that_cost | (no subject)

This was Charlie's first year at Vidcon as a guest and to be one-hundred percent honest? It was pretty terrifying. She hadn't really expected to get her cooking channel to pass 10 subscribers let alone the thousands she had, but apparently being a petite blonde with a sailor mouth and a love of cooking geeky things has a way of getting attention. Maybe it was the life-sized Dalek cake she made a couple years ago that did it, even going so far as to have another YouTuber known for building some amazingly geeky things build a motorized stand for the Dalek that did it, but that video got hit hard with views and the subscribers just kept coming.

When she heard she had been invited to Vidcon, of course she turned to her channel to ask what she should cook and the suggestions poured in. Now, she was on stage in front of fans, making something FNAF related.

"Seriously?" She asks her fans as she sets to work rolling brilliant white fondant in her hands "Five Nights at Freddy's? I can't even get past night one and you guys want me to make more cupcake decorations I mean, if you insist. But, I'm gonna need some help."

And with that, several hundred hands shoot up in the air.

"Well, holy shit." This wasn't going to be easy, was it?

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From:

rockysmash

"Oh my God, it's Bane!"

"Is he here to help?"

"He has to be! BANE!"

Rocky sighed inwardly, but it wasn't like being recognized was all that bad. He was, after all, sporting bright red hair that was hard to miss these days, and he'd come to see the McGee demonstration because it was FNAF related.

The whole relationship with the games was love/hate.

More importantly, even from his place near the front with the rest of the guests that had popped in to sneak a peek at the demonstration, he could smell her fear. He felt kind of bad for her, and so when he heard the crowd recognizing him...

It wasn't like it was hard as good deeds went. He helped his sister cook all the time.

So, puffing out his chest theatrically, he started mock pushing his way to the front so he could make his way to the dais where Charlie was working.

"Step aside, step aside...if anyone is going to help make Foxy and Bonnie look good? It's gonna be..."

He paused, hands on his hips for a classic superhero pose.

"...the king of Five Nights At Freddy's!"

From:

that_cost

Charlie's fear dissipates in light of her surprise guest. Now, she's just amused. And relieved. Her audience is going completely apeshit over this and she lets them have their fun, cheering and applauding and being loud in general and when they're finally quiet, Charlie holds up her hands and admits:

"I didn't plan for this. I promise. But thank God." And to Rocky, she holds out her hand to introduce herself.

"McGee. Thank you for coming up. I appreciate it."

If he's really keyed into how she smells, she smells like apple shampoo, lavender body wash and something fiery and not human. But, not unpleasant.

"Who do you want to take on first? Foxy or Bonnie? You're the one with the history."

From:

rockysmash

Rocky relaxed after his pose, turning to McGee to shake her hand warmly. He drops his voice for her rather than the crowd, his grip gentle but firm.

"Glad to help--first times are always a little scary." he assured her quietly with a good-natured wink before he followed her lead to her setup, taking note of those curious scents: baking sugar, corn starch, fruit and flowers and the waxy chemicals of beauty products...and something so much like a campfire that it makes his smile just a little broader, reminding him of family vacations and full moon campouts.

When she asked who he wanted, he made a face at the table loaded down with fondant, shrugging.

"I dunno, man--they both scare the ever loving shit out of me." he replied, giving the crowd an exaggerated shudder. "Maybe I'll take Bonnie--at least I could see him coming. Stupid Foxy, bum rushing my doors every damn time..."

From:

that_cost

"Bonnie it is. And that works out perfectly because..." Hang on. McGee's digging through her box of cooking supplies, pulling out a wire figure that looks a LOT like Bonnie.

"This was on the top of the pile and I didn't feel like digging through the whole god damn box for Foxy. Besides, I may or may not have called in a favor from a friend to make a moving frame for your least favorite Five Nights character."

Let's be real, she totally did. It's one of the parts of her shows people actually love.There's always a twist, always some manner of surprise that McGee had worked up.

"Save the best for last. So..to make Bonnie. First thing you're going to need is purple fondant. Clearly, I don't have it. Which means we make it."

And to Rocky. "You might need gloves. This is gonna get messy." She points at the box of gloves nearby, picking up a container of colored gel for the fondant.

"This shit stains. Horribly. So just...take my word for it. You won't need much. Just a drop at the end of a toothpick. Anything more and Bonnie glows in the dark and she's already horrifying enough."

From:

rockysmash

"Well, now that I have that knowledge? I can share a little of my own." Rocky replied gamely, reaching obediently for a pair of the gloves she pointed out, talking as he pulled them on. "Believe it or not? The only girl in the game is Chica, the chicken. Bonnie is a dude...which is evidenced by the fact that the Internet hasn't drawn any Bonnie fanart featuring excessive boobage, and has drawn plenty of Bonnie and Chica...er..."

He trailed off with a grimace that made the crowd titter.

"Well, swearing is the worst you do, so I won't discuss that here...okay, gloves on. What next? And also, sidebar: how can you be so tiny and blonde and adorable and have such a supremely foul mouth? Cause that's just really cool..."

From:

that_cost

"Fucking?" She waited until he'd said the swearing was the worst she did, just to say that about as calmly as someone saying the sky was blue. The crowd starts laughing at the look on her face, a look that easily matched her tone as she dipped a toothpick into the purple goo before handing that to Rock.

"I've seen. Entirely by accident while I couldn't sleep and stumbled upon the creepy part of Tumblr." Shudder. "Never again. No, thank you. I don't fucking want any."

As for his actual question, she shrugs, sort of blushing a bit at the 'adorable' comment. "It helps that my parents are too old to care what I say." Literally too old. Not that anyone knows this, but mom is about 270 and dad is at least 300. Ah, phoenix immortality.

"They raised me to understand that some people find swearing offensive, and some don't care. But..." And now she's pointing at the audience as she delivers a well-known warning that pops up before shows. It's so known, the audience says it along with her.

"My channel is not for children. There is swearing. A metric fuckton of it. If your mom or dad don't want you to pick up on this kind of language, respect their god damn wishes and go to a different channel. This shit isn't for you."

And the audience is laughing again. She turns to watch Rock, a look of confusion on her face. "What are you doing?"

From:

rockysmash

As she set up the audience with the warning, Rocky was left to just stare, watching her relax into the familiar patter while he stood there with a toothpick tipped in food coloring in his hand.

It was kind of impressive. And ballsy--and super endearing.

At her question, he shook his head with an openly impressed expression.

"Coloring fondant, Fearless Leader." He assured her with a little salute of one gloved hand before grinning and following her instructions through the rest of the demonstration. The whole thing was a lot of fun, and he got multiple comments on it at the next two panels he did.

Finally, he had an hour to kill in the green room so he could eat and stop performing for a couple minutes.

He was busy raiding a platter of cold cuts to make himself a sandwich when he spotted her entering. Helpfully, he waved so she could see him, then pointed out the refreshment table he was standing next to.

And, for good measure, lifted his plate into view...already stacked three sandwiches high.

From:

that_cost

Charlie's good with routines and patterns, despite being flustered easily. But the whole thing with Rocky had been fun. Amazingly so. She was able to focus on what she was doing, help him through what he was doing. And there was some harmless flirting that people seemed to enjoy enough to ask her about. She highly suspected that later on, she'd be seeing fanart of the two of them.

Which would amuse her to no end.

But thank God for that green room. Holy shit, did she need it. When she saw Rocky with the sandwiches, she couldn't help the grin on her face.

"What? Revenge eating Foxy didn't fill you up?" She's kidding. She's even making her own sandwich or two and definitely hitting that Keurig up for the least-shitty coffee it has.

From:

rockysmash

"Eh, I'm a carnivore at heart." he replied as she approached, offering her his hand again. "Rocky Devereaux...since everyone was just calling me Bane and shoving me at you before."

Once he'd shaken her hand, he reached across the table and passed her a plate of her own.

"You gotta get enough protein at these things or you'll pass out." he explained. "Trust me, I've done a ton of these. This is my third Vidcon and...Jesus. My fifth convention this year."

From:

that_cost

"First Vidcon. First convention." Charlie is the queen of self-depreciation. She isn't bothered by this being a first of any kind. That much is obvious in the confident handshake, frowning hand reaching for a paper plates.

"Thank you, by the way, for stepping up like you did. I was actually supposed to decorate a cake on stage. I had a black and white checker pattern all designed but the oven in the kitchen died, and I couldn't bake the red velvet cake part of the decorations were meant for. That whole thing was improv cooking."

From:

rockysmash

That got a short, surprised laugh out of him as he went back to building his next sandwich. "Could've fooled me! You nailed the whole damn thing...but you know what they say, right? Fake it 'till you make it. I figured you just smelled--seemed nervous."

And this was why he didn't talk to people until after he ate at conventions: he ran his mouth and said stupid things. Fortunately, he had three sandwiches on his plate already, and finished up his fourth hastily before taking a massive bite to forestall any further need for talking.

From:

that_cost

"I smelled, huh?" Charlie's not letting that one go, even though she really has no idea how true it actually is. "See if I ever cook with you again."

She's teasing. Honestly, she's actually wondering if they could do this again sometime. It'd be fun. It had been hilarious, Chasing him around stage with the animatronic Fondant Foxy had been hilarious and she was sure she'd be seeing that on YouTube forever. None of today had been planned, but they'd worked together pretty flawlessly.

She's got a couple sandwiches on her plate already, one with turkey and another with pastrami and was now eyeing the brownies. She was a huge fan of food in general, but it didn't show.

Edited Date: 2016-07-07 02:33 pm (UTC)

From:

rockysmash

Satisfied that he seemed to have dodged a bullet after slowly chewing and swallowing--and after testing the air to see if she was kidding or not--Rocky swallowed and smiled at the implications of her suggestion.

"Y'know? Why don't we?" He asked, tapping her shoulder with the back of his hand. "We could tap each other's subs. Guest on each other's channels. I mean, I don't know if you play video games or just follow them, but I do challenge vids on my channel a lot. I mean--if you want. The demo was a lot of fun, y'know?"

From:

that_cost

Charlie doesn't even have to think about the answer, a grin forming on her face before she nods. "Okay. I like that idea."

She takes another bite of her food, chewing and swallowing before continuing on.

"I actually do a lot of gaming in my down time. Nothing I post to my channel unless it's for a charity event, and then it's just a livestream. I don't say enough during gaming to actually warrant anything on my channel."

A pause and then a shrug. "Who knows? Maybe I'll replay Alien: Isolation just to put it up? I did an awful lot of talking then, if you count 'oh god, oh god, oh shit i think it found me' being repeated over and over as anything."

From:

rockysmash

Rocky snorted through a bite of sandwich, then struggled between chewing, swallowing, and coughing up the bit of bread and meat he'd inhaled. Once he was no longer coughing, and merely a cheerful shade of red to match his hair, he replied.

"Sorry, just--look up my playthrough of FNAF sometime. And Dreadhalls. All I fucking do is scream and curse and beg for my mommy." he laughed. "Or I'll just show 'em to you when we hook up. Where do you want to meet? I live in Boulder City, but I can head out to Seattle and set up at your place for a Let's Play if it's easier."

Off her look, he made a sheepish face and shrugged. "I may have looked up your channel between panels. Loved the Warcraft cupcakes, by the way."

From:

that_cost

"Oh, God." Charlie makes a face, nose wrinkling and eyebrows furrowing, but she's still smiling. "Those Warcraft Cupcakes were a nightmare. I don't know what I was thinking."

Twelve colors of fondant. Two different kinds of cupcakes, each with their own fillings. And edible silver. That had been a hell of a video to make. Her roommate was so mad at the editing.

She thinks about where best to meet, trying to remember her and her roommate's schedules before answering.

"How about Boulder City? It's just that my roommate is hitting finals this semester and he turns into a nightmare." She's met worse, but she'd rather not upset Nolan and stress him out.

"The first video I saw of yours was Flappy Fedora. I got some weird looks on the bus because I kept laughing."

From:

rockysmash

"You were thinking big! I love that!" Rocky laughed. "And it beats the hell out of the stupid shit I've done to go extreme like that. I ate thirteen habanero peppers to celebrate thirteen million subs. I'm insane, you're creative as shit."

When she suggested his place, Rocky nodded. "Sure, and? I'm totally set up for cooking. If anything is missing, I'll talk to my sister. She's the one that set me up--she's a caterer, and she tends to pick up after me, so to speak. She's the best...maybe she'll even be around so you can meet her!"

His features transformed when talking about his sister, lighting up with raw pride, affection, and absolute adoration for the most important girl in his life.

"Rachel is little and squeaky and the cutest goddamn thing you've ever seen. She's just...amazing...and I'm rambling. Sorry, where my baby sister is concerned, I kind of have a lot of feelings."

From:

that_cost

Rocky babbling about his sister is probably the most adorable thing Charlie's ever seen. She listens, the smile on her face growing into a huge grin and there's almost a laugh when Rocky apologizes for babbling. She shakes her head, holding her free hand out in a small 'stop' gesture.

"No need. The closest thing I have to a sibling is my roommate, Nolan. He's the guy who seems to be made of nothing but limbs and sarcasm that shows up sometimes. We've known each other since my day one. His day three. I have a lot of feelings where he's concerned, so I get it."

Not a one of them are romantic feelings. Not even a bit. He's family. That's the best she has.