Chapter 177 | Seventeen Options [PS BONUS]
Chapter 177: 177 | Seventeen Options [PS BONUS]
Jordan removed his hand anyway because Brooke looked like she might short-circuit if he maintained contact any longer. Her face had gone from pink to red to something approaching crimson, matching her unusual eye color almost perfectly.
They made their way to the elevator bank. Brooke pressed the button for the fourth floor with more force than necessary. The doors closed, sealing them in the small space with nothing but the hum of the ascending car and Brooke’s carefully controlled breathing.
"I apologize," she said to the elevator wall. "I am not accustomed to physical contact. My sensory processing differs from neurotypical baselines. Touch can be overwhelming depending on context and emotional state."
"Was that overwhelming?"
Brooke was quiet for a long moment. "It was not unpleasant."
The elevator dinged. The doors opened. Brooke practically fled into the fourth-floor hallway.
Jordan followed at a more leisurely pace, sipping his refresher and wondering when exactly his life had become a harem anime where every interaction with a beautiful woman felt like navigating a minefield of accidental romantic tension. Two weeks ago he had been crying over a girl who never even liked him. Now he had two official girlfriends, one princess in denial, and a genius with social anxiety who apparently found his body temperature noteworthy.
The System was definitely laughing at him somewhere.
Room 412B was a standard library study room, glass walls facing the main floor, a large table in the center, a whiteboard on one wall. Brooke had already claimed it as her territory. A laptop sat open at the head of the table, surrounded by printed documents organized into color-coded folders. A small whiteboard marker sat perfectly aligned with the edge of a legal pad. Even the chairs had been arranged with geometric precision.
Jordan took a seat across from Brooke’s station. She settled into her own chair with obvious relief, her shoulders dropping as the familiar environment wrapped around her like a security blanket.
"I propose we begin with the fundamental question of business structure." Brooke pulled one of the folders toward her. "As I mentioned, an LLC provides the optimal balance of liability protection and tax flexibility for a content creation collective. However, there are alternative structures worth considering depending on your long-term objectives."
"I want to keep it simple." Jordan leaned back in his chair. "Three streamers, one brand, shared resources. I handle the business side, they handle the content side. Revenue splits based on individual performance with a percentage going to operating costs."
Brooke nodded, her crimson eyes sharp behind her glasses. "A reasonable framework. The operating agreement should specify the percentage allocation. Industry standard for talent management ranges from fifteen to thirty percent depending on services provided. Given that you are offering equipment, branding, and promotional support, twenty percent would be defensible."
"Twenty percent of their earnings goes to the collective fund?"
"Correct. This covers shared expenses such as equipment maintenance, software subscriptions, marketing expenditure, and eventually, facility costs if you choose to establish a dedicated production space." Brooke made a note on her legal pad. "I have drafted a preliminary budget based on standard creator collective overheads. Monthly operational costs should remain under five hundred dollars during the initial phase, assuming existing equipment is utilized and no additional staff is hired."
Jordan pulled out his phone and opened the calculator app. Five hundred a month was manageable. With his rebate from spending on Chloe and the quest ticket income, he could cover operating costs indefinitely while the streamers built their audiences.
"What about the brand itself?" he asked. "Name, logo, all that stuff?"
Brooke opened another folder. This one contained printouts of various streaming collective logos alongside their branding guidelines. "Brand identity requires careful consideration. The name should be memorable, distinct, and scalable. It should communicate the collective’s core value proposition while remaining flexible enough to accommodate diverse content types."
"And you have suggestions?"
"Seventeen options." Brooke slid a sheet of paper across the table. "I have ranked them according to a weighted scoring system that accounts for memorability, uniqueness, domain availability, and social media handle availability across major platforms."
Jordan scanned the list. Most of the names were generic gaming collective stuff that blended together in his brain. PixelForge. StreamSync. Content Collective. Nothing that jumped out.
Then he reached number twelve.
"Nova Network." Jordan read the name aloud. "That’s not bad."
"It scored highest in memorability testing among the sample population I surveyed."
"You surveyed people?"
"I posted an anonymous questionnaire on three separate subreddits last night." Brooke adjusted her glasses. "One hundred and forty-seven responses. Nova Network achieved a recognition rate of eighty-seven percent after a single exposure. The nearest competitor was thirty-four percent."
Jordan set down his drink. "Brooke, when do you sleep?"
"Intermittently." She did not look up from her notes. "Sleep is not an efficient use of time when there are problems requiring solutions."
"That’s not healthy."
"Your concern is noted and appreciated." Now she did look up, her crimson eyes meeting his with an intensity that made Jordan’s stomach do something unexpected. "However, I find this project significantly more engaging than my typical academic workload. Assisting you provides intellectual stimulation that is otherwise absent from my educational experience."
"You’re saying helping me is more interesting than your classes?"
"I am saying that helping you makes me feel useful in a way that grades and test scores do not." Brooke’s voice softened. "My intelligence is frequently commented upon but rarely directed toward practical application. This opportunity to contribute meaningfully to a tangible venture is. Valuable to me. On multiple levels."
Jordan did not know what to say to that. Brooke had just cracked herself open a little, showing him something vulnerable underneath all that analytical armor. The girl who could memorize his coffee order and survey Reddit at three in the morning was also the girl who felt useless despite being a certified genius.
He understood that feeling more than he wanted to admit.
"Well." Jordan cleared his throat. "I’m glad this is valuable to you. Because I genuinely have no idea what I’m doing and I need someone who does."