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Estee 22510 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 09-02-06, 01:51 PM (EST) "Survivor: The Society Islands: Episode #7: Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horribly Awkward." LAST EDITED ON 09-04-06 AT 07:52 PM (EST) ----------------------------------------------------------------- After ----------------------------------------------------------------- {Topic Title: Alex Involved With Disappearance.} {...but after some extra research, I found some old articles on the rape case she was talking about on the security tape: here's the links. The Smoking Gun must have pulled a shoulder blade from all the back-patting they're doing on themselves: that tape could not have been easy to get. 'An unnamed source in the police department', my ***. That's a major breach... what police officer would stoop that low? It must have been someone at the post office.} {Your faith in our law enforcement officials is actually kind of touching.} {Stupid camera angle... both faces, but it's actually a closer look at this Matt guy than there is on Alex, and you can't see the lower half of her arms -- what the hell was he talking about there? Does she have some kind of tattoo?} {Just checked the recording from Episode #6, when she was in the water: both arms are normal and unadorned. She's left-handed and looking at her shoulders, that's the arm she pulled back. Those upper vibrations might indicate a lower fabric shift -- did you ever think the skills we'd picked up from taking previews apart would actually come in handy for something else? -- so I guess there's a chance that when she got ready to punch, she uncovered her left forearm by accident. He was looking at something there, and it freaked him out -- but whatever it was, she picked it up after she left the island.} {Or something happened to her on the island...} {Or after. Come on: we would have heard about an injury.} {You mean the way we heard about Frank?} {Maybe she and Connie finally took each other out. Wonder who swung first?} {The son of a ***** probably just got a free spoiler. Betcha it's the merged tribe name and an ink buff.} {Migawd. She's a vicious little thing, isn't she? I know this looks like one of the all-time overmatches, excepting Scout vs. Gardener -- but the way her voice is pitched, combined with the absolute lack of fear in her eyes -- if he made one move, she was going right for him...} {She had reason to be. Did you read those articles? Innocent until proven guilty? Well, guess what: guilty. Guilty. Guilty. People who're trying for blackmail payouts do not kill themselves when the scheme doesn't seem to be working at top speed. That was a rape, everyone knew it, and no one in the media could directly say it. Well, I'm not part of the media. Guilty as charged. Alex had every reason to be worried -- and if you'll review the tape, you'll see she pulled back second. He was thinking about going for her.} {That image reminds me of a small dog against a really large one. The big dog has the strength and mass, but it knows that all the smaller dog has to do is get underneath and find a place to bite down...} {There was a name bleeped out of the tape there -- must have been a third party, someone TSG didn't want suing them for character defamation. The person who tried to fix Alex up with Hough.} {How closely are the police looking at Cole's involvement in this? Do they actually think she did something?} {Read an article that isn't hosted on WND, willya? No, they were just questioning her because she was one of the last people to see him before he ran. He's a pretty notorious figure in his area -- not just the suspected rape, but a really big party animal. Former trust fund kid who likes to spread the wealth. So when he vanished pre-party, people noticed in a hurry, and because he's got an old angle to his story plus there's a reality contestant of less than sterling media image involved, the papers picked up on it -- and it's been spreading out from there. He was seen catching a red-eye out of Newark really, really early on Thursday -- same time Alex was in a local laundromat getting her whites whiter and her colors brighter: witnesses on both ends, not to mention cameras. At the exact moment Alex was talking to a local about something or other, he's at a ticket counter displaying a credit card, passport, and a look of not-very-repressed fear... There's a freeze-frame image here: he looks completely strung out.} {Just because Cole was doing laundry when he ran doesn't mean she didn't go to his house sometime between their first meeting and the second...} {Possible -- except that you still haven't read the article. Alex was able to prove her whereabouts for pretty much the entire period: computer logs showing which files she'd been working on and when, no one except her touching the keyboard. Plus everywhere she goes, she's a reality contestant: her entire town knows it, and they remember seeing her... Plus there's no sign of her presence in his house. None. And -- here's the real kicker -- like a lot of rich people, Hough had his own security systems, cameras included: we're a point-and-shoot society. Alex never went near him after the post office meeting. She sure as hell didn't take a bunch of drug paraphernalia (and drugs), put his fingerprints on it, and then pile it by the curb like it was waiting for trash pickup and figuring no one would notice what kind of trash. Sorry: she's just a witness. No charges.} {Where did he run to, anyway?} {Brazil.} {As said: guilty.} {Caught a quickie on CNN -- they found Alex coming out of the station, stuck a camera in her face, and asked her how she was involved. Her reply -- and I quote: "I reminded him that some people still cared more about what he was than how much he had. Maybe he couldn't stand hearing it." And walked away.} {Police press conference: Alex is not a suspect in anything, there isn't much of a crime here at all, it isn't illegal to leave the country in a hurry -- yet -- they just have some questions because of the stuff they found out by the curb and the speed of the relocation. Should Mr. Hough return to the United States, they'll want an explanation for the two pounds of heroin they found in the middle of the trash pile -- he should remember it: his fingerprints are all over the bag. But Alex is free and clear.} {Press release from Survivor: the show supports her and looks forward to seeing her at the Reunion. That's it.} {AFA and associated sites going nuts -- they want to make a statement here, but with Alex officially cleared, they can't go too far without crossing into libel territory...} {*sigh* Wish we could say the same. I'm getting tired of locking threads.} {Summary: Alex is at the post office mailing some packages: art and book orders from site customers. (I got mine three weeks ago: really good stuff, and she packaged the hell out of it.) An old classmate whom she has no interest in seeing again drops by on a complete and utter lie: there was no power outage at his local post office. (Assume Alex is mailing stuff a lot more often than normal, and you know where you can run into her.) He's handsome as all hell, he's charming, he's a hot flash waiting to happen, and he wants to take her out to dinner. Alex would rather French-kiss Azure, and tells him exactly why. He doesn't take it well. He moves like he's getting ready to hit her, she responds -- and winds up revealing her left arm, just to him: not us. Something about it sends him into 'I could die here' mode, possibly because his last drug dose decided to hit the paranoia stage at that exact moment. And he clears out. Tape ends. What have we actually learned here?} {Plenty. Let's run it down. First, Alex is not playing a character on the show. What you see is what she is, muted reactions and all. The quiet deadpan poker face is her natural state. Second: we have more confirmation that her childhood basically svcked. People trying to fix her up just to see if the new boyfriend would hurt her? Nice. Sounds just like my high school, only with people actually saying it in the open. Trina can take a pat on the back now: the first card is looking better all the time. Third, Alex has not been having a good time since the show ended. We knew she'd been turning in threats to the police, but to still be seeing one basically every day... not a good sign. Fourth: there's a good chance Alex was either injured on the show or something's happened to her since: I don't think she's the tattoo type. Personally, I think she might have been attacked by someone who took an extremely physical objection to that cross -- and not a word about how 'that sort of thing doesn't happen' unless you want a flood of links to abortion clinic bombing stories, okay? We're on track for an interesting Reunion if she goes out late enough for Jeff to ask her anything besides whether she's tried a Coke yet.} {Come to think of it, when I delivered the package, she was in a long-sleeve nightgown...} {And when I saw her climbing up the hill, she had on long sleeves then, too! Early in the morning, but it was still halfway hot -- and that was before the premiere!} {So for some reason, she's keeping her arms covered...} {Tattoo's sounding better all the time. She's the artist in the group: she probably designed the merge flag and then had a permanent record of it made.} {You're all overlooking something -- she could have just gotten some road rash, pulled a tendon, really long paper cut -- something ordinary with no connection to the show at all. And on top of that, we know she's body-shy. Look at what she wears on the show -- always long sleeves, always long pants. Unlike Mary-Jane, she only gets into a swimsuit to swim, and it's the most covering one available without going into The Whole 1920s Catalog. The power of mass prayer has not forced the revelation of so much as a hint of cleavage.} {True. But the fact remains that Hough was looking at something...} {Well, if any of our Brazilians spot him, they can ask.} {Female. Not going near him.} {Well, if you change your mind, start checking around the patches of Frank's grass. He looked like he could use something for settling down.} {Umm... that stuff's fatal.} {Two things. 1. Heroin isn't? 2. He's a rapist. Who cares?} ----------------------------------------------------------------- {Topic Title: Who's The Primary Target After The Merge?} {We've got enough threads speculating about who might flip and why, or how things might break down and reform. Who should our new groups -- or our current ones, if they stay together and vote to the tie -- be going after?} {Gardener & Phillip. As a fallacy, 'eat the strong' has a life of its own and can't be stopped.} {Tony -- he's the most balanced combination of strength, speed, and skill remaining in the group.} {Yeah -- the Double-A version. Trooper's faster and he's got more endurance.} {Gardener. Strength and brains. Can't afford to take the chance.} {Maybe, but he's got personality problems... if you're targeting one of the men, you might want to get rid of someone who's better at the social game. That means Phillip: he might actually dance off to the first 7-0 vote if he has enough time to make friends with everybody...} {Notice this whole thread is ignoring the women? Angela's pretty capable athletically, and Robin's proven to be deadly in balance contests.} {Angela probably can't deal with twists and Robin may be a one-trick pony.} {I can see a male alliance targeting Angela, but Robin? No. She'll make it through the first vote, no question.} {Same for Mary-Jane -- completely safe.} {I think we've got a sure bet on Angela trying to pull together a gender alliance. Not sure any of the men will try to play that trick again, especially since it'll be hard to trust Tony.} {Connie might irritate people enough to make herself a target, but there's people they have to get rid of first -- going after her as a primary would be a stupid move.} {Not Alex. 'Eat the smart' just isn't that common, and -- well, Haraiki doesn't know how much she's been involved in their losses. They've seen the puzzles, but no one's told them the PD twist at the memory game was hers. Even Connie's said she can postpone dumping Alex in favor of ousting Gardener -- Alex isn't viewed as a threat in physical challenges, and there's always more of those than mental ones.} {Of course, right now, Connie thinks Alex is gone already. The screen shot when she sees her cross-abusing nemesis is still in camp should be one of the all-timers.} {And this is how we know Gary is safe: I had to bring up his name just to remind you he was there.} ---------------------------------------------------------------- Before ---------------------------------------------------------------- {Welcome to Week #7, and it's finally time for formal introductions all around! Angela, Mary-Jane: you two are probably going to hate each other, or at least, Angela's probably going to hate Mary-Jane two seconds after Mary-Jane glances at 'her man'. Gardener, Tony: there isn't going to be any love lost here, because we never found any in the first place. Connie, Alex -- or as I like to think of it: matter, antimatter. Boom.} {Just to review the latest from the Sucks Riddlemaster if you made the mistake of skipping Recrap Week -- I know, actual new material, it's not as if anyone could have seen that coming -- 'You can't always finish what you start.' I'd review what people think that means, but summing up two hundred posts might take a while, especially when none of them are agreeing with each other.} {Same problem with vote speculation. We've got challenges, but we don't know who wins. We've got a Tribal Council, but we don't know how the tribal alliances are going to vote -- or if those alliances will dissolve and reform before the vote starts. And just to top it off, we could have as many as three people safe from the vote, which is going to influence voting patterns because people are going to be terrified of the bounce... This could be a wild one.} {Or it could be a huge letdown. We'll see how it plays out.} {Not sure -- we've never seen a 5-5 quite like this before. If they stay united on tribal lines, we're just begging for a tiebreaker -- and thanks to Jiffie, we know the purple rock isn't in play.} {What do we know for certain?} {From the previews? Not much. Just that the ambassadors are back. From what Gardener read, each tribe is sending one person to the other's camp. We can presume those two will get together afterwards and decide just where the merged group is going to live. After that, we've got a Reward, an Immunity, and a vote. And given this season, possibly a hole in the fabric of space-time leading to another dimension. A strange alternate universe where nothing makes sense, everything we know is wrong, and Lil won. Brrr... But we don't know which camp they're moving to, who the ambassadors are, no hints as to who wins the challenges, and thanks to lots of careful camera shots and possible computer manipulation, we don't even have a merge color. Frankly, the most work the dissection team got to do all week was on Alex's 'going postal' video.} {Recrap -- and in case you were considering hiding under your couch, it'll be just be from Episode #6. (Recrap the recrap -- yuck!) Let's get this hubris underway by reminding everyone of where Desmond thought he'd finish: Final Two! Because he could really win! Because he has mad game skillz! And because this game really needed a new self-inflicted curse! Alex thought she'd go first and meanwhile, over at Haraiki, they're wishing they could just go to the merge already, preferably after a win. But before that can happen, we need to do a couple of challenges and Alex nearly does go first, because we've been waiting for a fatality all these seasons and so far in this one, that's two near-misses, stop teasing us already! But Turare wins, enjoys some barbecue, and then goes to Immunity, where they enjoy being roasted. Desmond brought the fire, and he's applying it to his own tribe: let's burn that one-man advantage and scorch it into a tie, because nothing gets his inner flame going like having someone with an extra X chromosome make sense to his face! How dare they! There's only one punishment for that, and Alex is about to suffer it: to Sequesterville with you, foul logician! But Desmond may have overlooked just two tiny little things: he doesn't have as much control over his own tribe as he might have believed, and no one controls Alex's thought process, not to mention her mad acting skillz. So Alex shows us just how well she can pretend she doesn't have an idol in her bra -- y'know, that must have been really uncomfortable -- all the way to Tribal Council, and Desmond gets to be on the receiving end of the Funniest Bounce Ever, which doesn't even lose something when you realize it's from a possible choice of two. And now we enter very strange territory: the land of the five-five tie, where anything can happen and probably won't. Well, almost anything. That Alex/Connie secret alliance theory has got to go. (How much would Turare give for Azure to have a vote?)} ---------------------------------------------------------------- During ---------------------------------------------------------------- Gardener stops muttering to himself well before we rejoin the beach trail, but it isn't because he ran out of mostly-muted curses: it's because he's switched to occasional fragments of full speech. Some of the audible highlights include "No, that was a legitimate hit..." and "but I actually apologized later," plus "made sure I gave him interest" a little before "signed all the papers..." Trooper finally takes the bait. "Gardener -- what are you doing?" With a distraction that has to be faked, Gardener replies "Reviewing my entire life to see what I could have done that was so bad, the only possible punishment was to be stuck on an island with her." In a half-mutter, "No, I took the spanking on that one and I cleaned up the mess..." Mary-Jane giggles. "You're making it sound like it's the worst thing in the universe. Is having Alex that much worse than having Desmond?" And this frustration is probably real. "I knew what Desmond would do in just about any given situation. I don't know about her." The extensive use of third-person is starting to irritate me. "I told you I was with Turare." "And I told you I believed you for now," Gardener shoots back. "I'm mourning the loss of some perfectly good plans, okay? It's going to take more than a few minutes." Right. Because Desmond was easy to steer, wasn't he? As long as you were a man, you might have his ear -- and if you were a thinking man, you might even be able to make him believe it was his own words coming out of his lips. Desmond thought he was in charge of the alliance, but you knew just which strings to pull and when. Except that now you don't have him any more -- and you can't be sure just who you do have -- which might mean you need all of us... We walk on in silence, with occasional breaks for Mary-Jane's inability to repress laughter, presumably from remembering Desmond's expression -- along with echoes from Azure, who's starting to pick it up. Parrot laughter is not the most reassuring sound in the world. I probably won't be triggering it any time soon. Finally, we return to camp, torches held close: there's no wind here, and the air is cold. We need all the warmth we can get. I move to start the fire -- but wind up stopping short as Trooper gives the alert. "There's something pinned to the side of the shelter." Everyone closes in, and Trooper reads it aloud for the cameras. "'At the merge, everything is upside-down.' It's got to be the idol clue." Gary sighs. "Jeff originally said we'd get it the day before the merge, remember? It hasn't hit midnight yet -- this still qualifies." Gardener nods. "I remember -- but there's no way we can go looking for it now without risking setting half the jungle on fire. And now that I've seen the thing, I know it'll be hard to spot in the dark." He turns to stare at the rest of us. "And we need to find it -- as a group." As such -- "Alex, any ideas?" Me? "No..." Really, I don't have any. "Nothing's coming to mind on first read." He groans. "Great. This is when I needed you to work it out, and you've got nothing. Which makes a great matching pair with my nothing. Maybe when we get home, we can register for lots of nothing and see if we can make a complete set... Does anyone have any ideas?" Lots of denial, none of which seems to be faked. "Figures. Maybe after we sleep on it." Sleep doesn't come immediately. After the fire is started, we all huddle around it for a while, warming up. At this point, we have blanket & pillow combos for three people, which means we have to draw from Gary's deck to see who's going to be either shivering or using waded-up clothes: Gary gets the leftover pillow, while I wind up with the lone blanket. And before any of it can be used, we still have to talk about tomorrow. Most of it is predictable: we have to stay together, we need to share any intelligence we gather. If this is really going to be Turare against Haraiki, then Turare has to be strong -- or Turare is going to be extinct. Mary-Jane brings the central problem out into the open. "Unless we can work a bounce just the right way, we need a sixth vote. They've got to be having some version of this conversation -- they're not going to scattershot their ballots. We're not going to get someone out just because Connie throws one away on you, Alex." If only. "I don't think I can get her to hate me that much," which comes out as a little bit rueful. "But why would anyone switch? Fifth place with them or sixth place with us -- that's no trade, and no one would believe a promise of anything higher than sixth." "Maybe Tony would," Gary proposes. "We've got to work every angle we can find -- the idols are dangerous here. We might have two of our own protected, but everyone else is going to be in trouble, and if Haraiki figures out who's got our idol -- if anyone gets it..." Trooper's been thinking about something. "What if we get a double bounce?" We all wait for him to explain that, and aren't disappointed. "We all vote for the person with their idol, and they all vote for the person with our idol. What happens then?" Gardener inhales, very sharply. "Son of a bitch... it's possible, and I haven't heard a damn thing in the rules about it. Maybe the people with the idols would go to the tiebreaker -- but then whoever left would technically be out on zero votes. Or the three Immune people sit out and the other seven revote..." A hard head shake, as if trying to dislodge a thought. "Let's hope it doesn't come up. That could get ugly." "It can be beaten," I point out, and now the attention of the group is on me. "When the idols are used, the ouster goes to whoever has the next highest number of votes. All you'd have to do would be to place a vote for someone else -- and that person would leave. Five bounces to four, four bounces to one." Of course, there's a flaw in the theory. "But you'd have to know where both idols were, because if you were wrong, they'd vote one of us out five-four." Mary-Jane's moan has a little bit of very real pain at the core. "This is getting too complicated..." "We need to plant a target on someone's back," Trooper considers. "If one of us has the idol, we've got to try and lure votes in that direction." And now he groans, which gives Mary-Jane a nice counterpoint. "Except that if we try too hard, they'll never vote for that person..." Gary sighs. "Sleep on it. We've had a long day -- maybe things will make more sense by daylight." The others turn in. Mary-Jane notices I'm not joining the group. "Alex -- you're staying up?" "I'm thinking too much to sleep," I admit. Trooper's question about the double bounce has me very worried. We don't know what'll happen there, no one will be able to ask Jeff until the Reward challenge, and his answer will be probably be 'If it comes up, you'll find out.' Which will be a tremendous amount of help. "I'm going to go sit in the hammock for a while. I won't disturb you that way." Gardener snorts. "Fine -- I know the feeling. But if you've figured out it's on the beach and don't tell anyone you've got it, I'm not going to be a happy man." I sigh. "If I come up with the location, I'll tell someone." I might. There's no guarantee. You're never safe, ever -- and my telling someone else where the idol is might just be the ticket that buys their way into a new alliance. 'Connie, I can give you Alex -- all you guys have to do is give me a guarantee of fourth place, and then I'll see if I can do the rest on my own.' Lousy thought. "But right now, I don't know." Truth. "I just need to dump some of this out of my head." Gary nods. "Good night -- just don't sleep in it. That'll kill your back." Fair warning: I vow to go back the instant I start feeling sleepy, and head to the beach. A camera operator follows me out. Azure stays on her perch: it's been a long day, and it's time for all good parrots to get some rest. Even the good and mysterious ones. I haven't spent much time in the hammock. It really isn't very spine-friendly, and I always have to keep an eye out for that sort of thing. I'm not lying down in it this time, either: just sitting and rocking a little, treating it as a giant rope swing. I'm hoping the quiet motion will let me relax and settle down -- maybe even lull me into solving the clue through spending a few seconds not trying to solve it. But it's not working. I keep thinking about the clue, the idols, the bounce, how the merge might sort out, who might approach me, who I might approach -- -- who I might consider listening to... No. Haraiki will tell me anything if they think it'll get me to vote with them. The total amount of it I can trust is probably 'none'. Probably. I sit, rock, try to stop thinking, fail -- and eventually hear a pair of footsteps coming up the path behind me. "The others are all asleep," Gary tells me. "It didn't take long." I turn just in time to see him shrug and his camera operator moving into a secondary shooting angle. "Just keep your ears open -- if anyone gets up and comes out to see what we're doing, neither of us could sleep." I nod to that, and he finishes with a smile. "So -- found the idol yet?" "No." I move over a little in the hammock, creating enough room so that we can both be near the center without any contact. "I don't think it's on the beach, but I don't know where it is." Gary takes the offered seat. Softly, "Why didn't you tell me?" I close my eyes. I've been waiting for this one. I was working on what I'd say to him when -- if -- the time came for most of the day. It doesn't make it any easier -- and it becomes all the harder when he answers his own question. "Because you didn't know if you could trust me." This sigh seems to go on for far too long. "Alex, we made an alliance." "It hadn't been tested." Which came out very stark. "The men seemed so united -- and you were completely safe in the middle of them. If any of them found out I had the idol, then they would have switched the vote to Mary-Jane. We would have been stuck with Desmond, and that's just not a good trade. She's better for us long-term than he would have been. If I told you, there was a chance you'd tell them -- and I couldn't tell Mary-Jane, because you were watching me --" He cuts me off. "This isn't about you and Mary-Jane. This is about you and me. I promised you I had your back, and you promised you had mine. When it came down to it -- you didn't trust me." I can't say anything to that. I hadn't trusted him. I'd known I was safe -- unless Jeff did something weird with the idol involved in a tie -- and I'd known the vote would reveal if I had someone other than Mary-Jane with me (and even if Mary-Jane was with me -- I hadn't seriously considered telling her either). But for all I knew, Gary had stayed with the men and Trooper had switched after all... ...no. It was Gary. It had to have been Gary. And I hadn't trusted him. Softly, "If you're breaking the alliance over this, I'll understand." Gary shakes his head. "No. We're still working together. You could have targeted me with that -- gotten me to vote for Desmond, then voted for me, Mary-Jane does the same -- three, two, one: 'two' is gone." He sighs. "You controlled who went home at that council. You got rid of Desmond. I can't say I'm not feeling let down, Alex, but -- we hadn't been tested before this. I didn't ultimately know how you would vote, you didn't ultimately know --" and stops as his eyes widen. "That's part of what this was about, wasn't it? You got to see how I would vote." I manage a single nod. "Well... now I'm really glad you're not against me..." A gentle laugh. "You're a bad person to have as an enemy, Alex. I'm glad we're allies -- and in case you missed it earlier, we're still allies. If you want to stay that way." "I do." Simple and plain. "Because now I know I can trust you." And uninvited, the thought comes: for now. "Maybe we'd better shake on it again," Gary jokes, and after a moment, we do. "There. That should settle things." A grin. "I hope... What a Council. I wonder how that's going to play in the episode?" I don't know, and say so. "Maybe they'll keep my having the idol a secret -- maybe they'll play it so that everyone at home knows and Desmond is the only one in the dark..." The stars are very bright tonight. Our torches, planted in the sand, have their flames moving in unison with the slight ocean breeze. "I think about that a lot. What they'll show, what they won't... Maybe this conversation will make it out. It could be part of a DVD extra, or a Secret Scene -- or just wind up in the vault forever. There's no way to tell." I shrug. "All I know for certain is that I still owe Desmond an apology at the Reunion. If he'll listen. I did call him out too harshly." Another head shake, a little firmer this time. "You can if you want to, Alex -- but you missed a lot of what he said about you. You'll be the better person if you apologize, but don't expect him to accept it -- and it'll take a miracle for him to return it." His gaze drops for a moment, staring at his own feet. "Desmond has a lot of issues with women -- you probably picked up on some of it. And you made him nervous. He was scared that you were smarter than he was -- and completely unable to admit that you were smarter or that he was terrified of it. You shook him up a few times, and it was worst after the memory game, where he basically thought he was humoring you -- he didn't understand what you were doing..." "Remember what Mary-Jane said at Council? About thinking he might have blown the challenge on purpose just to get rid of me?" Gary nods, and I continue. "I was wondering about that all the way back. I didn't want to believe anyone could have been stupid enough to give up the majority on purpose, but..." The chuckle is just barely audible. "Gardener asked him the same thing, only a lot louder and considerably more direct, right after you and Mary-Jane fell asleep." I blink. "We conferenced on the beach. Desmond spent a couple of minutes dodging the answer and then walked off in a huff. The most direct thing we got from him was that it didn't matter, because the four of us would just team up with Phillip and Tony, then take out the remaining women. Angela first, then Robin, Mary-Jane, and Connie -- his perceived threat levels, in order. After that, we'd settle it 'among men'. Read it however you like -- but we'll probably never know." He leans back in the hammock. "Oh, and for the record: I haven't figured out the idol clue either -- and I'm glad you're still here. Okay?" "Okay." I watch a large wave crest out in the ocean. "I know what they are going to show." He waits. "Your saying you thought you'd reach the jury. What were you thinking?" Gary laughs. "That I'm not superstitious and saying the magic word was a good way to prove it. And besides, I could use a new car -- and you don't have one at all." My lack of transportation had come up in a previous conversation. "You're telling me you'd turn down your first-ever vehicle, especially when you thought you'd be out first and by that standard, just reaching the car challenge would be incredible?" "Watch," I shrug. "This will be the year without one." It's not an answer, and I know it. But I haven't really thought about it. Mary-Jane was right: I'd be lying if I said I hadn't at least daydreamed about reaching the Final Two. But that's all it was: a daydream -- and I haven't thought all that much about some of the smaller stops along the way. I can't easily (or realistically) see myself owning a car. So I haven't tried to. "Besides, it goes back to what Gardener said. It'll be a season-in-review challenge, they'll have stilts -- beware of Robin." "The car challenge is typically at five left," Gary points out. "If Robin's still around, we've got problems." "If we're still around," I point out, "then it's not the worst problem to have..." Gary nods to that, and we sit together and watch the stars. To be there at five... ...means figuring out how to be there at nine first... Maybe it's like Trooper said: the jury is calling. But it's not a guarantee. We need Immunity and we need an idol -- -- and I very much need for there to be a 'we'. -----------------------------------------------------------------   Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Subject     Author     Message Date     ID    Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horri... Estee 09-06-06 1  Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horri... Estee 09-07-06 2    RE: Let's Just Pretend This Isn't H... AyaK 09-07-06 3        RE: Let's Just Pretend This Isn't H... michel 09-07-06 4  Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horri... Estee 09-08-06 5  Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horri... Estee 09-11-06 6    RE: Let's Just Pretend This Isn't H... AyaK 09-12-06 7  Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horri... Estee 09-13-06 8    Comment AyaK 09-14-06 9        Quick comment-comment. Estee 09-14-06 10            RE: Quick comment michel 09-14-06 11    RE: Let's Just Pretend This Isn't H... AyaK 09-14-06 12        RE: Let's Just Pretend This Isn't H... michel 09-14-06 13

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Estee 22510 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 09-06-06, 05:11 PM (EST) 1. "Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horribly Awkward: Part II" LAST EDITED ON 09-14-06 AT 12:37 PM (EST) {We open on Night Eighteen, with Robin being woken up by a crew member sometime before midnight. She gets out of the shelter, rubs her eyes a few times, and is carefully directed to spot and read the idol clue. This turns out to be 'All things come together in time, but the place is limited.' She looks it over, yawns, says "Okay..." and tries to go back to bed -- but that's when the crew member directs her to wake everyone else up. Which she does, very reluctantly. Haraiki looks the thing over. If there's any instant guesses -- or finds -- we're not going to see them because after a montage of sleepy confused looks, over to Turare we go, where they're on their way back from Council.} {Gardener with a great line there. Well, let's see, Gardener. First: you had an affair. Second: you applied for the show... I don't think we really need a third.} {Turare can't seem to make any sense of their clue, either, and Gardener's almost funny here, looking to Alex to solve it... Yes, the hidden alliance theory is still very much in play. If Gardener accused Trooper to hide the fact that he'd flipped his own vote, then that tie was forced from a different direction.} {Little scenelet -- Alex can't sleep, Gary comes out to talk to her -- and this is kind of interesting. The men confronted Desmond about whether he threw the challenge? Huh. And what an interesting answer he gave them, too. More than ever, I'm starting to believe Desmond did toss this to get rid of Alex, thinking they'd just do a gender alliance and work 6-4 for the first merge vote -- blindly assuming the Haraiki men would fall right into line. Cute. Cute like a bridge collapse. I just can't stop staring at this idea. I think we've got to nominate Desmond for the GUFU award of the year. Again.} {It's also kind of interesting that Alex was thinking about apologizing to Desmond after that complete blindside at the vote... and that Gary (and Burnett) just made a special point of saying that she was the smarter of the two. Which we know, but having it brought up like this is interesting. Kind of makes me think Alex may have an failure to fire on her synapses for this episode, or at some point in the future.} {Or she'll just think her way to the Final Four.} {Uh-huh. But not two more places in, because the final Immunity challenge is not going to be puzzle-based...} {Time-lapse, we're still at Turare, it's very early in the morning on Day Nineteen -- looks like the sun's barely up -- and we're getting a couple of early confessionals in. Mary-Jane tries to talk about the Council and can't get five words in without giggling in three attempts, all of which we're shown. She finally just gives up and says "I'm sorry... the look on Desmond's face..."} {Mike Boogie, meet the newest member of Chilltown. Who needs colors to show when you have an expression immortalized on the front page?} {Alex gets a deadpan line off and somewhere in the asylum, Desmond pounds his head against the padded walls...} ---------------------------------------------------------------- After ---------------------------------------------------------------- (From the CBS website, Survivor Gold section: Alex's fourteenth confessional, unedited for premium subscribers.) {ALEX enters yawning. It's clearly very early in the morning and she hasn't been up all that long. (AZURE isn't along for the ride this time and may still be asleep on the perch.} She picks her way across to her favorite tree and takes the usual position, looking slightly upwards.} "I know it's going to be a busy day, but crack-of-dawn wasn't when I wanted to get up this time... At least this lets me check the grove for the idol." {yawns} "Not that I think it'll be in a confessional area. It has to be somewhere we could all theoretically explore -- but I've probably walked through everyone's when they weren't in use..." {stretches her arms, rolls her shoulders, yawns again} "Way too early for coherent thought." {Off-camera voice prompt, female. 'The schedule's pretty packed -- and given the events of last night, we wanted to get one from you before things got moving. Can you talk about your plan from last night?'} "Oh. That." {used in episode} "Well, now I know what my secret plan was. I'm really annoyed with myself. Did I think I was going to peek at the back of the book and give it away before I reached the end? I should really trust myself more..." {end episode-used exert} "Okay... Can I get something from the shore? There's still plenty of raspberries... Maybe I can do this better if I eat something." {'Sure. Go ahead. Just don't take too long.'} {There's a small camera jump cut -- and then ALEX has slightly changed position. Her fingertips are somewhat reddened.} "Better... Okay, the plan. Before I found the idol, my only hope was to force a tie. Take my one possible ally among the men, Mary-Jane, and my vote, then put them all together and hope it somehow added up to three. Once we got down to six, I wasn't automatically doomed as long as I could get people behind me, and I thought I'd at least have a tiny shot at beating the tiebreaker. Even the purple rock would have been pure luck -- not the worst odds in the world. But that was hoping I had three votes, and I didn't know I had them until the last one was turned around. For all I knew, I'd be out 5-1 and someone else could have the grove if Haraiki came here at the merge." {wearily} "Probably Connie. I was going to try and get the majority if I could -- everyone seemed so fed up with Desmond, maybe someone would have decided they were better off with me -- but he was just too easy for the other men to manipulate. I was really trying to get a fourth vote yesterday, but you saw -- everyone pretty much laughed it off or worse." {'And after you recovered the idol? You didn't need three votes any more.'} "No -- but there were two things there. The first was that I did get to see where everyone stood. If someone had lied to me or cut out under pressure, I'd know it just from the numbers, plus a small chance to spot someone's handwriting -- believe me, I've been looking at the ballot styles -- and I wouldn't be on the plane saying 'Where did I go wrong?' I'd be here and I'd know whose word was good, if not for how long. And the second..." {long pause. ALEX rocks slightly, just once, a small movement forward, then back to the tree trunk.} "...this is so stupid..." {'What? Don't worry: if it's really bad, it may never make the air.'} {ALEX sighs.} "Unless it would humiliate me... Fine, but you'll probably laugh." {'I've never laughed at you.'} "Wait two minutes." {another sigh} "Okay. It would have felt really weird to stay after getting the majority of the votes. I know the idol is a legitimate strategy and so is luring votes to yourself to make sure it works the way you want it to -- but no one's ever stayed after getting the majority. Come back, yes, but stayed? It just didn't feel right. I wanted three votes just so I could always say that if nothing else, I hadn't been voted out that night. So it wouldn't feel like -- well -- cheating..." {pauses} "I'm impressed. You're smiling, but you're not laughing." {'It's just that given all the things you've done so far, you're the last person I'd ever expect to be a game purist.'} {hastily} "I'm not." {normal pace} "I would have still stayed if it had been five to one. Believe me, I wasn't going to say 'Well, I was voted out anyway -- I choose not to use the idol' and walked out the door. It was one of those 'If it's possible' things that happened to work out. I still think I'm going out soon. I may even go out next if the votes or the bounce triggers the wrong way. I don't think I'm a primary target unless we've all called things wrong, and Connie is leading Haraiki, and she knows some hypnosis tricks. It'll be Gardener or Trooper. But at least for that one Council, I wasn't going out." {slowly} "It was -- sort of relaxing, having the idol. Knowing I didn't have to worry about the vote unless it was somehow invalid during a tie... That reminds me: you can't tell me the rule for a double bounce, right?" {'I don't even know it. You'll have to ask Jeff.'} "Had to ask again." {shrugs} "But while I did worry about the tie a little that way, I thought the idol would be good. It was nice, being almost safe... If I somehow win Immunity or find the idol again, it'll probably be even better." {slightly tired} "'If...' I really hate that word, even more than Frank hates 'Sorry...'" {There's a beeping sound somewhere off-camera. ALEX curiously looks on as absolutely nothing happens: she seems to be watching the camera operator.} "Something's up?" {indistinct words, then 'I have to get you back. It's starting.'} {ALEX stands up.} "Okay. Time to go see what the next stage looks like..." ---------------------------------------------------------------- During ---------------------------------------------------------------- I'm not the last one back. We all spend a few minutes waiting for Trooper to return from his confessional -- I don't know where his site is, but he generally comes back in from behind the shelter -- before heading down the narrow path as a group to fetch our Tree Mail, with Azure coming along for the ride. Gardener's the first to the quiver. He removes the scroll, takes off the tie, automatically passes it to Trooper, and spends several breaths reading it. Not aloud: just a silent review, eyes scanning across each line, expression very slightly incredulous as he ignores every camera operator prompt in the clearing. I finally say something just to make all the silent signals stop. "Is the poem that bad?" Gardener shakes his head. "Straight prose. Listen to this. 'Each tribe will randomly choose one ambassador to visit the other tribe's camp. The ambassadors will spend two hours in the camps. Afterwards, they will meet on Challenge Beach to decide which site will be the new home of the merged tribe. All personal and Reward items will be transfered to the merge site.'" More slowly, "'The idol clue may not be hidden from the ambassadors. If the opposing idol is found, it may be used.' Well, that makes things several kinds of interesting that I didn't want to get involved with..." "It could work to our advantage," Mary-Jane points out. "Imagine having both idols and Immunity. They'll have real trouble voting then!" "Works both ways," Gardener shoots back. "Okay -- random choice. How are we doing this?" One of the camera operators moves up to the quiver and drops a soft leather bag into it. "Oh, for..." Gardener extracts it. "Feels like balls... just reach in and pull one out with someone's name on it, right?" No: we all reach in and remove one in a closed hand. On the count of three, we all open our hands, and whoever's got the red ball is going on a trip. "Fine... okay, everyone gather 'round: let's see who's doing this." Muttering, "If there's an extra feast involved here..." I go third: Gardener's last. "On three." We all gather into a semi-circle and leave a space for the camera shot -- without being directed to do so. We're becoming very well-trained. We've even figured out how to fetch balls. Presumably Desmond will be proud of us as soon as we move on to sticks. "One, two, three -- show!" Everyone opens their hands -- and I've got the red ball. The tribe just looks at it for a while until Gardener shrugs. "Gives us a decent shot at their idol... Okay, Alex, you know what I want. Intelligence. Anything you can find out about their situation, alliances, the works -- report back." I nod. Can and will do, unless doing so would lead to my shooting myself in the foot. "And if their camp is better, I've got no problems with going there. Who knows -- maybe they got a Hilton together after their first shelter disaster -- but I think we can expect guests." "And they'll be bringing a bathroom..." Mary-Jane breathes. "The shelter only sleeps eight," Gary points out. "Do you think we can rig two extra pallets?" Trooper grins at that. "There's a certain something to having their strongest stuck sleeping on the floor..." Which gets an amused snort from Gardener. "Every edge we can get, Gary -- no, that was Desmond's skill, us poor technically-limited people just can't manage on our own, and we don't want anyone else to try because something could happen to the shelter during the attempt." Gary can go along with that -- and it's just about all the discussion I'm going to hear, because now I'm being signaled. "Good luck, Alex -- and if you bring back an idol, all the better." Pause. "If you leave the parrot, I'm fine with that too." I shake my head. "They're getting the same Tree Mail -- they'll try to keep me from looking. I think they're only doing this because they know the ambassadors lose search time. And there's no guarantee their clue will make any more sense than ours." Getting their idol will be almost impossible. Leaving Azure behind will be harder than that. Mary-Jane sighs. "Still -- two idols and a necklace..." The rest of Turare treats themselves to the briefest of daydreams as I leave: the discussion resumes as soon as I clear the path, but I can't make out all of the words. It sounds like they're trying to work out our clue before Haraiki's ambassador gets here. It's probably not code for getting rid of me. Probably. I follow the camera operator out to the beach, where the boat is waiting. I'm guessing they don't want me to see who the ambassador is by walking past her -- or him -- straight odds favor 'her' -- on the trail, although I'll still figure it out in a hurry when I reach Haraiki's camp. Out into the shallows -- Azure isn't the least bit happy about it, nervously shifting her wings as I wade, but she just barely stays with me -- and I take a seat. Time to visit the neighbors -- and soon, the theoretical new members of a not-at-all merged tribe... Our own idol clue is still giving me trouble. This has to be talking about something that's either been moved to be upside-down or looks like it naturally -- I hope -- but nothing in camp has been reoriented, and I hadn't seen anything during my limited chances to explore after getting up. I want to solve it, I want the safety the idol brings, I want to know I'm going to San Diego to try and sell ten books -- maybe twelve if I'm lucky -- but the solution is no closer to me than it probably is to any of the others. Unless someone solved it last night, got up while the rest of us were sleeping... Side effects of game may include paranoia, still more paranoia, and rampaging bouts of total paranoia. I absently stroke Azure's feathers to settle her down and listen to the boat's motor. Technology again... and people using it. There's only three crew members on the boat: one steering, one camera operator shooting the ocean in the unlikely event of getting a dolphin or whale shot -- we haven't seen either one -- and a second with a lens focused on me. The boat is moving out from the island in a wide arc, presumably aiming to miss the other boat and keep me from seeing who's riding on it. We're moving pretty fast, which has to mean Haraiki's ambassador is on the way and we won't have to wait out in the water for the other departure time to arrive before I can. I wonder what Haraiki's camp is like. I wonder what Connie will say when she sees me walk in... Unless she's the ambassador. But if she isn't -- well, Haraiki had to think I was out last night, right? Especially after what Desmond declared just before he left a little early. My arrival is probably going to come as something of a shock. I don't think Connie's going to be happy about it. It's a very pleasant thought, and it almost distracts me from seeing the other boat, moving in a considerable hurry several hundred feet away. I try to spot the passenger, but their camera operators are blocking my view -- and then it's gone. Oh, well -- I'll know soon enough. I wait out the rest of the ride, stroking Azure to keep her calm as we move across the water, trying to ride out the jolts as we pass through small waves -- and finally, the boat pulls up to Haraiki's beach. One careful disembarking later, I start the survey. The beach isn't as large as ours, and there's more rocks: a near-jetty sits off to the right side. There's also a bunch of medium-sized black stones scattered around the left edge: the place where their laundry was on display several challenges ago. The sand is a brilliant white, and finer than our own. There's some footprints leading to what looks like a tidal pool area -- probably checking for trapped fish. It's a good idea. We don't have that kind of rock formation: our beach is more regular -- but you use whatever the site provides. Their path is a little narrower than our own, and the surrounding trees are more tropical: palms. The trail may also be shorter, and their acoustics are definitely better -- because I can hear every word they're saying. Angela: "As long as it's not Desmond. Something about him just doesn't feel right..." Tony disagrees. "He doesn't seem so bad to me... I wouldn't mind Mary-Jane." In my imagination, Angela glares at Tony. Naturally, the imaginary Tony misses it. "I'd worry if we got Trooper -- he might solve our clue." And that's interesting: if they're worried about us solving it, then they haven't worked it out themselves! The idol is still out there! And -- oh, great -- Connie. "At least we know it won't be one person." She laughs. "I can't wait to see that Council when the show airs -- I bet she was running all over the place trying to save herself, and no one listened to her..." Very merry, extremely pleased with herself. "I wonder what they did with that stupid parrot?" I glance at Azure. "Well," in a whisper, "let's just pretend this isn't horribly awkward." Azure doesn't reply to that, although it feels like her eyes are a little brighter than usual. I start down the path. We're back to Tony. "Probably went back into the jungle... how much longer do you think we've got?" "Until theirs arrives?" Angela again. The potential ambassador pool still has Robin and Phillip in it. "No idea -- we don't know how far away their camp is or how fast the boats are moving, so it's hard to call." Connie. "I hope it's Gary. I still think we have a good chance to lure him over -- he just seems like a decent man." Another small laugh. "The decency quotient on that tribe has gone up by a lot." A small bend, around a big palm tree and past two bushes -- and the Haraiki campsite opens up all at once as I say "Yeah, but it'll drop again when I get back." Freeze frame. Haraiki's clearing is larger than ours, with fewer trees. They don't have anywhere near as much shade and their view of the sky is clearer, but they also don't have strong trunks to brace their shelter against: it's sitting at the left back corner of their irregular area, set on the highest ground available. Rough edges poke into the hideous orange tarps from underneath, distorting the shape even more than the uneven attempt at what was supposed to be a building would normally do. The bathroom and shower are about forty feet away, and they're about as beautiful as you could ask any construction of wood and copper to be -- Copper? They've got plumbing! -- especially after I start to think about the precious privacy they grant and the chance to give Gardener's E-tool a honorable retirement. (There's a classic moon cut-out on the outhouse door, and the shower has raised walls to let you see the feet of the occupant, just to make sure if it's occupied or available -- but it's still more assured privacy than I've had outside the changing tents for nineteen days.) They have no furniture: just an assortment of rocks they've hauled in from the beach, tall enough to sit on comfortably. These have been placed around their fire pit, smaller and more irregular than ours, and this is where the three overheard members of Haraiki are sitting: Robin and Phillip are nowhere in sight, and one won't be appearing any time soon. The other three turned around when they heard my voice, and the reaction is identical on all three faces, with only the degree differing. Shock. Deep, total shock. Angela looks like she woke up on another planet and just saw her first alien. Tony's the same, only his is pointing a weapon at him. Connie's have her surrounded, and the loss of control I'm seeing on her jaw muscles may soon be echoed by bowel and bladder... There's no way this shot isn't making the episode, especially with so many camera angles to choose from. Maybe they'll even do a three-dimensional swing-around. Tony's the first to partially recover. "A-A-Alex?" With far too much speed, "We thought you were out!" He stands up fast enough to pull something, somehow doesn't, and starts across the clearing towards me. "What happened? Who's gone?" "Desmond," I tell him. "He went out with the majority." Three to nothing's a majority, isn't it? "Sorry -- you're stuck with me." In a couple of senses, at least for three days. "Who went to Turare?" Angela's just starting to get her bearings back. (Connie may be trying not to pinch herself: the index finger and thumb on her right hand keep making little closing moments.) "Phillip... Robin's getting some food." Unlike us, Haraiki has some fruit-bearing trees around the edges of their camp -- coconuts -- but they've mostly been picked clean. "We really thought you were gone -- Robin was the only one who disagreed..." Which is interesting -- but that's when Tony reaches me. "Welcome to Haraiki!" he tells me -- and moves in, arms closing in for the full-on hug -- -- which I duck out of, moving under his descending left arm before it can find a grip. "We'd better get started -- we've only got two hours." Off to the side, Tony, completely unable to abort, gives the getting-to-squash-you embrace to a column of air. Come to think of it, this is the first time since I got here that I'll know just how long two hours is... Heading for the others, "I guess I have to look over the shelter, check out your water and food supplies, talk about how good your fishing is -- resource availability has to be high on the priority list." Angela's stare now seems to be searching for the ventriloquist who's putting those words in my mouth. The brief checks above my shoulders may be for strings. "Right... that -- makes sense..." Connie still hasn't said anything. Maybe it'll last through her vote-out. Azure seems to be glaring at her with intense dislike. Or maybe that's just how I'm reading it. Of course, she could be picking it up from me... And another voice, emerging from a side path before the owner does. "I told you!" A single delighted peal of laugher. "Ha!" Robin strides out, carrying a large bunch of bananas by the stem. "Blindsided the hell out of him, right? He thought he was safe all the way to Council and then..." Another sharp burst of mirth. "So much for Desmond!" She marches right up to me, intercepting before I can reach the fire pit. "Come on -- I'll give you the grand tour." And a grin. "Call it a hunch, but I think we're going to wind up packing. Let's start with the shelter..." And so much for the hopes of having Connie suddenly (and permanently) struck mute. "I don't know if I want you showing her too much -- we still have the idol to think about." This in very harsh tones. "She's more spy than ambassador." Angela isn't happy about that -- Connie just gave away part of the game that she didn't know I already had. Robin just tosses off a light shrug. "And Phillip isn't? Come along if you want to, but we'll probably have a better chance convincing Alex to bring Turare here if you're not with us." Sardonically, "For some reason, you two haven't been doing that well together." Which gets Angela on her feet in a hurry. "I'll come." From the sounds behind me, Tony is just starting to recover. (The air may need a few minutes.) With a lot of uncertainty, "We really should go over our respective food supplies -- do you have any of your rice left?" I nod. "Over half --" we've really been pacing it out "-- but let's start with the shelter. I'll look over yours, and then tell you what ours is like." Trying to sound apologetic, "I can tell you right now that we've got space for ten, but only enough sleeping pallets for eight -- two people are going to be on the floor." Tony, and I wonder if the surprise on his face matches that in his voice. "You have pallets?" "Desmond was a construction foreman..." I try to head for the shelter again. "Luck of the draw." Always feel free to make people feel jealous when it comes to the departed. They can't inflict payback on someone in Sequesterville. Angela sighs. "Yeah. Luck. Look --" and awkward again "-- about what I said before the memory challenge..." "It's over." Please let it be over. "I'm not upset." Irritated, slightly -- especially since I'm starting to realize what Angela's mindset is here. She's top-heavy and she's on a reality show: she must be a stripper. That originally came from Robin, and Angela agreed. But that was proven false (assuming I wasn't lying) -- which means Angela's moved onto the next, much more popular stage, and it reads as 'She's top-heavy and she was cast for this: she must be stupid.' All the stereotypes are coming home to roost, and Angela offers a high vantage point to build a nest on. Angela wasn't comfortable with my having a job that involved talent and creativity because it went outside her presumptions. Angela isn't taking my merge survey list very well because she didn't think I was bright enough to come up with one, so someone else must have given me the words to say... Fine. If she's going to believe that, let her. Keep underestimating me: we'll see how that works out for you. Still a little awkward, "Okay... so... shelter first, you said?" I nod. "Right... well, come on over. It probably isn't much compared to a construction foreperson's work, but it does the job." Or did the second time around. I walk over -- spot their clue -- -- and solve it. -----------------------------------------------------------------   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Estee 22510 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 09-07-06, 06:09 PM (EST) 2. "Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horribly Awkward: Part III" LAST EDITED ON 09-07-06 AT 09:32 PM (EST) {Gardener reads the notice -- and guess what? The idol games are really going into overdrive. Now, can only the ambassador search for the opposing idol, or can the entire tribe go after it?} {Probably the later. They're overlooking something here -- maybe someone will catch on later.} {Haraiki pulls balls for the Super-Economy-Ultra-Coach fare, and Phillip wins. He collects his luxury item because his father hasn't been to that part of the island yet, then gets on the boat -- and one quick travel shot later, we're at Turare's beach. Phillip looks at everything with a big grin -- he really likes the look of the hammock -- and then strides in with a call of "Hey, neighbors!" Everyone's openly delighted to have gotten him as the ambassador (or as close as Gardener ever gets), and the tribe decides to show him around as a group, shelter first -- hey, wait. Where's Alex?} {Well, now we know who Turare's ambassador is... everyone else is in camp.} {Wait. So Alex -- is going off to visit Connie?} {TiVo: armed.} {Phillip readily admits the Turare shelter is better than Haraiki's, and then tells them a little about the collapse of the original. He's a little self-depreciating here -- saying he should have learned how to raise something that wasn't a barn, and no one ever thought about flooding when they started.} {Gardener's trying really hard not to smirk here, and he's going to wind up straining something...} {Phillip a little let down not to have Alex in camp -- or at least, not to have Azure: he wanted to talk to her some more. He likes the perch. He likes the fire pit. He likes the table, and freely tells Turare that Haraiki doesn't have one. "Mostly, we've got rocks, more rocks, and some really, really small bits of rock..." He gets a look at the clue, then says "So yours drive you nuts too, huh?" He's really curious about last night's vote, but Turare is playing it cagey so they won't give away their previous alliances and potential cracks in the block -- all they tell him is that Desmond was more of a liability than Alex, so the tribe let him go. Good, strong united front being presented here.} {We pretty much have Phillip in rapture at this point. You can see him just barely restraining himself from diving off the top of the waterfall right there...} {He even does a little work while he's there, bringing in wood. Sheesh... someone's fitting in immediately. Of course, if this was Robin, she'd be offering foot massages all around just to try and work her way in...} {Robin can't switch yet. I think we've established that. Unless she's the world's greatest alliance builder and just hasn't given away any sign of it, she's stuck with her current group.} {Some small talk -- Gardener finally learns that Phillip did not play football on any level -- "I just didn't have the attitude for it" -- but he's a big fan and a Cornhusker all the way. The team debate this leads to was probably edited down from something close to the whole two hours. Phillip explains a little about the urn and gets no odd stares for it -- Trooper and Gary actually look at him with a lot of respect.} {Phillip not giving anything away here either... country and friendly does not mean dumb. He's really happy to be visiting and he's thrilled about meeting new people, but he's still playing the game.} {No boat travel for this stage -- it's a walk to Challenge Beach, and he'll meet up with Alex there. In confessional, "I made up my mind about five seconds after I walked in. All that's probably gonna happen on the beach is a nice talk. There's things I want to know -- maybe I can get a couple of them there." Alliance fishing, or...?} {Probably wants to find out if he can hold Azure.} {Alex (with Azure) arrives at Haraiki's beach, and gets to overhear part of a conversation. Haraiki thinking about trying to get Gary in, Connie certain Alex is gone, good line from Alex -- oh, this is going to be classic, we're not seeing any part of this from the Haraiki camp, we're just watching Alex as she listens to it and moves in, here comes the reveal...} {You know, this season is really getting expensive. All of these burned DVDs.} {And to the pantheon of reality contestant expressions, we add the Connie Lastings-Adams 'There is no God' face.} {Tony in for the catch -- E-9!} {Ha!} {Angela's paradigm is taking a few more hits. 'You can think?' She is not dealing with this very well.} {And Robin's a little too openly thrilled to get a new face... which Angela is picking up on...} {Connie defrosts, Robin adds another layer of ice just to make sure she stays preserved...} {Well, this is going better than I thought it would. They haven't tried to throw each other into the fire yet.} ----------------------------------------------------------------- The shelter looks better from the inside, but it isn't that much of an improvement. I'm starting to realize just how much Desmond really gave us within his area of expertise, using carefully-controlled burns to get rid of major rough spots and making sure we didn't have a splinter anywhere. There are areas of this shelter that are distinctly hazardous to your health. It looks like everyone sleeps in a few small patches, tightly grouped into the relatively safe areas. Their backs have to be killing them every morning: they're using extra clothing to pad things out, but the surface is so uneven... (It may actually explain some of the challenge losses: who could move fast after tossing on this for eight hours? It makes my current mattress look like a waterbed.} The tarp arrangement is providing dry spots, but it looks like the rain would leak in where there's no overlap -- a few zones -- and one of the gaudy orange pieces is torn, sewn back together with a scroll tie. Without the semi-awning, they have no protection at the front... So far, they are definitely better off with us. Which makes me wish I could leave them right here so they'd have a better shot at losing a few more challenges... "Okay -- this is what we've got." I describe our camp in the most glowing terms I can manage, confident that no one can try to get me for it -- and praising Desmond to the skies in the process. Any apology I might still owe him is at least being partially delivered here. "I kind of wish we had your rocks -- we just sit on the ground most of the time when we're eating." Of course, we'd have to raise the table. Bring over more rocks! "We've been pretty secure so far." "No bowling alleys?" This from Robin, smirking a little. I shrug. "Gardener's luxury item is a Pilates ball -- he and Trooper play a little volleyball on the beach." The net is a line drawn in the sand, and the efforts get fierce. Gary and Mary-Jane join in for doubles, but they're not as willing to give up their bodies to the sand. Angela frowns. "It sounds pretty good..." She's not happy about it. Luck of the draw is one thing and there's nothing she can do about it, but the idea that we trumped them this badly in any area isn't sitting well. "What is your water supply? Everyone's guessing one of those artificial waterfall lakes Jeff mentioned." Which falls into the 'it's not as if they wouldn't find out for themselves within the first hour' category. "Yeah -- it's about twenty minutes round trip, and everyone carries the containers. There's also a lot of fruit in that area, and a couple of us have confessional areas out there, so there's always traffic. How about you?" "River," Angela admits, "and a lot closer. Come on --" -- which is when Tony interrupts her. "Angela! You've got to come and see this!" Very loud, because he's on the beach: he got bored when I started going over the shelter and left. (Connie followed. She doesn't want to be near me and I don't want to be near her. So far, this equals 'getting along'.) "You won't believe what I just caught!" Angela looks exasperated. Yelling without turning, "Can't it wait?" "No way!" Tony insists. "This is amazing! I've never seen a fish like this!" Angela looks at me -- looks at Robin -- and just for a moment, the worry is very much out in the open. It's brief, though -- and apparently no matter what happens, Tony has to take priority. Showmances require a lot of nurturing. "Be right there..." A glance at Robin. "Keep going until I get back." And out. Robin shrugs and curls her fingers: follow me. "Come on -- it's close." I follow her out to the opening -- narrow, and with wild roses on both sides -- and down a short path to what turns out to be a very pretty little river, clear and sparkling with a smooth bed of stones on the bottom. It looks like it's about seven feet deep at the middle, and no more than twenty feet across -- more of an overgrown stream, really. The water makes a soft, relaxing sound as it flows by. As with our lake, there isn't a fish in it -- -- wait. "How do you cross?" It's a fair question. The river looks like it blocks Turare from most of the island unless they swim it every time, and who wants to spend half the game in a swimsuit or soaked clothing? (For the first half, other than Mary-Jane?) Azure, who may be looking for a non-flying means of crossing, decides to flap down and explore at ground level for a while, wandering off to the right. "There's a fallen log about five minutes' hike on the left," Robin tells me. "I think it was put there on purpose -- the top's a little too even for natural." She shrugs. "Got to cross it -- most of our fruit's on that side, and some of us have been doing more exploring than others." And then she turns and looks directly at me. Evenly, no malice, her Bronx accent in steady tone to go with unblinking eyes, "'Ski jump nose'?" I give it right back to her. "'Bag job'?" Robin does the last thing I was expecting: she laughs. It's another short burst, almost a bark -- nearly a female version of Gardener. "Okay, okay -- I screwed up there. Guess cartoonists aren't exactly on the big-budget surgery list... And yeah, I had a nose job, but trust me, it was necessary. Had it broken when I was a kid and it never healed right." A brief pause. "The stripper thing was my fault, too -- sorry, but when I first saw you, given where we were..." Maybe just a touch of the chill anger I'm feeling can get out here. "Just because I got on the show --" "-- no!" Another bark, and she grins. "We were both at the open auditions in Manhattan. You never saw me -- I was about six people behind you. There's a lot of clubs in the area, so I just figured you were coming in before your shift -- or instead, given how long the damn thing took to get through -- and trying to make it on. You kind of stood out -- I remember watching you fill out some of the forms. You were really concentrating." "Some of the questions were tricky." Especially the psychological ones where I had no idea what they were looking for and was trying very hard to either be it or avoid it on alternating lines. And yes, there were a couple of strip clubs in the area: I'd walked past two before I'd found the line going into the audition building. It still didn't forgive what seems to have been the automatic presumption. "What do you do for a living, anyway?" "No one on your group's guessed?" Very curious. I shrug. "We've all been doing some guessing, but we're probably as far wrong --" deliberate pause "-- as you were." Apparently Robin just isn't the type who looks (or feels) awkward when she's caught in a mistake. "Broadway dancer for musicals -- I've done a few shows. I'd say the names, but it's like your site: they'd just edit it out anyway." Which explains absolutely everything about the way she moves... Without being asked, "Phillip's a farmer. Tony's a minor-league outfielder -- double-A. You know about Connie -- she's active with a lot of groups, but she doesn't work. And Angela's the weird one -- she's a professional activist." How is that weird? "For who?" "For whoever hires her." Another grin. "Although she's got a limited field of people she can put up with -- it's kind of like being a lobbyist, only with picket signs. She'll probably talk about it tonight. She loves to talk about her job." Exasperated, "Angela's a major talker." Is this an opening I see before me? "Lots of late-night discussions?" "Not the right word," and that's open disgust. "Try 'lectures', that's a lot closer... I swear the only reason we've dodged political votes up to this point is because Angela wants to be in charge of all the politics. You have to hear her and Connie going at it -- well, you will." Wearily, "That's not giving away secret tribe information, that's fair warning." A curse, followed by "It's practically a sneak preview. Does your group get along?" Oh no she doesn't. "We're together." Keep going, Robin, I can use every bit of this... "We sort of thought everyone would get along with Phillip." This laugh is a little bitter. "We do. Don't get me wrong: I love the guy. If he was a few years younger, just a little bit more street-smart and single, I'd be all over him. I never thought center turf naive could actually be a turn-on... But Angela's overbearing, Tony's an idiot and something of a sleaze on top of it -- he walked in on me in the shower, watch out for that -- and Connie is -- well, you know what Connie is." Anger, and it's not directed at me. "Gardener said what Connie is, and he called it word for word. Don't get me wrong: she plays nice with us, as far as she can. But she's snide, condescending -- you had to see her and Denadi, major issues -- doesn't do enough work, does way too much 'I'm better than you' -- she's fine with Phillip, but we're all fine with Phillip. Everyone else -- fireworks show every night." She groans. "You know why I went to the orange raft? Because I looked at Elmore and said 'Well, at least there's one person I know I can beat.' I thought he was our guaranteed first vote -- being on a tribe with him would be like getting a freebie. Stupid, stupid decision..." And a sudden, very deep sigh. "Why did you go for purple?" "Honestly?" She nods. "Because your tribe color is the most hideous shade of orange I've ever seen. I couldn't stand the thought of marching under that hue for even three days." And back to the barks. "Ha! -- well, good call. From the little I've seen of you guys, you really seem to have it together... and you got the builder, too? Damn -- plus fire on the first day, we didn't get it until Day Two..." I feel like I'm being asked to watch a year's worth of a soap opera in five minutes. There's nuggets of information in the middle of this vocal rockfall -- Robin is clearly eager for contact with anyone who isn't in Haraiki and I just happen to be here -- but it's going to take a little work to sort out the gold from the iron pyrite. "All it really gave us was water a little earlier." Also heat, tool-making, shelter-smoothing... "Nothing big." I'm still here and the payback can land directly on me. "Trust me -- that first night without boiled water, fire was real big." Pause -- and then, very quickly, "Don't let Connie fool you. It's not about the cross. She was tearing into you before she even knew your name, saying how you were your tribe's first boot, you'd probably quit before the first three days were up... and that's after you helped her. She's Christian -- really Christian -- the sort of Christian where no one else can be Christian -- but all that firestarter did was add fuel to hers. She hates you -- and none of us can figure out why. Phillip just rides it out -- and there's a lot to ride through: she goes off on you at least once a day. You had to see her last night: happiest she's been since Denadi went out. She was convinced Desmond was speaking for your majority -- that you had a male alliance over there and you were out, probably five-one. Unless you quit first. We all know she charged you on purpose, but she found that loophole..." The blink is successfully suppressed. Yes, I'd known it was instant enmity, I'd seen that when I went to help her, but hearing another view of it is something else entirely. "For what it's worth, pretty much everything I've got against her is because of what she's got against me." Carefully timed pause. "Whatever that is." Robin sighs. "Damned if I know... and that's after listening to her bashing you for weeks. Angela's even asked her if she really wants to keep annoying Jeff with those attempts to get you tossed, but she just said that if any of them worked, she would have saved us a Council, and Jeff can't show bias -- although she still thinks he's been favoring you guys." Should I start asking direct questions about who's aligned with whom? Get a final confirmation on the showmance? Right now, I'm convinced Robin isn't with anyone -- Phillip is a possible exception, but Phillip may be with everyone. Robin wants to talk, Robin almost can't not talk... but the instant it starts to sound like I'm prying, she may come to her senses and shut up. If she's capable of the later. "I guess you wouldn't mind if we went after her first." "Yeah, right," Robin laughs. "The only thing keeping me from voting with you on that one is the damn five-five. If you guys came in with the majority, I'd be thrilled to team up and dump her ass whether it meant three more days for me or not. But you can't be thinking about getting her first -- where's the threat? Gotta be --" and stops. Not because she's realized she's about to say too much: there's footsteps coming up the path -- -- and a moment later, Angela rejoins us. With a weary sigh, "You'd think he'd never seen purple scales before..." She tosses off a shrug. "Alex, what do you think so far?" "I like the shorter hike," I admit. "But we've got a better place to swim. That's almost a trade-off --" if you're not afraid of missing secret conferences because you were away for so long "-- but right now, the shelter is more of a factor. Tony just caught something -- how's your fishing been overall?" And now she just looks disgusted. "Not great. We didn't get started until late -- I made a net out of a blouse, and that got us on the board -- but we have to be really close and really still, plus we can't go out any deeper than where we can stand unless we're trying not to fall off the edge of the raft. There may be a ton of fish in casting range, but they're not coming that close. Still, if you moved here, you'd bring that Reward -- we'd find out pretty fast." A net out of a blouse? Instant envy: I wish I'd thought of that... "We've been pretty steady. Gardener and Trooper do most of it." Vote off our providers and starve. "Do you have any of your rice left?" Robin takes that one, annoying Angela in the process. "Yeah, right -- lost it in the first storm. Completely soaked." Which explains why that small bag was sitting among the Reward items at the gross food challenge. "How about fruit?" "Pretty good," Angela replies, taking over with indecent haste. "Our groves aren't that far away -- I'll show you." With the first smile -- very small, thin-lipped, "Denadi found some durian, but none of us have had any -- we don't want the smell in camp, and opening it would be an all-day project." What's durian? Jeff mentioned it during the briefing -- not poisonous, but close... "I'll take your word for it. Hang on..." I'd better recover Azure. Now, where is she? Looking around at the riverbank -- nothing. Maybe she flew to the other side -- no... Up in a tree? That blue is easy to spot -- not there... "Azure?" No response. Naturally. More loudly, "Azure, here." And still nothing. Maybe that only works if she can see me... A yell this time: "Azure!" Where is she? She's wandered before, but she always comes back -- -- and, off to the right, somewhere in the distance, "Over Here! Over Here!" Angela and Robin both start hard, and I have a hard time keeping my own reaction down. It's been a while since I've heard that one, and the memory of the first time is attached to some pretty strong images. I guess that's her official 'I'm lost...' call. Robin manages a breath, but just barely. "That -- is weird." "You should have heard it the first time," I tell her. "That's how we found her -- Frank heard those exact words." Angela frowns. "Then why did you get her?" This is safe enough to admit. "Frank got spooked and left -- we thought the crew was playing a practical joke and I went out to find the guy." I shrug as I start following Azure's voice, which is sounding again. "Surprise -- no one speaking through a rigged piece of sound equipment: just the last of the natives. She's stayed close ever since." Usually at a distance of about three inches. "Jeff said he'll take her after I get voted out and see if she'll stay in the mansion again -- she was the billionaire's pet, so she should be used to the building." That frown is just getting deeper. "Animal-keeping isn't my favorite thing... but if she hasn't had a chance to develop her natural instincts..." "She did pretty well before we showed up," I point out. I'm starting to get the impression that there are times when Angela looks down on me because she's nearly a foot taller, and there are others when she's looking down on me because she can. "I suppose -- but it doesn't change the fact that zoos are just another form of prison. And what humans have done to 'pets' in the name of breeding..." Apparently the first lecture was scheduled for well before sunset. "Azure -- here!" Which just gets me another call. She's getting louder and more insistent, back to the level she was at when I first found her. It's making it hard to pick out other sounds, and I think there are other sounds beyond the footsteps and low crew whispers. There's something going on underneath, and I can't make it out. Maybe plants moving a little faster than the wind should allow, possibly a small, strange, almost chilling squeak... ...and then it's just Azure again. "Over Here!" She doesn't sound frightened of being alone -- just insistent that someone come and get her. I wonder how many nights she called out into the jungle, waiting for a response that never came... It's a cold thought, and I discard it immediately. "I'm coming, parrot..." A twist in the river, turn right -- -- and there she is, hopping around on another low branch. We have found a plum tree, and this one hasn't been picked clean: there's a lot of purple hanging from the branches. Our area doesn't have plums, and I wonder if I can take one -- but that's secondary, because on the ground right underneath Azure is -- -- Robin makes a faint hiss between her teeth, and Angela goes just a little bit pale. Because there's blood on the ground here and more tiny, sad bits of fur: not the full-fledged puddle I stepped into within the clearing, but a definite splash on the ground, slowly soaking into the riverbank mud. Something has died here. Something's dead... -- and that gets pushed back. It's an island, it's a natural environment, predators and prey, animals die -- -- but this is the second time I've found Azure at a death site. Maybe she's the card. The eighth one probably showed a parrot. Not that I believe in the reading. First time happenstance, second time coincidence, three times is enemy action. For all I know, Jake is making a getaway through the bush after having planted the blood. He probably would shoot the local animals for target practice, the jerk. I haven't seen him for a couple of days, and it's been a welcome absence. "Great. Why is it that every time I have to come and find you, something's died?" Azure's response to this is to fly to my shoulder, somehow looking incredibly pleased with herself all the way. She's made me track her down: the bird got the human to act like a pet! Angela's tone is very careful. "Come again?" Slowly -- because you know, I'm just not intelligent enough to put together a sentence in a hurry -- "The first time I found her, a predator had just made a kill in the area." Which is all I feel like saying about it, but it needs an addendum. "Like Jeff said, the local mammals are out there -- and they're not slowing the cycle down just for us." Angela looks like she wants to shiver at that, but there's no way she'd ever do it in front of witnesses. For Robin's part, she just shrugs and says "Nature, red in tooth and claw..." and now she sounds like she's quoting something. "I found a couple of animal bones a few days ago. Had to make sure they were animal, after the briefing... just some little ribs. Whatever did it didn't even leave enough for a snack. I see worse in the Bronx some days -- a few of the stray dogs went feral, at least towards each other." And if I thought Angela didn't like the situation before... "Why didn't you tell us?" This to Robin. "It's just death," Robin dismisses it. "Believe me, you live in a big city, you get used to the idea. Every damn day, a few million animals die just so New York can get fed. That's what being a carnivore means. You live, something else dies -- and the veggies can't tell me the plants live on in their stomachs. Alex found two, I found one. Big deal. There's probably been a thousand deaths on this island since we got here." And Gary found one. The bone stuck against the grate. "Azure was a hunter's parrot -- I guess she's not disturbed by it." Any more than Robin is. Given all the hunts Azure must have been along on, she's probably seen enough dead animals to feed an entire apartment building for a week. "She's not afraid of fire, either." Angela shakes her head. "All right -- the predator-prey cycle is natural. But a bird who isn't afraid of flame -- that's weird. Let's get out of here -- I still have to show you the main groves." Robin, who may be just a little frustrated about that 'I', steps up to the edge of the splash and reaches high. "Hey, Alex -- plum?" I gratefully accept one, and we snack all the way to Haraiki's main fruit area. Azure's not afraid of fire. Azure's not afraid of death. Azure's just afraid of being by herself... It feels right. But there's something nagging at my subconscious, and it's not coming forward -- possibly because it's being blocked out by the idol clue. I'm almost sure I've got this right, and I know approximately where it is. I also think I've got the wording of the Tree Mail waiting to help me when I go to look. But narrowing the field -- that's a problem, and most of the undercurrent is trying to shift that blockade. With little success. Azure brings death... No. If I start believing that, I'll start believing in the so-called reading. We're just on coincidence. Enemy action feels like a long way off. Namely, back on Haraiki's beach, avoiding me while plotting against me. She hates me, and all I ever did was try to help her. It wouldn't be the first time. ---------------------------------------------------------------- {Robin just can't shut up, can she? If that went on much longer, she would have given Alex the keys to the camp -- and Angela got to miss it because Tony's ego just couldn't wait for an extra stroking. Showmances are a double-edged sword.} {Haraiki's a lot less cohesive than we thought. There were hints of this in the earlier episodes and recap, but now we've got serious semi-details.} {'the sort of Christian where no one else can be Christian'. And what a very interesting little bit that is to put in. Any commentary?} {We haven't seen much of Connie's specific beliefs -- we know she's not fond of Wicca, she wants a Christian tribe if at all possible, she took objection to the cross but as Robin just reminded us, she took exception before that -- she hasn't gone insane about not wanting an Immunity idol in camp and does that sound familiar to anyone? But we don't even have her specific branch pinned down. Still, that quote brings one name to mind immediately, at least on the reality side of things. 'Linda Weaver.' Maybe she's a long-lost cousin.} {Connie's faith seems to be strong, but you're right: we don't know exactly which church she follows. And yes, that is a disturbing quote -- but keep in mind, we don't know faith Robin follows, either. There may be a disagreement between their religions. Perhaps Robin's Jewish.} {A redheaded Scottish-Irish Jew. Uh-huh. I've heard weirder, but not much... Ethnic background doesn't obliterate the potential for a religion, but it sure cuts it down. Besides, hadn't your people already established that it was Hollywood which was run by the Jews, and Broadway had been taken over by gays? Well, I guess it doesn't matter in the end -- damned is damned...} {It just hit me. Have we played 'find the homosexual' once this season? And for those of you who are new, that's not an insult -- that's pointing out that Burnett usually likes to get one or two in each cast. No one's got what we think of as the mannerisms -- maybe this is sixteen straights, no chaser.} {I think you're right: we forgot to look. Plenty of married people, cut them out -- Angela and Tony are so hetero, they're hard to watch -- Robin's talked about men -- maybe whoever it was got voted out already, if we even had anyone to start with.} {One day, the show will have equal representation from all ethnic, sexual preference, and religious groups. And they will all be individuals, with no one cast as a stereotype. One day.} {Yeah. Right. Sure. And they would have changed executive producers exactly when?} {How about Alex?} {I'm half-convinced Alex is asexual.} {Azure's wandered off, they go to get her -- why are we seeing this? Does Angela fall into the river?} {Oh, goddamn it! Just when you though it was safe to go back into the series!} {They reason it out, leave to look at fruit while we talk about looking for -- oh, come on, that's almost a summary quote -- commercials.} {I have this nagging feeling that I'm overlooking something. Robin's speech makes plenty of sense, and it's another insight into her personality -- but that is twice now.} {Come on -- this one's simple. It goes back to the Tarot reading. They're still trying to get Alex established on the Death card. We didn't see Robin finding bones. Half the players have probably run across a corpse or death site. Any time Alex has a chance to interact with something formerly living, we're going to see it.} {I'll go with that. It's even a miracle we haven't seen shots like this in the other seasons -- there's been a few of buzzing flies around bits of something or other, I think, but not many. We've had enough dead meat in the game to justify it.} {Two times, Azure has been near death, and she's been calling for help... this is a weird theme, not to mention a weird way for a parrot to act. Remember that 'Man down' cry at the stilt challenge? Maybe she's been trained to yell for assistance when she sees something get hurt. Hunting dogs, people -- anything can happen on a hunt.} {Now that's a great idea! Rescue parrot! She sees something's wrong and tries to get people to come over and fix it!} {Wow... I think you just nailed it. That's another part of her training: if you see or smell blood while you're out in the jungle with your master -- or mistress -- yell for help!} {But Azure was alone the first time...} {She heard Frank. She knew a human was in the area and she was looking for a master. I think we've got it -- beat you to it, Gary!} {We're back, and the ambassadors are on the approach...} --------------------------------------------------------------- The fruit assortment is impressive -- and considerably removed from ours: if it wasn't for the hike, we'd probably wind up walking between camps after the merge just to widen our diet. (The Rainer cherries came as a real shock. The durian grove was worse.} But in the end, it all comes down to the shelter: ours is relatively comfortable, large, and dry: theirs is suspect. I'm going to recommend to Phillip that we merge at Turare. There's something to be said for home-field advantage -- not to mention sleeping more than an hour at a time because you don't have a huge knot of wood sticking into your back. Angela does most of the talking while I'm in camp. She shows me around -- or asks Robin to do so while she follows, because while it doesn't seem as if Angela's been out of camp much, she's very good at asking people to check out locations for her. Their side of the island is just as botanically wild as ours, but the feel is different: there's more tropical touches in the large plants, while the flowers seem to be on the domestic side. They're pretty good about keeping their camp clean, although Robin gets a remark off about how Connie's apparently still waiting for the maid to show up. Beyond that, I don't learn much beyond what I got from the first look and conversation. Angela is somewhat overbearing, Robin's friendlier than I first thought -- and that behavior is trying really hard to make me instantly suspicious -- Connie's avoiding me while she still has the chance, and Tony's a slow learner: he tries to give me a goodbye hug before I go and nearly winds up colliding with the bathroom. I'm walking to Challenge Beach, enjoying the new sights along Haraiki's trail. I wish I'd brought my sketchbook -- I hope I get a chance to come back and try for a direct capture. While I'm going to do as much as I can from memory when I get back to Turare, in-sight is always better. Azure's riding along with me, calm again. I've given her a lecture about not wandering off and then expecting me to drop everything and go get her on the first call. Her response was a pair of squawks, several blinks, and a "Pick that up already!" at 'Drop everything.' Phillip will be waiting on the beach. And so is Haraiki's idol. 'All things come together in time, but the place is limited.' Where do we all come together? Not at the merge site: that couldn't be forecast in advance. All the tribes in any season have always come together at the challenges -- and we've been holding them either on the beach or in the waters off it. The idol is somewhere in that area -- but where? There's the whole of the beach to search, and it could be in a bordering tree, concealed in the plants -- and if it's buried in the sand, the cause is effectively lost: all of Turare working together couldn't dig up the place given three straight days to work and no interruptions for little things like Reward, Immunity, and sleep. Either there's more to the clue than what I'm seeing, or it's going to take a lot of dumb luck to have any shot at this particular idol. And all of Turare has a shot at it -- because we're now one tribe with Haraiki. We're just one tribe with two idols. Effectively, there is no Turare idol and Haraiki idol -- just two little pieces of protection, waiting for whoever finds them first. If they're found at all. I may have a place to start looking if I'm right, but it's too large a field. Either I'm reading it wrong, or this is more to this... Of course, if I'm right, Phillip will have the first chance at finding it. I step up my pace. The beach is nearly empty today: no challenge equipment, no mats, no Jeff -- although we have four camera operators in his place. Beyond that, there's just a small table that must be another loan from the mansion: mahogany, rich and dark, with a metallic container on it, and are we about to vote on something and place our ballots in it? -- two chairs to match -- a perch for Azure -- and Phillip, sitting on the beach-facing chair, smiling as he watches me approach. No part of the beach appears to have been dug up recently. The sky is partially overcast, but the clouds are starting to break up, and the temperature is on the rise. There won't be a storm tonight. No food on the table, no drinks. The ambassadors-only feast is not happening this year. I wonder if we'll be able to convince the others of that... Phillip stands up as I approach. "Heya, Alex --" and then moves around the table and pulls out my seat. "I've just been here a couple of minutes. Enjoying the quiet. Hi, Azure." She straightens slightly and looks up at him. "Good to see you again. Here, sit down." I slowly sink onto the thick cushion, and Azure goes off to investigate the latest round of interesting treats. Phillip returns to his own seat. "Mind if I start?" I shake my head. "No -- I'm curious to hear what you think." "What I think is pretty short and sweet," he tells me. His bowl haircut is starting to get shaggy around the edges, and his weight loss seems to be coming mostly from his ruddy face. "I think we've got to go to you. It's a pretty little shelter you guys have -- way above what we've got -- and the water distance doesn't matter too much. What we really need is to be able to hunker down when the weather goes bad, and you're a lot better set up for that than we are." A grin, but it's a little touched by exasperation -- all aimed at himself. "My fault there, mostly. I should have thought more about what kind of job I could do before I got here and tried it out in a pasture a couple of dozen times until I had it right. I'll miss some of the fruit we had, but I can live with the new stuff. And I'm really looking forward to a little more fish." And that saves me most of the work. "This is going to be the shortest ambassador conference ever -- I think you're right." He laughs. "Told you, short and sweet..." And then he sits quietly, looking at me. I don't know what he's searching for. "What?" "Sorry." Not really abashed: he's just making sure that if an apology is needed, he can offer a sincere one. "You kind of remind me of my youngest sister. About the same height, kind of the same coloring. She's sixteen now -- my parents were busy for a long time. Living with me and not taking it too well. Whip-smart." A wide smile. "And independent as all-get-out. She's not going to stay on the farm -- she's going to go off to some big city, and I wish her all the luck there is. Some people are just supposed to find something different..." He trails off, and the wistful expression is strange on his broad features. "Honestly, Alex, I don't know what Connie has against you. I talked to her about the cross -- told her the good Lord meant us to use every tool we have, and that means brains first. I wish I'd thought of that -- it's a great idea! I might even buy one." A slow, careful movement, and he pulls a cross out from under his plaid shirt: small and silver, unadorned. "She's not a bad person -- but she doesn't move off ideas. She's got a blind spot when it comes to you, and I can't make her see..." "I can live with one person not liking me." I've lived with a lot more than that. Buy a cross, huh? "At least she seems to be the only one on your side who feels it that strongly." This laugh is longer and stronger: Azure looks over to see what all the fuss is about. "Hell, I like pretty much all of you! Gardener's gonna be one hell of an opponent, but I'm looking forward to the fights. Trooper's decent, Mary-Jane doesn't have the ego Angela thought she'd have, and Gary's just a nice guy. Only one I had any worries about was Frank, and that was a different kind of worry altogether..." He rests his arms on the table, elbows just over the edge, and quietly regards me. "Just between you and me, Alex. I promise I won't tell any of the others, and I keep promises." Okay, what's going on here? "Are you about to ask for an alliance?" Oh, if only... if he wants to join us for whatever reason, that's six... A smaller smile, but just as sincere. "Can't. I promised my loyalty to Haraiki, and I've got to keep that promise, too. I promised that if any of them were standing at the end and I wasn't Final Two, I'd vote for them, no matter what." An ocean breeze ruffles his hair. "And I said that before we got into this tie mess, but I've got to keep it -- a man isn't much of a man if he doesn't keep his word. If there's two of you or two of them at the end and I'm on the jury, I'll have no problems picking the strongest competitor -- but I've got to know who I'm with and stick to it. Besides, we all figure you and Gardener are together -- you don't need two big guys." Me and -- Gardener? It takes everything I have not to choke on the thought. "Then -- what?" Softly, "What happened to Frank? What really happened? Because there's times when I can pick up bull on the wind, and it was blowing right off Gardener that day. Swear I'll keep it to myself -- but I worried. I want to make sure it's something where he will be okay, and the way you guys were covering it makes me think it might not be." We're both quiet for several heartbeats: Phillip waiting, me thinking. Can I tell him? How seriously does Phillip take his promises? I believe the one about voting for Haraiki at the end: that just seems like something he'd do. But I don't want Frank's story in the hands of Connie, not just yet. She'll have it when the episodes finally air, but he deserves his peace until then... Finally, "It was a drug overdose." Phillip blinks hard, and the chair scoots back four inches in the sand. "What? Did he break into Medical's supplies?" Worry is the lone occupant of his face. "The painkillers? Did he get hurt and they gave him too much?" I can't meet his eyes on this: I'm looking at his big hands on the top of the table. The callouses have interesting ridge patterns, and there's a lot of old scars -- nothing as dramatic as Angela's right hand, but small and numerous. "No. One of the imported plants -- normal-looking grass with a thick edge and a little pale bit near the root. Mild euphoric and energy booster with toxic build-up effects. He just had too many in too short a period, and -- he overdosed. He'll recover -- we saw a video from him a couple of nights ago -- but there was no way he could stay in the game." Phillip's gone slightly pale. "Oh, damn --" which somehow comes out as a prayer "-- did he just stumble across the stuff?" "We don't know." That's the truth. "Some of us think he did -- he's a pharmacist, he probably knew what to look for -- but there's at least a chance he started by accident. The stuff is addictive." At this point, we all think it was deliberate -- Frank knew about it, spotted it, used it -- but we don't know for certain because he never said it. Mental reservation truth, maybe, but out here, that can count when it's needed. He sighs. "I learned how to whistle on grass... glad I didn't try to get a tune in here..." Very gently, "I'll keep that to myself, Alex. Promise." I really think he's telling the truth, standard version. Maybe Gardener thinks everyone should try to get away with a lie before they go, but Phillip might disagree -- and if he didn't, this isn't his falsehood of choice. "So what are we doing here besides agreeing with each other?" I nod to the container. "Is there a secret twist we have to pull out of there?" And right back to laughter. "No -- that's my dad!" ...what? At least some of that made it to my face. "Oh -- yeah." The biggest grin yet, and the crooked incisor peeks out. "He's my luxury item." Which obviously isn't helping, so Phillip quickly moves on. "My dad never traveled much -- I think he made it out of Nebraska maybe twice after I was born. But he loved travel magazines, and the travel channels -- loved nothing more than watching the Race when it started. There was no work in that house on those nights. He wanted nothing more than to go somewhere, sometime, and all of us kids knew it -- but he always said he was too old and this was the only life he knew: he'd just be embarrassed out there by how bad he'd look." More softly, "And then, after he died -- well, he always said he wanted to be cremated... and he'd never gotten to go anywhere..." I only know parent-child relationships from the outside: my experiences don't even qualify as parody. I want to think I understand them. I've seen enough, I've read enough -- but there's times when I still wind up feeling confused. This isn't one of them. It takes absolutely nothing to realize that Phillip loves his father as much as I've ever seen someone love another person. And that's mostly on television, so it's really strong. "Is that why you came here?" He nods. "Couldn't try for the Race -- the rest of the family is homebodies, and Jess -- my wife -- said there was no way she'd go. Couldn't go with Gillie -- my sister -- because she was underage. If I wanted to run around so badly, I'd have to do it myself. So I went for this -- and now I'm in a part of the world that my dad never even got to dream about. And he's with me for the ride, far as it goes." Nothing but sincerity in his face, nothing but what has to be love... "I know his soul's getting a chance to see anything it wants to, but I'm not there with him -- mourning's just being sad because you can't catch up yet." Now there's a weird way of looking at it... "Still miss him, though -- and this way, it really feels like he's with me." Direct, gentle lock on my eyes. "I've gotten a promise from everyone on my tribe, and I got it from yours while I was over there. I'd like to have it from you." "What?" I am going to have a horrible time praying over the urn. "If you're one of the last two -- and I'm not here -- then on the last day, take his ashes out to the ocean and scatter them." He is at utter peace with this. "His soul's in one place, and he earned that. Let his body travel everywhere. And if I can't be there for the whole game, at least he'll be." I have to draw this man again. I don't know where the thought came from, but I'm going to have no problems cooperating with it. "I will. I promise. I don't think your odds are very good that it'll be me in the Final Two, but if I am -- I'll do it." Phillip tilts his head slightly, rests his right cheek in his big palm, smiles again. "Thanks. I'll do it myself if I get that far, but -- well, I know what you guys are probably thinking. Dump the big guy. But even if I'm there, I'd like the company." "Now there's low odds -- the two of us as the last ones..." What would the last Immunity challenge have been like? Phillip would pretty much have to be the last Haraiki standing, and then he would have to win and take me... Too far along to consider. I have to see Day Twenty-Two first. A hearty laugh, booming across the sand. "I've seen stranger -- Lil, remember? And I mean just strange that she'd be there -- not comparing you to her or nothing." Which is actually a consolation: I hated the Outcast twist. Not that I wouldn't try to take advantage of it if it came around for us, but it's probably too late. I hope it's too late. "Okay -- so we've agreed on a merge site, we've made promises, and the only person getting any food out of this is Azure. Now what?" A camera operator signals, points at Phillip, points to Haraiki's entrance. "I guess I go pack," the big man says. "We'll all see you in a few hours. Our bathroom may get there before we do -- they'll have to move it." And I cannot wait for it to arrive. "You guys really did get the best Reward item." "I don't know," Phillip grins. "I love barbecue... I'll bring some fruit, the stuff you guys don't have on your side. I've been rationing out the watermelon. Call it a hunch, but I don't think we're getting a merge feast out of this -- might as well make our own." Watermelon... If I can ignore the fact that Connie has now officially been launched and will soon be impacting the target zone with no chance to deflect, it might actually be a good night. "We'll start fishing." We both stand up. "In a few hours, then." I shake his offered hand, recover Azure -- no more parrot hunts today, thank you -- and head for Turare's entrance. "Alex?" Now what? I turn around. He's just inside the start of Haraiki's trail. "Anything I can do for you in return for that promise?" Smiling, "Can't vote on your side, can't go back on what I've already said, and I know I can't get Connie off your back, but if there's anything else..." Unfortunately, he just covered pretty much all of it. "Thanks -- but I'm okay." He nods. "Well -- maybe something will come up." We each head towards the tribal camp sites for what's going to be the last time. After this, the word 'our' will appear -- one camp, one tribe. No more plural, at least in theory. The practice won't work out that way. But not for Connie -- not with 'our'. It has to be Phillip and Tony on the floor for the challenge advantage. Pity. But there's absolutely no way she's getting a blanket. ----------------------------------------------------------------- {If I say that was actually kind of touching, do I lose my Bashers license?} {There is no way Phillip wins. If anything, that feels like the climax to a story arc. We know why he's here, we know why he's trying to stay around -- forget the million: this is for his dad. And now he goes out on a blindside.} {We've seen Phillip with the urn before, but this is the first time we've seen the end to what has to be his speech for everyone... There was that bit with Robin in the recrap -- I think he must have watched his father die, maybe in a farming accident. But yeah -- why is this coming out now? And to Alex, of all people? You're right -- if his story arc isn't over, it's now firmly on the downslope.} {I think it was just a natural part of the scene. Alex was the last person he asked -- now he's got a promise from everyone. He may not be safe, but his father will be. And if anyone breaks this promise, they deserve whatever they get.} {Great. Now the merged tribe has two pets. At least this one's quiet.} {I just can't believe they mentioned TAR...} {So Phillip really does disagree with Connie about Alex, but he just sits back and lets Connie rant...} {The subtitle of today's show: Everybody Trusts Phillip. No game impact, but they've all been so careful about protecting Frank: I don't think Alex would have given that information to anyone else.} {And now we know Phillip isn't giving his vote to anyone else -- his loyalties are absolute. No swing potential there.} {Packing at Haraiki -- the bathroom mysteriously vanishes from all camera shots. It's no 'grab your stuff in ten minutes and get out' this time: everyone's packing slowly, making sure they've got everything. Phillip is bringing the 'thanks for having us' fruit basket collection. Connie tries to get him aside and grill him about his time with Alex, and he just says "It's your right to think she's some kind of devil, Connie. I think she's just a really quiet kid who's got a good side to her. Maybe after you live with her for a while, you'll see that." Which leaves Connie in a fuming confessional huff, saying that as much as she respects Phillip, the man has huge blind spots.} {Turare getting ready on their end -- fishing up a storm, with all the equipment in use at once: they've decided there's not going to be a feast, and they want to have food ready for the first night together. Everyone's on the beach -- they're probably not allowed in camp while the bathroom's being installed -- and Alex is briefing them on what she learned. "It feels like Robin's tired of three out of four -- maybe she would flip if we could promise her a high finish, but why would she believe it?" Mary-Jane promises to try and feel things out a little more there. And they all agree there's just no way to swing Phillip. Too bad. Having him and Gardener on the same side would have made for some fun challenges as they started competing more for the fun of it than for survival.} {Gardener asks her about Haraiki's clue, and she tells him what it is. He asks her if she has any idea what it might mean, and she says she hasn't gotten any further on this one than on the first.} {Time-lapse -- Turare comes back into their camp with a whole mess of fish, and sure enough, there's the bathroom, on the far side of the clearing, about halfway between the water path and the Tree Mail trail. Lots of excitement, and more drawing of cards to see who gets to shower first. Gary wins, and the plumbing gets a serious workout, along with the towels. Everyone's thrilled to have it in camp, even if it takes a complained-about half hour to get Mary-Jane out of the shower. Even Alex seems vaguely content with its presence.} {Turare cooking, waiting -- and get ready, people: the antimatter is heading up the trail...} -----------------------------------------------------------------   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

AyaK 3603 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Thong Contest Judge" 09-07-06, 07:25 PM (EST) 3. "RE: Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horribly Awkward: Part III" >{I think it was just a natural part of the scene. Alex was >the last person he asked -- now he's got a promise from >everyone. He may not be safe, but his father will be. And if >anyone breaks this promise, they deserve whatever they get.} {But it doesn't feel that way. It feels more like EPMB's foreshadowing -- as if Alex is the person who ends up taking responsibility for the urn in the final two. Which can't be true, from what we know about the tribal alliances, but maybe we don't know everything that we think we know.} {So how does she get injured, if it happens in the game -- as the Post Office video seems to hint -- and still stay around? By the way, I find it perfectly believable that The Smoking Gun got the video from a police source; there have to be policemen in a precinct in Haledon (or should that be Helledon?) who could use a few bucks for leaking a police tape. Probably felt good about it too.} {What, did the Legion of Janelle infiltrate Survivorland?} {Isn't anyone looking at the parrot's behavior? Why do we think the old man was always the hunter and didn't end up as the hunted? Mistah Kurtz -- he dead. The parrot's behavior makes perfect sense if it was copying its master.} {But, if EPMB found real evidence of that, wouldn't he have leaked it to the media to create a buzz pre-show? Look what happened with the racial-tribe series (Cook Islands).} {Wonder what happened to Azure since the show? If this theory is true, she probably needs a parrot psychiatrist. Think Burnett would pay for that?} {Isn't EPMB getting more of a buzz this way? I'm sure he could delay the release of news about the rich guy's fate until after the show aired in the banana republics and tropical islands in which he films. Week by week, he's giving us hints. It's like a real-life Treasure Hunters or Push, Nevada.} {And they flopped.} {Sure, but doesn't that explain why he wouldn't actually bill the series that way???} {U PEPLE SUK.} {Where's a blue peep when we need one? Alerted.}   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

michel 2370 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Seventeen Magazine Model" 09-07-06, 09:19 PM (EST) 4. "RE: Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horribly Awkward: Part III" > {Look what happened with >the racial-tribe series (Cook Islands).} {URGH! Why do people post spoilers in the Fanatics Board? I don't want to hear about next season while this one is still going on. Where are those blue peeps!} {Hey! The east coast thread is part of spoilers so if you don't want to know...there's the exit} {Sorry, I thought I was in fanatics. Still, I want to know about this key episode since I've got Football in my area and I can't miss this! That doesn't mean I want to hear about the Cook Island twist.} {I think that poster knows what is a spoiler and what isn't so relax and wait for the next segment} {I can't wait! That's the problem}   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Estee 22510 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 09-08-06, 03:19 PM (EST) 5. "Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horribly Awkward: Part IV" LAST EDITED ON 09-11-06 AT 04:25 PM (EST) It's been confirmed: there won't be a merge feast, at least not one provided by the show. We know because the camera crew has been whispering to us again. Nothing like 'Save the fishing -- the steak will be here in two hours,' just a soft stream of hints on Haraiki's progress. They want us to have dinner almost waiting for them when they walk in: we'll need some time for the formalities. Gardener was as let down as I've ever seen him -- he loves a good meal, and I had a hard time convincing him I hadn't had one at the ambassador meeting. "Figures," he'd finally snorted. "That bird eats better than any of us. I swear I'm about two challenges away from raiding the dishes on the sides of that perch." He was a lot happier about the information I brought back from Haraiki. Robin is now emerging as a very slight swing possibility, or at least less of a vote annoyance in the long run if we somehow get the majority. There's no point in wasting our time with Phillip, everyone's been warned about Angela (and won't be expecting an early bedtime), plus Mary-Jane's gotten dressed up for Tony: the halter top again and a really high-cut pair of ultra-short shorts. She'd shrugged when I first saw her fully dressed (so to speak) after the shower and said "I call it 'strategy'." Fair enough. I don't think it's going to work and neither does she, but at this point, we've got to try everything we can. The last update had Haraiki as being about five minutes out. We'll be eating early -- sunset is still a couple of hours off, and we can use the remaining daylight time to avoid the night-lens shots as we all get acquainted. Between group banishment to the beach and food preparation, no one's had much of a chance to look for the idols. They've been talked about, but that's about it -- although I spotted Mary-Jane carefully checking the camp to see if anything had been turned over. Trooper is spicing the fish. Gary's slicing some fruit. Mary-Jane is trying to figure out how ten people are going to get around the table -- we may just wind up moving it over to the shelter entrance for the night and using the pallets as extra seats. And Gardener's complaining. "Alex, don't you have those knots out yet?" "They're soaked, okay?" I'd borrowed one of his shirts -- largest cubic capacity available -- to see how Angela's net idea would work in practice. At least for me, the answer turned out to be 'it doesn't.' I had no trouble with staying still in the water, and a couple of fish did get close -- but as soon as I tried for them, gone. "It makes them hard to move -- I've still got one to go." The left sleeve is as stubborn as its owner. Azure, watching from a few feet away, is no help whatsoever. Exasperated, "Too bad we didn't get a mesh hammock -- with my luck, I'm about to be down one shirt and the sewing machine was a lot of seasons ago... Trooper, how are the fish coming?" "I think we're okay," Trooper reports back. "This is using up a lot of my tarragon, but we can live without." A small twitch of a grin. "Think this is going to look too much like showing off?" "It's not our fault we kicked their rears in most of the Rewards," Gardener replies. "We got the equipment and the stuff to make the catches taste better with -- their enjoyment of it just got postponed by a few days." With vague amusement, "I still can't believe that shelter report -- hell, even I thought about how I'd get rid of bumps with the available equipment. And no extension on the roof? Stupid, stupid, stupid..." Not that our shelter was his design or anything, but it's also not as if I know what he was practicing in his backyard. (I'd tried front extensions on my lean-tos, but nothing anywhere near as elaborate as what we wound up with.) "I'm with you on that one, Alex -- if we could dump the strategic aspects of it, then I'd like to leave them there and just get together for the challenges. One tribe living on two beaches." Mary-Jane laughs. "Never make me think of Thailand, okay, Gardener? Not even as a joke?" Gardener concedes. "Okay, fair enough -- unless we get a former contestant visiting for a challenge and one of us has the honor of drop-kicking Ghandia into the ocean from the Cliffs." A short, sharp bark of laughter -- yes, he and Robin could almost be relatives there. "I'll take that for a Reward. Okay, people, quiet down for a couple of minutes -- they're probably getting near the point where they'll be able to hear us." It's sound advice, so we stop talking and listen: they'll be coming in by the beach trail. For over a hundred heartbeats, there's nothing to hear except the sounds of dinner-in-progress. I get the last knot undone, Gary sets out the raspberries on leaf-plates as appetizers -- and then I catch a bit of Phillip's voice, just barely audible at the much greater distance down our trail. He must be speaking at fairly high volume. "...entrance is right over..." Gardener glances at me: he caught it too. In a stage whisper, "Fine -- everyone put on your 'Happy to see you' faces." Pause. "Alex, just try to look like -- hell, I don't know -- anything -- maybe we're better off as you are... Come on -- we'll meet them coming in." Mary-Jane starts practicing a bright smile as we all get up and go to our end of the path, Azure joining us on her mobile perch -- my left shoulder -- everyone standing about five feet away from the entrance to give them some viewing room. More voices now: Connie. "You said it's clean, right?" Philip again: "Yeah -- they really maintain the place. Mary-Jane said they'd been worried about rats, but they haven't seen any." Robin's a little sarcastic here. "I'd be happy to see a little fur attached to something living -- anything I could try to trap..." Angela steps up the overall level. "Just because they've given us a hunting theme for the season is no reason for you to fall right into line with it." "Just a little further," Phillip tells them. "Right around here, and --" -- they arrive. Initially, Phillip is in front, Tony and Angela are side-by-side, with Connie and Robin bringing up the rear -- but Angela moves to the pole position as soon as they reach our clearing. And Tony is the first to speak directly to us, voice filled with delight: "Announcing your Society Islands starting lineup!" Gardener laughs -- but I know his sounds well enough to spot this one as having been faked. "The ten best out of sixteen!" he crows, and that would bounce fifty feet when dropped on the floor of your choice. "Not to steal a line from Jeff, but -- come on in, guys!" He stands aside and we follow suit, giving them access to the rest of the camp. Angela stares about in slightly irritated wonder: she's happy about what she's getting, but she's not happy about being on the receiving end instead of the giving one. "You didn't understate it, Alex -- this is some amazing work..." Tony laughs. "Hell, it's practically Reward level -- hey, Mary-Jane! Nice to finally meet you!" He heads right for her, arms opening wide again. I'd warned her about this and she's ready for it: she embraces him in return and pats his back a few times. Tony couldn't be happier with the results, although it looks like Angela's having some problems with it. Not that Tony's noticed. "Can't do that from separate mats!" After a long count of ten, he disengages and goes around to shake hands with the Turare males. Connie's moved for the table. "This is Desmond's work?" Gary confirms it, but adds that we all put in some time, me included. "It came out very well anyway..." Which is followed by a turn and smile to Gary. "It is nice to be on your side at last." "It's nice to have you," Gary tells her in return. My stomach does two backflips. Robin's openly looking at our idol clue, frowning. Phillip goes over to join her. "Told you it didn't make any more sense than ours." "I know," Robin says, oddly thoughtful. "I guess there's no bias there... they all suck." Tony's spotted the fish. "Wow -- what a spread!" He walks over, runs a finger along the spiced surface, then licks it as Trooper stares at him. Once again, Tony doesn't notice. "This is going to be some good stuff -- this is all from you guys?" Gardener nods. "No merge feast -- we've been fishing for hours, waiting on you." Trooper starts moving towards Tony, probably intending to get him away from the food before he loses more of the tarragon -- but gets interrupted by a camera operator signal, given by three separate parties. There are a lot of camera operators in camp: there's ten people to cover, they want as many shots as they can for the merge, and that means Jake is back with us again. Cameron keeps giving him little worried looks -- whenever he's not giving me one -- but so far, we're all doing our jobs. Trooper takes the next part of his. "Guys -- we've got Tree Mail, and I think I know what this is going to be. Other than food." This lets Angela focus in on him, and if I thought she wasn't happy before, the next words effectively double her rate of descent. "Follow me." We do, and this clearing is very crowded. The new arrivals regard the quiver with interest: their Tree Mail area, on the campside bank of the river, was an oversized gun holster. Trooper reaches into the container -- "There's a couple of things in here" -- and extracts the first one: a large, soft bag that makes me think about Day One and walking up the beach behind Desmond... He opens it, glances inside before withdrawing anything -- then looks up at the rest of us. "I've been waiting years to say this," Trooper tells the group, and I think about his sending in six applications before finally receiving the call. With the biggest, happiest smile I've ever seen on his face, at the top of his lungs, "People -- drop your buffs!" A huge cheer erupts from the others, Azure squawks, and I even give Trooper a quick nod and thumbs-up before reaching to take mine from its usual home since Azure's arrival: my left forearm, where it provides some extra protection from talon squeezes. One by one, we remove our old tribe color insignias, hideous orange and slightly-better purple retired unless the color cycle somehow brings them around again -- and Trooper removes the first new buff from the bag: a very dark leaf green, which has a distinct beauty to it after the hues we've been forced to labor under for nineteen days. Which is when it really hits for the first time -- even more than after the last Council, where it was a brief afterthought at best. I made the merge! I wasn't the first out of the game or the tribe, I made it through six Immunity challenges and their aftereffects, I'm one of the ten... I look around, and see smiles, delight, and rejoicing on every face. Even Connie's happy about this moment. We've all achieved something very small in the larger scheme, but very real in our current one. About forty percent of all the contestants ever to play never saw this moment from the inside. Six members of our initial pool have left. We're still here. We survived, at least to this point. This is why the merge is a celebration, no matter how things might play out afterwards. Despite all the rivalry, maybe even despite the hate, we can be united in this. Every one of us, in the eyes of the game, has managed to do something right. Through physical effort, social skills, or mental tricks, we have made it this far. That's why every newly-united tribe puts the game on hold, at least for a few seconds, and takes a moment to cheer what they've done. Ten of us have done what hundreds of thousands long to do, what millions watch and daydream about. We've made the merge, and the cheer was completely justified. One of us will go no further. I'm the third person to take a buff: Trooper keeps the initial one for himself and ties it around his forehead for the first time -- the purple one was usually on his right bicep. Mary-Jane's the last to get hers, loosely wrapped around her right wrist. "I like the color." "I love the color," Robin grins. "I love getting to see the color from this side of the screen." Trooper reaches into the quiver again. "Alex -- I think you're getting this." It's a blank green flag, which is followed by -- paint! Brushes! Thinners and waterproofing applications! Oh, yes -- I'm getting that. "You're our artist -- no one minds if she designs the flag?" Which immediately takes Connie out of her good mood, but she doesn't verbally protest: just visually registers distaste with the idea. No one else minds, and Angela even says "Sure -- but I want to get a look at the sketchbook later." "Okay," I tell her. I knew that was coming. "We need a name first, though -- I can't do anything without that." Tony looks puzzled. "Can't we just split the ones we've got in half and glue them together?" Gardener shakes his head, looking frustrated with Tony. Somehow, I didn't think it was going to take very long. "Turaiki or Harare -- pass." "Well -- where did our last names come from?" Phillip asks. "Maybe we can use that to hunt for a new one." "Names of two of the local islands," Robin informs the group. Tony, Connie, and Angela look at her. She shrugs. "When I found out our general area, I got online and looked up the map." It looks like some of the others did that too. I wasn't one of them: I stuck with the briefing book and while there was a map of the area, it was small-scale -- no islands named except for our destination one. "I don't want to be Yanini, though." Gary concentrates. "Okay -- there was Rangiroa, Papeete, Amanu..." "I like that last one," Tony says. "The Amazing Amanus. It's got a good ring to it." It's hard for a Mets fan not to get behind someone invoking 'amazing', and the name does have a pleasant sound. "I'll second that." Connie's response couldn't be any quicker. "Maybe something else..." Angela's also looking for something else. "Is there anything a little more neutral?" Probably as in 'something without the word 'man' in it.' Of course, Robin's going to use the opportunity to needle her a little. "How about 'Manihi'?" Gardener snorts. "No, Tony will only stick 'Marauders' after it." The grin on Tony's face shows he was already giving it some serious consideration. "I can do Amanu. Show of hands: how many for?" Robin, Gary, Gardener, Tony, Mary-Jane, Trooper, Phillip, and I raise them. Tony's left-handed. "That's majority -- Amanu it is." Angela may not find a moment of peace as long as she's in the camp with Gardener: suddenly, her leadership has been not only questioned, but thrown into the lake to see how quickly it can learn to either swim or drown, no preference. "Alex, you work on the flag while we get dinner going. Let's get back to work, everyone -- you can take the full tour tomorrow." Because that way, he can try to see who's going after idols and possibly put trackers on a few of them. "We are Amanu -- that really does have a ring to it..." We head back out, newly buffed and ready to face the dinner with its inevitable side dish of Connie -- then find out we have one extra thing to deal with. Tony cheers and sprints for our newest arrivals: a large ice bucket with several bottles of chilled champagne in it and a number of glasses nearby. "All right -- championship meal!" He lifts one out. "Anyone ever open one of these before?" Gardener admits that he has, but just for other people. "Coolness! We're really gonna party tonight!" Gardener shakes his head. "All yours -- I don't drink." Phillip looks a bottle over curiously. "I've never had this stuff before... hope it's good." "You'll like it," Connie reassures him. "Just go slowly -- the bubbles can give you some problems if you're not used to them." I'm happier about getting the glasses and ice bucket: beyond that, I don't drink either. If we can keep them... I'm not happy about one aspect and glance at Gardener as the others, who do drink, close in on the bucket. Softly, "You know what they really want, right?" Whispering back, "Yeah -- the drunk shots. I'll warn the others to take it easy -- let's see if Haraiki slurps back enough to let something slip." Because no matter what the latest name is, there's still very much a Haraiki in existence. Good: we're in sync for this one. I take my latest acquisitions and move them over to the shelter as Gardener joins the gathering at the ice bucket. (Azure, fascinated by the crowd, goes off to her perch and watches the group from there.) We need a flag. So far, the art patterns for the season have swirling lines with hints of geometrics hiding in the center: maybe I can do something with that for the border... I get the sketchbook out -- it'll work for a flat painting surface later -- and start to work on a preliminary design in pencil: no sense committing to the flag until I know what I want. After what feels like a few minutes of work and three rejected attempts, I get company. "So -- can I see it?" I glance up. Angela's standing just under the awning. "Your portrait?" She nods. "Sure..." I turn to the relevant page as Angela comes all the way in. The others have started to disperse, working on dinner. I can see Tony cleaning a fish from here, and Robin is examining Gary's leaf-plates. (The barbecue was served on paper -- collected from us and thrown away after use. We managed to snag the pot the corn was served in, giving us an extra water-boiler -- three now, with Haraiki's added to the mix.) "Here you go." She carefully looks it over. Very slowly, "You're good... why do you do cartoon work if you can be that accurate?" "More flexibility for style," I tell her honestly, "and it takes less time. Sometimes I do detail work in the strip if something important is going on, but not always -- it's too much of a giveaway for the readers if it happens every time. Occasionally you have to throw away a detail panel just to keep people guessing." I'm not sure how much of this she's following: her attention is fixed on the portrait. "I'll do another one of you now that you're in camp -- I was actually going to ask everyone to pose together tomorrow morning." Turare did it on Day Three. "Get a portrait of the merge." "Will you put yourself in it?" She sounds curious enough. "Maybe after. I don't draw myself much -- self-portraits are complicated." Also inaccurate, as I wouldn't have been in the picture -- but just for the sake of getting the whole group down, I'll probably (reluctantly) do it. I look up at her. "Can I ask you a question?" She shrugs. "Sure -- we're one tribe now." Yeah, right. "I've got one I want to ask you afterwards." I nod. "Those scars on your right hand -- how did you get them?" Angela's eyes go just a little wide with surprise. Softly, "Would you believe you're the first person to say something? Tony hasn't even brought it up... but I don't know if he's even seen them..." She sits down on Gary's pallet. "I'm sorry if it's an awkward question." Just in case. "It's just that -- it's an interesting pattern. They're thin and not too noticeable, honestly -- I've just got good eyesight." Hopefully that doesn't come up later. "I just didn't know what would happen to make that pattern. I originally thought that maybe a glass broke in your hand, but I've seen that in my neighborhood -- it's not the same shape." "No -- I don't mind." Angela raises her right hand to eye level, examines her palm for a moment, then rotates it to face me. Evenly, visibly forcing her words to stay at a constant pitch and pace, "A picket sign broke in half in my hand. A police officer took a swing at me, I ducked, and the riot stick hit the wood instead. The split point was right in the center of my grip, and the momentum -- well, you can see. I got lucky, really -- no nerve damage, but it was a while before everything healed. It was an anti-war protest seven years ago, while I was still in college." She lowers her hand back to the pallet, palm flat against the wood. I exhale slowly. It's way too vivid a picture: I can see Angela ducking down, hear the wood shattering, the scream... "What happened after it broke?" A small smile with absolutely no mirth behind it. "I don't know -- the tear gas hit a few seconds later. Made it hard to keep track of just what happened when for detail. Somehow, I managed to get out of the area and reach a hospital. Lucky again -- if I'd been arrested, the police probably would have stalled for hours before treating it." Bitterly, "They sure didn't move fast when I tried to tell them what had happened and get restitution -- we weren't doing anything to be attacked for. The other parade could have gone around us if they'd wanted to. You have to honor the linked arms -- that's what they're meant for. And if a few businesses got blocked off while we were in the street -- well, it was a heavy support neighborhood: they could do without the sales. And they had no proof on who had swung first before they started accusing us of it." Follow the bouncing excuses. There's almost enough there to convince me that Angela's group did do something which started things off, even if she doesn't want to admit or remember it. She may have even been involved there -- or not: I shouldn't jump to conclusions on this one too fast. Still... "Robin mentioned what you did for a living -- but not the specifics. It must be hard to avoid things like that." The laugh is tiny and bright -- almost musical. "My job is avoiding things like that. Think of me as being a freelance consultant for people who're trying to get things organized. I come in, tell them how to set up, arrange their forces, get the right paperwork filed so they can march legally, start a few fundraisers... I get to travel a lot and help people who really need it. It's a good job, but the cops of this country are learning to hate me. No one gets to take a swing on my watch if I've set everything up right -- or unless things go horribly wrong." More quietly, "Sometimes there's nothing you can do to stop it. I teach them how to have medical attention waiting, too." This is probably a good time to bring up the issue, especially since she just managed to explain it. "Trooper's not a bad man." She shrugs. "That's his real first name, or a nickname you all gave him?" "Real," I let her know. "He hasn't explained it -- I think it's an awkward topic." Another shrug, this one slower and with more extreme movement on both ends of the range. "I'm not saying all cops are poison. But the job wears even the good ones down, and too many of the rest go corrupt or power-hungry. As soon as you hand anyone that much power over a population, you're asking for trouble -- the number of people who can handle it are few and far between. Maybe he's one of them, maybe he isn't. But the fact is that cops divide the world into themselves and everyone else -- with everyone else being guilty of something. To a cop, everyone's a suspect, everyone's committed a crime -- they just haven't decided what yet." Her right hand clenches into a fist. I'm not sure she's aware of it. "Of course, Trooper's out of his zone -- cops get really quiet in a hurry when they don't have the power backing them up any more... Where's he from, anyway?" "New Mexico -- Mosquero." I'm still not sure exactly where that is in the state. "Highway patrol." This laugh is a lot more bitter. "You mean 'revenue stream'. Just another way for the government to legally extract income from people. But his tribe has probably seen too much corruption from the white man -- it may not even be his fault for joining them." And before I can respond to that, she starts leading up to her question -- and it's very easy to see where she's going. "Some situation, isn't it? Coming together at five to five -- that's not too common for this game." I nod. I remember the times when it's happened before, but this one is a little more unique -- we've all been together without member switches for the whole lead-up time, we have alliances on both sides, prior votes won't be counting against us. "We're probably going to find out what the tiebreaker is." I'm not going to tell Angela that the purple rock has been put on hold again: let her dread it. Angela shakes her head. "I'd rather not -- that's why I wanted to talk to you, while the others are distracted." We both glance out at the camp at the same time. No one in the new tribe is paying any attention to us in the middle of their get-acquainted gatherings and work station assignments. Robin and Mary-Jane are currently talking about something that has a lot of expansive hand gestures involved on Robin's end. (From the caught words, the subject appears to be men and the many ways they can drive you absolutely insane.) We have a camera operator's complete attention, though -- my confessional filmer. "We all figured you and Mary-Jane have been fighting against a male alliance all the way here, at least until the others came to their senses enough to turn on Desmond -- want to be part of a female one?" There's exactly one possible response to this, and I give it. "I count real good up to five." Angela gives me a blank look. "We've got five females to go against five males. That's another deadlock." The grin is vicious enough to have come from Gardener. "You're missing one angle -- I've got Tony with me. He'll vote the way I tell him to vote. He's thrilled about the idea of being the last man standing -- I think he believes there's a chance to pull a Chris. Watch us fall apart and then slip through the cracks. But that's not going to happen." She leans forward a little, and her eyes are intense. "I came out here to forge the first successful female alliance, Alex. I thought I was doomed last night -- I was sure you were going out. Without you, I'd be looking at another tie." I have to take this very carefully. "You still have to talk to Mary-Jane." She almost seems to take this as my official entry into her club. "I'm going to -- she's a model, right?" Haraiki is now one for two on the Turare females. "Yes." Angela looks disgusted. "I'll try not to hold that against her. But people who promote male stereotypes for female bodies... ugh." 'I'm not taking the blame for the industry I work in...' And I just got Angela's pronouncement from someone who's visibly been using the custom work=idiot equation. Maybe it's okay if females promote their own stereotypes on women's bodies... "Okay -- let's say you get me and Mary-Jane together on this." She blinks. Sure enough: she thought I was already in. "And let's say you dump Tony right after the other men are gone. Then you dump me. That's fifth place -- same as I'd get if my group won the tie." And again, there's a growing doubt in her eyes. Angela does not like to see my mind actually working -- which is why I'm not pointing out that she could also dump me when we got to six-three. Or at five-three. Basically, as soon as she had her extra votes, the new arrivals could be cut out -- and while it's now starting to sound like the showmance is a deceit on Angela's side, I'm still not sure Tony would be the first out from the proposed alliance group. "How is this an improvement for me?" She's visibly scrambling now: Angela was not expecting me to work that out, despite all prior evidence. Apparently her forecast for my reaction was more along the lines of 'Alliance! Yay!' "No -- I can promise you -- fourth place. Tony, then Mary-Jane, then you." Hastily, "Maybe even Tony, Connie, and then Mary-Jane -- you're Final Three. After that, you take your chances on Immunity. Believe me, Connie and I have not been happy together. Some of her views... well, you'll get to hear it, I'm sure. You're guaranteed to hear it. But think about it. You, me, and Robin, walking by the extinguished torches on our way to the last challenge..." It's an enticing image, and there's a second when I can see it: the three of us going down the Fallen Comrades trail, saying a few words about each former torch bearer as the cameras film us. Gardener was a great competitor, and I enjoyed our arguments more than he probably thinks I did. It was nice having Mary-Jane's laughter in camp. Gary was a decent guy to have around... Gary. I can break the alliance. All I have to do is tell him I'm moving away, and that'll be it. I can probably even arrange for him to be the next-to-last of the men. I could even tell him after the fact. If Angela's word is good, then I'm looking at Final Three. That's a very nice payout -- and if I could somehow win Immunity, get one step further, face the jury from the other side... Unless I'm being played. Unless she needs my vote, just this once, and as soon as she's got the majority secured -- goodbye. "I want to think this over," I tell her. I do. "Let me sleep on it? I'll give you my answer later. Don't worry about security -- we can get away from camp and conference." One, two, three... okay, that's enough of a pause. "Besides, that'll give you a chance to talk to Mary-Jane and see how she feels about fourth place." Angela's disappointed: she clearly thought I was going to give her an immediate and enthusiastic 'Yes!' right on top of the offer. But I haven't rejected her, so... "Okay -- but I think you'll see just how good an offer this is. The men can't give you anything better -- especially not when Tony's with me. I'll let you know when I've talked to Mary-Jane, though." She stands up, starts heading out of the shelter. "But think about it -- this is a major chance for you, Alex. Third place, and from there, anything could happen." And gone. Third place. It's a major string. I want to pull it just to see if it'll take my weight. But the only thing I can see attached on the other end is the word 'if'. -----------------------------------------------------------------   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Estee 22510 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 09-11-06, 10:52 PM (EST) 6. "Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horribly Awkward: Part V" LAST EDITED ON 09-22-06 AT 09:10 AM (EST) {What, no bikini? I guess Mary-Jane's figuring they've all seen it before. They've seen the halter, too. But those shorts are new... let's set the trap with a bit of fresh bait!} {This is really Gardener's episode for great lines, isn't it? He's probably out tonight.} {Interesting shot here -- Turare listening for every piece of information they can get...} {If this is what Gardener looks like when he's acting, then the reality Emmy is no longer a mortal lock. Someone on Haraiki has to be picking up on this. Someone who's not Tony.} {Remember, they haven't seen that much of him -- he can get away with this for a while, because they haven't gotten a look at his 'normal'.} {Robin looking over the clue... Phillip looking over Robin's shoulder... Tony looking for the release on that halter... Angela looking for a gun...} {As threatened, Connie is starting to cozy up to Gary -- the swing attempts will be proceeding for the entire episode. Let's see if anyone can't count to five.} {And you can take the S5 alarm sirens off-line, people! We've got mergesign!} {'Amanu'? *shrug* I've heard worse.} {Oh, lovely -- now taking bets on just who gets trashed first. I'll place a wager on Tony.} {No bet. But you could get some really impressive odds on Gardener.} {Some nice-to-meet-you moments -- Robin immediately starts to talk at Mary-Jane about men and their many flaws, with M-J smiling through most of it and laughing at the rest -- Gary still has a bad case of Connie to scrape off, but she's being very nice to him -- Phillip and Gardener resume the football talk -- Alex off by herself, what a shock, but that tribe flag needs to be painted, so...} {Not anymore.} {For those of you who haven't gone to her website: yes, she's that good on a regular basis, but as Angela noted, it's not her usual style. Come to think of it, I bet Alex didn't get to bring the sketchbook back with her, and won't recover it until after her ouster episode is aired -- there's probably way too many clues in there.} {Okay -- I'm going to have to check my DVDs to see just when Alex spotted those scars. They're very visible in that shot, but I think they were enhanced.} {And here comes Angela's story arc. Wow -- I read her own description of her job on the CBS site, but now we know why she got into that very odd little field... She really does have a problem with police, doesn't she? And if you read that description, you'll see a very large number of other things she has a problem with. Seriously, we're talking millions. Robin's right: Angela would love to be in charge of all the politics, and if she was, we'd see a lot of new crimes on the books.} {I kind of feel sorry for her -- she had a traumatic event in her life and she's used it for something constructive, but it's obvious that she's not even remotely past it.} {Do I have to revoke your Bashers license again? Angela: flaming liberal. Just add flame, but don't worry if you can't get one started: she usually brings her own.} {Here comes the windup, the pitch, the hard sell...} {The First Temptation Of Alex. Is it even remotely possible that we've finally left the Death card behind and turned solidly to Devil? Here comes Angela with an enticing offer: take it or be cast onto the jury!} {There's holes in this proposal, and I think Alex can figure them out. Right now, assume that Phillip will vote with Tony and the Haraiki females -- as we've already seen this episode (and Alex has heard), his loyalty -- and vote -- are locked in. That means as soon as Alex or M-J finishes giving them that crucial sixth vote, it's Haraiki five, Turare four -- goodbye, Turare. Maybe Angela does want a female alliance, but if she's just trying to get one more vote for her original squad, anyone joining them gets to be extra-doomed. Also, there's a couple of very good reasons to keep Connie around long-term -- we haven't seen her perform to 'challenge threat' level, and you can probably guess some of the others. Angela was trying to hand Alex a major cookie there, but it just might wind up leaving more crumbs behind after it goes stale and shatters.} {Then again, Connie really isn't loved -- maybe Angela would dump her, and we've seen signs that the showmance may be an act on her end -- remember, she started the thing. She may have just seen Tony in the water and said 'Right age, right blank look, right sucker.' A little flirting later -- mini-bloc. And as soon as she doesn't need him any more...} {Cold. Practical, but cold. 'He'll vote the way I tell him to vote.' I think the editing is playing up the differences between M-J and Angela here. M-J apologized. Angela probably never will. But that's if we're seeing things as they really are...} {The key here is, what will Angela offer Mary-Jane? This isn't B.B.A.Stards: the Turare women are going to compare notes way before the endgame.} {Does Angela see that? At this point, we're used to the idea of Alex having a working brain. Angela's still visibly uncomfortable with it, and at best, she's got Alex as an artistically-oriented Janelle -- thought comes, but intermittently, and is soon forgotten. And she visibly doesn't think much of Mary-Jane.} {We stay with Alex for a time-lapse montage after Angela leaves: glimpses of the sketch process. As the others cook dinner -- taking a while: the conservations are slowing everything down -- she gets a design she likes and transfers it to the flag. Oooh, nice -- I like the border edging and the suggestion of leaves she's got working in towards the center. And eleven pre-planned areas for everyone to sign their names, working around the circumference. Plus the hint of weapon shapes here and there...} {Best. Tribe. Flag. Ever.} {Eleven spaces?} {Yep -- and here's the signing. Alex brings it out, the others oooh and aaah, Connie says "I suppose if the production department can't be bothered for five seconds of their time..." Azure gets a claw lightly painted, pressed against the flag, and then cleaned again. The others sign, with Alex keeping a very hard eye on Connie -- no going outside the borders, and I think Connie's considering it here -- and as usual with Tony, you can just about make out the T.} {Dinnertime -- oh, great -- here comes Connie's Christian Test again: saying Grace over dinner to see who joins in. Haraiki knows the drill and participates: Gary joins in smoothly, Gardener stumbles a little but gets through it -- no chorus from M-J, Alex, or Trooper. Connie's very (snidely) curious about the three silences, and sweetly asks if something's wrong. Alex doesn't say anything, and Gary intercedes -- tells Connie that Alex didn't get to join a church as a child, practically by law. That gets Connie's attention while Alex is showing about five percent of the signs of wanting to throw up on the spot, but she can't stop this: Haraiki just learned about Alex's orphan status. Connie's response is "There are a lot of flaws in the system." You can read sympathy there if you want to. I'm not finding any. Phillip looks very sympathetic, though -- he's all about family. Angela's interested, but not very. Tony looks apologetic for whatever reason. Robin -- I think that expression also reads as 'Things happen'. Tough Girl's back. She may have some empathy, but for her game, she can't afford to show it.} {On to Mary-Jane, who shrugs and says she's way out of practice, but if Connie will indulge her, she can start off fresh. Connie's okay with that, so Mary-Jane bows her head and -- huh?} {How are we supposed to type that?} {Like this: "Sh'ma yisriel adonai elohenu adonai echad." Ha! Oh, the look on Connie's face...} {No, there will be no redheaded, green-eyed Jew this season. Will you settle for one with blue eyes, white-blonde hair, and everyone's complete attention?} {Gardener has exactly one question for her. "Why didn't I get more pork?" Mary-Jane tells him she's Reform sect. Connie may be in torment here -- she just got rid of Denadi, and now she's not only got another heretic on her hands, but this one takes time-out from shampooing to skip off and kill her Lord.} {And Trooper just fixes Connie with a hard look and says "My faith -- whatever it may be -- is private." Which gets Connie's attention off Mary-Jane in a hurry -- but then Gardener takes control, saying that everyone can consider the food sufficiently blessed and insufficiently eaten before he goes for the fish. The rest of the dinner we see is very tense.} {A little bit of post-dinner conversation around the fire, and we all kind of saw this coming, didn't we? The classic conservative and the radical liberal are going at it. Not Gardener's idea, but Angela's politics-sense went off within seconds of entering camp -- don't even ask what she clings to -- and every bit we see has her going after Gardener's belief system with volume, word-twisting, and the occasional bit of downright demagoguery. Gardener's not so much on the defensive here as he is just trying to shut things down so he can get some sleep, but that isn't working. He switches to trying to find an agreement point just to see if that'll shut Angela up. And as soon as he locates one, she moves away from it, going even more radical in that direction to see if he'll follow her...} {Where's the drunk shots? Tony's a little tipsy, but that's it.} {Gardener and Angela were probably trying to keep everyone relatively under control... in vino veritas. And in vino alliances revealed, too.} {Bedtime -- Phillip volunteers to take the floor, but we wind up at random draw for the other spot, and Angela loses. Of course, Gardener was holding the cards...} {Some night shots -- Tony's in and out a lot, probably having trouble sleeping without Angela, but he doesn't want to give up the pallet and the pad -- then Robin's first up in the morning, scouting the lake before bringing back some fruit. In confessional, "I like this new site. I don't even mind the new people in it. And I love being everyone's last idea for a target." Uh-oh. We have a bird on the island endangered species list.} {Not unless the bounces go exceptionally weird. Robin's safe through this vote: count on it.} {Tony and Gardener are having a little impromptu branch-breaking competition. Gardener is ahead by A Lot. Tony doesn't seem to realize he's beaten beyond all hope of catching up, and he may strain something pushing against that old wood.} {Gardener has the most unstoppable motivation in the world: misplaced aggression. Thank you, Angela -- they're going to be warm through Day Thirty-Nine...} ---------------------------------------------------------------- We have four water containers now, but two of them are an exceptionally hideous shade of orange. (Most of Haraiki's things were delivered by boat in the middle of dinner. The orange tarps will probably be used to waterproof the storage shack. Unfortunately, that means having to look at them.) Mary-Jane and I are using the old purples. Ten people to feed now -- that'll mean extra trips if we stick with two containers, but presumably someone will make a run with the orange ones later. Getting everyone at least lightly hydrated can easily be done with what the two of us will be carrying back. Getting the discussion out of the way during the trip is even easier. No point in dancing around this: "Did Angela approach you?" It had looked like they'd conferenced a good distance away from the fire just before bedtime, but for all I knew, Mary-Jane was just on the receiving end of an extended lecture about how her profession was single-handedly responsible for the suicides of a thousand teenage girls every year, Part Two. Part One had been delivered over the raspberries. "Yeah." Openly disgusted, "She even apologized for sounding like she was being so harsh -- she thought it was best if everyone believed we didn't like each other." A loud groan follows the statement, and extends partway into "And she did a hell of a job -- I don't like her..." "She's a little -- focused." 'Tunnel-visioned' would have worked too. "Tell me about it," Mary-Jane sighs. "What a night. First I cost myself about a hundred jobs just because Connie annoyed me -- it's only half a joke, Alex: there are going to be makeup people telling me to sit in the chair, then asking if they should start by covering the horns -- and then I turn out to be the commandant of some kind of makeover concentration camp. And I got off easy." Which is hard to argue with: Gardener's the one who got to do most of the suffering. His debates with me have been largely calm, rational, somewhat genteel, and almost completely non-political except where there was just no avoiding it, and yes, I'm aware the Tigers kicked Met rear in their first interleague series, thank you, it's over, you can stop rubbing it in now. What happened with Angela didn't qualify as a debate. It was more along the lines of 'Voice. Sounding board. Sonic shattering.' He'd woken up with the headache still firmly in place. "But yeah -- she approached me. Women's alliance. Said she'd already talked to you, and you were in." Well... I shake my head. "I told her I'd sleep on it and wait for her to talk to you." It's better for the two of us if all the details are out in the open. It's definitely better for me, anyway. "Initially, she promised me fourth place -- you and Tony would go before me, fifth and sixth." Mary-Jane's eyes widen with surprise, which means I probably don't need to go on. I finish anyway, just because it'll really make what she says next all the more important. "Then she moved to third in a hurry -- Connie out. Final three of her, Robin, and me." And now for the punchline: "What did she offer you?" Ruefully, "Third place -- me, Robin, and her. You were out in fourth. And she said she'd thought about offering you third, but after a little more consideration, she'd gone back to fourth." A little more lightly, "I guess one of us should tell Robin she's been guaranteed second." And a sigh. "For someone who basically wants to be a champion of women, she forgot one really important thing. Women gossip. Did she honestly think you and I would never talk about what we'd each been promised?" Quite possibly. Azure pivots her head as an Alicia screams at us for disturbing the peace, then screams right back. "Maybe she thinks we're in Thailand --" Mary-Jane winces "-- and she can make a near-Final Two deal with everyone... Strategically, it's to her advantage to have a consistent placement if we do talk -- but for winning us over, third sounds better than fourth." Mary-Jane kicks at a stone in the middle of the path: it goes off to the left, bounces off a tree trunk, and comes to a stop six feet in front of its starting point. "Or maybe she really did change her mind, and you're fourth while I'm third..." Shrugging again, "I think you've got her spooked -- she had this weird look when she was discussing you. She knows she needs both of us, but she's really not happy about it." "She needs one," I point out. It's a fairly major correction to make. "Phillip's voting with Haraiki, no matter what. Tony votes with her. Connie and Robin join in -- and then one of us comes in, that's six, end of vote." And she stops in place: I go two steps past her before I turn around to see what's up. She's just standing there with a slightly weary, slightly hopeful look on her face. "But -- that could be a good thing." I don't say anything. I just stand in place, waiting. She'll have to say the rest of it, and I want to hear how it comes out. Very carefully, that's how. "Alex -- right now, everyone works out to a tie, and no one's got an idol yet that we know of. If we both swing to her, that means majority -- three people out before we are: Gardener, Trooper, Gary. At least, that's how I'd work the list." I nod. The two strongest challenge threats outside the new alliance, then get rid of the last one just to delay the internal purge. "After that -- you and me inside the group, we might be able to get Robin..." She trails off there, looking even more hopeful -- but also worried, as she's starting to see the problem. I spell the rest of it out. "And then hope we could get Angela to decide we were the better choice in order to take the majority. Or Phillip, except that he'll follow Angela or any other Haraiki. Tony, and that might be even worse. Connie? That'll be hard. Angela wants Connie -- you always want someone you can beat in the challenges. She might get rid of Phillip first in for just that reason. But when I was approaching their camp, they were talking about getting Gary to make the numbers work out to six from another angle... Maybe she's serious, Mary-Jane. Maybe she really does want a women's alliance, and she's been playing Phillip and Tony all along. But right now, what she needs more than anything else is a sixth vote -- and the only way to find out how faithful she'd be to us would be to give her the majority -- then see if we went next." The perfect features are twisted with distress. "You're right -- I know you're right -- but I almost want to take the chance anyway. We could lose the tie, Alex. There's a lot of ways we could lose. One bad bounce, and we won't even see the tiebreaker -- and then they'll just Pagong us into the ground anyway. If Angela's serious and she can agree to an order, this might be our only chance." And that's the hell of it, right there. Because I don't trust Angela, I think we might be out the second she's got the majority in her hands and the I-stand-for-all-the-women-who-fell-apart bit could easily be a complete lie -- but it might not be. And if it isn't... Mary-Jane plaintively says "I don't know what to do," sounding about ten years younger than she is. "What about you?" They'd vote Mary-Jane out first: I'm stronger than she is, but they won't see that, and she's faster -- they'll see her as more of a challenge threat and dump her earlier. If I could just get a little bit ahead, use what I saw with Robin and somehow get her over, maybe protect Gary a little longer -- I have to talk to Gary, I have to see what Connie's been saying to him -- if I could just reach Final Four and see what I could do from there... "I don't know either." We don't talk for the rest of the trip: not a word all the way to the lake, confessionals while we're there but those won't be words heard by each other for months -- if ever -- nothing while we're filling the containers, and only a quick greeting to Phillip as he passes us while we're heading back: he's bringing the orange containers. Both of them. Phillip is very rapidly making Bobby Jon look like the laziest man alive. And once Mary-Jane and I get back to camp, we can't talk -- there's too many people around, and one of them already has Gary's ear: he and Connie are going over a passage in her Bible... Progress is being made on other fronts, at least: Tony finally apologizes to Trooper for the sunburn crack, and they decide to work out their remaining differences with a game of Death Frisbee. (I get the feeling Tony is still going to eat a lot of sand before the morning is over.) Robin, Gardener, and Angela are gone -- presumably looking for the idols. I'd been banished from the beach after the ambassador conference: back to camp, no time to look. I want to get out there again. I haven't made any more progress on our own clue, but I'm sure I have a place to start with Haraiki's: maybe if I'm in the area, the rest will come to me. And there's nothing else to do right now, no signals of incoming Tree Mail -- maybe we're having a late challenge, time to work with -- I should leave now. I start for the path -- -- and then Jake gets to ruin what's left of my morning as my body takes a personal shot at surpassing him. The signal is given: we have incoming Tree Mail, our missing people are being reeled in, and I am not going anywhere except the shielded camera hut because I just had a very familiar sensation register itself. Oh, great... Well, nothing stops biology. I walk over, make a very quiet request, and receive the pads a few heartbeats later. At least we've got the bathroom now... We wait -- Robin arrives last, looking distinctly irritated about having had the leash pulled back -- and Angela gets to fetch the scroll. Shortly after that, we're listening to the poem, such as it is. "'Ten are left who reached the merge, every one a shooting star. Prove that prowess on the range to gain an open bar.'" Angela could not be more disgusted. "Perfect. Guns followed by alcohol. I guess I'm supposed to be thrilled it's not the other way around." A glance at Trooper -- but she may be remembering the towers, where he wasn't the strongest on the course. "Didn't we have enough alcohol last night?" "Not really," Tony grins. "I could have had some more." Two of the bottles are still sealed. "What happens if our two Sober Sams win?" Gardener shrugs. "Coffee's fine -- and it could be a coffee bar: we're jumping to conclusions here." He glances at me. "You can just sit out. Don't drink, caffeine is addictive, never had a soda in your life... don't even waste a bullet. With our luck, you'll be a natural and just spend an hour sitting there having absolutely nothing while the rest of us fume." Haraiki is regarding me with some interest at this announcement, and Angela's a little intrigued: organic foods are one of her minor passions, and she may be sensing a kindred spirit in a caffeine-dodger. Which just means her radar is off, because she's certainly not sensing a kindred budget: Angela makes a halfway-comfortable living. "It could be a juice bar," I remind him. "But if it's guns, I'm probably out before we even start -- I've never used one." "I'm comforted," Gardener retorts. "But it's definitely shooting." With imaginary points showing, "Sorry, Angela -- you'll have to go to bat for the Second Amendment on this one. Or you would if we were still in a place where it applied." He's still irritated about last night, when he only tried to end things and go to bed eight times -- and with the challenge looming, he knows Angela doesn't have time for a lecture. Besides, "Then again, you were up in a tower a lot of challenges ago -- I'm not sure you've got much of a case." "I know how to defend myself," Angela shoots back. "I like putting guns into the hands of people who need them, Gardener -- and given how little some people can do keep them out of the wrong hands --" a direct look at Trooper "-- and how many threats come to those who say anything about it..." Or maybe we do have time for a small-scale war after all: Trooper looks like he's about to say something -- but that's when we get the next signal: right to the challenge we go. At least we don't have to wait on each other's arrivals any more... Azure takes her spot, and we head out of camp. I'm at the back of the line today, staying a fair distance behind the others -- I want to watch interactions and see if I can catch any conversations. There aren't any -- -- no, just one, and I could have lived without being in on it: Connie drops back. "So," she starts, sugar dripping from every syllable, "are you really an orphan, or is that just a story you made up to get sympathy from the others?" All very soft -- she doesn't want the others paying attention. There is at least a one in fifty billion chance that this is her idea of making up, and she's just picked an opening line that she thought would get my attention. I'm not willing to bet those odds. However... "If you don't believe me, ask Jeff. I'm sure he's got our application information somewhere. Maybe he'll even show it to you." I shrug. "I can pretty much guarantee you my dead grandmother will not be playing any part in a Reward." Keep it civil, keep it polite, don't give her anything to work with... "I don't particularly trust what he'd say about you," Connie decides, "but I'm going to take your word for this one. Actually, I have to give your mother a lot of credit." She pauses, and I wait for it. "It takes a very insightful woman to realize what she's given birth to on first sight and dump it as soon as possible." Huh. Not bad, actually. Aloud, "Loses something for being a variation on something I've heard before and you had all night to work on it, so no bonus points for the speed factor -- but all things considered, I'll give it a six and recommend that the judges pass you to the second round." And so much for civil and polite. She laughs. It's not a pleasant sound. Merry and highly pleased, but it's like listening to a stream of toxic waste as it leaves the factory via leaky pipe: maybe the audio can be right, but it can't cover what's producing the noise. "What do you give the ones who decided not to adopt you? You must have lived in an area full of prescience, Alex -- so many people, so many visions of the poison they'd be taking in... Normally, I feel sorry for the ones who are never brought to God, pity for the damnation of their souls. There are moments when I even feel a little sorry for you, but then I remember how much you've already earned the flames." "I'm impressed," I tell her -- but we're not on the points scale for this one. "You've figured out my name. Usually, I've been 'her' -- at least I've progressed to the point where you're willing to hate me with a direct label." Connie shrugs -- then "I dearly wish we could get rid of you first." "You're not going to?" This is news -- and the next words are probably a mistake. "Try a vote, see what happens..." One vote, and we've got the tie beat. Five, and I get to be the one who tries to beat it -- assuming an idol doesn't remove me on the spot. She sniffs. "You're just an annoyance, and there are forces in the world which will take care of you in the end. You know we have other priorities on our side first." "Yeah -- like recruiting me." Just to see how she reacts to it. Answer: as if it was fafaru: Connie spits, the glob landing in front of me. I step over it. "Yes, I know what Angela wants. If you'll willing to take your chances with it, then that's your decision. I don't want you with us, I'd rather not have you on this island a second longer than necessary, and if I could just get rid of two at once, one would be you and you'd never see the jury -- but it's not my decision." "So Angela speaks for you?" Time for a little name use on both ends. "Connie, I thought you were a little more independent than that." And now we're getting into the anger. "I'm not particularly fond of Angela, either -- there's one with exactly the wrong name. But things that come later -- come later. This is about the here and now. Any action can be forgiven in the right cause, for those who have forgiveness to begin with. If that means recruiting you -- so be it. Fifth place, and then you'll get to see what the people at home think of your little tricks." Fifth place, huh? Naturally -- Angela would never tell Connie she wanted me to stay longer than that. In fact, she probably didn't tell Connie she wanted me around that long. "Connie?" She looks directly at me. "Let's cut through the layers. This isn't about the cross." I take it out, and she watches it as it rises, eyes almost hungry. She wants to take it from me, she wants to throw it off the Cliffs and send me after it... "It's about a large number of things," Connie replies. "The cross is one of them. The most blatant one." "Your own tribe doesn't believe that." Which startles her. Very brief, very quickly masked -- but there. I let the cross drop back under my blouse: her gaze follows the descent. "You were on me from Day One -- from the first minute. From right after my going to get you in the water." Slowly, "How did I offend you there, Connie? What did I do that pissed you off that fast? From everything I know, going to someone's aid is supposed to be a Christian act." Her eyes narrow, and she stares at me without speaking as we continue to walk along, cresting the rise. The others are getting well ahead of us now. Jeff's probably going to be annoyed with us if we show up three minutes behind the group. Finally, just as the entrance to Challenge Beach starts to come into view, "Join with us if you want to. It may even give you a little more money to spend on wires and hooks. But you're not a threat: you're just a delusional little girl whose greatest wish is to one day scare someone, even for a few seconds. There are others who are stronger dangers than you could ever be -- and even those whose sin is greater than yours." She accelerates -- and the conversation, such as it was, is over. Sins greater than mine... As predicted, Haraiki (or Angela's alliance) has a primary target other than me. Gardener? Trooper? Mary-Jane? Not Gary, definitely not Gary, I have to talk to Gary -- -- and then I hear Jeff call out "Come on in, guys!" I have to hurry to catch up. ----------------------------------------------------------------- {Dueling confessionals... Mary-Jane wanting to believe Angela's offer but not sure of it, Alex with serious doubts but seeming to lean towards it...} {If Connie's working on Gary here, she's being very subtle about it. So far, all we've really gotten is some pleasant conversation about not much of anything and a bit of Bible study.} {Trooper and Tony burying the hatchet -- was that an insensitive remark? Oh well, too late.} {Robin shown doing some idol searching, looking just about as frustrated as you'd expect. In confessional, she admits to having an idea, but it's just not working out.} {Why is Robin worried about getting an idol? She's got to know she's safe.} {Probably just to keep it away from someone else. You know how minds work in this game. Me, me, me. And if that fails, myself and I.} {'And having failed once to get the drunk shots, we are going to give it a second try. Please stand by.'} {Off to the challenge -- Connie talking to Alex?} {Interesting... they're still setting this up. We knew Alex wasn't the primary target all along, and that's as close to 'join us' as we'll ever get out of Connie, but there's no love lost here -- no love found. One of these two has to put the other out of the game. I can't see any other way this story arc could end.} {I can. Double elimination. Just because the season's been steady on the original course doesn't mean we can't go twist-wacky eventually.} {Sins... they have to be going after Gardener here, and that's the grand sin of calling her just what she is...} {I am growing progressively more disturbed by this episode. Cole is right: the very first thing she ever did in this game was go to Connie's aid. If Robin and Phillip are both telling the truth...} {Good thing I remembered to load the crapbasket with Kool-Aid, huh?} ----------------------------------------------------------------- One mat this time: the same color as our new tribe flag. Jeff is regarding the design with interest as Trooper carries it in. "Let me guess -- Alex?" I nod. "Well, that's going to motivate the art department for next season." We arrange ourselves on the mat: I wind up at the far right, but not next to Connie, who slips further down into the middle of the pack. Angela is on my immediate left. "I see the new name -- whose idea was that?" Gary gets the credit there, with Robin given the assist for inspiration. "All right. As far as the challenges are concerned, Haraiki and Turare are officially no more." Yeah, right. "From now on, Rewards will either be individual or, in some cases, granted to randomly-chosen teams. The stakes get higher from here. Every Reward you win is a chance to improve your own situation a little: find a little strength, gain a touch of comfort and draw what you can from it. But they also invoke jealousy in those who don't get them." Mary-Jane nods. "You always want to play, and you always want to think about winning -- but you should always remember that even winning can have a price in this game. There's only one victory that's even partially free from reprisal -- and that's the final one." Tony is not even remotely following any of this. "You are playing for yourselves." Okay, that Tony got. "But you are still playing the larger game -- and you should always keep that in mind." And lost him again. Jeff looks us over, eyes going up and down the line -- and drops out of on-the-air mode. "I'm not going to ask you about how the merge went -- that's a topic for tomorrow night, since I know I'll be seeing all of you there." He grins. No one smiles back. "Come on, people -- I told both of you as tribes: now each visit is an achievement. Turare and Haraiki had reasons to dread every trip. The ten people who make up Amanu can treat every one they see as a personal triumph." He pauses -- -- and Trooper speaks up. "Jeff? I've got a question." "Before the challenge?" Jeff looks more intrigued than upset about being interrupted. "Okay -- let's hear it." Trooper nods. "Turare was talking the night before the merge about the upcoming vote, and we came up with a weird scenario." Oh. He's going for it -- and spreading the blame for it a little in the process... "Let's say that both idols are found, and the only people who receive votes are the ones holding them. What happens next?" And the intrigue is spreading fast: apparently Haraiki never thought about this, but they want to know just as much as we do. Jeff nods, exactly once. "Fair question. Here's the answer: the people with the idols will retain them, and everyone will vote again. You will not be able to vote for the idol holders -- or for the person with Immunity, if that's a third party. The other seven or eight people will be at risk. The idols are good for that Council -- nothing can take that away. They're exactly like regular Immunity: it can't be forfeited by a voting event, especially now that the purple rock is out of play." Well, there went that bit of dread on Haraiki's part, but since a triple-level presence of worry came in before it left... "Everyone understands this?" We all nod. Yes, we pretty much all understand, although some of us like it more than others and someone's going to have to brief Tony later. "All right. Back to the set speech." And back to the richer tones. "Today's challenge is for Reward. Take a look around you." We do, and regard the blank beach with carefully-faked interest. Well, mostly faked on my part: I'm still looking for idol hiding places. "Each of you will be given a rifle and sent up to the target range in turn. You'll have six shots to score as many points as you can. The red targets will be worth one point, while hitting a yellow gives you two, and the blue scores three. If two or more people finish with a tie for the high score, we'll play successive six-shot rounds until someone wins. And there will be no trash talk while people are actually shooting -- everyone gets a chance to concentrate and line up. Simple enough?" We all nod. "What? No questions?" He's grinning again. There are people I trust more than Jeff when he's grinning, and one of them is Connie. "And I was just getting used to the chatter... Want to know what you're playing for?" We've never done a 'Yes, Jeff!' as a single group before, but we've chorused enough as separate ones to get it right on the first try. "The winner will receive a three-hour stay at an open bar, courtesy of Bass Ale, which will be on tap just for the occasion. Since we have non-drinkers among us, Colombian coffee --" Robin's eyes go wide "-- and Coke will also be available, along with something new that I brought in myself." He glances at me. "Because the Rewards have to fit everyone, Alex, there's some special drinks waiting for you if you get there. It's the best of both worlds." I nod. I accept that the producers had to figure out something for the unlikely event of my winning (or being hauled along: this is a 'bring a friend' Reward if I ever heard one). I just have absolutely no idea what he could be talking about. Jeff goes on. "In addition, there's one more factor to this Reward." He reaches into his right pants pocket. It's a warmer day than the last few, and most of the tribe is in shorts -- but Jeff still needs full pockets, and shorts are out of the question. "It's just not a bar -- without a television set." And pulls out a remote. "The winner can spend fifteen minutes with the channel of their choice -- and as much time as they like at home with a new forty-inch high definition plasma screen television." And now anyone could see the whole of Gardener's eyes. "That's right, big man: you finally talked us into it." This grin is deliberately insincere. "Actually, we've had this Reward planned the whole time, but there was no way we were going to tell you that early... Worth playing for?" Presumably everyone thinks it is. It's not as if I can hear anyone over Gardener. "All right -- we'll draw for positions, and then we'll get started. Alex?" Me? Jeff has stepped off the mat and he's walking towards me... "Yes?" "Because of what happened the last time we had Azure around something that looked like a gun," Jeff tells me, "we're taking extra measures this time. Follow me?" Well, this is interesting. And necessary: last time, it was a simulation, we'll have the (near?) real thing in our hands a few minutes from now, and it's probably a really good idea for Azure not to be there... I follow Jeff off the beach and down Haraiki's trail for two hundred and six paces -- until we reach the cage. Azure actually recoils on my shoulder when she sees it: she knows what this is, and she's not happy. It's large, yes -- it's about ten feet cubic, large wooden slats, plenty of parrot treats and perches inside, plus several toys... but it's not fooling Azure for a second. A prison with gifts waiting on the bunk remains a prison. Jeff notices her reaction and sighs. "I was afraid of this... we wanted her off the beach just in case she freaked out again, and I was sure she'd do it for pellet rifles." A weary head shake. "And even if she stayed calm, you can't raise a rifle to your shoulder and sight down it when there's a parrot occupying the area. Alex, do you think you can coax her in?" "I can try... I just don't know if she'll listen..." The door is open and waiting, but Azure isn't exactly heading inside on her own. "Azure..." She's not calm: she lets me stroke her feathers, but it's not doing anything to relax her. "Come on -- it's not so bad..." Which is probably the biggest lie I've told in the game. I coax her onto my left forearm, slowly extend it towards the cage... Ow! She's tightening her grip: the closer I get, the more she's clinging to me. "Azure -- in." She turns her head, looks at me with unblinking eyes, somehow conveying betrayal through bullseyes -- then flies into the cage. I stare after her, suppressing the surprise: I hadn't thought that would work. Jeff closes the door behind her, and Azure comes to a stop on the lowest perch, staring up at me with open hurt... "Okay." Jeff, very softly. "You'll get her back in a little while, Alex. She'll be okay here. We'll have someone keep an eye on her." This turns out to be Cameron, standing guard over the cage. "All right..." Frank's right. The word is horribly weak. "Sorry, Azure..." But it's the only one that's ever available. She watches me all the way down the path. I know because I keep glancing back to see if she's stopped staring yet. The others regard me with reactions ranging from acceptance to open suspicion as I return to the mat -- No, Connie, I didn't just receive a private lesson -- and wait while the challenge is set up. It's fairly basic as these things go: we get a selection of rifles with different weights and barrel lengths, a mat to stand on while we shoot, and three long metal tracks set up at fifteen, thirty, and forty-five feet out, working towards the ocean. (The targets are elevated six-inch paper circles.) We also get no practice time: just pick up rifles until one feels right, then stand and shoot. Jeff draws for order as the last targets are being set into their holders. It's clear this is going to be a fairly long challenge -- ten people to get through working one at a time, and the targets have to be replaced after each round. "First one up -- Trooper." Trooper takes about ten breaths to find a rifle he's happy with, and I can see the stares of envy coming from the others. Yes, he wasn't the best shot in the sniper tower, but this is still his field. Sure enough, he's lining up on a blue target immediately, trying for the fast three points -- -- and misses. Trooper sharply exhales, then looks over the rifle again. Jeff notices. "Something wrong?" "No." Trooper is not about to blame the equipment. "The balance is fine. I'm just not the world's best shot." He lines up on another blue and proves that he's far from the world's worst with a hit about a third of the way from the right edge. But once he tried for the first far target, he was locked in to trying for them every time, because they're the only way to make up points in a hurry after missing -- and he only gets two of them. Six points, and Trooper takes a seat in the waiting area, looking disgusted with himself. The luck of the draw puts Angela next, and she works to a more practical strategy: no one's probably going to get six blues, so working the yellows for a while might give her a secure position. As such, she targets the middle group until she's hit four of them with her first four shots -- and then tries for blue, winding up one for two with a total of eleven points. The smile she gives Trooper as she sits down at the other end of the bench is almost unbearably smug. Trooper doesn't react to it. Gardener takes his time aiming, but can't get much done: seven points, and the last three come from missing a yellow so badly that he hits a blue instead. The reaction doesn't take much time to set in. "Of all the Rewards to blow..." he mutters as he passes me. "There's no such thing as the curse of the TV set." Or maybe there's a curse involved in openly wanting one: Tony, who has to have decent hand-eye coordination, goes up to the shooting station declaring his intent to watch himself on a great set and wins the right to stand around in an electronics store watching himself destroy his chances: six shots at the blues, one hit -- plus one on a yellow that just happened to be in the way. Five points. Connie follows him, and she just laughs as she picks a rifle. "Does it count as quitting if I know I can't do it and try for the most distant targets anyway?" "Naw," Phillip assures her. "Just means you're counting on luck more than skill." Which is possibly the reason why her first three shots hit the blue circles -- and her next three all miss. "Nine points!" Phillip cheers. "Not bad for your first time!" Connie smiles all the way to the bench -- and it only gets wider when she sees me heading for the mat. "Remember, Alex -- straight ahead. You can draw a straight line with help: I'm almost sure you can shoot in one..." Wanna bet? No, turning around and letting six shots fly at the bench won't do anything except get me thrown out of the game: the plastic pellets probably won't even sting as much as the paintballs. Although it would probably be a more efficient use of ammo than trying for the targets, since I'm convinced I'm going to suck at this. I'd probably never even hit the bench. I might have a hard time with the sand... The rifle is oddly light in my hands: it doesn't even weigh as much as its puzzle counterpart. It's meant to look like wood, but it's mostly plastics: compressed air for propulsion. "This'll be quick," I tell the others, and aim for the yellows. If I miss the first two, I'll either switch to the reds or declare who-cares and go for the blues. I just don't want to go out on zero -- -- and don't: two yellows, one red (accident), one blue (even bigger accident). Eight points. I didn't beat Connie and I'm not getting the television, but at least I'm not going to be in last place. I didn't trust my luck enough to go for blue all six times, and since the only one I got was when I was trying to line up on a yellow, it was probably the right idea. This wasn't the time to say 'Whatever' and just go for full auto-spray with closed eyes. But I could have sold that television... I sit down next to Gardener, feeling oddly frustrated. He glances over. "Not bad for a first time." "It would have been if I hadn't nailed two by accident," I mutter. So much for the first individual Reward. I officially and on the camera-captured record suck. In front of a national audience. Maybe I'll get really lucky and the ratings will be horrible. Robin may be wishing the same thing: up, six shots, four miss, three points, down. Phillip -- and Angela topples from her perch. His first three shots all hit blue, the fourth misses, the fifth finds the range again, and -- "Shoot!" Which may not be a substitution for something else, although it's not a description either. "Didn't get it!" Partially true: he was trying for blue again and somehow got a red that was along the same general path. Still, it's thirteen points and the lead. Mary-Jane, who knows exactly which rifle she's going for: no sorting: just kneel, grab, straighten, and aim. "Gardener?" He looks up. "Remember when you said you should have blown up the assignments on the towers?" He does. "This is why." Three points. Six points. Nine. Twelve. Fifteen. And, with everyone staring, not one blink among nine contestants, one host, and a full field of challenge and camera staff, eighteen. Mary-Jane carefully returns the rifle to the stand and looks at Gardener again. "But I forgive you," she smiles. "It's not like you had enough time..." And comes over to sit down next to me. Gary alternates looks of shock at Mary-Jane and ones of bemusement at the targets as he approaches the mat -- then focuses on Jeff. "Let me know if this sounds familiar," he jokes. "Is there any point to having this challenge?" Jeff's lips twitch as Phillip grins. Angela's not too happy, and everyone remembers why: some are just more past it than others. "I'm not quitting, but I'm not that good, either..." Sure he isn't. This isn't something they covered at the secret agency academy. Or at least Gary missed the refresher course, because while he does try for the blues and nothing else, his strong effort is good for nothing more than third place: four hits, twelve points -- -- and as soon as his last shot misses, Jeff makes it official. "Mary-Jane! Wins Reward!" Mary-Jane doesn't jump off the bench to go running up to him. Instead, she stands calmly, smiling to herself, and walks to Jeff at a normal pace. "Your television is waiting at the bar," he tells her, "along with all the Bass you can drink, and a couple of bar snacks." "I may just stick with the coffee." Robin sighs at that, and it's more from longing than frustration. Mary-Jane glances back at the sound. "Sorry, guys -- overprotective father." Jeff raises an eyebrow at that. "Hopefully he won't mind your having company." Yes, we were all expecting that, and Mary-Jane's look of surprise is completely faked. "What's a good bar crawl without someone to make the rounds with? You can pick three people to go with you, but two of them will only be there for the first two hours -- after that, it's you and a friend." I was not expecting Gardener to get off the bench, drop to his knees, and start openly begging. He doesn't. He's more into negotiation. "One Pilates ball, Mary-Jane -- hardly used, but nicely broken in..." This amuses Jeff. "Bidding war? Okay, we have one Pilates ball. Anyone want to top that?" Phillip laughs. "I'm not giving up my luxury item -- you guys have fun settling this." I'm not either. Surrender my sketchbook for an unknown drink and what's probably some peanuts? Pass. Angela considers. "I won't give up my Go set, but I'll bid a few teaching sessions." And as it turns out, Tony is the one who throws himself off the bench and goes to his knees, arms spread out with palms facing the sky. "Take me, Mary-Jane! Take me now!" Angela stares at him. She's got plenty of company. Mary-Jane giggles at the display. "It really should be two people from each of the original tribes, counting me, just to be fair about it... Robin, I think you need the coffee more than anyone: come on up!" Robin leaps to her feet and sprints all the way to Mary-Jane's side. "Oh, my precious bitter brown god," she fake-moans. "My precious..." Two to go, and Mary-Jane goes right for her second Haraiki. "We haven't had much of a chance to talk -- Tony?" He's off his knees in a single heartbeat and seems to reach the mat within two. "Okay, one Turare... Gardener, you've been so desperate for a TV fix -- but you were also determined to dump the women on every loss..." Is she going to take me? She's always thought of me as her ally, even if she's never said it aloud. Maybe I can find out what the special drinks are after all... Gardener groans. "Okay, okay -- I'm being punished. I get it. Just grab someone else and go already." "No," Mary-Jane tells him. "Punishment was over after I watched your face when you thought you were going to miss your television chance." She grins. "Get up here already." I'm not going. I'm going to miss the Reward. She's supposed to be with me, and she's not taking me... There's no real reason that should hurt. Why does it? Jeff nods. "Who's staying the extra hour?" Angela and I could have called it in advance. "Tony," Mary-Jane completely unnecessarily says. "Good," Jeff tells her, "because that means Tony just got a twenty-inch high definition television." Tony's leap clears two feet on the vertical, most of it from sonic propulsion. "The rest of you are going to have to wait for another day. Head on back to camp -- I'll see you tomorrow. Mary-Jane, right down that path --" he points at one of the trails we used on the animal hunt "-- and follow the smell of hops." Five people head back to camp. Four go off to the Reward. I get to walk down Haraiki's trail and recover Azure, who keeps the accusing stare on me all the way to the cage. "I'm sorry," I tell her, and she doesn't look like she believes me. "Jeff made me do it -- I didn't want to lock you up..." Half-truth, and I could swear she's picking up on it. I didn't want to lock her away, but I didn't want a repeat of the puzzle scene either. I open the door and push my arm through. "Azure -- here?" She glares at me. Yes, she knows who the traitor is here. "Okay... I can't make you come... Connie would just have me thrown out for trapping you..." I walk away. She'll find her way back to camp when she's ready. Either that or I'm about to be treated to a long series of 'Over Here!' recitals... The weight hits my shoulder before I get twenty paces, and the headbutt comes a heartbeat after that. I sigh. "Okay -- I'll forgive you if you forgive me." I stop in the middle of the trail and move her to my forearm, the better to stroke her feathers. "I'd swear I was PMSing, but I never have much of it and I'm just starting through the actual part now... I wish Mary-Jane had taken me. You could have come, too..." I think I understand her move, strategically. Robin as the one mostly likely to flip from disgust with her original group, Gardener to sweeten that pot and get a point scored with the arguable leader of our own theoretical larger alliance, Tony to see what she can do given a little alone time to work in. I don't fit into that plan. From the strategy viewpoint, she did a good job, although it had the side effect of getting Angela mad at her. I'm inconsequential here. Another sigh. Azure sighs. "Would you cut that out?" She blinks at me. "I hated echo-mockers in elementary school, and now I have one living with me..." I'd sigh again, but I'd just be asking for trouble, especially since Azure didn't understand a word of that. "The vote's tomorrow... what am I going to do? Maybe I don't need Immunity, not if Haraiki, Angela, and Connie have another target picked out, but they won't tell me who that is unless I join them, and there's always a blindside or bounce chance... I need the idol..." My camera operator isn't signaling me: there's no hurry to get back. I can search the beach as much as I like. The resets on the challenge did take some time, but there's hours of daylight left. If I could just figure out where to look beyond 'the beach'. 'All things come together in time, but the place is limited.' I sit down on a large rock at the side of the trail. Azure hops off and wanders around, looking for whatever it is parrots seek out during quiet moments. The place... the beach, yes, but... Around and around, going over the words for what has to be several minutes, I seem to do better with these things when I'm not concentrating on them -- -- maybe... "Azure -- here!" She's on my arm in a second and we're moving for the beach, it's not that far away, we'll get there, we may even get there first if no one else has thought of this -- -- and we arrive. The challenge setup is gone: the target tracks were carried in quickly, they left just as fast. No more rifles. No more bench. No more shooting mat. But I could be right, I have a chance, because the tribe mat is still there, and that's where we all come together! Ten people in a single place! I drop to my knees next to it, Azure squawks at the sudden change and jumps off, I grab the edge and start rolling it up, it's heavier than I thought it would be, but it's coming, I've got a roll, the beach underneath it is exposed -- -- and smooth-looking. Untouched. Of course, I just dragged a mat across it: that would even out any rough bumps in the sand. Change position. Stay on my knees, get Azure down so I'll have full range of movement, dig... ...nothing. I've been over the entire mat area: it's easy to see where the edges are. I've dug down a foot across the whole zone: it couldn't be buried too deep if they were going to place it here. There's no idol. They left the mat in place because we'll be using it tomorrow. I got it wrong. Slowly, I move the sand back -- it still seems to smooth out faster than it came up -- then replace the mat before taking a once-around the beach, checking the vegetation. And then a few more minutes digging where the shooting mat was -- still nothing. Either I've misread the clue, or someone beat me to it. I think I've misread the clue. Haraiki's idol is still out there somewhere, maybe even in our camp as the merge site -- and I don't know where ours is. Wasted time. Wasted effort. Immunity will be up for grabs tomorrow. But I thought I could get my hands on it today, and I was wrong... I recover Azure and wearily trudge back towards camp. A special drink for me. Hooray. It was probably tap water. -----------------------------------------------------------------   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

AyaK 3603 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Thong Contest Judge" 09-12-06, 07:40 PM (EST) 7. "RE: Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horribly Awkward: Part V" This episode is getting so long that I wanted to highlight this post from the East Coast Spoiler Thread all the way up the page: {It's also kind of interesting that Alex was thinking about apologizing to Desmond after that complete blindside at the vote... and that Gary (and Burnett) just made a special point of saying that she was the smarter of the two. Which we know, but having it brought up like this is interesting. Kind of makes me think Alex may have an failure to fire on her synapses for this episode, or at some point in the future.} Alex's wrong read of the idol clue (and her resultant discouragement at the end of this update) just made me think about that again...   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Estee 22510 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 09-13-06, 10:36 PM (EST) 8. "Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horribly Awkward: Conclusion." LAST EDITED ON 09-22-06 AT 09:43 AM (EST) After ----------------------------------------------------------------- The clearest sign of the decline of literacy in the United States: a long, blaring honk followed by a scream of "What did you do with the body, Cole?" and the screech of tires as the car accelerated up the hill. Which was in turn followed by a beat-up Ford with a higher register on its horn, "Everyone knows you did it!" and an even faster getaway, just in case I pulled a gun. In about six hours, they'd see just how safe they would have been if I'd had one... Total number of local people who had somehow managed to pass their driver's license test without enough reading comprehension ability to register the part of the article where it said Matt was still alive (and had been briefly sighted in Sao Paulo Tuesday night): twenty-eight. Auto-password functions had helped a few thousand more get onto the Internet to send in their horribly-spelled accusations of murder. Most of the false names were already in my bodily harm and soul-scorcher files. No great surprise. It hadn't been one of my better weeks. After CNN had found me coming out of the police station, FOX News had decided to haunt the sidewalk outside my apartment building until they could get the chance for their own sound bite. Once I came out, they switched to following me for most of the day, sticking a microphone under my chin at opportune moments while asking me questions that I would either need to be a multi-millionaire to answer or just completely insane to even consider -- then repeating them six to twenty-five times. I'd given them a whole host of things they could use. "Can you spare some extra customs forms? I'm out" had been a classic, while "Hang on, I have exact change" would lead off the story, and they could always close with "Excuse me -- this is a bathroom." (A clear admission of guilt if anyone had ever heard one.) Add that to the renewed stares from the neighbors, the sudden increase in noise pollution wherever I went, and the increasingly frequent appearance of the double-S marks -- I was now starting to scan the streets for people wearing the latest gang color and insignia, nothing yet... ...and then there had been the letter from Sybil's parents. Handwritten, mailed overnight express, prepaid envelope enclosed for a reply. They still had friends in the area, they'd heard about the story within minutes of its official release. They'd always known what happened, had known from the first minute that Sybil had been telling the truth about the rape. They wished I'd hit him, beaten him to death with the postal rate chart, mailed the body to parts unknown. But they were proud of me for saying what so few people had ever said. They felt I'd stood up for their daughter, vindicated her in the public eye. I'd told the truth, and in doing so, I'd driven Matt out of the country. He wasn't in jail, but he might go there if he ever returned. He wasn't dead, their true wish -- but his homeland might be closed to him forever. It was a little piece of revenge, and after all those years, they'd take whatever they could get... They wished Sybil had been a better friend to me in life -- as strong a friend as I was to her in death. They hoped I'd win. They were looking into getting tickets to the Reunion, and if they could, they'd see me there. I hadn't written them back yet. I didn't know what to say. Yes, I'd defended Sybil in the process of defending myself, but Sybil had never been my friend: the closest we'd ever been was in the moments when she was sitting on my legs so Cyndi could work my torso without fear. She'd refused my help when I'd tried to give whatever weak effort I could, words that wouldn't have changed anything. I'd said their daughter had been raped: that was the truth and everyone had known it, even if so few had been willing to say it. But I hadn't been vindicating Sybil. I'd been trying to get rid of Matt. Not to another country, although I wasn't exactly complaining about the results -- just saying whatever I had to in order to get him out of the post office and off my back forever. And I couldn't tell them any of that. I didn't know what I could tell them... And then there was the person I couldn't talk to yet at all. {I hope you see this IV} Alex, What part of 'Keep your head down' do you not understand? I know you were trying to get rid of the guy, I don't blame you for that, but you have to remember that the media has you under scrutiny! Just because you're at the absolute bottom of the celebrity list doesn't mean they're not going to have a slow news day where they're willing to scrape that low in the barrel -- especially your local press, for whom you're a much larger story. And then there's the ratings factor to consider. I don't know if you've been following the Nielsens for this season, but if not, here's the latest: Borneo is on the verge of being eclipsed. Viewers are coming back who haven't been seen for several islands, and they want all their friends to come with them. Suddenly, you and the others are ascending that list. You may wind up with the semi-status Richard and the others enjoyed after the original finished airing. You may pass them. And that means you are being watched, not just for ninety minutes every Thursday night, but by everyone around you, just to see if you slip up... Look -- I'm not mad. So far, this counts as 'no harm done'. You've been cleared, even if some extra-ignorant parties can't figure that part out. And you seem to have gotten rid of a rapist: kudos. But this could have been a lot worse. If this had gone to an actual fight, on camera... I don't even want to think about it. You probably would have been cleared unless the lawyer actions got extra-expensive, but the explosion would have been a lot louder. Right now, the show is backing you. They will continue to do so, because your story is still underway and as far as they're concerned, it's about to start hitting the really interesting parts. Everyone watching Trina's cards -- and her website may now be getting more hits than yours -- will have some check marks to look at very soon now. You have the production company and network behind you. And you have me. Don't doubt that for a moment. But you have to be careful. You have to stay low. And you cannot get into trouble. Unfortunately, it seems to look for you. Suddenly, the Reunion feels like it's a very long way off... Not exactly helpful. Trouble did look for me: fine, we'd established that. What was I supposed to do about it? Move to Canada for the duration? Sorry, the show airs there. Flee the continent entirely? No problem: given my finances, I could start swimming right away! I was trying to stay in one piece until this thing was over: after that, I'd probably have even more consequences to deal with and could at least get to fail in one grouped effort! And the bad part was coming... I sighed -- no echo -- shifted my grip on the bags, and kept going up the hill. The detergent was getting heavier, and my jacket was providing no resistance to the wind. Aiding and abetting, actually. Every week, it gets colder. It feels like we're barely having a fall season here. If winter is coming this fast, this harsh... "At least you have your frustration to keep you warm," Jeff pointed out. I'd rather have my torch back. Another honk: no words screamed through the open window this time, but the blare continued until the car crested the rise and vanished. What am I supposed to say to Sybil's parents? "What they need to hear." Another, more weary sigh, and the detergent gained six pounds. "I'm not very good at that..." At this rate, I was going to wind up speaking aloud to myself in front of the Reunion cameras. Onwards and upwards, for as long as it took. The bad part was coming. The cards were coming. The eighth one might have even been played... ...or it might be waiting in the wings, the worst one of all... The game wasn't over yet. The game didn't end until the Reunion finished airing. Or maybe the game would never be over: thirty-nine days echoing forever, a loop of events replaying eternally in my head until sanity and I parted ways, or at least until OLN stopped airing the reruns. I'd write to Sybil's parents before the show, mail it in the morning. It was something else to think about. Something other than what would be reviewed on tonight's episode: disconnected, chopped up, sewn back together until it had the illusion of a coherent whole. I had to watch. I just didn't want to. The next episode was going to be worse. ---------------------------------------------------------------- During ---------------------------------------------------------------- {Hint to anyone watching this off a recording device later: put on Girls With Guns. Turn it all the way up, and play it loud.} {Trooper's probably looking at a demotion when he gets home -- The Cop Who Couldn't Shoot Straight.} {Apparently Connie only had enough blessings left for half the pellets. She should have paced herself more on the food.} {Interesting selection by Mary-Jane there -- we're looking at strategy all the way. She and Alex may have even agreed not to take each other on Rewards for a while, just to make it look like their connection isn't that strong.} {Our Reward foursome heading through the jungle -- Tony says he forgot something, dashes off, returns a few seconds later with one of each target color, says he thought Mary-Jane would want the souvenirs. she giggles and accepts them.} {More nailed-together wood for the bar, but with a generator somewhere out of sight: we've got Bass and plenty of it, beer mugs, bar stools -- nice: those may be from the mansion -- coffee all over the place and Robin may make the show into a Mature rating all by herself if she makes that sound one more time, Coke again, some kind of unsweetened fruit soda that I've never seen before...} {Mary-Jane leads a toast to the game -- she's sticking with coffee: Tony is the only one on the Bass so far, although Robin's mixing a little of it into her dark roast just to see what she gets -- and everyone settles back. Robin chatting with Gardener -- seems to be enjoying herself. Lots of eye-roaming on her part. Gardener doesn't seem to have noticed.} {Break in the action here -- out to -- Alex? Great -- she may not be PMSing, but Azure is. Maybe it's something to do with a pre-egg release.} {Again, why do we need to see this? Maybe Alex thinks she could be blindsided or bounced, but she's the only one.} {Here's why -- and there she goes! Two idols in a row? Let's see if Alex can set the record!} {The tribe mat? Sure -- that makes sense! Everyone comes together there -- I think she's got this!} {...or not...} {*sigh* And to the list of Alex's semi-expressions, add frustration, depression, and self-doubt. She really thought she had it. I really thought she had it.} {Putting the sand back -- sensible, I guess: might as well have someone else waste time -- and off she goes.} {Meanwhile, back at the Reward, Mary-Jane has conceded the channel selection on the exceedingly nice TV to Gardener and he's watching something we're not allowed to see, because it's not CBS. But he's clearly having fun with it.} {Tony's starting to get more than a little drunk here -- without Angela to regulate his intake, he's really slamming them back.} {Robin & Gardener leave. Mary-Jane trying to get some alliance information out of Tony, asking what he thinks about Angela leading them. Tony's drunkenly okay with it. "Sheee's my girl... she's got a plan... love to have you with us, 'cause then it's two gorgeous girls, and that's even more fun..." Which kind of makes you wonder if he knows which question he's answering. Probably not the one he hopes she asked.} {M-J continuing to try for information... Tony likes her better than he does Alex, Alex is too much of a -- tease? That's right, a tease. Because she goes around flaunting those -- look, I could say it without the auto-censor kicking it, but I just don't want to, live with it -- and then she doesn't even want to give out a little hug. Mary-Jane's trying not to laugh here and doing pretty well, so she actually gets to tell Tony that Alex just isn't a hugger without cracking up. Tony still likes Mary-Jane a lot better, because she knows how to show off and not make a guy feel bad for having looked later...} {Maybe a little too much Bass here. Tony's talking, but he can't stay on one topic long enough to give anything away. About all Mary-Jane is getting from this is that Tony wants her, and Angela wants her, although not in the same way because Tony's really okay with Angela wanting her, and you have to wonder what part of his body said that. Menage-a-DAW, anyone?} {Reward time is finally up, and let's hope Tony gets to see this shot one day so he can deny it ever appened...} ---------------------------------------------------------------- I'm not even halfway up the challenge side of the Cliffs before unwelcome company arrives. "Were you searching for the idol, or are you trying to pretend you're the slowest person on the island so you'll look like even less of a challenge threat?" Gardener is coming up from behind. I guess it took a lot longer to take apart and reassemble the beach than I'd thought. Great. Maybe if I slow down even more, he'll take the hint and pass me. Not that I really care right now. Gardener can't bring me down any more than I already am. "Idol hunt, okay? It failed. I don't have it." Go. Away. As if he's going to take that hint. Actually, he probably took it, understood it for what it was, and disregarded it, because he falls into step with me. "For some strange, probably stupid reason, I actually believe you... Where were you looking?" Since it wasn't there, I have absolutely no problems with telling him this. Haraiki can waste time looking in that spot -- but if I can't have the idol, someone on Turare needs it to help keep me safe. "Under the new tribe mat. We all come together there -- it felt like it fit Haraiki's clue." Slowly, he nods. "Hell, I can see that... when did you get that one?" "When I was on my way back from getting Azure," who spreads her wings slightly upon hearing her name. No point in telling him I had a more general idea the day before, because it was still wrong. "But I dug down a foot -- they wouldn't have put it deeper than that, you have to be able to recover it pretty fast -- and nothing. I don't have any idea on our clue, either." Maybe I'm supposed to try and stand on my head, and then my camera operator will give me the idol. The second action has the smallest chance in the world of happening: the first, pretty much none. Gardener shrugs. "It wasn't a bad idea." And a snort. "As long as we're at it, don't bother trying by the Council set. I tried to get there this morning, because that's another place where we all come together. I figure as long as we're supposed to be one tribe now, anyone can look for either idol. But it's just what Jeff said on the first challenge day -- as soon as I got close enough to see it, my cameraman stopped me." Fair enough: we've saved each other some time. That one hadn't occurred to me, and I'm sort of impressed that Gardener thought of it -- but again, it was wrong, so what was the point? "I guess we're narrowing the field. Just something over ninety-nine percent of the entire island to go." The now-traditional snort. "I'd better work fast -- I need this more than you do. If I'm not their primary, it's Trooper, and if he wins Immunity, I can start counting my votes right now." Probably true. "Connie said there were greater sins than mine -- she dropped back to say a few insults on our way to the challenge -- and that could mean you." This seems to amuse him. "For calling her out? Huh. So much for the truth as a sacrament." We're approaching the crest of the Cliffs. "Gardener?" He glances down. "I think you need to know what's been going on." I was planning on telling most of what I'm thinking about now to Gary, but -- -- the left side of his mouth briefly twitches up. "Because you're with Turare? Yeah, right, the whole tribal loyalty thing..." "If you don't want to know who's told me what," I shoot back, "then fine. Like you said, it's your rear on the line more than it is mine." We still need Gardener, we need his strength to keep Immunity on our side of the divide -- but if he thinks he can do it on his own, then he's welcome to try it. I pick up speed. He's got longer legs. "Alex, wait -- look -- damn it, I've still got something of a headache from Angela --" And one of his very rare sighs. "Sorry, okay? Look, I've had more time to think since Desmond got bounced -- can't blame you for saving yourself, and hell, if you'd bounced me -- Gary pointed that out: you could have dumped any of us -- if you've got information, I'll listen. It's the 'stuff I need to hear' category again." I look up at him. He seems to be sincere. Hooray for Gardener's incredible seeming abilities. But... "Where's Robin?" We don't need the interruption. "Haraiki's camp -- she said she wanted plums." He shrugs. "No point following her -- she's not my worry for getting the idol, and I don't see the clues working out that way. We can just go a little down the Tribal Council path and talk there if you're worried about her coming back." That's fine: I nod, and we walk there in renewed silence, ducking about fifty paces in before beginning the briefing. Gardener stands quietly and listens to the whole thing, which consists of Angela's approach to me plus what I know of what was said to Mary-Jane, along with a bit of what Connie might have let slip. He nods when I finish. "I think the big question here is: how deep is Angela's playbook? She needs six votes, period. She probably doesn't care much about how she gets them. She's playing Tony, I don't have any doubt there now -- but is she using Phillip at the same time? She may be strong with Haraiki and just looking to use the women thing as a hook to get one of you two. Or she's sincere, Tony's the biggest victim here, and the females are Final Five. But if it's the first, then as soon as this vote is over, you and Mary-Jane are disposable parts." I nod. "And I think she's promising Robin Final Two just because she recognizes her as the biggest flip threat." "Makes sense," Gardener agrees. "There's a problem with that, though -- Robin either hasn't seen it or thinks she can beat it. But I'd hate to go against her in a final Immunity based on endurance and balance -- not versus a damn professional dancer. She could win that -- and Angela's got to know it." Looking as if his headache is back in full force, "Angela knows a lot of damn things, half of which she's only telling herself she knows... That's not a blue state, that's going off the rainbow into ultraviolet." "So you're a conservative?" What a shock. Never saw that coming. Hold the phone, stop the presses, and alert the media. Azure perks up. "Hold The Senate! Keep The House!" We both stare at her, and it's a few seconds before I can finish with a sarcastic, "Gee. I never would have guessed." Although I did figure out Azure's secondhand party leanings a while back. He groans. "And suddenly we're at the damn political votes... yeah, and you're a very light shade of liberal: I picked that up without your ever saying anything about it. There's an old saying you've probably never heard -- if you're not a liberal when you're young, you have no heart, and if you don't become a conservative when you're older, you have no brain. I know you have a brain. I'm still trying to find your heart." Another snort, deeper and more amused this time. "But I am not single-handedly responsible for a couple of thousand deaths any more than Mary-Jane's going around asking teenage girls scared to death of their own skin to solve the problem with a razor blade across the wrists. I happen to think the primary job of government is to stay out of people's lives as much as possible. That's what being a conservative used to mean. Don't ask me how the hell we got where we are now." With direct focus on me through his usual slits of vision, "And call it a hunch, but somehow, I think you like it when the paperwork doesn't pile up, too." There's absolutely no response possible to that except for the obvious one. "I hate paperwork." I've had a government effectively running my life, thank you. It very much sucked. "What are you hearing?" Gardener leans back against a trunk: the wood seems to bend slightly under his weight. "Gary's had Connie talking to him, but it's pretty easy-going stuff -- are you sure you're not better off with us, don't you want to be with people who are more like you -- nothing about where they'll let him finish. No one's come up to me -- why would they? Put me and Phillip on the same team, see if anyone else wins something strength-based again... Tony's been playing nice with Trooper, but Trooper thinks it's a plant. So yeah -- the major push is on you and Mary-Jane." Slowly, "And what are you planning on doing about it? Because I can work the math, Alex: if Angela's telling the truth about wanting the women together plus Tony, and Phillip works with them because of his tribe loyalty, then I'm looking at an unshakable seven-three, and my rear is out the door with absolutely nothing I can do to stop it." We've been potentially honest with each other this whole time. Which doesn't necessarily mean it has to continue. "I don't know. With what she's been saying to Mary-Jane, I don't think her offer to me is completely solid -- she can't keep her story straight. I want to beat the tie and still be here when there's five left, but I'd rather beat it from the purple side." I'm still thinking about Angela's offer, and you know it. He's a little dubious on this one, because he does know it. "Sure... you'd toss a Final Three offer that might be good to take your chances on who can make fire faster." "Why not? You're pretty good at making fire. So's Trooper." It's not an answer. Maybe he'll accept it anyway. No, his face shows that he hasn't -- but he's not going to push for the real one now. "As long as I've got you here -- the current primary is Tony." "Not Angela?" It's something of a surprise. I'd thought Tony or Phillip -- always work physical when you're thinking long-term threats, mental challenges aren't as common -- but in this case, we have a clear leader to cut out. Gardener shakes his head. "Because in case you haven't guessed, we can't get a men's alliance." More than a little frustrated there. "Not that I was seriously considering it --" sure he wasn't "-- but Phillip's locked in, and Tony's going to do whatever Angela tells him to -- it's easy to see who's got the power in that relationship, even if he's blind to it. The one who loves least controls things, and he's at least got a deep crush on her -- I could see it around the fire last night when he was watching her scream at me. Didn't follow a word of it, but he was so proud to be with someone who could go past him. Tony's the biggest threat to win most of the physical challenges. Cut him out, she loses a lot of her power base, and then you can deal with her any time. If he's got Immunity, then Phillip -- eat the strong, especially when they're not me." I can almost call off the timing on the snort. "And if Phillip gets the idol -- he's brighter than I thought he was -- then Angela. I'm not too worried about her for competitions -- we hold off on her now and win, there's time later." I wonder if I'm being lied to. Get rid of Angela, and there aren't enough women to align into a power block. Tony would drift in the wind -- no way to tell where he'd win up... Gardener may have decided I've already gone over to Angela's alliance, and he's making sure I have bad information to bring back. I can't really test it, either -- but I can at least see which lie he's got ready. "You don't want to get rid of Angela just to eliminate the possibility of a women's group?" He shrugs. "Gender wars are dead." Flavorless, neutral. "Turare versus Haraiki, remember? Besides, I'd rather have Angela on the jury -- Tony would sell his vote for a wink, a smile, and a motel room after. Angela should at least respect strategy. And if it's two of us at the end, Phillip's vote will be fair." As lies go, he could have come up with something a lot more creative. "I guess we're done, then -- let's head back for camp. Unless you want to try for the idol again." Gardener glances at our camera operators. "Can't make another try for the Council set, and I'm convinced it's not there anyway -- it's not on the beach -- no, let's go get some food." He straightens up and heads for the main trail. "So there was nothing to eat at the bar?" Beer and pretzels, and now Gardener's sworn off salt, really he has. I follow him. "Some peanuts, some popcorn -- that reminds me." He reaches into a pocket. "Too bad it's you, but smuggling's traditional -- can't stop it now..." Several unsalted peanuts are offered. Yeah, too bad it's me, because I'm accepting the offer. "Thanks, I guess..." It's a pleasant change of pace for my taste buds. Onto the beach trail: Gardener gets ahead of me, then glances back. "You're going to check the Council area anyway, aren't you?" "What's the point? If it was there, then you've got it." Truth. He groans. "There's worse things... come on. We'd better be ready for when the others come back. From what I saw of Tony, this is going to be a long night." Really? "Why? What was Tony doing?" "Guess." ----------------------------------------------------------------- {Nightfall, and Mary-Jane finally carries Tony into camp. That's right: carries. She's pretty much holding him up by one arm and he's singing every song he knows, which turns out to mean 'the national anthem', and if we're considering banning flag-burning because it weakens our patriotism, then we've got to do something about letting an innocent anthem fall into this man-child's vocal cords. Tony is drunk off his ass, and Angela wants to know what Mary-Jane did to her baby! -- although not in those words. Mary-Jane tells her that she let Tony act like an adult and make his own decision, here's the one he made, and Angela can have the honor of helping him walk it off.} {And here we have Angela on the beach, but Tony may not have noticed because Mary-Jane and Angela are very close in height, so there wasn't that much of a drop-off when the burden was transfered... Angela's walking Tony up and down the sand, up and down, he's still singing and gawd help us all, he knows the second verse. Oh, yes -- showmances: what a great idea. Just look at Angela's face. There are a lot of places she'd rather be right now, and one of them is Sequesterville.} {Mary-Jane, Gardener, and Robin with peanuts for everyone. Mary-Jane tells Alex they had some Izze for her -- the fruit soda, I've had some, it's just juice with mineral water -- and Alex shrugs and says "Maybe next Reward." Mary-Jane gets a confessional here -- she hopes Alex understand her strategy in the Reward picks, and she'll try to get her in another time, plus she'll talk to her later. Sounds a little worried there.} {Gardener talking about the television broadcast -- of course he went to a sports network and got the headlines. Nothing about his beloved Wolverines, but he can't believe the Tigers and Mets are both in first place. Neither can Alex: she tells him it's the biggest lie he's told all game, and he protests that it's not the one he wanted to get away with...} {Back to Angela, and a confessional shot at the far edge of the beach -- you just can see Tony fast asleep about forty feet away. "This is starting to work. I've got a plan, I may have people to help me carry it out -- all I have to do is wait for tomorrow so I can see who I'm voting for." And here comes the hubris again: goodbye Angela.} {Goodbye, Angela. Goodbye, Gardener -- make up your mind...} {Some night shots -- Tony tossing, Tony turning, Tony falls off the pallet and lands on Angela, Tony's hangover can't take the noise of the scream and he staggers off to throw up, tries to make it out of the clearing and doesn't get any further than the edge of the fire pit...} {Day Twenty-One, and just for the sake of comedy, Tony is going to read the poem, first thing in the morning. We get to see bits of all five failure takes before he finally gets out the lines, which are "All things come to those who wait, so wait around and see. Patience is a virtue -- Immunity a treat." 'Treat' and 'see'. Shoot me. No, really. Shoot me now. Don't even bother waiting until you get home!} {Back to Challenge Beach we go, and here's the setup: ten heavy, stiff camouflage blanket/covers lying over shallow depressions in the ground. I do some deer hunting -- this stuff doesn't work very well for staying concealed, because it doesn't do a thing for your scent, it smells wrong all by itself, plus in this case, it's on top of sand. Everyone's looking at it, figuring they're in for a long one.} {Camera view from inside a pit... Jeff will be looking at half-buried bodies, but we'll see faces.} {Here comes Amanu -- time to see who wants this most.} ----------------------------------------------------------------- Jeff points at the blankets, which are holding the shape of very slight domes. "When I give the signal, you will crawl under them. You'll have one minute to find a position you're comfortable with. You can lie on your back, side, or front, but you must be lying down. Once the minute is up, you cannot move. No changing position, no fidgeting. You can talk, you can breathe. That's it." Just to us, "We have a camera in each area, and people will be monitoring you. As soon as you go over the line -- you're out." And on the record, "The last person who remains still -- is guaranteed to still be in the game for three more days, and will have a one-in-nine shot at a million dollars. You know what you're playing for. Want to see it?" We 'Yes, Jeff!' him until he's satisfied. "While we could use it for the rest of the season, the Immunity Spear has been retired. Now you want to have this." He removes the cover from the vertical stand -- and we're looking at a necklace, the cord a braid of leather sinews, claws and fangs from a dozen animal species dangling from the lower half. It's among the ugliest Immunity necklaces I've ever seen -- but it's somehow appropriate for our group. And no matter how ugly it is, it remains the most desirable thing on the beach. "If you hold this, you cannot be voted out at Tribal Council. I don't have to ask if everyone knows what that means." No. He doesn't. "Any questions?" Connie. "Are we going to be offered any -- temptations?" She seems to like the thought. Robin can't resist. "Connie -- temptations? I thought you'd sworn off that sort of thing..." Connie glares at Robin, which gives me a breather. Jeff's reply is the expected one. "You'll have to wait and see." He looks over our line. "It would be interesting to see who's feeling that secure in the middle of a tie..." In other words, yes, there will be temptations, and we've all figured that out, so let's move on. "Anyone else?" No -- but Angela's sweating, and while the day is fairly hot (and will be getting worse under the blankets), there isn't enough heat to produce that reaction. I think Angela may be claustrophobic. If so, one down... "Okay," Jeff finally concludes after the group remains silent (beyond the little splats produced by Angela's sweat falling to the mat). "And in case it wasn't clear: you have to stay awake. Take a nice sauna nap, and you're out. If we see anyone pass out from the heat, they're done. This is all about personal endurance and willpower. Pick a pit and get ready to move: I'll let you know when your minute starts." We do. I choose one near the center of the group -- I want to hear everything that's going on. Gardener is on my left, Angela on my right. "All right -- sixty seconds. Go." I push my way under the blanket, feet-first, and can feel the temperature increase on every inch of bare skin as it slides in. We were told to be in our swimsuits for this one, and changed in the bathroom before leaving camp. Everyone was expecting something to do with holding balance over water. It was everyone's day to be one hundred percent dead wrong. Sliding in, lift the blanket here, get all the way under -- -- dark. Quiet. Stifling. The sand has been wet down to make sure it held the shape: it's humid, too. (The blanket holds the dome shape on its own.) I think about closets, and being told how bad I was, and the sound of clicking locks. But that was years ago, and I'm doing this to myself. That power over me is gone. And there were times when I did it to myself then, too, just for the quiet... I lie on my back and try to still my muscles. Nothing but breathing, blinking, and talking. Just wait it out. I can wait to be freed. I waited for nearly eighteen years once. Sounds of shuffling, conducting poorly through the sand -- a couple of people are told to take the same position in a different orientation for the benefit of the cameras, Gardener grumbles his way through the redirectioning -- silence. "Time starts now," Jeff says, and we wait. It's very hot down here. I hope sweat doesn't stream into my eyes, then close them for extra protection. I think about Gary. We'd gotten a brief chance to talk during the morning water walk. Yes, Connie was being friendly to him, he'd tried to bring me up a couple of times and she'd just said it was sweet how he thought I was salvageable and then changed the subject, he was still my ally, it was best if we didn't both fight with her, he wasn't going to vote with her. I think about the doubt I felt on every word. Mary-Jane. Waking me up in the middle of the night to apologize for not taking me. She couldn't sleep from thinking about it, so I wasn't going to sleep either. I'd told her it was okay, it was good strategy. We'd moved out to the beach for a minute, she'd told me about Robin just enjoying the coffee and not really making any major sounds of discontent, no swing indications beyond what I'd first seen, apologized again. I'd accepted it as many times as necessary to get some rest. Connie, always glaring, snide words whenever she passed nearby. Certainly I was an orphan, but perhaps there was another reason why my mother would have given me up. Perhaps she hadn't seen it coming. It might have been something simpler, like my being the product of rape. Or incest. Or both... ...a gasp to the right, repeated gulps for air that doesn't seem to be coming -- "Angela's out," Jeff announces. "Four minutes, twenty-nine seconds." I listen to Angela picking herself out of the pit, breathing heavily. "Nine left." Waiting in the dark, waiting for the click of a lock that can take hours to come when you don't know what hours are any more. Not much sweat so far: I'm fairly good with heat, worse with cold, always bundling up in the winter, looking forward to drawing times because it's an excuse to turn the heat up, sometimes walking to the college and working in an empty classroom when I can't afford even those brief moments. Waiting. "...we're half an hour in," Jeff tells us. "How's everyone feeling? Phillip?" I can hear the grin. "Sort of like hiding in a haystack, but less itchy." I wish he hadn't said that. My scalp just started to itch. "Gardener?" Jeff's checking on the ones most at risk first. Snorting is allowed within the movement guidelines. "I could have lived without the itch crack." Actually, I could trash-talk him there, but it would just make me itchier. Robin's apparently decided to be the pest, and starts by invoking one. "Lice, lice, lice, lice..." I grit my teeth. She stops a few seconds later. Jeff softly chuckles. "Tony?" "I could have lived without the last three mugs," Tony groans. "It's good stuff until twelve hours later..." Angela, from her position on the bench, has very little sympathy. "I could have lived without the far end of your vocal range. If you get the million -- singing lessons." Agreement all around, although no one's voting it to Tony just for that. "What happened, Angela?" Because Jeff's still waiting for that footage to come back, really he is. "Tony got drunk." Completely disgusted. "We had the anthem for about an hour. Various fight songs for a while. I think I was told to charge about forty times." Tony has enough strength to laugh, but very, very softly. "Sorry -- I'll make it up to you, promise..." "Sounds like the first temptation should be headache medicine," Jeff decides. "Anyone want to come out right now for a twenty-four count bottle of Tylenol?" Gardener takes a second to consider it. "It would make it a lot easier to listen to Angela's side of political things -- but pass." And still more seedlings of Council material are poking through the sand. "Care to elaborate on that, Gardener?" "Tonight," Gardener decides. "Maybe I'll go into it during my exit speech." Waiting, waiting for freedom, temporary because there's always someone waiting to lock me away again, any excuse will do, sometimes the only excuse is 'You must have done something, and just because I don't know what it is doesn't mean you shouldn't be punished.' Waiting for the pain to go away, knowing it'll come back. Waiting for release. Behind my eyelids, lights flash, move, fade. Some of them look like silver and copper. None of them look like daylight. "Next temptation," Jeff eventually announces. "Eight ounces of ground coffee beans and a battery-powered drip machine. Personal item -- which puts Robin and Connie out at forty-five minutes." There's a brief pause while the challenge staff reviews. "Robin was out first -- she gets the coffee." Connie takes several deep breaths. "I couldn't have stayed down there any longer anyway." And wasn't at risk to begin with. I can hear Robin's brief laugh. "Just waiting for a good one." Sure, why not? Robin's as safe as anyone. Once we knew temptations would be involved, it was just a question of holding out for something she wanted -- -- and Jeff chuckles. "Remember what I said about Rewards potentially costing you?" The pause is just to set up the punchline. "Tony's fallen asleep." Phillip laughs, and we all listen to the sounds of Tony being roused and removed from his pit. "Six left." And the primary target is now in the line of fire... Mary-Jane goes out at fifty-seven minutes and collects a makeup kit. (The Rewards have to fit everyone. The temptations don't.) Gary rolls his shoulders to get rid of a developing cramp at an hour and twelve: out. Jeff's decided to check on me. "Alex, how safe do you feel for tonight's vote?" "I never feel safe." Waiting. Jeff tries logic. "Right now, it's you, Gardener, Phillip, and Trooper. All three of them have to be considered greater threats by any potential alliance that doesn't specifically include them than you would be." I take a moment to dig through the sentence, then try blindside logic. "Or there could be a one-time-only alliance of nine and I'm the only one outside it." My trains of thought always seem to lead to Jeff's bemusement station. "Which means you wouldn't come out for -- a steak dinner? Sixteen-ounce Porterhouse, baked potato, green beans, and four bottles of the drink we had waiting for you?" Phillip groans. "You're evil, Jeff. It's a good kind of evil and it's fun to watch from a distance, but up this close, it's real evil." I'm not Haraiki's primary target. I can't be... "Pass." "Okay," Jeff tells me, "but that one's waiting for the next person to emerge." Which turns out to be Phillip, at an hour and twenty-nine minutes: leg cramp. From Jeff's commentary, he winds up limping all the way to the bench, stretching out the muscle after he sits down. It loosens up after some work. "Interesting -- three original Turare left." My eyelids are tightly pressed shut. I can feel the sweat drops on top of them, and the irritation of the salt. Always standing or sitting before, not enough room to lie down, but always clothing around to wipe away tears until the day tears stopped coming. And then waiting for tears to come again, wondering where they'd gone, but only when my eyes were irritated or if I was sick, nothing from sadness because it also was the day misery stopped being something to cry over... I don't want to think about this. I've never tried to avoid it: things happened, they were part of my life, I couldn't stop them. I don't have to continually revisit them, either. Acknowledge, yes, but then move on and do what has to be done. But it's in the quiet moments that they sneak up on me, when there's nothing else to break through the silence that I hear the words again. Daylight would make this go away. Night would make this go away. Anything but this stifling dark. "An hour and forty-five minutes," Jeff announces, and his voice has never been so welcome, just for being a voice. "Trooper, how does a lobster dinner sound to you? Rice pilaf and wine come with it, plus chocolate cake." "Like the airline dinner on the way to Sequesterville," Trooper decides. "I need this, Jeff." You could almost think Jeff wants to sigh. "Repeat that and say 'on the way out'," he requests. "There are some things we still can't put into the broadcast." Trooper does. "I take it you're not feeling secure." "I've got to think it's me or Gardener for Haraiki's votes," Trooper replies. "Whichever one of us doesn't have the necklace is getting five." "So it's still breaking down along tribal lines?" Jeff, exercising a primary job skill by asking a question he already knows the answer to. "What do you think?" Gardener's getting his oar in. "Before, we were all fighting for a position on the team. Now we're still working as squads -- we just know there's only one starting spot on the roster left open." I'm getting a bad sensation in my lower abdomen. It feels like a strong cramp starting up. I usually don't get strong cramps. Blood, yes, of course, but pain, not that often. I usually don't spend nearly two hours lying still in hot sand either. I can't even close my hands to brace for it... "So you're convinced it's five-five tonight?" Jeff again. "It's no guarantee," Trooper says, "but if it does go that way and I don't have the necklace, I think I'm looking at one of the fives --" -- it hits, I manage to keep my eyes from flying open, but my legs act without consent and against my will, curl up -- "-- Alex moved," Jeff announces. "Out at one hour, forty-seven minutes, with a lobster dinner." Damn it! Why doesn't this game come with menstrual rules? I stay under a little longer, waiting for the cramp to subside somewhat, then clear the sweat from my eyes before opening them, missing enough to wind up with a pair of stingers -- and then the light hits as I emerge. Ow! If I'd known what was coming, I would have grabbed the sunglasses Desmond left behind and brought them along... I slowly make my way to the bench. Lobster, barbecue, sweetbreads -- the game has been a taste sensation for things I've never had before. I'm probably about to crack a million-dollar shell. Somehow, the fact that it's an arguable improvement over peanut butter isn't any consolation at all. Jeff nods to me as I go past him, rubbing my eyes. "Alex, since you don't drink alcohol, we'll switch the wine for the other bottles." I manage a nod back. "Two left." I take my seat, winding up between Phillip and Tony. "Good try, Alex," Phillip consoles me. "You got me by eighteen minutes -- second time you've beaten me." He grins. "And we're both eating again -- but this time, the food's a lot better." Tony's trying to play the nice guy card too, but he may not be working from the full deck. "You were the last girl out -- that's pretty good, right?" Yeah. And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it wasn't for that meddling uterus. "I guess." Whatever. Go away. I am now vulnerable to blindsides unless I figure an idol clue out and the thing is still waiting to be grabbed. But I can't be the target -- I just can't be -- and I really wish I could make myself believe that all the way through... We all wait. The two hour mark arrives, and no one emerges. Jeff announces that there won't be any more temptations: since both men feel they need it so badly, they have no reason to give it up. Gardener announces he'd consider it for another one of the television sets, but no one believes him. We watch the blankets for any sign of movement that they're not going to show anyway, listen -- -- and then a member of the production staff signals Jeff, who nods. "Trooper shifted," Jeff tells us. "Out at two hours, nine minutes -- Gardener! Wins Immunity!" Gardener explodes out from under the blanket, sending it flying eight feet into the air, almost dancing in his leap from the pit -- and immediately pays for it. "Damn!" Too much movement after too much stillness: muscle cramp. "Should have known better... damn it..." Trooper gets out with a lot less speed, shaking his head. "Bladder," he softly says as he passes me. No, there's no stopping biology. Trooper had a lot of water before we left for the challenge, his bladder twitched, and maybe he tried to cross his ankles or something. Whatever it was, he moved. A little more waiting, just long enough for Gardener to work out the cramp -- and then he carefully moves over to Jeff. "You're the first person to win this," Jeff tells him as he places the necklace from behind, the claws and teeth resting against Gardener's broad chest, Robin watching with some interest -- "and you get to be one of up to three people who knows they'll be safe from the vote tonight." He pauses. "You're just the only one where everyone knows it. Head back to camp -- those of you who took temptations will find them waiting there. I'll see you in a few hours: one more person will go home." Everyone stands, heads for our exit. Gardener shakes Trooper's hand, says something soft to him that could almost be an apology. Trooper nods, claps Gardener on the back. Gardener's safe. Fine. Good. Trooper isn't. I'm not. Mary-Jane and Gary are probably fine, but there are five votes waiting to land on someone. No -- I'm okay. Unless Connie runs everything, I'm okay -- and she doesn't. Trooper's at risk. We have to be solid. We have to hold on the tiebreaker and hope no one's solved the idol clues on their side. We have to hope -- -- and I'm still not very good at 'hope'. And Angela's offer is still on the table -- the biggest temptation of all. ----------------------------------------------------------------- {Watch them scatter! There isn't much time to work with here, so the conferences and searches go wild. No point in sneaking off so that no one can see who you're allied with: Amanu splits back into Haraiki and Turare, and the halves give each other some privacy. Turare goes to the waterfall and agrees to go after Tony. Alex protests this for a while -- she wants Angela gone, just in case she's allied with her and she wants the minority of the votes going that way. Mary-Jane and Gardener disagree -- less of a challenge threat than they'd thought after that weak performance with the blankets, and getting rid of Tony would effectively destroy her chances. Overridden, and they can't afford to split votes: Tony's the target.} {Haraiki doesn't even have a real discussion on the beach: just Angela saying "Trooper. Right?" Everyone agrees, and it's Trooper.} {It's in everyone's best interests to grab an idol, even if they don't need it -- at least then, you know where it is -- and most of the tribe tries. Phillip hunts because he could be a target, but only for an edited second or two, and then he enjoys his steak. Alex is morbidly depressed (so to speak) to discover she likes lobster and kind of enjoyed the Izze, too. Gary gives her some instruction on cracking the shell and removing the meat: she gives him one claw in payment for the lesson. We can probably safely presume she searches afterwards, but it's not shown.} {Angela searching -- Mary-Jane searching -- they intersect at one point, coming out of the bushes and making each other jump, Mary-Jane laughs, Angela smiles, and they both move on. Tony's just watching the ocean -- oddly meditative for him: I guess he's given up on the clues. Just waiting for the tiebreaker. Trooper is really searching. In confessional, he admits that he hadn't solved the clues -- "And this is why I never tried to make Investigations" -- and at this point, he's waiting for the old lightning bolt of inspiration. But if it doesn't come, he'll take his chances in the tiebreaker.} {Now: does anyone have an idol? I think I solved Turare's clue -- I'll put it here in invisible text and you can check me after Jeff says where it was at the end of Council -- but I can't get a handle on Haraiki's.} {Hey -- I like that idea.} {I don't know about Haraiki's, either -- I really thought Alex had it. I guess we're waiting on Jeff there.} {And here we go -- Tribal Council, with a good amount of time on the clock. Warn the borderliners: we could be looking at another post-Council scene. Maybe Angela will find a Republican hiding in the bushes. And shoot him.} ----------------------------------------------------------------- Jeff watches us sit down, and he's probably looking for patterns himself. I'm in the far left seat for the front row, and Turare is clustered on that side: Mary-Jane on my right, with Gardener, Gary and Trooper behind us. The far right front row is Connie, then Tony and Angela working in towards the center, Robin and Phillip behind them. (So far, Tina's theory is predicting the tie. It has no way to account for Azure, but the perch doesn't count as a voting seat.) Five heartbeats -- and Jeff settles back into his throne. "Welcome to Tribal Council," he tells us, "and your first visit under Amanu's banner -- even if none of you truly feel united under it." No, we don't. "The ten people here represent the ones who could fight. You've worked alliances, votes, challenge skills, social abilities, and idols to get this far." More softly, "And one of you will be watching the rest from home. Connie, no one seems to feel this tribe is even remotely united. Do you think there's been any softening of the original dividing lines?" "Maybe a little," Connie decides. "I've tried to do my part -- I've met fine people in the new camp, and I've enjoyed my time with them." She smiles at Gary. "But yes, we still think of ourselves as Haraiki and Turare. The old rivalries are still very much in place." There's one natural place to go after that statement, and Jeff heads directly for it. "Alex, do you agree with Connie?" Gardener snorts. "As Jeff tries to end the universe..." I indulge in a very small eye roll aimed in his direction: Gardener ignores it. "Yes -- we're divided. We knew we would be. The lines were drawn in the sand a long time ago. Step across them, and you're not asking to join as much as you are asking for a fight. We've still had some people coming across to ask for alliances, but I'm not sure there's been any results." Jeff decides not to follow up on Gardener's apocalypse prediction just yet. "Have you been approached?" "Yes." And it's not as if everyone doesn't know it already. "By Angela. She wanted a women's alliance, plus Tony for a sixth vote." Phillip blinks. Okay, almost everyone. Next follow-up: go! "Phillip, this seems to be news to you..." "Not really," Phillip says. "Angela and I talked about trying to get Alex, and we thought it would be better if she did that part of the approach, woman to woman -- maybe that's just how Alex heard it." Serve over the center net, weakly lobbed back, Jeff diving across the clay court. "Alex, how did you interpret it?" "Just what I said -- five women and Tony." I spread my hands. "Or it could have been four women, Phillip, and Tony. There's a lot worse things than having Phillip around." Like having Connie -- and Phillip is smiling. "Anything that adds up to six." Gary is shifting in his seat, looking very uncomfortable. "If I'm that sixth vote, then suddenly, I'm very important to the other five people in the group -- and maybe very disposable afterwards." Gary settles down slightly: maybe he thought I hadn't seen that. Or maybe he was approached more strongly than I'd thought. Saved, aiming for the second person on the opposing field because suddenly we're playing doubles. "Angela, how badly do you want Alex voting with you?" "Very," Angela admits. "I don't want the tie. I'd rather come in here at six-four -- or seven-three -- or as long as I'm dreaming, nine-one -- and make this easy. I don't want to see the tiebreaker. In, vote, wave goodbye, out. But it's Alex's decision as to which way she swings. Mary-Jane's, too -- I pretty much approached everyone." Lie, and you can see in on the faces of the Turare males, with Gardener as the most incredulous: the debates -- last night's special topic before Tony's arrival: the economic squeeze-out of the middle class, brought to a welcome end by a mobile sponge -- cannot be counting as vote lures. "There's only so many things you can say, so many promises you can offer -- and then it's time to vote." Jeff grins. "I am not going to take that as a cue. Alex, do you know how you're voting tonight?" I glance at Desmond's torch. For some reason, the mounting is a little off-center. "Yes. I made up my mind earlier today." Some very worried looks at me from both sides. "I'm locked in. Nothing said at Council tonight is going to change my mind." And now it's time to go back to the original player. "Connie, a women's alliance would mean you would be on the same side as Alex. Given what we've seen between the two of you, that's hard to imagine. Has there been any reconciliation there?" Connie immediately shakes her head. "We're very different personalities, we come from two different generations, our backgrounds have absolutely nothing in common -- there simply isn't much to begin building on, Jeff. But we are both women -- and as much as I've disagreed with Alex in the past and tried to save my tribe a challenge by eliminating her, I would welcome her into an alliance with me. Because a vote is a vote, no matter where it's coming from." She smiles. I don't see any fangs. "I would have tried to get rid of anyone on Turare if I'd seen what I thought of as a rules infraction. Any Council not attended would have been an advantage for us. Because of her -- perspective -- on the game, that was Alex. If she can bring some of that to an alliance, all the better for us." This smile, I believe. "Of course, if she goes too far in doing so, we save a vote again..." This one I don't. "I might be willing to give her Bible instruction if she wants it -- that's just courtesy. And I'm curious to see my picture, too." Match over: next court. "Show of hands: who feels like they're getting votes tonight?" Trooper and Phillip raise them first, with Tony a heartbeat behind. "Interesting... Trooper, why?" "Challenge threat," Trooper states simply. "Everything I did before this is coming back to haunt me now -- it's too much to hope that we'll have nothing but shooting challenges from now on and I'll get to stick around just because I'm easy to beat." Ruefully, "The captain is going to have me back in basic for weeks..." Some laughter on both sides. "As soon as Gardener was safe, I went up." Angela nods to that. "Trooper's our target tonight." No one's the least bit surprised, although Trooper sardonically thanks her for not making it a blindside. Jeff turns his attention to Target #2. "Phillip, same reason?" "Pretty much," Phillip confesses. "'Dump the big guy' is just about as old as this game... ask Hunter if you don't believe me." The laughter is louder and longer-lasting this time, and even Jeff flashes a smile. "Plus I've said where my loyalties are, everyone knows it, and some people might not be comfortable with it. So I wouldn't be surprised if I go. But if I do, I had a good run and a good time with good people -- no regrets." And the amazing thing is that I believe him. Tony nods at that -- but has to bring the focus to himself. "And I'm the athlete -- I've got to be on Turare's cut list." It obviously won't be both of them (and I know it's going to be Tony for the rest of Turare), so Jeff switches again -- and leaves the court behind for a while. "Mary-Jane, you look good tonight." She smiles. "What's better: the toiletries kit or the makeup?" Both had been liberally used before we left camp. Mary-Jane giggles. "Okay, I'm advancing the stereotype -- but I like to be clean, and I've probably only got so many years to be pretty. I might as well enjoy it while it lasts. That's one of the lessons modeling teaches you: most things are short-term. You can fight it, but..." A quick shrug. "It's a lesson from out here, too. Take the moments as they come: there may not be many more." From there, it turns into the usual scattershot, none of which will probably ever make the cameras. We're asked about how we're getting along post-merge, and Gardener gets his chance to complain about Angela. "I've done a lot of things in my life. Some of them include hurting people. I was a college football player: I've got some broken bones racked up. Every time, I went into the opposing locker room, apologized, and shook the man's hand, if it wasn't in a cast at the time. But I have never tried to overthrow an innocent country, and that's the sort of thing I'd really think I'd remember..." Angela tries to say she didn't mean it that way and Gardener shouldn't take things so personally. Gardener tries to end the discussion in his usual fashion, which Angela still isn't used to -- and Jeff moves on from there before the resulting objection expands to occupy the whole Council. The merge day: yes, we were all happy to be there. Angela once again praises my art, and Phillip joins in -- he took a look at his own portraits after I finished the merge pose, which even Connie came in for. Haraiki's amazed by our waterfall and hopes that with the double-idol hunt over, they'll have more time to swim. Phillip still wants to get a dive in. For our part, we indulge in a little shower rhapsody -- Gary gets the biggest laugh with "I just want to know if anyone else took one look at the thing and thought 'What is that?'" -- and then Jeff touches on the challenges, Reward first. Mary-Jane gets questioned on her motivations for the companion choices, and insists that she just wanted to get to know more people. Robin laughs and says she didn't care much about the motivation, as long as it got her coffee. Jeff stays with Robin for a while, asking about her challenge performance. She laughs that off too, the barks more accurate than her gunshots. "I thought I was okay tonight, so I wanted a decent temptation. I suck with guns and I wound up going on the Reward anyway. What have I got to complain about? I just like getting the change of scenery -- I like getting to the change of scenery." She glances at Gardener. "Some things are more fun to look at than others." Gardener blinks. More challenge discussion, we get to Immunity -- and eventually, me. "It wasn't the lobster -- I cramped." I don't feel like saying where. "There was nothing I could do about it. It was interesting, having the lobster afterwards -- I wasn't expecting it to be so sweet -- and it was a different kind of rice. My stomach feels a little better, but my neck would rather have Gardener's adornment." Gardener grins. "Not at this Council, Alex. You want it, you win it." "As long as we're there," Jeff says, "Gardener -- you have Immunity. I take it you're not giving it up?" Gardener just looks bemused. "Right... but I had to ask. And with that formality out of the way -- it is time to vote. Alex, you're first up." Figures. On the night I most wanted to watch the others for clues as they came back, I have to do it after I get in there. I stand up and head out. Azure tries to come with me, but I get her back to the perch: this one is private. Up into the blind, and I stop to feel the air on my face. No wind tonight: calm, dry, still. Plenty of stars visible. Warm. No blankets required except for extra bug protection, assuming I even get one in the night's card drawing. A four-in-nine chance at a covering. Angela is two-for-two on the floor. Change handwriting, use it, hold up vote. "I thought for a long time before doing this," I tell the camera. "I have people competing for my belief. You can only trust people for so long in this game -- and I had to decide how long this would be good for. There's nothing personal about this -- it's just doing what I have to." Fold the vote, place it in the cylinder, leave. Azure tries flying to me again as I return to the set, and I let her stay on my shoulder. Angela. Gardener. Tony. Trooper. Mary-Jane. Connie. Gary. Robin. Phillip. Everyone moves with certainty, every door closing is done with determination. Tony shrugs at us just before he takes his seat, Gardener plops down as if trying to drive the elephant's toes into the floor, and Connie doesn't even bother to glare at me. Jeff nods to us as Phillip settles back in. "I'll go tally the votes." And gone. Waiting. The day has been filled with waiting, and every time, I've known what I was waiting for and didn't know if it would arrive... ...back. Jeff sets the cylinder down. "Once the votes are read, the person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately." We know. Maybe he could just have someone computer-edit that in every time and save us all some suspense-stress. "I'll read the votes." This time, the lid does clatter when it hits, and Jeff has to move a hand to silence it. Into the cylinder... "First vote: Tony." Tony doesn't look the least bit surprised: if anything, he looks a little cocky. Probably figuring the tiebreaker is going to go his way. "Second vote: Tony." And not so much now: Jeff doesn't remove two in a row very often. "Third vote: Trooper." As predicted, and Trooper takes it calmly. "That's two votes Tony, one vote Trooper." So far, no surprises -- and unless the idols come into play on a weird bounce, I can just about close my own ouster option for the night, because the jury is calling and it may have just said my name. (Long-term -- no relaxation there.) "Fourth vote -- Trooper. We're tied." Jeff goes right back into the cylinder. "Fifth vote: Trooper." Three to two. Trooper is halfway to going out. And he has company. "Sixth vote: Tony." I'm quickly learning to spot Haraiki's handwriting, especially after I saw them sign the flag. This next vote can belong to only one person. "Seven vote -- well, there's no mystery about whose vote this is: any time I can barely read it... I'm going to go out on a limb and call this a vote for Trooper." Some small smiles from Haraiki, and Tony looks sheepish. "Eighth vote: Tony." Jeff pauses, looks up at us. "Tied: four to four." One breath, two, three -- and Jeff reaches into the cylinder again. "Ninth vote -- Trooper." Five. The only thing that can take me out now is a double-bounce or a five-four-one scenario. But Trooper is on the block, the axe is over his head -- "-- tenth vote --" Jeff reaches in, and I'm waiting for the word. This is the one I get. "-- Trooper." Betrayal crashes into Trooper's face. Gary comes six inches out of his seat: he wants to stand up, but manages to stop himself just in time. Gardener doesn't. In less than a heartbeat, he's on his feet, and the only thing towering above his height is his anger. "Goddamn it, Alex!" "It wasn't me!" I protest. "The eighth vote was mine!" I'd spent most of the reading waiting for my own handwriting to emerge from the cylinder! "I voted for Tony!" Just in case he'd forgotten what the eighth vote was. "I stayed with Turare, Gardener -- you'll see that when you get home!" This has done nothing to convince him. "Sure -- first you get rid of Desmond, now you twist things up again and dump Trooper, I should just be glad I won Immunity so I wouldn't head home this week --" Jeff doesn't like the looks of this and moves to get control back, fast. "Gardener, sit down! You can do this back at camp!" Phillip's right with him. "You don't act like that here!" Gardener's body is willing to obey: his brain isn't. Even as he's descending, "What made you think you're better off there? You're just a swing vote: the next thing they can do is grab you by the cross chain and swing you right out of here --" "-- stop it!" And it's from the first person I was expecting to say it, the last person I ever wanted to hear the rest from. "It was me." Mary-Jane is staring right back at Gardener, who's locked into her from the center of his stunned silence. "That was my vote. I switched. If you want to blame someone, blame the right person. Alex stayed with you. I didn't." Angela smiles. The rest of Haraiki stares, moving between Angela and Mary-Jane. I can't tell what Robin's feeling, but Tony's thrilled, and Connie's reaching for ecstasy. From Angela, smug satisfaction. Phillip, wariness -- he's still watching Gardener. And Jeff watches all of us until he's sure we're calm. "By a vote of six to four -- Trooper, you are the seventh person to leave the Society Islands." Trooper slowly nods. It's the first movement he's made since the last vote was announced, including breathing. "You need to bring me your torch." He stands up, gets his torch, silently carries it over to Jeff, and becomes the final person to wait at this Council. But he knows exactly what he's waiting for, and he knows it won't take long. "Trooper -- the tribe has spoken." The curl of smoke dissipates into the air so completely that it may have never ever been there. "It's time for you to go." He heads for the door, walking with dignity, walking with pride. He was ready for the tiebreaker, and it never came. He wasn't ready for the vote, and he's still going to deal with it as best he can. I didn't vote for you. I would have later, if it had come down to you or me -- but I didn't trust Angela. I thought I was just a sixth vote: use once, throw away. Better the potential future enemies I knew than the new arrivals I'd barely gotten a handle on. I'm sorry, Trooper. I'm so sorry... if I had just found the right words with Mary-Jane... At the door, a smooth opening, in the frame -- and Trooper turns. His dark eyes cross the gap between us in zero time, and it feels like he's looking directly at me, no one else, somehow he's decided Mary-Jane was lying to cover up for me and he's placing the blame for his exit on a new target -- -- no. He has three words, and he was just picking the person to speak to. "Take -- them -- down!" The door closes before I can scream How?!? Jeff looks us over, and when he's once again convinced no one will do anything, he starts his speech. There's two parts: one set, one improvised. The set one comes first. "Sitting in front of me is the jury and the Final Two. We just have yet to decide where everyone will ultimately be seated." Just a decibel or two down, "From now on, you will be voting out people who will ultimately decide your fate in this game. Every action will be brought against you: each word will come back to haunt you. You can no longer act with any degree of impunity. The past and the future will connect. There's no stopping it." And even more softly, the improvised part. "Everyone thought the lines couldn't be crossed," he slowly tells us. "This is one of the things people forget in this game: 'always' ceases to be the case with one exception. Someone crossed -- and someone else leaves. Think about that." And then the part no one was expecting: "Both idols were found. Neither one was used. They have to be turned in. Will the person who solved the upside-down clue step forward?" Robin stands up, brings her bag over to Jeff, removes an idol and hands it to him. He nods. "Where was it?" "There's a baobab tree off the paths we followed to find the animals," she tells him. "I thought I'd seen it that time, but I was so tired, I couldn't be sure -- it took a while to find it again. I finally spotted it on the way back from the Reward." I don't understand how the clue worked out, but Gary is slowly nodding. Maybe the tree somehow looks like it's upside-down. Robin returns to her seat. Okay, that was the first idol -- but the second? Who got that? Jeff wants us to know. "The 'come together' clue. Bring it up." What did it mean? I'm waiting for the finder to explain this. How did I get it wrong -- -- and Tony stands up. I want to feel the shock. I want to feel something other than the chill numbness settling into my limbs. He's a genius and he's just been hiding it until now. He worked the vote to make sure we'd get rid of him and he'd control the bounce. No matter what happened tonight, Trooper was going home, even Mary-Jane looks surprised... "Second time," Jeff tells us as Tony approaches, "although you really just recovered the first one on someone else's request." Angela can spare a second out of her content state to look miffed. "Were you directed again?" He really sounds curious. Maybe he never saw Tony's true IQ score either. "Nah," Tony says. "I got lucky. When we got together for the Reward challenge, I got onto the mat -- and it felt like I was standing on a weird bump. Usually, it's completely smooth, so I said 'What the hell, it can't hurt to spare a second' and doubled back before we hit the bar. I didn't even have to dig -- it was right there." And this is yet another way I know our host gets updates: as Tony hands the idol back, Jeff glances at me. I don't care. I solved it. And it didn't matter. I got it right -- and got there too late. Tony was in the right place, I missed the right time. I didn't think fast enough, and Trooper went to Sequesterville for the vacation he never got to have for years and didn't want any more... Tony shrugs. "I never work out the clues." Grinning as he heads for his seat. "I just lead a charmed life." And pats Angela's shoulder before sitting down. I got angry: Trina left. I didn't see: Frank. Frustration: Desmond. Couldn't think fast enough: Trooper... "For the next hunt," Jeff tells us, "we will be back to a single idol, and the cycle will return to normal: Reward, then Immunity, a day to hunt, Council -- and someone will join the jury. This will continue until further notice." Phillip is already reaching for his bag. "Everything else in this game is always subject to change. Head on back -- I'll see you tomorrow." I can barely feel my feet, but I know they're working, because my eyes are reporting movement, heading for the path. And my nerve endings are functional, because I feel the air from Gardener's approach. The ears have to work overtime: he's as quiet as I've ever heard him. "I'm sorry." And as sincere. "I thought -- hell, it was the natural one, and..." "It's okay." Nothing else is, so that can be. "I guess it doesn't matter, having you know what my handwriting looks like now." No point in changing it. My votes won't be a factor any more. Gary joins us. "If anyone's got any brilliant ideas -- now's the time." No one has anything. There's no point in asking Mary-Jane: she's up ahead, currently walking between the happy Haraiki pack and our miserable trailing group, but catching up to them fast. And -- there's no point in asking her. We head back to camp. It's their camp, now. Each one of us will have to see how long they let us stay. ---------------------------------------------------------------- {...wow.} {Double wow.} {And you got the clue right, so add a quarter-wow to the total.} {I did not think Mary-Jane would flip. Alex, maybe, because there's no telling what Alex is going to do until she does it, but Mary-Jane? And leaving Alex behind? There goes the Pagong, and it's ringing out the death toll for Turare. Gardener as soon as he loses Immunity, then Alex or Gary, whoever's annoyed people more that day. Probably Alex, just to make Connie happy.} {Get ready for some really boring episodes.} {The idol could still play a part.} {Did you see Alex's face when Tony said what happened? For those of you still in Cole 101, I'm pretty sure she was crushed. And why not? She reasoned her way through it and he blundered into it. Luck beats intelligence every time, and now Intelligence gets a seat on the jury and probably gets to watch Luck win a million dollars. Why even look? Tony will just walk by the camera people while they're discussing the latest solution.} {Jeff looked a little frustrated there -- I'm betting the idol wasn't buried deeply enough. Production screwed up, and Turare is about to pay for it.} {Maybe we'll see this one being badly hidden -- there's time left on the clock. They did it during the recrap, so...} {No -- we're back. And here come the consequences.} ----------------------------------------------------------------- Forget sleep. Forget talking. I take my torch and go right to the beach. I don't bother with the sketchbook. I want to be away from everyone and I don't want anyone near my torch. Jeff will be approaching it soon enough: the others can wait their turn for at least three days. And at most, nine. I made the jury. I'm going to San Diego... ...and I don't care. I screwed up and Trooper is gone. What if Tony got the idol a minute before I arrived? A second? How much faster would I have had to work the clue out in order to keep the idol out of Tony's hands? If it had somehow been Gardener with Immunity, me with the idol, Mary-Jane doesn't flip, Tony loses the tiebreaker challenge and goes home, us with the numbers and twelve days where my first priority might be finding things to sketch -- If. If. IF! -- I know both pairs of footsteps. The camera operator is very consistent in getting that assignment. It's probably for the view. "Go away." Mary-Jane sits down next to me on the sand. "We've got to talk." "About what?" I'm not going to look at her. "About how I'm next out? Thanks for the warning. Pardon me while I don't quit. Maybe Jeff will announce a twist and split us back into tribes again. Maybe if I'm really lucky, I won't be on yours." "Damn it, Alex -- listen to me!" She gets up just long enough to sit down again, right in front of me. "I did it for us! I told Angela that I'd switch you over after the vote -- give her all five females! That way, she gets her dream -- five women going to the end together. She gets to do what Ami couldn't. And we'll work it out from there. I just guaranteed you fifth place -- the worst you could have done if Turare had won the tie tonight. And with us voting together, we could go even further! Get Robin, and --" "All you gave her was a sixth vote!" I yell back. "You don't know what she's thinking! You can't! A female alliance might sound fine, maybe it's her goal, but you don't know!" It's the first time I've heard Mary-Jane's vote raised. "I can prove it in under five minutes. All I have to do is go back to camp, grab her, bring her out -- she'll still have you, she wants to have five women standing --" -- and the laughter, tiny and bright, almost musical. "I'll save you the time." We both turn around, look up: Angela's coming towards us. "Here's the situation, Alex. Mary-Jane listened to reason and voted with Haraiki. That means we're down to five women, four men." And then, "Mary-Jane, it's amazing to think you considered things to be that simplistic. But I guess models aren't exactly picked for their intellect..." Mary-Jane's frozen. I don't want to move. If I did, I might turn it into extra momentum on a fist swing. Angela doesn't notice, wouldn't care. "Women against men. Honestly. Look what I've got on Haraiki. A one-track loyalist, someone who's a lot less cunning than she thinks she is, a backup foil, and a simple-minded bundle of testosterone who'll do anything if he thinks it'll get him a tumble after the game -- and who won't listen to anything from anyone who tells him differently. I had my strategy ten seconds after I surfaced. Get a sucker -- keep a sucker." Another laugh. "I believe in my job. But there's some side effects. I have to spend a lot of time around politicians -- and that means I really learned how to lie. It's still Haraiki against Turare. It always was, because Haraiki was too perfect. And Turare -- just lost." A glance at me. "I don't know whether to give you credit for not trusting me or fault you for lucking into this through indecision. I guess you might be the smarter of the two, but neither of you exactly strikes me as being very bright." She'll carry Tony all the way through, sit in front of the jury at the end and say that it's her who did the strategizing, Tony did nothing, let's have the vote! I might even cast one for her because the other option would be Tony, and why give the prize to someone who just hung onto a skirt and got dragged all the way through the game? If Tony goes out, she'll try to bring Connie and on that choice, I vote for Angela. I'm angry, I might be bitter, but -- it's the game. I'd vote for Angela. I'd dearly wish for Phillip against Robin, but it won't happen. Angela will reach Final Two -- and I'll vote for her, because she played the game. Mary-Jane will probably vote for Tony. "You bitch." Angela shrugs. "Don't hate the player -- hate yourself for not spotting it. That's the way the game works. You'll feel differently once you're on the jury." Back to me. "She's so calm, I think she's starting to accept it." The following words come out of my mouth with my full consent. "It was a great move." The bitter aftertaste had no permission to be there. "See?" Angela smiles, and it's a lot more warm. She's very gracious in victory once the gloating starts to fade. "Alex knows it's just about the game. You'd even vote for me if it was me against Tony, right?" I nod, just once, and it's all I can do to get that much out. "Thank you... I'll count that as one. And for what it's worth, Alex, I can definitely give you at least eighth place, because Gardener's my next priority. If he gets Immunity, I might even go with Gary. He's a nice enough man, but -- he's one of you. The Turare women can go last." She turns away, takes two steps -- then turns back. "The really funny thing? When Mary-Jane came up to me after we met in the jungle during the idol hunt, I could have sworn she was swinging just to protect you." And one last shrug. "Fair enough -- she can go first..." Gone. Mary-Jane waits until the last light from Angela's torch vanishes -- then turns to me, eyes wide, voice pleading. "Alex -- what do we do?" I stand up just so I can look down at her for a change. "What's 'we'?" And walk away. We are four. They are five. It's over. ----------------------------------------------------------------- {Angela. You. Bitch.} {It's a great piece of game strategy... even Alex agreed with that. She's not angry at Angela for doing it, she's just mad at Mary-Jane for falling for it. Alex is going to make a very fair jury member.} {Sure, great play -- but Angela didn't have to rub it in like that! Christ, some of us thought she'd been playing Tony all along, but...} {Root like hell for Phillip. Cross your fingers on Robin. We need them to work this out and swing Connie before it's too late.} {Strategies revealed seldom succeed? Maybe that'll kick in? And she did just give out her entire alliance... if we've had a curse invoked...} {Pagongings started pretty much always finish. Unless someone on Turare goes on a winning streak, or they find the idol -- and remember, Angela's got the numbers to shadow everyone now and avoid the bounce -- it's over. In other words, it's over.} {Trooper's last words -- he's glad he finally made it into the game, he'll enjoy Sequesterville, and he wants to see just how his revenge is carried out, because he does not think Haraiki is going to win. Dreamer. But right now, that's all he's got.} {Previews --} {...no...} ----------------------------------------------------------------- . . . . . . . . . . . . . (End of Episode #7)   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

AyaK 3603 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Thong Contest Judge" 09-14-06, 00:34 AM (EST) 9. "Comment" OK, you want replies? The ending caught me totally by surprise. And yet it makes sense. Mary-Jane was in a "women's alliance" model from day 1. She might have thought Angela's offer was the answer to her prayers. But I have a hard time believing that someone who had seen the show would reveal her vote afterward. Didn't Mary-Jane see Africa? Remember Teresa ("T-bird")? Remember how Lex went so far off the beam trusting his "gut" and blaming Kelly, while Teresa scooted all the way to 5th? And remember Brandon? What was his reward for voing with old Boran and saving Lex's group from the wrath of Kelly? A ticket to Loser Lodge in the next episode, that's what. But ... more interestingly ... Angela's speech at the end was incredibly stupid. It reminded me of Silas after his insurrection against the old folks cabal (Carl, Linda, Frank, Teresa) in Africa, when he said that the producers should just write him the check for the $1 million ... only to get booted in the very next show. You NEVER tell someone that you just played that you've done so until it's too late for them to do anything about it. We learned during Marquesas that you can get people to switch if there is enough personal reason for them to do it. Thus, we had Neleh and Pappy switch to an alliance with Kathy that promised to take the three of them to the final three. Angela could use some lessons from Dr. Will. Obviously the key is Robin. In Angela's alliance, the best she can get is fourth, for the reasons articulated by Gardener: if Angela wants to take Tony to the final two, then she can't afford to keep Robin around for the final endurance challenge. So she needs to be offered third, which means she gets a shot at that final challenge -- which probably means that she'll be in the final two. But who will she believe if they offer her that? Alex and her hidden partner (not Mary-Jane)? Maybe. And then we know that something happens in this next episode. Something that makes the next episode even worse for Alex to watch. But we don't know what it is. And we're all dying to find out.   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Estee 22510 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Playboy Centerfold" 09-14-06, 10:06 AM (EST) 10. "Quick comment-comment." Angela's speech will be revisited near the start of the next episode, once we drop back into 'During'. Consider that a quick frame shot in the preview trailer. (It's probably time for an Early Show visit, too, plus the editing thread wants to get a word in.) And yes, she really could use some basic instruction from the good doctor -- but she has her motivations. Angela has goals, but Angela also has blind spots. 'No one is the perfect contestant.' There's only one Will. And he's not nature's ideal reality player either. He's just very, very close.   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

michel 2370 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Seventeen Magazine Model" 09-14-06, 01:25 PM (EST) 11. "RE: Quick comment" There goes my PTTE again! You really don't show any mercy to your readers, do you? That was a very good chapter (I couldn't write episode this time to go along with the fictitious board-talk. I'll get back in character later!). It makes me wonder what Brian would have said afterwards to Shii Ann if it had been a real merge. When would he have said it? One thing it does show is how short-sighted such a treacherous move can be. Brian, I suspect, would have ignored Shii Ann. He had already forgotten her name even if she was family! The Angela character isn't the cold executioner Brian was, she likes to expose her opinions and accomplishments.   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

AyaK 3603 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Thong Contest Judge" 09-14-06, 03:51 PM (EST) 12. "RE: Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horribly Awkward: Conclusion." {Subject: The Tarot Arc} {We haven't talked about Alex's tarot reading for a while. First we had Death. I think Azure and her death scenes took care of that; we've seen it twice now. Next we have The Devil. I think Angela may have taken care of that one. She brought temptation in, and Mary-Jane bit -- though maybe there are worse things out there that Alex doesn't even know yet, but I sure hope not (for her sake). Those are followed by The Moon, The Tower, Judgment, and the unknown card. What could they be?} {The Angela end bit with MJ and Alex seems designed to increase her association with The Devil, having tempted Mary-Jane and then told her the other side of the bargain after sucking her in. But that's just editing speculation.} {How accelerated is Alex's timetable in the game? We could say that The Moon -- the event you never saw coming -- is Mary-Jane's switch, but Alex saw the possibility of someone flipping or bouncing. So it seems to me that we can't even be sure that The Devil has taken place yet, but it probably has, and The Moon probably hasn't. And then we have The Tower -- confrontation, anger, loss of control -- and Judgment -- the card that makes me think Alex might still have a run in this game, despite the 5-4 Turare disadvantage after MJ's FUBAR.} (What, do we have the Legion of Alex now? We don't even know how she got those scars that freaked out the alleged rapist on the Smoking Gun tape -- but it doesn't seem likely that she passed out into the fire as one of the Final 2, and if something had happened since she got back, we'd have heard about it.} {Cole hasn't seen The Devil yet. They don't have any mirrors in their camp.} {Hey, at least she's not sacrificing her dignity to stay in the game. And she showed her sense by not believing in the tarot cards.} {I don't believe in them either. But EPMB didn't show them to us because he believes. Roma Downey would be offended if he did. He showed them because they fit his foreshadowing.}   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

michel 2370 desperate attention whore postings DAW Level: "Seventeen Magazine Model" 09-14-06, 04:28 PM (EST) 13. "RE: Let's Just Pretend This Isn't Horribly Awkward: Conclusion." {To me Tarot cards can tell as much about future events as Rob's magic 8 ball but I agree EPMB will want to make use of them. That being said, if Tower represents confrontation, it has to be the Connie-Alex showdown. Since Judgment comes after then Alex outlasts Connie.}   Remove | Alert Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

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