Nothing has happened so far this round game wise but I've been working on improving some personal relationships because, as last round showed, I need to be a better social player if I want any chance at winning. I talked to a lot of people yesterday who I really haven't had much of a chance to talk to and took yesterday as an opportunity to build bonds. Today has pretty much been the same as well as the challenge.







That concluded yesterday. Again, no game conversations whatsoever. Just a bunch of talks in order to improve relationships and I think it worked for most of these people. Today I was busy until around mid-afternoon but most people don't log on until around then anyway. More talks that were kept on a personal level and still no game. I feel like most of the game stuff will happen tomorrow regarding the vote and I'm hoping that these two days of improving relationships will help me to be kept in the know by multiple people and to not be targeted this round.







And then of course the challenge. I started it close to the deadline so that I wouldn't have to go for that much time and because I procrastinated to that point. I didn't want to put in too much effort because I knew realistically I couldn't win and honestly I didn't think I needed to. This challenge was a bit too complicated for me and I didn't want to spend a lot of time doing endurance, especially since I had a busy morning. Luckily, the challenge didn't last Lóng at all and I went until I couldn't anymore which was the cutoff anyway funnily enough. I thought I went 50 minutes but I only got 20 minutes so I must've made a mistake somewhere. It's probably better that way anyway because I'm pretty sure I'm safe this round and that way I don't get a target for challenge wins before I actually need to start winning. My target for the round is Kenny mainly because I've connected least with him in the cast, we've talked the least despite him having more time to talk to me than most due to us being dragons, and he's just not on the same side of this game as me. With this many people left, it's important to find a boot that I'm ok with that I can also get the majority on board with. From what I've heard, Kenny is boring to a lot of people and not too many people are particularly close to him so I think I could vote him out with few issues. I also want to make sure he isn't voting for me because of this merge idol being a thing and potentially 2 more still out there from the premerge. Anyway, that's all for now. I'll update tomorrow with more game-oriented talk but I thought I should go over what's happened the past few days.

Hi it's me.

I don't think many of the viewers know who I am or what I'm capable of when I get angry but let's just say Kenny, Liz, and Neal don't realize the beast they've awoken. Kenny is going to wish he had gone home this round. I wanted to really be as passionate about this game as I have about others in the past and this certainly did it. So for those of you who don't know me, you're about to see a side of me that hasn't come out in a while.

For those of you who do know me, Iceman is back.

This round started out like any other. Treemail was posted following the Alina boot and, with her out of the game, I had a new lease on life. Like with most treemail days, things were pretty uneventful to start the round. I basically just decided to have a few talks to try to improve my social standing and get to know some of the people I haven't been able to talk regularly better. I've already touched on this so I'll just categorize them briefly.







The challenge got posted that night and it seemed like a really complicated endurance challenge. It was nice that so much was involved in the sense that it ensured that no one could realistically go for hours with it but it sucked in that it made it a really hard challenge but still one I had to dedicate time to. I actually felt pretty safe going into this round because, even though Alina targeted me a shit ton the round before, no one buying it and my allies ultimately winning out on numbers made me feel like I could slide back into a decent position. Plus, I had worked on improving my relationships with anybody who was iffy last round in terms of voting for me so I didn't think I should be targeted. I really didn't want to spend much time on the challenge because of this and so I pretty much just sat down before deadline and finished it up. I thought I went for 50 minutes but made a mistake and avoided a target I would've gotten myself by accident. So that was nice. I still felt pretty secure and like it should be a relatively easy boot this round. I had talked to some more people the day of the challenge but nothing really changed. Jenna, Rita, and Hunter were still awesome to talk to, Jeremiah and Neal were solid, Rachel and Liz were boring, and Kenny was annoying. Nothing new. Woo actually reached out to me and we managed to catch up before we both went to do the challenge so it's nice to have him check in. Hope was giving me weird vibes because she wasn't really talking as much as usual but I didn't chock it up to much and let it go.




This is where I really took the round into my hands. Like during the Alina boot, everyone was being really indecisive about the vote. Everyone in this cast is really afraid of the smallest amount of visibility. I get why, especially with a cast this large. Even the smallest thing can make you stand out and an easy target. But it also doesn't distinguish you at the end when you can't say you did anything other than spread a vote you heard from a few people around that ended up being unanimous. I really wanted Kenny out because the guy is more boring than a history class (sorry history fans), is almost never around, and is a number for OG Anaira if that were to ever become a thing. I thought I could easily swing the vote in that direction as well. And I also knew that if I waited until the last minute, somebody else's name could easily start spreading last minute that wasn't Kenny's and, even worse, it could be mine. I had already told Jaison and Hope about my intentions and they were informing Woo. So I decided to breach the subject with Hunter. I just mentioned that I don't talk to Kenny a ton or really see him around much. He actually agreed which was good. I started with him because I felt like he was the easiest person to sway in my direction due to his OG Mushu connection to my allies as well as how we were getting pretty close. Idk if he actually didn't like Kenny or was just agreeing with the first name he heard but now numbers were forming which meant I could take it to other people.




Natalie came around briefly. We had our Shórt small talk before jumping right into the topic of the vote. She REALLY wanted an OG Anaira out due to them having the most numbers left which I obviously agreed with. She said she didn't have a preference so I suggested Kenny which she was perfectly fine with. That was 6 and almost a majority. I had already danced around the topic of the vote with Rita, Jenna, Jeremiah, and Rachel, almost all of whom I told I would message once I heard a name. So I went back to Jenna first and we had both heard a name at about the same time apparently (lol). I had asked her before who she talked to least and said Natalie but, once I said Kenny, she agreed so she was fine with Kenny going. I was a little nervous about her and Rita because of the OG Anaira stuff and not knowing how close they are. But Jenna really did seem to respond well and said she barely talks to the guy and is more than ok with it. Rita responded in similar fashion, saying that he doesn't really reach out much to her and that she's fine with him going. I reached out to Rachel next and she said that she thought he was a nice guy but that she was fine with it for sure if majority was headed there. This was perfect. I had basically organized this vote and to be able to say you controlled a vote with this many people left at FTC can be huge. That was 9 votes and an easy majority. All that was left to do was to tell Jeremiah.




This is when things started to get weird. I was about to eat dinner so I quickly told him that I had heard Kenny's name spreading and that was probably where the vote would end up. Rather than a "that makes sense" like I had gotten from everyone else, he asked why. I sensed danger and told him that I had heard it was because he doesn't talk much which I kinda agreed with. I also said that we could try to switch if it made him uncomfortable but that it was spreading. After a pause, he said he agreed and was fine with it. Shortly after, Jaison told me that Natalie told him that Kenny had heard his name but was blaming Hope. THEN, Jenna told me that she had heard my name going around now last minute because Kenny had found out. Regardless of who he was targeting, it was obvious he found out. I was quick to blame Jeremiah but then he was going into a talk about how he's trusted me from the beginning and really wants us to go far and that our dragon group will stay strong without Kenny. He could have been lying but I just don't know if he has the skill to be able to do so. Anyway, my fears started to shift now to if Kenny had an idol. I knew he didn't have the ability to shift the vote on to me but, if he had an idol, he, Liz, and Neal could deflect any vote I might throw and boot me. I was a bit paranoid to Jaison, Jeremiah, and even Hunter a bit but ultimately decided not to throw my vote. I had a bad feeling but was going to hope for the best.




When I read tribal results, I got furious. I was sure that Kenny had just booted me with an idol singlehandedly. I didn't bother to scroll through slowly like I normally do because I knew the only vote that would matter would be the last 1-3 (depending on whether or not Liz and/or Neal voted with Kenny). I was fully expecting my name to come up but I was shocked to see Jaison's. He was definitely the bigger threat between us, as proven by how many people lamented his boot to me after the fact. But I just don't think that could have been the reason, especially since Jenna told me later that Neal had tried to put the vote on me but would never have gotten the support. Like if you're playing an idol you don't need support? I don't know what the ulterior motive to taking out Jaison was or if it really was just that, at the surface level, he was a bigger threat. I also don't know how involved, if at all, Jeremiah, Jenna, and Rita were. Was it an OG Anaira thing or are those 3 now truly on the bottom? All I knew was that I was furious and that this wouldn't go unpunished. Jaison was my closest ally. This was a vote I organized. And everything was coming crashing down because of some bullshit idol found by the most påpãyä guy left in the game. Absolutely not. I wasn't going to let that scum win. They got one victory, one battle won, one round survived. But they had done far from win the war.





Something was awoken in me last night that I haven't felt in a while, one year to be exact (which I just realized today). I'm really angry about everything that happened and I'm really angry about how confident those three idiots feel right now. But this isn't about anger or a temper. If I fall victim to that, I won't be levelheaded. I won't be able to think in my cold, calculated way. And I won't be able to figure out exactly how to defeat those three in the most humiliating way possible. No, if I want to come out on top of all this when it's said and done, I need to be ruthless. I can't feel anything. I can't celebrate, rage, complain, sympathize, feel bad, or enjoy anything. All that will do is cause me to make a mistake. I'm not just playing for me anymore. Now I'm playing for Jaison who was a dear friend and who I won't forget. And I will not let him down. I've been weak lately. I've fallen victim to the fact that these are people. And I've come to like them, to talk to them, to befriend them. But all that does is leave me vulnerable. I must remember my roots. They are not people, not players, not adversaries. Only chess pieces, numbers in my own grand game of chess. Minds vulnerable for manipulation. Avatars on my computer screen that I must vanquish and use at my own discretion. I will not be the weak man I have become. I will demolish all, annihilate anyone or anything in front of me.



I have played by my own rules too long, allowed myself to make relationships, to consider these people friends. I have let my real life influence my game and the way that I play it. That ends now. These people were his allies, my allies. But none of them could see what was coming. None of them were smart enough to anticipate the idol play like I was. It left us open for an attack and those assholes took advantage. I can't let stupidity win out anymore. I may not be able to win the game on my own at F12 but I can certainly lead an army. I made the mistake of forgetting that chess pieces can't think for themselves. I have to be their brain. And I will be. Stupid mistakes end here. And feeling bad ends here as well. If I'm going to enter a war, then I must remember that people fall. I shall not care but it won't be because we were too stupid to anticipate an idol play. I will have none of this.



I don't know who was truly responsible for this and frankly I don't care. They'll all perish. If I can't figure out what role the other Anaira members played in that vote, then I'll assume treason and treat them as such. Better to assume an enemy and be wrong than a friend. Besides, I don't really care how ruthless it is. They'll fall just the same, it's just a question of if they'll get an honorable defeat or the same one I plan to serve the sewer rats who wrote Jaison's name last round. No more attempts at sympathy. That shit ends here. They'll be defeated just the same.



This isn't about having fun. This is strictly business so why care about facts and numbers or decisions. I'm not voting people out of a game. I'm removing chess pieces from the board when I tire of them. I'm eliminating targets when it's their time to go. I will be judge, jury, and executioner and I will answer to no one but myself. Pawns can't be relied on. They're just pieces of plastic. So I'll ensure my own safety every round and worry no more. Paranoia and fear are but more feelings that will only get in the way. They too must be eliminated. If I am to win and vanquish and defeat, then I must no longer FEEL anything. And I have no other option but to win.



Take your last look at Nick because he won't be here anymore soon enough. Nick struggled to eliminate people he bonded with. Nick was worried every round about votes and idols. Nick allowed an ally to go home through his own ignorance. Nick was defeated. But this was a second chance. A wake-up call. An opportunity to do what is right, to be there in time, to avenge Jaison and even his former self. Nick wanted passion. Nick wanted motivation. Nick wanted a purpose. Well, here it is. But this time Nick won't be there to make a mistake, to let his guard down, to be vulnerable.



Kenny, Neal, and Liz will not stand in my way and neither will anybody else. They will all be systematically targeted, defeated, and wiped out. I cannot be a clueless chess piece like my "opponents." I must become superhuman, find that side of me once again. An animalistic, cold-blooded machine with no other purpose or desire than to police and win this game. This is their fault, they did this, they unleashed this upon themselves. And I sure as hell won't feel bad for them, even if I could anymore. Nick is no more, extinguished for the same weakness that the rest will pay for. He is just the first of those who will crumble. Oh but who am I then? Well, the only being that is left of course. The one who will obliterate this cast and walk to the end of this game like it's nothing. I am...



Jaison didn't deserve to go. Kenny doesn't deserve to still be here. And I'll make sure he and his little runt friends are aware of that. I will not be defeated in the same way that they did to Jaison and like they think they can do to me. I will not feel bad. I will not feel happiness or anger. I will not feel fear. I will not feel. I'm smarter than everyone else in this game and I'm about to show it to them the hard way. Everything I'm about to do in this game is for Jaison and I hope he laughs at them all as they join him on the jury one by one. If they wanted to start a war by voting out a good friend, then they certainly have one now. I'm not going to go out without making them pay for this round. Iceman is fucking back and it's about time. This is the reckoning. As I said one year ago from today, this is just a business trip. And make no mistake about it, Iceman will come out on top.

This is the best thing I have ever read.