***
CHAPTER SIX: And So Goes the Story…
***
Author's Note: What do you think so far?
***
Even after winning two challenges in a row, the Norub camp was still residence to tension and division. After their nasty argument the days before, and after hearing that the weird alien known as the Yuuzhan Vong who was named Nom Anor was voted out, Gavin Darklighter and Jaina Solo still hadn't come to terms with each other.
Han Solo was talking to Jabba the Hutt around the campfire.
"So, Jabba, why'd you want me dead, anyway?"
The CBS-provided mandatory translator buzzed and crackled to life. "Well, Solo, personal grudges, of course. What else?"
Solo cocked his head to the side. "Oh, just wondering. How'd it feel to be strangled?"
Jabba laughed for a moment as Leia arrived from their tent. "It was painful, of course, Solo."
Han glanced at his wife, who took a seat by him. "She's pretty strong. She never ceases to amaze me." He winked at her.
"Jabba, I think you'd better leave those two alone for now. They're getting all lovey-dovey." Jaina's voice was still sleepy as she joined the threesome at the campfire, over which her mother was starting to cook the rice.
"Hey, Solo," Gavin called. "Don't you tell a Hutt what to do. Mind your own business!"
"Hey, Darklighter," Jaina turned. "It IS my business, for your information, and if you have a problem with that, then why don't you come out here like a man?"
Jaina turned to the Hutt for a second. "Sorry for the, uh, Hutt breath thing the last time."
"That is all right, young Jaina Solo, now go on. I love a good brawl." Jabba, for once, was a little more friendlier than usual. This certainly wasn't how Jabba the Hutt was supposed to be, according to the stories and tales her parents had given her when they had the time. I mean, jeez, this guy was supposed to be a powerful, slimy, crime lord!
Gavin was fast approaching their spot. "Hey, Solo…"
"Is that all you can call me, Colonel? 'Hey, Solo'? I thought you had a little more imagination than that!"
Her foe had arrived. He laughed mockingly, but it was too obvious it was forced. "And you can think of anything better?"
Jaina just grinned, then sat by her mother. She put a sarcastic thinking look on her face. "Oh, there's tons more you could think of, you're just not using your brain…ehm, if you have one."
Gavin was caught off guard, and he let his temper loose, despite his anger management class on Coruscant. "Why you…" He yelled in frustration.
Of course, she was amused. "Ah, squealing like a girl. Just the ordinary Gavin Darklighter. I take it your bellybutton lint collection is doing fine?"
They heard Chewbacca chuckle to himself in the distance.
She continued the bloodletting. "If you run out, you can always consult your bellybutton."
Gavin wanted to yell and scream and yes, unfortunately, squeal like a girl. An old pal taught him that it was the best stress buster there ever was. "You'll never win this game, Jaina Solo. And when I get to Coruscant, I assure you, I will get you out of the squadron, even if it's the last thing I do!"
"Whatever. Vote for me all you want, for all I care. I'm on Survivor, boy, and I reckon I'm gonna win this game, no matter how stinkin' your plans may be. That's my last word." How'd she end up using rural country slang?
"Oh yeah?" Gavin started to use an odd… eh, weird accent. "I will vote for you, then, miss. And I must say, your attitude towards your superior is much inappropriate. It would take a fool to insult his superior."
She snorted then whispered something to her mother, who whispered it to Han, who whispered it to Jabba.
Eek, slime on my lips, Han thought.
Gavin returned to his usual state of out-of-control tempers. "Speak up, Solo! Can't you talk out loud like a man? Er, woman?"
"Alright, fine, if that's what you want, bellybutton lint man. I said you're starting to sound like my protocol droid, C-3PO."
"Uh, okay." He seemed to calm down.
Jaina giggled.
He looked up, realizing what she had really said. "Hey!"
She scoffed. "Can't believe it took you 5.285 seconds to realize what I was implying."
I don't want to spend all my time on this boring argument, so why don't we flash over to the Sandburrow camp… hehe, pretty cool being the author. Instant transport!
***
At the Norub camp, it seemed everyone was happy that Nom Anor was voted off unanimously. Of course, Anakin was starting to suspect something because no one had told him that they were voting for the Vong. What if they voted for HIM next?
With this in mind, he consulted his older brother. "Jacen," he greeted, without the same smile that his brother had on his face that morning.
"Yes, Anakin?"
"Are you voting for me the next time we have to vote?"
"Why would you think that?"
"Well, you didn't tell me you were voting for Nom Anor."
"So?"
"I voted for you, and he voted for you…"
"Okay?" He tried to appear nonchalant.
"DON'T YOU SEE THE SIMILARITY?" Anakin almost shouted. Okay, technically he DID shout…eh, whatever.
Jacen looked away innocently. "No…"
"Look, if you were gonna vote for me anyway, then just tell me. I won't mind. Really."
Jacen turned to him. "Promise?"
He gave him an assuring nod. "Promise. I can't use the Force to probe your mind, so I guess I gotta trust you."
"Okay." He nodded back slightly. "I did. Everyone else is gonna vote for you next Tribal Council comes."
"WHAT?" His eyes widened in surprise. "I trusted you, Jacen!"
"I know! I know! I'm sorry." He really wasn't. I can tell you that.
Anakin bolted from his spot on the log. Everyone else was either in their tents napping, trying to nap, or doing something else. "I TRUSTED YOU, YOU CONSPIRING LITTLE RAT!"
Darth Vader's voice was heard from his tent. "It's DIRTY rat, kid!" He shouted.
"Okay." Anakin rephrased it. "I TRUSTED YOU, YOU CONSPIRING, DIRTY RAT!"
Jacen was still calm. "Didn't have the same aura as its predecessor."
"Oh, okay."
They were silent for a moment, then Anakin broke that silence, that peace, that tranquility, that…
Jacen looked at the camera…er, whatever this thing I'm looking at is. "Okay! We get it, author person!"
"Oh, sorry." Of course, no one could really see me, but some people took it too far. Luke came forward.
"Yoda?" He glanced around. "Master Yoda? Is that you?!" He asked.
"No!" I yelled back. "I'm the author! Yoda's NOT in this story, stupid!"
"Oh." He paused. "I'm not stupid!"
"Yes you are! Duh!"
"What's duh?" He asked, obviously very confused.
"Forget it," I replied.
"I can't forget it! It's permanently ingrained in my brain! And I'm not talking about how the Yuuzhan Vong put instruments and disgusting objects in their heads."
I rolled my eyes. "Get on with the story, for goodness' sake! I'm trying to write a fic here!"
"Sorry." Luke stepped back, out of the frame. Jeez, I'm glad that's over.
"As I was saying," Anakin started, "to Jacen."
"Hmm?" His brother turned to him again.
"I HATE YOU!"
This brought Jacen to his feet. "But you promised that you wouldn't care what I said!"
"Yeah, 'cause I thought I could TRUST you!"
"You don't call THIS trust?"
"No, I DON'T call this trust!"
"That's enough!" Mara yelled, stepping in between the two feuding siblings.
They both quieted down, sort of embarrassed to be acting like this. Yeah right, like siblings are ever embarrassed to be acting like this.
"You two are acting very childish."
"Sorry, Aunt Mara. But Jacen started it!"
"No, Anakin did!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did…"
"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!"
"Sorry."
"Sorry."
Mara sat down on the log. "What seems to be the problem here?"
Jacen spoke first this time. "Anakin asked if we were gonna vote for him next time, so I said yes."
"And? What's wrong with that?"
Anakin stepped in. "I trusted him that he would not vote for me. He broke that trust!"
"All right CHILDREN, why don't you both settle this down peacefully?"
"Yes, Aunt Mara. I'm voting for you, Jacen."
"Fine." He stormed away. Pretty cool using all this "stormed away" and "bolted from" stuff. Reminds me of a very interesting cousin I have =)
Mara breathed a sigh of relief. She was so happy that they had only one son to deal with. How do Leia and Han get over this stuff?
Ben Kenobi returned, and he saw that something wasn't right between the Solo brothers.
"Oh, dear," he thought to himself. "This is not good. Not good for the team at all. Now, where did I put my cologne?"
***
Jaina and Gavin didn't settle their issues, and neither did Anakin and Jacen. See something here? I'm using the Solo kids! This is so fun! I have control and power to make them do whatever I want…MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
There. Now let's go on, shall we?
The immunity challenge came sooner than they had all expected.
"Welcome to the immunity challenge," Jeft said dryly. "In this round, it is a game of teamwork. If you don't work together, you will lose.
"This is a game of strategy. You all see two boulders over there." He pointed to a pair of huge rocks, some 1,000 meters away from them.
"Take your ropes, and roll your rock towards your goal. First team wins immunity. Norub, since you have one person extra, you must sit one person out. Who'll it be?"
They all huddled together in a small circle, then decided. Han announced, "Leia's gonna sit out."
So when everyone took their positions, each team member behind another, clutching a very dirty-looking piece of rope, Jeft signaled for them to start.
"Survivors ready!" Jeft did not know what the whole point of saying "survivors ready" before each challenge was supposed to be. All it did was waste his saliva!
"Go!" The two teams struggled mercilessly, and everyone could tell this was going to be long haul. The Norub tribe, who possessed the upper hand, advanced about 200 meters, leaving a very deep trail in the sand.
It seemed hopeless for Sandburrow as Norub advanced at a slow, but steady pace. As for them, they didn't seemed to advance at all!
Jeft had a long day, so he simply took a nap, deciding that, although it would be extremely amusing to watch these sci-fi characters struggle, it would overwork his extremely sensitive brain muscles.
After about an hour—can you believe it? An hour! I could do better than that!—of tossing and turning…
Oh, wait, you do that in your sleep. Hold on…
After about an hour of sweating—eeew! If you have saw a Hutt sweat, you would probably barf, and Boba Fett was at the wrong place at the wrong time—and sighing, Norub won but about a hundred and fifty meters.
"Sandburrow," Proast announced, "it seems you have just added another loss to your streak. I'll see you tonight."
The only good part about being a Survivor host to these people? You get to watch them conspire and vote each other off.
Jeft Proast snickered softly. It would be a great vote tonight.
***
"Nice to see you again, Sandburrow."
Jeft's humor was not noticed, so he just continued. "Let's vote."
The Survivor music plays, and Jacen votes first.
"Anakin," he whispers, "Even if you're my brother, you can be a real pain."
Five members later, Jeft announced, "I'll go tally the votes."
Each face was downcast, as it was supposed to be at Tribal Council. You weren't supposed to be happy; you were supposed to be mad at yourself or somebody else because it was either your or that person's fault you were here in the first place. Just think! Someone telling jokes at Council, someone laughing and smiling and beaming and actually happy to be here…
Uk. I'm disgusted.
"Once the votes are read, the decision is final." Another waste of saliva. The producers must be politicians!
"First vote. Jacen." Jacen did not change his gaze.
"Second vote, Jacen. That's two votes Jacen. Third vote, Anakin. Fourth vote… Anakin."
Anakin wanted to smile. Someone with some wisdom voted for the all- knowing Jacen tonight.
"Fifth vote… Obi-Wan."
Must be a lose voter.
"Sixth and last vote. Obi-Wan Kenobi. We have a three-way tie." Jeft was amused this. The Sandburrow household obviously had too many loose voters out there.
"I am going to pick a name from this can again," he said, juggling the container. "Whoever's name appears, is voted out." At least the producers are a little imaginative.
"Deciding vote. Obi-Wan."
Ben bolted up, with nothing but a faceless expression and his torch. Jeft doused his flame.
"Jacen, you now have six votes against you. Anakin, you have two. I'll see you at the next challenge."
Jacen exited with a grumble.
I'll get you, Anakin.
And whoever else voted with you.
***
CHAPTER SIX: And So Goes the Story…
***
Author's Note: What do you think so far?
***
Even after winning two challenges in a row, the Norub camp was still residence to tension and division. After their nasty argument the days before, and after hearing that the weird alien known as the Yuuzhan Vong who was named Nom Anor was voted out, Gavin Darklighter and Jaina Solo still hadn't come to terms with each other.
Han Solo was talking to Jabba the Hutt around the campfire.
"So, Jabba, why'd you want me dead, anyway?"
The CBS-provided mandatory translator buzzed and crackled to life. "Well, Solo, personal grudges, of course. What else?"
Solo cocked his head to the side. "Oh, just wondering. How'd it feel to be strangled?"
Jabba laughed for a moment as Leia arrived from their tent. "It was painful, of course, Solo."
Han glanced at his wife, who took a seat by him. "She's pretty strong. She never ceases to amaze me." He winked at her.
"Jabba, I think you'd better leave those two alone for now. They're getting all lovey-dovey." Jaina's voice was still sleepy as she joined the threesome at the campfire, over which her mother was starting to cook the rice.
"Hey, Solo," Gavin called. "Don't you tell a Hutt what to do. Mind your own business!"
"Hey, Darklighter," Jaina turned. "It IS my business, for your information, and if you have a problem with that, then why don't you come out here like a man?"
Jaina turned to the Hutt for a second. "Sorry for the, uh, Hutt breath thing the last time."
"That is all right, young Jaina Solo, now go on. I love a good brawl." Jabba, for once, was a little more friendlier than usual. This certainly wasn't how Jabba the Hutt was supposed to be, according to the stories and tales her parents had given her when they had the time. I mean, jeez, this guy was supposed to be a powerful, slimy, crime lord!
Gavin was fast approaching their spot. "Hey, Solo…"
"Is that all you can call me, Colonel? 'Hey, Solo'? I thought you had a little more imagination than that!"
Her foe had arrived. He laughed mockingly, but it was too obvious it was forced. "And you can think of anything better?"
Jaina just grinned, then sat by her mother. She put a sarcastic thinking look on her face. "Oh, there's tons more you could think of, you're just not using your brain…ehm, if you have one."
Gavin was caught off guard, and he let his temper loose, despite his anger management class on Coruscant. "Why you…" He yelled in frustration.
Of course, she was amused. "Ah, squealing like a girl. Just the ordinary Gavin Darklighter. I take it your bellybutton lint collection is doing fine?"
They heard Chewbacca chuckle to himself in the distance.
She continued the bloodletting. "If you run out, you can always consult your bellybutton."
Gavin wanted to yell and scream and yes, unfortunately, squeal like a girl. An old pal taught him that it was the best stress buster there ever was. "You'll never win this game, Jaina Solo. And when I get to Coruscant, I assure you, I will get you out of the squadron, even if it's the last thing I do!"
"Whatever. Vote for me all you want, for all I care. I'm on Survivor, boy, and I reckon I'm gonna win this game, no matter how stinkin' your plans may be. That's my last word." How'd she end up using rural country slang?
"Oh yeah?" Gavin started to use an odd… eh, weird accent. "I will vote for you, then, miss. And I must say, your attitude towards your superior is much inappropriate. It would take a fool to insult his superior."
She snorted then whispered something to her mother, who whispered it to Han, who whispered it to Jabba.
Eek, slime on my lips, Han thought.
Gavin returned to his usual state of out-of-control tempers. "Speak up, Solo! Can't you talk out loud like a man? Er, woman?"
"Alright, fine, if that's what you want, bellybutton lint man. I said you're starting to sound like my protocol droid, C-3PO."
"Uh, okay." He seemed to calm down.
Jaina giggled.
He looked up, realizing what she had really said. "Hey!"
She scoffed. "Can't believe it took you 5.285 seconds to realize what I was implying."
I don't want to spend all my time on this boring argument, so why don't we flash over to the Sandburrow camp… hehe, pretty cool being the author. Instant transport!
***
At the Norub camp, it seemed everyone was happy that Nom Anor was voted off unanimously. Of course, Anakin was starting to suspect something because no one had told him that they were voting for the Vong. What if they voted for HIM next?
With this in mind, he consulted his older brother. "Jacen," he greeted, without the same smile that his brother had on his face that morning.
"Yes, Anakin?"
"Are you voting for me the next time we have to vote?"
"Why would you think that?"
"Well, you didn't tell me you were voting for Nom Anor."
"So?"
"I voted for you, and he voted for you…"
"Okay?" He tried to appear nonchalant.
"DON'T YOU SEE THE SIMILARITY?" Anakin almost shouted. Okay, technically he DID shout…eh, whatever.
Jacen looked away innocently. "No…"
"Look, if you were gonna vote for me anyway, then just tell me. I won't mind. Really."
Jacen turned to him. "Promise?"
He gave him an assuring nod. "Promise. I can't use the Force to probe your mind, so I guess I gotta trust you."
"Okay." He nodded back slightly. "I did. Everyone else is gonna vote for you next Tribal Council comes."
"WHAT?" His eyes widened in surprise. "I trusted you, Jacen!"
"I know! I know! I'm sorry." He really wasn't. I can tell you that.
Anakin bolted from his spot on the log. Everyone else was either in their tents napping, trying to nap, or doing something else. "I TRUSTED YOU, YOU CONSPIRING LITTLE RAT!"
Darth Vader's voice was heard from his tent. "It's DIRTY rat, kid!" He shouted.
"Okay." Anakin rephrased it. "I TRUSTED YOU, YOU CONSPIRING, DIRTY RAT!"
Jacen was still calm. "Didn't have the same aura as its predecessor."
"Oh, okay."
They were silent for a moment, then Anakin broke that silence, that peace, that tranquility, that…
Jacen looked at the camera…er, whatever this thing I'm looking at is. "Okay! We get it, author person!"
"Oh, sorry." Of course, no one could really see me, but some people took it too far. Luke came forward.
"Yoda?" He glanced around. "Master Yoda? Is that you?!" He asked.
"No!" I yelled back. "I'm the author! Yoda's NOT in this story, stupid!"
"Oh." He paused. "I'm not stupid!"
"Yes you are! Duh!"
"What's duh?" He asked, obviously very confused.
"Forget it," I replied.
"I can't forget it! It's permanently ingrained in my brain! And I'm not talking about how the Yuuzhan Vong put instruments and disgusting objects in their heads."
I rolled my eyes. "Get on with the story, for goodness' sake! I'm trying to write a fic here!"
"Sorry." Luke stepped back, out of the frame. Jeez, I'm glad that's over.
"As I was saying," Anakin started, "to Jacen."
"Hmm?" His brother turned to him again.
"I HATE YOU!"
This brought Jacen to his feet. "But you promised that you wouldn't care what I said!"
"Yeah, 'cause I thought I could TRUST you!"
"You don't call THIS trust?"
"No, I DON'T call this trust!"
"That's enough!" Mara yelled, stepping in between the two feuding siblings.
They both quieted down, sort of embarrassed to be acting like this. Yeah right, like siblings are ever embarrassed to be acting like this.
"You two are acting very childish."
"Sorry, Aunt Mara. But Jacen started it!"
"No, Anakin did!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did…"
"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!"
"Sorry."
"Sorry."
Mara sat down on the log. "What seems to be the problem here?"
Jacen spoke first this time. "Anakin asked if we were gonna vote for him next time, so I said yes."
"And? What's wrong with that?"
Anakin stepped in. "I trusted him that he would not vote for me. He broke that trust!"
"All right CHILDREN, why don't you both settle this down peacefully?"
"Yes, Aunt Mara. I'm voting for you, Jacen."
"Fine." He stormed away. Pretty cool using all this "stormed away" and "bolted from" stuff. Reminds me of a very interesting cousin I have =)
Mara breathed a sigh of relief. She was so happy that they had only one son to deal with. How do Leia and Han get over this stuff?
Ben Kenobi returned, and he saw that something wasn't right between the Solo brothers.
"Oh, dear," he thought to himself. "This is not good. Not good for the team at all. Now, where did I put my cologne?"
***
Jaina and Gavin didn't settle their issues, and neither did Anakin and Jacen. See something here? I'm using the Solo kids! This is so fun! I have control and power to make them do whatever I want…MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
There. Now let's go on, shall we?
The immunity challenge came sooner than they had all expected.
"Welcome to the immunity challenge," Jeft said dryly. "In this round, it is a game of teamwork. If you don't work together, you will lose.
"This is a game of strategy. You all see two boulders over there." He pointed to a pair of huge rocks, some 1,000 meters away from them.
"Take your ropes, and roll your rock towards your goal. First team wins immunity. Norub, since you have one person extra, you must sit one person out. Who'll it be?"
They all huddled together in a small circle, then decided. Han announced, "Leia's gonna sit out."
So when everyone took their positions, each team member behind another, clutching a very dirty-looking piece of rope, Jeft signaled for them to start.
"Survivors ready!" Jeft did not know what the whole point of saying "survivors ready" before each challenge was supposed to be. All it did was waste his saliva!
"Go!" The two teams struggled mercilessly, and everyone could tell this was going to be long haul. The Norub tribe, who possessed the upper hand, advanced about 200 meters, leaving a very deep trail in the sand.
It seemed hopeless for Sandburrow as Norub advanced at a slow, but steady pace. As for them, they didn't seemed to advance at all!
Jeft had a long day, so he simply took a nap, deciding that, although it would be extremely amusing to watch these sci-fi characters struggle, it would overwork his extremely sensitive brain muscles.
After about an hour—can you believe it? An hour! I could do better than that!—of tossing and turning…
Oh, wait, you do that in your sleep. Hold on…
After about an hour of sweating—eeew! If you have saw a Hutt sweat, you would probably barf, and Boba Fett was at the wrong place at the wrong time—and sighing, Norub won but about a hundred and fifty meters.
"Sandburrow," Proast announced, "it seems you have just added another loss to your streak. I'll see you tonight."
The only good part about being a Survivor host to these people? You get to watch them conspire and vote each other off.
Jeft Proast snickered softly. It would be a great vote tonight.
***
"Nice to see you again, Sandburrow."
Jeft's humor was not noticed, so he just continued. "Let's vote."
The Survivor music plays, and Jacen votes first.
"Anakin," he whispers, "Even if you're my brother, you can be a real pain."
Five members later, Jeft announced, "I'll go tally the votes."
Each face was downcast, as it was supposed to be at Tribal Council. You weren't supposed to be happy; you were supposed to be mad at yourself or somebody else because it was either your or that person's fault you were here in the first place. Just think! Someone telling jokes at Council, someone laughing and smiling and beaming and actually happy to be here…
Uk. I'm disgusted.
"Once the votes are read, the decision is final." Another waste of saliva. The producers must be politicians!
"First vote. Jacen." Jacen did not change his gaze.
"Second vote, Jacen. That's two votes Jacen. Third vote, Anakin. Fourth vote… Anakin."
Anakin wanted to smile. Someone with some wisdom voted for the all- knowing Jacen tonight.
"Fifth vote… Obi-Wan."
Must be a lose voter.
"Sixth and last vote. Obi-Wan Kenobi. We have a three-way tie." Jeft was amused this. The Sandburrow household obviously had too many loose voters out there.
"I am going to pick a name from this can again," he said, juggling the container. "Whoever's name appears, is voted out." At least the producers are a little imaginative.
"Deciding vote. Obi-Wan."
Ben bolted up, with nothing but a faceless expression and his torch. Jeft doused his flame.
"Jacen, you now have six votes against you. Anakin, you have two. I'll see you at the next challenge."
Jacen exited with a grumble.
I'll get you, Anakin.
And whoever else voted with you.
***