His hair hid his bearded face as he sighed an exasperated sigh into his hands.
"Dude." Danny said, uncovering himself from the giant blanket. "What's going on? You are normally raging at games like this, but still determined to beat it."
"I'm just tired." Arin said, still looking at his slippers.
"I have seen you tired." Danny responded. "This is not your tired. What's the matter?"
"That's just the thing Dan!" Arin said in his joking voice. "You're matter. I'm matter. Everything's matter!"
"No, but seriously, something is bugging you." Danny said after his giggle fit was over.
"It's this fucking racoon!" Arin said with his weird voice again and danny started to laugh again. "I know that mother-"
"Arin!" Danny said, stopping his to be rant. "You know what? Let's go for a walk." They turned off the equipment they were using to record and headed out the office.
Danny had a destination in mind, that park. He knew it was a little celeceic but no one really was there and it was a short walk from the office, perfect place.
"What's wrong?" Danny asked after they had been walking for some time.
"It's nothing," Arin responded, eyes never leaving the ground.
"Nothing is nothing." Danny said. "I know when something is wrong with you."
"Is this all worth it?" Arin said, catching Danny off guard with how much it wasn't a fight to get him to confess this time. "I- you- we work so hard but get almost nothing out of it."
"We get out a lot." Danny responded.
"I have been doing this for so many years and I have yet to get as much as I have ever put in to just one project."
"For a while, you won't, but you will get there."
"But Dan, how long will I have to wait untill then?"
"Could be years," Danny said as he sat on a park bench and motioned for Arin to do the same.
"What if I just stopped?" Arin said as he sat down next to him.
What do you mean?"
"Stopped animating. Stopped doing Youtube and found a real job."
"But will that make you happy?"
"Probably not."
"Then why stop?"
"Because why make something for other people's enjoyment when no one notices?"
Danny sighed, there is almost no way he could help Arin this time. "Do you know why we meet our fans?"
"So they can meet us."
"So that we can meet them. They are the ones that make us able to do what we do. It's almost a reality check for us." Arin knew Danny was right. "What's our subscriber count?" Danny asked.
Arin grabbed his phone and with a few taps he responded "Over five-hundred thousand."
"That's a pretty big number. We could take over, like, Canada?" Danny joked and they both let out a little chuckle.
"But there are subscribers who don't even watch us anymore that haven't bothered to unsubscribe. It just feels worthless." Arin sighed and laid his head his hands. Danny sighed with at that thought. He grabbed Arin's phone from him with a little protest from Arin.
He tapped a couple of times and handed the phone back. "Hit play." Danny demanded.
"What' this?" Arin said, almost disgusted.
"Just watch it, okay?"
Arin did what he was told and immediately he realized, "This is the first animation I posted."
"Keep watching." Danny demanded again.
Arin rolled his eyes but finished it. "So?"
"That was short, wasn't it?"
"And your point is?"
"You have improved, right."
"Not really."
"You learned what to do and what not to and how to do it." Danny said while Arin stared at the grass. After a while Danny said. "Let's go back to the office. If you want we don't have to continue the session. You can just go into your office."
"Sure." Arin sighed and they got up and walked back. "I'm sorry."
"We all get that way."
