Day Two
I'm already tired of spending the night outdoors, and it's only been one night. I may have been an adventurous girl in school, but since then I've become quite used to a comfortable bed and a warm house. Between the jungle noises, the cool ocean breeze and the cramped quarters, it's hard enough to sleep. Throw in someone who snores louder than a howler, and you've got my night. The only thing that's going to make this bearable is my luxury item, a waterproofed pillow. Of course I waterproofed it with a spell before leaving home; I've got so many spells on myself right now, it's not even funny.
Let's see. Should we count the charms I put on my application and videotape so they'd get selected? That was probably where my official misuse of magic began. Of course, if I win the million, it's all getting changed into Galleons to help the wizarding world anyway. So I don't see how anyone could have a problem with it. As my dad used to say, "better to ask forgiveness than permission." I'll also have to ask forgiveness for an anti-sunburn charm, a Muggle charisma boost and an anti-owl locator spell, just to name a few. It wouldn't do to be on the television with owls delivering letters; now, they'll just drop them off at my apartment until I get home.
I'm up with the sun this morning; I would guess it's about half past six, but since I'm not allowed a watch and I've never been this close to the Equator, it could be four or ten for all I know. Thankfully, my spot is near the end of the crude shelter, so I'm able to slip out without anyone noticing. Jogging is not my favorite form of exercise, but it's pretty much the only thing I have out here, so I get to it. A couple of passes up and down the beach let me exercise and check out the surroundings at the same time. Out to sea, I can barely make out a reef. No wonder our lagoon is so placid. I hope that the reef keeps the sharks out; then again, they wouldn't put us on a shark-infested beach, would they? I can only assume the producers checked out the locations in advance, and wouldn't put us in a situation where we could face deadly animal attacks. The beach stretches probably a hundred meters from the water, where it meets the underbrush and then jungle. All in all, it's very lovely, but after the exertions of yesterday and the sleeping experience of last night, I know I'll be glad to leave when the time comes. I sincerely hope that time will be a full forty days from now.
You'd think winning this contest would be a given, but I'm a bit of a pessimist. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, as they say. For all I know, the charisma boost won't make me look any better in the eyes of the Muggles, and they'll vote me out right away. I've thought my strategy through, and decided to take a moderate approach. I plan on being friendly and helpful, and proving myself a useful member of the team. But I also plan on not standing out; from personal experience, I can tell you that showing off brings both positive and negative attention to yourself. I can't count entirely on my magic, because there are just too many things that would bring that unwanted attention. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to let myself get dirty and hungry, so I don't look different.
The camera and sound guys have been sitting on the beach during my jog, but I'm afraid I'm not giving them any exciting footage. I head back to the shelter and peek in to find a couple of my tribemates awake. I whisper a quick "good morning," then wander over to the fire pit. Someone put one of our cooking pots upside-down over the fire last night, and when I remove it I find some embers still hot. After a quick scavenge along the edge of the jungle, I'm able to toss some dried palm fronds and sticks over the embers and bring the fire back to life without any magical assistance. I'm joined by my blonde friend, Anna, and the handsome dark-haired man who tried to start the fire last night. He re-introduces himself as Pete, a 25-year-old salesman. We both express our concern over Anna, who still seems ill.
"It's nothing, guys. I don't do well on boats; I'm sure I'll feel better today."
I nod in understanding. "The boats made me queasy, too." Of course, I can fix that problem with a few words. But much as I think I'd like Anna as a friend, I'm in this contest to beat her. Any signs of weakness means she'll be voted out that much faster.
A perky girl with bright red hair emerges from the shelter and bids us all a good morning. "I don't know about you, but I could barely sleep through that snoring," she moans. She reminds me of Ginny Weasley in a way. I have to shake those thoughts out of my head; on the Granger plan, no friendships are allowed. I can't let anyone get too close.
We get the cooking pot set up over the fire and start a batch of rice. We're starting the game with a couple of sacks, as well as some canned goods. It's obviously not enough to feed the entire team, but hopefully we can scavenge enough food from the land to make up the difference. By the time the food is done, the rest of the tribe has assembled for breakfast. We make small talk over rice; cementing everyone's names in our heads, getting to know each other a bit more, puzzling over the name of our tribe, Miti Matai. We settle on chores for the morning; the guys will finish up and reinforce our shelter, while Anna and a middle-aged woman named Ellen check the jungle for more fruits or edible vegetation. The redhead, Kiki, and I are assigned the fishing net, the boat and the lagoon. Perhaps the reasoning is that if there ARE sharks, we lovely young ladies will be so charming that they won't bite. We paddle out and spend an hour or so pulling the net behind us while a camera team floats alongside. Kiki and I chat about our first impressions of the other members of the tribe.
"How about that Pete, he's quite a cute one." She giggles and again I'm reminded of Ginny.
"Yeah, I can see it. Did you notice how Anna's still not feeling well? I'm afraid she's going to stay sick the entire time." I feel a twinge of guilt at planting seeds like this. I'm not the best at deception; otherwise I might have been out in the field spying instead of working a desk in Intelligence. I could never have done what those brave souls managed -- working and living with Death Eaters, and passing secrets to our sides. Many of them lost their lives. Many others remain a mystery -- their codenames shrouded their true identities, so that if an Intelligence operative were caught, they couldn't identify the spies in Voldemort's midst. Those were the most exciting agents; sometimes their bravery would take your breath away.
We head back in after an hour of fruitless fishing. I'd decided not to lure any fish into the net the first try, so as to not appear amazingly gifted at fishing. I tie off the boat and prepare to be the life-bringer of the tribe in another way. I grab one of the water cans and the map to our water source.
"Anyone want to go get water with me?" Most of the tribe members are into their own projects, but Pete and Kiki come along with water jugs of their own. The trek to the source takes about ten minutes through the jungle. One minute, there's a wall of vegetation in front of me and the sound of flowing water. The next minute, we've passed through a cluster of vines to find a beautiful river. Upstream a bit there's a lovely green pool that looks very deep, with a small waterfall at the head. We fill the water jugs, then take a dip in the pool. The water is warmed from the sun near the surface, but down by my feet I can feel it's quite a bit colder. After a splash-fight, we get out and head back to camp. Of course, I mutter a quick spell to make my full jug of water weigh very little. But I act like it's heavy.
Back in camp, we decide to spend the rest of the day relaxing. Tomorrow comes the first challenge, and we figure we need to keep our strength up in order to start big. Our shelter is enough to keep out rain, and the men have enlarged it a bit. We split a few fruits and more rice, and talk about everything and nothing at all until bedtime.
I'm already tired of spending the night outdoors, and it's only been one night. I may have been an adventurous girl in school, but since then I've become quite used to a comfortable bed and a warm house. Between the jungle noises, the cool ocean breeze and the cramped quarters, it's hard enough to sleep. Throw in someone who snores louder than a howler, and you've got my night. The only thing that's going to make this bearable is my luxury item, a waterproofed pillow. Of course I waterproofed it with a spell before leaving home; I've got so many spells on myself right now, it's not even funny.
Let's see. Should we count the charms I put on my application and videotape so they'd get selected? That was probably where my official misuse of magic began. Of course, if I win the million, it's all getting changed into Galleons to help the wizarding world anyway. So I don't see how anyone could have a problem with it. As my dad used to say, "better to ask forgiveness than permission." I'll also have to ask forgiveness for an anti-sunburn charm, a Muggle charisma boost and an anti-owl locator spell, just to name a few. It wouldn't do to be on the television with owls delivering letters; now, they'll just drop them off at my apartment until I get home.
I'm up with the sun this morning; I would guess it's about half past six, but since I'm not allowed a watch and I've never been this close to the Equator, it could be four or ten for all I know. Thankfully, my spot is near the end of the crude shelter, so I'm able to slip out without anyone noticing. Jogging is not my favorite form of exercise, but it's pretty much the only thing I have out here, so I get to it. A couple of passes up and down the beach let me exercise and check out the surroundings at the same time. Out to sea, I can barely make out a reef. No wonder our lagoon is so placid. I hope that the reef keeps the sharks out; then again, they wouldn't put us on a shark-infested beach, would they? I can only assume the producers checked out the locations in advance, and wouldn't put us in a situation where we could face deadly animal attacks. The beach stretches probably a hundred meters from the water, where it meets the underbrush and then jungle. All in all, it's very lovely, but after the exertions of yesterday and the sleeping experience of last night, I know I'll be glad to leave when the time comes. I sincerely hope that time will be a full forty days from now.
You'd think winning this contest would be a given, but I'm a bit of a pessimist. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, as they say. For all I know, the charisma boost won't make me look any better in the eyes of the Muggles, and they'll vote me out right away. I've thought my strategy through, and decided to take a moderate approach. I plan on being friendly and helpful, and proving myself a useful member of the team. But I also plan on not standing out; from personal experience, I can tell you that showing off brings both positive and negative attention to yourself. I can't count entirely on my magic, because there are just too many things that would bring that unwanted attention. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to let myself get dirty and hungry, so I don't look different.
The camera and sound guys have been sitting on the beach during my jog, but I'm afraid I'm not giving them any exciting footage. I head back to the shelter and peek in to find a couple of my tribemates awake. I whisper a quick "good morning," then wander over to the fire pit. Someone put one of our cooking pots upside-down over the fire last night, and when I remove it I find some embers still hot. After a quick scavenge along the edge of the jungle, I'm able to toss some dried palm fronds and sticks over the embers and bring the fire back to life without any magical assistance. I'm joined by my blonde friend, Anna, and the handsome dark-haired man who tried to start the fire last night. He re-introduces himself as Pete, a 25-year-old salesman. We both express our concern over Anna, who still seems ill.
"It's nothing, guys. I don't do well on boats; I'm sure I'll feel better today."
I nod in understanding. "The boats made me queasy, too." Of course, I can fix that problem with a few words. But much as I think I'd like Anna as a friend, I'm in this contest to beat her. Any signs of weakness means she'll be voted out that much faster.
A perky girl with bright red hair emerges from the shelter and bids us all a good morning. "I don't know about you, but I could barely sleep through that snoring," she moans. She reminds me of Ginny Weasley in a way. I have to shake those thoughts out of my head; on the Granger plan, no friendships are allowed. I can't let anyone get too close.
We get the cooking pot set up over the fire and start a batch of rice. We're starting the game with a couple of sacks, as well as some canned goods. It's obviously not enough to feed the entire team, but hopefully we can scavenge enough food from the land to make up the difference. By the time the food is done, the rest of the tribe has assembled for breakfast. We make small talk over rice; cementing everyone's names in our heads, getting to know each other a bit more, puzzling over the name of our tribe, Miti Matai. We settle on chores for the morning; the guys will finish up and reinforce our shelter, while Anna and a middle-aged woman named Ellen check the jungle for more fruits or edible vegetation. The redhead, Kiki, and I are assigned the fishing net, the boat and the lagoon. Perhaps the reasoning is that if there ARE sharks, we lovely young ladies will be so charming that they won't bite. We paddle out and spend an hour or so pulling the net behind us while a camera team floats alongside. Kiki and I chat about our first impressions of the other members of the tribe.
"How about that Pete, he's quite a cute one." She giggles and again I'm reminded of Ginny.
"Yeah, I can see it. Did you notice how Anna's still not feeling well? I'm afraid she's going to stay sick the entire time." I feel a twinge of guilt at planting seeds like this. I'm not the best at deception; otherwise I might have been out in the field spying instead of working a desk in Intelligence. I could never have done what those brave souls managed -- working and living with Death Eaters, and passing secrets to our sides. Many of them lost their lives. Many others remain a mystery -- their codenames shrouded their true identities, so that if an Intelligence operative were caught, they couldn't identify the spies in Voldemort's midst. Those were the most exciting agents; sometimes their bravery would take your breath away.
We head back in after an hour of fruitless fishing. I'd decided not to lure any fish into the net the first try, so as to not appear amazingly gifted at fishing. I tie off the boat and prepare to be the life-bringer of the tribe in another way. I grab one of the water cans and the map to our water source.
"Anyone want to go get water with me?" Most of the tribe members are into their own projects, but Pete and Kiki come along with water jugs of their own. The trek to the source takes about ten minutes through the jungle. One minute, there's a wall of vegetation in front of me and the sound of flowing water. The next minute, we've passed through a cluster of vines to find a beautiful river. Upstream a bit there's a lovely green pool that looks very deep, with a small waterfall at the head. We fill the water jugs, then take a dip in the pool. The water is warmed from the sun near the surface, but down by my feet I can feel it's quite a bit colder. After a splash-fight, we get out and head back to camp. Of course, I mutter a quick spell to make my full jug of water weigh very little. But I act like it's heavy.
Back in camp, we decide to spend the rest of the day relaxing. Tomorrow comes the first challenge, and we figure we need to keep our strength up in order to start big. Our shelter is enough to keep out rain, and the men have enlarged it a bit. We split a few fruits and more rice, and talk about everything and nothing at all until bedtime.