WWXXRLTV - Virtual Reality Television

[Gryphon]

Lucky enough to be upwind of Jack for the moment (just) Zak gives him an answering grin, as he watches the beer get put away by the expert.

 

Hearing some malicious sounding sniggering, Zak looks around to find the target and sees one of the girls on standing to one side looking rather upset.

 

With another friendly grin, he picks up a beer and strolls over to her.

 

"Hi... Brianna isn't it? Look, don't worry about them." Zak indicates those laughing at Brianna with a nod of his head. "Everything will sort it's self out once we're on the island, you'll see."

 

With another grin at a couple of the watching guys Zak slips his arm around Brianna's shoulders. "Here, have a beer."

 

As Brianna opens the beer and takes a sip Zak guides her off to find a seat and begins chatting with her. "So... have you ever tried surfing?" The general social chit chat continues ranging over a number of random topics as the two get better acquainted.

[Lady Celes Crusader]

It was now Stacy Chaplin's turn to weight her luggage. She was surprised that she managed to have it underneath the bar by 20 pounds. But she thought of herself that perhaps it wasn't all that hard: she was still very thin even thought she did lived through one pregnancy and she's having a petite built. Since she's also poor, she didn't have much to pack besides job's uniform. After the weight in, Stacy surveys the other contestants. From what she notices, she was the only one who represents the black community. She notices that Pansy might be among the most decent one in the bunch. However, that Jessica was more of a pathetic drama-queen than any serious contestant.

[Gnarlitch]

Dan watches the scene with Jessica with some amusement before walking over and dropping his mostly empty military style duffle bag next to her. He looks at her and smiles, "Fill'er up, ma'am! Plenty o' space here." And with that he winks.

 

Having been through this type of thing before in the Corps he is wearing all his heavy gear (hiking boots, heavy duty canvas pants and shirt, cameraman's vest, and floppy hat) so that nothing in his bag is heavier than a couple of old novels he has sealed in a zip-lock bag. Oddly, everything in his bag is sealed in individual zip-lock bags which are then sealed in larger bags and then the entire bunch is inside a kitchen size garbage bag. Noticing the odd looks he gets he just winks and smiles knowing full well that his stuff will be nice and dry when everyone else's is soaking wet.

[Mynx]

Jessica wiped the fake tears that she had been brewing at the corners of her eyes and smiled 'prettily' at Johnny - the cute guy she had been eyeing up - as he offered the spare space of his bag to her aid.

She began packing a few things into it, hoping quietly that this would provide an excuse to sit next to him on the plane.

She was about to start asking him about what he did when the weird army guy - Dan? - came up and began chatting to her.

Forcing a smile while her mind cringed at his terrible fashion sense, Jessica dug out a few items that were already wrapped in plastic to protect them from whatever germs and icky things lurked in the bag Dan held out and shoved them to him to pack away.

Smiling once more at Johnny, she flipped her hair and turned back to the scales to finally receive a cleared weigh-in, her mind failing to notice the expressions of the customs officers and the show manager who had caught glances at her 'essentials'

 

The cameraman looked back at his friend and mirrored the grin.

"$20"

[Katzaniel]

OOC: In the interest of not just skipping over the plane ride itself, I'm trying to guess your character's likely occupation during it... please don't attempt to derive any role information from this, as there isn't any. Also, I should mention I keep saying cameramen because there are 4 and they are all men.

 

IC:

 

The plane ride itself is relatively uneventful, with Jessica sitting next to Johnny despite the large number of unoccupied seats. Zak and Brianna sat across the aisle from each other and chatted while she finished her beer, finally calming down over the whole thing. "That Jessica just annoys me so much, already!" she says conspiratorily, and Zak nods.

 

Dan spends his time in the cockpit, much to the chagrin of the pilot. No one stops him, though, as the cameramen are busy filming his discussion of the plane's various parts and his assessment of the pilot's skill, as well as catching footage of anyone else's antics, and of course betting on the outcome of the show.

 

Stacy and Pansy end up a couple of rows apart, spending much of their time looking out the window, or at the other passengers... and studiously avoiding the gaze of Jack, who finishes off half of Zack's beer by himself, belching more than the beer should have accounted for.

 

When they arrive, the sun is already fairly low in the sky. It's about 4 o'clock in the afternoon. A woman meets them, smiling cheerfully and gesturing to the shores.

 

"What a beautiful place!" she exclaims, "You couldn't ask to be stranded on a nicer island!"

 

The participants look at each other curiously while the cameramen hurry to record the monologue.

 

"Oh, of course, how silly of me... I'm Nancy, the host of our little show. Welcome to Ditty Island. As you have been told, the competition is already begun, so we won't be helping you unpack or anything. You'll have to build yourselves suitable shelter... unless of course you don't think that's necessary. But first... a challenge!"

 

There were some odd looks from this one. A challenge, already? They were shown 8 coloured canoes lined up on the shore. The slowest would be off the island, she said, far too chipper. Then they were given a ten minute break to unload their luggage, go to the bathroom, or whatever they deemed necessary. As this wasn't much time, very few really paid attention to any of the others.

 

Except the two who had been offered a joint chance at the win. They exchanged a glance, and one of them looked at the canoes. Without more communication than that, the other broke away. Nancy was talking to the cameramen, the rest of the crew was heading off into the woods, probably toward their cabin, with their luggage, and all of the contestants were concentrating on their own things. One quick movement, and the seat from the yellow canoe was cracked nearly all the way through. Perfect.

 

Upon returning to the plane, the mischief-maker discovered that their partner had already taken care of their luggage. A nod, a smile, the whispered words, "Avoid yellow", and they were on their way.

 

As it happened, Dan got the yellow canoe. The game was simple: Paddle out to one of the eight coloured wooden buoys in the water and grab the matching plastic hoop. The last hoop to land on the shore (by whatever means) would belong to the loser. Dan could not have played the victim's part more perfectly, for when the bell rang to start, he vaulted himself right onto the nearly-broken seat, and it cracked right under his weight. The others were then more careful in sitting down, but he lost a precious minute recovering from the surprise and finding a way to sit so that he could still paddle. It still ended up being close... more than one of the players tossed the hoop toward the shore only to have it end up still in the water. One paddled over to it, another jumped out and swam; both returned just seconds before the hapless Dan, struggling to pull the oars from a half-kneeling position.

 

OOC: Sorry this took so long to prepare and type! The wolf-kill this night was Gnarlitch/Dan. Sorry Gnarlitch! You can still roleplay your antics in the crew's cabin or bugging the contestants, just don't influence their suspicions in any way. Day phase starts now... erm, I've screwed that up somehow... aw, nuts, did I miss a day? Okay, well, anyway, I'll figure that out via the OOC thread.

[Gnarlitch]

After he reaches the shore Dan gets out of the canoe and looks more closely at the broken seat. After close inspection he stands up straight and glares at the entire cast and production crew.

 

"This was rigged. I don't know who did it but everyone will end up paying the price as ya'll just lost yer best hunter/gatherer. I'll be watching closely. Whoever it was, you'll pay." *evil grin*

 

With that Dan grabs his bag and heads off into the jungle alone, stopping just inside the bushes and bending down for a second. In one smooth motion he both stands up and tosses a snake at Jessica, causing the snake to land draped across her shoulders.

 

"There ya go, Barbie, a more trustworthy companion than any of these others." He then turns and disappears into the jungle.

[Lady Celes Crusader]

Stacy sighs in disbelief; the one who would have been most likely helpful was already eliminated, she looks at the remaining contestants while grabbing her luggage.

 

- I don't know about you guys, but I think we better hurry up building ourself a shelter.

 

The afro-american is already searching for a spot that would have been suitable for a shelter, preferrably as away from the beach as possible, while gathering anything that might be useful for building a shelter.

[Mynx]

Jessica let out a shriek of terror, grabbing the snake by its tail and, with remarkable force, hurling it away back after Dan.

What then spouted out of her pretty little mouth was some of the foulest language any of the contestants had ever heard, later to be screened on TV as mostly one long censored beep.

 

Some of the contestants looked at each other in surprise at this reaction, while Jessica slowly ran out of words and stood there, panting angrily.

So far, she was NOT happy with the situation. It was sheer luck that a past agent had made her learn at the very least the basics of a range of sports for the more physical pageants, enabling Jessica to handle the canoe well enough to at least not finish last. Jessica had hated all of the lessons, and detested that area of pageants, but tolerated it when she had to.

But then she hears that they have to make their OWN shelter? What was this? Girl scouts? Nuh uh.

 

Dan's trick had been the final straw, letting loose a well of frustration that had been building up within the snarky pageant Princess.

Finally calming down, Jessica went in search of Johnny...Maybe if she acted pitiful enough in front of him he'd help build her shelter...or let her share his...

[Patrick]

Johnny smiled at Jessica's energetic reaction and then turned to Pansy.

 

"Quite a reaction don't you think?" - he said with a broad smile on his face.

 

He then took his pack off his shoulder and readjusted the straps. Some of the things Jessica had put in there were of an awkward shape. He opened the pack and slightly rearranged the things so that nothing pressed against his back. He took out a hairdryer and noticed it was electric, although it could run on batteries for some time.

 

Again speaking to Pansy he added:

 

"Do you really think she shall need this?"

[Mynx]

When Jessica saw Johnny flirting with that Pansy girl, she snarled silently in annoyance. Oh no you don't! she thought, He's MINE!.

 

Johnny was in a middle of his conversation when he heard a candy sweet voice filter over from Jessica; "Oh Johnneeee!"

Before he could react, Jessica had practically draped herself around him, looking up at him with very wide eyes, her position giving him a very nice view of her cleavage. "Could you come and help me with that little ol' shelter-building thingee? I just get so confused with all these instructions!"

"Uh, sure thing," Johnny murmered, male instincts kicking in.

 

As Jessica led him away, she cast a cold glare over her shoulder at Pansy, before turning back to Johnny, "I don't know why you'd want to talk to someone like her..."

[Patrick]

Johnny admired the "view" for several seconds before Jessica led him away from Pansy. Fifteen meters later, he remembered his backpack.

 

"Err...I forgot my backpack back there..."

 

He slipped out of Jessica's "clutches" and walked back for his pack. He slung it on his back, winked at the cameraman nearby and walked back to where Jessica was impatiently waiting for him.

 

"Do you want me to build seperate shelters, or one bigger one for the two of us?"

[Venefyxatu]

As Jack saw Zak heading in one direction, he decided that it might be a good idea not to trail off by himself, especially after what had happened at the canoes. He grabbed his pack and headed in the same direction Zak had gone, with a belch and a loud, "Hey, Zak, wait up buddy! Think I got some more peanuts here, too!"

[Gryphon]

Zak looks back over his shoulder at Jack, seeing him holding out a small bag of peanuts he holds up a hand. "Toss a bag over?"

 

As Jack puffs and belches his way up the beach he gives a suprisingly deft underhand throw and Zak catches the peanut bag out of the air, before looking with interest at Jack and wondering if he might have some useful skills tucked away.

 

"So Jack... Any ideas about building shelters?"

[Mynx]

Jessica's eyes lit up.

"Oooooh!" she gushed, "one we could share would be wonderful...if you don't mind?"

 

As she stood there fluttering her eyes, it was quite apparent that unless she was left with absolutly no choice, she wouldn't be raising a finger to help build the shelter...

[Patrick]

Johnny started piling everything out of his bag, and then took out one of the last items, which was a large piece of canvas. While Jessica watched, as if she were seeing someone fixing a canvas to three trees for the first time in her life, Johnny rigged up a rudimentary protection against the rain, by fixing the canvas at a height of about three feet to the trees. Seeing that the canvas wasn't tight enough he pulled on one of the ropes and fixed it tighter.

 

He then took out three smaller sheets of canvas, from the bottom of his bag and fixed them as sides for the triangular shelter. He took out twelve small metal pegs from a sidepocket of his backpack and fixed the side flaps to the ground, then using the dangling pieces of rope he fixed them to each other.

 

"Exactly what I had brought them for. They are even waterproof, at least that is what the man, who had sold them to me, told me." - he declared to Jessica, who looked in half-awe at what Johnny had achieved.

 

"I hadn't thought of bringing that..." - she declared.

 

"It is perfect for one person, although for two it might be slightly small. We'll have to draw closer to each other during the nights to fit in. I hope you don't mind."

 

Johnny then indicated a small, sealable flap at one of the sides of the rudimentary tent to Jessica.

 

"There you go, you can put your stuff in if you wish."

Edited May 7, 2005 by Patrick Durham

[Lady Celes Crusader]

Stacy found branches that'll be the structure of her shelter and plenty of lians that will help her tying them together. She places them around a flat rock that she surveyed earlier in case something was lurking underneath it. She them pick up several palmtree leafy branches and build up a roof over her triangular shaped shelter. She puts several layers of leafing in order to assure a maximal leakproofing as possible. Then, she procedes with the shelter's interior and searchs for items in her bag. She pulls out a one person inflatable mattress that she uses when she was camping while she was a teenager. It was one of the rare school activities that her parents were able to afford her and that beaten mattress wasn't much but it'll do. She also pull out a cotton blanket and keeps it folded on the mattress, she then closes her bag and places it on her mattress. Stacy heads back outside and notices that Pansy was building her shelter nearby. While Stacy started to grab lians and tie them together into a makeshift door, she commented at Pansy.

 

- Well, with that crazy rich bitch, it's going to be one heck of a journey.

[Venefyxatu]

Jack stops at a brush that's grown so full it almost looks like a natural wall.

 

"Well whaddayasay, Zak? Looks like there's already one wall there ... Back in boyscouts we used to do it that way as well."

 

The two quickly divide the tasks, Jack making sure that he gets more supervising to do than anything else and they get to work, Jack's belching and comments ("No, you're supposed to do it like this", "it'll be easier like that", "where'd you learn that?", ...) not really helping.

 

After some time, though, there are two rough huts there that look as though they might keep some rain out.

 

 

OOC : Aren't we supposed to vote?

[Katzaniel]

OOC: Venefyxatu, voting in this game is by PM to me; in keeping with Reality games like this, only the final number of votes to each player will be revealed. (See OOC thread for further comments on that). I'll be posting the results in about 2 hours.

[Katzaniel]

OOC: Sorry, gotta post now. Also, I'm going to inflate the votes IC, saying that it's 4 vs 3, because not everyone voted, and in-character everyone is supposed to vote. Note that the actual numbers were 2 vs 1. (There is no problem with not voting, mind. Just that I'm making it look like everyone did.)

 

IC:

Two nights after their arrival, Nancy reappeared in front of the contestants, mic in hand. The present cameramen swivelled to face her; the others appeared out of nowhere. "Come," she said, and started walking.

 

They all followed. Glances were exchanged, as everyone knew what must be coming: The first vote. Nancy led them up a steep incline and then into a paved area, torches lit all around, with a large wooden statue staring menacingly down.

 

"Oh good," said Jessica, "Finally somewhere I can stand without getting my dress dirty."

 

They were told to sit, and given the spiel. The cameras recorded their faces. Jack belched, a sound and image that did not make it past the editting team.

 

"One of you must leave the island this night," Nancy monotoned for the benefit of the viewers. One or two of the participants laughed, another thing that the television audience never saw. "You must decide for yourselves who you deem to be the largest liability, either for yourself or the group." One or two people looked at Jessica at this point. "The number of votes for each contestant will be revealed; in the case of a tie, an immediate tie-breaking challenge will be played out." She paused, letting the words fall heavily. "Write a name on the piece of paper provided and drop it in that black vase. From left to right, now... Commence."

 

When the cameras moved away from Nancy, she made a face and sighed, apparently worn out from all that seriousness.

 

One by one, the participants moved up to the small desk set up with pencil and a pile of small papers. They each wrote a name, held it up to the camera, and dropped it into the vase. Some gave a small speech explaining their reasons, but the other participants could not hear any of the words. When Stacey got there, she wisely pocketed some of the paper, noting that it would be useful for starting a fire.

 

When it was done, Nancy emptied the vase and counted the votes. "3 of you voted for Mr. Johnny Straw, Junior," she said. "But 4 of you.... have decided that the one to go.... is Ms. Pansy Johnston. Thank you for your time, Ms. Johnston, and we hope you enjoyed being a part of this show. Come with me, now. Thank you."

 

Pansy closed her eyes and looked down for a moment, obviously disappointed. "At least I won't have to put up with that Jessica any longer," she muttered. Viewers across the continent sympathized with those words, and a moment of silence was observed for Pansy. Then the cameras snapped off.

 

"Now that you've all settled in, there will be voting every evening and a challenge in the morning. Tomorrow you will begin a scavenger hunt; the challenge will be to retrieve your list of items from the top of a rock-climbing wall." Nancy paused, then went on, "Oh, and the same as you are not allowed near the cabins, this area is also off-limits," Nancy said quickly, while Jessica sighed. She'd been thinking of making Johnny move their tent onto the pavement up here. "Be off now. Have a good night. And Pansy, come with me... we'll fix you up with clean clothes and a nice dinner."

 

OOC: You have voted off an innocent villager. Remaining players: 2 wolves, 1 seer, 1 baner, 2 villagers. Phase: Night.

[Gnarlitch]

Dan stands off to the side, laughing openly at the other contestants while the voting takes place. In one hand he hold what appears to be a leg from some sort of bird he has apparently caught and cooked. He takes an occasional bite and continues to laugh and then finaly disappears into the jungle once again.

 

A few short minutes later screams are heard in the direction he went. When everyone rushes off to find out what is happening they find one of the cameramen hanging upside down from a tree, a rope tied around one of his ankles. His camera lies on the ground under him, the tape missing, and a note stuck to the side of the camera.

 

"Next person who tries to follow me will get worse."

 

The cameraman admits to trying to follow Dan off into the jungle and was led into this trap. A brief arguement ensues between him and the producer about whether or not he has been fired or if he quit first.

[Katzaniel]

The rock wall was a large, molded replica of the real thing, but was just as hard, if slightly less dangerous, to climb. There were long dangling ropes hanging a metre apart along the wall, and they were all different colours again. Already knowing the basic idea of what they had to do, the participants all sat restlessly listening to Nancy explain it for the television audience. Their attention was mostly on the irregular vertical surface that they would soon have to scale.

 

The contestants ran a pretty close race, again. Jessica ended up last, though she kept insisting that the list itself had been too hard to remove, no one else lingered so long just trying to unstick it... But Nancy took one look at Jessica's slender arms and declared that she ought to work out a little more, then it might have been easier.

 

While Jessica dejectedly went away with Nancy to the crew's cabin (where she would finally be able to make good use of electricity again), the remaining contestants looked at their lists...

• A live centipede.
• The largest possible leaf.
• Seaweed.
• A clear grain of sand.
• A pinecone.
• A coin. (Of 20 possible coins hidden around the island).
• A sock. (10 possible).
• A chocolate bar. (4 possible).

And other similar items...

 

OOC: Mynx/Jessica was your Baner! As per usual, feel free to continue RPing. The rest of you... feel free to make up new items to find. Some things will be hidden around the island, others are just there already. And... don't forget to vote, 'cause the phase is Day!

Edited May 9, 2005 by Katzaniel

[Lady Celes Crusader]

Stacy raises an eyebrow as she checks on her list, she wondered how they'll find a pinecone on such tropical island and the list gets funnier.

 

- Oh geez, we have to find guano!

 

Jack looks up at Stacy

 

- Guano? What's guano?

 

- From what I've heard, it's bird crap. Although that wont be hard to find, it's somehow disgusting.

 

Stacy decides to take a stroll on the beach, looking for items that can be easily found there.

[Zariah]

OOC: I was out of town all weekend....so I'm REALLY sorry! But I'm here now and gonna try to make up for it.

 

The only person Brianna had taken any time to get to know was Zak, and she realized that a new strategy would require making new alliances. So she decided to begin conversing with the others during down time. She went to one of the huts and changed into a tank top and shorts and made her way to the group. She sat down between Johnny and Zak. With a sharp rock, she began to whiddle on a piece of wood. After a while, it began to take form of a grasshopper. Quite amused by her work, she passed it to Zak to see what he thought.

 

So far, she had survived the challenge and quite frankly, felt that since Jessica was gone, the real competing could begin. Pansy had seemed stuck up...and while she was used to dealing with rough neck types, Dan was strange...so she was glad they were gone.

 

Brianna got up and went over toward Stacy. She decided to talk with her, since the city folk fascinated her.

 

"Hi, Stacy? It's been a while and I haven't actually introduced myself. I'm Brianna. I hear you're from New York? I've never been anywhere other than my home ranch 'cept once I went to see my aunt in the country. But I've never been to New york. There are so many people? Is it different to not be around so many people?"

 

She sat there a while and waited, and began to whittle on another stick. This one turned out to be a tiny flute with 4 notches. She handed it to Stacy. "It's not too great of a whistle or anything, but I hear you have a son...maybe he'll like it?"

[Patrick]

Sitting next to Brianna, Johnny stared ahead of him. He did not say a single word, and it was probably being fed up with this, that Brianna had walked off. He lifted his head up and the camera was just pointed at him at the right time to record the sad expression on his face.

 

Suddenly he stood up and started walking away from the group. The cameraman sensing that he would be able to make quite a few good shots of Johnny followed him. Johnny returned to the tent he had fashioned, which had been emptied of everything which had belonged to Jessica. But her smell still lingered in the confined space of the tent, and as Johnny left the tent he could still feel the memory of it.

 

He walked among the trees on the island, until about fifteen minutes later he reached a beach about a mile away from where all the others were. The cameraman had been filming his every move. Johnny walked to the waterfront and bending down picked up several small pebbles. He then sat down on a large rock, with his feet in the water.

 

He sat silently for several minutes, then stood up and one by one hurled the pebbles into the ocean. Each dissappeared under the waves, making only the slightest sound.

 

She's gone - he thought to himself.

 

He turned back and walked towards the cameraman. Getting near enough he mouthed an obscenity at the poor man, who'se only crime had been of betting on how far Jessica would make it. The obscenity of course was not aired later.

 

Johnny returned to his tent and started rummaging in his pack. He finally found what he had been looking for, a small flask of whiskey and taking the cap off he took a deep swig. As he was about to put the flask back he noticed that Jessica's hairdryer was still in his pack.

 

He put the flask back and went back to the remaining competitors, sitting down next to Jack.

 

Jack belched. It was is if the tension in Johnny was released and suddenly he started laughing, quiet at first but gradually louder. When he managed to regain control over himself he turned to Jack and put a hand on his shoulder.

 

"Remind me to give you some whiskey the next time you're near my tent."

[Venefyxatu]

"Oh, and Stacy? You happen to know what this is?"

 

With a belch Jack comes a little closer to point out one of the items on his list. As Stacy looks at it she frowns for a moment, then she laughs as she suddenly realizes what it is.

 

"Those little lizards are hard to catch."

 

"Heh ... I once read a book on catching lizards it didn't sound too hard."

 

They discuss for a few moments more before each going their own way.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Jack grinned broadly at Johnny.

 

"You betcha I won't forget! Hey, when we get back, I know this really great bar we could pay a visit to ... owner is a friend of mine, whaddaya say?"

 

 

OOC : Catching lizards is a personal joke from a roleplaying group ... I couldn't resist the temptation of working it in here