Chapter 2: No Response

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Trigger Warnings: None

WITH OST


Paintbrush fidgeted with their phone at the small round table they were sitting at. They were at a small coffee shop near the hotel, waiting for Lightbulb to arrive. They had made plans to come here just last night. Paintbrush checked the time on their phone. 1:36. 'She's probably just running a little late..' They thought. 1:43. 'Okay, maybe she misremembered the time? I'll text her just to be sure.' 

Several minutes went by with no response

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Several minutes went by with no response. Paintbrush started to get a bit nervous. Lightbulb would never ghost them, so clearly something else happened. 'Maybe her phone died and she can't respond? Maybe she forgot it back at the hotel?' Paintbrush decided to just call her and ask what's up. They grabbed their phone and stepped outside the coffee shop, going into their contacts and calling Lightbulb. They waited for a few moments as the phone rang. It went to voice mail. They hung up and tried a few more times, but Lightbulb never picked up. Paintbrush was getting a bit more nervous and confused, but they decided to wait a bit longer just in case Lightbulb actually showed up. They texted fan to see if he had seen her, but he said he hadn't. They asked Test Tube the same thing, but got no response from her. 10 more minutes passed and Lightbulb was still not there.

Paintbrush sighed and started walking back to the hotel. They contemplated a bit more on what could be going on. They entered the hotel and went up to Lightbulb's room, knocking on the door.

"Lightbulb?"

No response.

'Okay, okay, she might just be somewhere else in the hotel. She probably just forgot about the date and left her phone in her room or something, no big deal.' Paintbrush looked around the hotel, trying to keep themselves calm. Something about this just seemed wrong. Lightbulb wouldn't ditch them, And she's not anywhere in the hotel. Where could she have gone?

"Hey Paintbrush!"

Paintbrush turned around at the sound of their name and saw Nickel, looking pretty worried.

"Have you seen Baseball anywhere? I can't find him and he won't answer his phone."

Paintbrush blinked in surprise. 'Baseball too?'

"No, I can't say I have. That's kinda weird though, cuz the same thing's happening with Lightbulb.."

Nickel thought for a moment. "You think it's related?"

"I mean, maybe? He disappeared today, right?"

"Yeah.. he wasn't in our room this morning, so I thought he just woke up a bit earlier than usual.."

"Huh... I haven't seen Lightbulb all day, either... Even weirder since we had plans today, and I know she wouldn't just ditch that..."

Paintbrush and Nickel remained silent for a few moments. Neither of them knew what to make of this.

"Well," Nickel began. "I think if they don't show up again by tomorrow, we should start to actually worry. We could just be overreacting and they're fine."

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea. I'll let you know if she comes back before then."

"Same. later, Paintbrush." Nickel turned around and walked away.

Nickel walked around the corner and saw Suitcase. They were still on somewhat unstable grounds after the third season of Inanimate Insanity had ended and Nickel & Balloon came back to the hotel. Nickel being friends with Balloon certainly made things a lot more awkward as well. He had made amends with Suitcase for the most part, but they weren't really friends still.

"Any luck?" Suitcase asked. Finding Baseball was something they could at least work together on again.

"Nope, but I talked to Paintbrush and they said that Lightbulb also went missing at the same time Baseball did, and she's not answering anyone either. It might be related, but I don't really know how we'd figure out anything past that. I just told them we should wait and see if they come back tomorrow before we start to worry."

"Hm... That's kind of strange..." Suitcase looked deep in thought, trying to think of what could've happened. "Yeah, I guess you're right. There's not much we can do right now."

"Mhm. lemme know if you see him again." Nickel said before walking off.


"Lightbulb's missing?!" Fan repeated.

"Yeah, and apparently Baseball is too." Paintbrush responded. "Nickel told me he's been gone all day, and so has Lightbulb."

"Oh, that's weird... Hey, maybe Test Tube will have some idea! She is her roommate, she might've seen her this morning!" Fan suggested, pulling out his phone to message her.

"Oh yeah, good idea!"

Fan messaged Test Tube and waited for a reply. "Why do you think they would've gone missing at the same time?" He asked Paintbrush, not looking up from his phone.

"I don't know, to be honest. Lightbulb and Baseball don't really have any correlation to each other at all, I don't think they've really even interacted much. But they disappeared at the exact same time, and in the exact same way... There's no way that's just a coincidence!" Paintbrush observed, feeling pretty stumped on what to do about this.

"Hm.." Fan stared at his phones for a few more moments. "Well, Test Tube's not responding, so I've got no other leads right now." He said dejectedly.

"Wait... She's not responding to you either?" Paintbrush raised an eyebrow at fan, suddenly curious. "She didn't respond when I asked her about Lightbulb earlier..."

"Oh, really?" Fan looked up at paintbrush.

"Y-yeah, and she didn't say anything when I knocked on the door to her and Lightbulb's room, so she probably wasn't in there either..." Paintbrush continued. "Have you seen her at all today?"

Fan opened his mouth to reply, but his eyes suddenly widened as he realized something.

"N... No... I-I haven't..." He responded uncomfortably. He didn't wanna think about Test Tube disappearing too, but it seemed like that's what happened.

They both stood there in silence for a few moments, thinking to themselves.

"We need to get to the bottom of this." Paintbrush stated.

"How? We have no leads!" Fan questioned.

"Maybe not yet, but we can try and gather some." Paintbrush responded, seeming suddenly very determined. "Maybe we can go question a few people about it? Someone else might know more than we do."

"...Yeah, that could be helpful!" Fan said hopefully. "wait wait, hold on- I'll be right back!" Fan then ran off towards him and Paintbrush's room. He came back several moments later with a stereotypical detective hat and a black bowtie, holding a notepad and a pencil. He handed Paintbrush another set of those same items.

"Now we're ready!"

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