1 new message
Skye jolted awake to see daylight shining brightly through the blinds covering her windows. Shit...what time is it? She reached for her phone. She glanced at the time and groaned. Two hours until she started her stream. She didn't oversleep. In fact, she was up way earlier than she needed to be. However, instead of rolling over to get more rest, she dragged herself out of bed. No point in sleeping now...I'm too excited for today.
In fact, Skye was so excited for that day she completely ignored the notifications on her phone. She plopped down in her computer chair, reaching down to power on the computer. The PC whirred to life with delightful hums. She tapped on the keys, signing into her virtual life. She went through all her typical motions in preparation for her stream. She went through the checklist in her head. OBS...check. Mic...check. Webcam/model setup....check. She went over the list several times, making sure everything was in order. Today was no ordinary stream. It was her first subathon, in celebration of her upcoming birthday, and she was a little nervous. For 8 hours, she would be sat in front of her PC, streaming a variety of content. She was hopeful that everything would go well.
Everything went very well. In fact, it went way better than she expected. Skye gained over 50 new subscribers during the event, and she noticed a very familiar name pop up in the stream chat a couple times throughout the day. MU had made it to her stream, and this made her smile a lot. The stream went on a little longer than intended, but Skye was having too much fun. She wanted to live in these happy feelings forever. For her, those feelings were few and far between, so she wanted to stay this way for as long as possible. A little pass 11pm, Skye decided it was time to return to reality. She ended the stream, thanking everyone who joined and supported her throughout the day, even those who were not in chat anymore. What a wonderful end, to a wonderful virtual day. Skye was again surrounded by silence. There were no chats zipping across her screen. No videos or games dancing across her monitors. She felt her mood begin to drop suddenly, and without warning. Skye was alone on the other side of the screen. What a terrifying reality...
3 new messages.
A pang of guilt washed over Skye as she looked at the notifications on her phone the next morning. They were all from MU. The first one came in a little after 8 o'clock in the morning. Aaaaah, I missed these messages, and now it's the next day, and I haven't replied. Idiot! Skye thought to herself. She felt so bad that she skipped over the context of the first message, reading the newer ones that had come in more recently.
MU: "You did great today btw! Sorry I couldn't stay the whole time but I checked back in for a bit while you were playing Jackbox."
MU: (did not realize you were still on lol. Glad I got to see the end!)
Skye smiled at her phone and quickly typed a reply to make up for not replying sooner. She started typing out a generic thank you message, and stopped herself before pressing send. Make it a little more personal...be less generic.
Skye: "Thank you! I'm glad you got to join!"
Still generic, but definitely an attempt. Her next interaction with MU would come a day later. A simple interaction about her streaming shenanigans. The day after that, Skye was so busy celebrating her birthday that she missed another message from MU. She felt bad, scanning the contents of the message the next morning. However, she quickly felt relief as she read it.
MU: "...do you prefer twitter or discord? Whatever you are comfortable with of course."
Skye smiled wide. They want to keep talking to me? Even after my poor responses? Skye felt a slight, almost unnoticeable, flutter in her chest. She didn't think much of it at the time. It was probably caused by the excitement of making a new friend. The little voice in her head spoke up, louder this time. Well? What are you waiting for? Give them your discord already!
Skye: Discord is easier usually lol
1 new message-Discord.
