Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty) - Ponderosa
Chapter 5 - Juror 5
Okay, halfway done here. Today, we have our first female juror at the Ponderosa since Katt couldn't make it (Katt was kinda robbed of making it to the jury since Plague was originally supposed to go, but that's beside the point.) Plague Knight kind of figured that Incineroar was definitely not going to win the season, so he didn't end up siding with the Beauty alliance even though he wanted all of the Brains out since Jimmy got voted out. Yes, Panther could have went home, but Isabelle, Funky, and Incineroar were all scared that one of them had an idol again (Funky Kong is the only one who has one at this point).
So let's see how she feels at this point. Great character with an interesting story arc, and she basically got her revenge with her having to play dumb ever since the merge started lol.
~KF
"Wooo, alright. Hi, I'm Daisy! I'm juror number five, and this is my Ponderosa!"
Night 35
"Oh well... At least I actually got to speak my mind for once..."
Next in line for Ponderosa was Daisy Floral Rose, going out in seventh place following her name coming up for the first time throughout the entire season. Of course wished to make it further like every other competitor, but with every single contestant winning the grand prize, it defeats the entire purpose of having a competition. And with Daisy's competitive personality, she knew this all too well.
"I actually expected Plague to side against the Brains this time, since he wanted all of them gone for a while... So,... if actions speak louder than words,.. how come he didn't follow through in the end?" She paused to think about it herself. "...Guess the only way I'll know for sure is if I talk to Plague Knight directly whenever..."
"I got sent home... Bummer... Yeah, I opened my mouth at Tribal Council. But do I regret it? ...Absolutely not. I don't think it made me even more threatening or anything. Panther's even more threatening than I am. But like, I'm human, too. I can't hold stuff in forever. Staying silent all the time and not saying how I really feel is definitely out of character for me, so what do you expect? If they don't like it, then they don't like it... But I'm sorry or anything. I know darn well I wasn't the only one tired of Incineroar, anyway..."
"I mean, with all that I had to go through, I didn't even expect to make it this far, so I should be at least thankful I made it top seven. My name wasn't even written down 'til now, and I played a part of the infamous Espio blindside..." She recalled as she walked down the path to the medical tent. "Speaking of which, I was aware of pretty much everything that was going on. I as involved in every single vote except for Katt's. But even then, I still know exactly what was going on. I just got... tired of playing stupid..." She paused for a bit. "But other than that,... this whole thing was... awesome."
Into Crazy Hand's tent she went.
"Howdy, Daisy!"
She laughed. "Howdy? This ain't Texas, you know."
"Well, I thought that I would try something different." He defended himself. "But anyway, how are you feeling? How hungry are you? Did the bugs bother you that much?"
"Feeling fine, very hungry actually, and... definitely, but I had to fight through it." Rose answered all three questions in one sentence as her blood pressure was now being taken. "I just thought that my old tribe was gonna lose so much to the point to where I go home. But then we won, I got lucky in the swap, and I kept quiet until I just couldn't keep quiet anymore. So for me personally, I may have lost some battles, but I did win the war. I just didn't win the game... if that makes any sort of sense. But I'm still happy."
"Glad to hear, glad to hear..." He replied. "After this, we're going to see how much you weigh now..."
"...120.3..." She glanced at the big numbers between her feet on the scale before she quickly waved her hand at Crazy. "Ooh, don't tell me... I was 132.2, right?"
"...That is correct!" He confirmed staring at his clipboard. "You've lost 11.9 pounds!"
She clapped her hands together once and gave a thumbs in response. "Woo. Alright. Now it's time to eat. Let me get my shoes back on."
"I didn't expect to really lose that much weight, even though it really wasn't that much. But I'm hungry, and gaining 11.9 pounds back is not going to kill me so I'm gonna go for it!"
-/-
"Finally..."
The boat approached the shore and Daisy wasted no time getting off.
"Yeah, I know. I'm the only girl here so far. But honestly speaking,... does Daisy even care?"
"Hi, Daisy!" Golden's voice sounded, the bear waving from the steps of the cafe.
"Here's your new home for the next four days!" Ryu shouted, joining Golden and Espio on the waving.
"Oh my god, I'm so excited!" She came dashing right towards stuff, her belongings jiggling around in her bag, dropping it down on the ground to hug Ryu Hoshi first. "We're gonna have so much fun!"
"We sure are." The street fighter grinned. "Sucks that you voted us all out, but we don't care. We love you anyways."
"You've really stuck it out there." Espio commented smiling. "I am sure all of your friends and family would be quite proud of you."
"Thanks, guys." She thanked all of them. "But, can't spend too much time chatting here. I wanna see how I look! And I'm hungry!"
The male contestants hardly kept up with her as she sped past them to eye at herself in them mirror, forming a rather blank look at her appearance. Her hair looked rather frizzled, and her clothes were all dirtied up.
"Ugh... Could look worse..."
"Daisy was clearly the most excited out of all of us to be here." Ryu stated. "Not saying excited as in 'I'm glad that I have been eliminated.' She's just psyched about this whole Ponderosa thing. Poor girl's hungry and tired and it's understandable. All four of us felt the same way, so we just let her have her night."
The moment she saw the food approaching her, she rubbed her hands rapidly in anticipation.
"Alright, let's get this!"
Chicken quesadillas, pizza, and carnitas. Yes, three entrees at once.
"...Three entrees?" Ryu widened his eyes. The amount of food she ordered was rivaling him when he first returned to Ponderosa. "Daisy, I love you, but you know darn well you aren't gonna eat all this."
"Oh, I know." She seemed to know what she was doing with a confirmed nod, already getting ready to dive in. "But it's just that you're so hungry you know you can't help it. So, you just end up not caring!"
Specter Knight actually wanted to roll his eyes.
"Never really paid attention to Daisy too much." The scythe wielder admitted. "Though I do confess this... She's at least more interesting than these other losers here so far. May not be an expert on parties but she's probably been to every last one based on the amount of energy she has... Like a little five year old child high on sugar..."
She was diving away at the food that was placed right in front of her as she immediately began talking.
"So in that challenge, it was basically this 'folklore' challenge about Mexican history, and we had to do it at night. In the end it ended up being between me, Panther, Isabelle, and Funky Kong." She talked between bites. "Panther and Funky Kong got their last question wrong, and I was just getting ready to head back with my last medallion, but Isabelle beat me to it. So if Isabelle didn't win, I would have, and I wouldn't be sitting here right now. But, oh well. At least I know I did pretty good in the challenges. ...Oh my god, this quesadilla is so good..."
"Well, these are the most talented chefs I've ever seen..." Golden giggled at that. "But anyway,... why are you here? ...I thought that Funky was gonna be the next to go."
"Oh, I don't know. Why don't you ask Plague Knight?"
"Yeah, that was the point." Ryu spoke up. "I really thought he would flip on the Brains, since that was his goal for a while now."
"I was rather disappointed, if I was honest." Specter Knight opinionated. "It's more of a slap in the face for me. I've helped him stay in the game and it is as if he completely changed his mind when it came to the Brain Tribe Alliance."
"I suppose my educated guess is that like Daisy said, Incineroar is not a threat at all." Golden shook. "If he gets to the end, I only see him getting... Funky Kong's vote? And that's just about it."
"I don't wanna talk about Incineroar right now..." Rose shook her head rapidly. "I'm trying to focus on this food here. ...Oh my god, I'm so hungry..."
"Plague Knight..." Specter sighed lightly turning his head side to side. "If that man was standing right next to me, I would have had a lot to say. It is like he is all talk, but no action. I had the idol at the final eleven, not him. I was the main one taking charge making sure the both of us were safe, yet he does not follow through on his word by letting the rest of the Brains staying in a game, as if a parent does not want to discipline their child. Golden better be right. Incineroar is a joke of a Survivor player, so perhaps he took not of that and realized that three strategic players are better than two, which probably determined who was more threatening. If that was not Plague's thought process, however, I will be asking him if he makes it to the Final Tribal Council."
"So..." Ryu Hoshi decided to start a new conversation. "Final six, guys. Only six of them are left out there. Who you guys wanna win?"
"Who I'd want to win?" Golden decided to give his answer first. "Well, either Isabelle or Funky obviously. We were all in the same alliance with Espio for a while. Either or, I'm perfectly fine with. It's just that I respected Donkey Kong's game from the first season and Funky just so happens to be his cousin."
"I'd pick either Isabelle or Funky as well." Espio nodded in agreement. "Those two have done a good job sticking together."
"Hmm... Who would I want to win it all at this point?" The martial artist of the group asked himself. "Incineroar, even though he was my teammate, I can't vote for him... I, haha, I don't even think I need to explain. Can't be biased just because we were from the same team. Plague Knight, interesting story for him, but he can be pretty disrespectful sometimes... I guess I'll pick either Funky Kong or Panther. They are the last two left my... 'supposed' Strong Guys Alliance and Panther has been through a lot. And Funky Kong was really fun to have out there. I wouldn't mind seeing either of them winning the money."
"I think it would be best for me to wait until Final Tribal." Specter Knight decided. "It would simply be about who has played the best game possible of the remaining finalists. But as of now, who I am leaning towards,... Panther."
"Any particular reason?" Ryu wondered. "I don't remember seeing you two talk that much."
"Well, it is mainly due to the flaws of others. Panther is overall the biggest threat remaining. Not for strategical purposes, but overall story. Isabelle and Funky Kong are coattailing each other, I have no other comment I need to make about Plague at the moment, Incineroar's a non-contender for the Sole Survivor at this point, and Chica has done absolutely nothing."
"Yeah, but she did warn me and Panther you were going after us at the time you were eliminated..." Daisy brought up.
...
Following the few moments of silence (with the exception of Daisy continuing to eat), Specter Knight facepalmed himself in frustration. "So that's why I got blindsided..."
He sighed in reaction.
"...Okay, well that's one thing she might have accomplished. But she's one of those players that puts her own personal growth as a person first and actually winning second." He explained. "And for my standards, that is unacceptable."
"Well," Daisy laughed at that. "I'm pretty sure you all know who I'm voting for."
"Why wouldn't I vote for Panther? Like,... come on! ...Sure, half of me wants him here, but seriously. He needs to win this thing after all that he's been through. I mean, I'm kinda still mad that we had to separate for a while for the sake of each other's games, 'cause... we're like siblings! Siblings can never be separated! But still, I didn't wanna hurt his game, and he wouldn't wanna hurt mine, so I really hope I get the opportunity to vote for him if he reaches the finals!"
-/-
Now Rose was entering her home for the next four to five days. She was more than pleased to see the rest of her belongings. There were items that reminded her of home, and everything she needed to shower.
"Ooh, great..." She said out of delight. "I... guess I'm gonna be in the bathroom for a while. My head looks like a mop at the moment."
And within a minute, she closed the bathroom door.
"I may not mind my hair being imperfect on Survivor, but after weeks of not washing it, it definitely needs a fix up. No lie."
Day 36
The following morning, everyone (excluding Specter Knight) was seen performing a workout. Ryu appeared to be the leader of the routine, with Daisy, Golden, and Espio all facing his direction as they seemed to be doing three sets of high knees. It was basically jogging in place, except that one needed to raise his or her knees higher than usual.
"I didn't expect to wake up early today after my first night here, but hey, it's Ponderosa! I'm not winning, but being her is still awesome, you know? So while we were all waiting for breakfast, I didn't really wanna be bored since there isn't really much to do around here except for just hanging out with each other. I guess in order to get my blood flowing today, I decided to participate in one of Ryu's workout routines, which gives me advantage since I played sports in high school, anyway."
"What's next?" Daisy spoke as she jogged in place between breaths. "We're gonna do laps around the cafe?"
"Soon." Ryu's reply was short. "Just focus on your breathing."
"Okay." She replied immediately.
"If I wasn't awake enough when I opened my eyes this morning, I certainly am now! Specter Knight is like this edgy loner that no one talks to, so I wasn't surprised at him not being involved. But hey, I like to have fun. Just sitting around all day is boring. And I've said before that I don't care if I'm the only girl here right now, but I am still curious of what it's like to be around four other guys for a little bit, since I actually don't get to experience it that much. It's usually me not being afraid to do... 'manly' things, I guess. So anyway, that was Ryu. Now let's talk about Espio..."
Previously during the main game, Daisy Rose was the only one who never participated in the meditating back on the swapped Toro tribe. Ryu and Golden on the other hand were quite all over it, since it was something the three rather had in common to begin with. Yet unsurprisingly, Rose showed absolutely showed no interest whatsoever.
What was shocking though was that out of curiosity, Daisy appeared that she was willing to give it a try.
Even Espio himself was astounded by it, already sitting pretzel style as the orange haired woman was getting down on her knees. "...May I ask about your change of heart?"
"Well,... I never actually did it before, so it's always good to try something different, right? And also, like I said, you gotta do something around here."
"As a warning though, meditating is not really exactly 'doing anything' either..." Espio warned. He knew very well of the kind of person Daisy was, and out of consideration, he just did not intend to bore her, even though it was entirely Daisy's decision in the first place. "Not really sure if this is going to help..."
"Alright, I'll give myself five minutes and I'll talk afterwards." She sat down to copy Espio's pose. "Just tell me what to do."
Elapsed Time: 5 Minutes
"...Well..." The Team Chaotix member had one eye open awaiting her response.
"..." Nothing but a blank stare and an exhale from the former Quetzal member. "Okay, I'm going to be blunt here. Let's just say that those were the longest, most boring five minutes of my life..."
Due to her not holding back, Espio actually snickered in reaction. "I do appreciate your honesty. I just expected you to be ready to just spring up and run away."
"Well, I guess with me doing something as simple as sitting still, in a weird way, you actually grow tired and exhausted a little..."
"It was actually quite entertaining to see Daisy's reaction of her putting herself in my shoes of what I do on a day to day basis." The nineteen year old grinned. "She was not pleased, but I am not disappointed only because it was something I expected from her in the beginning."
"I suppose I'll go see Ryu again and see if I can try to get my energy back..."
"Annnnnd that was that." She laughed. "So, as for Specter Knight,... um... yeah..."
"I have no one to blame but myself..." He sat with her in the cafe while they were having lunch later on in the day. "If only me and Plague were a bit more careful about our surroundings, Chica would have never heard our conversation, and I would have moved up at least one place higher and Panther would have gone home..."
"But, what would have been your plan after that?" Daisy snickered. "You were still the biggest threat after there after you made Espio idol himself out in front of the entire universe."
"It was just strategy." He promptly replied. "He got outplayed and that is how it works. If you are not willing to step up to the plate and do everything in your power to survive out there, you are eliminated. Kill or be killed. That is just how I was playing. ...Would you have been willing to blindside Panther if you needed to? Say if Plague voted your way..."
"Hmm..." That was kind of an interesting, yet difficult question in Daisy's world. Of course Panther was her best friend out there. Just like how it usually went when it come to close relationships in Survivor, if you betray them, strategically, it could have been a great move for one's game. Morally however, worst case scenario, it could have done some major damage to a relationship. It all depends of how the victim of a blindside took it, as well as the mindset of a certain player.
So, what was exactly Daisy's answer to Specter's question?
She was still thinking. "..."
"Would you have let him win another challenge?" He chose to ask another while he was at it. "He was in fact carrying your entire tribe in the challenges, and that was one of the reasons why he is a major threat now. He could even be voted off tonight..."
"...I guess if I wanted to win, maybe..."
"You hesitated." The former member of the Brawn tribe felt that the answer was already given. "Here is your chance to listen to some advice. Say if you were to come back in the game somehow on a different season, if you have to betray someone in order to advance yourself, you have to do it, or you will be embarrassed in front of everyone. No matter who it might be, you need to be willing to vote out your strongest competitor."
"You didn't even let me-"
"No hesitation." He interrupted. "I literally stated to the producers that if I had to get rid of Plague at any point, I would have done so in a second. You can not just exclusively rely on relationships to get you to the end. Otherwise, you are riding coattails. But the fact that you hesitated, it shows that even if you were to blindside him, worst case scenario, you would be too afraid."
"I'm not afraid of anything!"
"Well, based off your answer, I find that to be pretty hard to believe..." The knight tied up his arms.
"Rather harsh, but hey, if I wanted to vote off Panther, I wouldn't have needed other people telling me that he's too big of a threat to keep around. It would have been my own decision to write his name down. Nobody else here thinks for me, or speaks for me. I have a mind of my own..." After a brief sigh and an eyeroll, she moved on. "Now, about Golden..."
The bear and the human were seen relaxing by the water, watching the waves crash down on the beach.
"So then there's you." Daisy seemed to be already in the middle of a conversation with the anthropomorphic animal. "All four of you have completely different personalities. Ryu's competitive, Espio's like the 'silent assassin', Specter's cold-blooded, and you're just...'
Fredbear snickered. "Boring?"
"What the-..." She widened her eyes with her jaw dropping. "That's what you really think about yourself?"
"Not really." He shook his head in reply. "But in comparison to the other three, I suppose some people are a little more... complicated, but there's nothing really wrong with that. No two people are alike."
"I just think that you're a really nice guy." Daisy said. "Very smart, too. I'm sure a lot of people think that about you."
"Appreciate it." That generally made him feel good. "It just that knowing you, I don't exactly know how hard or easy it is being around four males coming from completely different walks of life like you just said. As far as the game goes, you gotta play with your head, but sometimes playing with your heart is what is needed as well, unless you don't care about alienating anyone on the jury that might vote for you to win. But for me personally, I suppose I just try to be as understanding as I could, both in game and in real life. If someone comes up to me for advice, I'd give them my honest opinion of things if I need to. Whatever helps them out."
"You did talk to Chica a while back..."
"I did." He recalled. "She was upset at the challenge lost. And I bet in her mind, she was thinking of everything she had to go through and it just all came crashing down on her."
"Well, if you're good at giving advice to people, what do you have to say about all these people? ...Including ourselves?" Daisy wondered.
"Like I just told you. No two people are alike. Best thing to do is deal with it. I'm different in my own way, and you're different in your own way as well. I think you should know that. You told people that you were used to hearing other people warn you about some of the things you're doing because they were too um... 'masculine' for you in their eyes, and look at where you are now?"
Her smile was growing.
"And even over here, not everybody is this super alpha male wanting to see who's the biggest and strongest just to put people in their place. We're probably not all the same species, but everybody here has some type of complexity. Some of us just openly show it more than others. Probably because it's easier for them to express themselves... you express yourself rather easily, and that shows that you don't care what people think."
"And... that's a good sign, right?"
"Exactly."
"I'll be honest: me and the Brains have never really interacted like that, but if Golden was in a final three, unless Panther is also involved,... I actually would have voted for Golden. He seems to get along with almost everybody. ...I kinda feel bad for voting for him now..."
It was almost time to go to Tribal Council. But before they were set to go, they were doing one last activity. Well, most of them, anyway. From the cafe, Specter Knight watched as Daisy was with the other three men all dashing around the Ponderosa, completely lap number two of three, the only female of the group being ahead of them.
"Try not to push yourself too hard..." Ryu warned.
"Don't worry!" She chuckled as she kept going. "I know my limits!"
She sighed. "Here comes tribal again... I guess somebody else is gonna join us tonight. I suppose this concludes 'Daisy's Day' at Ponderosa. I enjoyed it. Learned a lot about myself during my thirty-five days in the game, and I got to know people a bit more with Ponderosa and I will continue to do so until this is over. Kinda neat if you ask me. I'm preparing myself to face either Funky Kong or... ugh... Incineroar. They're the two main alpha males left in the game. But whoever does get here, from my perspective, it doesn't really matter. The biggest lesson I've learned is to continue to be myself, and I ain't gonna let anybody ever change that. So,... guess I'm still Daisy!"
She made a big wave at the camera.
Sigh... Only three more jurors left.
I kinda didn't know what to do with Daisy at her first official morning here, so there you have it. Tell me what you think in your reviews, and I'll see you as the next juror. I'm also curious as to what you think about Daisy in general during her time on the show.