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 Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2020 11:46 am
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Stuck to the bulletin boards in several coffee shops around town were flyers advertising a job opening.
Quote: Local Youtuber Seeks Local Video Editor
There wasn’t much information beyond that, just a brief description of the job in question. (“I don’t always like editing my own videos, so I’d like some help!”) Each flyer was printed on pastel paper, with tabs at the bottom for anyone interested to rip off a phone number, which would direct them to one Misha Sokolovsky.
If Lev knew Misha was leaving his number around for just anyone to find, he’d probably go all overprotective-big-brother and give Misha a long-winded lecture about it. In Lev’s defense, Misha had already gotten several unsolicited d**k pics since putting up the flyers, along with a few people obviously pranking him, so the flyers might not have been the best idea, but they got the job done. He got a few texts expressing what seemed to be legitimate interest, so he set up a meeting with each of them to determine if any of them would be a good fit.
Which was why Misha now sat in one of the aforementioned coffee shops, sipping at a beverage that was more sugar than coffee as he fiddled around on his phone. The weather on this mid-December day was cold and snowy, but not to the extent that he was used to, so while he wore a warm scarf and a knit beanie, the jacket hanging off the back of his chair was a bit lighter than one might expect for winter wear.
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Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2020 5:35 pm
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Yuuri wasn't entirely sure he wanted to try for this job, but working as a freelancer was more difficult than he thought it would be, and he didn't have the ego to sell himself to a large production company. In fact, the only reason he even considered this job was because he would need a new one soon, and prospects were limited.
He glanced around nervously when he entered the coffee shop. From the pastel paper, Yuuri half expected to find a woman waiting to meet with him, but the only person who seemed there to conduct an interview was a young man with blond hair.
Yuuri nearly turned around to leave. Not because of the young man himself, but because the idea of an interview made him sick to his stomach. He would have much rather just sent his work by email and be told yes or no.
"Um," he forced himself to say as he approached the young man. Other people in the shop seemed preoccupied or with other people, so this guy had to be the one who put up the fliers, right?
"Are you the one looking for an editor?" Yuuri asked quietly, gripping the strap of his shoulder bag deathly tight. He was dressed for the weather as well, and was ready to take off the overly large coat, knit hat and scarf.
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Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2020 6:32 pm
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Misha looked up from his phone as soon as he heard a voice speaking to him.
When people looked at Misha, they tended to think three things: small, cute, and peppy. None of those things were wrong, partly because it was Misha’s lot in life to be the small, cute brother instead of the tall, handsome one, and partly because it was a carefully cultivated image. His fans were his fans because they were into the small, cute, and peppy aesthetic, so that was what Misha gave people, whether or not it was what he wanted to be when he first got into the social media business.
He smiled brightly at the nervous young man and hopped up from his seat.
“Yeah, are you Yuuri?” he asked, holding out his hand to shake in greeting. “Did I say that right? Yuuri? I know a few Russian Yuris, but if I’m mispronouncing it, let me know. I’m Misha. Sorry, was this an okay place to meet? You didn’t seem to mind when we were texting, but if you’d rather go somewhere else…”
Misha didn’t miss Yuuri’s death grip on the strap of his bag. Either Yuuri was uncomfortable being here in general, or he was nervous about the interview.
“Did you want anything to drink? It’s on me.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2020 8:14 pm
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Yuuri shook his head when asked if his name was being mispronounced, and politely took Misha's hand in greeting.
"That's right," he confirmed, but even if it wasn't he wasn't going to make a big deal about it. "This place is fine. And thank you for the offer. I'm okay for now," he said, trying to keep himself from stumbling over his words. This was supposed to be an interview, right?
"I… graduated college with a focus on video editing. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do, so I studied what I did as a hobby," Yuuri nervously explained, not sure he was making that good of an impression. He already felt like he was getting light headed, but he wasn't sure if that was from the heat inside after being out in the cold, or because his anxiety was overwhelming him.
"Sorry, I'm… not really good with talking much," he mumbled, shifting awkwardly where he stood, trying to remind himself that he really kind of needed a job.
"I… can show you. If you would like," he said, indicating to the bag he carried with him, which obviously held a laptop.
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Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2020 9:13 am
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Alright, getting right down to business, then. Being the chatty sort, Misha was a little surprised by the immediate shift in conversation, but not at all turned off by it. Some people weren’t as interested in small talk as others.
Either way, he never meant for the interview to be anything formal. He didn’t even have a clear idea of what sort of person he was looking for. He figured he’d know it when he met them; they’d click and everything would fall into place.
“It’s okay,” Misha reassured Yuuri after his apology, offering him another smile while retaking his seat at the table. Maybe Yuuri would be more comfortable if they were sitting? “Sorry if I’m making you nervous. I promise this is no big deal. I’ve done most of my video editing myself, but the more content I produce, the more I could use some help.”
He motioned for Yuuri to join him, dragging the second chair closer to him so they’d be sitting next to one another instead of across from one another, and could better look at the computer together.
“You can show me,” he said. “If you went to school for it, you’re probably already ten times better at it than I am.”
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Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2020 10:33 am
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Yuuri wasn't entirely sure how to judge being better than someone else when it came to video editing. Sure there were techniques and the speed at which the film can be edited was a selling point, but he was never really sure how good he was. He knew he liked what he managed to do, and others seemed to like it too, enough to let him graduate at least. But a YouTuber might have a different idea for what qualifications would be.
He hesitated a moment when the chair was dragged closer to Misha, but decided that was probably for the best, anyway. He needed to be able to see his computer, right? Maybe Yuuri was just uncomfortable with being judged as he pulled everything up.
"It's not you," Yuuri insisted, although his voice was still quiet as he carefully set his bag on the table and removed his jacket and hat. "I'm always nervous."
Ah, probably not a good thing to admit in an interview.
Yuuri cleared his throat as if that would erase everything he'd just said, and worked on opening up his laptop and turning it on. There were at least some projects he could show Misha that he worked on. There were a couple commercials he'd put together, which he showed along with the original content, and then some music videos he'd put together.
"Something like this usually takes me around an hour. Longer for more details. So if most of your content is unedited, it would probably take less time," he tried to estimate, but felt like he already blew his chances with being so damn awkward about everything.
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Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2020 3:06 pm
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Yuuri had no idea if the work he'd shown Misha was in any way convincing enough to give him a chance. There were probably plenty of others who applied, and the industry wasn't exactly struggling.
But then Misha mentioned speaking Russian at home, and Yuuri stared at him for a moment. He suspected English might not have been his first language, but he was very fluent and there were only a couple words with an accent Yuuri thought was familiar. It could have been an American dialect he wasn't familiar with, but now that he knew he could place the very subtle accent easier.
"I speak Russian," Yuuri said, in Russian to prove a point. But then he felt his face heat with embarrassment, realizing that maybe Misha didn't want someone else understanding what he and his brother were saying, unless he specifically translated it.
"I thought one person might be better to work for than a company with people who can't agree on things," Yuuri mumbled, staring a hole into his keyboard. Having to deal with people who couldn't make up their mind about what they wanted for the editing was a nightmare. At least with one person he didn't have to be the middleman when something was changed that apparently wasn't approved.
"And… I really just need a job," he admitted, feeling all the more embarrassed for it. There weren't many jobs that allowed him to hide behind a computer all day.
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Posted: Sat Dec 26, 2020 7:07 pm
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Misha’s face lit up when Yuuri spoke to him in Russian.
Was this the sign he was looking for? Was this what would ultimately help everything fall into place?
When he’d put up the flyers for a video editor, finding someone who spoke Russian hadn’t been a requirement; if he needed to add subtitles after the fact, he could do that himself. He hadn’t even included the information about him and Lev speaking Russian on the flyer itself, which made this revelation sort of… serendipitous.
“How do you speak Russian?” Misha asked, switching to Russian as well — more excited than the situation warranted, but he’d assumed after moving to Destiny City that he wouldn’t be speaking much Russian with anyone other than Lev. “Did you take it as a second language, or… is any of your family Russian?”
Misha’s smile was wide and bright. He might not know much about Yuuri yet, and he had a feeling it might be difficult to get to know him, simply based on how nervous he was, but Misha liked his honesty; he didn’t need anyone flattering him or kissing his a** for the sake of a job.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 11:11 am
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Misha was impressed by Yuuri’s language skills and didn’t bother to hide it.
“Wow, that’s awesome!” he said. “I had a hard enough time learning English.”
No one would be able to tell by listening to him. He spoke it fluently, with only the barest trace of an accent. He began learning it at the behest of his parents, which meant that, even if he’d actually liked learning it, he’d acted contrary and feigned disinterest in his lessons until his parents gave up trying to force it. As a young child, he hadn’t realized how useful it would be.
Now he could make content in Russian and in English and get twice as many followers as he might have otherwise. His Russian fans were interested in what his life was like in Destiny City, and his English fans were interested in his history in Russia. It was a win-win in Misha’s opinion.
“My parents still live in Russia, actually,” Misha explained. “But we don’t get along very well, so I came here to live with my brother. He came here for modeling work. You’ll probably meet him at some point. He’s in a lot of my videos. Um…”
Misha paused, his smile still intact, but it looked a little sheepish. “Assuming you want the job, I mean.”
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 12:10 pm
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It took a few moments for what Misha said to click. Although Yuuri's general anxiety had calmed while chatting with Misha, there was always something in the back of his head that seemed to be distracting him with negative thoughts. He was still on medicine for it, but in times of great distress it didn't always work.
He stared dumbly at Misha for a moment, and then his eyes widened probably a bit comically. Yuuri was surprised he didn't start crying right then, because that would have been the icing on the cake.
"I… y-yes, thank you. Please. That would be great," Yuuri barely struggled to get out the words. Not that they'd discussed payment or anything like that, but Yuuri figured it would be like any freelancing job and he would just figure it out when he had the assignment. Honestly, he was just grateful to not have to work at a fast food place, or something equally traumatizing for his anxiety.
"I can start whenever you need me," he said, blinking a bit furiously in order to keep back any dumb tears that might threaten to pop up.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 2:21 pm
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Should he question why Yuuri seemed so grateful? Misha assumed most people thought working with a Youtuber would be a lame excuse for a job. That certainly seemed to be the case in most of the responses to his flyer. He almost felt bad that Yuuri was so… happy? Relieved? Gratified? All of the above? This job might not even be all that interesting for him.
But he seemed like a nice guy, and Misha would take working with a nice guy over working with some uptight douchebag in a heartbeat.
Unless he was paid handsomely for working with said uptight douchebag, but since Yuuri was the one earning the pay in this situation, that hardly applied.
“Do you want to start now?” Misha joked. He laughed and waved a hand before Yuuri could take him too seriously. “I’m just kidding. I try to post at least one video every week on my main channel, so as long as they’re done within that time frame, you can work on them whenever you like. Brand deals are really the only things that would need to be completed by a deadline. Some weeks I might have more content to upload, but it really depends on what kind of footage I’ve managed to get. I have a vlog channel, too, but that one’s less important and it’s not like I do that every day.”
Misha paused again, expression turning pensive. “I’ve done all my own editing until now, and I’ll probably still help out because sometimes I do like doing it, so I’m not really sure where to go from here. Do you need a contract or something?”
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 3:16 pm
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Yuuri had opened his mouth to respond when Misha stopped him to tell him he was kidding. Honestly, he would be happy to start right then and there. It would keep him out of the warehouse where it was too quiet and lonely, and gave him something to do.
"I haven't worked with someone for more than a single project," Yuuri admitted, feeling a little silly for not really knowing what to do either. He supposed he might want to be more informed about how this process worked.
"If you want, we can work out a contract after you've seen what I can do for you. In case you change your mind," he offered, thinking that would at least give him some time to research it.
"You can email me your content and what you'd like, and I can put things together. I can take some time to look at what you already have, too. To get to know more about you and what your style is like."
If he was going to do something, he wasn't going to half a** it. If it turned out that Misha didn't like what he did, then he wouldn't feel as guilty parting ways if they didn't have a contract in place.
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Posted: Sun Dec 27, 2020 7:20 pm
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Since Misha was the one doing the hiring, he probably should have looked up stuff about contracts ahead of time. Or he should have asked Lev about it at the very least. In Misha’s defense, between filming, editing, and coming up with ideas for new content, he could be a little scatterbrained. That, and he hadn’t told his brother he was looking for help with editing; he didn’t want Lev butting his nose into things and making the process harder than it needed to be.
This go-with-the-flow, let-things-happen-on-their-own-time was much more Misha’s style.
“Okay, so like a trial period,” Misha agreed. That sounded reasonable enough to him. “Good idea. That’ll give you the chance to decide if this is something you really want to do. I mean, Youtube isn’t for everyone. The drama is insane. Not that you’ll be dealing with any of it behind the scenes, but still. If I can change my mind about this arrangement, you can change yours, too. I promise I won’t be offended.”
Well, he supposed he might be if Yuuri turned out to be a homophobe or a raging a*****e, but something told Misha he didn’t have to worry about either of those things.
With a smile still gracing his face, Misha unlocked his phone to begin composing a text. “I can send you all the links you’ll need if you want to do a deep dive into my channels. Is the number you texted me from still a good way to contact you, or would you prefer something else? Also, how do you feel about phone calls? I know some people don’t like them. I don’t mind sticking to text if you’d like that better.”
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