Relax during Victoria’s meeting

Victoria leaves her office, locking the door behind her, and heads to her board meeting.{if victoria_deskkey = true} I guess it was hopeful thinking that I could snoop in her desk drawer so soon.{endif}{if victoria_nocoffee=true} She stops to give me a side-eye as she pours coffee for herself, takes a swig, then leaves the dirty—and nearly full—mug on my desk for me to clean. {endif} I take a big, relaxing breath when she is out of sight and I spin in my chair. After getting pleasantly dizzy, I stop and look back at the computer. I have some unanswered questions that I haven’t had time to think about.

{if victoria_confroom = true}

What was it that transpired at the board meeting that she was giving a presentation for?

{endif}

{if victoria_dinnertext= true}What is the meaning of the texts Victoria got from Alex? What is going on between AmorFik and Wayfield?

{endif}

{if victoria_blackout = true}Who is this mystery man she has been emailing? Now that I am a man-in-the-middle, what can I do with it?

{endif}

{if victoria_ex = true}I have contact information for her ex-fiancé, Terrance... What should I do with it?

{endif}

{if victoria_birthday = true}Is there anything more I can accomplish with Penelope? Will she hold up her end of the bargain?

{endif}

Is Victoria misusing her business expenses credit card? Maybe I have enough time to talk to Rachel about it.

How am I going to earn enough money to protect myself if she catches on to me?

And I hesitate to even ask—how do I feel towards her now? A lot of jarring things have happened.

My musings are interrupted by a text message.

Tonya: I’m starting my first stream now!

I feel instant relief seeing a message from her. I’ve been so tired and busy that I haven’t had time to check in, and hadn’t realized it had been weighing on me.

Then she sends me a link.

I get earbuds out of my desk and open a Twitch page and decide now is a good time to make my own account. I find her channel and subscribe to LadyInRaiding.

She is in her room, mostly as I remembered it. She did take down her old posters and put up a new one that I realize is her channel logo. She is taking this somewhat seriously. Tonya is visible from the waist up, wearing a cute yellow T-shirt with rolled up shoulders. Her blonde hair is in a high ponytail that puffs out as it falls, with a pink scrunchy and hoop earring. I laugh when I realize that she has done her makeup to finish the look. She has teal eyeshadow flanked by pink across her cheekbones. She is going 80’s retro.

UncleKiwi: Nice to see you again! Nice look!

LadyInRaiding looks reads the message, then waves on the screen, “Welcome! Thanks for subbing, Uncle....” She covers her face. “No—you didn’t!” Her hands drop. “Of COURSE you did!”

UnkleKiwi: Are you wearing a SWATCH?

“Yeah! Like it?” She waves her wrist in front of the camera.

UncleKiwi: Love it!

UnkleKiwi: Are you playing a game today?

“I think so. I’m hoping it works. I thought I’d start with WoW Classic.”

UncleKiwi: Nice. Do I have the honor of being your first sub?

“Yes, you are my first! Congrats! Now lets see if this works...” she looks off-camera, clicking on things. She works to reposition herself and get game video running. It is taking a while.

UncleKiwi: What do I get for being first?

She is too busy to see the message so I click to another window to multitask while she is occupied. After a few minutes I hear her again. “Um... how’s that? Is it working?” I click back. The stream is working, but not great. The layout is not optimal. There is a floating text header with default text overlaying the game UI. “What do you get? Well, UncleKiwi, I’m glad you asked. You get an exclusive, private stream with LadyInRaiding.... As soon as I figure out how to do it... Can I do that on Twitch? Whatever, we’ll figure it out.” She leans close, her bright makeup filling the screen, with a very serious expression, the sudden strangeness of it reminding me of the movie ‘Brazil’. “We have some things to talk about, don’t we, Mr. UncleKiwi?”