MePhone woke up in a much better mood that morning. He had apologized to the failed debuters from his outburst on them, at least, the ones in the hallway, and the ones who came out of their bedrooms when he asked for their attention. Most of them, Like Boom Mic, Scissors, Clapboard and Cammy, were quick to accept his apology. The others...not so much.
He left them quickly afterwards and went downstairs, with Two, to get breakfast. "Are you feeling better, buddy?" Two asked.
"Yes, much, thank you," MePhone said. "I haven't slept that good in a while."
"Hey, that's great!" Two cheered. "So my light helped then?"
"Yes, thank you, Two," MePhone said.
"Anytime, pal!" Two smiled, pulling MePhone in closer.
"I'm gonna...try and talk to your contestants today," MePhone said, rubbing his arm. Two gasped, then smiled. "You are?"
"I'm going to try. I mean, I am staying here. I have to get to know your contestants one way or another, right?"
"That's great to hear, MePhone! I'm proud of you! Just don't push yourself today!"
"Who do you suggest?" MePhone asked. "Someone who isn't...well, someone calmer."
"Hmm, let's see...who's still in?" Two said, putting his hands on his hips. "Hmm, TV is a good suggestion. Although he usually speaks in monotone or clips from previous episodes. Umm...Marker and Black Hole are good ones! Black Hole is calm and Marker is fun! He likes to eat dirt, though. I'm not quite sure what's up with that, but who am I to stop him from doing his favorite thing? Donut's a little judgy...Book, Basketball and Price Tag are also great people to talk to! Book is...like, every book, so she can tell you stuff. Basketball is smart but she's nice, and Price Tag likes to play games!"
"How do you keep track of all of them?" MePhone asked, a little overwhelmed.
"I like them all! Even my eliminated and vanished contestants!" Two replied.
"Well, I guess I'll give it a shot with one of them, then," MePhone said.
"Well, good luck, then, MePhone, buddy!" Two smiled, slapping him on the back. "Four! Breakfast please!"
"Who is he?" Four asked, pointing at MePhone.
"He's a friend of mine. He's staying for a while," Two replied.
"Is that why you've been paying for breakfast?" Four asked suspiciously.
"Yeah, I can totally not pay if you want though..."
"No, you need to pay," Four replied, holding his hand out.
Two shuffled through his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and handed Four the money for the blue and pink waffles. "Why pink?" Two questioned.
"I like pink!" X exclaimed.
Two and MePhone enjoyed breakfast together. "Want me to introduce you?" Two asked after breakfast.
"Uh...no, it's fine. I've handled my own contestants. I can take care of myself," MePhone replied, smiling.
"Okay! Have fun!" Two said, waving and walking out. "Where's Gaty?" Two whispered.
"She's getting groceries," Four replied.
"Okay," Two said, walking out of the kitchen.
MePhone eventually joined people outside. Price Tag and Pillow are playing a game of tic tac toe on the ground, drawing in the dirt with sticks. Marker and Pen are talking, along with Tennis Ball and Golf Ball. Team CloudYay, at least, what's left of it, are discussing something, probably contest plans. Everyone else is inside except Book, who is writing inside of herself.
MePhone took a deep breath. Okay, he's actually doing this. He's actually going to talk to someone.
Frankly, he does like people. He likes talking. Recently, he hasn't been in the mood. He's had four days of just straight up moping, and three of those days were sleepless. But he really does like talking to people. That's why he invited new contestants in Invitational. He wanted new people to talk to. He's had MePad, Toilet and Floor as a co-host, and even offered that position to Bot. Bot refused, of course, but he still wanted to keep her around.
In retrospect, he never really got rid of his contestants. He trapped them on an island twice, the first time, just because he was still angry, although he couldn't remember why, now he knows it was from Cobs, and the next time was on Invitational. Each time he invited a person to come back from their islands however, many times at that. In the second season, he trapped them in a closet of OJ's Hotel. Even so, the hotel was really close, just over the cliff.
MePhone exhaled. "Okay, MePhone, you got this. She'll like you. Just like...it's just like changing your voice. It's not too bad. Don't overthink this." MePhone put his hands up, following his inhale, then pushed them down with his exhale. "Okay, MePhone, you got this."
MePhone walked up to Book. "Hello, Book," he said, his hands at his side.
"Oh!" Book cried, slamming her pages shut, dropping her pencil, and then turning around. "Uh, hi! Sorry didn't-" she stopped. She scanned him up and down, then stared at him. "Uh, who are-oh! You must be Two's friend he told us about!"
"He told you about me?" MePhone asked, his stance loosening.
"Yeah," Book replied, "he told us that he had a friend over who needed a place to stay and we should give him space until he's ready to talk!"
MePhone held back tears. "Two's too nice!"
"Two is very generous," Book agreed. "Anyway, what's your name?"
"MePhone4, but you can just call me MePhone," he greeted.
"Nice to meet you, MePhone!" Boko cheered.
'The pleasure is mine," MePhone said, holding out his hand. Book gladly shook his hand. "So...how did you and Two become friends, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Uh..." MePhone said, hesitating. "Well, it started when I was returning to my other season from leaving for a new one. I was stressed so I couldn't warp right. Two helped me calm down by hanging out at an amusement park in Florida, then I went back to my season."
"Ooh! What did you host?" Book asked.
"I was the host of Inanimate Insanity," MePhone said, pridefully.
"Inanimate Insanity..." Book muttered, flipping through her pages. "Let's see..."
"What are you doing?" MePhone asked, peeking at her pages.
"I'm a Reality Show Almanac. If you hosted a reality show, you should be in here somewhere..."
"Wow, Two did say you were everything," MePhone said, shocked.
"Yeah, my book just...kinda changes," Book replied. "Ah, here we go, i...i...i...Inanimate Insanity!"
She opened all the way and pointed at the paragraph describing it. "'Inanimate Insanity is a reality show hosted by a Meeple product, MePhone4. His first season was won by Orange Juice, or OJ, for short, and won a million dollars, building a hotel, 'benefiting all the contestants,' where Taco, who can actually make sense, tried to steal the million dollars. Season two was put on hold while MePhone took off to do a third season, and therefore dis-'"
"Okay!" MePhone cried, shutting Book's cover. "I think that's enough!"
"You didn't finish the second season?" Book asked.
"No, I did, I just..." he paused, "Suitcase won."
"Oh, lovely!" Book cheered.
"How long have you been on...uh...what's this show called?" MePhone asked, changing the subject.
"Uh, this season or the entire show?" Book asked.
"Huh?"
"Each season has a new name," she replied. "Season one was Battle for Dream Island, season two is Battle for Dream Island Again, season three is...well, IDFB, don't know what it actually says, Island Dream for Battle? Anyway, season four is Battle for Battle for Dream Island, but we call if BFB for short, and this one if The Power of Two."
"'The Power of...Two?'" MePhone repeated.
"Yeah, we're battling for his power instead of Dream Island," Book said.
"He can just...do that?" MePhone asked, shocked.
"Well, we don't ACTUALLY know, but we assume he can, since he offered it as the prize," Book said, shrugging. "I assume so?"
"Wow, geez, you guys were busy," MePhone said. "Four and a half seasons."
"Season four would've been longer if most of us didn't switch. We just didn't like Four. He was being mean to us."
"Yeah, Two's nice," MePhone agreed.
"Besides, all my friends went here anyway," Book smiled. She looked at him, then frowned. "I hope I'm not being mean but...what happened to your screen? I understand if you don't want to tell me..."
"Oh..." MePhone said. His screen. He was in such a good mood, he forgot it was broken. Then...Book brought it back up. She didn't mean it. He doesn't have to answer. She said so. He can't just lie. He has to say something.