Intro To Existing Again

Cabrary

"So this is the..." 3GS asked. "Cab-rary?"

"What is a cabrary?" Said Bot.

"s'what Salt calls it."

"It's a portmanteau of Cabby's name and the word library," Fan butted in. "Y'know, Cabby never really named the library, so I guess Salt decided to name it herself. Not a bad name. Hey, Cabby!"

"I'm not naming it the Cabrary," Said Cabby.

"Why not? OJ named his hotel after himself! Why can't you do the same?"

"Last I checked I wasn't OJ."

When he entered the library, 3GS was met with a blast of cold air conditioning and a huge room filled wall-to-wall with large bookshelves. There was a desk in one corner and a few tables lying around, with people sitting at a few of them. Bot grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him to one of them.

"Goo!" They called, halting at a table, at which sat three people.

One of them turned his head at the mention of the name "Goo," so 3GS assumed that this guy was probably Goo. He was short and had greasy-looking black hair with a streak of bright blue dyed in. He had no arms and one leg, and was sitting in a wheelchair. He looked very excited to see Bot.

"Hello!" He beamed, then noticed 3GS. "Ooh, who's this?"

MePhone3GS didn't answer. Once he had gotten a decent look at Goo, he had turned to the others at the table. Well, one of them. He didn't even take notice of the third person there, because the second one could only be described as the tallest woman he had ever seen in his entire life. She noticed him staring.

"Hello?" She narrowed her eyes at him. Her eyes were dark brown with little flecks of gold. Her hair was golden too.

"Uh-" 3GS took a step back. "I..." He paused and took a deep breath. "My name is MePhone3GS."

"Cool!" Said Goo. The freakishly tall lady nodded.

"Well hey there!" Said the third person at the table, who 3GS was just now noticing. He was a middle-aged man with extremely noticeable tan lines visible under his white tank top. His hair was striped red and white, and a string with a whistle attached hung around his neck. "Are you Bot's friend? Nice to meet you!"

"Sort of... I'm sort of Bot's friend. Bot, am I your friend?"

"Everyone's your friend when you're the Cheer Factory!" Goo exclaimed. Bot said the words "cheer factory" in exact sync with him. "Anyways, hiiii! I'm Goo!"

"I gathered that," 3GS said bluntly.

"Rude," The tall lady mumbled to herself. 3GS turned to her.

"Pardon me?"

"Alright!" Bot interrupted. "Let's not start any fights, okay?"

"Yeah!" Said the man with the red-and-white hair. "Nothing good comes from fighting! You should know that, Groscer."

"I'm allowed to point out when somebody's being rude," The tall lady, who apparently was named Groscer (like the awards?) shrugged, then crossed her arms.

"I'm sure he wasn't rude on purpose!" Said Goo. "I forgive you, MePhone3GS!"

"Um," 3GS pulled on his sleeve. "Okay."

Goo continued talking to 3GS for a bit, with the others occasionally saying things, although there wasn't much room for their input. Goo seemed very enthusiastic to meet 3GS. A little too enthusiastic, really, and he spoke almost exclusively in weird, hard to follow analogies. 3GS eventually figured out that the other guy was named Lifering, which he was glad he was able to do. Asking for somebody's name mid-conversation was weird.

After a while of standing still and being talked at, 3GS was approached by Fan.

"Hey, 3GS!" He said with a smile. "Uh, so I just finished talking to Walkie, she says she's cool with you as long as you don't, and I quote, kill anybody or destroy anything. So I think we're all good! Wanna chill in my room?"

"Okay," 3GS said. "Sure, I'd like that!"

"Yay! Uh, I mean, cool! Let's go!"

—

Fan's room was certainly a sight to behold. The library was very easy to take in, with pastel colors and walls that were mostly blank, save for the bookshelves and the occasional picture frame, but when 3GS entered Fan's room, he felt like he had just been punched in the face. The walls were plastered with so many bright posters that it was impossible to tell what color they were underneath. Clothes, pencils, and other trinkets littered the floor. The desk was so cluttered it made 3GS feel sick just looking at it.

"Excuse the mess," Fan said upon noticing 3GS' mildly disgusted expression. "Test Tube always says I'm kind of a hoarder, haha..."

"What am I even looking at?" MePhone3GS mumbled. He had never felt so overwhelmed in a room where so little was happening.

"Uhh," Fan looked embarrassed now. "Just... you can sit wherever. If you want to."

3GS didn't see an available surface to sit on, so he just walked up to one of the walls and stared at it for a while. There were posters of all sorts of things; movies, video games, bands, even a few for whatever that Inanimate Insanity show was. Fan himself was on one of them. But one poster in particular caught 3GS' attention.

"What's Spoiled Lemon?" 3GS asked, pointing to it.

"Didn't I already tell you that?" Was Fan's response. "Spoiled Lemon is the best band ever! They're musical geniuses!"

"Oh," 3GS stared at the poster for a while. It was obnoxiously bright with a few band members on it. Something about the poster was just... so familiar, and 3GS couldn't figure out which part it was or why he recognized it.

"I think you'd really like Spoiled Lemon, actually!" Fan approached the poster as well. "Well, I mean, that's kind of a given. Personally I think that only losers don't like Spoiled Lemon, which makes Nickel and Microphone losers because th-they don't take them seriously at all! Callin' them stupid idiots at every turn! I swear, half the people I know can't comprehend the genius of their lyrics!"

"Damn," 3GS deadpanned.

Fan blinked. "You swear?"

"You don't?"

"W-well, sometimes, I mean, who doesn't swear, y'know? I just didn't really expect it from you, uh–"

"Why?"

Fan's face flushed. "How about we just... put on some music, okay? Specifically Spoiled Lemon!"

3GS sighed. "Sure."

Fan cheered, connected his phone to the speaker that was amongst all the junk on his desk, then started playing music. The song was nice. Well, it was pretty generic, but 3GS liked the vocals. The way the lead singer sounded was strangely... nostalgic? Was that the word? Had he heard this song before? Was Spoiled Lemon popular enough in the 2000s to be on any of the shows he'd watch back home?

Thinking about it was kind of hurting MePhone3GS' head, so he tried to stop questioning it and just enjoy the song. After a while Fan started to ramble about something tangentially related to the music. 3GS didn't mind much.

"Hey, Fan," The door to the room opened and that Groscer lady from earlier peeked her head into the room. "The Cheer Factory is forcing everyone to play board games and they wanted me to rope you into it. Also, Tea Kettle wants to meet the guest, so you should probably come downstairs."

"Oh, okay!" Fan turned the music off and grabbed 3GS by the wrist. "C'mon!"

MePhone3GS felt a pang of anxiety as he was dragged out of the room. He didn't want to make a fool of himself, but then again, if he did, it wouldn't matter like it did at the hotel. He didn't live at this library. Once he left he wouldn't have to come back ever again, and everyone there would forget about whatever stupid thing he did. He was going to be fine.