Chapter Text
Ava:
The binder matches her dark blue pen. Ava Sharpe is calmed by this fact as her hand shifts over the page to note the number of people who have followed the various TB Gaming social media accounts since their inception. The numbers are stagnant. Sales figures show that the company has picked up new players, but they haven’t been brought in through Twitter, Instagram, Twitch, or any of the other sites that Bennett was running. Hell, even accounts run by one hit viral fools who then do nothing for two years maintain more momentum then these figures are showing.
Changing that should be simple enough.
“What do you know about TB Gaming, Miss Sharpe?” Rip Hunter smirks as he asks the question and Ava wonders, for a moment, if he’s one of those gamer guys who thinks that girls can’t be true fans.
“I know you’re a mid-sized gaming company that’s been around since the early 2000’s. Your sales numbers are generally fine, but there’s room for improvement. The social media posts have been bland for a while now, which is why you’ve brought me in. I’ve met Wilbur here on several occasions and I’m sure he won’t mind me saying that I think he’ll be much better suited to a position in sales.” Ava looks to her side and sees Bennett nod with an easy expression on his face. He’s told Ava that everyone knows he hates running the socials and is excited to get on the road. “TBG needs to adapt if it’s going to make a big splash with 2213.”
“That’s not what I-”
“I know.” Ava puts down her pen. She started to get into this at her interview, and knows she can expand on what she said then. “I have played most of your releases in their entirety, on all consoles including with VR. I’ve followed your socials on my private account pretty much since they were created.”
“Who else do you play?”
Ava thinks for a moment. While the question isn’t unexpected, it’s something that requires some tact. “Whoever I can,” she says. “Rockstar, Nintendo, Legends, Epic, Blizzard, Naughty Dog. If a company puts out a game that I’m interested in I’ll give it a shot.”
Rip gives that smirk again. “League of Assassins?”
Ava wants to laugh. Who hasn’t played that game from Legends? She particularly likes those story lines credited to Mick Rory. “Of course.”
Rip smiles as he tilts his head. “Great. I will make sure a copy of 2213 lands on your desk by the end of the day. Familiarize yourself with the game, and feel free, obviously, to use screenshots and whatnot in the social media. Especially as we get closer to the launch date.”
Obviously, Ava echoes internally. “I was wondering about direction, sir.” She receives a nod at the honorific. “Like I said, TBG’s socials have been bland. I think we need a change.” It’s the first time she’s used we to include herself as a member of the TB Gaming team. She smiles. “There are a great many gaming companies out there who do this better than us.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Well, what if we get rough?” She looks at Gary Green, their main ad designer. “If we jump into the frey of online commentary? We could market 2213 as a direct competitor for games like League of Assassins.”
Gary clears his throat and gives out a nervous chuckle. “Have you seen Legends socials though? They’re practically assassins themselves.”
“Just their social manager,” says Rip. “The rest of them are real nice.”
“I think I can handle it,” says Ava. She drums her fingers on her binder.
“But your background is in government,” says Rip. “That’s not the most vicious side of the internet.”
Ava gives Rip a smirk this time. “Even the Parks Department has trolls. And I’ve wanted to give back for quite a while. Embarking on a brand war would be fun.”
Rip shrugs. “Fine. But make sure you do it smart.”
“I’ll make a plan, sir.”
As the meeting continues Ava jots down the names of some Let’s Play accounts on Youtube and Twitch that the marketing team tends to follow. Rip emphasizes keeping a finger on the pulse of the fans to see what’s making them tick and bringing them in. She makes notes about the team’s expectations for her when they come up throughout the conversation and is glad to see Gary’s concept sketches for some upcoming ads in Game Informer issues. The first is about 2213’s place in the larger lineup of TBG’s games. The story, like all TBG games, fits into a larger universe created by the founder of the company, Hank Heywood. Gary's second piece is about the game itself, built around a beautiful illustration of the main character, Lexa Woods. Ava wants to cheer at the skilled work, but she follows the standard set by Rip, who simply nods and gives Gary that smirk too. Interesting. Rip ends the meeting before asking Ava to hang back.
“Feeling settled?”
“As well as one can on the first day,” says Ava. she tucks her hands into her pants pockets, waiting for him to continue.
“I will forward you the login info for our socials. And here.” He reaches across the desk and picks up a box, which he hands to Ava. A new phone. “As I’m sure you know this is for business purposes only. Stop by HR to sign the paperwork before the end of the day.”
Ava nods, looking through the plastic window at the white phone inside.
“You remember where HR’s located?”
Of course, Ava thinks. He expects me not to game and to get lost. “Yes,” she says.
“Great.” That smirk returns. Maybe it’s not a smirk, Ava thinks. Maybe it’s something else. “Let me know if you have any questions, Ava. I’m looking forward to seeing your plan of attack against Legends.”
Me too, Ava muses. She shakes his hand before gathering her things. She has a new phone, a new assortment of accounts to manage, and a new mission. This is going to be very different than working for a government agency.
Sara:
Sara Lance likes it messy. Her laptop is balanced on top of three computer game cases, none of which she’s played since joining Legends over two years ago. Her cup of tea is on a coaster, sure, but underneath the coaster is a half-assed outline of a League update that Ray gave her a few months back. It’s never gonna happen but hell, it makes a good backup coaster. When she opens her email she doesn’t bother looking at the top of the screen first. Her eyes are drawn to those she’s marked as important, the only method of organization she bothers with. She quickly responds, sending a few new messages out to a couple of smaller companies that she’s eyed on the socials as potentially good contacts. She works her way up and down the list, scrolling without seeming to mind whether she hits everything. But she does mind, she just has a system that works for her. Sort of.
If Sara is honest with herself she’ll admit that she likes the feeling of pressure. Having a mountain of work to slog through and no easily navigated system gives her a sense of urgency in which she thrives. Everything feels important and it all gets done at some point. After all, no one is gonna die. And if they do Sara will retweet it and the game’s sales numbers will jump again, remorse be damned.
The numbers. Sara opens the analytics of the Legends Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Twitch, and the tool she’s downloaded for Reddit analytics. She jumps into the numbers easily, not bothering to track anything on a spreadsheet but instead taking out her favorite notebook. It’s old, spiraled, and Sara bends the cover at the corner like she always does as she opens it. She’s already torn the bottom right hand corner and it’ll be more balanced with the top right corner gone too.
Her notes are as messy as her mind. Not her handwriting, the notes themselves. There are initials and nicknames to signify brands and trends, none of which she’s written a key to discern. She knows, without checking back through the notebook, that the traffic to the Legends Twitter has increased by 2.5% in the past month and that the Twitch account has received more comments than usual. The joys of recording herself decimating highly ranked online LoA players. The notes take up less than a page, cramped together like someone running out of pages. With a sigh she clicks over to her email and drafts a message to Gideon, their best traveling sales rep. Always interested in the analytics, that one. After sending off the email she notices a message from Wally, a coder who always has the latest info from their competitors. Sometimes Sara thinks that Wally must spend all of his spare time searching up info. Either that or he’s one fast searcher. The email is titled tbg version of u and it contains nothing but a link. Without pause Sara clicks through, remembering that TB Gaming was transferring their social media away from that dud Bennett. Good riddance.
Ava Sharpe. Sara reads the name aloud and looks at the picture, wondering if the woman staring back at her is as good at social media as she is at wearing her hair over one shoulder.
Damn, Sara.
A quick scroll shows that Sharpe’s most recent job was running the socials for a park. Like a public park. Polite parents and whether the picnic tables would be under the shade and nothing rough or contentious from the gamer side of Twitter. Sara laughs as she clicks out of the profile. Why’d Wally bother sending the resume of a complete noob?
TB Gaming. Tame Babies. Turd Bastards.
Weak. Sara will think on it for a bit ‘cause there has to be something useful there.
Back on Twitter Sara does a search for mentions of Legends. She likes some stuff, retweets a few cool videos, and comments on particularly contentious posts. One guy with a drawn monkey as his picture tweeted an in-game screenshot of Clarke Griffin, the main from League. White lettering above the still reads: When u want to be cool but u ain’t a thing. Sara hits the reply bubble, then hovers her fingers over her keyboard. Ain’t a thing but you still playing? Ain’t a thing but is a Legend. Don’t be jealous.
Sara looks at his handle. @TagMeLadies. Ugh, gross. His name is Tag Plays 4 Wins.
Tag. Could that be his name? Sara decides to not be clever, serving out pure bile instead. The way her stomach feels makes the insults hit with satisfaction. Got more balls than you and she’s just pixels. She hits reply and moves on.
Sara gets up to make breakfast, bringing her phone with her. She starts to scramble some eggs, scrolling through Reddit while the pan warms up. Nothing much right now - Sara clicks on a subreddit that she’d first seen the previous night. It asked the age-old question of which main characters from various games people ship. Sara leans against the counter as she looks through the threads, stopping when she sees one focused on LoA. The first person pairs Clarke with one of the other characters in LoA, an assassin named Finn Collins. Sara snorts; Finn is not the kind of guy that she’d pair with a complete badass like Clarke. He’s too disarming. His character, twice within the first four levels of the game, tries to talk his employers out of giving him hits on people he feels kinship towards. Sometimes, depending on gamer choice, he dies. Scrolling down Sara reads ships for other characters. Even some that don’t have a last name because they are so light to the story are paired up. About halfway down one of the threads she sees another ship for Clarke.
Ok I know they’re from different games and tbg and legends hate each other or whatever, but hear me out: Clarke and that new chick from 2213. They both seem badass and honestly I’d like to see that sooooo…
The post has 97 upvotes, and even as she’s watching the numbers jump up by 4. Sara shakes her head. She clicks through to a drawing someone posted of the two characters and laughs. Quickly she takes a screenshot of the illustration, then backs out and takes another of the conversation. It won’t do for posting right now, but damn this shit is entertaining.