Chapter Text
Day, after day, after day... without any change to their routine. Each day feels so similar that it wouldn't be surprised if it were revealed they were looping, though they know that isn't the case. Why? Simple, their lovely friend, Postman! Everyday, he comes by, usually in the mornings, to check up on them and how comfortable they're getting. After all, they kinda ARE his only visitor (The only robloxian actually playing the experience).
Player gets up from their bed, rubbing their eyes, and walks (or more like dragging their feet) towards the window left of the television. Thankfully they got up during sunrise, so they aren't blinded by the light immediately. Watching the sunrise, they notice a familiar van slowly coming to view, one with the old Roblox logo. A smile makes its way from Player as they patiently wait for the van to stop in front of their house.
They walk a little to the next window, just right of the door, so that they can continue watching Postman as he gets out of the van, a package in hand, and knock on their door. Seconds later, they open the door to find themselves facing a very cheerful Postman.
"Hello there friend!" He said, practically beaming with joy.
"Hi there Posty! Do you want to come inside?" Player typed, unable to use the voice chat function. They could hear him chuckle a bit at the nickname being used, sadly he didn't have one for Player.... Welp, patience is a virtue!
"Hmm, nope! I can't be doing that too often, wouldn't want to have a bug occur now!" Postman says, usual of him. "Though we can go stargazing later, it makes me feel sort-of nostalgic looking at the stars with someone, probably because that was my first memory with the dev of this experience!"
"I would be happy to!"
"Alright friend, see you later!" And so, after he leaves his package for them, and promptly leaves, they close the door and open the package up to find a cute Postman plush. It looks like an accessory, most likely a gift from the developer of the game for being its sole resident.
Speaking of gifts, they should get one for their dear pal! But what would he like..? It took awhile, but eventually they figured out the gift Postman would love the most... and that's VISITING AN EXPERIENCE!
I mean, there can't be anything better for him; after all, he always compares stars to other experiences, but always being out of reach.
Problem?
That... was a difficult task. Postman isn't a player, and is practically forced to stay in this experience; not to mention he isn't the most eager to stray away from their initial programming. This was made abundantly clear when Player tried breaking into, and driving, his van, to which they were promptly stopped right before they crashed into the world barrier. After this incident, Postman gave player a very long (and I do mean very long) lecture about NOT breaking the game code. They reminisce on that memory, recalling Postman mentioning something about legal trouble. It went something like... "IF THEY HAD TO INTERVENE..." and "I CAN'T HELP YOU FROM BEING BANNED!"
What lovely times..! Sadly, it did leave them to have a 'Do not Disturb' kind of relationship with Postman for a couple of days... though the two eventual made up!
Speaking of code, there IS the possibility of learning how to mess with the code and hack, maybe even learn how to teleport a robloxian from one experience to another. Like Tubers93 did during that one time! Though this might result in Player being sent to the Badlands... eh, worth it. And so, with their new goal in mind, they wait for Postman to come back for stargazing, planning to visit some forums and videos talking about it
...
...
...
WHY IS HACKING SO COMPLICATED????
Player KNEW it would be hard learning how to hack, but they didn't expect it to be THIS DIFFICULT. Why couldn't it be as easy as those movies? Where they just write out words and set variables or stuff? But NO, they need to learn about all kinds of stuff, like how firewalls work and bypassing anti-cheating softwares and this and THAT. Player could just install scripts from websites dedicated to this stuff, but most of them are just the basic sets, like flying, no-clipping, flinging, etc.... The rest cost money, which gives them access to more features..! Excluding the one their after. Then there is... whatever that thing is. That uncanny smile which has plagued their sleep on occasions, always telling them to remember. Honestly, it creeps them out. They also feel like something horrible would happen if they were to listen to that thing, like Postman dying— WHICH IS HILARIOUS, after all, nothing bad ever happens in a retro game! Right?
Shaking such a funny thought from their head, Player spends the rest of their day learning on backdoors, commands, codes, formatting, and other stuff involved in this. Then the next day, and the next, and the next...
And the next
And the next
And the next...
...
Forgetting something?
To say he was slightly worried was an understatement. Player hasn't logged in the experience for weeks, not to mention how he hadn't heard about anything that could make them stay gone for so long prior to them leaving.
He knew this would happen someday, it felt too true for it to last. Eventually they would leave this game behind, just like the rest...
The loneliness inside of Postman has been growing and gnawing at him. He was used to that feeling of loneliness before Player joined, since most players weren't that interested in playing a retro game; only the veterans who were here for years did, and even then they didn't last long.
He knew this would happen, and yet he got his hopes up with player. Even if they did almost get in trouble with the R.I.S, even if they were so persistent in getting him to break his own programming. He missed them, he truly did. Not only that, they were the only one keeping this experience up. That in itself was a problem, as mentioned by their creator, OneWhoFinds. What's the point in updating an experience if it doesn't have anyone to enjoy it?
...
Or was it himself who thought this?
Admins, how much he hates being just a NPC, how limited he is to his movement, to his speech, to his actions, to... EVERYTHING.
Stuck to a code that doesn't even have an animation for picking up a PACKAGE... A PACKAGE. AND THAT WAS HIS MAIN GIMMICK. And the only times his limbs have an 'animation' are during cutscenes... AND THOSE ARE SCRIPTED!
He could feel his eyes tearing up, the only thing he could freely do.
Oh how he wish he could message Player, how he wished he could join him in other experiences. How he wished he could change his appearance, like Player...
"hah... I'm pathetic... thinking like this..." He muttered, stuck inside his van, which was starting to feel incredibly cramp and small. The night sky wasn't changing anytime soon.
The dev had joined for awhile so that he wasn't constantly stuck inside his van, but after 4 days Postman started to lose the will to even interact.
The stars were starting to look less and less welcoming, and more mocking. Always out of reach, always miles away. He decided to simply close his eyes, wishing he wouldn't have to look at them any longer.
...
...
...
He was too distracted to notice the night sky slowly disappearing, and the sun slowly rising. Only when the van suddenly started moving, and the light intruding through his eyelids, did he notice.
Confused, Postman opens his eyes, staring at the road ahead. Van moving, he sees the same old house, with the same appearance, same windows, and... PLAYER?
The moment his van stops and he is teleported out of his van, he speedwalks towards the door (There is no code for running...). 'Knocking' on the door, it slowly vanishes to reveal Player, who looks incredibly tired, but that doesn't matter. He teleports himself inside the house, and almost immediately starts crying.
"PLAYER! I-I..."
Player looks shocked at the scene, then something seems to hit them as they suddenly looked very guilty. They rub their arm as the NPC continues sobbing ugly tears. Slowly, Player walks up to Postman and tries drying their tears, only for more to appear.
Sighing, they hug him, typing the words, "I'm sorry Posty... I didn't mean to be gone for that long..."
"Where w-were you..! I-I thought..."
"Sorry, sorry.... I got distracted learning some... coding"
After minutes of sobbing, he gets quiet, thinking about what Player had just said.
"Coding..? What for?"
Player had started smirking, and it was one of those evil smirks, the one they had before breaking into the van. He didn't like the feeling he was getting...
"What for..?"
"Hacking."
...
...
...
"WHAT."
Before Postman had time to even begin questioning this absurd reason, Player had grabbed him, tossed him over their shoulders, and proceeded to pull out a SCRIPT. Commands and lines of codes passed by, and they weren't all for this game. Player had began walking to the door, which had begun glitching dramatically.
'Oh my admins, their going to kill me, THEIR GOING TO KILL ME.' He had begun thrashing wildly when Player stepped into the glitch, and in an instant they were transported to somewhere. Having noticed he wasn't dead, Postman lessened his thrashing, but was still fearing for his life. The R.I.S. were bound to notice something happened, especially OneWhoFinds. His life was over, all because Player decided to become a hacker, for SOME REASON?
He was dropped to the ground, landing on his back, and had started crawling away when Player typed out "Look! This is the gift I got you!... Also you got to relax a little..."
'RELAX???' He thought, "HOW IS THIS A... WHY... I...."
Eventually he did relax, after all panicking isn't going to help him prevent his potential deactivation. Now that he wasn't as scared, he was able to notice the houses around him, all varying in color and size. Some of them had decorations, some were bland, and some were a mix between the two. Then his eyes locked on a brown, most likely brick, building, with a billboard saying...
Builder Brothers Pizza