So Much To Lose

Epilogue. Growth

Hotel OJ was something that it's founder, Orange Juice was very proud of. OJ prided himself on keeping the hotel a clean, safe, fun place for all the objects that had been brought together by Inanimate Insanity.

Now it wasn't perfect by any means, if the complaints desk (and specifically the more vocal residents) had anything to say about it, but generally, OJ had everything in the hotel under his control. He knew where everyone was, and could ensure they weren't causing any shenanigans.

Sure, Fan ran out to the contestant grounds and caused whatever went down in the last episode. OJ didn't really care to watch the actual airings of II anymore, he'd had enough of reality tv for the rest of his life, so he wasn't sure exactly what he had done..

And yeah, maybe Knife scaled the wall of the building sometimes to come see Pickle, even though OJ really wished he'd just come knock on the front door, hell he even did it tonight.

Those were flukes though, and now that Fan was back where he should be, OJ could finally get some rest. Maybe he'd leave Soap and Paper in charge for a little while, the new contestant had proven herself quite capable, and OJ considered her a good friend, and Paper was always reliable.

For these reasons it would be easy to understand the confusion and mild panic OJ felt as he watched Lightbulb and Knife wandering out, away from Hotel OJ, and the contestant grounds, from the balcony on the top floor of the hotel. Now that by itself wouldn't be concerning, they were both in the game after all, what was concerning were the two other figures walking with them.

Lightbulb shined like a beacon, and her light reflected off of Knife's blade, but besides being able to tell that the two other objects accompanying them were relatively slim, and of similar heights to Knife and Lightbulb, he hadn't the faintest clue who they could be.

He couldn't choose one thing to worry about because what was in front of him was so odd, did Knife not come to see Pickle tonight? What else could he have been doing? Are those Hotel OJ residents, how did he miss them leaving?

This was it, he was losing his grip on the hotel, next thing he knows everything he built is going to come crashing down and-

OJ feels someone place a tentative hand on his shoulder, and turns to see Paper coming up to join him.

"You alright, OJ? You look like when Yin-Yang has a temper tantrum. Something on your mind?" Paper asked, offering him a cup of tea.

OJ grabbed the cup carefully, taking a sip, and looking back out over the balcony, gesturing out to where Lightbulb and whoever else was with her were, the group becoming fainter as they got farther away.

Paper looked out and took a slow sip of his own cup of tea. "Yes, and?"

OJ turned to Paper, mildly offended. "You're seriously telling me that doesn't worry you in any way? Not at all?"

"Not particularly."

"You're killing me, Paper. You're killing your boyfriend."

Paper laughed,"I kid, I kid! Yeah, it's a little weird, but whoever's out there can handle themselves. Besides, do you want to go out there to try and find out?"

"I've seen people in this hotel almost drown in the shallow end of the pool, so forgive me for being a little concerned. But I suppose you're right, we'll never catch up to them anyway. I'll have questions in the morning though."

Paper nodded, relenting. He never had the backbone to enforce the rules in the hotel, OJ had put him on complaint duty once and by the end of the day he had just wanted to collapse face first onto the ground, so he could respect OJ's commitment to his principles.