24. No More Hiding
The banhammer was swift. Rippa was suspended both on YouTube and Twitch, and the VODs of that stream were deleted. ‘Violent content.’ She learned DeAndre’s channel was also nuked for content guideline violations.
‘So unfair.’ Rippa was bitter. Some thugs had decided they would rather spend an afternoon stomping on a one-legged child and a small middle schooler, but she was the one being punished and having her livelihood threatened? So unfair, indeed.
Fortunately, her Kick account and the VOD from the simulcast were intact. DeAndre, apparently having learned from his TikTok ban, had simulcast on Kick as well. His VOD was live and kicking. The internet was still farming clips from the two VODs.
Nevertheless, her haters on X and Bluesky were rejoicing. After all, her YouTube channel was her main source of income. They had previously mistaken Miss Pendrake for Rippa, which had been a big L to swallow because Miss Pendrake was pretty. When they eventually came to the realization that Miss Pendrake was too young to be Rippa, they took that as a win. ‘Yeah, no way that’s Rippa LOL,’ they said. And the news of her ban? The cherry on top.
Rippa was sitting at her stream station in Goggles’ office. On her main monitor, her X profile. She had the draft editor open, but empty.
‘Now, how do I address this?’ she wondered. She wasn’t in a hurry, but she didn’t have all the time in the world either.
Yes, the world was in chaos. Even the mainstream media kept repeating the same few clips on a loop. Wild speculations and conspiracy theories were flying left and right. And the obligatory “It’s AI-generated, you idiots.”
‘Rippa’ had been trending ever since. Everyone was waiting for her.
‘Say something,’ they were demanding. Her phone wouldn’t stop buzzing, so she muted everything.
But she had to be careful. Rippa knew that. Letting the Racist Taco Truck Girl label run wild had been a painful lesson.
As she was contemplating what to say to the world, the door leading to Buttons’ bedroom creaked ajar.
Buttons poked her head in. When their eyes met, Rippa stood up.
“Morning, kid,” Rippa tried to sound cheerful. “You alright?”
Buttons retreated. There was the sound of her running, a door opening and shutting.
Rippa approached the door. The marble soldiers guarding the door opened it for her. Behind them, in the corridor, Miss Pendrake stood up from her chair. She nodded to the soldiers guarding the door to Buttons’ bedroom, and they uncrossed their spears and opened the door for Rippa. They weren’t going to let Rippa go through the trouble of opening doors herself.
Buttons was on her bed, head buried in her knees.
Rippa sat down beside the kid. “What’s wrong? Does it still hurt?”
Buttons shook her head.
“Ah, Goggles? No, he’s not mad.”
Buttons shook her head again.
“What is it then? The bad people? I won’t let them hurt you again, I promise—”
“Rippa…” Buttons’ voice was weak. “Aren’t you scared of me?”
Rippa opened her mouth, but no words came out. She glanced at Madam J.D., who was sitting in a chair by the door. The nanny did not offer help. This was between Buttons and Rippa.
Rippa took a deep breath and bonked the kid on the head. “Yes! You scared the shit out of me, dumbass! I was so scared you’d die!”
Buttons raised her head. Her mouth was open, and her eyes were wide, stunned by this reaction.
“You have a goddamned Jedi and still let them beat you like that? I was scared shitless!” Rippa was now shouting. It felt so liberating. She bonked the kid’s head again. “Even Dad came from his work! Do you get that? Don’t you ever—” bonk, “do that—” bonk, “to me—” bonk, “again!”
Rippa then hugged Buttons so tightly the child was out of breath. “Buttons, let Goggles do his magic.” She held the kid’s head firmly and pressed it against herself. “Please don’t hide from my world. I want you to be a part of it.” Rippa then released Buttons and locked eyes, but she had run out of things to say. She just looked into those big, teary eyes.
Buttons grabbed Rippa and buried her head in Rippa’s chest so fast it hurt a little.
***
Rippa returned to the office with Buttons in tow.
“Morning,” Goggles greeted the kid from his desk.
“Morning, Goggles,” Buttons greeted back.
And the two chatted as usual.
“Erm… Goggles, would you tell her you aren’t mad? That you don’t hate her?” Rippa interrupted the two.
“Oh, I did,” said Goggles.
“Yeah, we are cool,” Buttons added.
“When?” Rippa paused. “Oh, telepathy, I see, I see.” Then she raged. “Motherfuckers, you have tools! Use them, for god’s sake!”
Goggles and Buttons exchanged glances.
“Miss Rippa, we did. As I told you just now,” he moved a finger between his head and Buttons’.
“I mean, when it matters!”
“Yeah, yeah,” Buttons brushed her off.
With a huff, Rippa sat down at her desk and stared at the monitor. She still had an X post to make. ‘What do I write? Guys, my friend is a brat?’
“So what are we doing today?” Buttons asked.
“I am amusing myself with the internet,” Goggles answered. “It seems the world has turned upside down.”
“Oh, show me, show me!”
***
In the end, after a discussion with Goggles and Buttons, Rippa decided not to post anything explanatory. Instead, with the help of ChatGPT, she made a thumbnail for the next stream. With that, she would schedule a live-stream and make an announcement on X, as she had done with every other stream.
“What do you think?” Rippa showed the tentative thumbnail to Buttons.
The kid was jumping up and down. She loved it.
Goggles leaned in and studied the thumbnail.
In the bottom right corner, Rippa’s avatar was making an O-face. She was pointing at an AI-generated chibi image of Buttons in the center. At the top was a line of bold text that read “Q&A with Buttons.”
“To the point. Very.” Goggles nodded. “But could we schedule it earlier? Nine in the evening is—”
“Ah, her bedtime,” Rippa nodded. “When would it be good?”
“How about three in the afternoon?” Goggles suggested. “That’d be eleven at night for Europe, and seven in the morning for Asia.”
Rippa was impressed. “Wow, you really want the maximum exposure, eh?”
Goggles flashed a quick smile. “Well, I figured many people would want to tune in.”
Rippa scheduled an upcoming live-stream on Kick using the thumbnail, with the date set for three days from now. She then copied the link and pasted it into the X post draft.
“‘Big Drama! Drops Enabled! I can explain - Q&A with Buttons’… and post.” Rippa clicked on the Post button.
“Let’s go!” Buttons shouted.
The reaction was instant.
Rippa and Buttons watched in awe as the post’s view count ticked up in real time. People were bookmarking and quote-reposting it like crazy.
And, hours later, Rippa received emails from YouTube and Twitch. Her suspension had been lifted.
‘Fuckers,’ Rippa muttered under her breath. They knew this was going to be big. So big that they didn’t want to miss out.
‘Oh, well…’ Rippa scheduled the same stream on YouTube and shared its link on her X. After all, YouTube still was her main base.