PREGAME THOUGHTS

So, I saw the tribal divisions, and my first reaction was:



I’m not THRILLED about the four way split on tribes. I’m not SUPER surprised - the last time there were four tribes was Canada, I think - but I’m just like, this is gonna be frustrating.

Going into this, I want to minimize my alliance making as much as possible. If this was a two or even three tribe setup it would be pretty easy for me - people are gonna no show, and will get booted or removed or whatever pretty easy before the tribe swap happens. I can just like, work my social mojo up until that point, y’know?

With six though...it’s a bit more tricky. I’m confident about my chances in a first vote - you don’t need to be a brainiac to survive ONE vote, after all. But if ANY tribe loses multiple times, it’s just a headache. Coasting by solely on social charm and challenges for two votes is trickier than having an “ironclad” alliance or whatever, y’know?

So I’m thinking like, I’m gonna pour 110% effort into the challenges to try and avoid tribal council before the first swap. I don’t see myself going out early, but I doubt Eddie thought he’d go pre-swap too - it’s gotta be someone. And I’m fucking Jonny Fairplay - the bottom line is, I stick around. I'll do a puzzle a million times if it helps out the bottom line.

Anyway, as for the ACTUAL people on my tribe...well... I haven’t, y’know, ACTUALLY talked to them or anything. That’d make these based in reality or something - we don’t need that now, do we? I just clicked on their icons and read through every public post they’ve made and...I’m not thrilled.

Just going from left to right on the list:



Baylor was one of the first few to post in the thread, but I’m pretty meh on her. She made some joke about Missy and it was a about as funny as a pair of socks. (Insert hilarious sock puppet video that undermines my point HERE) She made some comment about flats or heels, so I wonder if she’s actually a girl - a lot of men play as women, but I wonder how many think about female footwear. It could also just be an attempt at aliasing, who fuckin’ knows. I’m a bit down on her in general. Love the rep pick though, I’m a Baylor fan.



James is probably the person I have the highest opinion on. Glancing through his posts, he made a lot of nerdy references. Hell, for a split second I wondered if it was Nav, since he asked the perennial “Star Wars or Star Trek?” question of his. Then I realized he already posted in my confessional (we’ll ignore that I have someone pretending to be me to throw people off the alias scent and that Nav himself is the one that inspired that idea) so it just seems like a decent dude. Hope to get to chat with him sooner than later.



I have zero read on Marisa, because...she hasn’t offered anything of substance. Man, how do I make my broad, sweeping generalizations if you don’t give me any ammo? For shame Marisa, for shame. She could be the inactive on our tribe, which I wouldn’t be opposed to. Don’t have the greatest luck with Marisa reps, and I’d rather history didn’t repeat itself.



*sigh* Of course I got Michelle. I already touched on this, but me and OTT? Yeah, we go together like oil and water. And she seems the definition of over the top. Talk about the stash of drugs in another contestant’s hoo-hah? Check. Try and take over the discussion to play some either-or game? Check. Promptly bring up sex positions in said game? Might as well put her picture in the dictionary, folks. Not a fan - not sure if I’ll become one, either.



I wonder if Spencer’s timezone will screw him. Apparently the guy is from Britain, and given the rest of us seem to be stateside, he’s gonna be at a bit of a disadvantage. Offhand, the only people I know from that area are Maddie and Wil from BBDefiance - if it’s the former, it should be pretty easy to identify her. And I’d be pretty ecstatic, as a major Maddie fan. As it is, he seems fine - nothing that impressed me, but nothing irritating either. Love the rep choice for him too - Tocantins was my first season, and I was cheering for him.

That’s about all I got. Figured I’d give you one other pregame first before I go into a coma from all the socializing I’m gonna have to do tomorrow. It’ll be fun, but since it appears we’re gonna have cross-tribal communication - yeah, it’ll be exhausting. On the PLUS side - less likely to get #Alexfucked. What more could I really want?

FINAL 24: Senseless Lying for Fun and Profit

We...we won immunity? Hell yeah! Already getting off to a better start than that godforsaken Rashad tribe (yes I blame the tribe - see: its performance in All Stars) in that we get the first Tribal Council off. And I feel pretty good about my contributions to the tribe, all in all.

Like, I was eliminated pretty quickly off the bat - probably because I was the first person to post in the thread, and they were worried about that sort of stuff. But that was probably a blessing in disguise, because it allowed me to do a few things. First, I got to keep a pretty good eye on what was happening, tell people about updates, that sort of stuff. Which is nice, keep them informed.

But more importantly, it gave me time to sit and think about what was happening and how that broke the rules. Which saved us twice from elimination, in quite a spectacular fashion.

I did feel a bit bad - like typically I’m in the group of let the hosts do the hosting, don’t be an irritating pest calling foul play where there’s none. They’re putting this all on for us, let’s not be a bunch of prats. But given the confusing nature of this challenge, and the fact that we were STILL confused going into it, I figured, fuck it - let’s see how this goes, y’know?

A few other people realized we might need to double check things too - Caleb, for example, realized that Gervase Kamikaze’d when he was already six feet under, and prevented that from getting us. And the result?

SOMEHOW, SOMEWAY, we managed to get the win - despite Marisa competing by herself for like half of the damn thing. I hope the other tribes don’t learn that I KINDA fucked one of them out of immunity by virtue of reading comprehension. I’d imagine their reaction would NOT be pleasant - like I kinda downplayed it in the mountain chat, that I broached the issue (although who knows maybe someone else noticed it too) but I explained it to my tribe in our chat.

Which was kinda irritating, because up until that point - coordinating aside - I’d be doing a pretty solid job staying out of the spotlight. Saving the tribe in the nick of time? Eh, I’m happy, but positionally, not exactly ecstatic. Luckily, I have Spencer - thank Christ for that man, y’all, his attitude is a godsend for my game.

Which is probably a good a transition that I’m gonna get to like, how I actually feel about my tribe. And I’ll sprinkle in some talk about Sakai too, since there’s some interesting stuff on that end too.



OK, so with Spencer, he was probably the first person I had some extended chats with. And like, he seems like a nice enough dude, from Scotland so there’s a few issues with timezones that might cause some issues down the line. He can be a LITTLE dull on occasion, like I kinda feel like he’s reactive when we’re like, shooting the shit - but he’s definitely active, which at this point is all I care about.

The great thing about Spencer, however, is that he IS as active as he is, because I think he’s fashioning himself into a leader of sorts. He’s making chats to coordinate everything, explaining things to people - hell he typed up this whole multi-paragraph instruction booklet for the challenge. THANK YOU. Not only does it help us communicate, it’s puts him in the visibility spot. I’m Fairplay, I’m sneaky - it’s kinda hard to sneak when a stage light is tracking your every movement.

And I’m pretty content with him there and me here, so I’m just sending some minor prods - what do you think about this Spencer, what was the strategy we discussed, that sorta stuff. Subtle as I can, because hell I’m (in theory) aligned with the guy, but if a swap comes, and we’re on the same tribe - I’m in a spot where I can shove him into the line of fire and peace out if I need to. As the guy in the line of fire last time? Yeah, I’m pretty fuckin’ happy.



Getting into the meat of what I have to talk about, let’s discuss Marisa. Now, I didn’t REALLY have high hopes for Marisa. But before we get into this, a bit of backstory.

Every other Saturday, I have this manga book club thing I do - I’ve mentioned it in places like the Warriors chat and to people in Rustic. We choose a few manga, read the ones that keep our interest, then talk about them, shoot the shit, watch whatever - pretty informal thing, all in all. This is a distinct thing that I do, so I’m like - OK, time for a bit of what is probably a senseless lie. So I amended it to say it was an ACTUAL book club, and when pressed for what I was reading, I kinda just blurted out some book I read forever ago, back in High School: The Devil in The White City.

Leonardo Dicaprio is making a movie outta it soon (and unlike The Revenant, THIS one looks interesting, he’s got Scorsese directing too) and it’s a book I really enjoyed, so I figure it’ll be easy enough to talk about. It’s basically about a serial killer operating in the Chicago area at the same time as the World Fair, which is right up my alley - I gobble up anything horror and thriller related.

Anyway, I told people I had to go to this thing - I’ve talked with everyone besides Marisa at this point. But like, fifteen minutes before I leave, she messages me, we have a bit of back and forth, nothing special. The generic openers, y’know? I tell her I gotta go to my thing, and she’s super chipper and like “OMG tell me all about when you get back! :) “ Which actually seemed pretty sweet, because it seemed genuine, her excessive overuse of smiley’s aside.

So I get back, and Marisa and I get to talking. And I tell her about the book and how it functions and all this other nerdy shit you don’t wanna hear (feel free to hit me up if you think otherwise) and she’s actually talking back to me and it’s an interesting discussion. I’m a book guy, not as big as I was in High School or whatever, but I’ve read A LOT of stuff, so it was really nice to have someone as into it as I am. So, I offhandedly ask her, hey, who’s your favorite author? And she’s like, Stephen King.

Is it cliche? Hell yes. But I’m in the same boat, and I’ve read A LOT of his stuff too, and it was SO. FUCKING. COOL. To have someone who was in the same boat. Like I’m talking about some of his more esoteric works like The Long Walk or Dolores Claiborne, and she’s read them too, and offering her own opinions, and honestly these are the conversations that get me coming back to ORGs. Actual conversations I’d have and enjoy in real life, with people I’d never meet? Great, as far as you ask me.

So we talk like this for a few hours, and honestly we’re just getting along swimmingly. This mutual interest really broke down barriers, and pretty soon we’re chatting/ I’m letting my dumber, goofy side out, so’s she, and we’re just shooting the shit about whatever.

Now, as this is going on, I’m of course messaging other people as it comes up. Enter:



So, I decide to message Caleb, because he seemed active on the board, and I figure it can’t HURT to try and get in his good graces. Well, it didn’t go great, as far as I’m concerned. Maybe it was better for him, but it’s like:



Me: Hey Caleb how’s it going?

...



...



Caleb: Good, listening to music and eating candy.

...

WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS, MAN? But, it’s not a ton of effort to respond to people like Caleb - I only have to send a sentence or two every so often, even if there’s precisely zero synergy. And, I managed to PRY a few responses out of him - not entirely sure how I managed it, and part of me was like “man is there a crowbar I can get somewhere?” But, it’s whatever.

Anyway, outta nowhere Caleb decides to send me a message (I had forgotten to respond to his last one, oops that’s what happens when you take forever to respond Caleb) and was like “I’m really happy you decided to message me, your the only one who’s done it - only one online on your tribe.” Which, whatever, - somewhat comforting, cool, I’m doing a good job, exactly as expected.

I’m still talking to Marisa at the time, and I figure I’ll direct Caleb her way - get to spread the suffering AND maybe get her an in with the other side. So I tell him I was chatting with her and she’s online, but he’s like - oh I messaged her, she never responded. Which struck me as kinda odd - in general, at least for me, if I’m on AIM I’ll at least let the conversation START before letting it die, y’know?

So, I figure I’ll stealthily drop this to Marisa, again figuring it’d help her out. So I’m like “hey I’m awesome Caleb told me I’m the only one on the tribe to talk to him :P “ except SLIGHTLY more subtle and endearing than that. And Marisa’s like, what the fuck, I’ve been talking to him for the last thirty minutes about beer. And she sends me the chatlogs (maybe a bit egregious but whatever) of them talking, which had even started before we chatted, I send her back the chatlog of Caleb saying what he did to me, and we’re both like - what the fuck.

Now, honestly? What Caleb did isn’t really that big a deal. I’m not shocked someone would lie, and it’s not really a lie that hurts anyone. Hell, given how sloppily he did it (I literally TOLD him I was talking to Marisa, who is on my tribe, and he still decided to lie to me) I’m actually kinda happy, because it’ll be easier to read him down the road. But, fuck if it’s not worth outing - discovering a lie with someone else, especially in such an organic context, is SUCH a godsend for building cameraderie.

We were already getting along really well before then, but this was like - ok, not I have some strategic trust in him as well, not just likability or whatever. So Marisa’s like, OK JFP, I need to tell you something: your my bounty target. But don’t worry, I’m not gonna target you - we get along too well, I trust you. (That’s the gist anyway)

FUCK. YES.

This is AWESOME! The tiny niggling doubt in the back of my head regarding who exactly has my bounty has been solved, and it’s ALSO someone I trust to stick with me. I don’t really need to worry about being targeted for it, on top of having someone who trusts me enough to give me this (potentially damaging to ehr game) information. And I mean, she COULD be lying to me, but it’d be a rather odd lie to tell, at least from my perspective.

So I decide, OK let’s use this as a stepping stone - I tell her James is my target, because I want a reciprocity of trust here. And it just works out fantastically, and soon we’re talking about our impressions of the other tribemates. She mentions that Spencer specifically told her he liked me, which is pleasant news to my ears, and we both agree that James was probably the hardest to talk to. (Mostly because I messaged him with no response - I’ll get back to that in a bit.)

So honestly, what I have with Marisa feels like a real strategic partnership, and all it took was Stephen King and the idiocy of one Caleb Reynolds. And I never would have predicted it - she’s super sweet, but she didn’t seem super goofy to me at the outset, which are usually the people I vibe with best. (No, goofy isn’t OTT - there is a distinct difference I’m not going to go on a tangent about.) But, getting used to each other over a while, and she came out of her shell, and it’s just really nice, folks.

Anyway, getting away from that gushing, I’ll discuss (PROBABLY MORE BRIEFLY BUT WHO KNOWS) my other three tribemates, who I don’t feel as positive about or connected with.



Michele seemed super active on the board, and when I logged on for the first time it didn’t really surprise me to see her on. We chatted a bit, I was pleasantly surprised that she was nice to chat with, and it was a nice conversation. Nothing stupendous, but nice,

When she got back, I was curious how it’d continue, and I dunno if she was tired or bored of me, but it died pretty quickly after some talk about this 1300 dollar gig she had the next day. Like, just dropped right in the middle, after I sent a few messages. She wasn't around today at all, and I guess it was because she was busy, but my opinion soured on her a bit. She’s like, OK - I don’t think we vibe super well, decently but not great. She’s not at the top of my ally list, I’d be surprised if the inverse was true, but I think we’re gonna have mutual allies going forward.



Baylor and I had a good conversation the first day, but I had to leave shortly after we started talking and she was busy up until the challenge. Just like, on a gut level, I think I might like her more than Michele (although obviously subject to change) but I don’t think she’ll be as active in general. I’d like to keep her around, but I think she’d be on the shortlist to boot? Wish I had more to write, but the content isn’t really THERE yet. I’ll keep y’all posted.



The other individual on the list is James. I don’t have anything AGAINST the guy, don’t get me wrong - but he seems super new or something. Like, he offers decidedly average conversation, BUT he’s slow to respond and also stops talking after twenty minutes. He was with family for Easter, and maybe he’ll be more active when he’s not around his family - that’s what he said anyway. If that’s the case, winning this challenge probably saved him bigtime - he’d probably be the boot, in that case. I just don’t get the sense that he’ll be active, but hey - it’d be cool if he proved me wrong. He won’t, obviously - my predictive powers are impeccable.

I will say I’m pretty happy he went for the Shogun. It helped us in the challenge, keeps me out of the limelight, and the first one, when none of us really have any bounty points, is the least useful. If it’s a shop setup he’ll have some information on what’s available, but I don’t think it’d be hard to learn that stuff from him - and if it is, he can’t go next time. Thanks James, so kind of you, really - get that grave dug up, your buddy Fairplay will help you out.

As for Sakai, besides Caleb I’ve only talked to Julia and Eliza. Julia and I had a sorta cute conversation about Disney, but she bailed hard on it - maybe I enjoyed it more than you, I for one thought I was being very charming. Eliza was SUPER personable when we talked, and I wish she was on my tribe - she seemed kinda clueless in the challenge, but I think she could be a definite social player, dodo edit aside.

On a alliance building basis I’ve done basically...zilch.



Crazy I know - Gamebot Grant NOT immediately building an alliance that’ll inevitably blow up in his face? SHOCKING, I KNOW. But I’m holding true to my pregame plans of TRYING to be free-floating and not overtly schemey. And while I’m trying to establish a pseudo strategic rapport with Marisa and Spencer, which I’m sure would coalesce into a probably alliance (likely with Michele as a fourth) if we went to TC this round, I’m trying not to be conspicuous.

If it comes up organically, awesome - but I sort of have those relationships, on an informal level. And I actively need to make myself feel comfortable with that, but I think it’s working - I feel really, really good about my spot on this tribe and in the game as a whole. Moving forward, I don’t have a TON of super mwahahaha strategic plans - a few subtle touches, maybe, like with trying to present Spencer as the leader. But honestly I just want to strengthen my social bonds, because I figure they’ll pay off into a strategic fulcrum whenever the tipping point is reached. Take it one day at a time, adapt with new information, yada yada yada.

So far, the ship doesn’t have any leaky holes, but I’m vigilant for like...crabs? Do crabs puncture holes in ships? WAIT. Rocks. Rocks do that. ROCKS BEWARE, JFP IS WATCHING OUT.

Final 22: Taking Down a Cult

Hey, so sorry this is late, I was out all last night and then I was doing ~actual~ in game stuff. This won’t be my TYPICAL novel-esque recap (although really that’s gonna die down a bit since first impressions aren’t as forthcoming, upcoming swap aside) but I’ll fill you in on basically how things were going down from my perspective. THEN I’ll probably write something else tonight to deal with all this swap nonsense. (AND THERE IS A LOT OF NONSENSE TO DEAL WITH)

So, going into the second round, I was feeling tight with Spencer and Marisa. I didn’t get a chance to chat with Spencer a TON until the post-challenge, but we both still felt pretty solid with each other (and when we did talk it was as seamless as usual) and I had a very cute conversation with Marisa:



I need some advice.



Shoot.



Okay it’s about a guy.



I'll PROBABLY be bad about this but ok, go on.



Okay so there's this guy that I feel like I totally hit it off with and he's super easy to talk to and I think we have a good time and I feel like he MAYBE might like me too but I'm not positive

And I want to ask him to like be with me but I'm not sure if he's with anyone else or if it's too soon to ask him

And there's a decent chance someone else may have gotten to him first but I don't know if he'd tell me because it might hurt my feelings or something

Stop typing (MINDREADER I TELL YA’)



Did you check his facebook? Like usually people will update that kinda STUFF

kk



I don't have access to his Facebook

And also this is about this org :D

IDK I thought it was a cute way to ask for an alliance AND I FELT LIKE SHARING OK? But yeah, Marisa and I solidified our deal, and we discussed bringing in Spencer for a core three. WHICH as the hosts know I later did, but more on that in a bit.

Meanwhile, James is improving at a remarkable rate. He showed everyone the stuff from Ukiyo, was more active and chatty, and in general come off as loyal member of the tribe. MEANWHILE Baylor was nowhere to be found.

So when the time came to make a decision, Marisa and I agreed that Baylor was the better bet. Besides, Spencer would get the 20 points from her elimination, which is nice (oh yeah all the targets came out - Spencer - Baylor, Baylor - Marisa, Marisa - JFP, JFP-James, James - Michele, Michele- Spencer, provided everyone’s telling the truth - woohoo go deductive reasoning) and even though James is my target, I just trust the guy more. We agreed on that, and since I was gonna be up all night anyway, I said I’d talk to Spencer.

I talk to Spencer, he agrees, and we decided to form our threesome chat. I made it, because with three people I don’t think its THAT big a deal, and we’re all tight anyway. It’s good to have for insurance, anyway.

Other than that, not a TON happened. Pretty slow round, TC aside. I GUESS MY CP STREAK WILL END. FORGIVE ME BAYGOD, FOR I HAVE SINNED.

Final 20: Game of Trusts

So, I was actually a bit surprised by this swap. I figured, in classic Twisted fashion, we would wait til F18 to swap, because then it’d be easy to make three tribes of six, further fucking with everyone’s heads. So I was like, pleasantly surprised to see a swap at this stage - it’s gonna be two tribes of ten, PLENTY of room to hide. We’re in a good spot, we lost a challenge but another tribe (who we have friendly relations with) has the bigger target, which should mean smooth sailing for ol’ Fairplay.

Then I read the details of the swap.



(Already regretting using up my Fairplay fuck you gif. Don’t worry I’ll assuredly forget I used it and repeat my material.)

SERIOUSLY? Like, as a PW, I would be fucking CACKLING trying to see the player try and deal with this. “Hahaha this is Survivor Twisted, don’t they realize what they signed up for?” As a player? NOT QUITE AS HAPPY, GONNA BE HONEST HERE.

I’d been a bit lackadaisical with my bonds over on Sakai - I had a nice conversation with Eliza. Once. And the Caleb chronicles are well...well, chronicled. Jefra and I had a boring as hell conversation on day one. As Chris can attest to, my conversations with Julia faced a FEW issues. Brad never returned my messages. Matty is lol incarnate.

But now? Suddenly I’m the belle of the ball. Within like, five minutes of the announcement being posted, Eliza is hitting me up, wanting to talk about the swap. And like, I shift a bit into negotiator mode here. I’m honestly, looking back, a bit irritated with myself - it kind of felt like Eliza and I were the like, chief representatives for our tribes, trying to figure it out and explaining how the talks were going. FREE UNDER THE RADAR SWING VOTE YEAH THAT LASTED SO LONG. It was a Twisted (I’m a comedian extraordinaire) game of telephone really, and what I learned last night?

No one in this goddamn game can communicate effectively.

Like seriously. EVERYTHING that was happening was being discussed one on one and in turn passed on in OTHER one on one talks, at least from what I gathered. And eventually the tribe chats managed to gain some traction, which was nice (especially this morning, PRODUCTIVE stuff even somehow happened) but, hey, you know that Mountain chat? The one both tribes are included in? Where we could discuss this openly with everyone’s input? Oh yeah, totally not gonna use that.

And I tried. I was like, so what do y’all think? I TRIED TO START IT. But it was a no go, it just continued in private. And I get it - a bunch of what we were discussing came down to revealing pseudo sensitive information. It was a bunch of games of trusts (subtle Fairplay, subtle) regarding how we would proceed, and that’s harder to discuss in an open forum. But, especially because we’re all in WILDLY different timezones and schedules, having an open space to discuss it would have been so, so nice. Ultimately a pipedream, I guess.

Oh, you probably want to know WHAT we were discussing before I went on my enormous tangent. Basically, Eliza and I pretty quickly figured, OK, this can be pretty simple - six people from both of our tribes will be on NuSakai, so we load that up with all the active people, and we’ll have an automatic majority we can coast with there. And we’d be stacked in terms of challenge strength, so it’d be ideal for the six people there. Getting the entire group to agree to it would take a bit of finesse, but not impossible. But we hit a snag before that even had to be dealt with.

Namely, Eliza wanted Spencer and I, which is fine, but she also wanted four Sakai. Brad and Matty were pretty quickly disregarded, and hey, fine, I don’t really care about them, whatever. But Marisa would be relegated to the soon to be “disposable” Ki tribe, which uh - no. Not happening. On TOP of that, leaving four Sakai together, no matter what they’re telling us now, is not good for our assured long-term safety.

The issue was danced around a lot, but basically it was a bit of a power struggle. My threesome wanted to stay on the active tribe for obvious reasons, and a presumed foursome (that Brad seemed to confirm to me when I talked to him later) on Sakai ALSO wanted to stick together. Which caused a ton of headaches in that plan, and just led to a bunch of circular discussions.

Then Eliza came to me with the most harebrained scheme ever THAT COULD ACTUALLY WORK. Verbatim:



And that just like, actually seemed to reignite talks. And like, at first people seemed hesitant - this plan would require trusting Sakai to keep their word - but slowly it seems to be gaining traction. Especially since Spencer picked up a double vote, that the new Ki tribe will get - so if they DO go to Tribal Council, ideally they’d have the numbers, even if the other five banded together. We looked into mutiny stuff, but that has to be immediately used, so it put a caput on any plans with that. I think Daniel is jaded that Chris wasted the coolest twist of last season, really.

Anyway, I went to bed, because it was just senseless talking after a certain point, since so few people were around. I hop offline - I didn’t go to bed, because I’m on the dumbest sleep schedule on earth. I woke up at 7:30 last night. I HAVE THREE CLASSES TODAY. WHY. WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF.

I hopped back on at 8, talked things through with Spencer, James, Marisa, and Eliza to varying extents, and now it looks like Eliza is willing to go to the other tribe. She’s worried about Brad however - rightfully so, since he feels on the outs - so she wants one of our three on the exiled tribe with her. To keep him in line or something, I guess, or to keep her options - whichever.

Honestly, I like Eliza more than Marisa or Spencer, but I like the idea of sticking with the two of them more. ESPECIALLY given Matty’s inactivity and Brad’s wavering loyalty - if a challenge isn’t successfully thrown, that other tribe could swiftly become a clusterfuck. No thank you, not in love with that plan.

Thankfully, the option of using random.org to determine our exilee’s came up. I’ll probably end up being the scrambler (NOT IN LOVE WITH THIS MIND YOU WHY DO I KEEP DOING THIS TO MYSELF) and Marisa suggested fixing it. Should be easy enough, I don’t think James would question it, and Michele isn’t invested enough to investigate further. It’s a solid cop-out to Eliza, and she won’t be thrilled - but it’s the optimal path for my game, going forward.

IDEALLY Eliza would stay and like, Caleb would go on the other tribe - the one lie aside, he still sketches me out. Like he asked me outright “who do you trust the most?” Like, not even TRYING to dress it like, oh who’s the most active. Like, c’mon dude - at least TRY to hide your schemey-ness. It’s weird how such a combination of idiocy But, it can’t be perfect - keeping my threesome intact and the numbers on our side is most important, y’know?

Oh, and I HAVEN’T mentioned this, and it doesn’t really fit in with the overall ~arc~ of the last confessional, sp I separated it off, but I’ve been consistently negging Sydney's karma.

I didn’t really have a reason when I started - she’s usually somewhat amusing when I see her post. She made some post during the first challenge that made me roll my eyes, something about good people losing, so I negged her. Then I saw her karma go back up, and I was like - oh, a challenge you say?

See, if you didn’t know this about me - I am a contrarian by nature. “The principle of the matter,” is probably one of my most used phrases. In short, I have PRIDE. I want to WIN. So even over something as stupid as beating someone in a karma war, I want to WIN. Also, imagining Sydney’s reaction to the random hatred (and POSSIBLE game ramifications - how great would it be if this was like, a reason Alexis got eliminated, somehow, someway?) keeps me going.

So, everytime I check the board, I make a point to neg Sydney’s reputation. The pushback from some makes it all the more fun - it’s either bugging her or other people on her tribe. Or PW’s, but that’d be moderately irritating if they were messing with player’s reps. LOOK I LIKE TO HAVE FUN WITH THE REP SYSTEM OK? Ian is an inspiration in my life, really.

...I wonder what the odds are that Sydney is Kaitlyn. That’d be hilarious.

What an interesting and amazing human being.

...

wait

no

it can't be

its all adding up

IT MAKES TOO MUCH SENSE

Spoiler	+

(actual confessional coming soon)

This vote has literally changed more than I can keep track of. Here’s MY perspective on these events:

So, shortly after it’s announced that we lost the challenge, we start talking. At the time, we figure it’ll be down to two people - Sash or Dana. As it was presented, we can basically vote Dana, tell them that, and have a unanimous vote, or vote Sash, have it be a blindside, and prevent ANY idol plays.

Now, I don’t know if you know this about me, but I’m not a massive moron. (We’ll ignore Twisted 5 for the moment yeah?) Senselessly dividing the groups, “obviousness” of our alliance aside, is NOT a fun proposition. This is fucking twisted people, they could divide us into four tribes of four at 16 - don’t you wanna earn a LITTLE good will with the minority? No? Just me? OK. Awesome. Brilliant.

Anyway, we talk with the other side. Sugar is pitching HARD for Dana to stay, since her name was released, and slowly the beginnings of a FUNCTIONING PLAN begin to shape. What if we plant a MILLION seeds that it’s gonna be Dana, then say we’re gonna vote Sash, then...wait for it...vote Sash. Not only does it show, hey, we’re trustworthy, we’re telling the truth - they CAN’T be mad at us over it - it also means the other side is more likely to idol Dana, since everyone assumes duplicity in these sorts of games.

...wait what? Oh, I’m sorry. That’s the SMART plan. No, no, I understand - we don’t wanna go with that.

Caleb comes on and is like - we gotta do Debbie. I don’t like her picture and she seems strategic.

...

No, that’s about all of the argument. Apparently he’s pushing for it HARD in one on one chats, but I don’t think he sees me as a move and shaker? Or maybe just doesn’t like me? Who knows. I gave him 5 BP because he kept harassing me over it after he was declared Shogun. That’s pretty much my “Caleb bribe” to keep him off my ass for a little while. WILL IT WORK? TIME WILL TELL. #CalebWatch2016

Anyway, while all this is happening, Sugar is sending me LITERAL PARAGRAPHS about what she thinks of the game, why Dana should stay over Sash, etcetera. And like, I’m pretty sure I was saying all the right things? I dunno, I felt like I was. I told her I agreed, she just needed to talk to people and work the votes. And like, if she and Dana stayed this round, I FEEL like there would be something I could work with there, down the line.

Like I hadn’t talked to Dana until last night, but she is absolutely the type of person who I’d love to work with in Survivor. She responds immediately, progresses the conversation, had a sense of humor - ALL marvelous things to have in this sort of game. Like, if her and Sugar stay, and I get sick of Caleb, or if Caleb goes crazy and tries to get Sakai to go against Ki - I feel like I earned their loyalty, at least comparatively.

HOWEVER, while I was asleep, Spencer came on. And while he didn’t reveal this in the groupchat, Dana apparently told him that an idol had been bought at Ukiyo. And since he’s a name that lot seem into, having not been at the challenge, I get why he’s like, hyper paranoid and vigilant and whatnot. Seeing Sugar was the only name not floated to any significant capacity, he was like - why not vote her? It saves us from a potential idol play, solidifies the numbers, etcetera.

And like, I get why Spencer is doing this - but it’s shortsighted in my opinion. Having complete trust in Sakai, especially with someone as volatile as Caleb around, just seems too trusting. And maybe I’m being too trusting of Sugar or Dana, but I do think, if Sakai went to her and Dana offering a Ki blindside, they would consider going to us and blindsiding like, a Caleb or something. It’s entirely possible that I’m being blinded by the fact that I LIKE Sugar and Dana, on top of Sash and Debbie having the personality of wallpapers - but I do think there’s some merit in what I want.

Right now, Caleb STILL wants Debbie (and is threatening Spencer, it’s kinda hilarious in its ineptness) I want Sash, Marisa is ambivalent (she’s really been playing up that she doesn’t do strategy - which like, I’m not outright disagreeing with, but she’s probs playing it up a BIT) and Spencer/Matty/Julia want Sugar. Like, if we voted right now it’d PROBABLY be Sugar, but it’s all still in flux - I could see anyone besides, hilariously enough, Dana getting the boot at this point.