Chapter Text
MePhone4 stood outside the hotel, tapping his foot against the soft grass beneath him as he waited. He knocked about-- a total of a minute ago, and yet nobody has answered the door. If he weren’t making strides on not being so unlikeable towards the others, he would’ve barged in by now, but he was ‘politely’ told by OJ not to come into the hotel without asking first, or at least making his presence known, lest he accidentally catches any of them ‘off guard’, whatever that meant. MePhone rolled his eyes, knocking again, this time a bit more forcefully. How dare they make him, the host of the show that got him this hotel in the first place, wait for this long.
MePhone4 was not known for his patience. He was also not known for his great timing these days. See, of course, the day that MePhone4 decides to come for a visit, is the day nobody is out in the lobby, or even on the first floor-- MePhone only finding this out after peering through one of the windows. He let out an annoyed groan, before storming off. Whatever, he had better things to do, anyways. He could just come back later. Whenever he did go back, he was surely going to give OJ an earful about his unjust treatment. So with his plans foiled, and nobody to hang out with, or bother, MePhone was begrudgingly forced to take in the nature around him on the island. He had been there for long enough to know at least basically where anything interesting was, but today was not a day he felt like visiting any of those places. It was too far to walk anyways, so in the end, MePhone finds himself sitting under his favorite tree, his arms propped behind his head, and a cookie jar generated next to him in the grass. Today was peaceful enough. Maybe MePhone wouldn’t mind not complaining to OJ for once about his ‘unfair treatment’ towards not being let in today.
It was evening when MePhone went back to try again, or at least, that was his original plan, which didn’t end up happening. What did end up happening was MePhone, not even bothering to look where he was stepping, tripped over something, face planting into a rock.
That’s where his memory cut off for a bit.
--
OJ sighed, pacing throughout the lobby of the hotel. MePhone said he was coming by today, and though he was never punctual, he never just didn’t show up, especially when it involved bothering him, or any of the other residents at Hotel Oj. It was worrying, really. OJ stopped his pacing, as Paper walked up, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“OJ, if you keep pacing like this, you’ll wear out the carpet again.”
OJ sighed. “I know, I’m just… I don’t even know why I’m worried, but here I am. It’s already evening. He would’ve let me know if he had changed his mind about coming today, or something.”
“If you’re so worried, we could always go looking for him. I’m sure it’d make you feel better when you’re able to tell him off for making you worry like this.” Paper offered a soft smile. He always knew just what to say to help OJ calm down.
“You know what, you’re right. You should probably stay though-- just so there’s someone responsible here to make sure nothing goes wrong-- even though I’m sure I won’t be gone long, but…”
“Just in case, I know.”
So OJ grabbed a flashlight, heading out of the hotel. It wasn’t too dark yet, the sun still having yet to slink behind the mountains, but he didn’t know how long he would be out here looking. It was a good thing being on the show during season one gave him a decent enough idea as to where MePhone’s favorite spots to relax were.
The problem with that, is of course he just happened to check all the wrong ones first. He was approaching a tree, this one being bigger than most of the other trees in the area, and just outside the perilous forest. MePhone had once dubbed that specific tree as his ‘relaxation spot’ and always seemed displeased when anyone would bother him. It was dark by now, OJ having to use his flashlight to see the area around him. As he walked up to the area, it wasn’t long before his flashlight caught exactly what he was looking for-- lying face down on the grass, motionless. About a dozen different things ran through OJ’s head the moment he saw MePhone in this state, but what resulted was OJ letting out a swear, as he rushed over to the phone’s side, immediately going to turn him on. The familiar Meeple start-up noise played, but only briefly as MePhone’s screen glitched out, and he turned off again.
Shit.
OJ ignored all the concerned and questioning glances from the hotel residents as he kicked open the doors, rushing towards the hotel's infirmary. It wasn’t long before Paper rushed in behind him, a bit confused.
“OJ, whats-- oh my god what happened to him?”
“I- I found him like this. Go get TestTube if she’s here? I need to see if she can figure out what happened or-- or how to fix him. He won’t turn on.” OJ gave Paper a worried glance, as the other would nod, rushing off to grab the scientist.
--
“Looks like his screen was cracked. It looks really bad.”
…
“He still wont turn on properly?”
…
“It’ll take me a bit to acquire a replacement, but I can do it.”
…
Through the static ringing through his audio processors, MePhone4 could hear faint, distant voices. Both of which were annoyingly familiar. He couldn’t quite see anything yet, but he could tell he already felt sluggish.
“Wh… what happened?” He managed to get out, slowly moving one of his hands to his screen.
“MePhone? You’re on?”
“Oh thank the Gods he didn’t get himself killed… I’ll go tell the others he’s awake.” and he could hear footsteps, as he guessed the second voice left the room.
It took MePhone a bit, but he was finally able to open his eyes after a while-- or, well, one of them? It was hard to tell. His depth perception was definitely not as good as it was earlier today, and the entire right side of his screen hurt. The first sight he was greeted with was TestTube, standing over him, not seeming to have any sense of personal space. MePhone let out a groan, sitting up in the infirmary bed he had been placed in.
“Is- Is anyone going to answer me?” He cringed as his voice glitched, what the hell is wrong with him?
“OJ told me he went looking for you when you didn’t show up today, and he found you like this.” TestTube spoke
“Like what? What- what’s wrong with me?” He was starting to get worried.
“Erh… Do you remember what happened? Do you know what happened to you before you blacked out?”
“I- I-” MePhone shut his mouth, getting embarrassed by the amount of times his voice was glitching. He took a moment, before trying to speak again, TestTube staring at him intently.
“I tried coming to the hotel earlier, and- and nobody answered the door, so I left and did my own thing for a while… Um… I should get- get going.” MePhone swung his legs to the side of the bed, ready to get up, but he was quickly stopped by TestTube;
“I wouldn’t advise that. Whatever you did to yourself, it damaged not only your screen, but some of your system. Being out on your own is a terrible idea right now, MePhone.”
MePhone scoffed. “Why do you care?”
“What?” TestTube gave him a perplexed look.
MePhone thought about everything he wanted to say in the moment, for once choosing to backtrack. “Nevermind.” He grumbled, moving his legs back up onto the bed.
“Can I at least get a- a mirror? I need to know how bad I look, and if I need to avoid everyone.”
“You aren’t going to like what you see, but don’t worry! I’m working on making a replacement screen for you. I would’ve just ordered one but uh--” TestTube fiddled with her hands a bit, before grabbing a small hand mirror off of one of the counters to hand to him. “Yeah. It’s easier for me to just make one.”
MePhone cringed, both at what he was seeing, and TestTubes words. He knew exactly what she was implying, and it frustrated him, but not as much as the very noticeable crack on his face.
“How long is this going to take?”
“Well it really depends. I’ll start later tonight and see. I still need to get the materials needed and such, and then I’ll have to do an operation on you, and…” TestTube went on and on, and MePhone quickly toned her voice out, in favor of the static that still lingered in the back of his audio processors. He was trying to remember what happened. It hurts to think, really. Whatever happened really did a number on him, huh. He moved a hand to his head, and immediately jolted a bit as TestTube snapped a finger in front of his face;
“Huh- wh- what?”
“You totally blanked out there, maybe you should go back into sleep mode for a bit. It might help.”
“I’ll be fine.”
TestTube stared at him for a moment, very much not wanting to accept that as his answer.
“Okay, well you’re at least staying in that bed, and you aren’t going to argue with me on that.”
“Whatever.” MePhone rolled his open eye, slinking down a bit in the infirmary bed. It was quite comfortable. Maybe just a bit of rest wouldn’t hurt.
Or at least, rest would’ve been nice, if OJ hadn’t barged in, asking a bunch of questions that MePhone didn’t have time to properly process as he opened his eye again, very annoyed now.
“So much for rest.” MePhone grumbled, sitting up in the bed again, giving OJ a mean look.
“Sorry, I just, what happened?”
“I uh. It’s nothing bad, really. I just- just um… Tripped on something, I- I think…” MePhone sheepishly let out.
“It isn’t a big deal? MePhone, I thought you got yourself killed.”
MePhone rolled his eyes, biting back a reply that would certainly cause an argument, before responding;
“Yeesh, you really think I’m that- that weak?”
“Well your screen seems to say so.”
MePhone scoffed.
“Sorry-- that was a bit uncalled for, I’m just…” OJ sighed “I’m glad you’re alive.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Excuse me?”
“... Nevermind.”
OJ’s stare lingered for a few moments, before he sighed again, looking away.
“At least now you- you can’t kick me out of the hotel.” MePhone gave an obnoxious smirk.
“Huh? I wasn’t--”
“He’s right, it’s better if he stays here for a while-- at least before I can see what this did to damage his systems, and so I can fix that screen.” TestTube butted in, pulling out a tape measure to get the measurements for the screen. MePhone sat there, almost awkwardly as she did so.
“I wasn’t planning on kicking you out, not that you’re even technically a resident here, but now that you’ve said that, you better not be planning anything to make my life harder than it needs to be, because I will take time out of my day to keep an eye on you if I have to.”
“You’ll just have to see, then.” MePhone kept the smirk on his face.
“Gods… Whatever. Get some rest, I still have to go prepare dinner.” OJ rolled his eyes. “I’ll get Fan or someone to bring your dinner in, since you’re busy with this TestTube.”
“Thanks.” TestTube gave a thumbs up, writing furiously on a notepad. And with that, OJ made his leave again, giving MePhone the chance to lay down again to rest. He was certainly annoyed with how many times he noticed his voice glitch, and he could only wonder if anything else was going to be glitchy, or broken because of this. He certainly hoped not, but as he drifted into sleep mode, he couldn’t help but worry.