[Twitch - Live Stream]

Swanning
Just Chatting

(The screen flickers to life with a cascaded view; on the top right corner is a square displaying a carefully organized desktop screen, while the majority of the image is dominated by a web-cam view of a girl. She is young, probably just out of her teens, with a sprinkling of freckles right over the bridge of her nose and dark hair piled on top of her head, her green eyes arresting. She wears a comfortable white hoodie, the sleeves bunched at her elbows.

She smiles at the camera and at the growing list of viewers. The smile is soft, a little awkward, and accompanied by a wave at the screen. "Hey, guys! This is Swanning and it's another Saturday. I hope everyone had a good week. I, for one, could really use the time to decompress, so here we go."

Swanning pauses, fiddling with something on the computer, and then the cascading windows switch. Now, the image of Swanning is at the top right of the screen, while the rest of the window is the view of the desk top screen. A white arrow-head cursor weaves through program icons and selects one.

Swanning talks as the game loads. "Ah, you might have noticed I've categorized this stream as Just Chatting. I know I don't do it often, but I had a request," she tells the viewers. "I'm pulling up my Halo account right now. My little brother - you'll see him in a second, his handle is Cleareth - needs some help. He can't seem to get past this level…"

Swanning trails off, her eyes flickering to a lower portion of her screen. It's probably the live chat, which scrolls up the left-hand side on a transparent black-drop.

/pedro/ big sis to the rescue!

/q_ed/ smart kid

/gelder/ I've been wanting to Halo but…

/KLR/ me too, didn't know you played

/pedro/ Swanning is holding out on us

/deardirt/ are you good here too?

Swanning's eyes flick up to the camera again after she logs into her account, the screen materializing an image of two Halo characters. One has the handle Swanning, the other is called Cleareth.

Her eyes squint in thought. "Am I good at Halo? I'm decent, probably, but it's been a while since I played," she confesses. Swanning dons a sleek blush pink headset, which cups around her ears and shows off a cute sticker of a sloth pressed onto the side. Off-screen the clear sounds of a clicking mouse and tapping keys can be heard. "Let me just familiarize myself with the controls real quick. If I remember right, it goes something like…"

Swanning trails off, but her character on the screen erupts into a series of fast maneuvers - jumping, flipping, running, ducking. She rotates quickly through her weapons, re-learning their controls and re-loads. Swanning hums, even as the live chat gets giddy.

/q_ed/ wowowowow

/KLR/ lol Swanning is always good

/ratherbealone/ the fuck?

/deardirt/ how is her maneuvering that good on HALO?

/deardirt/ how is this possible

/pedro/ this is great lol

Swanning reaches up to adjust her headset, swinging down a little mic in front of her mouth. "Seth, can you hear me?"

"This is embarrassing," comes a disembodied voice. It must be Swanning's little brother, the guy who is playing Cleareth. His voice sounds young, an easy tenor that is tight with mortification.

Swanning blinks, a crinkle on her brow. "You wanted help," she reminds him.

"Not like this! I didn't think I would have to participate."

"We learn by doing," Swanning says firmly. On the screen, Swanning's character circles around Cleareth's, gun hoisted on her shoulder. "One time offer, little brother. Take it or leave it."

There is a groan, and then a grudging tone. "Leah is a bad influence on you."

Swanning grins, an open expression rarely seen on her streams.

/KLDR/ best stream ever

/pedro/ wow such wholesome content

/deardirt/ siblings be like that

Swanning doesn't seem to pay the chat or her brother any mind. She clicks her mouse and on the screen the mission parameters pop up, along with the game map. Swanning's expression turns serious as she does a quick examination. "Alright, let's see the objective…okay - and here's the map." Swanning pauses, her brows raising slightly. "Huh. Yeah, I see that tricky part, Seth. Right here? That's tough?"

"Right?" comes a plaintive whine. "Help me, help me!"

"I am!"

/q_ed/ been on this level before, yeah its tricky

/gelder/ looks like it sneaks up on you

/q_ed/ it does

/q_ed/ like you see it on the map but when you get there its shady as fuck

/KLR/ I hate that

/q_ed/ took me a like 12 tries

Swanning doesn't look fazed. She closes out the map and trots her character forward. "Shouldn't be too difficult," she tells the viewers. "Ready, Seth?"

"Lead the way," her little brother says over the mic. "I'll shadow."

There is a lazy, confident, terribly attractive tilt to Swanning's lips. She launches her character into action and says, "Naturally."

What follows is what can only be loosely described as a tutorial. Sure, Swanning devotes her time to explaining the traps and tricks of the mission, and giving advice as to why using one weapon or method is better than the other. She fields Seth's questions and guides Cleareth toward the objective. And while it's clear that Swanning is using this as a teachable moment for her little brother, it's equally as clear that she is being incredibly casual about the whole thing.

Most of Swanning's tutorials are like this. She really does try to hand out helpful pieces of techniques, which are certainly helpful, but all of her regular viewers keep coming back for one reason - to marvel at the skill. There are some viewers who think Swanning is actually a professional gamer, the kind of beta-tests new games before they're released. With Swanning's level of skill, it isn't difficult to believe.

It takes Swanning less than ten minutes to hurdle through the mission that had given her little brother so much trouble. At the end, she sits back with a shrug. "That wasn't so hard, Seth. I don't see what the big deal is."

There is silence, and then a gusty exhale. "You just - you - Ugh! "

"You're welcome, little brother," Swanning says sweetly, and Seth curses over the mic.

Meanwhile, the live chat erupts with sensational commentary.

/ratherbealone/ one try….

/gelder/ she did it in one try?!

/deardirt/ omg

/KLR/ holy shit

/pedro/ just when I thought I couldn't be more impressed

/ratherbealone/ Swanning needs a goddamn shrine

Swanning clicks her mouse a few times, and once again the cascaded images on the screen switch again, putting the girl at the forefront. She has moved her headset to rest around her neck and is leaning toward the web-cam with a faintly amused expression. "I guess that's it for this stream, guys! I had a lot of fun schooling my little brother, and I hope everyone got to learn something. Until next time, this is Swanning signing off!"

The stream ends with another slightly-awkward wave at the viewers and a blacked-out screen.)

A/N: Ah, our first Twitch stream. If you didn't already guess, Swanning is another handle Bella uses - all of her gaming accounts that she uses for Twitch streams are under the Swanning handle, which means that Swansong is her private and personal account. The viewers of Swanning's Twitch channel do not know that Swanning is Swansong, just to be extra clear.

Moving on! Twitch is a streaming website somewhat similar to YouTube, except that it is mostly used by gamers and for gaming tutorials, walk-throughs, and live streams. Twitch has several categories for their live streams, including a type called Just Chatting, which is a feature that is something like an intermission for Twitch gamers and their viewers to more directly interact. Popular Twitch channels can actually make a bit of money if viewers donate to a account. The more popular your live streams, the more money you can make from them. It's a pretty unique platform and I sincerely hope I didn't butcher it lol

Also - there is one handle on the live chat that will be kind of important later. Guesses on which one it was?

As always, be brutally honest. I can take it.

~Rae