VTUBERS… HOW DO YOU COLLAB? (。•́︿•̀。)
I’m always too nervous to take the first step, don’t even know HOW to start. How do you find people, plan them, find the right fit, and focus on your community during a collab?
Guh I wanna yap, have fun and make closer fwens aaa
I'm so very sorry chat but I have cancel today's stream I woke with my throat hurting real bad and I cant even talk 😔 I'm so sorry streams have been Sporadic. I promise I will make it up to you 🥺❤️ thanks for being patient with me.
“Are you disappointed?”
“N-no sweetheart, not all at, I eeuurrghh-promise…..it’s just….”
“Different?”
“Yeah, just urrp-different.”
My eyes betray me and tears immediately blur my vision. Rick has only known me as my whale vtuber persona for the past 6 years. I was too shy to show him my real face. He’s always been there for me, my only constant. It’s hard to believe he was once just a tier 3 sub. When you’re a vtuber, you don’t ask your regulars where their mysterious source of income comes from. Bad etiquette. But when you saw that Discord notification, “xxXPu55ySlay3RickXxx” you were intrigued to see someone was brave enough to send a friend request at all. It wasn’t long until game nights turned into VR chat dates and sleep calls…you’d be lying if there wasn’t a few ERP sessions here and there. Audio only of course.
“You know, bleeuurrgh, this could all be real.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why hop vr chat worlds when we can hop real eeurrgh-worl-worlds? I’m sure there’s plenty of dimensions where you’re the most uurrp-beautiful whale girl in the world.”
Your gaze falls to your hands and you swallow down a tinge of anxiety. You became a faceless content creator because you didn’t have the confidence to turn on the camera. Reality has always been disappointing…and you’re sure you were no different.
“Haha, stop joking around,” you jest.
“I’m not.”
An awkward silence falls between the two of you.
“What if I’m…not exactly what you imagined?”
“Let’s find out.”
With a beep, he goes offline, leaving you in the cozy vr chat world all alone. You were just about to message him and ask where he went when a bright green light seeps into the corners of your headset. Startled, you rip it off your head and spin your head around.
You think you finally caught a bad case of Tetris Effect after spending so long playing vr chat, but it’s real. Shades of brilliant green, swirling and emanating distorted magnetic interference. A….portal?
A leg emerges, then another—someone is trying to enter your room. Your fight or flight kicks in and you scramble to hide in your closet, but the goddamn stupid fucking vr chat headset wires tangle around your ankles. To your frustration, the more you try to untangle yourself, the more stuck you become. You think fast and blindly start throwing everything within arms reach towards the intruder.
“Ow-ow-c-cut it out!!!”
You hesitate before hurling your rose toy. It’s a good thing you didn’t—you needed it for later. That voice was….familiar. You steel yourself for what you’re about to see and slowly lift your gaze.
He’s very tall. Lanky. Mostly legs. Pale blue spiky hair and strong eyebrows. His face is scrunched into a scowl while he rubs his bruised bald spot. He’s obviously much older, but handsome, in a tired, worn down kind of way. A weathered, hand bound book. A well loved leather jacket.
“Your vpn sucks by the eurrpp-way.”
“R-Rick…?”
“Yep, in the flesh. F-figured showing you was easier than explaining.”
He leans down, inches from your face. His hand gently lifts a tress of your hair. It’s difficult to guess what he’s thinking.
“Y-you’re not actually a whale…huh.”
“And you’re not actually a werewolf…”
“Well euuurrgh-urrp-I am one in the sheets that’s for sure. Honestly the ERP was so good I was beginning to believe you were actually a whale girl. I even brought scuba gear just in case we wanted to try that thing we’ve always been talking about.”
“Are you disappointed?”
“N-no sweetheart, not all at, I eeuurrghh-promise…..it’s just….”
“Different?”
“Yeah, just urrp-different.”
Your heart sank into your stomach and might as well have fallen out your asshole. You knew it…fantasy was always going to better than reality. You silently curse yourself for believing NordVPN actually worked, tears welling up in your eyes.
“D-different, but good. Y-you’re still eeurgh-urpp you…you’re still my Bao. My Bao The Whale.”