First Stream

That Sunday, Caroline decided to stream again. Sure, things hadn’t gone great the first time and her daughter had to step in to rescue her because all she did was run into a wall, but since then she had watched a couple of videos on how to play. This time, she was fairly confident she could at least get a kill in the game.

Still, she felt rather silly as she put on her pantsuit for her stream. Her mother had always told her that dressing professionally is one of the best things a person can do for their image, so she was dressed in a white button-up shirt and a pair of slacks she had picked up from a Hugo Boss discount sale. She promised herself she would only give it three more tries. If she made any money that seemed like a sustainable income, she would keep it up; for now, three was the magic number.

Plus, Nora’s friends had been nice enough to get her a lighting setup, which Nora had installed in her room.

Now, she looked like some of those modern kids she had seen on Twitch streams with fancy lights that change color and everything. The box had come with an instruction pad that emphasized that the light color shifts were semi-programmed to adapt to whatever was happening on screen. Caroline was never much into robotics herself; she had sat at a typewriter as a kid and then a laptop, and that had been the end of her technological progression. Until now, she guessed.

She turned on her lights and was surprised by how bright yet soothing they were. The boys had done a nice job of choosing a very pretty magenta color, at least for the initial palette.

Then, without further ado, she started the stream.

“How’s it going, everyone? My name is Caroline. I am a forty-six-year-old mom, and I am here to stream some Forthright for you guys. I hope everyone’s eaten some food and settled in with some water, because this should be a fun experience.”

There were zero people watching, but from what she had read online, she was supposed to just pretend she had viewers until they finally arrived.

She loaded into her first game and tried her hardest not to look down at her controller as she took her first hesitant steps forward. She took a quick glance at the monitor, where her webcam feed sat picture-in-picture with the footage of her game. She looked beautiful in this lighting, at least from the neck up. Her hair hadn’t been done in a while to save extra money, and her outfit was slightly wrinkled, but she hoped the viewers who did tune in would mostly just focus on her pretty blue eyes or her smile, which she had always been proud of.

“OK, guys, we’re moving!” She looked straight at the camera. “And not into a wall this time!” She clapped her hands together. Suddenly, before she could even react, her character was hit five times by stray bullets and instantly dissolved into a bunch of blocks. “What just happened?”

NutCracker78:

I think you just died.

“Yeah, I mean, I got that. I mean, how did I die so quickly?” She looked back at her chat box and couldn’t quite believe it. “Oh my gosh, a viewer! A real viewer! Oh my gosh, welcome to the stream.”

She was so happy she didn’t quite know what to do with herself.

And suddenly:

GhosttownApe88 joined the stream.

Weezy joined the stream.

“Oh my gosh, more people!” She looked gratefully at the lighting setup on her desk. Could it really have made that big of a difference? Regardless, she was feeling incredibly thankful.

“Well, thank you guys for being here! What do you say we hop into another game?”

Weezy:

let’s do it

GhosttownApe88:

hell yeah!

Caroline gritted her teeth. She had never liked it when people swore; she had always found it unnecessary and vulgar. “Excuse me, Ghosttown88, I really don’t want to lose your viewership, but if you could refrain from cursing, I would appreciate it. I just want this to be a family-friendly stream.” Her lights shifted from magenta to a deep red.

GhosttownApe88:

Aw, sorry to hear that. That’s just the way I speak, but good luck with your streams.

Suddenly, the sting of disappointment felt like too much to take. “No, it’s OK! Please stay. I’m still just trying to figure out what I want to do on this channel, so for now, let’s say cursing is OK.” As quickly as she said it, the lights turned into a calm light blue, making her feel at ease. She had made the right decision. There was no point in mothering everyone who joined the stream; sometimes it was fine to just let people be themselves.

NutCracker78:

fuck yeah. I would’ve left too.

It would take some getting used to, but for now, she just laughed and said, “That’s the spirit!”

Meanwhile, the game was loading, her banana-costumed avatar appearing inside the battle blimp that dropped players off across the map.

The rest of that round went fairly normally. She dropped in, moved around, died pretty early, and her viewers left small comments helping her out. Occasionally, bad language was tossed into the chat, but eventually Caroline stopped noticing it altogether and just accepted it.

It wasn’t until her fifth attempt that she finally gasped, “Oh my gosh, guys, I just don’t get it. How the flip am I dying so quickly?”

Weezy:

you need to find cover. Try to drop into a location where you can hide at the beginning so you can at least grab some guns, because right now you’re dropping in open fields and getting shit on.

“I guess that makes sense, but how are these other people getting weapons so much faster than I am?”

No one responded for a second. The lights turned to a dull gray.

“Guys, please, I’m desperate here!”

NutCracker78:

well Caroline, to be fair you’re a beginner streamer and you’ve never played the game before. Plus you’re not even dressed like a gamer, so I don’t think you should be so competitive about it. We’re just enjoying spending time talking to you while you die, lol.

She smiled. “I appreciate that, but I want to get better at the game. I don’t want to just be a loser mom.”

GhosttownApe88:

if you wanna get better at the game, I would start with the external things first, TBH. Video games are a professional sport that makes millions of dollars now.

“I’m not sure I follow.” The lights shifted to a soft pink.

Weezy:

think about it this way: would you show up to play a basketball game dressed in what you’re wearing now?

She looked down at her outfit. “I guess not.” She felt a bit unsure of herself in that moment.

NutCracker78:

no, of course you wouldn’t. It would look silly to show up dressed like that. So all we’re saying is if you want to do better, you might want to dress more for the part. Wear things that are easier to move in, etc.

GhosttownApe88:

you should stand up so we can see the whole outfit.

She hesitated. She knew she had a great body, but that wasn’t why she wanted to become a streamer. She had seen on the front pages of some platforms that there were scantily clad women making tons of money wearing almost nothing, but she wanted to succeed on her own merit. Still, these were the very first viewers she’d ever had. It wouldn’t kill her to just stand up in her conservative outfit and show them what she was wearing.

“Oh, fine. But just this once.”

The lights turned green again as she stood up. In order to pull her chair back, her slacks-clad hips turned toward the camera for a second. Because of her large bust, her butt had always been a somewhat underrated feature in her own opinion, but it was full and claimed its place in every pair of pants she wore.

She took a couple of steps back and stood there for the camera to capture her outfit. “Just a pair of slacks and a blouse today. Nothing crazy.”

Before she could sit back down,

Weezy: $5 donation

The lights turned from bright green to a deep forest shade, pulsing with occasional light flashes.

“Oh my gosh, thank you so much! My first ever donation!”

Weezy:

there’s more where that came from if you spin around for us one more time.

As much as she knew they just wanted to stare at her rear end, it felt so good to receive that donation that she went ahead and spun around anyway. Nice and slow, giving them exactly what they wanted.

Weezy: $5 donation

NutCracker78: $10 donation

GhosttownApe88: $3 donation

She sat back down at her desk, beaming. “I can’t believe you guys actually donated money for that! You guys are the freaking best!”

The lights turned a sharp red.

GhosttownApe88:

come on Caroline, can you please say one bad word for us?

She couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for having chastised them earlier over something so standard to them. “You guys are so cool!” she said.

The chat filled with clapping emojis, and she laughed. “Well, thank you guys for joining today. I’ll be streaming again tomorrow!”

* * *

I had just gotten home from studying at the library, and to be honest, I was used to my mom already having dinner ready. Instead, the kitchen was completely silent.

“Hello?” I called out, but there was no answer until my mom emerged from the side hallway that led to her bedroom. She was still in the slacks and button-up shirt she used to wear for work.

“Did you have a job interview today?” I asked.

“Oh, no, honey. I’m sorry dinner isn’t ready. I just got so caught up streaming that I completely forgot.” She took her headset off her head and laid it on the end table.

“Streaming? You gave it another shot with the new equipment?” I walked over to the fridge and started grabbing ingredients to make us some pasta with red sauce.

“Yeah, I figured, what the hell, I might as well try.”

“Hell?”

“Oh, sorry, honey. Some of the people in my stream chat were using bad language, so I think it might’ve rubbed off on me a little bit.”

“No, Mom, it’s OK. People curse all the time, so it’s not really a big deal,I’m just not used to hearing it from you.” As soon as I put the pot of water on the stove, what she’d actually said hit me. “Wait... stream chat?”

“Yeah, can you believe it?” She smiled brightly, her eyes lighting up. “There were actually people watching and helping me play the game! It was just like you said.”

“I’m so happy for you mom.”

* * *

“So,” I said, tightening the bolt with a sharp click, “I talked to my mom last night.”

Michael’s eyes darted up for a split second before returning to the metal frame. “Oh yeah? How’s she doing?”

“Actually,” I said, stepping back to admire our work, “she had an actual stream yesterday. With real people watching. She said people joined her chat, helped her play, and someone even gave her a few donations.”

“No way,” Dalton said.

“Yep,” I smiled softly, looking at the three of them. “Thank you. Seriously. Those lights really helped. You guys are better friends than I give you credit for.”

Richie didn’t look up from his monitor, though his hands paused over the keyboard for a fraction of a second. “Hey, don’t go getting all sentimental on us, Nora. We just had some extra cash lying around from selling old computer parts. We didn’t do anything.”

“Yeah,” Michael chimed in, adjusting his safety goggles over his forehead. “We have no idea who those weirdos in her chat were. Probably just some lonely internet guys with nothing better to do on a Sunday afternoon.”

Dalton punched him in the arm.

* * *

By Wednesday evening, Caroline was feeling a newfound sense of confidence. Taking her chat’s advice she had traded her stiff business slacks for an athletic outfit: a pleated white tennis skirt and a tight, navy blue polo shirt.

While the skirt was modest enough in length, the snug fit of the polo left very little to the imagination regarding her upper body. Her massive, heavy breasts were firmly held in place by a sports bra, pushing them high and creating a distinct, defined shape beneath the cotton fabric.

She fixed her hair, adjusted some light make up and hit the “Go Live” button.

It took almost no time for the first viewer to join.

NutCracker78:

Looking good today Caroline!

The other two joined in soon after.

Caroline blushed, settling into her gaming chair and adjusting her headset. “Well, hello everyone! Thank you. You guys said I needed to dress like I was going to play a sport, so... here it is!” She chuckled, unaware of how the movement caused her chest to bounce slightly on camera.

The lights on her desk immediately flashed a brilliant, approving shade of gold.

“Alright, let’s get into a match,” she said, leaning forward to focus on the screen. “I think you guys are going to be impressed!”

She dropped her banana character into town. Almost instantly, another player landed right beside her, grabbed a shotgun, and blasted her character point-blank.

“Darn it!”

Weezy:

Fuck that guy fr.

Ghosttownape88:

on god. Fuck him and his bloodline.

“Jeez. I appreciate the support but thats awfully aggressive guys.” The lights went red. “Which is fine! Sorry, shouldn’t be telling you guys what to do you’re the experts after all.

Nutcracker78:

yeah, you should be more like us. We’re gamers after all.

She nodded her head as the lights went green and muttered “more like you guys…”

She dropped her character into another town, but just as quickly as last time, a group of people came up and punched her to death, till she was banana mush.

“Oh, come on!” Caroline shouted, throwing her hands up in absolute frustration. “What the fuck?!”

The word flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. Her eyes went wide, and she covered her mouth with both hands, her face flushing crimson. “Oh my goodness! I am so, so sorry! I didn’t mean to say that! That was so unladylike,”

Before she could finish her apology,the LED array pulsed into a vibrant, electric neon pink, strobing gently in approval.

NutCracker78:

Hey! No worries. All friends here.

Weezy:

this should soften the blow.

Weezy $5 donation.

Caroline blinked at the flashing pink ambient glow filling her room, then looked at the chat. “Wait... you guys aren’t mad?”

Ghosttownape88:

Mad!? Nah, welcome to the team!

That's it so far, but if you want more, please let me know by subscribing to my Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/c/IvysFantasies