(TAWW!Week) DAY 5: MOTION SICKNESS
Summary: Alan never really told everyone he is still experiencing motion sickness. And everyone is slightly–careless. Thank goodness he has Second to back him up.
Tag/s: Hurt/Comfort, Vomiting and Nausea, Comedy
As much as Alan loves his little goobers—AKA Second, The Gang, a bit of Dark, and of course Chosen—they aren’t exactly careful when he's around. It’s Alan’s fault, really, for not telling them that his VR is still a bit buggy after Dark’s initial tampering. A slight movement can send his vision spinning like he’s the goddamn sun orbiting the earth on a sugar high.
Now, it’s his fault for not mentioning it, but that doesn’t mean they should—
“Catch!” Red giggles, throwing Alan toward Blue, who jumps over a slime block and hugs Alan to his chest before tossing him to Yellow, who then passes him to Green. “Guys,” Alan protests, the AFK symbol above his head flickering away as his vision swirls, still getting thrown around.
“Green, catch this!” Blue laughs, slamming Alan into Green, who lets out a loud ‘oof’ as feathers scatter in the air while he falls on his back with Alan on his face. “Jesus Christ,” Alan moans, covering his eyes with a wing. His VR is still malfunctioning, even after he tried to fix it.
He hears Red and Blue giggling as a yellow blur helps a green blur up to his feet. “You alright, Alan?” Blue asks, crouching in front of the duck, who only lets out a small groan and waves a wing. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. What the hell are you four doing?” Alan asks calmly—he has to stay calm; he can’t just blow up at these kids.
“We were just playing around,” Red says, lifting Alan into his arms. Alan suppresses a groan as his vision spins again, feeling nauseous. “With my body?” he swallows hard, his stomach churning. For a moment, Red says something, and Blue laughs again as Alan squeezes his eyes shut, trying to push down the nausea. His skin feels clammy, and he rocks his legs to quell the urge to vomit. He manages to slip off the VR and stumbles to the bathroom, where—well, he vomits.
Red turns to Alan, the large AFK symbol still hovering above his head. “You think he’s annoyed at us?” Blue asks, just as Green leans on Blue’s shoulder. “No way, we were just having fun. He’s probably just upset we didn’t ask him for permission,” Green sighs, and Blue gasps.
“Damn it, you’re right!” Blue exclaims as Yellow approaches, spinning a purple feather between his fingers. “Alan?” He taps the duck’s head, but the AFK symbol remains.
“Maybe he’s angry,” Blue’s teeth chatter in fear as Yellow taps a fist on his head. “Don’t be stupid.” Finally, the AFK symbol above Alan disappears. “Guys, never do that again,” Alan says, his voice low as he trudges off.
“So he is angry,” Red whispers to Yellow, who just sighs.
It’s safe to say it’s not easy to shake off the nausea from being tossed around. After walking away, Alan had to rush to the bathroom again and vomit his guts out.
“I thought I fixed that already,” Alan groans, tempted to lay his head on the rim of the toilet bowl, rolling his lips in disgust at the thought.
As he cleans the bathroom almost religiously, he can’t help but remember this is the same toilet he uses for… well, you know. Naturally, that makes him feel even more nauseous.
It’s time to tell them to be more careful, or he’ll never touch the VR again.
Of course, he wouldn’t do that—he can’t leave his kids—er, the teens—by themselves. With them switching between the Outernet and his PC, who knows what they’re up to?
It’s terrifying to think there’s a whole civilization in the internet—or outernet, whatever! Alan is still getting used to all that.
But he knows Second and the Color Gang are incredibly careless. While he trusts Chosen to look after them, he knows Chosen is busy with his own life.
And Dark, despite being newly fixed, doesn’t inspire confidence in watching over the kids. Alan doubts whether fixing Dark’s code even mattered since his personality hasn’t changed.
“Are you okay?” Second asks as Alan finally slips his VR on after taking an anti-nausea pill. He usually avoids medication, but this time, he’d swallow his pride to avoid feeling nauseous until he falls asleep.
“I’m fine, but they need to be careful,” Alan says, flailing his wings in frustration. Second chuckles nervously, wringing his hands. “Did they—play ball with you again?” he giggles.
Alan almost glares—if he weren’t a duck, he might look scary. Second giggles at that. “Worse, I AM the ball,” Alan clenches his wing into a fist as Second stifles laughter. “I can tell them off if you’d like,” Second offers, but Alan sighs.
“Who am I to make you do that? I’m an adult, a working adult. I can talk to them myself,” Alan grumbles, knowing he wouldn’t actually scold them, despite the discomfort they caused.
Second crosses his arms, worry etched on his face as he taps his chin. He knows about Alan’s issue with being picked up and moved around without warning.
There’s a bug in the VR system that makes Alan’s vision go haywire, leading to the worst nausea imaginable. He’s never had motion sickness before; it started after Dark tampered with the system and caused a seizure.
Suddenly, Second huffs, surprising Alan. If he had brows, they’d be raised in confusion. But alas, ducks lack eyebrows.
“Then I’m telling them myself! If you have another seizure, you can’t use the VR!” Second scolds, and Alan gasps in offense, wing over his chest, bill agape in shock.
“A teen talking back to an adult?!”
“Excuse me?!” Alan exclaims as Second stomps off, rolling up his sleeves as if ready to throw punches. “No! Wait!” Alan calls, chasing after the teen.
