But honestly we’re focussed on improving within our core competency before we move on to other things. Our women’s business is still in its infancy, our international business (with the exception of Japan and Korea) is totally untapped. And while I’m very proud of the progress we’ve made to date, I know we still have a great amount work to do to restore the brand to its rightful place on the top shelf of heritage sneaker brands. Our favorite question: if you could combine two existing, but unrelated startups to make something totally ridiculous, what would they be?

If you could see the battery usage on my phone, you’d see that most of my power is spent on Spotify and Waze. What if they did a collaboration and provided you with a personalized playlist based on where you are going, when you are going and the duration of your drive. It would know your taste based on your Spotify history and could sense your mood based on where and when you are traveling (i.e. Friday afternoon build up for a coastal drive versus Monday morning chill out for the dreaded commute). What is favorite social media account to follow? Instagram is my platform of choice and I tend to gravitate toward photography - especially a group of Santa Barbara area kindred spirits that includes @willadlerphotographs, @morganmaassen, @deweynicks, @nick_presniakov, and @bluegabor.

[squidmouth]

Twins of a Storm- An Original Lovecraftian tale by Lolly Currier (incomplete)

“C’mon, Ellie! Hurry up!” Said Michael Greeley, on the other side of the yard. Ellie Tyler held a red bandana in her hand, and was rushing across the lawn. She was trying not to be tackled by Gina Brennan, who raced to gather her honor by stealing back the flag. At that second of victory, Gina tagged her as she crossed the painter’s tape. Leo Martin, a fellow red team member, belted, “GINA! She crossed the line! You can’t tag her!” What ensued came to a grand argument that reorganized the teams into “Those who agree with Gina” and “those who don’t”. Behind that anarchist and childish moment of locking horns, a great eldritch from beyond the cosmos came to squash a cul-de-sac. That cul-de-sac.

Soaked in blood, a great shadow leered upon the small community that was “Maple Creek”. It was a maple-free place that did not settle near a creek. That shadow had a name that was pronounceable by a minuscule tribe of linguists, and thus, many have taken to call it “The Grue of Storms”. Many in the town surrounding it saw only its teeth, greenish corkscrew claws uncensored by lips. Others have seen its limbs, a set of thorny tentacles with many eyes.

The Grue led a set of storms. They consisted of a few blizzards, several thunderstorms, and a couple thunder-blizzards. Luckily, it was easy for the Grue to hide with said storms.

Kevin Wilcox looked at the sky, and a blue flag fell from his grasp with fear. Kevin loathed storms, and his sister, Maisy, told him, “Kev! Get in the house! It’s raining.” All the children, except for Gina, rushed into the Wilcox home. Gina loved the rain, but when she gazed upon the Grue, the Grue gazed upon her, and it was too late. Gina’s remains turned to bloody bones. The grue sensed Gina’s friends within a humble abode, and grasped and consumed said home. Some have noticed the uprooting of 420 Hopps Avenue, and some have evacuated to their yards... to no avail. The Grue devoured them like pomegranate seeds. Their homes, uprooted and devoured; the tiny people within had their lives flash before their eyes.

The Grue’s thorny arms stabbed the small birds who witnessed the gore and destruction. The Grue flew off at 1000 times the speed of light, leaving only its destruction. The Grue flattened it, but no mere mortal could remember the day a 10 mile tall Grue devoured and flattened a city. They all remember it as “Hurricane Melanie”.

It was a sunny day, with clouds coming in from the north, in Omaha. Kids were playing, birds sang, and all was well. The night before, the stars weren’t perfect, but the weather was.

In Washington Park, six children were playing “Animal Tag”. Lily Fowler, who was “it” at the moment, tagged her friend Billy Jenkins, and laughed, “You’re a ducky now, Billy!” Billy reluctantly waddled and quacked, making his friends know that he was fair game. Just as he was about to get tagged by Teagan Neville, it started raining, and Lily reported,

“Guys, I felt some rain. We should hide in the playground.” The children groaned, but this was no ordinary rain. Gr’logyth, the Grue of Storms, broke out of his prison on Saturn’s icy rings. His three noses smelled the blood of innocent people, and his ever open mouths devoured the buildings like sushi rolls. Next stop, Washington Park.

Gr’logyth summoned a tornado to mask his unholy deeds, and demolished Pizza Hut and White Castle, murdered Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Arby’s, Burger King, and the Dairy Queen. He hit a Target, and drooled on a school. The maples at Washington were turned to syrup, and the cherry trees were devoured. But whatever happened to the children at the playground?

First, Gr’logyth slid the swinging children down his throats. He swung his twin tongues around the jungle gym, he juggled the youth on the merry-go-round, and the kids on the slide spun around his esophagi.

Gr’logyth, overall, had factories meet their maker, torn apartments apart, made high-rises fall, and rode a theme park down to the ground. When the survivors looked upon the disaster, Gr’logyth wasn’t blamed. They just called it the “tornado of the century”

It was a beautiful night, and many people gathered in the Swiss Alps for a Snow Whizzyte concert. It was the straight white male rapper’s first stop in Europe, and he was going to KILL IT! Many European conformists lined up at the door with their 200 Euro tickets, and when Whizzyte stepped on the stage, screaming ensued.

“WHAT IS UP, SWISS NATION? I’M YOUR HOST, KILLER SNOW WHIZZYTE! LET’S GET RIGHT INTO THE RAP!” The crowd of blind idiots tossed themselves out of their seats, and into the “music” as Snow started off the show with his hit single, “Bullet Avalanche”

Suddenly, out of the calm, serene hills, came a stirring. Land rained down from gentle peaks. Katamaris of snow leaped down upon mountainous villages. Wind and fog gusted down from clouds up above. Gr’logyth was back, and ready to destroy innocent humans.

Scientists and Meteorologists sent out warnings. Whizzyte, when notified of the situation, ignored the concert hall manager, and kept rapping a naughty song from his new album, “Crack Flame”.

Gr’logyth watched as people escaped their homes for safer ground, chased them easily, and watched as they climbed into his mouths like trains into a tunnel. Humans were crunchy, he couldn’t resist.

Suddenly, the roof of the concert hall fell down under the thorny paws of a cosmic monster. The sound was deafening, and preps prayed to Azathoth, calling him Jesus, that they would be spared. Unfortunately, their precious Snow was smashed under the corkscrew fangs of the Grue of Storms.

Little managed to escape that fateful night without getting eaten, or smashed by Gr’logyth’s many landslides. Teens cowered for safety, but those teens were smashed when the grue uprooted their precious concert hall, turning them into mushy blobs.

At least Gr’logyth was fed, for now. If his mighty second cousins noticed that only scraps of the human race were left, he would have to stay in Saturn’s rings for at least one million years. He took off into the European night, off to Pluto, his new home since his imprisonment, and eventual release. He could not relax, because he knew, across a distant star, that someone would arrive, and he would have to pay for overdoing it on the natural disasters. Possibly.

In the distance, beyond the Oort Cloud, and past the Hyades, lay a distant heroine, grieving for the loss of an empire that once was, and having to trap a good friend, a brother of hers. Her name was Dol’kurai, and she had just gotten the message that her brother was awake, and having breakfast.

Dol’kurai, the weeping prism, was a humanoid with a giant bell-shaped opal for legs. Her six arms were laced with pale patches of fur, iridescent, like her elongated bismuth mane and goatee. Her six eyes cried mercury, and her large pointy ears heard the cries of any Earth creature. She resembled a cat/dove hybrid, both in personality and appearance. She was iridescence burdened with the fears of mankind.

She commenced her flight, sobbing quietly, towards Earth, and accidentally disturbing Gr’logyth’s tsunami, as he focused on his eternally-sobbing sister. Dol’kurai wept, “Dear brother, you have spoiled a land saved for our distant cousins. Why do you act like our cousins? They are imprisoned in R’lyeh, Jupiter, Venus, and other lands! Do you envy them, grue?” The grue bowed his head, coated with open mouths and cried out,

“Sister, we are elder gods, loved by man. I don’t desire their approval. I see them as a pitiless waste of space. I was freed because of your tears. The people on Earth are sinners, and they must be exterminated.”

This only made Dol’kurai sob harder, and drown North Korean villages with mercury, and have them go wild. Dol’kurai felt guilty for her actions, and swooped down upon North Korea, accidentally giving the dictator there a hallucinatory episode.

Gr’logyth shrugged, and comforted Dol’kurai, “Now you see. Homo Sapiens is EVIL, Prism. I will leave our cousins to the destruction part in the future.” Dol’kurai blasted, “YOU DON’T GET IT! ALL I WANT IS TO HELP HUMANITY!” causing the entire Eastern Hemisphere to go into mass hysteria, because of an Eldritch monster fight. “BROTHER! We haven’t experienced what it’s like to be human, but I feel their pain. Their tears are my tears,” Dol’kurai sobbed, “Maybe we could pretend to be human, just for some Earth moons. Promise?” Gr’logyth reluctantly agreed.

Meanwhile, on a small town on the Vermont-New Hampshire border, two foreign hitchhiking siblings hopped out of a lime green Citroen. Greg Stern, a sharp-looking man with crooked teeth, and his sister Opal, a dark and crestfallen woman with almost un-natural platinum hair, stepped into the only employment center in town. Opal and Greg carried with them degrees from a community college, and only a suitcase between them.

The electronic “bell” on the glass door of the employment center, a 2 story office with mostly aspen-beige walls, buzzed as Opal sulked and Greg sauntered in. At the receptionist’s desk, which was coated with plastic horses and cards with technicolor ponies on them, sat a plump blonde woman called Angela, who welcomed them in with open arms. Angela pepped,

“Hello! You two are the first customers we’ve had all day! How can I help you?” Greg nodded and inquired,

“Ma’am, we might be here for a few moons, so we may have to look for work.” Angela peeked at their degrees, and nodded. She declared, “Oh! The employment officer, Mr. Sotomura will be right with you two!”

Mr. Yoshi Sotomura, a lanky newbie to the community, sighed as he welcomed the duo of strangers. Mr. Sotomura peered at their degrees, and stated with an uninterested tone,

“Huh. Well, Greg… apparently, the National Weather Service is looking for newbies, and for you, Opal...I think the local school is looking for a secondary counselor.” Greg cheered in joy, but Opal on the other hand…

After nearly two weeks at their new jobs, it turned out that Opal lived for her job, compared to Greg, who was suffering at his weather job. Opal was getting along wondrously with the youth she assisted, and Greg was unused at his job.

Suddenly, from beyond some New Hampshire hills, came some cumulonimbi with malicious intentions. Not even the people at the National Weather Service knew what was going on, except for Greg.

At Opal’s school, Opal gazed into the rushing waves of a flood coming their way, tugged on her pale hair, and clenched her mahogany fist, while speedily thrusting her Samsung out of her sienna leather handbag, and telephoning Greg. Opal barrelled through the halls of the school, and took a few minutes to stand outside to explode,

“GR’LOGYTH! You don’t get it, do you?” in her native tongue. Meanwhile, at the other end of the line, Greg snickered,

“Hey, Dol’kurai, relax! It’s only a flood! I think it could be my chance to be accepted in the Outer Ring, conversing and hanging out with Azathoth and Hastur!” Opal slammed the door to her school, and slightly transformed to a form redolent of her original one, but much more human, and stormed down to the NWS lab.

As she rushed, she attempted to stop a storm, but it kept resuming in a hilarious manner. “Son of a bitch, that Gr’logyth,” Muttered Opal. People sobbed for mercy as their orifices gulped up enough water to fill them. When Opal reached the laboratory, she screamed bloody murder, because the door was coated with hailstones. She suplexed them away, and there was Greg, revealing his true form to his sister. Greg and Opal argued, with every blow revealing their true form, until…

“Dear God! Stern’s a monster!” Ejactulated Herbert Vo, a nearby bloke with Asiatic heritage, a bulky body, and long hair. All the NWS staff gasped at the glory that was the two elder god twins Gr’logyth and Dol’kurai.

[squidmouth]

you haters say sound is advocating rape well is this advocating demons

“C’mon, Ellie! Hurry up!” Said Michael Greeley, on the other side of the yard. Ellie Tyler held a red bandana in her hand, and was rushing across the lawn. She was trying not to be tackled by Gina Brennan, who raced to gather her honor by stealing back the flag. At that second of victory, Gina tagged her as she crossed the painter’s tape. Leo Martin, a fellow red team member, belted, “GINA! She crossed the line! You can’t tag her!” What ensued came to a grand argument that reorganized the teams into “Those who agree with Gina” and “those who don’t”. Behind that anarchist and childish moment of locking horns, a great eldritch from beyond the cosmos came to squash a cul-de-sac. That cul-de-sac. Soaked in blood, a great shadow leered upon the small community that was “Maple Creek”. It was a maple-free place that did not settle near a creek. That shadow had a name that was pronounceable by a minuscule tribe of linguists, and thus, many have taken to call it “The Grue of Storms”. Many in the town surrounding it saw only its teeth, greenish corkscrew claws uncensored by lips. Others have seen its limbs, a set of thorny tentacles with many eyes. The Grue led a set of storms. They consisted of a few blizzards, several thunderstorms, and a couple thunder-blizzards. Luckily, it was easy for the Grue to hide with said storms. Kevin Wilcox looked at the sky, and a blue flag fell from his grasp with fear. Kevin loathed storms, and his sister, Maisy, told him, “Kev! Get in the house! It’s raining.” All the children, except for Gina, rushed into the Wilcox home. Gina loved the rain, but when she gazed upon the Grue, the Grue gazed upon her, and it was too late. Gina’s remains turned to bloody bones. The grue sensed Gina’s friends within a humble abode, and grasped and consumed said home. Some have noticed the uprooting of 420 Hopps Avenue, and some have evacuated to their yards… to no avail. The Grue devoured them like pomegranate seeds. Their homes, uprooted and devoured; the tiny people within had their lives flash before their eyes. The Grue’s thorny arms stabbed the small birds who witnessed the gore and destruction. The Grue flew off at 1000 times the speed of light, leaving only its destruction. The Grue flattened it, but no mere mortal could remember the day a 10 mile tall Grue devoured and flattened a city. They all remember it as “Hurricane Melanie”. It was a sunny day, with clouds coming in from the north, in Omaha. Kids were playing, birds sang, and all was well. The night before, the stars weren’t perfect, but the weather was. In Washington Park, six children were playing “Animal Tag”. Lily Fowler, who was “it” at the moment, tagged her friend Billy Jenkins, and laughed, “You’re a ducky now, Billy!” Billy reluctantly waddled and quacked, making his friends know that he was fair game. Just as he was about to get tagged by Teagan Neville, it started raining, and Lily reported, “Guys, I felt some rain. We should hide in the playground.” The children groaned, but this was no ordinary rain. Gr’logyth, the Grue of Storms, broke out of his prison on Saturn’s icy rings. His three noses smelled the blood of innocent people, and his ever open mouths devoured the buildings like sushi rolls. Next stop, Washington Park. Gr’logyth summoned a tornado to mask his unholy deeds, and demolished Pizza Hut and White Castle, murdered Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Arby’s, Burger King, and the Dairy Queen. He hit a Target, and drooled on a school. The maples at Washington were turned to syrup, and the cherry trees were devoured. But whatever happened to the children at the playground? First, Gr’logyth slid the swinging children down his throats. He swung his twin tongues around the jungle gym, he juggled the youth on the merry-go-round, and the kids on the slide spun around his esophagi. Gr’logyth, overall, had factories meet their maker, torn apartments apart, made high-rises fall, and rode a theme park down to the ground. When the survivors looked upon the disaster, Gr’logyth wasn’t blamed. They just called it the “tornado of the century” It was a beautiful night, and many people gathered in the Swiss Alps for a Snow Whizzyte concert. It was the straight white male rapper’s first stop in Europe, and he was going to KILL IT! Many European conformists lined up at the door with their 200 Euro tickets, and when Whizzyte stepped on the stage, screaming ensued. “WHAT IS UP, SWISS NATION? I’M YOUR HOST, KILLER SNOW WHIZZYTE! LET’S GET RIGHT INTO THE RAP!” The crowd of blind idiots tossed themselves out of their seats, and into the “music” as Snow started off the show with his hit single, “Bullet Avalanche” Suddenly, out of the calm, serene hills, came a stirring. Land rained down from gentle peaks. Katamaris of snow leaped down upon mountainous villages. Wind and fog gusted down from clouds up above. Gr’logyth was back, and ready to destroy innocent humans. Scientists and Meteorologists sent out warnings. Whizzyte, when notified of the situation, ignored the concert hall manager, and kept rapping a naughty song from his new album, “Crack Flame”. Gr’logyth watched as people escaped their homes for safer ground, chased them easily, and watched as they climbed into his mouths like trains into a tunnel. Humans were crunchy, he couldn’t resist. Suddenly, the roof of the concert hall fell down under the thorny paws of a cosmic monster. The sound was deafening, and preps prayed to Azathoth, calling him Jesus, that they would be spared. Unfortunately, their precious Snow was smashed under the corkscrew fangs of the Grue of Storms. Little managed to escape that fateful night without getting eaten, or smashed by Gr’logyth’s many landslides. Teens cowered for safety, but those teens were smashed when the grue uprooted their precious concert hall, turning them into mushy blobs. At least Gr’logyth was fed, for now. If his mighty second cousins noticed that only scraps of the human race were left, he would have to stay in Saturn’s rings for at least one million years. He took off into the European night, off to Pluto, his new home since his imprisonment, and eventual release. He could not relax, because he knew, across a distant star, that someone would arrive, and he would have to pay for overdoing it on the natural disasters. Possibly. In the distance, beyond the Oort Cloud, and past the Hyades, lay a distant heroine, grieving for the loss of an empire that once was, and having to trap a good friend, a brother of hers. Her name was Dol’kurai, and she had just gotten the message that her brother was awake, and having breakfast. Dol’kurai, the weeping prism, was a humanoid with a giant bell-shaped opal for legs. Her six arms were laced with pale patches of fur, iridescent, like her elongated bismuth mane and goatee. Her six eyes cried mercury, and her large pointy ears heard the cries of any Earth creature. She resembled a cat/dove hybrid, both in personality and appearance. She was iridescence burdened with the fears of mankind. She commenced her flight, sobbing quietly, towards Earth, and accidentally disturbing Gr’logyth’s tsunami, as he focused on his eternally-sobbing sister. Dol’kurai wept, “Dear brother, you have spoiled a land saved for our distant cousins. Why do you act like our cousins? They are imprisoned in R’lyeh, Jupiter, Venus, and other lands! Do you envy them, grue?” The grue bowed his head, coated with open mouths and cried out, “Sister, we are elder gods, loved by man. I don’t desire their approval. I see them as a pitiless waste of space. I was freed because of your tears. The people on Earth are sinners, and they must be exterminated.” This only made Dol’kurai sob harder, and drown North Korean villages with mercury, and have them go wild. Dol’kurai felt guilty for her actions, and swooped down upon North Korea, accidentally giving the dictator there a hallucinatory episode. Gr’logyth shrugged, and comforted Dol’kurai, “Now you see. Homo Sapiens is EVIL, Prism. I will leave our cousins to the destruction part in the future.” Dol’kurai blasted, “YOU DON’T GET IT! ALL I WANT IS TO HELP HUMANITY!” causing the entire Eastern Hemisphere to go into mass hysteria, because of an Eldritch monster fight. “BROTHER! We haven’t experienced what it’s like to be human, but I feel their pain. Their tears are my tears,” Dol’kurai sobbed, “Maybe we could pretend to be human, just for some Earth moons. Promise?” Gr’logyth reluctantly agreed.