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No matter how many subscribers he had it didn't change the fact that Roman could still become nervous over asking if someone wanted to do a collab. Most of his current collabs had begun when he was a much smaller channel over 5 years ago. Through Cinder he met Mercury and Emerald, and with Neo joining occasionally they'd become known on Youtube as Team CRME+N. Thanks to them he had grown his channel into what it was today, with over 2 million subscribers he'd even been able to quit his job and do Youtube full time.
While editing he had gone from watching CrescentRose's solo let's plays to some of her collabs, her most popular were titled Team RWBY. She was outgoing and creative, with her own spunk that usually left him cracking up; he'd wanted the chance to record with her. That left him with the problem on how to contact her, PMs on Youtube could be dodgy at best and there was the chance her inbox could be full. Glancing at her bio page he noted she had an email linked. Old school but he used his own as well for Youtube business, opening it up he stared at the email debating what to say before beginning to type:
Hey, I'm MelodicCudgel, was wondering if you'd consider doing a collab with me sometime. Usually play indie games, but I've been doing Don't Starve and they just released the co-op expansion, think you might like it.
It was simple and straight to the point, so before he could second guess himself he had hit send. It was two days later when he finally got a response while once again in the middle of editing, surprisingly enough it was an IM instead of an email.
CrescentRose: Is this really MelodicCudgel or am I being punked?
Roman had to resist the urge to laugh then again it wasn't like this sort of thing didn't happen often. He'd seen enough fake twitters and tumblrs to know people impersonated him or posted fake photos of him saying they finally saw him.
MelodicCudgel: I'm pretty sure I'm me, is this the real Ruby Rose?
CrescentRose: Yes. But seriously I don't mean to be a jerk but do you have any way to prove it's you?
Roman blinked at the chat, proof it was him? Well that was a new request then again it been a while since he'd asked someone to collab.
MelodicCudgel: What would convince you it's me?
Roman drummed his fingers on his desk now completely done trying to edit as he focused completely on their chat.
CrescentRose: You could tweet something? Something you'd normally never say?
MelodicCudgel: Do you one better, I'll @ you. Anything specific you'd like me to say?
He was already in the middle of opening up twitter on his other tab, it took a moment to find her actual twitter during which he saw the chat go off.
CrescentRose: I'm indie hipster trash?
Staring at the chat Roman burst out laughing, shaking his head he typed up the tweet writing it out. Barely a few seconds later and people were already questioning why he had tweeted that and why he was tweeting at Ruby. Roman saw a notification pop up on the chat and turned back towards it.
CrescentRose: It's actually you. Oh my god. You can delete the tweet!
Laughing he shook his head already finding himself looking forward to working with Ruby.
MelodicCudgel: Nah I'll leave it up, future reference for when we started collabing.
A few days later after planning out when and how to record Roman was checking over his set up. His mic was in front of him at his desk, as well as his other two monitors in front of him. One was for the actual game and the other was to monitor that everything was recording properly.
"You do your intro yet?" he asked as he booted up the game.
"Nope give me just a second," Ruby spoke up fidgeting with her own mic.
After their weird start Ruby had been slightly on edge about this recording session. Collabs were fun, by yourself commentary was something most struggled with to keep the audience entertained. During collabs it was a lot easier having someone else to bounce commentary off of. Still there was no guarantee they'd even be any good together, while RWBY was a success it didn't mean it be the same with every youtuber. At least with RWBY they knew each other personally, Roman was almost a stranger and not only that but he actually did this for a living.
"Hey guys it's Ruby, today I'm joined by MelodicCudgel thought most of you just call him Roman," she greeted smiling at her web cam.
"Yo, Roman here and were playing Don't Starve Together. I'm using Woody whose got a talking ax and a deep dark secret," Roman replied.
"I don't know who to pick," Ruby mumbled looking through the characters.
"Well you'll be happy to hear there's bunnies all around the spawn point. Might wanna hurry and pick though. Times moving since I'm already in the server," Roman explained as he picked up basic supplies.
"Is it really!? Um...I'll just go with Wilson, stick with the basics and he does get that sweet beard," Ruby said joining into the game.
After playing for 15 minutes with the occasional comment Ruby felt herself relaxing falling into easy conversation.
"Ok so I have flower crown, do you want one?" she questioned as she made an extra one and walked her character over to Roman's.
"Depends will it make me feel pretty?" he questioned as he stopped chopping down trees.
Ruby blinked for a moment caught off guard before giggling, "Yes it will make you feel very pretty."
"Then of course I want one," he replied and she swore she could practically hear the smirk in his voice.
Not for the first time she wondered what he looked like, after their first few chats she had watched his videos. She'd heard of him but considering he mostly played indie or rpgs she hadn't had much interest. At least not until she sat down and actually watched, after watching one of his playthroughs she'd found herself charmed by his quick wit and flair for dramatics. Then of course the whole mysteriousness that surrounded him due to refusing to use webcam, even going as far as banning the word face from his stream chat.
Using the give option she watched as a flower crown popped up on Roman's character's head, "Do you feel pretty now."
"I feel very pretty, thanks Red," he replied chuckling softly.
Ruby felt her face heat up and shook her head a grin forming on her face, "Alright pretty boy, let's get back to setting up our base."