Alter-Ego: Stream #1

Stream #1

Seven viewers.

That was the average amount of people watching Katharine’s streams. She knew no one really cared about the umptienth girl playing video games on Twitch, but still, there was a part of her that wished for some more recognition. And cash from donations, that could be useful as well...

Ever since she was a kid she loved playing video games, wanted a career in game development - and a one that was lax enough to get some casual gaming done on the side. Her dream? To make her own indie title, one that would capture its own tiny, but loving, audience, quietly influencing the lives of thousands - just below the eyes of the mainstream.

Except there was a problem: she just dropped out of college, knew jack-shit about programming and her passion for video games never actually went past just playing them. Quite badly, honestly. Oh and, she was about two months from being evicted from her apartment, because her roommate moved out and she couldn’t afford to pay the bills.

Fun.

She had to try something new, something to attract some more viewers… And she was getting desperate… but, well, last week an interesting idea appeared in her head - she was going to get the attention of people one way or another.

Luckily enough, her ex-roommate was quite the party girl, and a huge ditz to boot, so she left a ton of her clothes and makeup around the house - which she was going to use to draw in a brand new audience. Admittedly, she was quite desperate, but she didn’t see another choice.

Fifteen makeup tutorials, five hours and twelve outfits later - Katherine was all dolled up. She looked unrecognizable. But, admittedly, she looked very hot as well. Just one more thing: her tone. Her usual “Hi guys, Katherine here” wasn’t going to cut it.

“Hi everybodyyy! Kathy here!” Hmm, no.

“Hello everyoneee! Katy here!” A bit better, but what if…

“Hiiiiii! Crystal here!” Yup, the name was perfect.

She turned on the camera and started streaming. Her few regular viewers expressed quite the shock - and some disappointment - due to her makeover, but Katherine knew her own truth. And she was right.

As her stream went on, more and more people started pouring in. Turns out a pretty girl playing video games was something that attracted quite a few thirsty nerds. At some point, she peaked at thirty viewers. Five times as many as she usually had.

It was working.

And then, the unbelievable happened. Some guy sent in a fifty dollar donation. Like all donations, it had a small message attached:

“wow, i cant believe such a pretty gurl like you plays video games. is there even space in your brain for them, crystal?”

She got overwhelmed. Firstly, by the huge amount of money this random dude just donated. Secondly, by how misogynistic his comment was… and lastly, by how a part of her seemed to like it.

After the shock wore off (and she died in-game), Katherine replied in-character:

“Well, yeah, like, I have space in my head for all the fun stuff - and video games are totally fun!. Just, like, don’t make me do math or, umm, puzzles and stuff” She subconsciously smiled ditzily when saying the final words - this was going even better than she expected.

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So this is the first part of August's Poll Caption. This one I intent to  go on for a while, so I'll work on it in the background as well, when I feel like it :P 

Anyway - hope you enjoy