Chapter 15: Crashing The Stream
Contrary to most sleep ads, Nathan did not wake up feeling refreshed. He was sweaty, tired and exhausted. The only upside was his pains had dulled to almost nothing.
He picked up his phone and checked the time. 6:09PM. Catherine hadn’t mentioned the time the PK battle would start.
He opened the app and searched for Tabitha’s account. A profile picture of a black cat appeared almost immediately with around a million followers.
He opened her latest video and scrolled through the comments until one caught his attention.
[My glorious queen👑, princess👸, duchess🌟, mummy Tabitha🥺🥺🥺🖤. When is the PK battle?]
Nathan grimaced at the comment. His eyes shifted to Tabitha’s reply beneath it.
[8 PM]
That was still a couple of hours away. He exited the page and leaned back against the wall.
Might as well make use of it.
He checked on his purchases from the other night. Most of the NFTs he bought had tanked in price overnight.
Nathan wasn’t surprised. He’d only bought them because they were expensive enough to trigger the rebate.
The Crypto Critter community that had found his wallet assumed he was some anonymous whale who was at a loss.
He tried to list them for sale but the system screen popped up.
[WARNING! : Trying to sell or return items that triggered a rebate will incur a devasting penalty fee.]
Nathan blinked at the screen. He didn’t want to know what the system considered ’devastating’.
’What am I supposed to do with them? What if they are in terrible condition.’
[The Host may give them away, discard them or ask for a replacement. Those will not incur a penalty.]
"Hmm... Fair enough," Nathan muttered as he read the screen. But a thought was forming in his mind.
’What if I give them to someone and they sell it and give me the money’
[...]
[The System will not confirm nor deny the Host’s question at this time.]
Nathan smiled. So far from the system had been helpful. The last thing he wanted was to do something to spoil that.
He checked on the ebooks he had bought. The majority of them were about science and robotics, some were comics and others were webnovels with long titles.
Nathan’s education ended after high school because of financial constraints. He always told himself he’d go back someday, but as the years passed, ’someday’ slowly became never.
He opened one of them to read, checking Catherine’s account at intervals. Eventually, a small red LIVE indicator appeared beside her profile picture.
Nathan waited a few minutes for more viewers to trickle in before joining the stream. The interface rendered two screens divided in the middle.
Tabitha occupied the left side. Her jet-black hair framed her face in a neat chin-length bob, matching the color of her lipstick and choker.
She wore a black t-shirt with patterns that contrasted against her ivory skin.
The background of her room looked like a studio. She sat comfortably in a high-backed gaming chair, and had a realxed expression.
Catherine appeared on the opposite side. She wore a grey hoodie and black pants. Her expression was a little too stiff.
The PK timer was already ticking, and before Nathan could settle in, gifts began exploding across Tabitha’s side of the screen.
Tabitha smiled into the camera. "Good evening, everyone."
The chat instantly flooded.
[@Tabi_footstool: MY QUEEN!!! ❤️❤️❤️]
[@IsTheOddysseyPeak45: Mommy noticed me yesterday!!]
[@MySn@keIsSoliid: She’s gorgeous today🌟.]
Tabitha gestured to the screen. "Oh, and this is Catherine."
Catherine gave a small wave.
Tabitha continued. "I don’t usually do PKs with smaller creators." she paused before adding. "But she reached out, so I figured I’d help her get a little exposure."
Catherine forced a smile. "Thank you for having me."
Tabitha leaned back in her chair. "So, Catherine...What kind of content do you usually make?"
"Uhmm... I mostly sing... sometimes games... cooking stuff."
Tabitha nodded. "That’s cute. We all have to start somewhere."
Nathan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. The comments rolled in.
[@IamBeanCake67: Tabi helping the less unfortunate 😭❤️]
[@TabiForever5🖤: Other girl looks so nervous lol.]
[@User63836484: She probably begged Tabi for this.]
[@Buttplug4Tabi: Kick her already. We came for Tabitha.]
More gifts poured in on Tabitha’s side of the stream but she didn’t acknowledge most of them. Occasionally she would offer a thank you to high-tier gifts.
Catherine’s side remained almost empty. A butterfly and a sunflower drifted across her screen. Together they weren’t worth twenty dollars.
She thanked them individually. Nathan watched her smile grow increasingly forced.
The comments didn’t help.
[@RichGirlDetector145: so she’s doing this for clout.]
[@LadyMight_no5fan: She’d probably do better on SolelyFans.]
[@AverageViewer56: I wonder what she was expecting because this is embarassing.]
Nathan’s jaw tightened. The internet was a cruel place and Tabitha certainly didn’t do anything to cushion the blow.
If anything, her arrogant smile reminded him a little too much of high school.
She kept the conversation going almost effortlessly. Her face held a satisfied expression as she read the comments. "So, Catherine...What made you decide to stream?"
Catherine hesitated. "I... wanted to earn some extra money."
Tabitha tilted her head clearly pleased at her reaction. "So it’s more of a financial thing?"
Catherine nodded. "A little..."
Tabitha smiled. "Well...I hope tonight helps but with how it’s going...." She let the words trail off.
The chat flooded with laughing emojis.
Catherine clasped her hands tightly together beneath the camera frame. Her smile was beginning to crack. Part of her expected it’d turn out this way but she wasn’t prepared.
Meanwhile, Nathan sat in his cell watching it all unfold. He let out a sharp breath.
Alright...That’s enough.
His thumb moved toward the gift button.
Tap!
[User: Sir Platinum has gifted a Galaxy ×1]
A swirling galaxy erupted across Catherine’s side of the screen. Stars spun through space before collapsing into brilliant light.
The PK bar shifted slightly on Catherine’s end. For a moment, she simply stared at the screen, her eyes widening as the animation played.
"...Huh? A Galaxy?"
The Galaxy was the platform’s most expensive gift, costing roughly $2,000 worth of coins.
Tabitha’s smile froze for a moment. "It seems Catherine has a ’fan’." She laughed softly. "That’s adorable."
The chat echoed their sentiments.
[@simp_pleMan577: Ain’t no way bro dropped a Galaxy on a random streamer.]
[@biggusDickus34: that didn’t do much😂]
[@letmecookinthatass690: Bro probably felt bad because the PK was too one-sided.]
[@WrongWindow: spend his life savings to impress a girl smh]
Catherine finally found her voice. "T-Thank you... Sir Platinum."
She bowed her head toward the camera, hands clasped together. Her face held an expression of relief.
Nathan smiled. That single gift had done exactly what he’d hoped. Catherine was smiling.
[User: money beast has gifted Galaxy ×3]
Three galaxies exploded across Tabitha’s side of the screen and the PK bar surged higher in her favor.
[@money_beast: My glorious queen deserves this W, not this clout chaser 👑🖤]
[@money_beast: Let’s see you top that, Sir Platinum]
Tabitha glanced at the message before smiling. "My regulars are too kind."
Nathan read the comment calling him out. He had intended to give Catherine enough so she’d be able to get by.
But watching Tabitha turn Catherine into the night’s entertainment was getting under his skin.
He opened the site and logged in. Unlike the app it allowed a higher purchase limit.
The coin bundles appeared.
Nathan willed the system card in his hand and tapped the largest coin bundle.
Tonight, he intended to crash the stream in style.