Animation Vs The Past

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(Third-Person POV)
HollyWood, LA
1:30 PM

~

Walking down the street, a man looked down to his phone, passing people as he walked. The crowd chattered amongst themselves around him.

"I swear Second, we'll get lunch in bit! There's somewhere I want to go first."

That man was none other than the infamous Alan Becker. A well-known animator, who mainly animated stick figures, and who has had quite an interesting history with them. See, whenever he draws a stick figure, by some sort of magic, they'd leap out and come to life. It seems unbelievable, but yet, this was common for the man at this point. In fact, it's part of his daily life as an animator, with his beloved stick figures always by his side to help him draw and animate.

"Ugh, fineee.. but this better be quick, Alan!"

On his phone screen, currently whining about not having lunch yet, was The Second Coming or Second, the 4th stick figure Alan had ever drew that came to life. When Second was first drawn, he thought of Alan as an enemy. However, as time went on, he grew more fond of his animator and helped him with many things, such as his work.

"It will, I swear."

The two were on vacation in Hollywood. Alan wanted to sightsee, and maybe even catch a few classics playing in the huge nearby theaters, even if they were very expensive. However, there were a few places that he was intrigued in, and the place he was headed to was one of them.

As Alan turned the corner, the two encountered an almost deserted street. Broken down location littered the place. Second raised an eyebrow and looked to Alan. He already had a smile on his face as he started to walk.

"..is this seriously where you wanted to go?"

"Yep!"

"Why?? Why are we skipping lunch for this?!"

"Well Second, this is one of the oldest streets in Hollywood. A lot of old famous animators started their careers here, so there's a bunch of old, small studios here that I want to see, even if they're abandoned. This place hasn't been touched since at least 1912!"

Second grunted. The only thing on his mind right now was food, but since they were here now, he might as well look around.

Compared to the noise of the streets before, this one was almost completely silent. Only the sound of pigeons and footsteps were heard as Alan walked. Second was about to doze off, when suddenly, something caught his eye.

"Oh! What's that?"

Alan looked to the side.

"That's an alleyway. Nothing special Secon-"

"No, look down!"

Alan looked down, and noticed the same thing. A worn down VHS tape with a stick figure drawn on it. Intrigued, Alan picked it up and blew the dust off it.

"Hm. Looks like an old tape."

"Ooo.. what does it have on it?"

"I don't know, but we aren't gonna find out."

"Awww why not?"

"Well firstly, this prolly belongs to someone. Secondly, I don't have anything to play it on. Third, there's probably nothing on it."

"Come on! If it's been sitting here for god know long, the owner probably doesn't care for it anymore! Also, can't we just convert it to a DVD?"

"..."

"Come on!! Pleeeaaassseee??"

Alan sighed. He really didn't want to, but he had to admit, he was curious about it too.

"Fine, but if it has nothing on it, you're cleaning the kitchen for an entire week."

"Deal!!"

Shaking it off a bit more, Alan put it in his bag and continued down the street.

-
2:24 PM

Seated at a table, Alan ordered something small. As the waitress walked away, he picked up his phone and looked to Second, who was scarfing down his food.

"How are you that hungry? We ate a lot at the hotel for breakfast."

"That's just how I am."

"Yeah, a weirdo."

"I- hey!!"

Alan chuckles and poked him.

"Well now I'm mad."

"And if I get more food for you?"

"..never mind."

"Yeah that's what I thought."

After a few more minutes, Alan's food arrived. At that point, Second was already on his fourth plate of food.  Perking up, Second looked to Alan.

"So what do you think is on it?"

"On what?"

"The tape."

He really didn't have an answer, he hadn't been thinking about it since they entered the restaurant. Having no ideas, he just shrugged.

"You're boring. Well, I was thinking it's something really old. Like.. uhhhh.. oooh! Some show from the 1900s! Or uh.."

And with that, Second continued to list off things that it could possibly be. While it did get on Alan's nerves a bit, this did also make him think about it more as he ate.

Finally finishing, Alan paid and picked up his phone, which still had Second rambling on it. Smirking, Alan shook his phone rapidly which would make Second's entire body bounce around from one side of  the screen to another like a ping pong ball. As he stopped, Second sunk to the floor, dizzy. Alan chuckled.

"Are you ok?"

"..you're a j-jerk, yknow that?"

Standing up, Alan would start to make his way out of the restaurant.

"Yeah, I do, heh."

~