Clover's interview: I'm really worried. It could be anyone. Our tribe was doing pretty good at the challenge but they just got the answer really fast. Maybe if we were freakishly good at guessing random letters? Gosh I hate tribal council. This has been really fun and I don't want to go home. This sucks.
Clover's edited interview: I hate… our tribe. They… are… freaks. I want Shep to go home.
Leo's interview: Kallik caught a fish. It wasn't very big but it was bigger than anything I caught. She fell in the water trying to get it out and got all wet. At first Birdie said we should let it go but then she saw it was speared through the middle so she kinda pursed her lips like this and said she would go gather some plants for the next hour or so. So Shep gutted the fish with a machete, which must have been really hard, and we added it to our rice. There wasn't much for anyone to really bit into but the rice tasted kind of meaty and I feel fuller.
Leo's edited interview: Kallik caught a fish. It wasn't very big but it was bigger than anything I caught. She fell in the water trying to get it out and got all wet. At first Birdie said we should let it go but then she saw it was speared through the middle so she kinda pursed her lips like this and said she would go gather some plants for the next hour or so. So Shep gutted the fish with a machete, which must have been really hard, and we added it to our rice. There wasn't much for anyone to really bite into but the rice tasted kind of meaty and I feel fuller.
Taylor Treadle- District Eight female (15)
There were no mosquitoes at tribal council. I hadn't thought about it until I noticed I wasn't slapping at one every few minutes like I did back at camp. Isabella's house was closeby, then. We'd idly wondered about it back at camp. Most of us thought she had a fancy cabin, though there was really no reason it couldn't be a house or something else. She might even fly out every day and live off the island somewhere. We hadn't seen any hovercrafts but maybe she used tunnels. But the lack of mosquitoes here, coupled with the presence of them at a nearby camp, suggested some sort of short-range protective field, like Isabella might want to keep the bugs off her. Surely that was far more important than the vote that was about to happen.
I really hoped it wasn't me who was about to go home. I kept replaying the challenge in my head and wondering what we could have done differently. I hated being on a losing team. I didn't even mind that we lost, exactly. I just always worried that it had been my fault. We hadn't been far behind Ellekoner. It was just that Octavia got the answer immediately. I didn't think I'd done anything to make us lose. I hadn't contributed any winning ideas but I hadn't wasted time on any terrible ones. We really were all in it together as a team- so far I'd been pleasantly surprised at how well we'd been getting along.
We'd been getting along so well, in fact, that I had no idea who was about to go home. My best guess was probably Josie just because she was so small. Who knows, though? We might have a challenge about fitting into small spaces or something. If I had to pick who I hoped was going home… maybe Birdie? She was kind of preachy. I didn't hate her or anything, but I had to pick someone. Kallik or Kendall were the two big threats. Kendall was the more classical Career and was more socially intelligent than Kallik, in that I thought nearer the end he'd be more tricky and charismatic than she was. I hoped it wasn't Val. I should have hated someone so rich and indulgent but I had to admit I kind of thought it was cool. His luxury item was makeup. He at least committed to the bit. Plus he was cute.
"So, what went wrong?"
I hadn't been paying attention to Isabella while she went through the spiel about fire meaning life and all of that again. Why did they make her say it every time? Couldn't they just use the same footage? They could even alter her voice a little so people thought she'd said it twice. Why was she even here? They could have overlaid her face onto a body double. I guessed she must have been actually having fun out here. It must be fun from the announcer's perspective. Watch challenges, narrate stuff, go home to your fancy cabin after… I wondered if it was like a normal log cabin or if it was a mansion that happened to be made of wood.
"Nothing really went wrong. They were just faster again," Leo said. "Sorry to be boring but it's true."
"We should have thought of the rope thing," Josie said.
"We were almost there." Trydan seemed weirdly zealous to fight for the honor of a tribe he'd been randomly assigned to.
"We should start getting up early and doing some exercises," Kendall contributed.
Shep shrugged. "There's nothing to do about it so let's vote."
I never knew what to do while waiting to vote. I drew a little circle in the dirt with my foot until Isabella called my name. I walked across the clearing to the little hut and picked up the fake-weathered piece of paper and big wooden pen. By then I'd decided who I was going to vote for. I still wasn't that committed, but I had to vote for someone, so I picked a name and wrote.
Josie
Josie Stone- District Twelve female (12)
I didn't think they were voting for me. People had tells when they were suspicious of you or planning something. None of the others had tilted their bodies away from me or avoided looking at me as they looked from person to person. I hadn't heard anything back at camp about it either. I'd been doing what I could to protect myself by acting just a little younger and cuter than normal. I pointed out pretty flowers around camp. I mentioned how the rice here was more than I had to eat at home so people would feel bad sending me back. I'd been scoping out my target for when I went more on the offensive, too. Kallik was on my short list, but my first target was Kendall. I needed him out before the second half of the game when he could win individual immunity.
Isabella set the urn in front of her podium and took out the first paper.
"Once I read the votes, the decision is final. If anyone would like to play an immunity idol, now would be the time."
No one spoke up. I'd been looking but I hadn't found it yet.
Isabella opened the first paper. "Birdie."
Birdie looked at us nervously like she could see who voted for her. She seemed almost ready to apologize and ask them to take it back.
Isabella took out another. "Josie."
Who voted for a little kid? Dick.
"Clover."
We all looked over at him. I'd barely even thought of him since the Games began. He made kind of cool woven baskets and that was about all I knew.
"Kendall."
There it is.
"Kendall."
"Clover."
Our first real vote and it was shaping up to be a roller coaster.
"Clover."
Five votes left. It could still be me. Just watch them put all my papers at the bottom for the suspense. I knew I should have moved more quickly.
"Josie. That's two for Josie, three for Clover, two for Kendall, one for Birdie, and three votes left."
She unfolded another paper. "Clover."
Everyone seemed to settle in, like it was already over. For most of them it was. They needed four votes to tie Clover and only two were left. I could still tie it, though. Isabella hadn't said what happened for a tie. It sounded like Survivor had done a few different things.
Isabella unfolded another paper. "Second person eliminated: Clover."
Clover's exit interview: I don't know. I didn't feel like anyone didn't like me in particular. I kind of think we all just picked someone for some little reason and the votes spread out and I happened to get unlucky. It really sucks going home this early though. This was such a cool adventure and I only got a tiny piece of it. I hope the rest of them make the most of this. Bummer.
23rd place: Clover Nguyen
And now for the truth: this vote was rigged in-universe. Clover was linked to rebel activities and so the Gamemakers decided to vote him out early. Generally home activities won't affect the Tributes but in this case Clover's submitter was inactive but still in contact with me and they suggested this as an in-universe reason for him to be voted out early over Josie or Kendall (or whoever's submitter collected the fewest allies). So all these votes were bogus even in-universe- none of them are counted in case of future ties and none of them actually indicate any animosity from the tribe toward the Tribute. Likewise, for Taylor's vote (I specifically used her since she's mine) I picked a Tribute I thought she might reasonably pick and used that. It does not indicate any future storylines about Taylor disliking Birdie.
Anyway, Clover probably would have done well if his submitter had stayed active (lol that sounds backhanded but you get me). His legacy lives on in Huldra in the form of two baskets which may or may not be bartered at some point. He left the tribe better than he found it and will surely go home to do all sorts of rebel things, or maybe not since he's been identified.
ALLIANCE NOTES: Just reminding everyone that alliances can be made by submitters by messaging other submitters. Feel free to make sub alliances or backstab people. You can even send me a vote so you can screenshot it and send it to your alliance, then message me again and change it or something like that. Maybe not that, since it's pretty obvious, but sneaky stuff like that. Reading through the first Survivor will tell you that NOTHING was off the table.
First hidden immunity idol clue: Yes there IS an idol! I'll leave clues at the bottoms of chapters and whoever messages me the correct location first gets an idol! You don't have to have an active Tribute to find the idol and whoever finds it can use it on whoever they want. I won't tell who finds an idol but the finder can tell anyone they want.
CLUE: look in the tastiest of countries