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‘Buzz! Buzz!’
The sound of the doorbell had Alan racing out of bed and scurrying across the home’s hard wooden floors. Nearly slipping from the lack of friction his socks gave him, he fell into the door face first. Groaning loudly as pain shot through his nose.
He quickly unlocked it and sent the poor delivery boy a wincing smile. They awkwardly waved and held out a small package.
“Hey; I got a package for an Alan Becker..?”
Alan nodded and took the package into his hands. “That’s me.!” He shrugged. The boy glanced at him one last time before reaching towards a clipboard hidden under their arm. “Great! Please just sign here.” He handed the board out with an almost empty pen; the animator silently chuckled to himself on how he had to go over his signature almost four times to make it somewhat readable.
The delivery boy waved as Alan thanked him; saying the classic customer service “Have a nice day, Sir!” As they jogged back to the mail truck sitting outside.
Alan nearly jumped with excitement as he kicked the door shut with his foot, quickly making his way back to his room.
Inside; his desktop was closed, but he knew how the sticks still would be able to run around on his websites and apps. No matter whether he was present or not, at first it worried him..and he was a bit skeptical of the sticks when they first had begun to interact with his desktop.
Though after a month or two without any blue screen or burning up computer (Minus this earlier month’s fight with The Dark Lord and Virabots) ; he knew he’d be able to trust them.
Almost throwing the package onto the bed and ripping it open. (Did animating really make my hands that strong?!) Inside the box welcomed his eyes with a clean white smaller container with the words “Oculus” written boldly on the top.
Alan had planned this ever since the fight with The Dark Lord; he knew how much the sticks suffered from said fight. No matter how much they happily fought together or going on adventures in the Minecraft world and exploring the animator’s computer; he always caught glimpses of the sticks acting a little out of the ordinary. Spacey, sometimes even scared.
With no faces and being unable to hear them. (Then again, do they even talk?) most would expect the man to give up trying to understand them. Though Alan had always been able to understand what the sticks wanted, or how they were feeling. From the dramatic hand gestures to signs and text, he never once had a moment where he didn’t get them.
Which brings him to today; due to the stick’s odd attitudes he had brought it upon himself to fix it..himself! He had found a program allowing VR users to access their desktops via an Oculus; as long as the user had an avatar they were free to roam the screen just as any of his little stick figures would!
He opened the Oculus and pulled out the instructions; getting to work on readying up the device.
———
Alan plugged in the final cord after the Oculus had finished charging, and he set the headset on his chair. Opening up his computer and typing in the password burned into his head he was welcomed to a oddly quiet sight.
Normally the sticks..or at least Yellow and Blue would be awake by now. Blue having to tend to his farm and Yellow normally being an earlier riser. Never the less; he had hoped they’d be away so he could let it be a surprise.
Clicking twice on the new icon on his screen he opened up the app and got ready to enter the world of his computer.
———
Slipping on the headset it was..strange seeing his own screen from such a 3D point of view. He moved his hands holding onto the controllers and up rose two dark purple little stick figure nubs.
His avatar was simple, deep violet with a hollow head and his classic glasses. He moved forward and struggled to contain himself as he ran his character around the screen; jumping up onto the open Oculus tab and towards the files Alan dug through and pulled out a random picture of the landscape he took while on vacation.
Tossing the photo open he began to climb onto everything; the people in the background, the setting sun, the clouds, hell even onto the buildings in the background!
Alan was so preoccupied he didn’t notice the five colorful figures standing behind him, swords drawn and ready to attack.
“Hello?”
The animator let out a gasp and lot grip of the photo; falling back down to the task bar with a harsh ‘thud!’ Quickly rising his avatar back to his feet he turned around and nearly let out a high pitched yelp of joy.
Second, Red, Yellow, Green and Blue all stared at him with their blank yet color filled faces. Alan held himself back from shoving his avatar into the stick figures and wrapping both of his own sticky arms around them. He’d seen them hug before, it warmed his heart seeing how close they’ve become over the years. He’s always silently urned to be able to give them a pat on the back and tell them how proud he was of them.
(I really do sound like a Dad, huh?)
The animator took a step towards them and Second rose his sword. “Stay back!”
Alan’s eyes widen within the headset and he knew Second could talk; how else would they communicate when animating? He’d witness the figure beg for his life to be spared. Alan winced at the memory.
Luckily for him; he had bought a microphone for himself while he was playing League of Legends with his friends; so it’d be easier to talk and plan attacks. He silently thanked his past self for the genius idea and well spent money.
His inner thoughts were cut off as the diamond sword poked at his stomach gently; pushing his avatar back ever slightly. Alan moved his hands up in front of him and waved them rapidly.
“Woah, woah! Calm down guys, it’s me! Alan!” He said; a small chuckle in his voice.
Second lowered the sword in almost an instant before raising it once again. “How do we know it’s really you…”
The animator thought for a moment, he forgot that they never did hear his voice before. Almost comedically he felt a light bulb ding into light.
“Uhm..remember when I first created you? I asked for your help with animating!”
Second stared at him; if he had eyes Alan know he would be squinting suspiciously.
“What did we animate?”
“A horse with wings!” He answered in almost an instant. Snapping his fingers. The memory of that day had a permanent spot in his brain.
The other figures behind their orange friend let out audible gasps and Red started hopping between feet as they excitedly bounced up and down. Yellow was staring at him bewildered while Blue shook him to snap him out of it. Green just jumped on the balls of his heels with his hands out front.
Second just..looked, no reaction. Alan felt himself shrink in. Had he done something wrong? He didn’t mean to intrude into their space b-
A sword clanged onto the taskbar and two arms wrapped around Alan’s avatar tightly. The smile that crept onto his face was embarrassing wide as he moved his controllers around Second, one placed directly on the top of his hollow head.
Soon enough he found himself tackled to the floor with colorful stick figures all giving him affectionate hugs, falling to the ground with heavy thuds. Alan laughed as they finally pulled away after what felt like hours of laying on the desktop floor. A hand helping his avatar up and off the taskbar.
Second rubbed his stick hands against his hollow head in a “Am I seeing this right?” Manor, chuckling as he threw his hands in the air.
“H-how is this..how!?” He asked, grabbing Alan’s avatar by the shoulders and shaking them roughly. Alan could practically hear the smile in his voice.
“Just an oculus with a bit of extra coding.” He answered, hands on his hips proudly.
Yellow finally spoke up.
“Alan?”
The animator turned towards the figure, he’d never..heard them talk. Nor type, it was so odd. His voice sounded so..young. He had never thought about the ages of the sticks, he never had asked before seeing no point in doing so. He turned his attention back to Yellow. Dismissing the earlier thought for later.
“It’s so nice to finally see you! I-I never spoke to you directly but Second tells us everything a-and this is just crazy! Your here! With us! You! Me! Us! Oh my god! I-I think I’m gonna faint-“ The stick ranted loudly; the others happily watching their friend as he spoke. Blue took Yellow’s arm gently to calm the other stick down.
“It’s wonderful to see you all. I-..I planned this as a surprise..so..surprise?” He jazzed hands and it was silent.
Alan swallowed a hint of nervousness as the sticks stared at him, hands still out stretched in the “Jazz” position.
Red was the first one to react, nearly jumping towards the animator as they bounced with hands flapping excitedly. “Best..surprise! Ever! This is amazing-!” He shouted, it echoed quietly against the desktop’s sides. Red shook Second’s shoulders like crazy. “It’s Alan! He’s here!” To which the other responded; “I know! I’m literally right here.”
The sticks all freaked their little hearts out while Alan stood their with a large goofy grin on his face.
Green pushed past the other sticks and grabbed Alan’s avatar in a tight hug, causing a chain reaction of all the other sticks to once again hug the animator in a affectionate squeeze. If Alan closed his eyes from inside the headset he swore he could actually feel the warming embrace around him.
Second immediately took charge after the hug was over, leader instincts kicking in. “Alan! Alan!” He repeated, hands shaking with excitement as he watched with a faceless the animator’s avatar gain it’s balance after nearly being knocked over again by the sticks.
The latter hummed in acknowledgment, hands resting back down to his sides.
“The house! You have to see it! You have too!” They shouted, hands unable to stop shaking as Second hopped from one foot to another. Alan huffed out a laugh at their sharing similarities across all the sticks. Finding his avatar’s hand being taken snd suddenly he was being dragged to the files layering just a few meters above him. The photo tab still being open. He noted the small shadow it casted on them.
The sticks had the brilliant idea to have the house as an image background, that way Alan could still use his background with accidentally destroying their home in the process. The animator watched with a glint in his eye as suddenly bricks built their way up and a house laid in front of all them. He turned back to the file to see Second up there waving before jumping back down, sticking the landing perfectly.
Red, Blue, Yellow and Green all ran to their respected floors, leaving Second and Alan alone on the task bar.
“Well?” Alan started. “Aren’t you going to give me the grand tour?”
The animator swore the stick would explode from the overwhelming joy he was experiencing.