Fable Weaver
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DOS Ch-260
🕑 Added 2025-07-19 22:25:33 +0000 UTCRead the chapter here.
(Flashback)
Chad Hurley, the CEO of YouTube, looked on nervously as his boss examined the app on the iPhone Chad had just handed him. Technically, Troy wasn’t Chad’s boss because he didn’t hold any position in the company, but when he held more than 70% shares, it made sense that he was treated like a boss.
The teenager was far from ordinary. Despite his age, he was the richest self-made teenager in history, and arguably one of the most powerful individuals in the world at that moment.
The media had split cleanly into two camps when it came to him. One side lauded his brilliance, calling him a business prodigy and a visionary. The other camp was less kind, accusing him of being the poster child for capitalism and unchecked greed. Their criticism only intensified as the economy took a sharp downturn. With job losses mounting across industries, some conspiracy theorists had gone as far as blaming Troy for the widespread layoffs, however irrational that seemed.
Troy handed the phone back to Steve Chen, YouTube’s CTO, his expression thoughtful. “I like it,” he said simply. “But the transition animation could be better. Right now, when one video is swiped up, the next one just pops in with a black gap in between. That break is jarring. The next video should feel attached to the previous one, like a continuous scroll.”
Steve nodded, scribbling the suggestion into a small notebook resting on the table in front of him.
“Also,” Troy continued, “shorten the video length. Five minutes is too long. We need something more immediate, something that grabs attention quickly. For TikTok, keep the default around thirty seconds, and cap it at two minutes for dedicated content creators.”
Steve looked up from his notes. “Doable. We’re still six months away from launch, so we have time to fix that and a few more bugs we’ve identified. Anything else?”
Troy paused, tapping a finger against the table as he thought. “These videos can be really addictive for kids. Add a child mode. If a child watches for thirty minutes straight, lock them out for the next half hour.”
Steve hesitated. “Isn’t that... counterproductive? Don’t we want people to stay on the platform longer?”
“Not kids,” Troy said flatly. “Kids don’t have buying power, so their ad revenue is also low. And I like to believe we’re running an ethical company. Apply the same rule to YouTube Kids, too. We can always adjust it later based on how people respond.”
Steve looked unconvinced but jotted it down nonetheless.
“Good,” Troy said with a nod, before turning toward Chad. “How’s the YouTube creator program coming along?”
Chad’s face lit up. “It’s going great. When we announced it, the reaction was wild. Some people thought it was fake. But once we made the first payments to a few big creators and had them post a video about it, it triggered a frenzy. We’ve seen more signups than ever. And your idea to sell a full YouTuber kit—camera, mic, lighting, the whole package—was a hit as well. We’ve already sold a thousand kits. We don’t know when it’ll become profitable, but it’s already a huge success.”
Troy frowned slightly, his brows pulling together. “But I thought YouTube was profitable?”
Chad shook his head. “We barely broke even last year. But ever since you infused more money into the company, we’ve expanded operations and created several subdivisions, which have significantly increased costs. We started by building our own cloud infrastructure to host all our data. It’s nowhere near Amazon’s level yet, but we’ll get there in a few years.”
He leaned forward slightly as he continued, his tone cautious but optimistic. “YouTube Kids and Education launched a few months ago, while Spotify went live just last month. Progress on both has been slower than expected. And of course, you already know we’re developing TikTok for short-form videos and Twitch for gaming and livestreaming. Both are slated for release before the end of the year.”
Troy nodded slowly, processing the information. The room was quiet except for the faint hum of electronics.
“Alright,” he said after a pause, “you guys seem to be doing alright, I guess. Just stay in contact with Reed Hastings at Netflix. I want their digital library transferred onto our cloud.”
He looked ready to stand when a voice interrupted from the side of the room—someone who shouldn’t have spoken without being asked.
“Troy, I had a proposal I wanted to run by you.”
Troy turned toward the speaker, his expression neutral but attentive. It was Sundar Pichai, a quiet, nerdy man with thick glasses and a reserved demeanor. He had left his job at Google and joined YouTube as Vice President late last year. Despite his low profile, there was something sharp and calculating in his eyes.
Chad didn’t like Sundar taking the initiative now, of all times. He had already told Sundar that this wasn’t the right time when they were already juggling too many projects.
He didn’t expect Troy to pay much attention to the man, but to Chad’s surprise, the teen leaned in with interest. “Yes?”
Sundar adjusted his glasses and stepped forward. “For the past few years, I’ve been working in my personal time on a concept for a clean, fast browser. Since joining YouTube, I’ve been thinking... what if we launched it under our umbrella and integrated it with the platform? It could be a game-changer.”
Troy’s eyes lit up with curiosity. Chad, meanwhile, clenched his jaw. This wasn’t on the roadmap. They didn’t have the resources or bandwidth for another major venture.
“Can you show it to me?” Troy asked, ignoring Chad’s unspoken frustration.
“Definitely,” Sundar replied, his face lighting up. He walked over with a laptop in his hand. “This is what I’ve been calling Chrome. I’ve even trademarked the name.”
Troy let out a small laugh. “I like you, Sundar.”
He took the laptop and began to browse silently. The room fell into an expectant hush. As Troy clicked and scrolled through the interface, a grin gradually spread across his face.
Then he looked up and turned to Chad, his voice suddenly serious. “This is amazing. Set up a team and start working on it. Sundar will lead that team.”
He shifted his attention back to Sundar. “If this turns out to be as good as I think it can be, you’ll definitely earn a promotion.”
(Flashback End)
(Break)
July 2008, Hawthorne Keep, U.K.
“Man! Why didn’t you tell me about your role as the Joker? That was fan-fucking-tastic,” Jamie grinned as the rest of the cast began filtering out of the studio after the table read.
I gave him a skeptical look. “I didn’t even tell my family about it. I certainly wasn’t going to tell you, no offense.”
“None taken,” he replied quickly. “But still, man, I could only dream of being part of something like that. I mean, I’m grateful you gave me [17 Again], but like you said, it’s just a popcorn flick, not a masterpiece like [The Dark Knight].”
“You are part of such a film,” I reminded him, glancing around at the now-emptying room. “[Deathly Hallows] will be bigger than even [The Dark Knight], mark my words.”
Maybe in terms of box office numbers, yes. But deep down, I didn’t truly believe this film could surpass the artistic weight and cultural impact of [The Dark Knight]. Sure, it was going to be a spectacular piece of cinema, and likely to be celebrated for years, especially with Alfonso at the helm. But [The Dark Knight] was a different beast altogether, a steep hill to climb, and an even steeper one to conquer.
Jamie nodded, then turned toward our other friend, who had been keeping her distance from me, at least whenever we weren’t reading lines across the table.
“Oh, come on! Not again!” Jamie groaned, his voice exaggerated in frustration. “I can’t deal with this Ross-and-Rachel drama anymore.”
“Hey! We were on a break!” I quipped without thinking.
That broke through the tension. Emma and Jamie both burst out laughing. But the moment she realized whose joke she was laughing at, Emma caught herself and cut the laugh short, her face returning to a guarded expression.
I sighed silently and turned to Jamie. “Can you give us a minute?”
He shrugged. “Take all the time you need. I was heading back to my place anyway.”
With a casual wave, he walked off, leaving just the two of us in the studio.
“Is this how you’re going to act now?” I asked quietly. “I thought we had moved past this.”
She looked up at me, her eyes blazing. “I don’t care that you started dating someone else. I care that you lied to my face. You said you weren’t looking for a relationship, and not even two days later, the entire world is talking about your new girlfriend. That’s just...”
She struggled to finish the sentence, the emotion in her voice thickening. But I cut in before she could continue.
“I didn’t have a choice.”
Her expression sharpened. “What do you mean by that?”
“We weren’t ‘dating’ when the story came out,” I said, using air quotes. “But I was at her place, and I couldn’t exactly go public saying it was a casual arrangement. That would’ve looked bad for both of us—worse for her, honestly. So I let it ride. We didn’t actually start dating for real until months later.”
She stayed silent, and I took the pause to add, “Didn’t you start dating one of your classmates at Oxford pretty soon after that? So why the double standard?”
“I...” She opened her mouth, then stopped. Words seemed to fail her. Without another sound, she stood up abruptly and walked out of the studio, leaving me behind.
I sighed in defeat. I couldn’t wait to be done with this franchise. Thanks to a single movie being released for [Deathly Hallows], there would be no more waiting an extra year between the two movies just for endless promotion cycles. The sooner I could be away from Emma for good, the sooner she might finally move on.
“Girl trouble?” Dad’s voice pulled me from my thoughts as he walked over. The others had already left, and it was just the two of us now.
“I hope that won’t affect the shooting?” he asked, his tone light but laced with concern.
“It shouldn’t,” I said honestly. “You won’t find any trouble on my end, at least.”
Dad let out a tired sigh. “Do I need to know what happened between you two this time?”
I shook my head. “It’s better if you don’t. Let’s wait until the shoot starts to see if it even needs outside intervention.”
“Fair enough,” he said, nodding slowly. “By the way, you’ll need to sign the acquisition agreement for Double Negative tomorrow at their headquarters.”
I nodded. Double Negative—or DNEG, as it would be known in another timeline—had become one of the premier VFX studios in the world, consistently delivering top-tier work on blockbuster films. Initially, all visual effects for the [Harry Potter] series had gone to George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic. But during the joint production of the last two movies, their output had been underwhelming. Dad had to bring in DNEG to complete the visual effects, which caused a spike in the production budget due to involving two separate studios.
For [Deathly Hallows], Dad had declared that ILM would not be getting the contract again. That opened up an opportunity for me. Owning a VFX studio would make our future work on the MCU far more streamlined and cost-effective. Best of all, I could legally inflate production costs through an in-house studio, reducing the book profits of any film I produced.
With that in mind, I’d acquired DNEG for $35 million. My first choice had been Weta Digital—Peter Jackson’s VFX company, renowned for its work on [The Lord of the Rings] trilogy and [Avatar]. Bobby, my lawyer, had even offered to buy it at thirty percent above its market value, but Peter wasn’t interested in selling.
So, I turned to the next best option: DNEG, the third-largest VFX house after ILM and Weta.
Now, with the acquisition complete, all future VFX work for [Harry Potter], the MCU, [Twilight], and even the TV show [Merlin]—which Mum was producing—would go exclusively to DNEG.
“Do you want to merge it with Phoenix?” Dad asked, watching me closely.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Let’s keep it a separate entity for now.”
(Break)
I walked back home, and the moment I stepped inside, my cute little child—my bundle of joy, my dearest Loki—came running toward me at full speed. I had grown quite used to this kind of welcome. Loki had been with me during the filming of [Avatar] in New Zealand, and he had loved every second of it. Any time I was home, he would look for any excuse to pull me outside, whether it was for a jog or his favorite game: frisbee.
I crouched down and wrapped my arms around him. The weight of the day lifted the moment I felt his warm fur against my chest.
“If it weren’t a dog you were hugging, I’d be jealous,” Scarlett said, her voice teasing as she walked over with a smile.
“Hey,” I greeted her with a kiss before making my way to the couch.
Loki let out a small whine, clearly not finished with me yet.
“I’ll take you out,” I promised, ruffling his head. “Just give me a little breathing room, you dummy.”
He seemed to understand the tone and quieted down. Scarlett laughed, watching the exchange.
“It’s so funny seeing you two together. I almost feel like he actually understands you.”
I grinned. “I like to think so, too. You should see our old home videos—Evan and Dad used to shoot them when we were younger. There’s even a short film Evan made where Loki played the lead.”
I scratched behind Loki’s ears, and he closed his eyes in contentment.
“I’d love to see those,” she said with genuine interest.
“Okay,” I said. “But before that, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
She nodded, waiting patiently.
“Didn’t you say once that you took dance lessons when you were a kid?”
She nodded again. “Yeah, I took ballet and tap growing up, but it’s been ages. Why?”
“Would you be interested in playing a ballerina in a psychological horror film?” I asked. “Darren Aronofsky—the guy who directed [Requiem for a Dream]—has been pitching a project called [Black Swan] to every studio. Naturally, I got a copy of the script, and I loved it so much I bought it.”
Scarlett’s expression sharpened with interest as I continued. “It’s the perfect role for you, but it’ll demand a lot. You’ll need to transform your body, train like a professional ballerina, and really dive deep into the character. If it’s done right, this could be Oscar-worthy. Are you interested?”
She frowned slightly, thinking it over. “I’d have to read the script before deciding. Are they planning to shoot in London?”
I shook my head. “That hasn’t been finalized yet. The story is set in New York, so Aronofsky would probably prefer shooting there. But don’t worry about the location for now. Read the script and decide based on that. Aronofsky’s currently busy promoting another Oscar-bait film, so production won’t start for a while. I’m only bringing it up now so you’ll have time to prepare if you say yes.”
“Alright. Get me the script,” Scarlett said.
“I’ll ask Benji to send it over,” I replied. “But that’s not the only role I want you to think about. How would you feel about switching your loyalties—from DC to Marvel?”
Her eyebrow lifted. “Which role?”
I grinned. “Have you read the comics about [Black Widow]?”
Comments
Hyuga Tobirama
Giving Black Swan to Scarlett is a great move
Fable Weaver
I have added the date in this chapter. It's just not at the top. Look again.
veer
Good work! But can you please add dates ,and is it the same year?
