Disco made his way down the base hallway, and by his face he didn't want anyone to interrupt him. The grunts that were walking or standing in the hallway purposefully slank out of his way, since he looked even more annoyed than usual. He usually wasn't like this, kind of; surly usually, but this was more than that. It was apparent on his face for one, and Disco was usually not one for that.
A call had come in from the rest of upper management whilst he had been at the gym; Freebird had yapped on for a few minutes, which after much experience with both him and Prodigy, he’d learned to tune out outside the important bits of the conversation, such as "Get to the break room" and "Urgent".
Soon, he stood outside the door to their break room, separate from the grunts in their command who under normal circumstances rarely dared to enter without fear for reprisal, mostly from Quaker. Opening the door, Disco entered and saw the other three situated around the table, seemingly waiting for his arrival - they fixed their gaze to him silently as briskly made his way over to his seat and sat down.
"The fuck’s so important I needed to give up those shoulder gains? Someone better be dead."
Polar answered with a slight smile that didn't reach her eyes and slid a piece of paper over to him. He broke eye contact and looked at it, carefully putting his right index finger beneath the paper, placing his thumb above whilst resting the upper part on his left hand. Eyes burrowed into the page.
The sullen anger evaporated. Instead, a grin broke out on his face.
"We're doing this?"
Polar tilted her head whilst it rested on her palm, left arm leaned against the table.
“Quaker was insistent on it.”
“Well, I hope you’re all ready to lose some money.”
Quaker had floated the idea of doing a death pool for the outlanders a few days ago - Polar found the idea amusing, Disco found it intriguing, and Freebird found it gauche, but not to the point he would stop any of them with their fun. It was pretty simple - 29 kids they’d all analyzed the physical, mental and social profiles of and written conclusions for, divided up between the four of them. There were extras, but given that they’d actually done the work for it, nobody had objections.
Quaker got up from the table and turned over the blank whiteboard sitting behind them. Four columns, a sideline of pictures, and a big red marker magnetized to the board.
“Alright, let's make it official - the first annual death pool for-”
The door burst open and a certain someone entered the room with a bright smile on her face. Someone who at some point had been told, rather sternly by Quaker, to keep her nose out of other people’s businesses after having been caught rifling through some files that didn’t belong to her.
“Sounds fun, I’m in.”
The four of them paused. An expression betrayed from the face of Polar had no such effect on the other three.
Quaker scoffed.
“Upper management only, buzz off kid.”
Prodigy scoffed, half mocking the other woman, half serious.
“And what do you think I manage in the big room with all the computers? Hamsters in wheels? Like I said, sounds fun, I’m in.”
Polar cleared her throat slightly.
“I believe what she means is upper management of our four specific departments. Besides, it’s only for those who wrote performance conclusions on the kids.”
Prodigy refrained from a mocking retort in the same vein as Quaker, but tilted her head slightly and raised her eyebrows softly.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. You know how easy it is to break into those files? I took a few from each of you while you were unloading those kids on the island.”
Freebird furrowed his brow, and Prodigy simply smiled in response.
“Go and check if you don’t believe me.”
The younger man in the room slowly took out his personal device and began tapping away. After a few moments, he looked up.
“‘Freebird had something here, but it was boring so I deleted it’, what?”
Collectively they stopped and stared at her. Silent, but stern faces betraying the sense of surprise at the brazenness of her attitude. Well, most of them. Freebird didn't get that part of the memo and made his surprise apparent, whilst Quaker couldn't keep the annoyance that she felt from her face. Truth be told, they weren't surprised at Prodigy's work, most of them had come to suspect that she'd pull something off out of boredom than anything else, but the sudden admittance just to join their pool?
Well, that was an entirely different matter.
"You do realise," Polar started, lightly and with a smile on her face, "we could take this info straight to Overlord, I'm sure he'd be curious what you're up to in your work hours.”
Disco turned and looked at her, eyes questioning her intentions. It was silly to make that clear, so something else had to be at play. Once someone makes a claim like that, either they were overconfident which Polar certainly gave the sense that she was flowing with at the worst of times, or one wanted to see what would happen.
Prodigy snorted lightly, and crossed her arms.
“Or, I could just bring him complaint logs from all four of your departments.”
The silence in the room was sudden.
“What, you all thought you were the best bosses in the world because you yelled at your underlings the most? We’re not running a supervillain lair here - those two up there do give a shit if the grunts are being treated like hospitality workers. That’s how we get leaks, and quislings, and nobody wants this whole thing to collapse before we start, do we?”
Without missing a beat, Prodigy snaked her way into a chair she’d pulled from the side of the room, now sitting beneath the flat of the table, and arched her fingers and placed her chin above them.
“Do we?”
A boiling Disco blinked. Back in his day, this was called “snitching”, but apparently in Prodigy’s world it was the done thing. Yeah, he had a temper when dealing with people who were clearly not qualified to be doing what they were doing, and yeah he’d thrown shit at the wall while screaming at general gross incompetence, but what was he supposed to do? Have a heart-to-heart with the little shit who didn’t know how to load a warehouse or operate a forklift properly? Give him a break. He’d make a comment about how soft this new generation were, but he’d probably made it already.
However, it seemed like it wasn’t the time to become upset, especially since Prodigy had somehow bested the four of them. So he exhaled through his nose like a wounded bull.
“Alright, who’d you grab?”
Prodigy’s teeth shone through her smile.
“3, 7, 10, 19, 24 and 29.”
London, England, United Kingdom
To say Pamela Marlowe felt as though she’d been underutilized by her department was an understatement, to say the least. While it was true that she had spent almost twenty years as a language specialist for the SIS, more well known to the public as MI6, she had taken fewer steps up the ladder than people within her department fifteen years her junior. At some point, she had been expected to rise to a role in managing specific departmental subdivisions, but despite the prospects given to her, she had stayed at the level of senior specialist, helping people rise up the ladder and eventually watching them surpass her, eventually watching them whither and sour as the vines of bureaucracy sapped the life out of them.
Of course, those same vines eventually crept downwards, deciding she was overqualified and shunting her out of any responsibilities within the department itself, so maybe having spent all that time avoiding them was fruitless in the end.
Not that Pamela minded, in the grand scheme of things - her job had benefits, she could provide for her family, she could help protect her country every day, and what greater goal in life was there than that?
But every so often, she felt like an oversized lamp in a wheely chair.
Yet even on those same days, she felt like she was contributing more than the rest of her department, who seemed to be taking the world’s longest lunch break. So sitting alone, oversized, lamp-shaped, wheely-chaired, in the middle of the country’s most important office flat, was the life of Pamela at that moment.
Her focus constantly shifted between checking her emails for something important she may have missed, returning to her work, and then looping back around to checking the room to see if anyone was actually there - she knew she hadn’t been victim to a sudden hallucinogenic attack, as she hadn’t touched her lunch yet and there would most likely be loud alarms going off if she had. She was most definitely the only one in the room.
At least, until Marley Flannigan dashed in from the elevator - the very model of someone Pamela would have boosted above the ranks as an offering to bureaucracy, instead making his own way up the ladder rung by rung. He began heading back as quickly as he came, having seemingly just appeared to grab his bag from his desk.
Pamela stood up from her desk.
“Marley?”
Still heading to the elevator, Marley spun on his heels.
“Pamela! Bloody hell, how long have you been around here, did you not get the memo?”
Pamela raised an eyebrow.
“Memo? What memo?”
“Straight from the higher-ups, it’s all hands on deck - we’ve gotten reports of child abductions from a flagged group from America, all taking school students; England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales - it’s a whole affair, they’ve got pretty much the entire agency up there.”
Pamela stifled a sigh. The entire agency except for her, apparently.
“Oh, right, that memo.”
The one that seemed to have personally been sent to every inbox in the building but hers.
“Just need to grab my bag, could you hold the lift?”
All around the island, speakers crackled to life, and Jack’s voice was heard throughout.
“Good evening, kids!
“You know, I was sitting here, in my safe little office, drinking my extraordinary warm hot cocoa, and about to turn in for the night in my nice, soft bed, when I realized you all hadn’t heard from me in a while! And that’s no fun at all! So, I decided to make a special appearance tonight, and help move some things around! And I’m no chess prodigy, but I’d say I’ve got you all lined up for a quadruple jump!
“So, I’m pleased to report that two of the twenty nine of you have not been as lucky as the rest of you! Let's get some names out there.
“First up, one little boy by the name of Makaria Wang decided that, hey, travelling wasn’t for him. And he just so happened to have a big shiny gun on him, that he used to remove his own head from his body. Kids, make sure to always see a doctor if you’re not feeling your best - we take mental health very seriously here, and we wouldn’t want anyone to do anything they’d regret, and it’s a shame Makaria couldn’t get the help he needed, because in the end, he was extraordinarily uneventful for what we need from you all.
“And the other death of the day was just the most unfortunate thing. You see kids, some of you may want to stop and get to know the people you’re stranded here with - another boy by the name of Oscar Fatu found out the hard way that not everyone is up for a little chit-chat, when Fabiano Vecoli...well, I’ll just say there’s now a large metal spike where his throat once was. Quite the grisly scene, if I say so myself!
“Oh, and there’s quite a lot of you around that village, so I’m going to have to declare The Fishing Village a Danger Zone, unfortunately - see, those spectacular metal collars around your neck aren’t just for making sure you don’t break our cameras or try to escape. We’re going to have little zones of danger popping up every now and again, and if you’re in the village right now, you’ve got exactly five minutes from the end of this announcement to skedaddle your little feet out of there, or those collars around your neck will put in a new hinge where there wasn’t one before, and you won’t be alive to show your new friends. So move it, or lose it.
“And that’s it for the daylight hours! I’ll be checking in with you again in twelve hours time, to see which ones of you have managed to survive the night! Don’t be afraid of the dark, children - be more afraid of who’s hiding in there.”
With that, a click emanated from the speakers, and Jack’s voice was no more.
Weather: Night One, 9pm, Saturday, March 6, 2021
It has been raining lightly for a while now, but after the announcement the rain will pick up - however, around midnight, the rain begins to taper off, and the clouds that have been plaguing the sky for the sunlight hours mostly disappear, with the moon and stars visible in the sky until morning, when the clouds begin to return.
And finally, the rolls. Please remember all appropriate etiquette.
1. Jevaun Barrett (Ohm) Archibald "Archie" Harper (CatcheJagger)
2. Zander Lin (Fenrir) Jia Li Qiáo (AnimeNerd88)
3. Ajay Bachmeyer (ItzToxie) Pranay Shankar (RC)
Three days for cards and standard Danger Zone posts, and a further seven for deaths and to make a final post exiting a Danger Zone.
The First Announcement
fluff by both Ohm and Brackie
Moderator: SOTF International Staff
I haven't had a chance to do much with Zander yet, so I'd appreciate a hero if anyone is feeling generous.
Otherwise, feel free to send me your death ideas.
Otherwise, feel free to send me your death ideas.
I would love to get a hero, but to be frank would rather that if anyone is considering heroing this set hit the others first.
Otherwise send me ideas.
Otherwise send me ideas.
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Catche Jagger
- Posts: 743
- Joined: Tue May 28, 2019 7:40 pm
- Team Affiliation: Ben's Crabs
Heroing in Archibald Harper for Jevaun Barrett. Death ideas would be appreciated.
A little under 20 hours for further Danger Zone activity, and then approximately 7 days and 20 hours until deaths are due.
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Catche Jagger
- Posts: 743
- Joined: Tue May 28, 2019 7:40 pm
- Team Affiliation: Ben's Crabs
All good on death ideas. Thanks to all those that messaged me!
approximately 3 days, 15 hours until deaths are due
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Catche Jagger
- Posts: 743
- Joined: Tue May 28, 2019 7:40 pm
- Team Affiliation: Ben's Crabs
I'm requesting an extension of an extra week for Archie's death. I've had a busy week due to family obligations and, though I can finally get things going, extra time may be required to meet the deadline
Catche Jagger wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 6:55 pm I'm requesting an extension of an extra week for Archie's death. I've had a busy week due to family obligations and, though I can finally get things going, extra time may be required to meet the deadline
Both granted.AnimeNerd88 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 15, 2021 7:54 pm Also going to request an extra week for Jia Li! Had some unforeseen complications and things should be good now, but better to be safe rather than sorry.
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Catche Jagger
- Posts: 743
- Joined: Tue May 28, 2019 7:40 pm
- Team Affiliation: Ben's Crabs