The Chronicles of the Merch

"Today I will be revealing my plans for this year," Four said, smiling at the camera. He pulled up his shitty google slideshow, much to the chat's delight, and put it into presentation mode, pointing at the title page.

"As you can see, it says, 'Four's Cool Plans for 2394, written by Four, directed by Four, featuring Four.'" He continued, smirking a lopsided grin as he saw the chat erupt. "Now, as you know I do have a tech job outside of streaming, so," he flipped to the next slide, which showed a shitty stock photo of an island, "I'll be gone for a couple weeks to help set up surveillance on a customers private island. I'll be sure to post lots of videos while I'm there, though, so you aren't content deprived."

He flipped to the next slide, which featured a couple of colorful feathers around text that said 'house tour'.

"If we hit the goal, I will be showing everyone my very cool house and a couple of my birds, but that'll be late February. I'm sure we'll get there, though, you all are ridiculous."

He laughed, although it sounded slightly hollow to himself.

"In March, I'm finally going to become not single, hopefully..." He mumbled, glancing out the door to where he knew that the other occupants of the house were watching and listening.

“That’s a dangerous assumption to make,” he read 42’s message out loud, raising a middle finger at the camera.

“And? I’m violently in love, my friend, this feeling won’t last forever.”

He smirked.

“Anyways, chat, I’ll be off and on during March. I’ve got big plans, which are absolutely not appropriate for twitch and I will not be sharing them.”

He flipped to the next slide, completely skipping March to go to April.

“April is twitchcon for this year, and you know I’ll be there, along with the rest of us idiots. We’ll have a stall together. Aglet might even cut his hair, who knows.”

He laughed genuinely this time, smiling widely and flipping the slide again.

“May will be the drop of the new merch, I’ve got some really cool plans for this one, just wait. It’ll be awesome.”

He flipped the slide again, showing a couple blacked out images of Merchandise that he planned to sell. He knew Lilly had already seen them, he’d asked her for her opinion.

He paused.

Where had the thought of Lilly come from?

He turned a bit pink, quickly flipping the slide again.

“June is the tech expo, I’ll be going there for work as well so you probably won’t see me much unless I’m recording at the expo itself.”

He thought about the expo, practically drooling at the thought of all the tech. As if he knew, 42 sent a message making fun of him, which snapped him right back to attention.

“Shut up, whore. We all know you need their fancy cameras for your side business.”

He gave the camera the side eye, something he did when he talked about things that the chat didn’t know about. It sent them scrambling, looking for crumbs like the desperate lore junkies that they were. He snorted, shaking his head.

Real life lore, how silly. Of course, it was true, but it was still funny to think about.

Speaking of lore…

He zeroed in on the user speaking in his chat.

“SyndV. You’re not welcome here. I’ve banned you on at least twenty alts by now, I would have thought you would at least be sneaky about it.”

He scowled, reading the man’s message.

“You do not have a right to be here, you are not my father. You should not expect to be treated as such.”

He looked at the camera, ignoring the chat’s confusion as he banned the account.

“Anyways!”

He flipped the slide, showing the most American freedom slide that there ever could be. The chat erupted.

“For July, we’ll be celebrating the American dream with lots of streams to make up for me visiting my family in August.”

He smiled gently, tilting his head at the knock he heard from the door.

“Four?” He heard Lilly call, “There’s a girl here for you.”

He stood, connecting to the cameras and freezing.

“Sorry chat, I need to end stream.” He said quickly, pressing the end stream button and standing, practically sprinting to the door.

“Four? Is that you?” He heard Six call from outside, and he grimaced.

“What’s going on?” Lilly asked, concerned.

“Six, you shouldn’t be here.” He said quickly, guiding her inside.

“Four?” Lilly asked again, making him turn.

“Sorry, Lil, this might seem a bit confusing…but this is my sister, Six.”

He watched her face carefully, relieved by the confusion he saw there.

She hadn’t done any snooping.

“And she’s got…a number for her name? Like you?”

He nodded, looking over as 42 rushed into the room.

“42-“

“I’ll explain it to her,” he said with a nod, much to Four’s relief.

“Alright, well, Six, let’s go downstairs and get you all sorted out.”

Six nodded, and he quickly led her away, not wanting to face Lilly.

After this, she’d know everything.

He couldn’t hide behind his visor anymore.

It was time.

“S-Sorry for coming on such short notice," Six said, wringing her hands, "I k-know you have a personal life."

He smiled a little, shaking his head.

"It's okay, Six. You're always welcome here...although, I am curious..."

He tilted his head.

"V-Victor doesn't know that I'm here," Six said quickly, eliciting a nod from him.

"And Trystam?" He questioned, knowing that she'd just gotten back from Europa.

"He's gone." She mumbled, looking away and giving him pause.

"Gone? He's dead???"

She shook her head.

"He just...disappeared. One day he was there, and the next day he was gone. There wasn't even a ship missing, he just...disappeared."

He paused, brow furrowing.

"And the child?"

Six wilted.

"He's...still with Victor. I couldn't get him out. I'll have to...I'll have to go back and get him."

He nodded at her words, and Six tilted her head.

"Who's the girl? Lilly?"

He flushed.

"Not important."

"So you like her, then?" Six asked with a smile.

"NO! I just invited her over because she won a merch raffle, we're just friends."

She smirked.

"Sure, buddy. Just don't get too rough with her."

He turned bright red, shaking his head.

Lilly.

She knew everything now.

How was he to face her?

She probably thought he was a monster, she probably hated him.

He was tempted to hide in the aviary, to wait until she left of her own accord, because he was sure she was going to leave. He'd have to monitor her to make sure she didn't expose him, because he was sure she would want to, after this.

Why wouldn't she?

He was a monster.

"You're not a monster, Four." Six said, replying to his thoughts.

"But-" He started, only to have Six cut him off.

"Four, if you're a monster, I'm most definitely one. She didn't seem very scared of me, you'll be fine."

He hesitated, then let out a breath.

"Are you...are you sure?"

Six nodded.

"I'm sure," she said, "Just talk to her."

Four stared at her, then nodded. Six was a good judge of character, she knew what people were thinking.

Hopefully, she was right.