Finessing a Snake/Confessionals

Day 24
"andante"

- Alot has happened. We have our group of 7 the toeroes plus sam, and then we had lex and isiah. We were gonna split the vote 4-4-4 joey andrew and then they vote lex, but isiiah flipped and lex went 5-4-3 and i got his garnets. Man was i pissed. I was coming for vengence, but i had to be calm. Before the vote also I had a basic strategy heart to heart with AJ basically telling him without tellimg him where to vote. We pretty much sussed out our thoughts in bromigos and it became clear it had to be isiah. So sam wins immunity and so does andrew. I tried to reach out to Joey for info and to see if we can work something out, i really wanted to, he was such an arrogant ass, it ended up blowing up. He though i persoanlly attacked him, he just cant handle a real conversation if it doesnt go his way. So as sam zach and I were working on solving the clue for the merge idol, joey tells zach its found and we find proff it is. So we need a new angle, thats when sam starts talking to aj while. i do sepreately, trying to get info etc. Turns out joey and andrew had been excluding aj, like are they dumb, you only have 4, you need them all, after a fun phone call, we realize we want to work together, zach was in it too, so boom we have a 4 group chat. Now in the 7 we decided Joey, but with the knoeldeg of the idol we want to do isiah, but boom we switch to lexi as a real mind fuck. We tell isiah joey, aj is working the inside we know joey thinks its him, we know votes are coming my way, liam is also working the inside, hes with zach sam and I, joey trusts him he tells him hell vote with them, theyre under the impression its rocks, liam and aj also talk, and zach sam aj and i decide its best aj votes me so he can stay in the know with the other side. so it was 7-5 lexi and me, went perfect, BUT she had the idol. I also did a final 2 with brian to keep him close, i fuck with brian, but he also will need to go, i asked about a third and he suggested zach, how fucking perfect. So now we have a final 3 chat as well. bang bang skeet skeet, we killing this game. Also joey told liam isiiah is the flipper so we know who it is. Isiah is trying to lie out of it but it wont work. I think my goal here is to get to final 5 with aj bromigos and liam if i can.

"andante"

- ItsLiamMToday at 4:11 PM

You think I felt good about doing that? I certainly didn't

Joey TurboToday at 4:11 PM

And you just lied to me like it was nothing

ItsLiamMToday at 4:11 PM

I was going to burn bridges either way

it was either

Joey TurboToday at 4:12 PM

You shouldn’t feel good. Straight up because I would have never done that to you

That. That right there is why I hate playing games with friends.

"andante"

- God, this sucks. Lexi's gone, Liam led us on all day just to vote against us. I'm really annoyed that they went the route of pagonging, but you know what? If anyone can get through this, it'll be me. I will NOT let myself be picked off like I'm just some nobody in a minority.

"andante"

- What an absolute mess of a game lol. I definitely fucked myself voting Lex out, but I will lie about it till I am either sitting in ponderosa or I am sitting at FTC. My strategy of being everyone’s best friend may not have been the best idea, bc now I feel fucking awful with every vote I cast. Going forward, I don’t even know what my plan is. The only people that trust me are Joey, AJ, and Andrew, but what the hell am I supposed to do with that lol, that’s not enough to stay safe. The longer I last in this game the better my speech will be at FTC, but getting there is the problem, and I have no idea how the hell I am going to get there.

"andante"

- just got Isaiah the flopper to confess literally everything to me. Talk about finessing a snake LOL

"andante"

- DIRECT HIT!

As planned, the vote was 7-5 for Lexi. AJ and the rest of them were stunned - right up until the final vote, AJ was chanting ""rocks, rocks!"" What's more, just before leaving Lexi dropped a subtle command: ?despair. Holy fuck, did we send her home with an idol? That'd be insane. I'd be the only person left with an idol in my pocket if so. Can't confirm, but Jesus Christ I hope.

Joe's pissed off. He essentially begged me to renege to him and take out Hesh this round, and ultimately while I do intend on shifting gears eventually I just couldn't justify it this round. I'm trying to hint that I'll work with him in the future, but he's getting pessimistic about his odds. I need to keep him at bay. AJ is sad and asked me why we took Lexi; I simply told him the truth. Idol paranoia. Considering we got a bullseye, we were thinking right.

For now, Brian and I are planning on staying with Toereos for one more round before taking the hit. If we flip now, Joe, Andrew and Isaiah will have a deadlock with me, Chloe and Brian - they could be spiteful and bite us directly in the ass. If AJ is tight with Zach, that leaves 5 against 6. Preferably, we convince Toereos to take down AJ this round, but I'm not hopeful. Zach ultimately is in control, and he wants AJ to stay.

This challenge is fucking dreadful, btw. It's just flash game Tic Tac Toe. I hate flash. Suck my weenie.

Day 25
"andante"

- Cool, officially beat my most days played on any season of 703. And even better, my boy Sam won immunity! Everything's coming up peachy this round and I'm relieved.

I don't think I'm in too much danger, but man, the ship is starting to submerge on the lucky 7, I can feel it. Isaac is really pushing to vote out AJ, but I don't want AJ to go! He's actively been working behind the scenes with Zach and myself and is (or was) a critical source of info, since he didn't even leak to Lexi that she was going. I think this round we're likely to go for Andrew or Isaiah, both options I'm fine with at this point, but I need to set my sights on Chloe or Isaac sooner rather than later now. I can't have my plans compromised :/

"andante"

- I confessed to everyone I voted Lex. Chloe/Brian/Isaac didn’t give a fuck. Me and Sam had a long and deep talk, and he was very understanding. (Love Sam). Hesh was alright but understanding also. Zach was indifferent. I haven’t talked to Liam at all bc idk wtf he’s doing. But it looks like I’m back in the swing vote position. Last time I was here I fucked over most of the people on the tribe, so idk why everyone is putting all their trust in me again lmao, guess I’m a good manipulator ;). Rn it’s split Brian/Isaac/Chloe/Joe/Andrew vs Zach/Hesh/Sam/Liam/AJ. First group wants Zach out. Second group wants Andrew out. Zach is a huge threat and I don’t think he wants to work with me. I also think that my long term game is better off with the first group. It’s just that Sam won’t want to vote Zach, and I can’t screw him again. He’s my homie and I told him that I would do everything in OUR best interest, but voting Zach is good for me, not him. I’m gonna be honest with him, I just don’t know how he will feel which really sucks. No matter my decision I’m ending this tribal with blood on my hands. Again. Idk if the jury will respect a Russell type game, but you never know.

"andante"

- Right now, I'm in a weird spot. I'm really, really glad to be going with this whole undercover shtick, especially when the greys seem to be none the wiser and almost pandering to me as if they're already banking on me being a juror in a round or two. Sweeping the rug out from under their feet is just getting more and more enticing the more I speak to Brian and Isaac. Chloe literally doesn't talk to anyone anymore. Life without Lexi has been an adjustment, honestly, and I think if I wasn't so busy irl I would probably be a lot more concerned than I am now. Idk, I feel like I should be more upset with being implicit in her boot, and if I vote out Andrew here, it might show my hand a little bit, but I still don't think anyone would be able to guess how long I've been in cahoots with the Zucc group. Isaac's group - at least - definitely will not see it coming. That's the plan anyway. Throw my people under the bus just like they were hoping to do with me eventually, and survive long enough that I'm then a number for the Zucc group to use. Who knows, once I let them use me for something, I might just happen to go the other way and let the other side have a turn too. People really do be thinking I'm just grateful to survive a little longer and be part of a group finally, but they don't realise that they're literally playing into my hand the entire time. I think the best thing is, they think that they're letting me think they're playing into my hand but are actually doing things themselves, but it's gone full circle into a double bluff. They're convinced that they have me thinking I'm in a better spot than I am, but I'm fully aware of it and hamming that up in a fourth-wall breaking kinda way that sees me honestly having a lot more power than I'm supposed to. It's nice. I'm still walking on thin ice, especially with the greys, but if I can just get over this one last hurdle, I'm basically untouchable.

"andante"

- It seems I have another lifeline in this game in the form of a new alliance. I’m really overjoyed, I like all of these people and I’m especially glad to be able to work with Isaac and Chloe. Hopefully this alliance lasts a while, but I can’t get too comfortable. I need to work on my jury management with these people, I don’t want them thinking I’m a dead fish or something. I also want to figure out who has the goddamn merge idol, hopefully Zach has it but doesn’t play it tonight, that’d be the best.

"andante"

- so

i havent made a conf in

uhhhhh

3 rounds?

sorry life and this game have really been beatin the shit out of me. im just like, not gonna recap those rounds because im sure other people already painted a pretty good picture of whats going down and i just dont have the time or energy to write that much rn tbch

as for this round, during lexis tribal hesh, sam and i pretty much swung aj over to our side, giving us a lot of wiggle room going forward. Lexi dropped the premerge idol clue and everyone over there pretended to be surprised about it, but im still not convinced they dont have two idols right now and that i could become victim of yet another double idol play in 703. However, Isaiah, after admitting it to Sam, also admitted to Hesh and then myself that he was the one that flipped to vote out Lex and gave me a very by the books cut and dry sob story about how any why he flipped. I pretended to be all cool with it, mostly because Sam thinks he has Isaiah under control, but honestly id like to see him go sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, it seems like Joe went ahead and burned his bridges with Hesh, so we might need Isaiah to join us and AJ to make a move against brian/chloe/isaac next round. I feel like this round is the last one where people are gonna maintain this us v them thing, and joey is gonna try to make a move with the gray 3 and isaiah against me hesh sam liam and aj, thinking theyd have aj. I do think AJ would side with us, but im not confident hed stay that way in a tie vote. With Sam trusting Isaiah, its pretty possible that we can probably have him at 10 if shit goes down then. If the gray 3 wanna boot Isaiah next time I'll honestly happily oblige, but I think theyre smart enough to see that AJ is more on our side of the majority than he is on theirs. Essentially, I think next rounds gonna decide who sits at ftc at the end of the road.

If it hasnt been inferred by now, Andrew should be going home unless he whips out an idol, but we're throwing 3 votes on isaiah as well just in case that happens. AJ should be all set for Andrew as hes actually wanted him out for a very long time.

Oh also i had the idol solved 4 days ago but i had a typo in the digits puzzle and then ruled that solution out and then overcomplicated the absolute shit out of the idol until, while we were searching for it, joey just sends me the found idol code. the fact that he received it before i did p much confirms that either andrew or isaiah found it and then gave him the empty code, so i am pretty confident that at least one idol will be played tonight, if not both.

if two idols get played on those two people, its very likely curtains for me, in which case i guess i can say i had a good run doing the best i absolutely could, but ill still be v v peeved at myself for allowing such a thing to happen. Im hoping that isaiahs admission will keep the votes off of hesh and i, but my worry is that itll default to liam and then, like, there goes our entire future. we cant risk aj getting that far along in the game because he'd just win immunity and massacre us at ftc and win, but if liam goes i legit dont trust anybody else to fill that gap unless its like, isaac or someone thinking out of self preservation

heres to the afterlife?

"andante"

- So tonight is critical for not just my game but for the game as a whole. Brian, Chloe, and Isaac want to make a move on Zach tonight with Andrew, Isaiah, and myself. They want to leave AJ out of it due to them believing AJ is giving Zach information. I trust AJ but I do think leaving him out of this vote is the right move. I just need to do some serious damage control and try to keep myself in his good graces. I do think Brian, Isaac, and Chloe are being truthful because if they go back on their word and this is just some big scheme to make a fool out of me, there's no way in hell those three would ever get my jury vote. If this works, we will possibly get one idol out of the game. Best part? Hesh is gonna be super pissed with the results and go on some tangent. Hopefully it all works out. I know my fingers are crossed.

"andante"

- It should be a 5-3-3 split with Andrew, isiah, and Liam (maybe me). We’ve locked in AJ as our 5th at this point. Not sure how the rest of the game will go down, because I do like Brian and Isaac a lot. Chloe has been slipping lately, we barely talk, but she’s harmless. It should be about two more votes now, until this thing is all but locked up to the final 4.

Rankings

Zach

Sam

Liam

Brian

AJ

Isaac

Chloe

The others

"andante"

- this is fucking killing me bruh. all was nice and dandy beforehand, there was a plan to get andrew out while throwing some votes at isaiah (not my choice mind you) in case there was an idol, but hopefully with andrew dying. but ive been doing my absolute fucking best at trying to keep isaiah close to me, and have him believe my f2 with him is legit. and i believed he felt the same when he came to me 2 nights ago about everything that happened with his flip on lex, the premerge, etc etc. THEN about 3 hours before the vote deadline, isaiah comes to me and mentions how there is a plan to blindside zach. EXCUSE FUCKING ME?? brian, chloe and isaac are tryna go rogue with joe and andrew, use isaiah as a number, and yeet zach out of here. but what those 5 dont know, is how ive been marinating isaiah this whole time, which comes to fruition with him telling me about this blindside. so i call him, and we talk for about an hour and im out here tryna put in MAD WORK to ensure he flips, votes with us, and blindside whoever he wants in a 6-5 vote. if zach goes here, my game is over. so i had to pull every card i could to make sure this DOESNT happen. i had to tell him that if he votes to save zach, we can actually go f3 then cuz ill be able to convince zach and hesh to make him believe that. unfortunately he asked how i was so sure, so i had to reveal that the 3 of us have been in a f3 alliance since day 2, which God knows i did NOT want to do, but i had to play that card because again, if zach goes here my game is OVAAAAAA so at this point im doing everything i can. i told him me, him, hesh and zach will be a f4 if he saves zach, because of my influence with the latter 2, so i can make that happen. that we yeet liam and aj before him, and that once f4 comes around we yeet zach cuz "he'll win if he doesnt" just so isaiah feels he'll actually go f3 with me. hell i even mentioned that zach can be yeeted at 5 and liam stays at 4, I DONT CARE, IM TRYNA DO ANYTHING I CAN to convince this guy that there is a roadmap for US BOTH to get to the end if he votes with us here to keep zach instead of voting zach out. because he cares for me, and i told him hey, you might have more options if u vote zach out here, but i wont get to the end. and im giving u a "guaranteed" roadmap that'll get us there if he votes to keep zach. im 100% lying to him, but he doesnt need to know that. and it sucks too cuz I CANT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT IT until isaiah makes up his fucking mind, which he thinks he'll do at the last second, and it's killing me cuz i want to so fucking bad but if i do, theres no chance isaiah flips here. so i have to sit back, bite my fucking tongue, and pray ive finessed isaiah enough to make sure he does whats best for me here. zach cant go here, or im fucked. i have to put my charisma on deck and make sure this dude doesnt srcew my whole fucking game.

"andante"

- Sam won the challenge again. Yippee, I guess.

Brian and I immediately get to work and try to push for AJ in the Toereos. Once again, we're met with swift resistance from Zach, who now wants to take out either Andrew or Joe. In other words, the two least threatening members of the minority left. Dude, you're trying to get AJ as an extra number so that when Toereos folds you can take out Brian, Chloe and me. Stop making your intentions so obvious, smh.

After a solid hour of trying to turn the vote around, Brian and I come to the realisation that it's just not going to happen. All of a sudden, Brian suggests we make our move early: we get Andrew, Joe and Isaiah on our side, and we blindside AJ.

Initially I'm against doing it this soon, but as I think about it further I realise that it's actually perfect. For one thing, we get to make our coup without me dropping an idol. For another, it gives us the chance to cut AJ and avoid the Alichino 4 ever gaining a majority against us again. I can't stall this any longer. It's game time. Annoyingly, Chloe has gone AWOL during discussions, so we need to get gears going without her here. Hopefully that doesn't bite us.

I immediately go to Joe first and tell him vaguely that a plan is coming. After around an hour, I finally let up and tell him everything: Zach and AJ are likely in cahoots, the Queens of Josephine want to stage a coup, and we're willing to work with him. Joe is receptive, but also insists that AJ is tighter with him than with Zach. That makes this exceptionally difficult, because AJ would be the desired target. I acquiesce, however - the plan can only work if Joe gets his target.

Isaiah is also receptive to the plan, and both he and Joe finally open up as to what's been happening the past two votes. As it turns out, Liam was also planning on flipping with Isaiah, hence why they were so confident on rocks. Liam, however, balked both times; he purposefully took on the convict role in the first vote, and simply didn't flip for the second. The guy is ultimately still plagued by his emotions, and it's getting to him. I feel really bad for him, I do. Anyways, Isaiah confesses to flipping, and I tell him it's okay. Which it is, all things considered. Lex going was a blessing, because now Zach's cohort has less numbers.

Brian gets onto Andrew, and he too is receptive, so we make the chat. Matthew Lillard (yes, that's the alliance name) talks targets and with AJ out of the picture, we get torn between Zach and Hesh. Zach is the obvious pick; he's the undisputed leader of his faction and is a massive social threat. Hesh, however, has personal beef with Joe and Joe would preferably like to see him go. Personally, I'd rather we take out Zach. I'm quite close with Hesh, and I also consider Zach my primary threat for the win. This season has been permeated with the concept of "dudebros" vs the others, and Zach and I are the only two, in my eyes, with the ability to socialise with both sides of the coin. With him out, the person with the most pull this game is me.

I'm shitting myself. We still have an hour until results come and while I think the plan is air tight, there's always a little fear that it'll come to bite me. I'm really not looking forward to the fallout either. Sam and Hesh are gonna be mad, and AJ will also be annoyed that he's been left out of the vote. My real concern, however, is Liam. He took last tribal really, really hard, and I genuinely fear that he might quit because of this betrayal. I really don't want that on my conscience, because I'm quite fond of him. Hell, I'm fond of everyone here. Blindsiding Zach is not going to feel great at all, because the two of us get on so well outside of the game. We both love the same music, we love film, and we're meme kings. I'm hoping he still wants to be my friend after this.

That's just the game, unfortunately. I can't be in a final 3 with ten other people, and I didn't come here to piss away my second chance. It's been seven years since I started playing ORGs, and this is the first time I genuinely feel like I'm playing a decent game. No inactivity. No poor social skills. An idol. Three garnets. Social connections with virtually everyone. Thelma and Louise with Brian. Big Rhonda and Shangie's Train with Isaiah. Borat And Bilo's Make Benefit with Hesh. The Queens of Josephine. Toereos. Lucky Seven. All of those things have something in common: they feature the eventual winner of Survivor: Mount Vesuvius. Let's get the game kicking.

"andante"

- also i fucking miss lex so much why did they strip me from my boy so soon yet again s/o to lex

"andante"

- im so fucking good at this game LMAO

"andante"

- Who would've known? Another plan fucking flopped by leaving me out of it. You'd think people would learn after the Lex vote that if you keep me out of the loop on your plan you've got going on, it's going to fucken fail because you don't have the numbers you think you have. Isaac, Brian and Joe all came rushing to me after tribal to try and curry favour with me, but only once they realised their plan had failed and they were in trouble. You should've been doing that to me before you were in need. Now it's desperation, not a legitimate want to work with me. It's exactly what the Zach side did after Lex went home, but at least they beat the Isaac side to the punch and secured shit in advance. I do what I want and I go where I go anyway, but coming to me when you clearly don't want me but finally realised that you need me is just gross and I'm not down to roll with it unless it absolutely serves me best. Additionally, telling me that Zach fought to keep me when they all targeted me is the worst pitch to get someone to flip I've ever heard. You literally admitted to me that you want me gone and the side I'm seemingly with right now is the one that wants me to stick around. It's the stupidest argument I've ever heard. Maybe I'm presenting as more of a swing vote than I really am right now, but I'm not going with the greys this round. I would definitely be down for it at nine since I'm number five in a five person group so nine is the last time to do something about that without involving other people from within the group. Other than that, I'm just going to keep on chilling for now and seeing what unfolds, because I've had a few rounds now where I've gotten exactly what I wanted, so it's definitely my turn to take a step back and not command the room as much. Between that and my slow decline in challenges from winning everything premerge to second, third, and now even fifth or so in the last challenge, I've actually slid off the map a little bit in challenge performance which is cool. Maybe these people can have a short memory and I can just sit in the middle of the pack rather than as a frontrunner the whole time and I can jump back out later? Never thought that'd even be an option to me, but hey, I'm not complaining. No matter what happens, I think the lesson here - at the end of the day - is that history repeats itself and I'm consistently on the right side of history, so the more these people keep me out of things, the more they're going to suffer time and time again.