A Marshmallow's Guide to Loving a Complete Idiot (Inanimate Insanity)(Marshple)

Lesson #6: Stand Your Ground

On days where she felt trapped by her own boredom and frustration, Marshmallow thought of season one.

If she'd just won that stupid tiebreaker in episode 13, bit her tongue, and played nice, the viewers would've carried her to the finale. She would've prevailed and gotten her hands on that coveted case, and been too busy with it to fuss with any other metal containers in the area.

Everyone would've cheered. Paintbrush might've patted her shoulder.

Then she could've taken the money and left. No sentimental speeches about how friends made crappy things better, just a "I'll remember you all in therapy." She could've pretended that none of these people meant anything to her as she confirmed that, yeah, the disturbing desert monster was right: a million dollars at Walmart was worth everything.

In this alternative timeline, maybe she would've never felt so empty and guilty. Even if that was inevitable, it would've been her insurance policy against this season two crap.

So, yeah, getting out of a competition because of someone else's dumb luck was a mistake that Marshmallow had never hoped to repeat. (She was not a big Soap fan right now.) But if she thought about anything else, maybe about the other big losses she thought of when she thought of that God-forsaken mansion, she felt like she was being crushed like a can.

In a perfect world, Marsh wouldn't let herself get attached.

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"You're so nice, you can have this chair free of charge," the debuter had declared, shoving the chair into Marsh's arms. "We'll be the best friends ever!"

Marsh thought of the competition. She thought of the alliance the former Chickenleggers had, and the fact that she'd lost her sole remaining ally to the fist thingy in a brown-and-yellow blur not a week ago. The fact that Apple seemed to have it out for her came to mind, too.

So she accepted the chair with a smile. "Thanks, Bow! Maybe you're right."

She didn't quite understand Bow. She was carefree, full of life, and so happy just to be there. Her presence was overwhelming, best enjoyed in short bursts, yet oddly addictive - they'd probably talked six times since she got there, but her presence was such a good distraction, not from the competition itself, but from the mounting dread that she'd been there for nearly a year at this point.

Make no mistake, she wasn't going to let a partnership with a stranger distract her from taking the million.

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Marsh regretted thinking of Bow as more of an ally than a friend, but she had to hand it to herself. Back in Season 1, she had been so good at compartmentalizing.

What the heck happened?

She found a place to think in the depths of the Perilous Woods. It was a sunny clearing with a perfectly-tended vegetable garden and a makeshift fire pit with fresh ash in it. A hammock hung suspended from some trees above; when Marsh climbed up to it, she spotted a bow and a quiver of arrows hanging from a branch.

Whoever set this place up had some survival skills. On any other day, Marsh would wonder who they were, but today poisonous thoughts coursed through her brain.

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One day in January, Marshmallow walked out of her room at Hotel OJ only to trip over a blue box that'd been left by her doorstep. When she bent over to find a tag, she heard a most unwelcome voice: "J-just open it, please."