by Aidan Wayne
“You always whine about your name.”
“But he didn’t have to know that.”
“Hey, I mean, he got it right, didn’t he?”
Yes. Yes, Sam had gotten Dovid’s name right. And Dovid really, really liked hearing Sam’s voice saying his name. Probably he should be worried about that, to some degree. “I guess so,” he managed to say. “It was nice of him to worry.”
“Right? So quit making a fuss and let me watch the rest of the video. I’ve been waiting all week for this update.”
Dovid pressed play again.
“—and I know things can sort of get muddled with my accent, but I’m doing my best. Now, ah, in-game, as you can see here—” Dovid let Sam’s voice wash over him, listening with interest as he played the game.
“—think I’m going to make another simulacrum next episode, because it’s about time we made one of those. We do have the reincarnation stones as a fallback plan, but I’d rather keep those for emergencies. Besides, if we make a simulacrum, it’ll be close to our base, or wherever I want to put it. It’s much better to control where you come back to life, don’t you think? Anyway, I think I’ve rambled on enough for one episode. Thank you all for watching, and I’ll see you next time.”
“That was fun,” Rachel said, once the video was over. “And it was cool that he dedicated it to us.”
“Yeah. I think I’m going to write him a thank-you.”
“For the dedication?”
“Why not?” he said, trying to sound nonchalant. “I think it’d be nice.”
“It’s not a bad idea,” Rachel said after a moment. “And he does try to respond to comments directed at him. Though,” she added, “that might be hard for him to do now.”
“Why?”
“Because he gained like fifty thousand followers since you plugged him yesterday,” she said matter-of-factly. “And he might be feeling a little overwhelmed.”
Dovid’s heart sank. He hadn’t really thought of that. He was a YouTube star; it was his livelihood as well as his hobby. More views were always better to him. But maybe for Sam...he had sounded pretty nervous at the beginning of his video. “All the more reason to contact him,” he said after thinking about it. “If nothing else I can offer some advice in dealing with the increase in subscribers.”
“Yeah, not a bad idea at all. Even if it’s just an excuse for you to finally work up the guts to talk to him.”
Dovid didn’t bother to dignify that with a response. Instead he turned his laptop away from Rachel and tried to think of where to send his comment. He was worried about sending it through YouTube; it might get lost in all the sea of comments Sam was already getting. But Sam had mentioned a Twitter a while ago, hadn’t he?
Dovid checked and yeah, it wasn’t in the description box of the video, but it was in Sam’s YouTube bio. He pulled up Twitter and went to Sam’s page. Again, only a few hundred followers. Perfect. YouTube hadn’t followed Sam to Twitter yet, though that would only be a matter of time. Dovid quickly opened up a DM and pondered a bit about what to say.
Dontlooknowdovid: Hey, this is Dovid from Don’t Look Now (though you probably guessed from my username, haha.) I just wanted to say thanks for that dedication. It was really cool to hear that, especially since I’m a fan.
He left it at that. Hopefully Sam would reply and that would start more of a conversation. Dovid really hoped he did; he was dying to talk to him a little more one-on-one. He kind of wanted a little bit more of Sam’s attention.
In order not to dwell too much about Sam’s reply (if there would be one), Dovid went to take a walk, his phone and earbuds ever present in his pocket.
He was on his way back when his phone beeped with his Twitter DM notification sound. Since it was freezing outside, he hurried back to his apartment in order to check the message, barring himself in his room, plugging an earbud into his laptop, and then setting the message to play.
Playitagainsam: Goodness, hello! And please, don’t thank me; you’re the one who mentioned me in your video in the first place—I should be thanking you.
Dovid grinned and hurried to type a response.
Dontlooknowdovid: It was well-earned, man. I really do like your stuff a lot.
Playitagainsam: Well, thank you. Thank you very much.
Dontlooknowdovid: On that note, are you okay?
Playitagainsam: What do you mean?
Dontlooknowdovid: Well, uh, you sort of got really popular really fast. I was wondering how you were doing.
Playitagainsam: Oh! Well, I won’t pretend it isn’t a little...overwhelming? But that’s not to say I’m not grateful! I do appreciate you talking up my channel.
Dontlooknowdovid: It wasn’t a hardship. I mean it, I’m a huge fan. I may have binge watched...almost all of your episodes. It’s just, I meant what I said in the video; voices are hugely important to me. And I really like yours.
Playitagainsam: Oh, well, thank you.
A moment passed, and Dovid listened to the “message being typed” sound start and stop several times before Sam’s next message beeped at him.
Playitagainsam: I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t know what to say. I mean, I’m glad you like my voice, that you were able to get something from my videos.
Playitagainsam: Just, um...
Dovid swallowed. He hoped he hadn’t done something to make Sam uncomfortable. Especially now that they were actually talking. He might have been fanboying a bit inside.
Dontlooknowdovid: Yeah?
Playitagainsam: Adorable? Really?
He had to laugh.
Dontlooknowdovid: Hey, man, I call them as I see them. Or don’t see them, rather.
Dontlooknowdovid: (Sorry, I make a lot of blind jokes. I hope that doesn’t bother you.)
Playitagainsam: Of course it doesn’t bother me. I rather think you’re entitled to make them, if you want to.
Dontlooknowdovid: I kind of figured you’d say that :) but I like to be sure. It bothers some people that I do. Ironically, it tends to be the sighted guys who get all up in arms about it. Other blind people are like “Yeah, whatever, you’ve only made that joke like fifteen times.”
Playitagainsam: Oh. That’s...a bit irritating, that sighted people try to police you like that.
Dontlooknowdovid: Aw, thanks for understanding :)
Dontlooknowdovid: Seriously though, you sure you’re okay with all the YouTube stuff? I could offer some advice, if you wanted.
Playitagainsam: Oh gosh, um, that would be greatly appreciated actually. I’m afraid I don’t quite know how to deal with it all. As of right now, I’ve just turned off all my notifications so they don’t break my email, and I’ve been hiding from YouTube in general. And I feel sort of bad, because all the people who normally comment are getting a bit buried, and I would like to try to keep up that dialogue if I can, you know?
Dontlooknowdovid: No, I get it. It’s going to be a little harder to be personal now. I didn’t really think about that part for you. I’m sorry.
Playitagainsam: It’s alright. I’ll just, you know, adjust. Is there something you can recommend?
Dontlooknowdovid: You could always message the people you normally talk to and mutually friend them on Twitter. That’s one way you could keep up communication.
Dontlooknowdovid: I will warn you that your new fans are going to be finding your Twitter too. But Twitter’s a little bit easier to regulate over YouTube comments, since you can adjust it to filter your mutuals first on your feed.
Playitagainsam: That’s a good idea. I wouldn’t have thought of it myself. Thank you.
Playitagainsam: Oh! Since we’re talking, I wanted to ask...did I get your name right?
Dontlooknowdovid: My name?
Playitagainsam: Yes. I wanted to be sure I pronounced it correctly. I was so worried I practiced it wi
th my recording equipment to try to get it right since I know how important it is to you but I couldn’t be sure.
Dovid buried his face in his hands. He was so cute. He was so cute.
Dontlooknowdovid: You did! =D thanks so much for putting in that effort. I appreciate it. It’s always nice to hear that sort of thing.
Playitagainsam: Of course. I can only imagine how difficult it is to have a name people always get wrong. Now, there’s not a whole lot you can do with Sam. So I’m a bit lucky on that front.
Dontlooknowdovid: I won’t hold it against you. Now hey, so you know, I’m going to have a lot of people asking me about you, and you’re going to have a lot of people asking you about me.
Playitagainsam: Really, why?
Dontlooknowdovid: Because, uh...well, I’m kind of a big deal, absolutely no meme intended. I mean that I have a big following! Not, um, not to brag or anything.
Playitagainsam: You have over six million subscribers on YouTube, I think you’re allowed to brag at least a little bit.
Dontlooknowdovid: Haha, okay fair. But that’s what I mean. A lot of people know who I am and are interested in my personal life. Which is kind of silly, considering how much of my personal life is actually up on YouTube. But I try to keep non-YouTubers out of it unless they explicitly don’t mind, because it’s not fair to them otherwise. But you are a YouTuber.
Dontlooknowdovid: And that just means that you’re already a presence. So now that people know we know each other or, um, think we know each other, they’re going to be curious.
Dovid winced. He’d only just realized how much he might have fucked up.
Dontlooknowdovid: Oh my god, I never really considered the ramifications of this for someone who might not be interested in popularity I am so sorry. Fuck, I’m basically the worst.
Playitagainsam: You’re not the worst at all. I don’t really MIND that more people know about my channel, I just, you know, might need some adjustment time. And your advice on how to handle things would be really helpful, so thank you for offering.
Dontlooknowdovid: Of course I’ll help! This is all basically my fault. I am so sorry.
Playitagainsam: It’s okay.
Dontlooknowdovid: Right, okay, yeah, wow. Sorry. Uh well. Yeah. So people are going to be asking you about me, or even about you. You are never under any obligation to answer questions you don’t want to, ever. And anyone who bothers you can be reported or marked as spam. You ever have trouble with something, just let me know. I’ll usually know how to deal with it.
Playitagainsam: Okay. That would be lovely.
That would be lovely. Really, world? Really? This was how Sam was reacting to Dovid basically fucking up his life? God, he was ridiculous.
Playitagainsam: What should I do if they ask me about you?
Dontlooknowdovid: Hahaha, you can literally tell them whatever.
Playitagainsam: But I don’t know whatever. I only just met you now.
Dontlooknowdovid: Alright, fair point. If you really want to reply, you can just tell them we’re friends and that you’d prefer to have our privacy respected. That usually works for most people, and the really crazy ones you can ignore or report.
That was okay, right? To have Sam tell people they were friends.
Dovid hoped they could be friends. That would be really nice.
He maybe liked Sam too much, for only having had watched his videos and the conversation they were having now.
Then again, he’d watched almost fifty hours’ worth of footage of Sam. That had to count for some sort of insight to who he was as a person.
Dontlooknowdovid: If they ask me about you, that’s what I’m going to say. That I’d prefer to have your privacy respected.
Playitagainsam: Alright. That works for me, then.
Dontlooknowdovid: Okay, good. And again, I’m really sorry about this. I guess I didn’t even think.
Playitagainsam: You already apologized to me plenty :) no worries. I’ll handle it as best I can. And...maybe ask you some questions, if that’s okay?
Dontlooknowdovid: No, yeah, of course! You can ask me anything you’d like. Whenever. Just DM me, and I’ll answer when I get the chance. I might be busy shooting something or doing a review or whatever, but I’ll always answer.
Playitagainsam: Haha, don’t think you have to be at my beck and call. I’ll be content with whenever is convenient for you. You must be very busy working.
Dontlooknowdovid: No busier than you. YouTube IS my full-time job, so that’s what I do with my time. You’re the one who has a grown-up job.
Playitagainsam: I rather feel that being a full-time YouTuber is just as much a grown-up job as someone stuck in IT. You have to master so many different skills! I barely can keep up a Twitter account along with YouTube, and all I do is one let’s play a week.
Playitagainsam: And I think it’s wonderful that you’re doing something you obviously love so much.
Dontlooknowdovid: Wow, um, thank you.
Dontlooknowdovid: Coming from you, that means a lot.
Playitagainsam: Coming from me?
Dontlooknowdovid: Sorry! It’s just, okay, so I sort of binge-watched your channel and like half of your videos in like a week? And Rachel—that’s my sister, if you don’t know who she is—already ragged on me about being able to down that many hours of footage in a week, don’t worry. But after watching them all, I just...you seem like a really great guy?
Playitagainsam: Oh. Wow. Well, thank you. I really appreciate you saying so.
Dovid bit his lip. He didn’t want to make this weird. He just wanted to keep talking to Sam and not make this weird.
Dontlooknowdovid: So IT. How did you get into that?
Playitagainsam: Oh, it’s not all that interesting a story.
Dontlooknowdovid: Tell me anyway?
A moment’s pause.
Playitagainsam: Well alright, if you’d like.
Dovid smiled.
Chapter Four
“Hi, everybody, I’m Sam, and welcome to another episode of Let’s Play Dire Straits. Last time I talked about us trying to mine the riverbed for runes. The riverbed, for those of you who don’t know, is another level of the game. It’s very treacherous; all sorts of new monsters and things just waiting to try to kill you. It’s a great challenge! I always have a lot of fun in the riverbed. But in order to go mining, we do have to prepare. I want a good bundle of supplies to take down with me in my pack, which means we’ll be wanting to make food, take some pre-crafted shelters and firepits, all the comforts of home, you know?”
Sam yawned, trying to cover the sound from the mic. “Goodness, excuse me. It was a long day at work and I was up rather late last night reading.” And talking to Dovid again. “Excuse me one moment while I take a sip of tea, here.” This time he moved the mic away from his face to drink, moving it back after he set his mug back down on his desk. “Mm, delicious, delicious tea. Anyway—oh! I almost forgot, I’m sorry, I wanted to welcome all my new subscribers. There are, well, there are quite a lot of you apparently. Thank you to those who watched my other videos and decided to stick with me, as well as all my subscribers who have been with me for a while. You’re all lovely people, and I’m glad I’m able to provide some semblance of entertainment.”
He talked and played his game, and was almost half an hour in before he remembered that he had some questions he’d meant to answer. He sometimes had subscribers ask him questions and he tried to respond to them in comments or in video when he could. Now, with so many new comments, he wanted to maybe try to give some of his older followers a little more attention.
“Right, sorry, let me just kite this lamprey eel for a moment, there you go—ahah! Beat you.” He grinned and reached for the pad of paper he’d jotted his notes down on. “Anyway, Meganbeginagain, I wanted to reply to your comment about our pet vulture
Clarissa McBeakbird. Because first off, it’s always nice to see a familiar icon and username. Yes, she is still laying eggs as far as I know, but I haven’t fed her in a while. And oh dear, that sounds really awful to say aloud, isn’t it? I’m sorry, Clarissa! I’ll go home and feed you right away. Or, well, not right away; I’m still in the riverbed. But soon, I promise. So, erm, yes, with the latest patch, the pet birds don’t die if you forget to feed them for a while, they just stop laying eggs. You have to start feeding them regularly again, and then after a couple days they’ll start producing eggs again.
“So you all know,” he added, “pet bunnies can die now, if they’re left alone too long and aren’t fed. That’s half the reason why I haven’t tried to get one. I’m away from my base so often now, doing advanced quests and building, and I can’t stand to think that I might accidentally let a creature starve to death. Even if it was a virtual creature. I’ll admit it, I did play about Neopia when Neopets was a thing, and I couldn’t ever bear the thought of my pets starving and my not tending to them, but I also didn’t want to put them up for adoption in case their new owners ever stopped playing the game and forgot about them. So I gave the entire account to my little cousin, who likes the game very much and keeps it up as a hobby. I still might check in with her once in a while, just to see how they’re doing.”
He cleared his throat, feeling a little silly. Somehow he always tended to go off onto tangents like that. Oh, well. His viewers stuck around for a reason, he supposed. “But back to the game, I also wanted to address selkiesummers’s question about why I’m not just farming sheeples. That is to say, why I’m not creating sheeple farms, as opposed to just leaving them in wild herds—”
Before he knew it, his hour was up. It had been a good run, he thought. Even if he had been a bit silly in what he talked out that wasn’t in-game. Then again, he was always like that, and people still watched him.
Slightly more people, now, actually.
Anyway, he didn’t have to reason why; he’d just continue to make let’s play videos. Speaking of, he set his video to render, pulled up the cozy mystery novel he’d just started, and settled in for a usual Friday night.