What It's Like to be Loved (Inanimate Insanity)

*7*

"So?" Paintbrush tapped their foot impatiently and watched TestTube close the door behind her as she entered the cabin.

"Couldn't find her."

Paintbrush groaned and buried their sleeves into their face. Fan and some others looked up at them.

"Guess we're going to have to search for her tomorrow. It's too late now."

The rest of the team nodded as an answer and headed upstairs to their bunks.

Paintbrush stayed put. They bent over and rested their chin on their hand. They let out a sigh.

"Why, Marshmallow? Why?"

✿ ✿ ✿

Marshmallow's finger traced the brim of the glass bottle. Her eyes traveled to the label of the soda. She stared at it for some time. The room drowned in an uncomfortable silence. Bow cleared her throat. Marshmallow looked up at her. Her eyes were red.

"So," Bow started. Marshmallow's head bowed down. Her eyes went back to the label. She wasn't focusing on it, but instead looking through it. She seemed to be intrigued by something else, but the frown she was holding didn't leave.

Bow started blabbering about her tail. She did spin around a few times or so. Marsh wouldn't know, she wasn't paying attention. She flinched when Bow's words woke her up. Her eyes rolled up at Bow.

"So I was floating in utter nothingness. For, like, ever, y'know?"

Marshmallow nodded. Then she stared. Thoughts were running through her mind, and of course, they were about her and Apple. It just seemed weird how captivating Apple was to her. She did smile a bit, but it quickly turned into a frown when she realized it was all fake. All those good memories - just an act.

"And that's how I got my tail!" Bow exclaimed, a wide smile appearing on her face from ear to ear. Her eye twitched. Marshmallow held the glass bottle closely in front of her face. She kept silent.

"Sooo, give me the deets! What's going on with life? You can ask about mine, but hey, that's long gone!"

Bow laughed, coughing in between breaths. She stopped when Marshmallow harshly banged her Dr. Fizz onto the table, followed by a loud clattering sound.

"Apple seemed like the perfect friend. Clingy, sure. But..." Marshmallow's expression softened.

"...I thought it was because she cared a lot about me."

"But once I found out the truth, I can't help but think, is anything on this show real?"

"Well-hey. She's eliminated, right? Out of sight, out of mind. Makes you think about me, huh?" Bow chuckled awkwardly. Marshmallow didn't listen.

"Look. I'll be frank with you, Marsh. And I don't even know who Frank is. I don't think that Kumquat was important. You can spend forever trying to figure out what her strategy was. But now that Inanimate Insanity is behind us, we gotta face the real world." She smiled.

"Uh...I'm still on the show. Unfortunately.."

"It's-wh-still?!" Bow fumed with anger.

"No, they ran that thing into the ground, and I'd know; I'm dead!"

Marsh giggled, brushing some of her loose cream-colored side bangs to behind her ear.

"Thanks for listening. Paintbrush just gets too caught up in the anxiety to take a break for a second to just talk."

"Well. that shouldn't be a problem with me. I'm on break forever! Ahaha!" Bow laughed, then stopped to stare at Marshmallow in a concerning manner.