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After spending so long in one location, it always felt odd to suddenly start living somewhere else.
Of course, where else could the inhabitants of Hotel OJ go now that Hotel OJ just... didn’t exist anymore? It had been destroyed completely during that battle, the only things left behind in its place being rubble and debris... and even worse, some of them hadn’t even managed to make it out in time before everything collapsed.
Paintbrush, however, seemed to be among the few dealing with it the hardest... if only because Lightbulb, someone they had genuinely been starting to warm up to, had been among the few objects that had been lost as collateral damage... and they had no idea what they’d do without her. How were they supposed to move past losing her? They didn’t know, and they weren’t sure if they wanted to find out.
They had spent pretty much the entire rest of the day since that battle holed up in their new room at Purgatory Mansion, laying on the creaky old bed (singular, for whatever reason) flat on their back as they stared up at the ceiling in defeat and watched the fan spin. They were so preoccupied with their thoughts that they hardly even noticed the door open, though they quickly snapped to attention at the voice that followed shortly after.
“Uhh... hey, Paintbrush. I just wanted to, y’know, check up on you for a bit, because, uh... y’know, we just- just lost our home and all. How, uh, how are you doing?”
Paintbrush just shut their eyes as they sat up in their bed, exhaling sharply. “I just lost Lightbulb, Fan... how do you think I feel?”
“...point taken.” Fan sighed as he sat down beside them, folding his arms in his lap. “Y’know, I-I’m not really good at this whole ‘emotion’ thing, but... I-I get why you’re so torn up about her. This, uh... all this kind of sucks.”
“I know , Fan.” Despite the slight snappiness to their voice, Paintbrush was struggling so hard not to get angry at him... he was only trying to make them feel better, after all. “She’s gone now... and I don’t know if MePhone is actually even getting MeLife notifications anymore from wherever he went off to. I-I just... how do I move on ?”
“Well...” Fan wracked his brain for a bit, humming to himself as he wondered what would make them feel better... then he remembered... oh yeah, Paintbrush was the creative type, right? “I mean, you can paint, if, y’know, you feel so inclined to... or I guess write something, if you’ve got that kinda- kinda talent inside of you... I don’t- ugh, like I said, I am not good with this kind of stuff-”
Paintbrush just interrupted him by putting a hand on his shoulder, letting out a deep sigh. “I get it, Fan... I-I think just the fact you’re here right now might be helping me a little bit already. I know I treated you kind of roughly in the past, but...”
Fan nodded at that... the apology they had given him on-stream right before the finale was supposed to happen was still fresh in his mind. “Just... look, y’know... I’m not just this, y’know, silly blogger guy who likes to rile you up just for the fun of it, like... i-if you wanna have a serious conversation, then, y’know, we can make that happen. I just want you to know, Paintbrush... it might be a little tough, but we can get through this together.”
“...thanks, Fan.” Paintbrush just sighed as they brought Fan in for a soft hug, trying to ignore how watery their eyes felt as they began to grow a little choked up.
“I-I just... I never got to tell her how much I loved her.”