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Wintry: Ch 2: G and her fans.

by Hecotoro

Hecotoro Part of a written work series in collaboration with fellow writers.

We follow Elizabeth Elric, known as the famous streamer, G, as she tries to have a regular day.
September 2nd, 2021.

The loud sound of the latest techno phone vibrating on the glass table was enough to force the young woman to wake up. The sun was already crawling inside her living room, showing the empty bottle of Glenfiddich on the carpet and the black tech suit thrown randomly on the couch. G sat up slowly, wrapping the small blue blanket around her body as she reached over to pick up the phone. The name Crood and a picture of a guy with long black hair and a very colorful hoodie showed up. The slide the green button upwards and set the phone on the table.

"Hold on." She said loudly before quickly searching for a small remote in between the couch cushions, finding it and pointing towards the ceiling before pressing the on button. "What do you want?"

"Yo! G! Did I wake ya up? Am I on speaker? Any lucky dude there with you?" The voice on the speakers sounded like James Franco in Pineapple Express.

"I'm alone, what's up?" G slowly curled up on the couch, wrapping the small blanket even tighter around her.

"I got some news stuff, you're gonna love it! I heard this shit is so good, James Cameron smoked it to direct Avatar. I'm telling you, this still will make you melt, how much you want?"

"Um, fifty dollars."

"What do you mean fifty dollars?"

"Like, twenty plus thirty?"

"I know, why just fifty? You're like the one who basically pays my rent. This thing is so dope, your kids will be born high."

"I don't even smoke that much, I end up giving most of it away."

"Dude."

"What?"

"Seriously?"

"I'm gonna hang up."

"Okay okay, you coming to the party tomorrow?"

"Yeah I guess."

"Try it out and then tell me how much you buying. Sound good?"

G rubbed the sides of her forehead, giving up on the discussion, "I guess..." she whispered.

"What? Come on, I don't do this just for anyone, but you're like my top customer."

"Fine, I'll see you tomorrow, just tell your friends no photos, videos or anything. G can't be seen smoking with a bunch of idiots in some dark room."

"Yes! You won't be disappointed, catch you tomorrow!"

G reached for her phone, made sure the call had ended and checked the time, 7:45 am. Who the hell sells weed at seven am?! She tossed the phone to the side and looked around. She couldn't remember how much she did after a few drinks the night before, but the unfinished sandwich and the television screen showing the famous "Are you still there?", let her know she had fallen asleep watching something. It wasn't long though before the flashbacks of the overdosed girl crept into her mind. Breakfast, she needed to eat something and McDonalds just happened to have what she was craving.

After a quick shower and changing into sweats pants, a hoodie and some sunglasses to cover her face as much as possible, she descended her building, through the elevator this time. She stood at the lobby door, looking at her phone while she waited for her Uber to show up. Some students walked by, probably heading to school, something Elizabeth wasn't planning on doing until the next Monday. She could feel the eyes of some of the strangers on her, convincing her that her outfit was probably not the best idea, black sweat pants and a bright purple hoodie. Her hoodie, she hadn't put it on and her light blue bangs were out there.

Rumors of G living in Up City had already spread through the internet and any idiot with a smartphone could confirm that. She quickly pulled her hoodie up and placed her bangs towards the back. The cold wind morning wind curled around her while some leaves danced around enjoying the free ride. Once again, her memory took the quiet moment to remind her of the night before. Maybe if she knew Spanish or rushed into the scene, she could've saved the girl. She saved the mom, but that woman was going to have to face the fact her mother was gone, Wintry had created that, maybe she was better off dead...

"Elizabeth?"

G snapped back to reality, setting her eyes on the black car in front of her, the driver looking at her with a bright smile. She noticed her ride had arrived, nodding before jumping into the back seat. She leaned against the warm leather and looked out the window as the car left the glamorous building and into the streets. Some would think it would be easier to just order food to her room, but McDonalds was special to her. Whenever she had a bad day, her dad would take her to McDonalds the next morning, where they would talk it out over some warm pancakes, hash browns and biscuits. The memory made her smile, forcing her to take off her glasses and clean the tears from her eyes with her sleeve.

"Holy shit you're G!"

She groaned internally as she heard the driver's voice and looked up to meet his eyes looking at her through the rear view mirror. She placed her sunglasses down and removed her hoodie, giving the driver a defeated smile. She shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, can you keep this to yourself?"

"Oh wow, yeah of course! Wait, your name is Elizabeth? Wait no, it's fake right?"

"Duh, I wouldn't use my real name on an app." If he only knew.

"Yeah totally, of course! I wouldn't either you know? Can't give strangers my name."

"Isn't your name Thomas?" She held up her phone, showing his Uber profile.

"Uh yeah, right. My friends call me Tom, some Blazer, I drank like 20 shots of vodka that were set on fire first. Nothing big but they started calling Tom Blazer. I use that on Facebook and stuff..."

"Cool." G replied as she began to go through her messages.

"Yeah I gotta stay cool, you always tell us to. Haha! Like your streams, they're great."

"Mhm."

"So, McDonalds huh? I haven't had breakfast myself been up since 4 am."

"Oh wow."

"Yeah I like to get a good work out, push ups and stuff and then start working."

"That's healthy."

"Right? You work out? You look like you're in great shape, I mean, I wasn't checking you out but based on your Instagram, it shows..."

"I do."

"Cool, cool... So what's your favorite sound?"

"Music."

"Duh, haha, mine too." He began to laugh nervously, scratching the back of his ear and unshaved beard before straitening his back. "You want to go through the drive thru? I don't mind ending the trip and giving you a ride back, it's on me."

G looked out the window and saw the familiar building as they drove into the parking lot. "No it's okay, I want to eat here." She made sure the trip ended and began to put her sunglasses back on.

"Um you can save my info and you can call me whenever you need a ride. I'm always working, I just love to drive."

"Aw so sweet." G opened the door and decided to give the driver one last look.

The man seemed to be constipated, nervously looking around trying to avoid eye contact with G. She couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy, he actually behaved less creep than most of the strangers she met. She closed the door and removed her sunglasses once again.

"How about a quick selfie?" G smiled as she leaned forward.

"Okay yeah, oh my god, this is awesome. I'm sorry I just get really nervous around pretty girls and you're like my platonic crush." He nervously grabbed his phone and searched through the apps until finding the camera option.

He took the phone and placed it on selfie mode, posing with a big grin and G behind his right shoulder with her typical smile. He took three selfies before nervously making sure they had saved to his phone, looking at the screen as if he was holding a bag of diamonds.

"Later, Blazing Bob!" G said with one last smile as she got off the car and closed the door behind her.

"Tom Blazer..." Tom said to himself while watching G walk away and disappear into the famous restaurant, he sighed softly with silly smile on his face.

After ordering a combo of pancakes and coffee, G sat at an empty table, being one of the few people there, across from a group of friends who seemed to have just finished doing their morning jog. They looked so happy and carefree, making G wonder when was the last time she had felt the same way. She knew what she was getting herself into, but most of the time she felt she didn't really have a choice. It was her duty to help those in need, but she never asked for such thing. She was born with the power to do so, it would be wrong not to, the world needed her, etc, etc... Why couldn't she just be G always? The happy streamer who earned enough money to rent a penthouse at one of the most expensive buildings, the girl who only had to worry about letting others watch her play video games while uploading a picture once a month in a swim suit, sometimes of her food or even her toes. She had the life people would trade their mothers in for and she couldn't enjoy it.

No, she had to be Wintry. Protector of Pi City, the prodigy daughter of Techno, the real Techno. Not the man who claimed to be him. That's why she needed to do it. So people like Cornelius Long don't have power over the city, so people like him don't keep living of her dad's work. She needed Wintry and so did the city. Leave it to an unhealthy breakfast to remind you who you were.

"Isn't that her?" The loud whisper of one of the boys in the next table caught G's attention. "This building in the back is totally this one and look, same clothes."

She knew what had happened now, the dumb Blazing Bob had uploaded their selfie together. She can't believe it went viral just while she was eating breakfast. I like to eat there, idiot. Should've taken the free ride back home, but no, here you are. She scolded herself internally as the guys next to her tried to decided who should ask her who she was.

"Hey, sorry. Are you G?" A man about 21 years old with a clean undercut and trimmed beard stood next to G's table. "We saw this picture and figured it was you."

Once again, caught. G turned slowly to look at the phone in the man's hand, showing the picture she had just taken with her Uber driver a while back. She removed her hoodie, nodding slowly with a smile while chewing her hash brown.

"I knew it!" He turned around towards his friends, who quickly stood up and rushed towards G's table. "We're actually league players too. We're Diamond rank, since we don't get to play much. We watch a lot of your games, big fans. How you handled Master Yi yesterday, that was dope."

"Thanks, I practice a lot." She gestured for them to take a sit, might as well use them as a distraction from her own thoughts.

The first guy took a sit quickly, joined by the other two, making all three squish into the small booth seat, the other two still shocked while the first one kept talking. "You think you could give us any tips? We struggle too much to rank up. Oh I'm Matty by the way, this is..."

"Roeland!" The guy in the middle quickly replied, "I'm also main Master Yi, but yours is just at another level."

"I'm Arthur, tank of the team." The third guy seemed to shy to talk, nervously looking for his friends to keep the conversation going.

"Sorry guys, I'm not really a coach type of person." G leaned over to drink from her straw, she could feel the eyes of the men in front of her following her every movement.

"That's totally cool. Are you going to college here?" Roeland played with his hands, clearly improvising, "There's this party tomorrow..."

"Yeah! We could hook you up or we could all take our laptops and play a bit." Matty quickly added trying to follow along with his friends suggestion.

G brushed her right bang behind her ear before resting her head on her hand, giving the group a smile while chewing her McMuffin. The boys nervously waited for her to answer, eagrly watching her, except Arthur, who seemed to shy to look directly at her.

"Sorry I have plans." G said, feeling bad after seeing disappointment sweep over their faces. "But I think we're going to the same party, I'll see you there."

The three men celebrated quickly, saying the word 'okay' a couple of times until Matty finally spoke up. "Um do you want our numbers or..."

"You can give us yours! We can pick you up, make sure you're safe and stuff." Roeland quickly added, getting kicked in the chin by Matty.

G laughed, covering her mouth to make sure her McMuffin stayed inside of it. "No. Just say hi if you see me."

"Can we take a photo..." Arthur finally spoke up, holding up his phone ready to take the picture.

"G at McDonalds, sure why not." She waved at the phone as everyone else tried to squeeze into the frame without blocking G. "Don't upload it right away please, don't want people rushing over here, there's probably already some on the way."

The three men agreed to the terms as G finished eating, hearing them talk about their League of Legends ranked matches, and then went back home. It wasn't long before her fans figured out what McDonalds she had eaten at, which meant she couldn't go back there for a while and that her location was probably revealed. She was prepared though, taking various photos a week before school at different locations. She uploaded them with the words "Finally Home", showing the district of South Slice in the background. The internet ate it up, social media filled with people trying to pin point the location where the photo had been taken. However the story quickly died out, as a new one started to become more popular.

Wintry had started to make noise once again. Someone in The Ripples had taken a video of her skating across the sky. They quickly connected her with the man that had been frozen who had been beaten up and left unconscious for the police. The news weren't all that great, as some people believed it was Wintry's fault the girl had overdosed and suggested she should have rescued her instead of fighting. The comments began adding up, some defending Wintry's actions while other blaming her to the point saying she worked for the government and had been sent to test out the suit that can freeze people. G spent hours going through the comments and video blogs about it, slowly realizing that Wintry's fanbase was way worse than G's. After tormenting herself with social media, she lit up her Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer pipe and watched The Office until she fell asleep.
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