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“Stanley. Stanley!” The Narrator exclaimed.
Stanley stared up at the ceiling, startled by the almost instant derailing of the story. He’d just loaded back into the office after the last reset, and assumed the Narrator would’ve started retelling the usual story they started with.
“Apologies for the sudden notice, but do you know what day it is?” The Narrator continued.
[No, not really.] Stanley answered, stepping out of the office as he listened to the Narrator.
“I- are you kidding me? It’s the Stanley Parable Celebration Day, Stanley!”
[It sounds like you made that up. Also, that sounds like a really bad name.]
“Well I think it’s a lovely name, Stanley! Look, I’m going to ignore your comments. While we were running through the earlier endings, I decided to work on something in the background!” The Narrator chimed. “Why don’t you visit the Employee Lounge, hmmm?”
Stanley sighed, looking away from the ceiling as he made his way to the intended location. Nevertheless, a part of him did indeed feel interested in the mention of a party. Would the others in the Parable be there? Would there be decorations?
Upon reaching the lounge, Stanley felt it somehow looked more lonely than usual. He closed the door behind him, looking around.
In the part of the lounge that was elevated lower than the rest of the room was a white foldout table. There was simply a yellow party hat in the center of the table, nothing else.
There were no other decorations in the room.
[Is that it?] Stanley asked, walking over and picking up the yellow party hat.
”Yes, Stanley! This is more than enough for a celebration!” The Narrator said. “Isn’t it great to just take a break and talk about how great the Stanley Parable is?” He asked, watching as Stanley went over to sit down on one of the chairs, putting on the party hat.
“Ooh- ooh I know what we could do! We could talk about our favorite things regarding the Parable! What’s your favorite ending, Stanley?” He continued, his voice giddy with excitement.
Stanley stared at the ground as the Narrator continued speaking.
“Personally, my favorite ending has got to be the Freedom one, Stanley! It’s perfect! It’s everything I intended the Parable to be! You barely bother doing it, but that just makes it even better when you do decide to! I mean really Stanley, I-“
His rambling was interrupted by a barely audible sniffle.
“Stanley, are you okay?” He asked.
Stanley looked back up at the ceiling, shaking his head. He tried to wipe away tears that pricked at the corner of his eyes.
“Did- did I do something wrong? Did I not decorate enough?”
[No, no. It’s fine. I don’t know why I’m feeling like this.] Stanley sniffed, struggling at regulating his breathing.
“Oh.. oh dear..”
[You did a great job, Narrator.]
“No, obviously I did not if it means you ended up crying. You never cry, Stanley! Come on— tell me what I did wrong.” The Narrator said.
[…]
[I thought the others would be here too.]
“The Curator hardly ever leaves her museum, Stanley. I don’t even know where the Adventure Line™ is.” He responded.
[That’s okay.]
[Do you think you could add some more decorations in here, though?]
“In a moment, yes. What decorations did you want, exactly?”
[I thought it’d have stuff like balloons, confetti.. maybe a cake, too?]
“A cake? I’ll see what I can do about that. Is there anything else you needed?”
[No, that’s all.] Stanley took a deep breath, trying to calm down as he looked back down at the floor. [I’m sorry.]
“There’s no need to say you’re sorry, Stanley. I’m sorry if I led you on to believe this would be more extravagant. I’ve never thrown a party before, I couldn’t know.”
[It’s okay. You wanted to know what my favorite ending was, right?]
“Yes, yes.. can you give me a hand, first? Go on and open the door you closed.”
[Excuse me?] he’d ask, looking back up at the ceiling.
[Narrator?]
Stanley would get up, waiting for a response.
Nothing.
He sighed, following what was asked as he walked over to the door he closed earlier.
Placing his hand on the doorknob, he’d twist it, opening the door up.
His eyes widened as he saw the Narrator’s form in front of him, something that Stanley had only seen once or twice. He held a large box in his hands, Stanley couldn’t make out what was inside of it, but stacked at the top of everything was a frosted cake.
“Hello, Stanley!” The Narrator smiled. “I could’ve always teleported this stuff to the room, but I thought it’d be nicer if I brought it here myself.”
Stanley smiled, stepping out of the way to let the Narrator in. [Does that mean you’ll help me set everything up?] he asked.
“Of course, of course! Anything to make this a good celebration for you.”
The Narrator set the box on one of the chairs, picking up the cake by board underneath it. He placed it on the table, meanwhile Stanley checked what else was inside the box. There was a bag of balloons, a bag of confetti, and a few additonal items, all in the color yellow.
—
It took them only a few minutes to finish setting up all of the decorations. Countless balloons were placed on the chairs, the floor, any possible surfaces. They placed a yellow tablemat under the cake, and added a few plates and forks onto the table.
Confetti and streamers were tossed on the floor, making quite a mess. The Narrator didn’t mind it though, as long as it made Stanley happy.
”Do you need anything else, Stanley?” The Narrator asked, now in front of the cake whilst he cut it into slices. It was a vanilla cake with white frosting.
[No, I think this is good. Thank you, Narrator.]
“Of course, Stanley! Do you feel better?”
[Yep. I wasn’t expecting you to come here at all.] Stanley smiled, grabbing a plate to hold whilst the Narrator got ready to serve Stanley his slice.
“Well it’s a celebration, isn’t it? Talking about our favorite endings would be nice, but this is even nicer, isn’t it?”
Stanley nodded, a slice of cake being placed onto his plate.
The Narrator didn’t want to eat anything, so Stanley already made his way to swipe away a balloon from one of the chairs to sit down once he had grabbed his fork.
He sliced a bit of the cake off, stabbing it with his fork. He placed it in his mouth, pulling the fork out.
The Narrator stood next to him, eager to see his reaction.
[…]
”So, what do you think of it, Stanley?”
[It’s a bit dry..] Stanley nervously chuckled. He still smiled, taking another bite of the cake.
“That’s impossible- I made sure the cake would be perfect!” The Narrator ranted, getting up and grabbing a fork from the table.
He took a bit of Stanley’s own slice, taking a bite.
“…”
“I’ve never had cake before, and yet somehow I agree with you.”
[The frosting’s a bit too sweet, too.]
“Should I make another cake?”
[No, I’m okay with this one. Didn’t you still want to talk about favorite endings?] Stanley asked, taking another bite.
“Oh- yes, of course!”
For the rest of that run, Stanley and the Narrator sat together, sharing slices of a subpar cake within a room covered in yellow confetti and balloons.