touchdown confirmed

[RetroVenus]

Strange that he was going to die young.

((MM03: ELLIOTT-BLAIR ØSTERGAARD, START))

He had joked about such a thing before, as one does. Whenever the topic of his future came up, he'd answer, in the driest tone he could muster, that he planned on dying young. He'd follow up with no, he doesn't know what he wants to do, he'll figure it out as a senior.

But even during his lowest points, when depression's vice was at it's tightest, he never really wanted to die. Death was a foreign concept; the only funerals he had attended were for parents of family friends. Both cases involved the deceased passing in their sleep. That's how he wanted to go out. But one never gets to decide on how they die, do they?

Especially on Survival of the Fittest.

Oh, he was panicking when he was inside that concrete hall, but upon awakening for a second time and hearing the waves gently lap against the structure he was on, he felt...detached. None of this was real, you're not really awake.

Rummaging through his backpack, he donned his show-mandated bandana, tying it around his neck. There were less blatantly obvious places to tie it, such as his ankle, but what did it matter? He was going to die anyway, right? And then he'll wake up.

Further inside the backpack was a spyglass. So, not a weapon. That said...

At once, he stood up and took stock of where he was. Behind him was some sort of waterborne Chinese restaurant, dragon motifs and all. It seems that he had awakened at the entrance. Off some ways to his right was a rather sizeable cruise ship. A perfect test subject.

Viewing the cruise ship through the spyglass, he could see how powerful the lens were. Before he could only vaguely spot figures within it's windows, now he could clearly make out who they were.

So. He can spot potential threats before they spot him. What else?

Something clicked in his head. They were split into teams, weren't they? Yes, that's why they have to wear bandanas. And if the last people standing wore bandanas of the same color, they could all go home.

Checking the figures again through the spyglass, he was mildly disappointed that he couldn't make out the colors of the bandanas (if he could see them at all). It was fine, though. He just had to inch himself closer until he could. Easy.

Someone on his team surely had a weapon, right? So all he had to do was find someone with the same bandana as him and hide behind them whenever someone with a different bandana showed up looking for a fight. Hell, he could even assist by using the spyglass to see what weapon the other bandana had.

Maybe he'll ride this dream out.

First things first, though. Taking a few steps towards the restaurant, he abruptly halted upon hearing a rather human thud from within it's walls. Someone had fallen.

Maybe they tripped. Maybe they took a machete to the face.

He spun on his heels and walked away from the restaurant. No, he'll find an ally somewhere else. Someplace where he had the advantage of sight.

((Elliott-Blair Østergaard continued in Phone a Friend))