Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Rin
My phone buzzes over and over inside my pocket, forcing me to walk even faster out of the grocery store. I juggle my bags in order to get my phone.
“Oh my gods, what?”
“Dude, don’t answer the phone like that! What if I was calling to tell you I’m dying and that’s the last thing I hear?”
I roll my eyes at Kei, waiting for him to actually respond. I can practically see his glare through the phone. “Okay, fine. Hello, this is Rin! How may I help you?” I ask instead, putting on a disgustingly sweet customer service voice.
“Much better,” Kei murmurs. “Where are you? Azaad just messaged me frantically saying he couldn’t get ahold of you. He said you have a call with the developer of Skydive about some sponsored stream or something?”
“Oh fuck. Right. Gods, I am such a fucking mess today,” I hiss into the phone, picking up my pace further. I would outright start running but I’m not in the best shape for something like that.
“Plus, you better have remembered to get those cheese sticks I asked for. Also, Rodney is stealing my hoodies again for his living room nest!”
I let out a groan. “Why can’t he nest in his room? Why’s it always gotta be in the living room?”
“He said he doesn’t want his stream to ever see his nest.”
There’s a long pause before we both relent. “Yeah, that’s fair. I’m already on my way home. Tell Azaad I owe him. Again. See ya soon!”
My roommates are an interesting bunch. Kei and I met a few years ago through a mutual friend and hit it off right away.
His dry humor and glare amuse me to no end.
I’ll never admit it, but the guy is such an asshole but in a way I’ve come to love.
He’s an alpha cat shifter which I suppose explains some of his asshole tendencies.
He started streaming after I started, saying that I made the whole thing look fun. He usually streams whatever random ass game he’s currently hyperfixated on while yelling at his chat. I swear, his viewers must have some sort of humiliation kink with how often they say shit to piss Kei off.
Rodney on the other hand is lovely. He’s a swan maiden.
Though he hates that term which I totally get.
He prefers to call himself a swelkie, also known as a swan selkie.
Instead of a coat that allows him to transform into a seal, he has a feathered coat that transforms him into a swan. Hence the nesting.
He’s a ray of sunshine, a gay disaster like me, and wears his emotions on his sleeve.
I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who could look at Rodney and not like him.
Though my following is much bigger than both Kei or Rodney, they never seem to mind and I’m always happy to use my influence to boost their numbers for them.
I want to see my friends do well, however I can help.
Rodney mostly streams first person shooter games which I’m absolutely ass at. He’s really fucking good at them. He’s been invited to tournaments and is on the top leader board for more than one game worldwide.
And then there’s me, the token human with the barest traces of magic running through my veins who everyone loves to pick on. Somehow, I’m like the little brother no one wanted but is forced to hang out with so mother dearest won’t be mad.
I run into my house, calling out for Kei and Rodney. They meet me in the kitchen.
“Fuck,” I say, setting the bags down. “I hate to do this but can you unload while I jump into that call?”
“Go for it,” Rodney says with a grin, already digging through the bags.
Kei narrows his eyes at me. “You fucker! You forgot my cheese sticks!”
“Go suck a cheese dick,” I tell him, sticking out my tongue. He throws something at me, nailing me right in the forehead. “Ouch! What the fuck!”
“You’ve betrayed me in my time of need! You’re dead to me, Rin!”
I rub my forehead as I get to my room and close the door behind me. I jump into my computer chair and pull up Discord. I send a quick message to the developer, letting him know he can call me whenever. A moment later, my headphones play the call music. I take a deep breath and answer.
“Hi, everyone!”
There’s a chorus of greetings as I jump into a Discord call with my mods.
I look down the list of names, noticing that Rodney and Kei are also here.
Azaad is our head mod followed by Joker, Pally, Scout, Gladly, Squeak, and Vee.
Rodney, Kei, and I also mod each other’s chats whenever we can.
Not everyone can come to every stream but that’s why I have a handful of mods, especially because my chat is bigger and needs more moderation.
Rodney and Kei share Azaad with me but they have their own handful of mods just for their chats, people who understand their vibes and how they want their chats to behave.
Despite the way Kei enjoys bullying his chat, he uses the ban button quite freely.
Kei and Rodney like more order while my mods like it when chat bullies me.
“Glad you could finally join us,” Kei says, his voice unamused.
“Are you still mad?”
“Yes. I’m gonna stay mad.”
I let out a frustrated noise. “I’m sorry! My grocery run was really weird,” I say with a whine.
“How was it weird?” Squeak asks, actually sounding interested and not like he immediately wants to bully me. It’s a nice change.
“I ran into a fan?”
“Uh oh,” Rodney says with a chuckle. “That can be hit or miss.”
“For real,” I say, nodding my head even though no one can see me. “Okay, how about this? I’ll start the stream with a little storytime and y’all can be the judge of how it went.”
“Sure,” Azaad chimes in. Azaad is our head mod. All three of us pay him for his time and because he’s so much more than just our mod. He’s like our personal assistant. He edits clips, keeps up with current trends, and schedules sponsors for us. We would be lost without him.
“What else do you have planned?”
“I was planning on starting up a new run of Dungeons. I think we’ll mostly be doing character creation since that can take so long, especially if I listen to chat. Donos will be on and they’ll be read out loud today. Can someone keep an eye on that, please?”
I have a program that’ll read donation messages out loud for me but I like to have a mod approve or deny them, that way no one can say anything awful for the stream to hear.
“I got it,” Pally says which doesn’t surprise me. She likes having that type of power while Joker likes taking over the stream using my stream key, adding silly stuff on stream to trip me up or get chat laughing.
“Did you end up with a date for your SkyDive stream?” Azaad asks.
“Yep! You can mark it down for next week. We’ll start Friday and go until I beat the game.” There’s a chorus of groans from everyone in the call. “Hey! Have a little faith!”
I click over to my streaming program. I go live on my channel, starting up my pre-stream screen.
Right now, viewers can see a music video parody I made last year while the words ‘stream starting soon’ flash above the video.
This will go on loop for a few times so my mods and I have time to finish our conversation before I switch over to my camera and unmute my mic.
“This means we’re all on babysitting duty,” Pally says and I can practically hear her shaking her head. Rude!
“We’ll have to take shifts for when he’s sleeping. Suga? Rodney? You wanna take a shift?”
“I will,” Rodney says right away. “Maybe I’ll force him to host my stream so that I can steal some of his subs.”
“That could work,” Azaad jumps in, making notes.
“Suga, I saw you’re back into that one card trading game.
You could play that for a bit on Blue’s account.
Or the two of you could just take a shift together and do a little impromptu podcast session.
Everyone really loved when you did that advice show. ”
“Oh my gods. Please do the SueRod Advice Show again with me! Pretty please!”
There’s a long pause before finally Kei sighs. “Fine.”
A round of cheers go around the call, making me smile. I love this group so much. It’s so strange to love these people even though I’ve only met a couple of them. Anyone who says online friendships can’t mean as much as real life ones have never met my mods.
“Anything else anyone would like to add?” There’s a chorus of no’s. “Perfect! Then I’m gonna jump into the stream. As always, thank you all for your help with the stream. I love and appreciate you all more than words can say.”
“Oh, someone’s getting sentimental in his old age,” Vee says with a cackle. I quickly mute Discord so no one can tease me further.
I turn to my stream controls, switching the screen over to my camera and unmuting myself so the stream can hear me.
“Hello everyone! Welcome to the stream! Hi!” I look over at my notifications.
I only just started but already, subscription renewals are flooding through.
I take a moment to say hello and thank everyone who’s subscribed so far.
I like to give them little shout outs when I have the time, appreciating each and every one of them.
“Okay, okay,” I say, sitting back in my seat. “I think it’s time for a storytime, chat. Does that sound okay? Would you be up for that?”
PeriwinklePally(mod): I’m dying to hear what went down!
MischiefRus: Don’t leave us in suspense!
IwaZilla(vip): why do I already think you’re the asshole?
Azaad(mod): @IwaZilla I’m holding out judgement until I hear the story but I’m inclined to agree with you…
“Great,” I breathe out, crossing my arms over my chest. “Thanks a lot, Iwa! I see how it is! Already deeming me the asshole before you’ve even heard my story. Mods, ban that guy.”
Every single one of my mods comments ‘no’ in response. I shake my head at them, murmuring how I’m the streamer and how I pay them to follow orders. They all respond with some form of snark.