24 hour YouTube Challenge Pt. 01

After the break from the van, the three travellers returned to the VW campervan, Elli driving a mile outside of the village before pulling off the main road and down a smaller track that led to the lake. The snow was deeper here and she drove cautiously. She was no novice when it came to driving in bad weather conditions, as the daughter of a mechanic she had learnt to drive at an early age. Still, the old VW wasn't designed for off road or icy conditions so she took it easy. Finally, they reached their destination and she brought the van to a stop.

Jay looked out the side window of the van, peering through the glass as he tried to make sense of his surrounding in the pitch darkness.

"De fuck... where the fuck are we?" He was muttering and Elli chose to ignore it. She had already figured Deke for the more positive and open of the two, deciding to keep him on track and relying then that he would do the same with his friend.

"Let's go take a look eh?" Elli dropped an infectious positive smile on the two men, blonde and bubbly good looks winning over even Jay's muttered misgivings. The three of them pulled on their coats and exited the van. The headlights burned bright on the snow-covered ground, Elli carrying a powerful flashlight as well as she led the two men on. A creaking groan sounded out, loud in the silent stillness they found themselves in and Jay, resplendent in his red outfit, jumped at the noise with a strangled 'fuck' as he did so.

"Just the trees," Elli reassured him, 'city boy' she thought to herself.

"Trees, frozen lakes, fucking Finnish winter..." Jay grumbled as he walked along.

Elli's torch illuminated the edge of the frozen lake, a white flat expanse that stretched on past the point her flashlight could show. She panned it left and right, Deke and Jay understanding their relatively isolated state as she did so.

"Can't even see the village from here" Deke noted.

"No, it's on the other side of those trees," Elli agreed. "I know it doesn't look like much but I promise, it's beautiful in the daylight."

"Nah, it's cool. Like being on de moon," Deke said.

"Greece, shoulda stayed in Greece. Warm there..." Jay grumbled, his teeth beginning to chatter.

While Elli held the torch, Deke began shooting some video's, capturing the darkness, the lake, the van, the shivering Jay. On camera, Jay perked up a little, no doubt not wanting to appear weak to anyone watching. Once Deke had stopped filming, Jay began windmilling his arms, edging back towards the van.

"Maybe we should get set up, go through the supplies," Deke suggested watching his friend.

"Yes, good idea," Elli agreed and to Jay's obvious relief they returned to the van.

Warming up, the two men opening up one of their rucksacks, they pulled out a number of web camera's, expensive looking ones with dual microphone, HD quality capability, auto focus, light corrections. Routing them through a laptop, tying them into a software package that allowed the men to control the camera's, Elli could only look on in jealousy as she saw their set up. They mounted one camera that would cover the driver and passenger seats in the van.

"That's where we will live stream from," Deke declared, "Call it the studio area. Means we don't have to worry about keeping the rest of the place looking good, ya know?"

"Sounds good," Elli agreed. She watched as several other cameras were then placed in the four corners of the rear of the van, attached via magnetic clips to the surface of the van.

"And these? What are these for?"

"These we can turn on and off as we need, build up some footage of us chatting, hanging out, eatin'... whatever," Deke explained. "We won't have them on the whole time, but we need something to post later on. I'm gonna set up the live stream camera to come on automatically for two minutes every hour. The other cameras are manual."

Camera equipment set up, Elli took a moment to program an alarm into her smart watch, giving her a five-minute warning before each live stream event. She worried they might fall asleep at some point but at least her watch would wake her in time to go live online.

Preparations made, Elli then showed Deke and Jay the supplies. The portable heater cheered Jay up, he turned it on immediately, crouching in front of it, basking in the additional heat. There was also food, drinks, playing cards, the sleeping bags and foam mattress blocks that Elli and her family used while camping. Deke and Jay opened these up at once, spreading them out so that the free space in the back of the van, that wasn't cluttered by supplies, now had a three-inch-thick padding.

Checking her watch, Elli saw they had about four hours left before midnight and the official start of the 'challenge'. The van was getting to the point of being almost uncomfortably warm so Elli killed the heater for a while, pulling her top off over her head so she was down to just her t-shirt. Deke and Jay had kept their coats off but they weren't feeling the heat as much as Elli, the rest of their clothes still in place as they hunched over their laptop, editing the video's they'd made.

"I'm going to rest up for a couple of hours. I am tired after the driving," Elli said as she stretched out on the padded floor. Jay gave her a thumbs up as he continued tapping away on the laptop, Deke however crawled over to where she lay.

"No worries, El, we're jes' polishing up the vid's from earlier. Want to get the promo vid up on YouTube as soon as possible, so people know we be going live at midnight," Deke said. "You want I should call you?"

"No, I set an alarm for just after eleven pm," Elli answered. "I just need to get a little sleep; it's going to be a long night."

"True dat" Deke answered with a smile, baking away as Elli closed her eyes to sleep.

She woke sometime later. Her alarm hadn't woken her, it was the heat in the van. They had switched the heater back on an Elli found the atmosphere stifling enough to rouse her. Surreptitiously she cracked open one eyelid, eyeing up Deke and Jay who were sitting on the two bean bags alongside her, their backs to the front partition of the van.

She couldn't see Deke aside from his long legs stretched out, Jay blocking her view of the rest of him. Elli could see Jay in profile, the laptop sitting on his knees, finger swiping across the touchpad. He had headphones on and she could hear the rap music coming from them. Elli opened her eye a little more, trying to see what he had on his screen. She wasn't nosy by nature but she also didn't really know these two men all that well and a small unguarded insight into them could well prove useful, it might help her keep the momentum and conversation going over the next hours... an entire day with two relative strangers was a difficult undertaking after all.

Elli managed to turn a gasp of surprise into a sleepy groan instead, shutting her eyes tight and shifting her legs as if she were stirring from sleep. Jay hadn't been editing videos for upload or watching a movie... he had been watching porn! Granted, she had only seen a second of footage, but it had been enough to glimpse a black man and a white woman having sex. All she had made out was a fast-moving black penis entering a white woman's vagina. She had no real objection to porn in and of itself, after all it was a woman's choice if she wished to enter that business and Elli would never judge someone on their choices. What had caught her by surprise was that Jay had been watching it so openly, Elli lying a foot away. Had he no sense of propriety?

Another faux groan and Elli began to stretch noisily, making sure Jay had time to notice she was waking up. When she did open her eyes and turn her head to regard Jay and Deke openly, Elli was pleased to see the laptop was closed and the two men were regarding her in turn.

"Hey there Rip Van Winkle, you feelin' better?" This was from Deke. Elli was about to answer when her eyes slid over Jay's crotch as she sat herself upright. The bright red ski pants had seemed a bit figure hugging when she had first espied them, now they definitely seemed too tight for the young black man, his erection visible to Elli's shaken view.

"Uhh, yeah, good thanks," she mumbled in reply, feeling herself flush with embarrassment. "You guys have it so hot in here. I'm boiling." Elli made a show of fanning herself with her hand, hoping her blushing face would be ascribed to the heat rather than her errant ogling of Jay's erection.

"Sorry 'bout that," Jay said, turning off the heater, "I can't stand the cold."

"It's good, no problem," Elli said checking the time. "We've a few minutes yet, I'm just going to step outside, cool off, ring Ahti as well."

Elli just threw on her coat and hat, not bothering with her top. She clambered over the seats and into the front of the van, exiting through the driver's door. The cold hit her like a hammer after the heat that had built up inside the van. It wasn't even that cold to her mind, flakes of snow drifting down now in a light but constant flurry. She pulled out her phone, thumbing a call to her boyfriend.

"Hey," she said simply when he answered.

"Hey you," Ahti replied. Elli could hear voices behind him, so he must have returned to his barracks. "How is everything? You got there, okay? Those American's behaving themselves?"

Elli had a quick mental flash of the image she had seen on Jay's laptop, followed by an image of the straining material at the front of his pants, a big erection pressing against the garish ski trousers. She shook her head, replying quickly as she realised the pause had gone too long.

"Yes, got here okay and yes Deke and Jay are fine. No problems."

"Are you sure?" Ahti clearly had picked up on her pause.

"Yes, I'm just tired. I didn't sleep well last night with the excitement, now I am feeling it, that's all" she said soothingly.

"Just remember I am just a phone call away," Ahti consoled her. "You'll be great. I'll be watching when I can."

"Thank you, miss you," Elli said, blowing a kiss into the phone before ending the call. She took a minute more outside, enjoying the spectral atmosphere of the bone white drifting snow flakes swirling through the air, the only colour in the pitch dark of the night. Finally, hoping Jay had calmed down, Elli returned to the van climbing into the front of it. She looked over the seat to find that Deke and Jay had at last decided to ditch their winter gear, both men having pulled off the ski pants to reveal sweatpants beneath them. They were also without their outer tops, wearing just t-shirts like herself.

"Getting close to go time," Jay remarked. Elli nodded, doing her best to keep her eyes on his face, fighting the urge to see if his excitement had passed. Jay and then Deke clambered over the back of the seat to squash in beside her. Elli could see that Jay's erection had subsided but the material of their sweat pants left very little to the imagination, she could see the shift and slide of their penises as they shinnied over the car seats. Her watch buzzed on her wrist. Five minutes to go.

Elli took a moment to compose herself, shedding her own coat and checking her makeup in the mirror. Her short nap hadn't ruined her appearance so she was able to breath a sign of relief for that at least. On the van's dashboard, the clock ticked towards midnight.

Midnight to One am

"Hey everyone" Elli waved towards the Web camera, the blinking red light showing it was streaming live to YouTube.

"Greetings from the frozen side of Finland" Deke said grinning, Jay giving a thumbs up beside him.

"Well, we just wanted to show you that we are in place, we can just make out the lake ahead of us" Elli turned on the vans' headlights, turning the camera so it got a view out of the windscreen, capturing the falling snow as well as the empty dark landscape before twisting the camera back in place.

"As you can see, Elli J aint foolin' around, she brought us to the middle of nowhere, middle of the night and believe me, it cold out there," Jay said to the camera.

"True brother, this is some hardcore place, serious respect to people who live in this weather, we safe an' warm here in this cool van that Elli got us, but man... hell I don't even wanna think about outside right now. Cold there, toasty here."

"Well now you see, we were serious about the challenge. See you all in an hour, we'll show you where we will be living for the next twenty-four hours. Byeee..." Elli blew a kiss at the camera and the light blinked off.

"That was good," Elli said, turning to smile at the two men.

"Yep, lemme check it went up okay," Jay responded, twisting around to retrieve his laptop. He opened it up, a frozen image on the screen from his paused porn. All Elli could see was dark and pale flesh pressed together, Jay alt-tabbing to another screen quickly, both men's eyes flickering towards her face but Elli kept herself composed, pretending that she hadn't recognised the porn for what it was. Jay hummed under his breath as he checked that the short live stream had indeed uploaded before giving a low grunt of satisfaction.

"All good... jes' gonna imbed links to both our accounts... done."

"Wel,l we have an hour... want to go through some of the supplies?" Elli looked to see if this appealed to Deke and Jay, they both gave non-committal shrugs, so Elli took the lead, worming over the back of the drivers chair into the rear of the van. She thought she heard Deke say something like 'damn' as her supple frame slithered over the chair but Elli thought nothing of it. Two thumps followed as Deke and Jay plopped themselves back into the rear of the van following Elli's lead.

"Well, I didn't think you would be wanting to try something like blood dumpling soup or reindeer stew..." from the grimaces on Deke and Jay's faces, Elli knew she had supposed correctly. "Instead, I packed fruit, my mother's Karelian pie's, salty licorice, chocolate..." Elli began pulling items out of one of the storage boxes as she named them, passing them out to the two American's.

"Slow down, let me record this," Deke said, pressing a button on the laptop. Elli looked up at the camera's mounted in the rear of the van, noticing that none of them had a shining red led to signify it was active. "Kay, all good. So, keep going. What's Karelian pie?" Deke asked her, holding it up so that at least one camera would see it.

"It's a traditional food, my mother makes it really well, rye crust with a rice filling. It's good, try it later," Elli said and then she turned back to the box. "Also, I made Lörtsy for us, and of course I packed water, juices, sodas..."

"Hey back up, what's a Lörtsy?" This came from Jay who had come closer, his large body now right behind Elli as she went through the box of food. She pulled out a sealed Tupperware container, trying to turn on the spot so she wouldn't bump into Jay as she turned around.

"This is Lörtsy," Elli said, opening the lid. It's got a sweet apple filling. Really you should try it hot of course but I think you'll like it."

"You made this?" Jay asked, sniffing at the contents.

"Yes, I do a lot of cooking, I put up recipes and walk throughs on my channel," Elli confirmed.

"I knows what you bringin' gonna be sweet, hot or cold," Jay said with a smile, Elli answering it with one of her own, happy to see he had loosened up, his earlier grumbling apparently forgotten. Elli could even forgive the lapse with the porn so long as Jay and Deke stayed positive and entertaining for the videos. She took the Tupperware back, packing it and the other food back inside.

Deke handed the last item to Elli and then cleared his throat to speak.

"So, I was thinkin' while you was sleepin' about the next hours. Kinda seems a waste not to make the most of us all bein' here, you know?"

"What do you mean?" Elli wasn't sure what Deke was driving at.

"Like the twenty-four hours, especially here, is cool an' all but we gonna get bored quick if'n that's all we do. We should do some other stuff too..."

"Like?" Elli pressed him.

"Challenges an' stuff, while we here, like mini challenges inside the big one. You test us, we test you. Be good for the video's, lot more content that way," Deke explained.

"Sure, yes, I like it," Elli said, actually clapping her hands in excitement. This was what she wanted, good positivity and engagement. She wondered if the cameras were off or not but then she forgot about it, things like this conversation could be edited out as needed.

Deke grinned at Jay, settling back on the bean bag chair. He pulled a two-euro coin from his pocket, holding it up for Elli to see.

"Head's you pick first, Tails we do." Elli nodded, tracking the spinning coin as it spiralled in the air.

"Heads it is. Well, we got time before the next live stream. What's it to be?" The two men watched smiling as Elli's forehead creased in thought. Then she was smiling.

"Plank challenge!" Elli declared.

"Ready?" Elli called out, squatting with her phone in her hand to record the challenge. Deke held up a finger indicating he needed a minute more. Then as Elli watched on, he and Jay pulled off their t-shirts.

She had watched some of their uploaded content on YouTube. The gaming walk throughs and the like had held little interest for her, she had watched a couple of their exercise uploads though, so Elli was already aware that both men were pretty fit. However, it was one thing to see their torsos in a video on her phones screen, quite another to see them in the flesh. Both Deke and Jay were ripped, their muscled upper bodies lean, hard, rigid. The dark skin seemed to gleam with health and vitality, a veneer of perspiration catching the light thrown off be the electric heater in the van.

As one, they dropped into the plank position, Elli recording as they did so. Then they were moving, dropping to one elbow, then the other in time with one another, back into the traditional plank position. Then their feet moved apart, back together, apart once again, in time with a song they had in their heads. A quick high five, then Jay was rolling his body under Deke who simultaneously pushed off the floor to 'leap frog' his friends rolling figure. Then they reversed, Deke rolling, Jay leap frogging.

It was smooth, it was practised. It was effortless. Elli knew they had done this before.

"Again," she called out, smiling at Deke's raised eyebrows but in fairness to them, the two men launched into the routine once more.

"Again," Elli laughed, watching as they went through it twice more before slumping to the mat.

"Enough," Deke said, "Don't you be laughin' too much, our turn to choose after this." Elli's grin subsided as she realised, he was right. Jay and Deke pulled their shirts back on, the material sticking to their damp skin, outlining the hard curves and lines of their chests as they and Elli returned to the front of the van for the next live stream.

One AM to Two AM

"Well, we are starting our second hour, all good here. Have to admit, feeling a little tired but excited, pumped at the same time" Elli smiled playfully at the camera.

"Yeah, we got lot of time ahead of us, lucky Elli packed plenty of snacks," Jay offered up.

"We got chocolate, sodas, fruits. Lots of sugar, lots of energy to burn," Deke added.

"Gonna be eating Elli, I mean what Elli made us... what you call it again?" Jay turned to Elli sitting beside him.

"Lörtsy," Elli supplied.

"That's it, well can't wait to get my mouth on I,t" Jay said laughing, "Tell you all about it later. We got something to do, so for now... peace!"

"Okay, do your worst," Elli said with a laugh.

"Nah, don't be like that, we'll go easy on you," Deke said, "What you reckon bro? Yoga challenge?"