"Pass me the wine~" An intoxicated Calli was a double-edged sword. Either she'd perform at her best (which wasn't possible since her stream was already off) or she'd continue to ingest larger amounts and spew nonsensical words as a result.
Fortunately, this was only the fourth battle, or should I say bottle. Calli was high on cloud-nine, unable to comprehend me as a human being but a figment of her imagination. No matter the different sides of a person, they weren't heterogenous and the person always remained true to themselves even under the influence. Even outside of work, I was still her personal assistant.
"C'mon! Hurry up! HAHAHA! You're super duper slow, Clayie wayie~"
And basically, coconut milk didn't settle well with her appetite. By her command, I was forced out of my apartment to buy five bottles of alcohol and march back with what's left of my money.
Mori Calliope's sanity flipped the switch and goaded her whole character to diminish. Gone was the badass reaper slash vtuber I high-fived and brought food every morning. Like a person chugging down water by squishing the plastic bottle, Calli chugged down the whole bottle, her gulps ever-so obvious and by the time she set the thing down on her desk, her expression was replaced with a carefree one.
"I'm having a party in my mind tonight WOOOOO!"
45 minutes earlier...
We were seriously trying to compose lyrics to the song she was making. The theme was 'losing a loved one'. Incredibly distinct but it made finding the right words easily attainable. When I had thought about it, I compared it to one of the songs she sang when I eavesdropped on her the first day we met. It was a gentle melody filled with ramifying regret, a torpid fire waiting to burst and subtle word-play.
"Say, if this song's done being written. Are you going to make this into a music video?"
"You excited people are going to listen to your song?" she smirked, clearly being playful.
"I have someone amazing singing it for me." She blinked profusely at that. "It would be nice if my trashy mind can make a song people can listen to, especially if it's in your hands. That's going to be nice. Yep... I'd love to hear you sing what I thought of."
She kept blinking at me like those disco lights in a bar.
"Should we go to an ophthalmologist this week?" It was my turn to poke a needle at her.
"Haha... I'm just not used to being complimented... You called me amazing, is all."
"You are, though. You're kind, honest, and hardworking to a frightening extent. You can be consistent without sleep. I admire you for that."
"Is this a ploy to get higher pay?"
"Who knows?" I say nonchalantly.
Since I bore no experience with music nor found motivation to do so, I had to rely on Calli's input whenever I thought up a line here and there.
She'd point out there has to be an 'umph' or a 'bap' in between and I wouldn't get her musical references until she practiced singing what we wrote.
"What am I supposed to do... Living lives from me to you... A blessing lost to tragedy... Hold me close and set me free..." She elongated the last word of every line smoothly, spun them vocally and transitioned to the next one in a fast sequence. She didn't sing the first part and sang lines further down below near the chorus. I found myself raptured by her voice. It was crisp and elicited raw power. She was only practicing and I felt like I was taking a peak on her from behind-the-scenes footage.
Next was the chorus.
"I'm a demon falling from the skies...~ Spreading my wings high! Born to run and fly! Oh~ I must've left you on read, I didn't know what to say, later that week found you red, and now I'm left with the red on my carpet weak and feeling... dead." I had just written what was on my mind along with her advice but she already made it sound like what I wrote was genius. She said the rest of the words after that 'Oh' in one go like an uncontrollable tornado. She gave me her attention and smiled. "You're pretty good, Clay. There isn't an awkward pause in between the lines and they just roll off perfectly with timing and eloquence."
I lost it at 'eloquence'.
"You might think it's silly but if you were serious in thinking these up, I'd have to ask for your opinion on some occasions."
I didn't do anything great. In fact, she told me to erase a few words here and there so that it'd mesh well with the other lines. I was performing clean-up too on the third aisle.
"I really like how you have to scream the 'I'm a demon' part. It just brings out a possibility that sounds ridiculous but sorrowful." I say honestly. I didn't think she'd sing that part loud. Well, I guess the chorus has to leave a strong impression but still... I was impressed she thought up how to sing that on the spot since I just wrote it. "I took note of your previous songs when I researched about you-"
"You research about me? What am I, a lab rat?" she teased, poking her pencil at my nose.
"It's to get along better with you and-" I stopped halfway and dropped my head down. "I sound like a mad scientist, don't I?"
She kept grinning at me.
"A-anyway... I found a song where you disassembled a word and made it sound like they're two words instead of one. Though I don't know how to do that part well, I just made sure the flow remained consistent with a clear message."
"Hey, you wanna find out why I want you as my personal assistant?"
"Is it because I'm handsome?" My left eye twinkled.
"Hmm..." She looked me over as if to say 'nothing much to look at'. Then she returned to my face with a smug expression. "Meh, you've got a great build and a nice face but even if I did have a Ken doll working for me, I wouldn't let them stay because they could trigger hormones-"
"Fine, I won't comb my hair when I go to work tomorrow."
"Go bald if you want to. I could care less if you want to be that careless."
I gave her the pointing finger. "That's what I was talking about!"
"Huh? What are you saying?"
"The disassembling word thing! You just did it!"
"I did? For a man, you get excited at the weirdest things, Clay."
What are you trying to instigate?
"The reason I wanted you to be my personal assistant is because... I had a feeling you'd try anything for us to work well together."
"Are you sure you didn't just read my folders?" I narrowed my eyebrows at her.
"An important and crucial part of working together is to see if you can maintain common ground with the other party," she said. "I believe we've established that without any issues. My previous ones could've never..."
"Never what?"
"... Be comfortable with me... They were always intimidated... But you..." We were staring at each other, sitting on the couch. My hands were sweating, knees weak, arms too heavy. "I don't know... you just make sure you do what you do and you don't complain a lot. You're not a bore and you manage to surprise me sometimes. You make an effort to talk to me and you're never afraid to say what's on your mind. I guess my previous assistants were just... pretty bland. Am I evil for saying that?"
Actually I do complain. In my head. Being verbal with your frustrations didn't make you a true man. I am in firm belief when you are given a job, you should do it promptly and give it back the same treatment. Sure I yelled and wept being transported to different dimensions, met Death and even cursed when things weren't going my way but I never liked the idea of quitting.
Quitting was for losers. I hated that word with a passion. Quitting from doing bad things was good but quitting because there was nothing else that could be done sounded like an excuse. I stood with pride in my abilities. The moment I fell was a sign of weakness but it was never to surrender.
"It just meant you weren't compatible with them."
"Oh? And I'm compatible with you?"
"You have a problem with that, Calli?"
She placed an arm over my shoulder and brought my head closer to hers, patting my hair like she would a dog. We were basically hugging each other in a side angle. Of course, my hands on were on my lap. No way in hell was I going to reach out and do the same. I might never recover...
Why the heck is my boss so touchy? She always made it a point on stream to never be lewd. She was even considered as a dad figure to her fans. She could hug Kiara or the others but why did it have to be a dude she called a useless water boy?
"I suppose we are. I should thank you again. For being fun and dumb when we have conversations and stuff."
"Do you not have girl talks with your fellow v-tubers?" I was talking about Kiara and the rest.
"A million times. Talking to a man? Outside of work, it's hard. I don't really go out of my way to converse with anyone except my peers and friends at work."
"I could see it..." She was way too popular. Even so, her demographic was a young audience and older ones were a minority.
"That's why I'm really happy I decided to take a chance on you. Seems Yagoo knew you were fit for the role."
"Did you talk to him?"
"Briefly. I wanted you gone."
"Gotta love the honesty." I faked my heart getting broken.
"Hey," she called out to me. "When we're not working, you think we can be close like this on some days?" Like the flash, she immediately stood up from the couch and walked to a nearby wall only to smash her head on it. "Forget I said that. I'm not lonely at all. I'm really not. I just thought you were cool and I could actually hang with you and be chill and uh stuff-"
Was I working for an idol or a flushed schoolgirl?
I wasn't going to lie. Calli was a good person to be around with. Except for when she was reaping. I'm really going to lose my sanity when I have to see another soul regret their life decisions.
"I can't refuse you so I'll have to accept."
"You have the right to accept or refuse. I'm asking as a friend."
"Oh, in that case-" I stood up and extended a hand for her to shake. "I can't refuse you so I'll have to accept."
After we were done writing the song we composed, Calli made me buy five bottles of alcohol in a nearby Seven-Eleven. I wasn't a drinker so I bought soju. I think this was acceptable...