esports au but i don't format it

["What's up, everybody, I'm here with the D.Linquents' D.VA!" The interviewer had a bright smile on, like she wanted to look the most interested. Hana played it better than the interviewer, waving brightly at the camera. She didn't say a word, though, until the actual question was asked. "So, you're the youngest group to make it into quarterfinals! How does it feel?"

"Oh, it's amazing," she said, and she gave a short laugh. "I mean, look at us! D.Jay's sixteen, and we aren't even out of high school year, and we're so far in a competition like this? It's crazy to think about."]

Hana popped her gum and eased her way around the room. It was crowded- Eight teams of at least six people, and almost none of which were older than like, 25 were bound to be a little rowdy! She wasn't that upset, though. She liked rowdy- The people and ideas bouncing back and forth were enough to set a room on fire. If she could be part of it, then by all means she wanted to.

She was sure that there were cameras here and there, because they always were at events like these. At this point, Hana may as well be a celebrity! People, for some reason or another, were fascinated by kids like her. She thought about it, now and again, when she was flipping through her stream or sitting in interviews. There were people out there that wanted to listen to what she had to say, and wanted to watch her and her team win and lose.

["When we started, we were just a handful of people in high school that liked a game. But we got better, and we all made it to the top five hundred. And I think that's around when we started thinking "hey, maybe we can do this." You know?" She laughed slightly, shifting to rub the back of her head. "Before this, we had a study group. And I think somewhere along the way, we stopped studying and started playing."]
Yuna had wandered off already, probably to keep Dae-hyun from getting into too much trouble with the unsupervised kids. Hana noted to herself that it was a mistake as she took a cute little cocktail glass filled with cola from the plate of a wandering server. After all, Dae-hyun wasn't the one that picked fights with other gamers.

["Mm... I wouldn't say that I'm worried about any of our competition. I mean, look at us. We have the best Tokki in the world," she did a cute little gesture at herself, "and the current number one Samurai on Korean servers- which are super competitive, you know! D.Linquents? The best you can get."]

...She wouldn't purposefully pick a fight, though. She was too famished for that! She couldn't pick a fight on such a low appetite. Weaving around the crowd, Hana found herself somewhere on the outskirts, trailing around couches and bars with a disinterested gaze. Some of the others greeted her fondly- Kennedy clapped her on the shoulder, she and Kim made eye contact from across the room... Others met her with stony silence.

And still, others didn't notice her at all.

["...Who, Sparrow? That Japanese try-hard?" Hana couldn't hold back her laugh. "Sure, he and I have bumped into each other a lot, but you think he's that significant on my radar?"

The interviewer laughed. "He's on the other side of the bracket from you, and you have a notable rivalry! We've seen your Twitter, D.VA. So, how are you preparing for that fight?"]

Hana used that as her chance to get off her feet, sitting right down on the sectional and gesturing at the platter on the table in front of him.

["I'm not worried. We're preparing for his team the same way that we'd prepare for anything else. I mean- Come on, I bet you he's high right now. What sort of threat can he be?"]

"Oi, 참새! Are you eating that?"

@Tim Wright
Tim Wright10/14/2018
["No. I'm not worried about them. Why should I be? Their best DPS is a 16 year old who I could beat playing with my feet."]

Genji has always enjoyed these events. The adrenaline of playing on stage to the eyes of hundreds of adoring fans, and just how god damn good it felt to see his tag on big screen highlights wiping the fucking floor with the enemy team. And he had quite a good reason to be smug tonight, with the final set of matches looming ahead of them and the gleaming trophy within sight. He knows it's going to be his. And after that-- after that, comes the real fun.

["I am the best Samurai in the world." He had said at one point, with that charming smirk upon his face and his eyes fixated upon the pretty interviewer. He had looked into the camera long enough to issue a challenge-- "If anyone wants to try and fight me on that, they're welcome to." And they had.

And he had wiped the floor with every single one of them. Step one of winning a team fight? Take out your double. He got dragonblade faster, he executed his resets better, he focused in on the enemy Samurai until they were trapped in spawn and sent their supports down with them.

"Some new kid? I'm not worried."]

After tonight comes the real fun, because Genji's been in talks with a few of the higher-ups in charge of the game. E-sports is a growing field, after all, and even with a stream going strong at the ripe old age of 19, Genji Shimada's caught some eyes in those who want to build unstoppable teams. Offers have come sliding in left and right, and his current coach is damn proud of him-- and Genji knows that when this competition is over, he's going to go home with a trophy, a fat paycheck, and a prettier offer for an official league team in his back pocket.
An official league team. Millions of eyes on him. He's practically preening.

["D.Va? She's their mouthpiece, right?" He had laughed, when the interviewer had asked him what he thought about her. He had laughed, and then he'd smiled, and given something of a shrug. "She's cute, isn't she?  Pretty good, I guess. Lucky to get through that cheating scandal with her career intact. No, I didn't think she was cheating. I kind of wanted to see her kick their asses and I got what I wanted out of that... I'm still gonna farm her mech for ult charge 'til she learns how to manage her resources with more mental fortitude than a slug."]

The sound of a woman's voice catches his attention, and Genji looks up from his phone to see Hana Song herself standing in front of him. He raises a brow in some surprise to see her approaching him, after all those antagonistic comments he'd made towards her and her posse in the past... but then, he's riding a high that absolutely nothing could pull him down from. Win or lose tonight (and he's definitely not losing) he's already getting what he wants.

"Yo, D.Va." He greets with something of a breathy laugh, gesturing towards the platter. "We can share, sure. They're pretty good anyways." A hand brushes stray green strands out of his eyes, pushing his hair back out of his face as he sets his phone down on the table in front of him. The case is styled after the game-- Angel's symbol decorates the back of it, under the camera.

Tiny fried snacks. Whoever put this little pre-game party together had been pretty diligent in trying to incorporate popular snackfoods from various cultures, and Genji had outright stolen the platter of discount takoyaki for himself. A few cocktail glasses that had been full of soda and are now full of something that is certainly not soda are settled on the table in front of him, too, but he's only had one so far.
"Looking forward to our match."  He comments as he tilts his head towards her when she sits on the sectional with him. "How's your kid? D.Jay?"

["No. I'm not worried. Sparrowhawks eat rabbits, y'know. She's not good enough to make my job any harder."]
Hana "D.VA" Song10/16/2018
She had a feeling that they ran her interview and Shimada’s at the same time so one of them didn’t interrupt it while it was airing live. They both would have good reason to, don’t get her wrong- And, after watching Shimada’s interview, she lamented the fact that the organizers didn’t let them run it together. The banter would have been pretty legendary, wouldn’t it? And talk about their streams, holy shit! This sort of experiment would have made both of their fanbases go crazy.

…But then D.linquents would get tossed from the tournament because she punched Sparrow in the face. Yuna would never let her off the hook if she did that.

She hadn’t tried some of these foods before. When she sat down, she kept a fair distance between herself and Shimada, in case someone else wanted to try and force their way between them. It was self policing, you see! She was much less likely to go out of her way to harm him if there was someone else blocking her way. She picked some egg thing from the platter and popped it in her mouth, offering him a small nod.

“Mm, he’s grinding. I think he’ll give you a run for your money, Sparrow!” Her laugh was light and confident, and she raised her glass to him in what was supposed to be a gesture of good will.

There was a lot on the line here. Some of the older members of her team were already in talks for that official league business. It was supposed to be something like American sports, something globalized, something unique. She was the only one in her age bracket that wasn’t already in talks with the managers to a new team. They were talking about splitting up D.linquents, and if she wanted a career in e-sports she had to get herself noticed. Part of her had a feeling that it was the cheating scandal from that stupid glitch. Some jerky movements and some shitheads that didn't like losing- And that was enough to nearly ruin her reputation.
It was just before D.linquents started as an organization. It was before she had anyone other than herself to back her up. She was thankful that the devs allowed her to prove her innocence and show that she really was as good as she claimed, but it still gnashed at her pride. She wasn’t a cheater, not like those people that sold skill for money. Not like those that threw the game so their friend could win. Not like those that let a machine aim for them.

She wasn't like them, but the damage was done. When D.linquents formed, she had some semblance of a support structure, and it meant that she didn't have to represent herself- not entirely. But she did have to make a good impression. If the teams weren’t going to come to her, she would have to run at them head on. She would make them regret not coming to her, especially when she tried for them herself. She might not be their first pick, but she sure as hell would be their last. The only thing standing in her way was Shimada, and his shitty green hair and shitty fried foods. She raised her glass to him, a smug look on her face.

“Here’s to us, then, for making it in the finals! And here’s to D.linquents, your future champions!” She snorted and brushed her hair behind her ear, taking a sip from her soda and setting it down on the table near her (and, perhaps, a little closer to Shimada's than she should).

If she was going to sit by him, she reasoned that she would need to offer a fair amount of small talk. She settled back in her seat, pulling her legs up to sit in some facsimile of criss-cross as she watched him. "I watched your match- the semifinals? Your peel is just awful, did you know that?"
Tim Wright10/20/2018
"You said the same thing last time." Genji replies, somewhat passively, as he skewers one of the snacks on his pinky finger and brings it to his mouth in one swift motion. Polite enough, he doesn't speak as he chews, his eyes resting on D.Va. He looks her up and down with something flickering in his eyes, a gesture of amusement or desire or-- well, something, that's hard to make much of a note of with just a quick glance. He likes Hana Song. He finds her fun, finds facing her to be more fun than anything considering the rest of their teams; her team's not bad, he'll give them that, but Sparrow hasn't built his reputation on praise. "I made him cry last time, didn't I? Farmed him so hard he cried on stage. Bet I'll be able to do that again." There's remnants of lipstick on his lips as he smirks, a red color against the pale skin. "Nobody can beat me, least of all him."

D.linquents. They were cute, with their theme carrying them through. A bunch of high schoolers from Korea, proving a reputation. They'd earned their place here, he would not deny them that in the least bit... but, still. He knew that a few of them had recieved offers already. None for the teams he was looking at sinking his teeth into, but any coach and recruiter worth their salt knew that those kids were not to be overlooked.

Especially the one sitting in front of him.
Genji adjusts the way he's sitting, his smirk becoming more of a smile, a flash of white teeth as he reaches forward for one of those drinks in response to her toast. "Kanpai," He replies with a laugh, and downs it as she takes just a sip. "Future champions, huh?" He licks his lips, looking at her over the glass before he sets it down again. "Only if you can take down Torikago. And I really doubt you can." It's trash talk. Teasing trash talk. He's got a reputation for it, enough so that he's been jokingly called Heroes' resident Bad Boy a few times, and that was something he didn't mind carrying on his shoulders. It meant he had notoriety. It meant his name appealed to fans. It meant those who were watching would get a real good look.

"Peel's not my fucking job." Genji replies, his brown eyes fixating on her face again as he reaches for his phone again. "My job's to pin your supports to a wall with a sword, not protect mine. Off tank is a different role than DPS, y'know, D.Va." Instead of unlocking the device, he toys with it absentmindedly, giving his hands something to do. He always was ever the fidgeter. "Feel free to peel for yours, though! You never do seem to get that you can't matrix all my shurikens without losing it for something else."

His phone beeps at him, he gives it a cursory glance for the time, then looks back to her. "How much longer are the D.linquents going to stay together after this?" It's a casual comment. A prying comment. He wants to know if she's gotten the offers he has. If the rest of her team's been picked up yet. But then, he guesses she's smart enough to pick up on the intention behind his question.
Hana "D.VA" Song10/27/2018
Don’t get her wrong, she really did like Shimada. For all of his swagger and idiocy, he was a pretty funny guy! They rarely interacted in pugs, but she followed his social media in a way that a weaker woman may call religiously. She wasn’t a fan or anything, and she absolutely didn’t subscribe to his content, but she got a kick out of watching him work online. She took another bit of food from the plate after her sip of soda, waving it a little as she considered what he was saying. Shimada’s team wasn’t bad- He beat D.linquents a few times, believe it or not, but she’d still been keeping an eye on them. They had their weaknesses- All it took was a good eye to spot them.

How many of them had been recruited? Would there still be room for her?

“Well, I was talking about your whole team’s peel. Plural you in English, I think? Though, I still think I could beat you in a Samurai 1v1.” She winked at him, then shot him a peace sign. “Torikago is aggressive, sure, but once you collapse- Haha, you really collapse, don’t you?” And that really was another reason why she liked Shimada. He sure could dish it- And when he couldn’t take it, it was hilarious. She just wanted to press his buttons until he burst!
“If I wanted to pick apart your off-tank play, I’d just sit in your streams. I mean, when you’re not picking third DPS or something. I don’t know, I don’t tend to stick around for too long when I do.” She paused, then offered a hum of contemplation, tilting her head at him. “But… I mean, I’ve seen you get slept as soon as you pull blade before. It’s kind of frequent, now that I think about it…” She tapped her chin once, twice, then offered him a bright giggle. “Eh, I think you might need that off-tank practice! We’ve gotten pretty good at tracking down abilities, eh? Maybe it’ll help you to make sure you dive that Shrike when she doesn’t have her sleep dart!”

It was a subtle little jab, but she was sure that it did her job. Sure, Shrike wasn’t really meta right now, but Dae-Hyun’s wasn’t the worst, and his timing was getting better. As long as they could keep Shimada at arm’s reach and focus him down, they’d be fine.

She perked up a little as he asked about D.linquents, but her eyes narrowed just slightly. She knew damn well what this was. She took another sip of her soda (more of a chug, really, she seemed to polish the thing off) and set the empty glass down on the table. “Since most of the team is still underage, it’s gonna be a little tough. D.Linquents is probably going to play in that one… Um, the one underneath the big one? Contenders, I think. I can’t talk too much about players, though, mostly because of some contract nonsense.”

This is where she’d put her League contract. You know, if she had one.
Tim Wright10/29/2018
Genji knows full well what she's trying to do-- push his buttons so he'll rise to the occasion and antagonize her back. She's not the first one to try such an endeavor, she won't be the last, and Genji's in too good of a mood (and admittedly a little tipsy) to give too much of a complaint. Taking another fried snack from the plate, he pops it into his mouth whole, toying with his phone for a moment longer. He can't really help but roll his eyes at her comments about Shrike, though-- Genji's not proud of the noises he's made in the past as a result of getting slept the second he pulled blade.

"Except our aggression is good enough to counter any dive, deathball, goats, whateverthefuck--" He snickers to himself as he looks at her properly, his brown eyes meeting hers; a challenge. Daring her to push a little bit more... and daring her to say something else about his playstyle in particular. "Our supports and main tanks could probably beat your dps in a 1v1. On Angel and Ritter, too." The smirk that spreads across his face is enough arrogance to show that he fully means it.

Still. He's seen that compilation video. He's seen the memes about his piss poor luck with sleep darts.

That's why his stream had a "blades cancelled by sleep" counter, after all. His audience found it funny. He found it infuriating. But it was easier to laugh.
"I don't play off tank." He says, pointedly, raising a brow at her, though his smile remains. "When I pick third DPS it's because I know I'll carry when I do. And besides, that's just ladder... who gives a shit about ladder? What rank were you last season, again?" She can boast about her skill all she wants-- and Genji is very aware that she has the walk to back up all her talk-- but she wasn't the one with an official league team offer in their back pocket yet. She wasn't the one who already knew which offer he was free to pick, and she most definitely wasn't the one who was going to have her name in lights when this night was all said and done.

"Contenders." He says, and his tone carries amusement. "Well, good luck to them. Contracts with NDA's, huh?" Genji meets her eyes again, as if another challenge. He likes this girl. He likes her pretty face and how often she beats the naysayers into the ground. But most of all, he damn well likes knowing he's better than her. "I heard about that from a few of the other players and coaches. A real, live HOTS league. Sounds pretty cool."

Feeling it out. Do you have what I have, Hana Song? He adjusts his grip on his phone again, unlocking it and thumbing over to his pictures. "Our match is in twenty, by the way. Want a photo for twitter? Show our fans how much fun we're having back here?"
Hana "D.VA" Song11/04/2018
Hana paused a moment to consider Genji’s statements. She had to admit, that confidence had some weird charm.  Then… She smirked, leaning in very close to offer him a look straight in those pretty? brown eyes. “You’re good, Shimada, but you only need to lose one fight. Then it’s like you topple down like dominoes.” She poked him in the chest, then laughed it off and settled back, like it was a good natured joke between friends.

It wasn’t like they were friends or anything, but she could play nice for the masses. Good thing that they weren’t here right now, because she wasn’t being that much of an upstanding citizen, and she didn’t want another morality brigade charging down her door.

“Maybe it would help to pick up heroes outside of the Samurai one-trick, eh? People are going to think that you think you are him, you know.” What was her SR last season. She was near t500, she knew… She found herself at a loss, so she went with the safe answer, grinning up at Shimada and tilting her head just so. “Mm, I can’t remember. I know it was higher than yours, though. I mean, I actually give a shit about winning and don’t think I can hard carry all the damn time, so I think that might have something to do with it!”
But, he still had something up on her. He kept on bringing up the league- Did he have something already? Did he already have a stake? “It does sound pretty neat,” she agreed, watching him with a careful expression. It wasn’t like he was going to give anything away unless it was purposefully made to throw her off of her game, but she still tried to read something off of his face. Maybe, if she looked hard enough, she’d be able to find his team name, colors, and if they had any other openings. She seemed to relax after a moment, digging a moment and pulling out her own phone. It had a 512 case, just the barrier spray, but it was enough to identify it as hers if it got lost. She waved it, giggling.

“Just a quick one! I really should get going back to the team after, though. And maybe, once we beat you, you can tell me more about your League team.” Fat chance, but it was worth a shot.

She scooted over to him, a little closer than she may otherwise, and held her phone over to the side. You couldn’t say that she didn’t know her angles, though, and she gestured for Shimada to hold his phone in a similar place. “This should be good. The lighting in here isn’t great, though…” And, slowly, she raised a hand so that she could toss up two fingers behind Genji’s head. Bunny ears. Cute!
Tim Wright11/10/2018
She smirks at him, looks him right in the eyes, and for a second the poor Sparrow has to make sure he's still breathing because holy shit, since when did she look like THAT? Still, his unfaltering confidence doesn't so much as twitch, and he grins right back, in a way that's almost baring his teeth at her. "That's the thing. We only have to lose one fight." He replies, smoothly. "Good thing we won't lose that fight."

He likes Hana Song. He likes Hana Song a lot. If he had to lose to a team-- which he will not do, will never do, because he's too fucking good to lose and is not about to change that now-- he guesses he could live with losing to the D.Linquents. "I play Oscuridad and Veuve too." He says, pointedly. "I even dabble in Shrike. I flex. You've seen my stream, right?" He winks at her, with a laugh that follows. Fuck. He likes this girl the more she talks. It's fun to have someone to banter with and for it to just come naturally--

Fuck. This wasn't planned. He was supposed to just be boasting at her, but that fucking smirk--
"I nearly hit number one last season." He answers. "Saw you in a couple games. What were you, low top five hundred? Just touching it? I really hope you didn't fall out too many times, that must've been a pain in the ass." Again that bared-teeth grin, again a gleam in those brown eyes of his. No, he decides, she doesn't have a league contract yet; if she did, she'd be rising to his boasts a lot better than this. Be it the alcohol or the company, he's almost frustrated to think of it that way, though. Hana 'D.Va' Song, without a league contract? What idiot jackasses would do that? What dumbshits would completely deny a girl with that much skill over what-- a scandal?

She doesn't have a contract. He knows it by now as she unlocks her phone and puts her cheek against his, the bunny ears behind his head-- She doesn't have a contract, and for one reason or another, that pisses him off.

"I'll tell you all about it if you beat me." He replies, and he smiles for the camera, all gleaming teeth as they take the few selfies. He plants a kiss on her cheek before he pulls away, too, a quick one before he sits back to tweet the picture.
@sp4rr0w_hots
friendly banter with @DVAHOTS before i put the dlinquents in the ground ;)


Is he developing a crush on Hana Song? Fuck if he knows. Five minutes alone with her have made him more determined than ever to beat her entire team and by god is he going to get a fucking nanoblade off on stage this time-- Five minutes alone with her and a peck to her cheek are enough for him to think about. Moving to stand up, Genji shoots her a wink, adjusting his jersey for a moment and fiddling with the blue-pink-white woven bracelet on his wrist.

"Good luck, D.Va." He says, with something of a shrug. "See you when I get the trophy."
Hana "D.VA" Song11/11/2018
There was something different about Genji Shimada. There weren’t many like him that would rise to the type of challenge that she liked to present. People saw her brash exterior and her cocky attitude and crumbled under the pressure. But Shimada- He could take it just as well as he dished it. Hana preened, just a little, because between that and the attention, she was absolutely glowing.

Genji Shimada had a league contract. Hana Song didn’t. He had come close to the highest in the game, and she just scraped the hole in the ceiling. He was just as competitive as she was, and he had more training and practice and coordination, but she had something he didn’t. She couldn’t quite remember the English word for it (moxie?), but it pushed her right into her own heart of Heroes.

D.Linquents were scrappy, sure, but they got results. They beat professionals, who had been playing video games like this for much longer. They were young, scrappy, and hungry, and she was going to shove Shimada’s stupid beautiful smug face into it as soon as she won.

And she would get her League contract, and she would do it all over again, until their rivalry was set in the stone of this game.

She felt the kiss on the cheek before she saw it on her camera, and though she couldn’t stop the way that her face flushed, she could at least maintain her smug smirk as she snapped one final picture. Showing any sign of the kiss shaking her would be showing weakness and admitting defeat, so she kept her face up as Shimada stood. She tugged at the collar of her own jersey (pink and blue, another testament to her team’s respective young age) and watched Genji with a little more interest, mind racing all the while.
A kiss on the cheek- but why? Was it flirting? She could feel some sort of tension between them as they spoke, most certainly, and she wouldn’t say that he was unattractive (far from it, Shimada was probably one of the most handsome men she’d seen in this scene), but… How could something like that read to the both of them? Or was it really just some way of toying with her, trying to get her shaken before the match?

Did he do this with every rival? Every other person he seems fit to spend his time with at these events? A hot flash settled itself in her stomach (jealousy? no, of course not, why would she be jealous of Shimada’s sloppy seconds? sloppy seconds, did that mean she was something to him at all?), but she quickly shook it off. It didn’t matter what he did or didn’t do with other rivals or interviewers or fans. What mattered, really, was her in front of him and that look in his eye.

He was determined just as much as Hana was. She shook her head and smirked at him, standing up and shooting him a peace sign. “And I’ll meet you at the finish line,” she said, raising a little hand at him before she turned and began to text.

She posted the picture of him kissing her on the cheek. She told herself that it was the best picture of the two of them.

@DVAHOTS
watch me pound my new best friend @sp4rr0w_hots from #TORIKAGO into the grave at the #HOTSApexFinal! 🌠🌠🌠 @PlayHOTS @HOTSApex
Tim Wright11/14/2018
"Here we go, round three on Lijiang Tower, the final map of the Championship between Torikago and the D.Linquents. Whoever takes this map wins the trophy and by God, do these two teams want it--"


Genji scowls at the screen as the casters carry on. He knows it by  heart now, the banter of the two that while it had been entertaining to begin with had gotten to be one of the more frustrating things for him to have to skim through when he was looking for his specific pieces in the map.

You'd think you'd start marking the timestamps, dumbass. He thinks to himself, fidgeting with the woven bracelet on his wrist and skipping forward a little bit more. Tail end of the first teamfight. Torikago won.
"That was a *scrappy* fight, they pulled through that just by the skin of their teeth. A lot different from their initial victory on Oasis earlier, where's the D.Linquents energy coming from?"

"Well they're an up and coming team, Torikago's well established in the scene. Winning this championship means they've got a lot to prove."

"Speaking of scrappy, here they come. They've made a swap, D.Jay is off of the Samurai to the Veuve, looks like he doesn't want to challenge Sparrow's mastery of the role."

"Sparrow's got blade and he's itching to use it, he knows the sleep dart is down--"

"Ooh. That's one way to clip your bird's wings, though bullet to the head is a bit more than most people recommend.--"
A lucky shot, he'd tried to tell himself in the moment, but he knows it was because he got overeager and the kid took his chances. It wasn't like he hadn't gotten back at him, either; there's at least a few clips throughout the fights on these maps of Sparrow's Samurai deflecting a headshot right into D.Jay's Veuve. Like Genji was about to back off from what was absolutely a challenge-- he's damn well not a coward.

He's sitting in his bedroom in the Defiant team house, dressed in his sleep shirt and boxers-- his stream doesn't start for another three hours, today's a singular day off from the endless scrimming, and he was still spending it reviewing what he considered one of his shittiest games played live on the internet.

He watches, not for the first time, the misplays that he made that cost Torikago the championship.

He skips forward.
"80 to 40, Torikago has one final fight in them to win this point or D.Linquents wins this championship. A last d.fense, if you will--"


He skips forward.

"-- one healer down and only two tanks on the point, Torikago needs this blade to be the hero--"


He debates skipping again. But this is the important part, really.

He watches himself, in the maneuver he and Raven had practiced again and again, to the point where he and Yoshi could do it in their fucking sleep if they had to. Dash, nano, blade. Team wipe. G fucking G.

Genji watches himself go. He watches Dae-Hyun's fucking sleep dart land him just inches off the point in overtime. He watches Tokki perch herself delicately directly on top of the Samurai's glowing, sleeping body, and watches the self-destruct blow his ass to pieces. One of the D.linquent's supports had thrown a discord on him for good measure. Genji's doubtful that it did all that much.

Defeat.
"Signed, sealed, and d.livered, ladies and gentlemen, the D.linquents are your new Heroes of the Storm Apex Champions!"


His door's open, and the sound of the crowd drifts out from his computer speakers when he doesn't bother to have his headphones plugged in. He rewinds. Watches it again. She emoted in the explosion. It should make him angrier than it does. And yet, in the time Hana Song has been in the Defiant team house, he's beginning to view this loss more and more as something not exactly to be ashamed of, as much as it infuriates him-- He'd solo'd her mech once or twice, used dragonblade to rip her Archer to pieces and Tokki after a demech for good measure, and then she'd blown him up.

After a sleep dart.

No kill like overkill.

He rewinds the VOD again, to the earlier Oasis game. Torikago wasn't really a team anymore. They'd been absorbed into various league teams, or retired from HOTS after their defeat at the championship. Michi was a streamer for Defiant. Kaede and Takara were on Contenders teams. A part of Genji is still sorely hoping the rest of his team might join him in Defiant eventually, as much as he's been enjoying the company.
Footsteps down the hallway. He doesn't bother paying them any mind,  gnawing on his thumb and ignoring the Lijiang match. There's commentary aplenty about his misplays-- some accusations of throwing that he'd met with a promise of a fist fight, but that didn't matter much--

A knock at his open door to announce somebody's arrival, and Genji glances towards it, raising a brow at the familiar face. The commentators on his screens drone on about ult economy and an incorrect lore analysis that he's too tired to be bothered about.
Hana "D.VA" Song11/25/2018
You couldn’t say that Hana Song never got what she wanted.

After Apex, D.linquents managed to find itself a sponsor. People were interested in raising it to the League level. If this group could find itself the talent that it did and its championship title, then there might be something to its spot in the League. Thus, D.Linquents as it was became the Academy team, settled in Contenders as a funnel for new talent while the Busan Delinquents were formed.

She and Yuna were the founding tankline for Busan- Dae-Hyun probably would have come, too, but he decided that he was finished playing. He fit better as a coach, anyway- Hana had heard that he had found himself a nice role on the Defiant. The rest came into place naturally, and Hana found herself at home on the stage, in front of the crowds, and within the press. Now, nobody could say that she didn’t earn her place within the League. She could toss cheating scandals to the wind, take her pretty paycheck, and do what she loved.

And, for the first stage, that was fine.

Busan dominated the competition. Defiant came close, sure, and they may have slipped out of the championship, but nobody could say that Busan didn’t show its colors.

By the time that the break happened, Hana had settled herself just well in the new team house in Los Angeles. She ordered their food more often than not, since her English was the best, and she’d at least made friends with everybody on her team. She saw herself as the core of the team, one of the best shotcallers, and (at least once or twice), the hard carry.

So, imagine her surprise when the manager came into her bedroom a few days before the second stage and told her to pack. Imagine her shock when he told her that she’d been moved. That she didn’t play for Busan anymore. That she was traded to the Defiant the night before.
Was she just a bargaining chip this whole time? Was that the only reason that she actually got signed? So that she could get dropkicked to the first team that offered somebody actually useful? Hana kept her head held high as she walked into the Defiant training facility, and moved into the Defiant team house, but she hoped it was pretty obvious that she was less than thrilled about this.

At least, she wasn’t alone. Who would have guessed that King would end up here, too?

It was funny. They were rivals, and here they were relying on each other. He was her link to home, and she was his link to he outside world- His English was awful, you know, and it was the least Hana could do to give him some tips for the interviews.

The first couple of weeks, at least, seemed somewhat seamless. Hana was less than thrilled with her situation, but she couldn’t deny that they played well together. There were some hiccups with style, and Hana butted heads with the Defiant shotcalling, but at least they won more maps than they lost.

They still hadn’t played the Delinquents yet.

Bitterly, Hana wondered if they missed her.

The team house was nice, though, and she couldn’t say that she hated being in close quarters with Dae-hyun again. It was still different, but there wasn’t any helping what happened. She’d just have to grin and bear it.
Though, that didn’t mean she had to play nice the whole time. After all, she was traded to the same team as Shimada, of all people. What was their friendship(?) without some playful japes here and there?

Not like this was intentional, of course. It was her day off, she woke up late, and all she really wanted was some pizza. The box in the fridge was empty, and who else would be the first subject? Hana wandered her way down the hall, in her too-big tee shirt and shorts, and knocked twice on Genji’s door. He probably wasn’t naked in there.

She hoped he was wasn’t naked in there as she poked her head in.

“Oi, Genji, are you busy? I need to interrogate you- Don’t be busy!”
Tim Wright11/27/2018
"Did he just pop Dragonblade solely to kill the enemy team's Archer in that last fight?"

"Somebody should tell their star bird that roleplaying doesn't belong in a major competi--"


Genji pauses the VOD as Hana Song appears in his bedroom door, blinking at her with an expression of some surprise as it registers in his tired, frustrated brain just who it is who had made her appearance. He turns around in his chair at his desk, the dual monitors lighting up the room with the curtains closed and the lights turned off. The keyboard glows softly in the familiar shade of neon green, and the fans on the PC itself whirr gently from under the desk. On one monitor is the VOD, on the other is a discord chat or some youtube video or-- stream prep? Hard to tell, there's a myriad of different tabs open, but at least one of them is a rapidfire chat in Japanese that occasionally gives the soft noise of a DM.

"Uh. No. I'm not busy." He's dressed, as much as she may wish otherwise; his sleep shirt is a little tight around his lithe frame, green boxers decorated with little dragons that are vaguely visible in the dim light. "Not for a couple hours, anyways. Streaming in a bit. Just studying now." He glances towards the VOD on his screen. He has a strong feeling that Hana would recognize it effortlessly, considering he doesn't doubt she does her homework as well as all her practicing. Genji brings his legs up onto the chair, sitting crosslegged and giving a quick glance to the rest of his room. Organized chaos; there's a basket in the corner for his laundry, spilling over with dirty clothes and his bed, just visible behind him in the camera of his stream, is unmade. A thick blanket is thrown across it, and a purple pillow in the shape of Oscuridad's sugar skull is somewhere tucked under it.
"What's up?" His question is easy as he sits back again, putting his hands in his lap and shifting to dangle one foot off the chair, pushing himself absentmindedly back and forth in half of the swivel motion. Ever a fidgeter.

He can't say he wasn't pleased to hear that Defiant had picked up Hana "D.Va" Song. They had done fine in stage one, and Genji was revelling in the attention that again came with being the star of the show, but fine didn't win matches. Fine got them to the stage finals. Fine didn't win them stage one. Third place was, as far as he was concerned, not good enough. Hana Song would fill a sorely needed position on the Los Angeles Defiant, a solid off-tank who knew  what she was doing and didn't need her hand held to pick up new strategies. Scrims had been going well so far, and though there were growing pains, Genji was halfway certain that banter aside, they were going to make a pretty decent team. If she ever really settled in, at least.

He was getting the feeling she was less than happy about her transfer. He can't quite sympathize.

But then, he doesn't think there's a better team in the league than Defiant. He's on that one, after all.
Hana "D.VA" Song12/09/2018
The only light that came from Genji’s room was from his laptop- so, of course she’d go up to it! She held his chair in what was almost a loose hug, leaning over so she could peer at his screen and try not to kill her eyes. There was too much to think about in the one tab (the light pings of conversations in a language she only barely knew how to read, or a bunch of crappy Youtube videos), so she focused at least on what she could recognize.

“I remember this,” she said, leaning out to point at the characters. “You just used blade to kill our Archer, right? Apex championships. You killed our Archer, and then… I think you demeched me.” She laughed, pulling up so she wasn’t hanging on his chair quite as much. “Eh, I don’t know how I survived that one. Dae-hyun told me once that he thought about nano-ing me just so I didn’t die.”

If she called Genji’s room a mess, she’d be somewhat hypocritical. Her own room wasn’t much better- Though, she had to say her taste in merch was a little better. Sure, Oscuridad was cool, but 512 could crush Hana and she’d say thank you. —Sure, really, this was irrelevant, but something in Hana revelled at the similarities. Maybe it meant that Genji would get traded away and know how she felt. Or, maybe, it was something… else.
Not like she was looking for any reason to empathize with Shimada. They were just two star players that liked to butt heads. There wasn’t anything relevant or important about that fact, as much as fans liked to write crappy fanfiction about it. Sure, it was interesting to think about the what-if scenarios- what if they were both really in HOTS, or what if the rivalry had shifted to something softer (or harder)- but that was for somebody who wasn’t trying to climb to the top. She’d already been pushed from her throne- she didn’t have the time to think about softness like that!

“Why are you still watching that old thing, anyway?” For a lack of anywhere better to sit, Hana leaned against Genji’s desk, pushing a thread of hair behind her ear. “The meta’s changed, like, six times by now. We don’t even play with a Ritter. Are you that masochistic that you want to self-flagellate during your free time?” It wasn’t like she didn’t do the same thing, though- It was healthy, probably, to look over misplays. “I mean, we’re already pushing forward. Thinking about every mistimed ult isn’t healthy.”

She had come in for a reason, right? She snapped her fingers as the thought came to he, straightening up to level Genji a firm look. “Right, thanks for reminding me- I wanted to ask if you saw who left the empty pizza box in the fridge. It’s not like there are other people in this house that like leftovers, right?”
Tim Wright12/27/2018
"Yeah. He got a few shots on me earlier in the fight and I was pissed so I just ulted him." Hana leans over his chair, and Genji glances back to his setup. It remains paused in the single frame, and he still knows the ult charges and economy of this stupid match by heart. Oasis had been a good game for Torikago. They'd won after all, and then came the D.Linquents in with their shiny new strategies in Lijiang and that stupid fucking sleep dart--

He snorts at her comment of Dae-hyun considering a nano, raising a brow. "That'd be funny, though. Nano-ing baby Tokki? I'm sure that's a strat nobody else has tried before." He presses his tongue to his teeth when he smirks, tilting his head towards her and giving a minor expression that could certainly be read as teasing. "You didn't kill me and I didn't kill you. My supports tore me a new one for wasting my ult, I got it back again in like thirty seconds and then we wiped the floor with your team for last point. Fun stuff." He shrugs... and then dismisses it.
He's teasing, but lacking any of the genuine jabs that he'd had in the past with her. Her question at why he's still watching the VOD after so long makes him sigh through his nose, and Genji keeps moving his chair back and forth as he leans back, drawing his knees up against his chest and scratching at his ankle. "First off, I am a masochist, so don't forget to jot that down." His tone is dryly sarcastic. People seemed to have the wrong idea of his preferences-- and a few other things-- in the fanfictions, but at least that had come up correctly once or twice. "This is just a really popular VOD that the amateur coaches like to talk about, and they always point me out every time. It's not even mistimed ult, they keep bringing up the fucking... Like, the fucking player cams? And pointing out how mad I look. One guy theorized I was having troubles at home or some shit and that's why I kept blading my character's brother. Casters said I needed to stop roleplaying." He shrugs... and then simply leans forward again, moving his mouse away from the play button.

"I didn't leave the box there. It was probably Lynx. They never sleep." He replies, without looking up at her. No, it's not healthy to dwell on every mistimed ult. But he knows his performance in those games is why Torikago lost. Everyone else was on point... and he was busy being arrogant, cocky, and hostile, and it cost his team the game. Analysts thought so. Casters thought so. Nobody on Torikago was mean enough to say so, but amateur coaches on Twitch weren't so nice. "If you give me like, 20 minutes to shower and put some clothes on we can go out and get some more pizza at one of the decent restaurants and bring the empty box home to spite them, if you want."
He offers the invitation without really thinking about it. A few more discord chats blip on the screen in front of the two of them, and Genji doesn't even acknowledge them. No, he's still staring at the paused VOD, his brows furrowed. "I think there's a store open a couple blocks away that's pretty good if you don't wanna take an Uber or something. My treat?" Brown eyes flicker to Hana now instead of lingering on the screen. It's... a peace offering, maybe. An attempt to get in her good graces, or else try to make her feel a little bit more welcome since being traded from the team she more or less helped build. Genji likes Hana, he's fairly sure. She's a fun opponent. (Fanfiction authors be damned.) He looks forward to playing with her-- but the desire to beat her ass into the ground in a 1v1 on DPS she's not as good at as he is is kind of hard to ignore. Lunch would be only a marginal improvement.