"MePad, this is terrible. Not one, but TWO rogue contestants!" MePhone 4 restlessly paced the length of the stage. "First the season one deaths, then the lawsuit, and now this?! At this rate Inanimate Insanity will be cancelled!"

"Sir, that is concerning," said MePad. "But-"

"Those pro-contestant activists will stop at nothing, MePad. We're doomed. No more cookies, no more lavish lifestyle!"

"Sir-"

"I'm of half a mind to storm up to that mansion and give her a piece of my mind. That Marshmallow is such a complainer."

"SIR." MePhone finally shut up. "As I've been meaning to inform you, they are outside of the show's parameters, but not outside of the range of the show. We have footage of their happiness that should quell most of the activists."

MePhone looked over, interest clearly piqued. "Really? What are you waiting for?! We gotta let the sponsors know! Let those darn activists bother someone else's game show."

"I believe we have a live feed on them as we speak." MePad opened some sort of program. An error message soon cropped up. "...It would seem all of the Purgatory Mansion cameras are offline."

"What? Are they tampering with my stuff?! I'm of half a mind to storm over there and bring Marshmallow back right now."

"My apologies sir, but that is inadvisable. Her reasons for defecting elude me on an empathetic level, but she seems to no longer have interest in the million."

"Psht, what an idiot! She's giving up the million for, for... no reason?!"

MePad corrected, "She has a reason, but as I said, it is one that I lack understanding of. In any case, though Marshmallow has been a longstanding fan favorite, there is plenty of other activity on the show for others to pay attention to. Marshmallow can still help you profit when she comes to the reunion tour. It's in her contract to attend."

MePhone swiped an imaginary bead of sweat from his brow. "Phew! There are more popular characters, but that's a relief. Last season I got so many angry emails from Marshmallow fans when she got eliminated that I still get nightmares. Hopefully they'll refrain from blowing out my inbox..."

XXX

Marsh opened the huge wooden door of the mansion. The cold, early-morning light filtered in around them. The furniture was mismatched and eerie; there was a fake plant, a shattered mirror, a strange hat stand.

"N-nice place you got here."

"It'll take some getting used to... but it'll certainly beat the show." Marsh shut the door behind them. "Hello? We're back."

Dough phased out of a wall nearby. Apple jumped. "Hey, welcome to the mansion! I'm like the master of 'there,' so I can totally, like, show you around!"

"Suuuure... But do you know where Bow is?"

"She's still disabling the cameras up the stairs. Would you believe there are seventeen of them?"

"Wow; I can't even count that high," Apple remarked.

"Oh, it's Apple. Like... didn't see you there. Your voice sounds different than I thought it would."

Apple walked up to him with a wide grin. "I don't think we've talked before. You seem cool. I hope we can be friends." Apple extended a hand to him.

She looked on in surprised intrigue as Dough's hand phased right through hers. "Like, same. Anyway, let's get this show on the road."

Dough's tour of the mansion revealed that, as depressing as the atmosphere was, there were plenty of rooms to hang out in on even just the first floor to stave off boredom.

There was a library, chockful of old books with leather covers. (It was even dustier and more cobweb-caked than other rooms.) Marsh suspected they wouldn't use that room much because it felt like a cave.

A gameroom had one of the few working lights in the whole house hanging over it. A ping pong table sat with half up, as if someone had recently been practicing alone. There was also a billiards table that looked relatively new, a pinball machine with a cracked glass cover, and a towering shelf in one corner with decaying board games that Marsh didn't even recognize all the names of piled on top.

There was, of course, the bar where Marsh and Bow had talked earlier. (Marsh noticed that, beside somehow well-stocked Dr. Fizz, there were some harder drinks she wasn't old enough to drink yet. She wondered whether Bow or Dough had touched them.)

There was also a tiny dining room with a round, rickety table annexed to an even smaller kitchen, and a room filled with old junk that Dough said "would be perfect for hide-and-seek, if anyone would play with me."

Finally, there was a bedroom-turned-TV room with a huge, dusty couch with holes in it. Paintings hung around the room's walls.

Marsh also tucked away a few pieces of information that didn't relate to the rooms: there was one working circuit in the whole house, and it connected a few miscellaneous things: a couple of lights, a pinball machine, a refrigerator, and the television. There was no running water, but there was a very old-timey well out back, with a bucket and a crank. The emptiness of the pantries and refrigerator meant that, pretty soon, reality would ensue and they'd need to stop by a grocery store.

"That was only a whirlwind tour, but you see that it's totally fun here! We should totally play hide-and-seek now; I haven't done that with a buddy for years."

Marsh stretched out with a yawn. "Maybe later...?" Marsh did the math in her head; she'd been up near-constantly for about thirty hours at that point, walking to and from the mansion and all across the show's territory, and considering how much had changed since she'd awakened... 'Gee, that's a lot!'

"Sounds like a plan..." Apple agreed with a yawn. "Funny how much we have in common already."

"Bedrooms are, like, upstairs," Dough supplied.

"Not before you say 'hi' to me, though, riiiiight?" There was the strange, vaguely cold sensation of Bow phasing through her from behind. "So glad you're safe, Marshy."

Marsh chuckled. "Hey Bow! It's really good to see you. I'm going to rest now."

"Curse of being alive, am I right?" Bow paused for a second as Marsh laughed. "I'll show you up to your room; c'mon!" Bow did a little spin in the air, and Marsh followed.

Apple cleared her throat. Both turned around to see a not-so-enthusiastic Apple, arms akimbo. She seemed to be sizing up Bow as if for a fight, hands fists. Bow grinned nervously, but Marsh could feel her presence beside her vibrating and warm with anger; it was a thin façade, to say the least.

The moment of silence stretched out. Dough looked fascinated. Marsh nervously tapped the tips of her fingers together. 'I just spoke to both of them about not arguing with the other earlier! Can't they at least try to get along?!' Marsh leaned closer to Bow and whispered, "Um, Bow, maybe you should apologize?"

Bow hesitated for a second longer, then huffed. "Whatever. Look, Kiwi-"

"Apple."

"That's what I meant. I'm sorry for, like, what I did to you. Making you say that stuff, throwing you out the window, making my bestie hate you, and... yeah, you get the idea. Anyway, let's bury the hatchet six feet under with my body... and put all this pain and heartache behind us! What do you say?"

Apple wasn't swayed; her glare remained the same as she grabbed Marsh's wrist. "C'mon, Marshmallow; I'll show you to your room instead!"

Bow's jaw dropped, and even though Marsh was half expecting it, hers did too.

Apple practically dragged Marsh back. Marsh twisted her body to mouth an apology to Bow before being dragged into the TV room. Apple shut the door behind them and grinned as if nothing happened. "G'night Marsh. Sweet dreams!" She settled at one of the arms of the dusty green sofa and almost instantly Marsh heard the soft sounds of her snores.

'Sheesh. Apple said she'd give Bow a chance! What the heck was that?!'

'...Thank Marsh for naps. I guess it's only natural that it's not just getting used to the place that's going to take a lot of time... Apple has to come around eventually, right?'

Those were Marsh's final thoughts before she slipped to sleep.