Losing with grace

It was all going to come down to this last bonus crown. I briefly peeked at the view count.

“Fif- Fifty thousand!?”

That was insane. These were the numbers only large channels could pull off daily. Astrid was a well-known streamer, but for her to be getting astronomical numbers like these even for an event like this was impressive. I assumed she had connections to some larger streamers which contributed to the stream going viral. Chat was unreadable as comments zipped by in flash. Then the results came in.

“The final bonus is the Oni bonus!” the game’s announcer stated.

“Wait does that mean I win!?” Leona giddily asked.

“I think a CPU landed on them more than you, but I can’t remember Astrid said.

I hadn’t been paying attention, so I had no idea. Sven started a last second poll while Astrid pressed the button.

“The bonus goes to… Squeegee and Wally!”

“YES!” Leona roared as Astrid sighed and ran her hand through her hair.

Leona had clutched it in dramatic fashion. She had tied with the CPU meaning they both got the bonus crowns. This meant she won 1st place with a 1 crown lead.

“I FINALLY WON A GAME! YOU’RE NEXT CROWBOY!” Leona happily roared as I stood up in shock.

Astrid smiled as she leaned back in her chair.

“Well Skit! Looks like I’m going bald. Since Leona won the gauntlet, we’ll be streaming my shave on her channel. Don’t go away, we’re raiding Leona.”

It was time for me to get to work. I helped Leona hook up her laptop and begin her stream before Astrid initiated the raid.

“Ya’ll still here? Good! I don’t want anyone to miss this,” Astrid said as she checked the views.

Instead of losing viewers, we gained them and were now at 85,000. Sven and I began moving the cameras into position as Leona and Astrid got the shaving tools ready. When everything was ready, Astrid draped herself in a clear cape and sat down in the chair. Leona held the clippers as Astrid faced the camera.

“So yeah, I lost. That means no hair for me. Welp least I won’t have to worry about washing my hair anymore,” she sighed as Leona turned on the clippers.

Astrid playfully screamed as Leona made the first pass. Leona gave Astrid a mohawk and played around with it before shaving it off. She then lathered Astrid’s head with shaving cream.

“When we said bald, we meant BALD bald,” Leona said as she picked up the razor and began shaving.

The view numbers shot up past 100,000.

This was going to be huge for not just Leona, but also Astrid as well. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sven and I got swept up in this too. Once she had finished shaving, Leona lathered up Astrid’s head once again with shaving cream. She then smeared wax over Astrid’s eyebrows.

“We waxing?” Astrid asked with a smile.

“We waxing!” Leona affirmed.

Sven took some pictures as Astrid began making funny faces.

“Like my new do? I call it cream ala wax,” Astrid jibed before taking a deep breath.

“Give it to me,” she demanded as Leona began ripping off the wax.

Astrid cursed in Swedish as Leona ripped off the wax. Leona then smeared shaving cream where Astrid’s eyebrows used to be. Sven took some more pictures before Leona began covering the rest of Astrid’s head and face with shaving cream leaving just her eyes exposed. Astrid pouted as Leona struck a pose.

“Well, there’s the thumbnail,” I said.

After Leona finished shaving, she rubbed Astrid’s head before picking up the wax.

“Well, I did say wax, and I don’t back down when it comes to a challenge,” Astrid said as she took a deep breath.

Leona then began covering Astrid’s head and face with wax.

“My face too?” Astrid giggled.

“Wouldn’t be hardcore if we didn’t do everything,” Leona giggled as she spread a glob of wax over Astrid’s mouth.

Astrid’s muffled laughter could be heard as Leona finished covering her head in wax. Only her eyes were visible while the rest of her head was nothing but green wax.

“You look like Zeck the Oni,” Leona teased.

Astrid began humming Zeck’s theme song while Leona sung the lyrics. Sven and I clapped to beat as chat typed the lyrics. We were all having fun. I had no doubt in my mind that if the roles were reversed, this same scene would still play out. Leona and Astrid were truly on the same wavelength. I’m glad they did this collab.

After Sven took a few more photos, it was time for the unwaxing. Astrid’s muffled curses could be heard as Leona ripped off the wax in one go. She continued to curse for a bit as she massaged her head, before returning to her normal smug mood.

“Alright, lay it on me. How do I look?” she asked as Sven handed her her phone.

Astrid gasped and cupped her hand over her mouth as she saw herself. She defaulted to speaking Swedish for a bit before laughing and slapping her head.

“Now you can cosplay as Millin,” Leona teased.

“How bout ya join me?” Astrid jibbed.

“Not today, but I’m totally gonna do this at some point. Maybe when I reach a subscriber threshold,” Leona stated.

“How much?”

“Maybe 100,000 or a million.”

“Haha! My hair will be down to my ankles in that time.”

“How many are you at?”

Astrid checked her phone.

“My Mewtube’s currently at 579,340 subscribers.”

“I’d hit 100,000 long before you reach a million.”

“Wanna bet on it?”

“Yeah, loser gets their head shaved again.”

“I’ll do you one better, loser gets shaved AND has to get the winner’s logo tattooed on their head.”

“DEAL!”

I laughed at the exchange. There was nothing to worry about now. Even if Leona lost, she’d gleefully accept her punishment. These women were thrill seekers. They enjoyed dares and challenges. Best of all they were friends.

Leona then pulled out a tube of wasabi and began drawing on Astrid’s head and face with it. Astrid laughed at herself before wiping it off and eating it.

“Blech! Ack!”

Astrid dashed for the mini fridge as the rest of us laughed. After chugging down some water, Astrid returned to the camera.

“Welp I’m bald. Make sure to like and subscribe to everyone. Special thanks to Leona and Crowboy50 for comin down and of course to good ole Svenfjordsalt. But don’t think we’re done yet! I ain’t gonna let all that hair go to waste. We’re gonna use it to bake some cupcakes so stay tuned if yaw wanna see me eat hair cupcakes.”

We then pulled out the baking materials.

“This place has an oven in the back we can use to bake everything,” Astrid explained.

                                                                           ...

Once the cupcakes had been placed in the oven, we returned to the room and sat down.

“We’re still live, so how about all 4 of us do a round of Jamboree. Loser eats wasabi salmiak,” Leona suggested.

“I like the way you think, now the devious masterminds Svenfjordsalt and Crowboy50 will duke it out,” Astrid declared.

The number of viewers had dropped, but we were still at 50,000. Based on Astrid’s comment, I assumed Sven was just like me when it came to Jamboree.

“Finally, a worthy opponent,” I said as I pulled out an energy drink.