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I should laugh at myself. Getting angry at these guys for gaping at her online when that’s exactly what I’m doing. But there’s something interesting about her. Special. Something that keeps me coming back.

On the third night, I use my Creator account again, meaning she’ll be able to see I’m watching… if she bothers to look. She’d have to notice me in the midst of the seven thousand people currently watching.

Tonight, she’s in Emerald Cove, which makes me smile at first. Perhaps she’s finally going to give it a chance. Ten minutes later, the smile is gone. She’s an excellent player, dodging and parrying at the right times, able to handle large groups of enemies, all with different attacks.

As she’s in the middle of one particularly intense fight, somebody pays to send a message.

Bigman49: I love the way she purses those pretty lips when she uses smite.

No joke. I start toshake. Not a lot. Not like a comic book character who’s going to explode. But notunlikethat either. Both my hands curl into tight fists, my vision clouding. Instantly, I wish I were there to slap some sense into whoever sent that message.

And the fucked-up part? Yeah, she does have a pretty way of pouting when she’s concentrating. But he doesn’t need to reduce her whole fucking stream down to that. It’s even more insulting because he only donated one dollar, the minimum amount required to send a paid message.

Fuck it.

I donate a thousand bucks with the message.

TheRealCreator: To the boy who wrote the previous message: get off the goddamn internet.

Dakota’s eyes go saucer-wide when she sees the amount I’ve donated, then widen again when she sees the message.

I lean forward. Just another fan in her legion of viewers. Obsessed with every tiny change in her expression.

“Thank you, Creator,” she says, looking directly at the camera. Smile fixed in place…her eyes creasing at the edges, a subtle narrowing like I noticed the first time. The corner of her lip twitches as though she knows, without confirmation, that I noticed it.

“Okay, everyone,” she says a moment later. “This has been a great stream,as per. I’d like to say a special thank you to all my regular viewers, and especially for the donations and subscribers! Don’t fall, folks, and you can build yourself an empire!”

When she logs off, I sit back with a sigh. I didn’t know I’d caught her at the tail-end of the stream.

When her message comes through, my mood changes. Instantly. It doesn’t make sense. She’s like a drug. This stranger. This flawless, beautiful woman.

Calm the fuck down, I chastise.

DakkyDuck: Please tell me a way I can send this money back.

I smirk at her message. I don’t know anything about her except what I can see on her stream, but somehow, I think…of course.She wants to send the money back. She doesn’t want to profitthat muchfrom a single donation.

TheRealCreator: That’s not going to happen, beautiful.

DakkyDuck: I don’t want to take advantage of a vulnerable person.

TheRealCreator: What makes you think I’m a vulnerable person, Dakota?

DakkyDuck: You’re donating what must be a large proportion of your income to a streamer you don’t know. Don’t get me wrong. I love being rewarded for my work. But this is just silly.

TheRealCreator: If it makes you feel any better, I’m richer than any one person deserves to be. Honestly, Dakota, the money’s better off in your hands than mine.

DakkyDuck: Did you rob a bank or something?

TheRealCreator: Or something.

DakkyDuck: Now I’m even MORE curious!

I chuckle.

TheRealCreator: You deserve that donation just for putting up with so many freaks.

DakkyDuck: Some are freaks, sure. But some are just nice people who don’t have the social skills to phrase their compliments very well. It’s not fair to lump them in altogether.