Round 03: It's Like You're Always Stuck in Second Gear

[michael]

Remember the good old days when I didn't want to elevate my threat level?


No regrets. We needed that win & would not have won had I not performed as well as I did.

No big news this weekend, but here's a rundown of how I'm feeling about the tribe:

• Jenn — My number one strategy talking partner so far. She told me I was her first call of the season. Friday night she asked if I found the envelope in the rules. I told her that I had on Monday or Tuesday but hadn't opened it yet; I blamed it on playing scared because of my history with idols in XTC and Power. I'm not sure if she ever tried opening it. I need to get her back on call to ask. My plan is to come clean to her no later than after the first time we go to TC and explain that I needed to make sure I could trust her before I owned up to not having a vote. I hope this is the right read on how to tell her this.
• Carlos — We talk a lot and I love him. He's hilarious. We had a strategy talk today. I told him about the rules clue & gave him the same story I gave Jenn. I'll come clean to the two of them at the same time. Both of them have mentioned liking each other to me. Not sure if they're trying to pull me in as their third, or if we're just doing a really complicated three-way dance. There's sometimes tension in the air when we're the last three left on a tribe call & I'm just WAITING for someone to make the first move.
• Lamont — I love talking to him. No real game talk but we check in all the time and he cracks me up about as much as Carlos but in a more wholesome way (Carlos' humor is a little edgier). He had family issues this weekend & I don't want to hold that against him, so I don't mind that we haven't really been on call.
• AJ — He Katniss Everdeened himself before boomeranging to Maskorra. I'm wondering what kind of special powers he got for being yoinked around. I need to get him on a 1:1 call (he's been busy, apparently) but he was on the tribe call tonight. I need to find a way to ask him if the Duke vote was unanimous to see if he volunteers that a vote was missing.

       
       Yes, that is AJ's face deepfaked onto J Law's body.

• Ben — Nice guy, but he's been hard to get a hold of. We called yesterday for like 20 minutes but didn't really talk game, just chit-chat. He seemed really eager to get the group of me, him, and AJ going.
• Nina — We've only had one real call so far, which is concerning, but I liked talking with her. I see why people keep her around & trust her, and if she becomes more active, I'd like to explore what we can do together. (This is way more about things like mountain climbing and not checking her phone all day after bc she's with her boyfriend rather than being a nurse. I'm never going to hold it against a nurse that she can't check her phone during a shift.) I noticed she asked a lot of questions to get info. Could be bubbly personality, could be game. I know she's dangerous from being in VLs when she's played, though. Bullet points of what she told me (and it was a lot of info):
  • Kyle on Korala played a live game with her. He did a lot behind the scenes and won.
  • Taylor got her voted off Conquest (join the club lol)
  • She burned Allie in XTC 13
  • I told her "the tea" from the previous night's tribe call, which was that nobody wanted to talk game (true)
  • She claimed she hasn'd got on many calls yet. Not sure if I believe this but I told her I finished making my first calls the day before.

So yeah. I don't necessarily want to target Nina per se, but at this point she seems the likeliest person for a unanimous vote to get behind — and therefore, for me to hide my missing vote — based on inactivity. I'll have to see what everyone says if we do end up having to vote. Maybe she'll get exiled this round? idk.

One thing I didn't mention: I tried to get Jenn & Carlos to think AJ might have opened the clue on the rules board & that's why he volunteered to get exiled. Obviously him coming back changed that plan, but I want that to be the speculation because I'd much prefer to live in a world where it's Jenn/Carlos/Lamont vs. AJ/Ben/Nina at the first TC (assuming we can't find a unanimous target) so that I dodge the vote. Of course this is more dangerous because I'll have pissed off EVERYBODY by hiding my missing vote, but c'est la vie.

For some reason AJ made a chat with Ben & me right before he left. Not sure how to take it, but I'm putting it here so I don't lose it: 

Hey guys! I know I’ve talked to both of you about my thinking for volunteering for exile and starting this chat. I appreciate both of y’all hearing me out and understanding of my reasons and talking me through some of my thoughts with it as well. I do feel strange doing it cause y’all have been the easiest for me to connect with and don’t want y’all feeling like I’m ditching y’all just to ditch

Anyway.

I made a few things for y'all. First, a Hamilton-inspired TikTok showing my reaction last Sunday night:


Next, I was watching the musical episode of Buffy (an October tradition) and realized Tara gave us a shout-out:



Finally, a video confessional for this round so I'm within the rules in case things get crazy the next few nights. Ignore the unflattering thumbnail that YouTube won't let me change:

[michael]

Literally one guess.

Seven seconds.

I could cry.

At least I get my vote back after tomorrow, if I survive?

:abel:

[michael]

Made these last night. Sorry that the video stopped randomly in the middle.

Part 1


Part 2