Virgo Charleston- District Ten female (18)

Judging from the tree mail directing us to the beach and to wear our swimsuits, it was a water challenge. I could work with that. We had some lakes back home and my parents had taught me when I was little, since every now and then there were accidents. I just hoped the water wasn't too cold. It was a nice sunny day, though. It didn't stop a sudden chill going up my back.

"Bug?" Enzo asked behind me.

"Goose walked across my grave," I joked. It was something my grandfather used to say. That and "the fox is arguing with his wife" whenever it was raining but the sun was out.

Isabella looked fabulous in her purple bikini and expensive-looking sunglasses. She was reclined on a pool floatie about twenty feet out in the water, a little umbrella drink on the attached table. All around her were flags sticking out of the water. On either side of her, there were two platforms.

"Good morning, Tributes. As you can see, Taylor has been voted out at tribal council. Today we thought we'd shake things up and try a new location."

"Today's challenge is pretty simple. Around me there are twelve buoys. One by one, contestants will swim to the buoys and down the attached rope. At the bottom of the ropes you will find a bag tied to ballast. Untie the knots and release the bag. Once all six bags have been released, contestants must tow them to shore and dump out the letter tiles inside. Once unscrambled, the tiles will form a word. First tribe to discover the word wins immunity and reward."

I couldn't help but notice there was no tarp at Isabellas feet. I expected her to snap her fingers or something and it would float up in the water, but she went with something different.

"The winning tribe of today's challenge will enjoy an overnight trip to our exact replica of Rosenborg Castle, one of Denmark's crowning jewels. The winners will enjoy a queen's dinner, feather beds, luxurious gardens, and more."

This time she didn't have to use the cheering sound effect.

Dorian Sargasso- District Four male (18)

We'd all had a swimming lesson before we left, but one lesson did not a swimmer make. Lana and Persi sat this one out, since neither of them had ever swum before this. I, of course, was downright stoked. I went up first and set my sights on the farthest buoy.

On our first day here I'd noticed that the water wasn't as salty as the actual ocean. We'd guessed it meant water challenges were coming. Pretty cool of the gamemakers to let us open our eyes underwater without it stinging like crazy. It was also a little warmer than the ocean, though not warm warm. Anyway, it was easy as anything for me to swim to the buoy and down to the rope, which was only about five feet down. I untied the knots and followed the bag up in a single breath.

Yarrow Venus- District Three female

I could do this. I wasn't a champ or anything, but my parents had taken me to the pool a few times. It has never been my favorite- loud, crowded, pee in the water- but I could do this. I jumped into the water, which was not as warm as it might be, and dog-paddled to the buoy. Dorian was done before I even got there, or course, but not everyone one Ellekoner was Dorian. They also had Alara, though, so there was that.

I had my nose with one hand while I followed the rope down. It wasn't the best technique but I'd long ago learned I did not like water in my nose. The knots were pretty loose, though, and I got them loose before I even needed to come up. I was no Four but it was pretty good.

Kallik- District Two female (18)

To no one's surprise, Ellekoner pulled out to a quick lead. Dorian and Alara had two bags at the platform before I even set out. We'd really have to nail the word puzzle. I was quicker than Enzo, though, I noticed. He wasn't too confident in his swimming and he came up quickly after he went down. Maybe he got a little water in him, I thought. It was never fun sucking in a breath right as a drop flew into your mouth. I took my chance and narrowed their lead to half a lap.

I sat on the edge of the dock to catch my breath after I clambered back on. It didn't help that there had been a storm last night and we hadn't gotten much sleep. I hoped we finished quickly and didn't get too sunburned.

Cactus Cleo- District Seven male (18)

Stupid knots. It shouldn't have been this hard. I'd gotten all but one, but that last one had gotten tangled around itself somehow. It took me two extra breaths to finally get it loose. We were still ahead, though. Just not by as much.

Trydan Briod- District Five male (17)

I swear Isabella blurred. She was on her floatie narrating and then mid-word she just blurred. She vanished into the water like a lightning bolt, her floatie tipping over and the umbrella from her drink swirling in the ripples. Before I could even tell where she'd gone, she was back up again, halfway to shore with Val under one arm. Octavia screamed and jumped into the water before I noticed Val was flopping oddly. Octavia had barely started swimming before Isabella reached shallow water and handed Val off to Lyte, who came out of his medic station and sprinted for the water the instant after Isabella went in.

Octavia Jacobs- District Two female (18)

I didn't remember reaching shore. The first thing I remembered was kneeling near Val on the ground as Lyte knelt over his chest, a tube snaked down his throat. Water gushed up into the tube and I saw Val's chest heave. It distantly occurred to me that the seizure must be already passing, since they'd gotten the tube in without him biting it. But he's breathing? HE'S BREATHING? The little wheezing noises he made, usually so scary, were beautiful to hear. Another medic had shoved a medical pen up his nose and administered an anti-seizure medication, which must have been what allowed them to insert the tube. In a sudden instant, Val's jittering body relaxed.

I hadn't noticed Isabella was gently holding me. I slipped free and hurried to Val's side, heaving almost as much as he was. He was okay- I didn't need the medics to tell me that- but it was still terrifying and I needed to be there when he woke up.

Val Vella- District Two male (18)

The world slowly swam into focus. My eyes came first, so I saw Octavia and Isabella kneeling beside me, Octavia's face a nightmare in her fear. I put together what had happened quickly, but the ability to think it coherently took longer. It was more of a distant knowledge.

"I'm okay," I tried to say. It came out as drunken slurring. I slowly remembered I'd been in the water a minute ago. The fear at that crystallized quicker than anything else.

"You had a seizure," a medic said unnecessarily. At least I assumed that was what he said. It sounded like a foreign language.

"Isabella saved you," Octavia said, and that one I understood.

"Nice." She was hot. In my defense, seizure thoughts did whatever they wanted, and sometimes words did too. I tried to sit up and was surprised to find I could. I didn't want to stand, but usually even sitting was a struggle. I still felt like I weighed a thousand pounds, but it could be worse. Clearly the Capitol had better anti-seizure meds than we had back home. The medics helped me to a stretcher and I drunkenly tried to follow what Isabella was saying to the Tributes clustered on the beach.

"It's okay, everyone. Val is stable and just needs to rest. We're going to keep him here for the rest of the challenge to monitor him and we'll go from there. In the meantime, the rules state that Huldra can either volunteer someone to dive twice or forfeit the challenge."

Shep raised a finger. "I got it."

"Thanks," I said, pretty coherently. It would hit me more later, I was sure, but for the moment I was still loopy. I hadn't even seen it coming. I'd thought the tight feeling in my chest was just me breathing heavily in the water. It has only been a second of warning- sometimes they were like that. If it hadn't been for Isabella… yikes. It was almost curtains for me. When I got out of the post-ictal period and started thinking right again, I was going to be terrified.

Leo Fabrizio- District Six male (18)

"We have to win this one for Val."

It was the craziest thing. My little cheer was actually working. First off, Octavia was a nervous wreck and was tired after her frantic swim to shore, so she fumbled her knots and took longer than she would have. Then we had Shep going twice, and since the swim to the buoy wasn't that long, even doing it twice he was faster on average than some of the Ellekoners who weren't confident in water. We didn't catch them entirely, but when Shep pulled up our final bag, we were only halfway to shore behind them.

"Go!" Shep said as soon as he touched the dock. We jumped in after him and made a break for it.

Alara Banks- District Four female (17)

It would have been a lot easier to unscramble the letter if we weren't so scrambled ourselves. We'd just seen someone almost die. I couldn't believe how fast Isabella had moved. In Four we learned to see the signs of drowning quick. My view of Val had been blocked by the others in the edge of the raft, but she'd acted immediately. I was short of breath imagining seizing underwater. Didn't they say sometimes you were awake during them? What an absolute nightmare, feeling your mouth open and the water come in while there's nothing you can do. Suffice to say, we weren't at our puzzle-solving best.

DMRUINTAIYRMNWEAD

"Dead… rat… mead," Enzo puzzled aloud.

Virgo arranged some letters. "Dairy…" Trust a Ten…

Beside us, Huldra reached shore and dumped their letters.

Shep Howard- District Ten male (17)

NTAIYURRMNWMDIEAD

We set to work rearranging.

DAINTYAIURRMNWMDE

IDEAMARRYMINT

"Immunity and reward!" Trydan shrieked.

We all looked at him in amazement. It had been maybe thirty seconds

"Huldra wins immunity and reward!" Isabella shouted.

Really?

From Ellekoner's stretch of beach came Dorian's voice.

"WHAT?!"

This time I flipped a coin to see who won. In a stunning turn of events, luck favored Huldra. I had wanted to have Val have a seizure for a while and thought might as well do it as dramatically as possible. He didn't get much sleep, the sun was blazing, and he was exerting himself. No bueno. There were safety divers, but Isabella happened to be closer and she had an eagle eye. She saw his seizure immediately- he was aspirating water for less than ten seconds and getting intubated in thirty. I looked at some videos to write the seizure and post ictal period, but they're not precisely accurate because of medical advances in Panem. I suppose in real Survivor they might want to do more intervention, but Panem's medicine is such that Val will recover if he takes it easy overnight. Since his team came through for him, he can take a good long nap at the castle (and will probably fall asleep on the ride there).

Note on alliances: just my two cents, but this is CHAOS REIGNS. Some people are going to be hella analytical. Some people are going to take things casually. Some people vote precisely for chaos lol. It is a little harder for me if a lot of votes don't come in from a tribe, but that's what I get when I make a chaos Games. No one knows how any of this will turn out, but it will be fun no matter what!

Ellekoner, let's see who's next! And if you've been absent lately, please send a message of any sort since the merge is coming soon so I want to clear out any last minute dropouts