When You Were Younger

Introduction To the Basics

"Now that you're up and walking, we can get to the basics! Follow me."

Cobs ushered for Mephone to follow him with a smile, and a hand gesture.

Mephone watched as Cobs left the room, and walked down the hall.
He should follow him-, that's what he was told to do.
But he wanted to explore a bit more. This place was all new.

Mephone turned, and strolled around the room for a minute, taking everything in.

Whatever Cobs put on his screen earlier made him feel weird. Claustrophobic, even.

Glancing around, he saw the painted orange stripes near the top of the wall..
From there, his eyes went to the ceiling.
The stars.
They were pretty.
They were a pinkish-white, some a blue-ish white.. like that.

Mephone was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard a stern voice call out from behind him.

"Mephone4. Did I not tell you to.. follow me?"
Mephone frowned, and slowly nodded.
"I know. I'm sorry."

He noticed Cobs huffing as he stood, hands behind his back- seemingly waiting for Mephone to walk.

"...You said.. follow you, right?"
Cobs smiled.
"Well, I suppose you should go first. I'll just tell you where to go."
Mephone raised his eyebrow, puzzled. But surely following him would be easier, no?

"Go on." Cobs ordered, waving his hand in the gesture again. Only this time it was to walk ahead of him.

Mephone looked back at the stars, and then at Cobs. He figured he should walk now. He got to see the stars.
With wobbly steps, he walked infront, and was told whether to go left, right, forward- whatever. The walk was only a few minutes, luckily. The hallways were kind of boring.

Cobs walked up to a metal door with a half bitten apple symbol on it, the same one as the one Cobs himself wore around his neck.

The door slid open when Cobs stepped close, and Mephone followed him in.

The room was way more interesting than the halls. Maybe not as cool as the other room, but nothing could really beat cool shiny stars.

Mephone paced around mindlessly as Cobs seemed to walk over to a table of sorts, and pull out some boxes.

The floor was light purple, and the walls still had that grey and brown design. But what was different about this room, was that it seemed more spacious- and that there were bookshelves.
Could he read a book?

Sticking out his tongue, Mephone wandered over to one of the bookshelves, and traced the row of books with his finger. Which one looked cool?
Then, he spotted a cool one with a blue cover. Blue- like him.

He pulled out the book, and started flipping through the pages. He oohed in amazement. It looked interesting.
Then, he felt his heart skip a beat as the book was taken directly from him, harshly.
Cobs stood, and shoved the book back into the shelf.

"Now now, I'll let you off since you're only awake. But, we can't touch things without permission. That's a rule."
He said that last part strangley.

Mephone just shrugged it off. Whatever.

He watched Cobs walk back to the table, and yanked out the last box from underneath it.

He began to kick the box so it was close to the other ones. Kicking.
It looked fun.
Mephone walked close to the boxes, and kicked while he walked. It was fun.

He started going in circles, until he felt a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Now now, focus. I'm going to explain something to you now, okay?"
Mephone stopped, and nodded.

Cobs coughed, and walked over infront of the boxes, showing them off.
"Now, this will be where you spend time when you're on standby, rest mode, sleep mode, or when you aren't needed. This place serves as your... room, I guess."
He gave a box a nudge with his foot.
"You can look in the boxes, and take whatever's in them out. You may also order the contents of them however you wish. I'll be coming back in later to check how you're doing."

Mephone beamed. His own room? His stuff? He liked the purple floors.
Maybe, if he asked, he could get stars in his room too.
Does this mean he can touch the books?
He felt himself flapping his hands.

Cobs stared down at him in confusion, and took out a notepad and pencil, scribbling down things as he stared. Weird.

Cobs then walked to the exit of the room, the door.

Turning around, he stated, "I do hope you meet my expectations, 4."