The hotel was dark.

Mic stumbled in an attempt to catch herself as she walked from the portal, looking back just in time to see the warped forest on the other side before it closed off completely.

So, this was it.

Out of the contest. Out of Inanimate Insanity.

It felt like a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. To be here, eliminated, away from the bad decisions she knew she had made- it finally felt like she could start making things right. Like everything with Taco could be forgotten, no matter how much part of her mind begged for those memories to stay. No matter how much Taco had just been beginning to mean to her.

First things first was to find out where she was.

Mic seemed to be in some sort of living room, where all of the lights were off save for the bright screen of a television across the room. The light illuminated the room enough for her to find her way to a staircase, which she assumed went to the rooms where the other eliminated contestants were staying-

"Are you sure she'll be okay?"

"I'm sure. You know Lightbulb, she'll make the most of this. I know it."

Mic was only a few steps up the stairs before she heard the voices of Test Tube and Fan as they stepped through the same portal she had. Oh gosh, no time for small talk with them.. Test Tube was definitely upset at her after everything, and she didn't want to explain herself. Not now. Not to either of them.

(Hopefully) before they could notice her, she ran up the rest of the stairs, feeling incredibly guilty. Maybe she was away from Taco now, but that wasn't going to take away the fact that the others had suspicions. And, well, rightfully so. They had every reason to be suspicious. But that didn't mean she wanted to talk about it.

After making it to the top of the stairs, Mic cast a final glance down to make sure they hadn't noticed her scrambling away. Luckily, the pair seemed more focused on each other than anything else.

Mic shook her head and continued walking, peering down the dark hallway in front of her. There were multiple doors with different nametags attached, all with names of people who were eliminated or not competing. She noted one had her name printed on the front, but that could be returned to later.

Now that she knew where she was going, there came the next objective.

She hurried, checking each door, in a slight rush as the steps from Fan and Test Tube drew nearer and nearer.

Aha!-

One of the doors, in big sloppy handwriting, read 'PICKLE'. And from a small crack where the door didn't quite meet the carpet, she saw light. He wasn't sleeping yet.

Mic suddenly felt nervous, but knocked on the door gently.

It's not that hard. Just say hi. Tell him Knife says hi, too. That's all you're here for.

"Coming," a voice called from inside the room, filled with the slightest twinge of annoyance. Mic couldn't blame him. She didn't know exactly what time it was, but it was late. She knew she was being bothersome, but it was for Knife.

The door soon cracked open, and the boy that stood on the other side looked annoyed for a moment until they met eyes. Then he straightened a little, looking friendly but confused.

"Hi," Mic managed with a smile.

"Hey, Microphone. I'm sorry you got-"

"No, it's okay," Mic interrupted quickly, waving her hands out dismissively. "Being eliminated was kind of my own choice."

Pickle raised a brow but noted Mic's discomfort. "I won't ask. But what's up? Just saying hi?"

Mic shrugged. She found it easy to talk to Pickle. He was a lot more calm than a lot of others. "I guess. And also, Knife wanted me to say hi. I would feel bad if I forgot, so I'm just saying it now-"

This time Mic was the one getting interrupted. Pickle leaned forward against the door, his smile growing. "Oh, cool." He looked back for a moment, into his room. "Uh, did he say anything else about me?"

"Just in general?"

"Yeah."

Mic smiled, shrugging. "Lots. All the time."

"Good things?"

"I don't think I have heard him say anything bad about you."

Pickle was grinning at this point, lifting an arm to rub the back of his head. "That's cool." He opened the door a little more. "Do you, uh, wanna play video games or something? Unless you're tired, that's cool too."

Mic nodded. "That'd be awesome! I don't think I can sleep with this much on my mind, anyway."

Pickle stepped away from the door and let Mic in, walking towards the couch in the center of the room.

As Mic followed, her eyes traced across the pile of letters signed in Taco's name, crumpled and discarded like trash, and bit her tongue as hard as she could to choke back any thoughts that might have slipped while thinking of her.. former.. friend.