DakkyDuck: Please remember, Creator, I’m an entertainer who you don’t really know. Any insight you feel like you have is based on a version of me I’m allowing you to see, not the real me.
TheRealCreator: Bullshit. I saw you then, Dakota, whether you like it or not.
DakkyDuck: That sounds very stalker-ish, buddy.
TheRealCreator: I’m not one of these creeps. I’m just calling it how I see it.
My character has stopped looting. My chat is lighting up with people asking what I’m doing, why I’m just standing there. I built my streams on constant movement and interaction. Sometimes, I’m hoarse when I’m done, but now it’s Creator that’s got me silent.
DakkyDuck: I think you’re annoyed because I shot down all your points about the game. And now you’ve got to go all Sigmund Freud to salvage the situation.
TheRealCreator: Whatever you have to tell yourself, hot stuff.
DakkyDuck: See? I knew you were a creep.
TheRealCreator: You’re hot, Dakota, no mistake there. That doesn’t change the fact that you’re dead wrong about the game.
A private message from Mara pops up.
Marabells322: What’s going on?
“Hey guys, sorry,” I say. “Just working on a technical issue here. Won’t be long.”
I quickly type a response to Mara.
DakkyDuck: This guy donated two hundred bucks saying I was wrong about the Cove and to message him. I did, and now he’s getting all mysterious and dreamy. He saw how nervous I was when nobody else did. And he’s not simping, like, at all. He called me out while calling me beautiful.
Mara’s response comes fast.
Marabells322: Careful, it sounds like you’re falling for a viewer.
My body hums with illicit excitement as I type out my next message.
DakkyDuck: If I were going to fall for a viewer, it would be this one.
As I click send, something rare happens. To private message while I stream, I use an add-on to hide these private chats from my viewers. Sometimes, this can mess some stuff up. Like now, for example.
Just as I click thesendbutton, another message from Creator pops up.
TheRealCreator: Does your sudden silence mean I win, then, hot stuff?
His reply replaces Mara’s message. Butmyreply toMarais still in his chat box. I click the send button, realizing a fraction of a second too late. The message goes straight through to Creator … telling him that, of all my ten thousand current viewers,he’sthe one I can imagine falling for.
I quickly send him a follow-up.
DakkyDuck: That wasn’t meant for you.
TheRealCreator: That just makes me even more intrigued.
I smile despite myself. What am I doing? I don’t know who this person is. Not a single fact about him—or that he’s even ahim—except that he’s observant and more than a little cocky.
DakkyDuck: It wasn’t about you, either.
TheRealCreator: Methinks the lady doth protest too much.
Another smile. I quickly wipe it away.
DakkyDuck: You’re holding up my stream. Bye-bye, Creator.
