Mentor HQ Boat, 8:45 PM Local Time, International Waters
Martin was big enough to admit that his first go round at the mentor rodeo hadn't exactly made for primetime viewing. He'd talked a big game and then completely screwed up when it counted. The editing hadn't done him any favours—he'd been P O pissed when he found out most of his chats had never seen the main broadcast—but he had to throw up his hands to admit that if his talks had carried much weight, they wouldn't have been cut so ruthlessly. Though, that didn't mean it wasn't irritating as fuck when people mouthed off about his time on the show. Got a real string of jokers with the 'MarWIN more like MarLOSE lel' comments chasing him for months. Maybe the people who liked to talk mad shit would can it if they saw the absolute madhouse behind the scenes, interns buzzing everywhere like demented flies, camera crews slamming into camera crews, production staff losing track of who needed to be hooked up to which students, some of the tech straight up breaking...
So yeah, okay, MarWIN hadn't brought his A game, but the suits hadn't set him up to succeed either. Whatever, it had been enough to land him a permanent analyst role with the show, and now he was BACK, baby, and ready to show off the skills that'd got him to the dance in the first place. Didn't matter that he was a substitute*, this was his chance to set the record straight by blowing everyone else out of the water.
...Not literally. Probably.
*well okay maybe he was kind of mad about that. Having a bench was a good idea. Having MarWIN warming it? What a waste. Leaving him out was like, uh... not... using your expert's expertise. Look point was, he had the knowledge, he knew how TV worked, he'd even sat in the mentor chair before. Where the hell did they get off on ignoring him?
MarWIN was in the zone, buzzing off an inhumane amount of caffeine and crushing it on about a dozen monitors at once, making sure he had everything tracked he possibly could. He didn't care what setups the other mentors had, he had his customised hardware rigged up in every corner of his cabin, ready to flick between feeds at a single keystroke. He'd drilled his personal... uh, he wasn't sure what they were, gophers, into giving him reports on everything that was going on, running recons on the other mentors, and of course, to keep the supply of energy drinks coming. When he wasn't following the game—and only an idiot would just follow their own team please he wasn't some kind of amateur—Martin even had time to cruise online, assess how perception was shaping up, steer his charges in the way that would reflect best on his leadership. He wasn't here to be funny or a novelty, he was here to strategise. The further the kids got, the more his rep grew.
He was the man, and he had a huge humble pie baking to shove down the throats of all those trolls. See those assholes do better.
"Mr. MarWIN?"
"Yeah, yeah, just drop it off over there." MarWIN didn't look around to address Jake or Jimmy or whoever, eyes glued to his screen.
"Um, it's not your drinks."
"Well why the fuck not?" MarWIN twisted to shoot a glower at the guy. "Your job is to keep me fuelled up. MarWIN outta gas, no winning, capiche?"
Johnny shifted uncomfortably. "Ms. Anders wants to speak to you."
Anders? Why the fuck was production on his ass? Ugh, they had better not get on his case about his team talks, some of the others had stepped way over the line, he was barely toeing it. "Yeah, yeah, fine, whatever. Keep an eye on the screens. DO NOT touch anything."
"O-okay!"
MarWIN didn't bother hiring the sour expression on his face as he got up and sloped out of the room. Fucking Anders. Would have been on the shortlist if not for her. She was first in line for a slice of pie.
-
Martin stepped out of Anders' office, turned three sixty degrees, huffing out a long breath, and then spun, planting a foot square in the centre of her door.
"Fuck you! Second I get home, my blog's gonna be all over this, asshole!"
He made it the whole way down the corridor before he remembered he was on a boat.
Mentor HQ Boat, 9:00 PM Local Time, International Waters
"Good evening once again, Mangrove Garden." Ritzy Daggers' voice was chipper as ever, but failed to fully conceal a certain exasperation. "I'm sure you're all aware, but last time we had some unfortunate technical difficulties, and that left you in the dark. Sorry about that.
"Now, I hate reruns as much as anyone else, so we'll make this quick. I hear they have the original audio on a tape somewhere, so if you win you can check out the special features and get the full experience you missed. But for now, the cliff notes.
"Laurence Clifford was stabbed to death by Mariko Whitney. Soon after, Gabriela Garcia-Campos sent E.T. home by blowing away Sarah Whitlock.
"Junji Yamada picked up his second kill credit when he gunned down Dale Hawthorne with the help of a teammate, but Rebecca Roberts got the bad end of the situation, and the worse end of a sharp object in the hands of Leah Hemingway.
"Finally, Verity Stewart finished what she started—or stole a kill, tomayto tomahto—when she put a bullet through Keegan Garcia's head. Oh, and also Kaya Robinson turned the tables and took down Eric Cunningham.
"Alright, that's the recap, now today's news.
"We started off with a two-fer, as a misunderstanding turned deadly. Kurt Thorne ignored water safety rules and let Zack Harlow play in the deep end without a lifeguard, but when things turned sour he learned exactly why you don't try to save somebody who's drowning. That's one point to Zack, none to Kurt, but it's academic unless you had money riding on it since neither walked away.
"Hot on the heels of that, Anthony Golden bludgeoned Pi—Pine— I'm sorry, I just can't believe her parents actually—right, well, Pineapple Bloodworth got her head beaten in by our little would-be vigilante. Batman would be, well, disappointed. But The Punisher would get a kick out of it.
"When it comes to punishments, someone's on the naughty list for this next one. Sofia Kowalski decided to prove she meant business by stabbing Lucille Mendoza. All good so far, but both of them were on the same team, and where our other team kills this season have been about revenge or terrible aim, this one just kind of... happened. You know how it goes, 'oopsies, killed one of the few people I can work with, whose deaths don't benefit me at all, what a shame, tee hee?'
"Well, after that we had something else, I guess. More kill-stealing, really. Cory Cartwright was more or less dead, but Gregory Miller came around and turned the 'less' into 'more,' so he's the one who gets the credit. Let that be a lesson to all of you: make sure it sticks if you want the point. Or, you know, don't, and hope someone else volunteers to take the heat for you.
"Some of you must be feeling the heat right now, too. After all, if you don't finish what you start, sometimes you'll get little reminders—exactly what happened when Ivan Rodriguez hung up his flag, and Vasily Ivanov, near some other old friends.
"A couple more trickled in right before deadline, but the stats guys didn't want to recompile all the math that's coming up, so those'll start us off next time.
"Now that everyone's up to speed, here's where the teams are at. I'm just going to list this off, since we're at the stage where it's a little unwieldy.
"The Crabs have six members left, and have amassed a whopping ten kills between them, making them our deadliest team. Congratulations.
"The Krakens are down to five members, but they make up for that with the second greatest number of notches on their collective belt, at seven.
"The Selkies have seven members left in play, and four kills, but are also the most prone to friendly fire. Maybe reconsider that tactic? If you want to reinvent yourself, now's the best time—as of this announcement, your original mentor is back in action.
"The Levithans still number seven, though they only have two kills among them. Playing the slow game, are we? Or too busy hiding to get any work done?
"The Mariners are in rough shape, with five members left and three kills. Might be time to start coming up with contingency plans.
"With eight still alive, the Buccaneers are doing well for themselves on a survival front, but with only two kills, and one of those a team-kill, they leave a lot to be desired as an offensive force.
"Finally, the Sirens have half a dozen left, and five kills, placing them solidly in the middle of the pack on all ends.
"Oh, and our Loner is still kicking, but hasn't managed to pick anyone off so far.
"That just leaves the places you can't go. Listen up, because some of yesterday's are going to shift, and some aren't. We're pulling in the circle, so stay off the outer jetties and outer marina—that's all the assorted boats and planks and stuff on the fringes. Also keep away from the submarine, the fishing trawler, the house boat, the ferry, the glass-bottomed boat, the patrol boat, the yacht, and the cargo floats. That's a lot of ground to cover, so you get a little extra time here—half an hour to finish your business, but don't count on going back to any of those places before the game ends.
"That's that. Talk to you in the morning."
Weather: 9:00 PM, Day Three, Monday, April 19, 2021
The warmth holds through the night, though never as oppressive as in the height of the day. In the later hours, the water turns comparatively still, and the natural sounds of the arena become more muted, aside from the screeching of gulls. The sixth announcement will arrive at 9:00 AM on Tuesday, April 20.
And, the rolls. Please remember all appropriate etiquette.
1. Alaska Ferguson (Deamon) - Stokely Keeper (Namira, Hero Card used)
2. Diana McIntyre (Ohm) - Emmett Purcell (Brackie, Hero Card used)
3. Sylvain Kessler (Backslash)
4. Genevieve Erickson (Lord_Shadow)
Three days for cards, and a further seven for deaths. Because of the number of Danger Zones and the extended in-character deadline, these numbers are inverted for this cycle only; you have seven days of normal Danger Zone activity, then a further three to make a final post exiting a Danger Zone. You are welcome to make new topics in areas that only just became a Danger Zone (the outer jetties, submarine, ferry, patrol boat, and cargo floats) during these seven days, so long as you wrap them up and get out by deadline. Once again, we're going to be turning post review on for the DZs after the first period (seven days) elapses, so don't panic if your post does not immediately show up after that window; staff will approve it ASAP.
