Day 2 in the infirmary was slow, and unremarkable. He mostly sat alone, his nerves having finally calmed themselves from the night prior, and though he was bored, he had the entire internet to go through to keep him busy. TestTube didn't visit him today like she said she would, still presumably working hard in her lab, and OJ not visiting either. Some part of MePhone was hoping he would have, maybe brought dinner again, but the only interaction the two had that day was brief, OJ popping in to take the dishes from last night. He could only hope it was because OJ was busy, and not because he was being avoided. It was getting rather lonely, and he still refused to consider using the cane. It wasn't like sitting in a room for an entire month like this would kill him or anything.
Day 3.
Okay, it was killing him. He needed to get out of there. He was incredibly bored, and needed something other than mindless web searching to keep him stimulated. So for once, setting aside his pride, he stumbled around a bit, looking for the cane that was offered up. It was wood, the top part-- the handle? He didn't know cane terminology-- was flat, and there was a yellow band on it for style, or something. Maybe this wouldn't make him look frail, he kinda liked how it looked, really.
The second he stepped out of the infirmary, his nerves returned, but at least he didn't feel like he was going to immediately fall over or lose balance with every step.
"So grandpa decided to get out of bed today?" Trophy, who was headed out for one of his daily jogs passed by, laughed out.
And any bit of confidence he had in looking even remotely okay faded with that. He turned to go back into the infirmary, his mood immediately soured, but someone else called out;
"Hey, he heckles everyone all the time, don't think about it too much." MePhone looked back over to see Knife and Pickle on the main couch, playing some video game that MePhone had never seen before-- not that he was incredibly versed on any.
"Peh, like I let what he said get to me. I don't- don't care."
Knife took a second to give MePhone a doubtful look, before returning his focus to the TV. MePhone rolled his eyes.
"Anyways," He turned back away from the door, not really wanting to go back in there at the moment; "Where's OJ. I need someone to bother."
"How about instead of bothering someone who's busy today, you can hang out with us!" Fan butted in, peeking out of the kitchen, as if he were waiting there for a chance to talk. MePhone rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, and have you put me on blast on your blog for doing something embarrassing? No way." MePhone headed for the stairs again, albeit slowly, walking with a cane was strange, and would certainly take a bit to get used to.
"But it won't just be me! LightBulb and Paintbrush too! We're going out on a walk!"
MePhone stopped before stepping up the first stair, sighing. He weighed the options in his head. He really didn't want to be stuck in this hotel all month, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to go along with them. But of course, he couldn't make it seem like he was too eager to jump at this chance;
"Ugh, fine. I don't have anything better to do."
"Yeah!" Fan fist-pumped the air, before ducking back into the kitchen area. MePhone rolled his eyes, and walked over to the door, waiting for the others.
...
It was a nice day outside, and honestly, MePhone didn't mind being included for once. This wouldn't be his first choice on who to hang out with, but overall, it wasn't... the worst company possible. Paintbrush and LightBulb were keeping up conversation, talking mostly between themselves, and LightBulb occasionally asked all of them some silly 'would you rather' questions as they all walked-- surprisingly keeping pace with MePhone, who was slower than he usually would be. He was at least thankful of that, he would've been embarrassed if he had ended up getting ditched at any point for walking too slow.
"So, if you had to choose between uh... Hmmm..." Lightbulb nudged Paintbrush; "Help me out, I think I've asked all the would you rather questions I could think of,"
Paintbrush rolled their eyes, though not maliciously, a fond smile on their face, as they spoke;
"Okay, I'll come up with something then, Would you rather be stuck in a room with Silver Spoon for a day, or Blueberry."
"Blueberry, definitely, I'm sure I could get him to smile at least once," Lightbulb grinned, running her fingers through the grass as all four of them sat on a hill, not far from the hotel.
"Yeah, I'd go with Blueberry, too. Not because I think he'd be the best company-- no offense, but uh... If I were stuck in a room with Silver he'd just make me feel bad or something," Fan chuckled awkwardly.
"What would you and Blueberry do?"
"I uh-- I'd probably just put on a show, I never really got the chance to talk to him during season three, well, come to think of it I didn't talk to silver much either, but I watched the episodes! Uh, yeah. It'd be really awkward," Fan flopped backwards onto the grass, staring up at the sky.
"What about you, MePhone?"
"Huh?" MePhone blinked, tuning into the conversation again. Yeah, he was sort of listening, but he didn't actually expect to be included in this one.
"Silver spoon, or Blueberry."
"You know what, I'd- I'd pick Silver. Being around Blueberry would just make me feel bad, but if I were in a room with Silver, I could make him feel bad. I think it'd be funny- funny to get a rise out of him." MePhone grinned, leaning back a bit and staring up at the sky. He could see out of the corner of his gaze, as Lightbulb and Paintbrush exchanged a look, almost concerned with his answer. His grin fell a bit at that;
"Not that I want- want to purposefully make anyone angry," MePhone sat up straight, backtracking. Though he was sure the damage was already done.
"Honestly not even surprised, it was your entire personality during your time hosting." Paintbrush shrugged.
"Y-yeah, but... Uh..." MePhone frowned. "Whatever." His tone dropped a bit as he scoffed, going back to staring back up at the sky.
He didn't contribute much to the conversation after that. He was completely silent on the way back, trailing just a bit further behind from the others as the sun fell behind the hills.
He spent the rest of the evening alone in the infirmary, hoping that maybe OJ, or honestly anyone would stop by to bring him dinner tonight.
Today had not been as fun as he had hoped. It had been fun for a while, but of course he had to open his mouth and ruin it for himself.
He was in sleep mode by the time OJ came to check up on him.
Day 4.
He remained in the infirmary on day four, TestTube finally making her way out of her lab to check up on him. Other than the base answers to her questions, there was no small talk. MePhone just wasn't feeling it today.
"Well, progress is certainly going. Fan told me you went out with him and the others yesterday? How did that go?"
"Fine." He kept his gaze solely on the ceiling above the infirmary bed.
"Good to hear. How is walking with the cane treating you?"
"A bit hard to get used to, but I- I managed."
It was silent for a bit, TestTube tapping her pen against her clipboard, before complete silence again;
"How are you uh... How are you mentally?"
"Huh?"
"Just asking, because you've been quiet all morning."
"Oh, uh, yeah. Don't worry about me, I'm fine- fine." He gave a thumbs-up, trying to be extra reassuring. TestTube stared at him for a moment, but pushed no further on it.
"Okay then. Make sure to uh, I guess don't stay in here all day, if you can help it. I'm sure people around the hotel wouldn't mind your company."
"Sure." He had to stifle a much more negative response, keeping it brief instead.
"I'll uh, try to check in again soon, okay?"
"Okay."
And though it was brief, MePhone was thankful for the short interaction. Maybe she was right. Staying in that room all day was not proving to be a great idea.
It was about noon when MePhone ventured into the lobby, for once, nobody was on the couch, or hogging the TV. He immediately grinned, taking the chance to put on his favorite show-- something he wasn't able to do at the hotel, or at least, in the lobby, when he visited.
Typically, it was another hit new reality show, this one being about a bunch of objects, new ones every week that came in to do various challenges for prizes of all sorts and sizes. The host was certainly not as cool, or charismatic as MePhone, but he still admired the work of any reality TV show host, he did it himself, so of course he had nothing but admiration for the others, as long as they did things right, or weren't boring. This one, the host, was a mop, who's main gimmick was wearing a different, wacky bowtie, or neck accessory every episode. Maybe MePhone should've kept a gimmick when he was doing inanimate insanity. Oh well, it was too late for that. He leaned on the arm of the couch as the show went on, not paying any mind to those who came and went in the lobby, his full, undivided attention on the TV. As he sat there, he realized that as great of a viewing as this was, he was definitely missing something: snacks. It was a fact that he didn't have to eat, but a snack always made the viewing experience of well, anything, much better. So naturally, instead of ruining the experience to get up and look through the kitchen-- as fun as it would be to piss OJ off by stealing snacks again, he would use his generation powers to create a bag of chips-- or, well, that's what he was trying to do, but as he reached for the bag, his hand went right through it, and it glitched out of existence. Not fully processing what just happened, he attempted it again, still trying to focus on the show, but as it happened a second time, his focus was on the lack of chip bags. He looked around, almost nervous, to see if anyone had seen this fumble. Right. TestTube had said his generation abilities were messed up, didn't she. He had almost managed to forget. He sighed, his mood being dampened a bit as he sat out the rest of the show, not much of it being left as the hour was almost over, with a much lower mood than before.
So much for a distraction.
The next stop he made that day was the kitchen, after being kicked off the couch so Pickle, Soap, and Knife could host their weekly gaming tournament in whatever fighting game they were playing now.
Sitting at the table was Salt, and Pepper. He quickly opted to ignore the both of them as they looked at him back, sharing a glance, as he shuffled through the cabinets, trying to see what snacks the hotel had to offer, since he couldn't just make his own...
Make his own? Huh. Maybe he could--
"Sooo, like what happened to your face?" MePhone jumped a bit, as Salt spoke up, now standing next to him with a judgmental look.
"Uhhh," He rubbed the back of his head; "Accident. Yeah."
"What kind of accident? Just asking, because you look like total garbage." Pepper butted in.
"Gee, thanks. I can always count on you two to- to make someone feel like-- look, I'm not here to talk to you. Either- either of you."
"I don't know, do you think he could benefit from a make-over?" Salt glanced at Pepper, putting a hand under her chin, as if she were thinking.
"Salt, anyone could like, benefit from a makeover."
"So that's a yes then?"
"Not from me. Uh. If you haven't noticed, I'm technology. I can't wear make-up."
"Come onnn! I'm sure we would like, figure something out! That, and like almost anyone here would kill to let us do their make-up. We don't even have to use real make-up, don't you have like, a drawing app or something?"
"Drawing app-- No, no. I'm not- not entertaining this idea. I'm done here." MePhone rolled his eye, before leaving.
"Well, the offer is always out there!"
"We'll convince him one of these days, Salt, like, don't feel bad about it."
MePhone returned to the infirmary, exasperated by a lot of what happened today. Who knew actually interacting with people would be so... Draining? He sighed as he dragged a hand down his screen, before making his way over to the bed, letting his cane rest against the side of it. Some rest would be nice.