Ted was spending his morning with Emily at her house, since it was her day off. As usual, her parents were at work, and an excuse had been made for him to be there in case someone had noticed his car there. They were in her bedroom, with her laptop on her desk, visiting the picture-sharing website. Scores of comments had been made on her pictures, and several fans had responded to the request for tributes with pictures and videos.
"How would you like to give your fans a treat today?" he asked as they scrolled through all the fan comments.
"More pictures?" She started to get up and go to her father's room for his camera.
"Better. Want to do a live cam chat?"
"Talk to them live? But they'd hear my voice...what if someone there...what if I know someone that goes there? They'd see my face, and my room..." she wasn't prepared to go that far, even for the thrill it would bring.
"We'll make sure nothing is in the background, we'll mute the microphone so you only answer by typing in the chat, and you can wear your Mardi Gras mask so your face won't be seen." Ted had it all figured out already.
"Ohhh...now it sounds like fun," Emily admitted.
They moved her desk so it was facing the wall, so the background was just bare white. She got the half-mask from her closet and put it on, checking herself in the mirror. She didn't want to make it easy, so she tied her hair back in a tight ponytail, a style she never used. Satisfied that she was sufficiently unrecognizable, she looked in her closet for an outfit. "Am I going to strip or what?" she asked.
"Not all the way. Tease them. Let's go live and just see how many people start watching. It will take a while, but if you want, you can show some skin after a bit. Maybe set a goal, say you'll show boobs if you get x number of viewers."
Emily picked a sexy bra and a shirt that unbuttoned down the front. As she changed, Ted posted on her page that she was going to the chat area to go live in ten minutes. For anyone who was in her fan base, an email notification would be sent that she had made a new post. All over the world, desktop computers, laptops, and cell phones chimed their respective "new message" sounds. At the Sea Coast Compland store, Geoffrey's phone buzzed with all the others.
Emily turned on the camera in test mode to check the settings. The picture was excellent, and she adjusted the camera angle so that only the lower half of her face was showing.
"They won't be wanting to see my face anyway," she thought.
They muted the microphone so they could talk and not be heard by viewers. As the clock approached the ten minute mark, Ted coached Emily on things she could say to tease her audience, and get them wanting more.
At the top of the hour, Emily clicked the "Enter Chat" button and went to the general room, which was the equivalent of the lobby. She watched the conversation without announcing her appearance yet. A few people saw she had entered and greeted her.
"Hi DaddysAngel"
"Welcome DaddysAngel"
"Hey! DaddysAngel is here! Love your pic sets babe!"
"XOXO DaddysAngel"
"DaddysAngel you are so sexxy xoxo"
Ted showed Emily how to activate the camera for live video chat. The chat ticker said, "DaddysAngel has created a video room. Click here to join conversation."
A new window opened, and the left side of the screen showed the image from Emily's webcam, and on the right, a scrolling list of messages from people joining the room.
The room filled to around 30 people immediately, and Emily started chatting with the people there. The chat was mostly her saying "thanks" to all the compliments on her pictures, and a lot of, "Hi, how are you?" greetings. Ted noticed the view count start to grow. Ted made sure he didn't cross behind Emily; he wanted everyone watching to think she was alone.
The number of viewers steadily rose as people logged in to their site accounts after having received the notification, and the viewer count was soon at 50, then 75.
By this time, people were asking to see more than just a live chat with a clothed girl. None of the messages were worded in a demanding way; all were polite and complimentary.
"Love your pic sets. Want to go live?"
"Are you here to do a live strip?? That would be beautiful!!"
"Clothed or not, I'm jerking to you right now. So sexy."
"I've never enjoyed being teased more."
So far, Emily hadn't committed to showing more, but instead flirted and continued to thank everyone in the room. Ted chuckled at some of the messages that included emails with offers to give Emily the best time of her life if they could only meet up. Some people asked more probing questions in an attempt to figure out her identity or location.
Emily was careful to keep her answers vague, but polite.
"Babe, do you have a MySpace? Add me!"
"What time zone are you in? It's 10:47 here."
"Do you work today? It's night here. What kind of work do you do? I bet you're a model lol (wink)"
"Yeah! She must be!!"
Many people chimed in and agreed, and the consensus of the room was that Emily was a lingerie model.
As the view count approached 90, Ted said, "Issue a challenge. Tell them if the count gets to 100, you'll take something off for fun." She typed the message and continued chatting with the room.
"Hey DaddysAngel, is your daddy home right now? (wink)"
"Should I answer that some way?" she asked Ted out loud.
"Tell them you're alone right now, but you're not sure when your parents will be home," he suggested, "That's not saying much, other than you still live with parents."
As she typed the response, Ted got an idea. The view count got closer to 100.