Chapter Text
It's been five years since Elliot Connors pulled the trigger and left Robert Robertson the Third scrambling to drop everything to pick up the mantle. Five long years of constantly having to pick up after himself, five agonizing years of forcing himself to adapt better to the seat of his father.
He's running himself ragged by 22. His birthday was spent miserable as he ate a cup noodle in the convenience store, scrolling furiously on his phone for any jobs opening near him.
It's hellish. He's a highschool dropout, no degrees to his name, and everywhere he was searching for in Torrance was asking him about his entry-level experience. Good luck trying to find a job that he actually specialized in such as cybersecurity, as his email was still bone dry after months of reaching out with his resume. He did, annoyingly, got his contact information leaked as his number suddenly got a bout of spam calls. Asshole. He made sure to sneak something devastating to the culprit's systems for the trouble.
The world is not kind to adults with no support pillars, no connections. Just money inheritance and a suit to his name, the rest he has to figure out himself.
Collecting and tossing his trash to the wastebin provided, Robert politely waved at the cashier who recognizes him as a regular by now as he left the convenience store. He's left slumping as he's walking down the sketchy neighborhood, chewing at his bottom lip as he worried about how long he can keep this up for.
His inheritance won't last long. He's been living frugally ever since he took the decision to be Mechaman and the slow drain of his cash reserves was a constant weight in his mind. Robert is scared of the idea of stopping now after five years of fighting for his dad's legacy, just because of the bills. He can't handle the sheer embarrassment if his father's ghost could see him now.
He's lucky he haven't sunk so low to rely on taking loans, but it's not looking too good for him. The first tentative years of being Mechaman was sloppy, awkward, all of the bad adjectives. It was a teenage him, trying to learn the ropes in a field that won't baby him if he falls behind. He cringes now, thinking about how much money he blew up in his shaky start. Those were rough days.
Making a sharp turn around the bend of the street, a fluttering ad that was crookedly stuck to a building's wall caught his eye.
WE ARE SEEKING YOU, VTUBER!
- CAN VOICE ACT (NICE VOICE)
- BE ENTERTAINING
- BE CHARMING
THINK YOU GOT WHAT IT TAKES? WALK-IN INTERVIEWS ARE AVAILABLE!
Now Robert's not quite sure what a vtuber is, but he can make several deductions. Video-youtuber perhaps? This sounds mildly sketchy, as the building this ad was posted on looks like a killer shack, but his feet was guiding him forward anyway. He has time to kill curiosity.
The inside of the structure was significantly nicer than outside. There was an attempt at sweeping the floor, rugs barely concealing questionable stains on the floor, and a pot of sunflowers on one corner of the room. The place has the layout of a cafe that was restructured to be a personal office it seems, as there's still leftover chairs and tables stacked on one side of the room.
Two doors, one on the left and the other hiding behind an unmanned counter.
Helpfully, there's a standing sign with the outlined words: "GO INTO THE LEFT ROOM FOR INTERVIEWS 👈😼 KNOCK FIRST."
A bit pensive, Robert did exactly that. He didn't even had time to do a second knock when a voice shouted out immediately, "YES ENTER!"
With a twist of the handle, Robert entered.
The room was a clutter of cabinets and bookcases. There's posters of what might've been fictional cartoon idols on the walls, with small plastic standees and toy figurines decorated around. Robert immediately knew these were very lovingly cared for, as each of these items seemed very purposefully placed and coordinated in the small space.
Behind a metal desk sits a bespectacled lady with a reptilian head-- komodo dragon, Robert's mind immediately figured, as he's well acquainted with a villain with the exact head shape. He wondered if they might be related, as they had similar green eye colours.
Her tongue slithered out as she tasted the air briefly, and she stared at Robert with great interest.
"Name's Kassandra Jahari, proud owner to POPLive." She introduced herself, puffing her chest out proudly. "Sit down, sit down! Let's talk business."
The chair is nice, as it's structurally a really fluffy armchair. Robert is immediately swallowed down by the cushioning of the seat, making him comically shorter to Kassandra's height. He had to suppress a snort at the immediate difference.
But so far? The interviewer seemed professional in her button blouse, slacks and tie. Robert's trustworthy danger senses aren't tingling. He forces his back to relax, feeling a bit relieved that his impulsive act to come here won't lead to regrets.
With a small, almost excited clap, Kassandra started the usual interview spiel, "So! Tell me about yourself first, and why you're interested in this job."
Fuck. Okay. Robert didn't even prepare himself a speech for how spontaneous this was. Would she mind if he pulled up his phone to show his resume document right now, or would that make him look like a loser? Probably not a good idea, his resume was mostly of him showing off his tech aptitude. This job seems more lined for acting skills.
"My name's Robert Robertson, yes that's my real name, and I'm 22 years old. I'm currently searching for a job, and I've um, never had one before. I'm good with people skills, and the advertisement was interesting. That's....... basically it." He said lamely, internally screaming. Serves him right, now he gets to look like some snivelling idiot who has no idea what he just walked in for.
She made a snappish gesture either way. Interesting. She doesn't seem to mind his weak background.
"And what of Vtubing? What's your interest in it?"
"No idea what that is, but I'm a quick work. I can pick up things fast."
"... Hah." She said, blinking.
Generally, Robert isn't what you might call as a very Online guy. He likes his usual tech YouTubers and reads up on articles online about the latest superhero gossip, but that's basically it. He's the topmost layer of what the internet audience generally consists of.
So when she had shoved a pamphlet that was filled with unrecognizable jargons to his hand, he can't help but squint at the words.
"Twitch streamer?" He said unsurely, looking at the sparkly cartoon characters on the sheet with complicated clothing that are in varying levels of revealing. Some of them are so colourful and intricate in design, it hurts his eyes to fully take it in.
Majority of them has animal ears attached to their upper heads. The person who made this pamphlet definitely has a bias. Robert has a sinking suspicion that the interviewer was the one who created it, as she's studying his reaction veryyy carefully for his micro-expressions.
"Charming. You have this dork puppy energy to you. You're already putting in work." Said Kassandra, rubbing her hands together like she's a very spirited fly about to dig into a meal. "I like that.... I like that...."
"I'm sorry but I came here for a voice acting gig? What does this mean?"
"Well. Voice acting is just a tiny quarter of it.... Don't tell me you really came here with barely any research on what you're being interviewed for."
Robert winced, caught. He shot her a cheeky smile when he confessed, "Figured I might give it a shot. The advertisement was right outside and you offered walk-ins."
The lady grumbled a bit, but didn't seem as annoyed as he feared. If anything, Robert's plain honesty made her lighten up a bit.
"You're lucky we haven't got any good clients coming in at all for my agency. I'm absolutely scraping at the bottom of the barrel here."
Discreetly, Robert's eyes scrolled around the dilapidated building this interview was held in. There's a dead cockroach hiding behind a cabinet whose head is disturbingly missing. ".... Yes...... I'm sure..."
Tapping the brochure, she started explaining with barely-concealed excitement of a person sharing their interest, "Honestly I don't blame you for not knowing what Vtubing is. It's still a very niche community in America, originating from Japan, but I can feel it. The potential, the market boom in the future. I want to start a company located here in Torrance. I could be... a pioneer."
She continues, "They're basically anonymous virtual idols. The characters you see here? This is their personas that they show off to audience online. Entertainers, talents, stars, whatever you call it."
"Huh." Robert said smartly, absorbing all of this with a grain of salt, "And what do they broadcast exactly? Talent shows? Cooking tutorials?"
"Some independent talents plan their own scheduled streams, just like your usual video content creators. They play games, they interact with watchers, do sponsors, show off their interests. Being in agencies helps guide them along, helps their PR and the likes."
"So you're a one-person team then? A sole manager for this Vtubing pitch?"
She seems delighted-- once more proud at herself over Robert's line of question.
"Correct. Well, I outsource some help for the more technical things, but the planning, the production, the art, I do it all." She smiled, genuine and shining with all fangs, "This was always my dream... to manage my own idol into stardom..."
Her eyes briefly glassed over as she looked down at the brochure. Robert scratched at his nose as he waited for her inner-flashback sequence to finish. He's surprised how casually she's treating this interview once Robert opened up to her with his honesty.
"I have to say... You're surprisingly really receptive to this. The last three people that came in kept snickering at the idea of being a digital anime celebrity." She said, leaning back. A puff of warmth escaped her nostrils as she sneered. "I have no patience to entertain them. Simple minded, the lot of them."
Robert shrugged at that, "Eh. Bare minimum. I'm just treating this as like, an acting profession. But I'm probably unqualified for this, now that I think about it. This seems way bigger than just a voice acting gig."
"Wow. I think that's the nicest thing someone had ever said for my passion project."
"What? What did I say?"
"You're hired," She said, leaning forward in a frenzy to shake his hands like he might just hightail out of here if she doesn't. "Give me a week to plan out a character concept for you. I can feel it. My muse is coming up. I'll contact you throughout the process. Please, keep the pamphlet and make additional research."
Robert, not truly understanding what he's signing up, shrugged. This is definitely gonna be the weirdest side hustle he will ever be involved with yet, but he's strangely invested to see what his manager (?) will cook up for him. Sounds like a fun little side gig to indulge.
But acting, huh? He does have some experience with it. Transferable skills sets. He remembers being 17 and fixing up the voice modulation to his suit to make him sound older, but it's not just that. He has to sell his intonation, his speech pattern, lessen any and all stammering, just to really get into the Mechaman character. And in a sad way, he feels like he's been Mechaman longer than he remembers being just Robert in his head already.
Robert was just a blank lonely human shell with a dead father. Mechaman was a shining hero dedicated to his thankless craft, loved by all. It's easy to prefer one over the other.
Hell, today's conversation was the longest he has spoken to someone all year long as just Robert. What a sad thought.
And Robert wondered if this acting career, if it does work out, would make him forget his real identity. Seems like a serious commitment, with how passionate his employer was whenever she shoots him a text about his character.
He had to firmly shoot down her idea of putting dog ears on his character model though. He's not quite sure if he succeeded in convincing her.