Character Practice - Animator vs. Animation

In Another World (1)

He snapped open his eyes, immediately feeling something odd. Was he on fire or something?

Glancing around, his jaw dropped.

"Rueben, I... I've a feeling we're not in Alan's computer anymore-" Oh wait, Reuben's not here.

A cape flowed around him, being blown by the wind, as Red stared out across a giant blackened valley with pits of lava and small volcanos scattered chaotically throughout.

It was quite a sight.

Funny how he couldn't remember getting here. You'd think he'd have remembered it. And nothing here looked like anything he'd seen from Minecraft either, but rather from the PNGs and JPEGs that Green and Second always looked at as references for art.

Oh! His stick brothers! Of course! Yellow was probably playing with command blocks again and teleported him to this place as a prank. Well, in that case, Red probably better just stay put until Yellow brings him ack to the PC.

Red sat down on the ledge he was on that was overlooking the valley, and started swinging his legs.

Something else that was funny, is he couldn't remember putting on all these clothes either. He was wearing armor boots, armor gloves-, "Were they called gauntlets?" He wondered. -armor shoulder pads, a full on cape connected by his shoulder pads, and a crown even.

...

He began to gradually get irritated. Yellow sure was taking a long time.

Getting back on his feet, he yelled.

"HEY YELLOW! IF THIS IS SOME KIND OF PRANK, WILL YA LIKE, STOP IT?"

No response? Yellow must be serious about this.

The thought crossed his mind that this all might be Dark's doing, but he doesn't really like Minecraft, so Red didn't believe that he was the culprit behind the command blocks. Plus, Dark liked his beauty sleep, and there was no way he was going to be up in the middle of the night putting this much effort into being stupid to anyone besides Chosen or maybe Second, unlike Yellow.

Oh, that's right! It was the middle of the night! This must be a dream. Dreams are really weird like this, after all.

So since he was aware that this was a dream now, that must mean that he could manipulate this place like a lucid dream! He had always wanted to fly. Like actually fly, not gliding or falling with style. Red had kind of flown a few times before, but they were always in really intense situations, so he couldn't really enjoy it. Nor had he really been able to remember properly what it was like afterwards.

Okay okay. Let's do this. He took a bunch of steps backwards to get a running start,  then he dashed forwards and leaped off of the ledge.

...


Well, he was now falling. Whenever the flying part would like to kick in would be great.



Just waitin'.



Come to think of it, Red didn't really know how to lucid dream.


...And then he started panicking. Did dying hurt in dreams or would he just wake up- waking up! That would be a great idea right about now. How does one intentionally wake up from a dream-? Oh right, pain is the most famous way to do it. Typically through pinching. So Red slapped himself. It didn't work though-

Something jerked him forwards, so he tried to use his arms to stabilize himself, but then it jerked him backwards and every other which way so now he couldn't even tell which way was up, but he did know that his dinner was about to head in that direction so he shut his eyes and he felt like he was burning up and-

Then he suddenly stabilized. His stomach didn't yet, though.

Nothing had happened, and he felt as if he'd been suspended in midair. He dared to open his eyes, and...

"Oh, the flying part must have finally kicked in," or, at least, that's kind of what Red would've thought if it weren't for the fact that his hands and feet were actually spewing fire out of them. So he guessed that he just had powers in this dream that had just activated.

"It was kind of like flying," he supposed.

Red carefully and cautiously angled his hands in a way that made him jerk forwards again, but he managed to regain control relatively quickly this time.

He kept experimenting with his newfound abilities until finally figured out how to boost himself up and away.

It's a good thing that ledge was so, so high up. He hadn't even fallen halfway down.

Speaking of the ledge, now he was able to get a better view of the place he first existed at in this dream-world-thing.

The sight made him gasp in awe. That ledge was an entrance to a giant, black castle that was carved out of the side of a volcano, with a huge glass window at the front of it.

Wait, he could fly now! He could touch the clouds now!

Making his fire powers stronger, he sent himself flying up to and through the sky like a bird.

Huh. Speaking of birds, he hadn't seen any sign of animal life here. But, it made sense, considering that the whole place was a lava-volcano-ash ridden place with no greenery in sight. It's not exactly ideal for animal life to flourish here. Though, Red did wonder how anyone could live in a place so lonely like this.

However, he was finally able to fly and actually enjoy it. He shouldn't be thinking right now, he should be having fun! So, Red put his mind at rest and just relished the feeling of the wind zipping past him.



--



"And so, after that, I just got really tired an' went to sleep on a fancy-looking couch."

"Whack," Second simply said, paying more attention to his breakfast than Red's story.

"And then I woke up in the interspace in a garbage can near Chosen's house."

"Didja keep your powers?"

"Nah, this was in real life."

"So I guess your new power is sleep walking, then?"

Chosen, who, oddly enough, was the only other stick figure eating breakfast with them today, cut in. "Red's being serious. I went to take out the trash when I found him in the dumpster with those black eyes."

Second glanced away from his food and up at Red in surprise, seemingly only just now noticing Red's black eyes. "And you said you don't remember what happened or who hit you?"

"Nope." Red nonchalantly replied, eating another spoonful of his cereal.

The orange stick blinked. "I guess you really do sleepwalk."

"Or someone beat him up, kidnapped him, and threw him inside the dumpster." Chosen's face grew dark.

Meeting The Chosen One's gaze, Second's expression grew equally dark.  "You don't think it could've been..."

"Stop being ridiculous!" Red interrupted, having gotten up from his chair at the table. "It wasn't Dark. Plus, if he wanted to kill me or something, why would he put me in a place literally right next to Chosen's house? If he really wanted to kill me, couldn't he just literally evaporate me?"

"Perhaps to send a message."

"Listen," Red began. "I know I'm not the brightest lightbulb in the bunch, but even I know that is not only super random, but actually crazy, Chosen. You know, you guys are always blaming everything on Dark."

"Have you even seen him since last night?"

"No. Chosen, it's like 8am! We just woke up! How could I have seen him today?"

Chosen mumbled. "I've been up since 5 and I haven't seen him."

Straightening, Red made a declaration. "I'm gonna go find him and actually ask him what in Alan's name he was doing last night.  I mean, he's got to be on the computer. It's not like he goes to the interspace much anymore.

"-And no, I don't need or want you guys to come with me to protect me or whatever. Well- you could come with me if you're going to actually be nice to him for once, then I want you to see ASAP that he's totally harmless," He stated over his shoulder as he was leaving, noticing the other two had been standing up.



--



"Dark!" Red peeked into Dark's room, which was right next to his.

"Hey Dark!" Red peeked into Yellow's lab. Yellow wasn't there either, so Red deduced that the sunny stick had stayed up late again and had to sleep in.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark?" Red peeked back into the kitchen.

He'd gone in a full circle around the computer, yet no sign of him. The only places Red hadn't looked in was the rest of the stick gang's rooms, Blue's garden, and their own personal Minecraft folders. Maybe Second was fairing better.

Chosen looked up from his food, raising an eyebrow. "No luck?"

"Well, would I still be looking for Dark if I'd found him? Probably not, right?"

"Of course not. I was-"

"Wait, shh."

Letting out a clearly exasperated sigh, Chosen shut up and listened.


Faintly, Red heard something. If he were in the interspace, he would've thought it was just the wind.


It sounded like someone was in a shouting match.

He jerked straight up. "Chosen, that sounded like Second! He sounds furious. Come on!"


They hurried to the desktop to see what Second was glaring at.

Dark was standing in front of the interspace portal carrying an unconscious Green who was absolutely covered with bruises and burns. Including two black eyes which were identical to Red's. 

"I- Dark! What happened?!"

 "LOOK AT WHAT HE DID TO GREEN," Second roared.

Dark had just been looking at Second with the flattest expression possible. "As much as I would LOVE to take credit for this, I have to deny the accusation. If you're quite done, I'm sure this guy needs a medic. So I suggest taking him to your blue friend."

"Why, did you do something to him too?!"

"Because Green's injured, idiot!"

Rolling his eyes in exasperation, Dark just dropped Green in Second's arms before turning his back on him, dismissing the enraged orange stick.

Dark had begun stalking towards the kitchen when he noticed Red and Chosen staring at him, growled a "What are you looking at?", and just kept heading to the kitchen.


After a second, Chosen raised an eyebrow at Red pointedly. Red, who scoffed in indignation as a response.

Yet... something about the situation and Dark's involvement did unnerve him. But he still believed Dark hadn't done anything wrong. Plus, Dark's here now, so they could just ask him directly.

With determination, Red started making his way to the kitchen too, with or without Chosen.



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When the AU is an AU of two AUs of two other AUs of two other AUs---

If I should make a part 2, let me know! ^^