Cactus Cleo- District Seven male (18)

Right when I woke up I could tell it was going to be a horrible day. I opened my eyes and was forced to remember again that I was not in my cozy bed with my extra soft pillowy blanket, but on the ground looking up at the open sky at the edge of our shelter. My back was against the hard dirt, my shoulders and neck ached like I'd run for miles. Worst of all, I didn't feel any less tired. There was little worse in the world than waking up not refreshed and knowing you basically got cheated out of a night of sleep and were going to be tired and miserable all day (which was basically two days in a row since you hadn't slept). The only thing worse than that would be doing it more than one day in a row.

I was surprised to see I wasn't the first one up. Persi was sitting by our fire poking a stick at a pot presumably full of rice.

"You got up without waking anyone else?" I couldn't help but ask. I hated many things and among them was people making noise when I was trying to sleep.

"I pretty much raised two babies. I'm a ninja when someone is napping," Persi said.

I stretched and rubbed at my shoulders and back as I puttered over next to her. I peeked into the rice bowl and saw the sludgy contents with their layer of slimy water on top.

"Looks a bit mushy," I said.

Persi was less offended than she might have been. "Yeah, I mean, it's plain rice in a pot over a fire. It's gonna be mushy."

My opinions on mushy food matched my opinions on sleeping outside. Not exactly, though- really they went beyond that. I'd never been known as an "adventurous eater". When I was a toddler Leo had to take me to the doctor and get some nutrition shakes since there was so much I just refused to eat. For a while he thought I was being naughty but after I lost so much weight the doctor thought I was a preemie, he realized it was something more. Now I have a collection of safe foods we keep around at all times. Sometimes I might try something new but not often and definitely not when I was already this stressed and grumpy.

"Thanks for making it," I said, remembering I had to make allies and not put a target on my back. "I'm just gonna look around a little." I poked around our supplies to look at the few things we'd found in the woods. The first thing I saw was Shep's mushrooms. No-go. The only other thing we had was a few handfuls of wild strawberries. It wasn't nearly enough to satisfy me but I took what I could get, minus a few I left behind so I could say I didn't eat them all.

The walk to the challenge grounds was actually kind of nice. The pine trees had a nice smell and it was one of those not too hot and not too cold days. WHen we got there, Isabella was already there in her weird blue-shirt-and-khaki-pants outfit to greet us.

"Good morning, contestants!" she started cheerfully, having no doubt slept in a fancy glamping tent or cabin. "Are you ready for your first challenge?"

"WooooOOOOooOOo!" Trayne yelled.

"Love the enthusiasm," she said. "Your first challenge is very simple. Here on Survivor, the greatest challenge is just that: to survive. To stay alive. As any Survivor fan knows, here, fire is life." She pointed to the woods all around us. "We have here all the natural materials you need to build a life-giving, warmth-restoring fire. On either side of me you've noticed there are two ropes, each an equal distance up off the ground." she pointed out the two thin ropes each tied about knee-high off the ground. "Using these flints-" she fished them from her pocket- "and anything you can find around you, make a fire that will burn through the rope. First tribe to burn their rope wins a flint and, most important, immunity. Losing tribe goes to our first Tribal Council, where one of you will be the first contestant eliminated."

"We already have-" Virgo started. She cut herself off and looked around guiltily to see if she'd blown our cover. Isabella hadn't heard her, though.

"Everyone ready? Then let's get this first challenge started."

Shep Howard- District Ten male (17)

Everyone looked at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked. "It took me like five hours last night!"

"You're Amish or whatever, right?" Kendall asked. "You people use fire to light your houses."

"Yeah, and matches," I said. "We're Amish, not cavemen."

Everyone looked at Kallik.

"You know there are convenience stores on the Res, right?" she asked.

Robbie Emmers- District Nine male (18)

Enzo darted off into the woods as the rest of us stared after him.

"Guess he knows what he needs," I shrugged.

We squatted down by the open patch of dirt under the rope we had to burn.

"Anyone else ever make a fire?" Amberlynn asked.

"I went camping once," Alara offered.

"Here," I said, handing her the flint.

"How do you do it?" she wondered aloud. She hit the flint and stone together and a spark flew out.

"Eek!" Virgo cried, pulling her hand away when the spark landed near it. "What? I thought it was going to burn me!" she defended herself when some of us stared.

"We need tinder," Rowena said. She darted off into the woods.

Kallik- District Two female (18)

We had a little pile of pine needles and dry bits of wood on top of some larger twigs.

"Pile it way high so the fire reaches the rope as soon as it starts," Taylor suggested.

"If any of your fuel touches the rope your team will be disqualified," Isabella called from her perch on a little platform between the two tribes.

"Never mind, don't do that," Taylor said.

A spark flew from the flint I was hitting and arced through the air, landing right in the pile of tinder.

"Ooh, this one's gonna take!" Trydan said.

The spark glowed and then winked out.

"What the heck?!" Birdie complained. "It's a spark. It's tinder. It's supposed to light!"

I kept trying as she spoke. Another spark landed in the tinder and this one didn't wink out.

"You got it!" Trydan cheered. "Nobody move."

Enzo Charmont- District Twelve male (18)

Sticky sticky sticky ew sticky.

Sacrifices must be made for the tribe. I dug my fingers through the lump of sap on the pine tree's bark and dragged away another treacly handful. I added it to the tennis-sized wad in my hand and ran back toward the challenge clearing.

"I got it!" I yelled, darting to my tribe clustered around a tiny smoldering pile of pine needles. I plopped the pine sap next to the fire and rolled it between my hands to make a thin cylinder that reached up to a few inches under the rope. I grabbed the flint from Cactus and he wrinkled his nose when my sticky fingers touched his.

I started whacking the flint and steel together and right away sparks flew off. Two landed on the sap. One died right as it hit and the other landed, its heat making a little divot in the sap. The sap around it glowed and then lit. The flame quickly grew into a vertical column much bigger than you'd think from a little pile of sap. One thing I'd learned from camping in the woods of Twelve- pine sap burns really well. I liked to pile it on the end of a stick and make a torch like something from an old adventure book.

"It's going!" Trayne said. Just a moment after he said it, the flame reached the rope. We watched, hardly daring to breathe, as the tan rope scorched black underneath and then-

SNAP!

A flag flew up the stake that had held the rope in place, unfolding to show a red square.

Isabella threw up two fingers. For a moment I was confused, thinking it was a Twelve salute.

"Ellekoner wins immunity and reward!"

In general I'm going to use a weighted system based on types of challenges and how good the Tributes on each tribe are at that type of challenge. For these first few, though, I'm picking losing tribes based on who needs to go home early. There's someone on Huldra slated to leave early so they lost. Don't worry about voting yet because of that.