TIPPY
TOE
They had been back at their camp
for a few minutes. Silence had them when they teleported back. They walked
toward their shelter. No one knew what to say. So no one spoke. They sat in the
shelter or stood near it. Some drank water. Others nibbled on some leftover
dino meat. Nightcrawler tossed the rotten fruit out into the ocean and gathered
more.
“I can’t get over how good this fruit is, ja?” Nightcrawler took another bite of a peach.
Wiccan
agreed. “I can’t believe they all grow on the same tree.”
“That
Universe Remote is remarkable.” Beast peeled a banana. “And infused.”
The
ground vibrated. Everyone turned toward the reason. Thing lifted his foot to
stomp again.
“Ben, you have our attention.” Invisible Woman said with calmness and her hands creating invisible forces to keep him from stomping another time.
Thing stared at the members of the tribe that were in the challenge. “I screamed at you t’tell all you that you were losin’!” His thick rocky index finger pointed in an arch at all of them.
Wolverine
walked toward him. “Bub, you know this isn’t—”
Thing
swept him away. “Let meh’finish.”
“Do
I even have to mention how unhelpful that is?” Jean Grey moved around the
shelter to stand between Thing and the dinner.
“I’m
a rock. I know how t’be grounded.” He grunted trying to lift his foot. “Suzzie,
come on. You gotta understand.”
Invisible Woman shook her head, her blond hair swishing uncontrolled. Her eyes closed and right arm extended. “You’re disturbing the shelter.”
Captain America’s eyes widen. He examined it and his eyes reverted to normal.
Beast
lifted his closed hand near Thing’s face. “You need some fruit. Cleanse that
attitude.” He opened his hand revealing the contents. “Berries help.”
“What
I need is for you to get outta my face!” Thing roared. Beast dropped the
berries and back-flipped away.
Invisible
Woman said, “Ben—”
“Shut up, Suzie, I don’t need a
mama.” Thing turned his back on her. He tried to move, but ran into an
invisible force. “What?”
Invisible
Woman lifted him into the air. “Go find a dinosaur to clobber. Relax some of
that tension.” She catapulted him into the trees.
Thing
flew into the air screaming his frustration.
“I’ll
keep an eye on him.” Wolverine followed.
THING (Rocky orange the gold shorts made him look like he was some sort of Egyptian Pharaoh. His thick brow lowered over his eyes. He huffed and puffed. He paced back and forth in a section of the beach.): I can’t sit or stand. I don’t wanna. They lost when they sat me on the bench. I think that’s proof enough they don’t know what they’re doing. I can’t just do nothin’. I gotta do somethin’. I’d have knocked that Power Ball into our goal ova’ and ova’ again. (He punched the air several times.) Should’ve connected with the skin afflicted. I got orange. Beast and Nightcrawler got blue. (He stopped pacing and stared at the camera.) They’ve gotta be separated.
Storm
touched Invisible Woman on the shoulder. “You can’t think he’s worth saving.”
“He’s
family.” Invisible Woman lowered her shoulders with a sigh.
Captain
America walked around the shelter, brushing his finger over certain areas. “His
attitude is causing a lot of tension in the tribe.”
“I won’t.” She turned invisible and they saw her footprints move her toward the ocean.
Everyone
else looked at one another and silently nodded in agreement on Thing.
WICCAN (Orange board shorts, no shirt, sitting in the sand with back to the setting sun. His hair combed over to the side. A beard formed on his face in certain areas. He touched it.) This isn’t very manly. It’s sporadic at best. (He shrugged.) Anyway, I’m thinking that maybe I convince Nightcrawler to give Thing the Hidden Immunity Idol. Mess up what’s going on in this tribe and that might put me and him in a better position. Keeping Thing keeps our strongest player and gets rid of another person…as long as it’s not someone I like, of course. I’ll have to do some recon.
Thing
dragged a raptor back into camp. Wolverine ran into the ocean to clean off the
blood he was coated in. No one spoke to Thing. He didn’t say a word. He started
tearing limbs off the dinosaur without straining or grunting. Blood sprayed in
every direction. He was considerate enough to move away from the shelter and
anyone else that was at camp. No one spoke to him, either.
Storm whispered and wiggled her fingers into the air and rain came down, clearing off the raptor and the sand of blood. Jean Grey lifted a few pieces Thing tore and levitated them over the fire.
Thing
smiled. “I feel better.”
“Good,”
Captain America said.
Wiccan
found Invisible Woman in the trees near the watering hole, outside the shield.
“You think you should move back within the shield?”
“Oh.”
She complied. “It doesn’t make a sound when you move past it.”
Wiccan
shook his head. “It just changes color.” He stuck his hand through and pulled
it back. The area where the shield was shifted from normal to a bright blue.
“Didn’t
notice that.”
He
nodded. “Not everyone agrees with keeping him, you know?”
She
smiled. “I do.”
Wiccan
ushered her to walk with him and he walked away from the watering hole and more
toward camp, but at an angle so to give more time to talk. “Who are you
thinking?”
Invisible
Woman stared at him as if she was calculating who was with who. “Beast.”
Wiccan
stopped walking. “Possible. You have?”
She
counted off using her fingers. “Thing and Wolverine and me.”
“You’d
just need two more. A majority.” Wiccan scratched the back of his neck.
“You
and who?”
“I’ll
get back with you.”
Noise
of Jean and Storm walking through the trees caught their attention. Invisible
Woman turned invisible.
Wiccan
whispered, “I’ll get back with you right before tribal.” He went and found
Nightcrawler eating part of the raptor. They offered him some and he took a
bit, but ate mostly the fruit.
Wiccan
chanted under his breath, “Conversation distortion do not allow a word. Allow
them to hear the absurd.” He invited Nightcrawler to sit near him at the fire.
“Do not worry, they cannot hear us as we speak. We have a few minutes before it
fades.”
“Was?” Nightcrawler moved his tail to the
side and sat on the log. His three toe feet gripped the branch of the log that
dug halfway into the sand.
“They
won’t understand our conversation.” Wiccan pointed to everyone around the camp.
Beast
said, “It is a little colder than last night.” He looked at them. “We could ask
Storm if she’s up to fixing that a tad.” He went back to helping Captain
America with the shelter fixing.
“Captain
is obsessed over that shelter.” Wiccan pointed out.
Nightcrawler
nodded.
Wiccan
explained his plan to help Thing by giving him the Hidden Immunity Idol and
that Invisible Woman wanted to vote out Beast. If they give him the Hidden
Immunity Idol it would look like he found it, instead of them voting along with
Invisible Woman. This would make them a bigger target.
“Ist
a gut idea from a point.” Nightcrawler sighed. “What if we need it later?”
“No
one knows about this.” He pointed from him to Nightcrawler. “They question, but
they’re unsure. I hear their words from time to time.”
“What
would be the benefit of doing it?”
Wiccan
combed his hand through his hair. “They’d remain interested in an orange rock
instead of a blue praying hero.”
Nightcrawler
smiled revealing sharp teeth and one reason why so many thought he was a demon.
ENTERTAINMENT
CENTER
“I
do love an upset.” Deadpool rubbed his hands together.
Vision.
“He’s
an annoyance, not an upset. And he’s still outside. Apparently my low standards
of thinking are contagious.”
Thing
or Beast.
“This
game is sure full of euphemisms.”
TRIBAL
COUNCIL
“Congratulations
Tippy Toe to your first Tribal Council.” Squirrel Girl out stretched her arms
as if she was about to hug them all. “Please, take the torches behind you and
get some fire out this wonderful pit.”
Invisible
Woman said, “Sit. Allow me.” She used her invisible force to cup a few embers
and released them into each of their torches. They all flickered to life.
Everyone
whispered thank you.
“Runs
in the family.” Squirrel Girl sat down. “Let’s get down to the fact you lost.
How does that make you feel?”
Thing
punched a fist into the palm of his hand and growled.
Squirrel
Girl smiled. “Now let’s use our words.”
“It
sucks!”
She
clapped her hands. “That’s a good word. It conveys so much frustration.”
“Not
as much as Thing’s temper tantrum.” Captain America said as if he was delivering
a matter-of-fact comment.
“Oh,” Squirrel Girl put her hands
on her knees. “Do tell?”
Thing
gritted his teeth and glared at Captain America. “There’s nothing to te—”
“On
the contrary,” Beast raised a finger, “we cannot have fun with a rock weighting
us down.”
Thing
jerked his head around to stare at Beast. “Oh, blue boy. Stand up and say that
to ma’face.”
“Remember,
remember no violence in Tribal Council,” Squirrel Girl said.
Invisible
Woman said as soft as she could, “Ben, calm down. It’s okay.”
“They’re
all ganging up against me. All these friends telling me I’m just nothin’.”
Thing folded his arms.
Squirrel
Girl said, “It seems there is a disagreement over whether Thing is worth
keeping. Ladies, do you have any opinions on the matter?”
Storm
shook her head. Jean Grey didn’t open her mouth.
“Wolverine?”
“He’s a big guy. He needs a lot of room for his heart and he felt underappreciated at the challenge.” Wolverine put his hand on Thing’s rocky shoulder. “Huh, bub?”
Thing nodded. “I just wanna help. Get us to be the best.”
“Before
a blooming relationship happens, I think we should vote.” Squirrel Girl pointed
her clawed finger at Invisible Woman. “Woman first.”
Invisible
Woman stood, walked over to the bridge, held the rail and crossed it. She read
the rules to voting, took a sheet of paper and wrote down a name. Held it up,
it said Beast. She folded it and put it in the urn.
Jean
Grey stared at the sheet of paper and used her telekinetic powers to move the
pen to write. She didn’t speak to the camera. She did smile.
Storm
wrote down a name, showed the camera and said something.
“I
don’t mind thunder some of the time.”
Captain
America saluted the camera and put his vote in the urn.
Beast
shrugged and put his vote in the urn.
Wolverine
itched his chin, wrote a name on the sheet of paper and spoke to the camera.
“I
need a cigar. Yesterday. Voting off friends isn’t what I signed up for.” He
paused. “Right, I didn’t sign up.”
He
held up the name he voted for.
“Sorry, bub.”
Wiccan
stared at the camera and then at the sheet of paper he wrote the name on. He
lifted the paper and smiled. He placed the vote into the urn.
Nightcrawler
placed his vote into the urn and teleported back to his seat. Everyone waved a
hand in their face. He whispered, “Verzeihung.”
“I’ll
go and tally the votes.” Squirrel Girl skipped over the urn and within a few
minutes skipped back with it. “Once I read off the votes it’ll be final and
that person is just gonna have to leave the game. It’s sad, it is, but it’s the
rules.” She looked up at everyone. “I’m forgetting something…oh right, if you
have a Hidden Immunity Idol, now would be a great time to play it.”
Nightcrawler
and Wiccan looked at Thing for a second and then looked back at Squirrel Girl.
“Okay.”
She opened the urn and pulled out the first vote.
“Beast.”
Beast’s
mouth dropped enough that he felt it. He closed it and tried to compose
himself.
“Beast.”
He
looked around at everyone. Wiccan shrugged.
“Beast.”
He
looked toward Jean Grey. She kept looking forward. He reached down to grab his
stuff. Thing grinned.
“Thing.”
Thing
dropped his grin.
“Thing.”
Beast
released his grip on his stuff.
“Thing.”
Thing
showed his teeth.
“Thing.”
Beast
relaxed.
“Beast.”
He
almost slipped off his log stool.
Squirrel
Girl grinned like she knew a secret that they all wanted to know. And she did.
She held the final vote. “And the third person voted out of this game and the
first from Tippy Toe is…” She made is
sound like it was going to last forever. She made it sound like she was a snake
circling prey. “Thing.”
Beast
released the breath he held. Thing jumped up, shaking the entire structure.
“Bring
me your torch.” Squirrel Girl didn’t let the vibration shatter her hosting
duties.
Thing
snatched the torch and sent the flame inside in a spin. It calmed and settled.
He placed it in front of Squirrel Girl. “Here, rodent.”
“Yes,
that’s an attitude made of sparkles and diamonds.” She snuffed his flame. “The
tribe, and your friends, have spoken.” Before he could retort, he teleported to
the Entertainment Center. She smiled and looked at the rest of Tippy Toe. “It
appears, by your shocked faces, that one of you lied to their tribe. Who oh who
was it?” She pressed the button on the Universe Remote. “Bye, bye.”
They
teleported back to their beach.
Tippy
Toe Votes – Third Tribal Council
Invisible
Woman – Beast
Captain
America – Thing
Wolverine
– Beast
Beast
– Thing
Wiccan
– Thing
Nightcrawler
– Thing
Jean
Grey – Beast
Thing
– Beast
Storm
– Thing
