Friday June 15, 2018: Undisclosed Location, 11:22 PM
No matter the business or the location or the culture surrounding it there were a few sacred cows in any working environment. Very few stood with more import than the breakroom and no matter the business or the location or the culture surrounding it: all breakrooms were pretty much the same. Some were more fancy or less fancy or had more or had less—but be honest, if you had seen one, you had seen them all. At the end of the day, pretty much the same.
The large coffee machine, the fluorescent lights, the fridge in need of cleaning and filled with various meals religiously and futilely labeled. Well, maybe not futilely, only a monster would steal a colleague’s lunch or soda. Especially with their name plastered on it. Especially in a high stress environment like this.
But no matter the environment or the business or the location or the culture surrounding it, you were bound to run into a few monsters. That’s just working life.
“You going to have some coffee with that sugar Don?”
Speaking of which.
Donald fumbled with the sugar container and more of the white grains poured into the coffee, a comedic amount. Greynolds responded like he often did to anything and nothing in particular: with a quiet chuckle and that smile. Everybody knew which one. There were few people who could claim to really know Jim Greynolds but Donald hadn’t needed to be told to avoid him. Even he was smart enough to follow everybody else’s lead.
“Uh…sorry sir!”, he sputtered “That’s, um, how I like it…?”
Greynolds sighed and adjusted his wire framed glasses and flicked his ponytail over his shoulder. He was an older guy and it took a special sort of guy to wear a ponytail past a certain age. What image was Greynolds going for? It was like the guy wanted to be equal parts casual and off-putting.
“Yeah, well, sugar ain’t gonna help you stay up young buck, just going to make you crash,” he responded casually, juggling a brown paper bag with a large glass bottle in it from one hand to another—even the intern could tell it was booze of some sort, “I worked behind a computer screen for a long time, seen a lot of good guys go nuts on the Red Bull and the Coca-Cola. You’re a young guy Don, no need to play with diabetes and the sugar shakes.”
“Uh...”
“Just advice, my gift to you.”
“Thanks…?”
“Well, you got anything for me?”
“What…?”
“A gift,” he said firmly, he wasn’t smiling, “you got one for me?”
“Uh…no, I don’t…I didn’t know…,” that wouldn’t be good enough, “I didn’t know that I was supposed to…?”
“Oh…,” Greynolds said with a degree of pity, “Don, of course you were supposed to. I’m one of your bosses and first impressions are important—even teachers get an apple! C’mon! You don’t even have something like that?”
He thought about saying that he thought a gift was supposed to be given without expectation of anything in return but he also figured debating with Greynolds wasn’t the smartest thing to do during his internship. Just apologize, it didn’t cost anything.
“Well, I’m sorry! Is there anything I could do?”
Donald was trying with all his might to keep his cool and not panic—this had to be a joke, right? Greynolds was a wild card, everybody knew it. He came from an old era, he had a different and looser style. He didn’t look like he was messing around though, he looked serious—deathly so. And considering the nature of this whole operation—was it inconceivable for him to really be chastised for such an arbitrary reason? And what were the real consequences of chastisement? What kind of kangaroo court would happen out here? Greynolds was from a different era and if the rumors of that era were true…
Donald didn’t want to find out if they were.
The older man took him in for a moment and then began talking, peaking over his wire framed lenses.
“Well…one thing…,” Donald didn’t like how Greynolds seemed ponderous, “I do have a favor and I need someone trustworthy to do it,” pensive, thoughtful, “Could you be that person Don? Are you trustworthy?”
Could he really say no?
“I…I guess?”
He supposed that was better than no.
“Good enough for me!”, Greynolds said smiling again before shoving the brown bag with the glass bottle into Donald’s chest with a force, “Guard this with your life and keep it chilled. I’m going to need it next weekend.”
Donald brought the bottle out and looked at it. Champagne—nice champagne, expensive champagne. Dom Pérignon. This come out the budget?
Greynolds smiled that smile. He left Donald and the coffee machine and made his way to the fridge. He opened it and pulled out a can of soda. It had a post-it with SHAMINO written on it in black sharpie.
He cracked it open and took a big sip of it before placing it back in the fridge open. Doomed to go flat. Donald was left sputtering as Greynolds made his way to the doorway before wagging his index finger warningly at the intern. Like something an angry housewife would do.
“Also snitches get stitches, I was never here, we never spoke and as a matter of fact, who are you again?”
“Uh…”
“Now you’re getting it Don,” he clapped his hands together “You can handle this right? Any questions?”
Donald asked before he could stop himself.
“Uh…what’s happening next weekend…?”
“A celebration,” and then he smiled again (did he ever stop?), that smile (of course it was), “So don’t let anyone touch my Dom, got it Don?”
Saturday, June 16, 2018: Undisclosed Location, 9 AM
Tracen glared at the first two names on the list he’d been given. He was aware of the situation and he knew that it had been contained. He was, however, still displeased that the attempt had even been made. He couldn’t say he was particularly surprised though, every version brought with it someone who believed they could outsmart the game. It always ended the same way, ever since he had taken over. With one final scan of his notes, Tracen was ready, he pressed the button and began the day.
“Good morning kids! I’ve got some great news for you to start us off today and it is that if you’re listening to this you have officially made it to the halfway point of our game, congratulations!”
Tracen gave a clap and whoop before taking a large gulp of coffee.
“Unfortunately we have to start today’s recap on a sour note as both Charelle Chernyshyova and Aditi Sharma died as a result of breaking our rules on fires. Charelle was taken care of by the fire itself while we dealt with Aditi. Take the lessons of this to heart, we are always watching and won’t be fooled by simple misdirection. Do not try anything like this if you want to go home.”
Tracen let a hardness and venom enter his voice as he finished. After a pause he continued in his regular tone, betraying no hint of the previous topic.
“Continuing on, Wyatt Carter met his demise at the barrel of Tirzah Foss’s gun and I don't think all the kings' horses or all the kings' men will be able to put him back together again.”
“Tanisha Abbey was the next to fall as Erika Stieglitz hit the big one-o, via you guessed it, bullets.”
“Again someone falls victim to the tyranny of bullets as Camille Bellegarde was shot by Valerija Bogdanovic. So watch out, there’s a new killer about.”
“The Chattanooga chainsaw massacre met its end as Marco Volker was shot by Henry Sparks. It was always going to happen eventually, especially when you bring a chainsaw to a gunfight.”
“There was a bit of a delay on our next kill as long after the initial attack Jackson Sullivan succumbed to wounds caused by Justin Greene. He has a knack for delayed murders, that boy.”
Tracen came to another death on his list with a note that an additional report was attached. He narrowed his eyes as he remembered.
“After that Adele Jones checked to see if the rule about messing with our cameras was still in effect. "
He paused for effect.
"Spoiler alert, it is.”
Tracen made a loud show of crumpling the paper with the details of Adele's actions up and throwing it away.
“Justin Greene, after getting that delayed kill, was more proactive with his maiming later on in the day as Nia Karahalios and Johnny Silva Ruiz both fell before his mighty smashing ability.”
“In a battle of killers, Tyrell Lahti came out on top and sent Lorenzo Tavares plummeting off the mansion balcony to his demise. Whether you like him or not you have to admit that boy knows how to kill in style.”
“We also have a rare joint kill today as Michael Froese shot Roxie Borowski right between the eyes while Yuka Hayashibara shanked her in the gut. It’s so rewarding to see people come out of their shells.”
“And as killers rise so to do they fall as Quinn Abert was stabbed to death by Arizona Butler, although based on her art projects we’re sure she would have appreciated how she was left.”
“Emeka Gibson had a bad trip, but don’t worry, Claudeson Bademosi was there to make sure he got the help he needed. You can't do drugs if you're dead, right?”
“Next up, we have a more subtle and quiet death for us to all contemplate as Sven Vee fell from the top of the waterfall like a dumbass.”
Tracen clapped loudly once before moving on.
"Then we end things off with a death right at the buzzer as Tony Acardi finally died from a wound inflicted on him by Paloma Salt days ago. Man, we were wondering what was taking him so long."
"But as I said at the beginning, the rest of you have all managed to get past the halfway point, what a remarkable achievement. To celebrate we’ve decided to move the danger zone up to the The Upper Wilds, it’s symbolism for your success."
"As always we have a prize to give out for the best murder and we have... another tie... yay. Tirzah Foss and Justin Greene both win the singular prize of a new weapon and a nice bowl of chili with cornbread, which can be found potentially waterlogged at the Rice Paddies!
"That's all from me today kids, keep up the good work and remember, you’re my favorite."
DAY SEVEN: SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 2018
Weather: Much like the previous day the island is very humid and sticky thanks to being fully exposed to the sun and lacking any wind to speak of. The temperature has continued to rise with highs of around 97 degrees F, 36 degrees C. The moon is still in the waxing crescent phase. The seventh announcement will come at 9 AM on June 17.
Please find below those chosen by RNGsus this go round.
Summary:
1. Cecil Salazar-Loveless (LeslieFranc)
2. Adonis Cohen (Primrosette)
3. Axel Fontaine (Fenris)
4. Parker Green (Frozen Smoke)
5. Megan Summers (Zetsu)
Remember all the etiquette surrounding rolls, kill requests, etc. As always, there are three days for cards and Danger Zone posts, and a further seven days for Danger Zone exits.
Additionally congratulations to Jilly for winning BDA for the death of Johnny Silva Ruiz, we'll have a quote nomination thread up shortly.
