Layla remained where she had stepped back, leaving the space between herself and Zoey open. After a moment, she brought her hands together and folded them neatly in front of her.
"You sure? We can take a break if you want. It's your stream. I’ll follow your lead."
Her voice stayed low and steady. She made no move toward the table or the products while she waited, her hands resting together in front of her and her posture unchanged.
Beside the camera feed, Zoey's chat continued to scroll.
CHAT:
why does she sound like she’s handing her the remote to a spaceship
LAYLA MVP
she’s so calm it’s terrifying
Zoey slowly uncovered her face. Her palms slid away from her cheeks, revealing skin that was still noticeably red, and she blinked several times in quick succession as she looked at Layla. Her first nod came immediately, fast enough to send a few strands near the edge of her headband shifting. A second followed more slowly.
"Y-yeah-no! I mean yes! I mean I’m sure! Break not needed! Everything’s... processing normally!"
CHAT:
no it’s not
she’s malfunctioning in 4K
layla out here offering sanctuary and zoey’s doing jazz hands
A breathy laugh escaped Zoey as she glanced toward the monitor. She lifted her hands again, though this time they stayed closer to herself rather than disappearing over her face.
"You’re being, like, super respectful and nice and now I feel like the feral raccoon in the kitchen, so that’s cool, love that for me."
She brought her palms together in a single sharp clap. The sound carried cleanly into the microphone, and Zoey immediately turned her attention back toward the collection of skincare products on the table.
Layla unfolded her hands.
"Alright. Let’s continue. No more touching. I’ll let you apply this one yourself."
She reached for the pot of cream and picked it up with both hands. Rather than leaning over Zoey again, she extended it across the table and placed it within easy reach before drawing her hands back. The distance she had established between them remained intact.
Zoey looked down at the cream. The pot now sat among the other products in front of her, close enough that she wouldn't need to lean far from her chair to reach it.
A new message appeared among the stream of anonymous reactions, except this one came with a name.
A familiar one.
[VIP] hannaH: NO MORE WHAT??? WHAT HAPPENED?!!!
Zoey's hand had already started toward the cream.
It stopped above the pot, fingers open and hovering a few inches from the lid.
Her eyes snapped toward the monitor.
The VIP tag stood out immediately among the messages rushing around it, and Hannah's question remained visible long enough for the rest of Zoey's chat to notice exactly who had arrived.
CHAT:
OH NO HANNAH LOGGED IN AT THE WORST TIME
VIP JUST DROPPED A BOMB
chat snitching speedrun any%
DO NOT RECAP ANYTHING
Zoey's hovering hand curled slightly before she pulled it back toward herself. Her other hand rose at the same time, and for a second both seemed to have somewhere different to go before she abandoned both movements and looked directly toward the camera.
"Hannah! hi! Oh my god hi. Nothing happened! We’re just...we’re doing product stuff! Cream! Moisturizer! Absolutely nothing inappropriate! It’s a very sterile environment! Mentally! I mean..."
Her hands returned to the table.
One landed on the cream pot while the other caught the lid. Zoey pulled at it with considerably more force than necessary, popping it free with a sharp movement and setting it down among the other products.
She immediately reached into the open pot.
"See? Product application! Alone! Like a normal person! Definitely not because someone extremely poised and composed massaged my face on camera while I... blanked out of my own body."
Her fingers stopped in the cream.
Zoey stared toward the monitor with her mouth still slightly open, while new messages began appearing almost faster than the previous ones could leave the screen.
CHAT:
YOU SAID IT ANYWAY 😭
hannah JUST GOT LORE DROPPED
layla watching her implode like it’s ASMR
Layla said nothing.
She stood on the other side of the table with her hands free now, watching Zoey. Her expression did not change. After several seconds, she blinked once.
Zoey looked away from her and concentrated very firmly on the cream covering her fingers.
She brought it to her face and began spreading it across her skin in hurried circles. Her fingertips moved over one cheek and then the other, leaving uneven streaks that she immediately tried to work farther across her face. The careful demonstration from a few minutes earlier had apparently contributed nothing to the speed at which Zoey was now applying the next product.
"...Everything's fine."
She had said that enough times by now that, if repetition had any power over reality, everything really should have been fine.
Another message appeared.
[VIP] hannaH: ??????????????