Page 25 of Shadows of Stardust

Roslyn

Mate Match Transcript: S24 E2 INTERVIEW 4

Contestant: Roslyn|Producer: Sella

S: Roslyn, can you tell us a little about your first few days on the Mate Match beach?

R: What about them?

S: Anything you’d like to share.

R: The… beach is nice?

S: Good. Good. What about the other contestants?

R: I… yeah. They’re alright. Juni is nice.

S: [laughs] Let’s try another adjective

R: She’s… great.

S: [inaudible into headset] Alright, how about we take five to shake off those nerves then try this again?

Two days after my incident with Rhevar and Zandrel, my patience for waiting for my one best chance has just about run out.

The incessant hum of the hovercams and their endlessly watching eyes make me feel like some kind of prey animal. Aconstant reminder that I’m watched, that making any kind of move is probably going to fail before it even begins.

Or, even more likely, that I’ll get kicked off the show way before I have the opportunity to make a move, for the simple fact of what terrible entertainment I make.

Since ditching Rhevar, I’ve kept my damn head down. Too far down. Ducking cameras and evading suitors at every turn. Enough that I’ve even started to get on Sella’s ever-cheerful nerves.

And the interviews they’ve started sure as shit aren’t helping things.

At least once a day, producers pull us off the beach to sit down in a special set and talk directly to the camera about ourfeelings.

About our experience. About the other contestants. About every tiny, mundane detail of our time here.

If trying to act like a normal human being on the beach was a stretch, then trying to dredge up one single ounce of charisma or charm for these close-ups is a lost cause entirely. Painful, disastrous, a hovercraft-crash happening in slow motion.

All with dozens of sets of unfeeling, constantly recording eyes sitting in judgment.

Not to mention the other eyes I can feel even when they’re not there.

Zandrel is a persistent, maddening shadow. Even when I can’t see him, I’m certain he’s somewhere nearby. Waiting. Watching.

It makes my skin crawl.

Sitting out in the late afternoon sunshine with Juni, soaking up a few rays in arguably the most gorgeous place I’ve ever been, I can’t shake the sensation. It settles over me like a blanket of nettles, bringing me closer and closer to doing something monumentally stupid and reckless with each passing day.

Wait. I have to wait.

Every more reasonable instinct I have screams caution. I’m going to get one shot at this, if I get a shot at all, and I can’t fuck things up before that opportunity presents itself.

“Ros?” Juni says from beside me, startling me out of my dark thoughts and back to the beautiful, sunny present.

“Yeah?”

“Just making sure you’re still with me. You were looking a little… strange.”

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