The Second Announcement

[Megami†]

The noise of rapidly moving fingers dancing across a computer keyboard seemed to echo throughout the base which the terrorists had occupied in order to initiate the SOTF V2 program.  The man behind the keyboard -- a timid man with thick glasses -- continued to type rapidly, the worried expression on his face becoming more and more apparent with time.

"... Miss Nguyen?" the man muttered hesitantly after a moment longer, causing the bespectacled Asian woman sitting at a nearby desk to cast him an annoyed glance.

"Yes?"

Her response came more as a growl than an actual inquiry.  The man removed the headphones from his ears momentarily and motioned toward the computer monitor in front of him which was, surprisingly, not monitoring the Survival of the Fittest competition, but rather, the weather.  Sonia Nguyen rose from her desk and idly strode over to the monitor, staring at it with a mild amount of curiosity.

"W-we should t-t-tell the boss, right?"

A swift right hand collided with the back of the soldier's head, causing him to yelp, more in surprise than pain.  When they'd planned the second Survival of the Fittest project, they thought they had taken everything into account.  It seemed that the only thing that hadn't really been taken into consideration was inclimate weather.  Sonia swooped her cell phone off of the desk she'd been sitting idly in and headed out the door.  The soldier, meanwhile, continued to monitor the rather large storm cell that was approaching the island...

~~~

For the second time on the island, the public access systems placed across the area sparked to life, once again blaring a lively, probably unrecognizable melody.  The clearing of a man's throat was heard before Mr. Danya erupted in a prolonged fit of coughing into the microphone.  After a sniffle, he cleared his throat once again and began.

"Terribly sorry about that, children.  This is truly such a dirty country, filled with smog and pollution.  Not like in the homeland, no.  As you can imagine, the filth and grime does a number on my sinuses.  Or perhaps, I'm just allergic to Americans."

He sniffled again and seemed to stifle a sneeze.

"But you're not my doctors, and we're not here to talk about my allergies, now are we?  For those of you who're already beginning to lose it and have somehow lost track of time, I'd like to congratulate you all for surviving this long.  We're approaching Day Three of your little endeavor, and if I had my guess about it, the island is starting to reek just a little bit.  I thought we'd gotten off to a lightning fast start on the first day, but you all have surprised even me.  Yesterday on the island, I'd like to inform you all that a whopping eighteen of your peers were brutally murdered.  Eighteen, children.  You're all quite the bloodthirsty little pack, aren't you?"

Danya paused long enough to shuffle some of the papers that were apparently sitting on his desk.  One could only assume that those papers contained his "important" information, such as a list of the dead.

"Maybe bloodthirsty isn't the right word..." he continued on, his eyebrows raising in mild amusement as he read over the data, "Pop quiz, children.  What is a dangerzone?  Is it not self-explanatory that if you linger in a DANGERzone for a prolonged amount of time, that your life will be in DANGER?  Perhaps for the next game, I'll call them stay-here-too-long-and-you-blow-up-zones.  Perhaps that'll convey the message just a little better, you think?"

He sighed and, unbenowst to the children on the island, shook his head slightly.

"Regardless.  The first of the day to die was Tanesha Lexx.  Now, RIGHT after I announced that the pagoda was going to be a dangerzone, this ignorant tart headed right for it.  As one could expect, she blew up.  Kasumi White wasn't too far behind her.  She lingered in the church, searching for her beloved.  It's called Survival of the Fittest for a reason, kids, and this little girl couldn't function without her little boyfriend, so we did her a favor.  Those of you who're so bent on searching for those special someone's out there might want to keep that in mind.  Third to die was Laura Diesen.  Apparently the way to rebel against this game is to kill yourself instead of dying by another student's hand.  Whatever.  As long as you're dead at the end of the day, it's no skin off my back."

"That's three down, fifteen more to go, kids.  I hope you're writing this down.  Fourth to die was Randy Blailocke.  It would seem he fell asleep in a dangerzone, or something to that effect.  Honestly now.  Number five was Jordan McKiernan.  This was sort of a tag team death by both Bryan Calvert and Tori Johnson, but Mr. Calvert WAS ultimately the one who killed him.  Hear that, Tori?  You're 0-1 baby, you've gotta catch up.  Number six was Lester Treskington, who was maimed, mangled, and murdered by Garry Dodd.  Number seven?  Mary-Anne Robinson.  Pity, she was a cute one.  She met her end at the hands of Harry Constantine.  Number eight to die was Wanda Lovett, just another poor soul who thought she could beat the game by eliminating herself from it."

He wasn't even halfway through the list yet and already, he was getting bored.  Sure, a lot of people had died on day two, and it was more or less a success, but even Danya was disgusted at the stupidity with which some of the students lost their lives.  He supposed that was the trouble with high school students.

"Moving along, number nine was Matthew Lafferty, killed by Andi Ayala.  Number ten... huh.  Number ten was Eric Silvstedt, killed by his own best friend, Ricky Callahan.  It was a story... about a girl, it seems.  Mr. Callahan eliminated his own best friend from the game in an attempt to save some girl's life.  That's almost... romantic.  Almost."

Laughter from the thought of it erupted in the microphone and Danya inevitably let out a snort before he finally stopped laughing and cleared his throat.  This smog really was killing him.  This country was so very nasty, not like the homecountry at all.

"Eleventh to die was Nessy Guthrie.  It seems Steven Smith took Porky Pig to the slaughterhouse or something.  Hahaha.  Not really, but it's more interesting than what really happened.  Twelfth, and this is a bit of a shocker, was one of my personal favorites, Mr. Jonathan Michaels.  I'm disappointed, I must say.  After being one of the top killers on Day One, Mr. Michaels met his end at the hands of twelve-year-old Brandon Cuthbert.  Quite pathetic.  Thirteenth to die was Christian Cohen, also at the hands of little Brandon.  Now, it's becoming an issue of pride, kids.  The twelve-year-old kid is doing better than some of you.  Better catch up."

Before Danya could continue with the announcement, the door behind him squealed open quietly and a soldier stepped through.  Danya swung around, the irritation at being interrupted quite apparent on his features as he looked at the soldier.  The man held up some more papers, and Danya waved him closer, jerking the papers from his grasp before pointing toward the door.  Although he wasn't facing the microphone, his yelling was still audible in the PA system.

"Thank you, now I believe I told you NOT TO INTERRUPT ME WHILE I'M DOING MY ANNOUNCEMENTS!"

"S-s-sorry sir!"

"Wonderful, now get out."

The sound of the door clicking shut again was audible in the silence that followed, and Danya once again let out a cough before turning back toward the microphone.

"Sorry about that, apparently some people don't understand what do not disturb means.  Moving along... where was I?  Oh yes.  Fourteenth to die was Melanie DeSilva, courtesy of one of our lovely little farm ladies, Miss Debrah Dollop.  Fifteenth was Darren Oaklan in the third... third?  Yes, third death by Paris Persphone.  Sixteenth was Lance Adams, falling not too long after his beloved Kasumi, at the hands of island psychopath Marimar Perez.  You guys should meet this girl, she's a real trip.  Number seventeen was Nich Finlayson, and you don't know how glad I am of that.  I must thank the lovely Miss Mariavel Varella for ridding us of another punk.  Finally, eighteenth to die was Sylvea Hill.  She really stood no chance in comparison to Vesa Turunen, and that's why it's called Survival of the Fittest."

It was then that Danya finally stopped to look at the piece of paper the soldier had handed him, and his face alighted in a smile of mild amusement.

"I've got some more news, children.  We'll be switching dangerzones today, because spontaneity is exciting.  So, as of now, consider the pagoda, church, lighthouse, and... oh, that other place... the, the... um... ah yes!  The school building!  Consider those areas cleared as of now.  There will be three new dangerzones.  The forest, the hospital, and the hotel.  If you're in the area... and from what I hear, a lot of you are in the area, I'd suggest you start running now, lest we have to make an example of more of you."

Danya chuckled to himself.  He had always enjoyed the dangerzones and the sheer amount of panic that ensued whenever he placed another one into effect.  Some of his terroristic team had questioned him when he decided to clear the buildings of their dangerzone status, but he wasn't a completely heartless man.  A storm was rolling in, and it was the very least he could do to let them murder one another over shelter.

"Now then, those of you who aren't running for your lives would do good to listen, because I've got just a little bit more to report to you all.  After the past success of our little office poll, and yes, it was QUITE entertaining watching Boy #30 get mugged by Boy #2, we've decided to do it again this round.  Once again, the winner is a guy.  Ladies, you're going to have to play some major catch-up.  That's three for three the guys have on you.  Anyway, Boy #27, you know who you are, you've won our office poll this time around, and you know what that means.  Head down to the marina to pick up your prize!  The area will be off-limits to anyone except Boy #27 until his prize is retrieved, so the rest of you would do good to stay away, or at least hide a considerable distance away in the bushes and ambush him while he leaves!  Oh dear, I'm giving you all ideas, aren't I?"

"One more thing, little warriors!  I'm sure you've all noticed that it's starting to drizzle outside, but the worst is yet to come!  The command center has informed me that you're all going to be in for a rough ride over the next day or two, because that drizzle is going to turn into one hell of a thunderstorm.  Now, aren't you glad I gave you some shelter to fight over... I mean, hide in?  Run for cover, little warriors!  Run for cover!"

Danya snickered to himself as he flicked the microphone off and rose from the desk he'd been leaned up against.  The change in weather was certain to make things more interesting for the next day or two.  After all, everyone gets a little stir-crazy during thunderstorms, especially when they're stuck outside and surrounded by murderers... or so he would imagine.  Danya exited the compact room he had been sitting in and walked down a long hallway.  As he emerged from the nondescript building he'd been lurking in, he couldn't help but halfway smile as the sun began to rise over the Lincoln Memorial.  For a moment, he couldn't help but think that the Americans truly didn't realize what they had.  Today... was gonna be a hell of a day.

~~~

The OOC Stuff:

I'm quite surprised, though very grateful, to say that the winner of Best Kill for the month was Ricky Callahan.  The winner of Best Death was... myself, actually.  So, I guess there's nothing to say other than I do accept my prizes and thank you very much for voting.  It's not something I feel like I deserve, but apparently the majority spoke otherwise, so thanks for your vote!  Moving right along, there are more pressing matters to attend to.

Dice Rolls:

Yes, we finally have another roll.  Five were rolled to die, and they were: Leo's Deliah Dollop, Adam's Sarah Dao, Strawberry Prince's Paris Persphone, Xaldien's Chiaki Takao, and Narfinkool's Stacy Holorson.  If you're going to use your swap or hero card, please let me know as soon as possible.  As usual, I'd like to see links to the dying character's death post in three days, I'd like them to be dead by five, and thank you for being prompt!  The following have already used their swap and/or hero cards and are not eligible to use them this round.

Hero Cards:
Aphrodite.
La Rondelle (Slacker)
Mitsuko2
CycoKiller

Swap Cards:
Endless_Helix
Shula
Megami (although this is nullified now since my BDA will be a swap card)
Atomic_Waffle

The only other thing that needs to be covered is this small reminder: those of you who're currently in dangerzones (the forest, the hotel, or the hospital), you have THREE real-life days, that's 72 hours, to get your character OUT of the aforementioned dangerzone before their collar is detonated, and this does, unfortunately, apply to everyone.  So, I guess I'm saying be prompt about it, because we can't grant extensions on this one.  Thanks for roleplaying with us, and have a great day!