Operation Dead Dog/Confessionals

Day 13
"zibaq"

- Aras is here. He's a very social guy, I like him. Still gunning for him, hope he doesn't make Zak/Anna fall in love with him bc then I have decisions to make.

I haven't been to the bazaar yet, so I'm putting everything into this challenge. I've actually only won the first challenge. Yikes.

"zibaq"

- Aras is a really smart player. Much like how Will is the most social from our tribe, Aras has a mean social game. But just like with Will, I can see through it. But I might not really be able to do anything about it until it's too late. Right now, for instance, he's planting seeds in my head about romain. I already know not voting out malik was a mistake and I already know aras is not flipping on the other tribe, but tbh I'm not falling for it. Love the kid tho

"zibaq"

- Woo, survived that tribal! Originally I wanted Aras to go next incase we lose, but honestly I'm not sure that's the case anymore. And then especially after the reward challenge, he lets me in on a few things:

That Brett was really after me A, and B that him, Scott and Dalton had a final 3 deal. Scott playing all sides, hmm? Maybe Whitney is in danger, but I've been in danger long enough. If I make it with her to merge, I am going to warn her about Scott, and that Aras told me all of this. Because we really need to watch who we're aligned with at this point.

"zibaq"

- I FEEL LIKE SUCH A BITCH BUT I COULDNT LET ARAS GO A THIRD TIME LIKE WTF

"zibaq"

- Dalton is out, and we have Aras back. Same strategy, same vote, same deal, same leaders.

"zibaq"

- We won the reward challenge today, I did really well but I decided to not ask to be one of the three people who go on the reward. I manipulated it so Malik and Anna could go, just to tighten up my alliances.

Not one moment after the damn reward, Anna comes to me saying that Aras wants a three person alliance with Anna and I. Looks like my strategy of getting close to Aras has paid off, but I can't really use this against him because Anna really wants him around over Romain. Zak actually senses that Aras is a threat and wants him gone, just like Romain does. At this point, I know that I'm going to be in the merge. I'm in the middle of everything, which is nice. But the problem is, I'm too connected right now. If I vote out Malik, I'm getting rid of a huge ally. If I vote out Aras, Anna's pissed and Malik won't like it. If I vote out Romain, I'm voting out 1/4 of my core alliance and I have to explain that to Rood and Tate.

Gotta win these next two immunities and hope that Roodman and Tate can protect themselves.

"zibaq"

- Right now, Malik is in the Bazaar. Hope he will not have an idol or something like that, because we need him to be a target if Aras plays an idol.

"najma"

- We received a super fun reward challenge, GeoGuessr--I will forever love this game for the rest of my life because it's super fun. We ended up losing because Kristen is completely useless and can't do anything ever. She told us she got 21k. The girl got 14k. Come ON.

"najma"

- Poor Dalton got the short end of the stick. It is unfair that he went home in Round 4? Yes. Was it preventable? Yes. I got dealt the same hand as Dalton, but I’m not going home anytime soon. I don’t think I’m necessarily better at finding cracks in an alliance than Dalton was, but I did a better job of making everyone on my old tribe feel like a part of the alliance than the top dogs on Najma did. Kristen felt alienated from Najma and now they could pay big time for it. No one on Zibaq evidently feels that way.

Yeah, I don’t think Scott, Brett, and Whitney are really buying anything I say. I guess the ‘I’m so loyal, look at me’ schtick has been worn through by tryhards long before me. So I decided to shake things up. I messaged Scott, “My first choice would have been to commit to Najma, but I am also worried about what sort of commitment I would get from Najma. As long as I’m insecure about how much trust you guys are reciprocating, then I can’t trust you completely. So I’m not going all-in on Najma. I’ll try to ride the middle instead. Would you like to form a middle-of-the-road voting bloc with me?”

Obviously I don’t really want to form a swing voting bloc with Scott, and neither does he. That proposal was just a cover to make it clear to Najma that if you want me, you need to fight for me. I thought they might want me more if they didn’t take me for granted.I also tried my hardest to appear as genuine as possible, and I hope it seems more realistic that I am not yet a diehard Najmalite, but only a tentative Najma sympathizer.

Unfortunately, Scott’s response was really noncommittal and now I hear from Tate that Scott wants me gone next. So so much for that.

Tate has been acting really distant and uninterested for most of this week. He’s laying the groundwork for his ‘Operation Dead Dog’, when he will ask to be voted out at the next tribal council, and then play his idol. He’s even ‘confided’ in Brett that he may ask to be voted out. It must have backfired on us both, though, if the Najmas are targeting me. Brett probably figures that he can knock out two birds with one stone if he votes me out, and then Tate quits anyway.

I don’t think my behavior has been diminishing the target on my back either. Oftentimes in this game, it’s the little things that matter. For example, I mentioned tonight that I was browsing the wiki, and noticed many seasons were incomplete. It was meant to be innocuous, but it made me seem like a big-time ORG geek. This is the same vibe Gevonte gave off that ultimately led to everyone becoming wary of him, and booting him. So I don’t think it was wise of me to bring that up.

Day 14
"najma"

- We received a super lame immunity challenge, Battle Matchups. It's smart of the hosts to put together two challenges in a row that are difficult to not blatantly throw. I thought that doing block for all my moves would get me to lose for sure. Unfortunately, I was the only one who managed to lose points for our tribe and we won.

"zibaq"

- I'm more on edge in this game than I have ever been before and more than I'm giving off. Thanks to Dalton being a dumbass and mentioning how I was tight with him I have had that stigma that I've had to spend time trying to break but I've formed a sort of alliance with Anna and Will and at this moment in time I've had to bite my tongue a lot. Malik is an emotional fucking player and I could've put myself in a hot seat considering I already hardly talk to Romain, (who Malik is closest to) so it made sense for me to do a punk ass rock paper scissors game and let Malik go, but I'll treat the emotional player nicely and make sure they feel secure with me.

With my tribe at the moment I'm in an alliance with Anna and Will, Anna is at the bazaar and will hopefully get something to further our game. Anna says she is floating along but I can tell she has a strategic mind and I will use that to my advantage and I know Anna and Will don't want to vote me out (supposedly).

Zak is a cool guy, but he's sure as hell a wild card in terms of where his head is at and I don't totally trust him, idk it's just something about him that I can't put my finger on, I couldn't rely on him for numbers.

Malik is my friend and hopefully I can nurture that, we've bonded on this position of fucking despising our original tribe for not throwing the challenge and I doubt he feels closer to Romain than he does to me, but no one else knows that, so perhaps Malik and I could become double agents in a sense? Then again, Malik isn't someone in my core group who'd I rely on for numbers.

Romain, I don't hate him or anything but know that if you leave me on read in the first day, you best know I'll be coming for you bro. Hopefully you're targeting someone like Zak and not me, after all you two were slightly split.

I'm surprised a lack of social game as well as inactivity hasn't gotten Romain eliminated yet, but it's who I'm coming after should we lose, he apparently rubs Will the wrong way as well so that's better for me. Romain would clearly like to call the shots strategically based on how he went about saving Malik (saving Malik I don't have a problem with in and of itself, I could care less who went between he and Dalton, I can manipulate both easily)

I'm still aware of the reality though and that is that I'm walking on THIN ICE. I knew I came onto this tribe on the bottom as someone who was exiled and missed the first tribal as well as someone who's originally from Najma. Dalton thought he was in a good position and look where that got him, I'm going to have to be very proactive in order to survive until the merge.

Best case scenario is that Zibaq perceives me as this Ozzy type challenge dominator who's a ""nice guy"" and doesn't have a fantastically functional strategic mind. I'd love to win out until merge or at least win this next immunity because there are three factions on Najma -

The leader type twats who couldn't throw the challenge for me and who I intend on blindsiding in a fucking heartbeat come merge (Brett and Scott)

The ""female power"" alliance, last time I checked breaking screenshot rules and floating didn't constitute as powerful (Whitney and Kristen)

Then Roodman and Tate who are on the bottom for being Zibaq, neither of which I really know but apparently Roodman is also an A-type who I hope goes at it with Brett and Scott and Tate was apparently this social bombshell in Liam's Canadienne org.

CAN WE BE DONE WITH THE FUCKING A TYPES ALREADY JESUS ERGKHJVDF

all these fucking dumb shits don't even run shit like get the fuck off out of my face and go to hell and eat a dick !

"najma"

- The one thing that was making me hesitate on throwing is Whitney's insistence that Kristen wants to flip. After my discussions with Kristen the last couple of days, I'm convinced that's not happening. Also Kristen is a really reasonable ally and someone who has a good sense of information control, and I think I've convinced her that I value her.

So let's throw - once we do I'll check in with Whitney to see if she's okay with a vote split. If even after we throw she thinks we should put all our votes on one person, then I think it might be worth reconsidering again.

"najma"

- This is a bit of a frustrating situation.

1. Whitney keeps saying Kristen is going to flip and therefore not only should we not split the vote, we shouldn't tell her where the actual vote is going. That's ridiculous and out of the question.

2. Kristen seems to be loyal from everything I can tell. I can't promise my read is perfect, but really sometimes you just have to trust them. Kristen is fine splitting or voting straight up, which if she did really want one of me or Brett out means that they have the idol and whether we split or not she could get her way as long as they play the idol on the right person.

If Whitney's right the only move is to do what she says. However, if it's Whitney making all this up because *she* actually wants to flip then doing so would set up a 3-2-1 in her favour. And I cannot rule that out that would be well within Whitney's modus operandi. I would think she would flip on her Brett instead of her F2, but maybe she F2'd everyone and she considers Brett easier to manipulate.

I think I have to trust Kristen over Whitney. Whitney has proven to be completely untrustworthy and I have no indication that Kristen is doing anything amiss other than Whitney's word, and Whitney has been clearly manipulative in many instances. So I think we don't split and we tell Kristen where the vote is going. The idol is in play, but it is very hard to find and I would be surprised if Roodman or Tate got a hold of it.

The one other option I have is to go to Kristen, say ""Yo, Whitney seemed to think you'd be a flipping risk because you asked her to flip with you. What up with that?"" But...she may use that and go straight back to Whitney and use it to help Whitney flip if that was truly the situation. I think I may have to do that, just to get the full grasp of what's going on, but wait until after we know we've lost immunity to blow things up.

"zibaq"

- Oooo so juicy deets I got! I meant to update two days ago but busy af!

So Dalton told Aras before he came in to not trust me and that I'm a liar, and that I have a premade with Zak..what? Be lucky I spared you from the hosts. So then Aras also comes and tells me tea about him, Scott and Brett having a final three alliance..👀 Funny Scott, I thought, me, you and Whitney had a final three, so if that's true, I see his gameplay now. And I see why he was so hesitant to vote Aras out.

And now, Will has told me that Aras is trying to make an alliance with Will and Anna so that they can vote out Romain. I think Aras is targeting me, Romain and Zak because I said I knew them both from that tribe, so he's just auto after us. And it's not going to happen. Because Will has my back, Romain has my back, and I have Zak's back. Aras is so clueless that he just fucked up so bad aisnwns

Oh AND I see Aras' strategy. He wants to try and play all sides, see how people are and who they're the closest to and work from there. Will also pointed it out as well that he's just trying to see who is close to who. All I know is, I don't think Najma has our back anymore, and I could be overthinking but I think she's in danger over there. I don't want her to get in trouble, but I don't want to go to tribal again. So hopefully she keeps herself safe and we reunite at merge! Because besides Will and Romain I trust her the most ❤️

"najma"

- Tate and I have both felt like we’ve been walking on eggshells around Kristen. I find her very hard to talk to. Tate agrees.

After she revealed her real-life drama, I asked her in private if she’d rather take time away from the game, or focus on the game to use it as a distraction. She said she’d prefer to double down on kicking Najma’s ass. Yay.

Except she insisted that our approach to breaking up the Najma alliance was to throw Whitney under the bus, which just seems impossible and impractical to me.

Then she dumped all her info about Whitney’s idol guesses on me. Amazing.

Then I asked Kristen how we should approach this whole convince-Scott-and-Brett-to-vote-for-Whitney business. She never replied. I asked her if we should get Tate involved. She ghosted me. I really don’t know how to react. I imagine she must be deep in the weeds right now between the game, her kid, and her breakup drama.

Everything is touch-and-go with Kristen. This feels like Constance all over again and it’s honestly stressing me the fuck out, because so much depends on her.

If the core Zibaq alliance ultimately wins out over Najma, here’s why: the Truman Alliance is one mind and four bodies. The Najmas are three hearts and two minds (三心二意). Will, Tate, Romain and I have told each other everything. There are no secrets kept between the Trumen.

Meanwhile, here on Najma, these folks just can’t keep it in their pants. You’ve got Scott erroneously believing I erroneously trust him, while he erroneously trusts Tate and Whitney, the same Whitney who’s been going around claiming that Scott and Brett have been making promises that they never made. Whitney, in turn, trusts Kristen when Kristen is passing on all of Whitney’s idol clues and research to me. Finally, Kristen trusts me when I’m passing on everything she tells me to Tate. These people all have their own agenda, and none of them seem committed to each other long term. We arrived at Najma as outsiders, but Tate and I are the only people on this tribe with our fingers on the pulse. Brett is the only real enigma to us, and he certainly doesn’t know everything.

Day 15
"zibaq"

- Will told me that Aras is saying that they should vote for me or Romain and I'm like..ok. And THEN Aras comes and says we should vote Romain, and I agree so he'd believe it and..HE actually believed me! Having a good rep of being loyal is helping my case tbh. Hopefully, if everything goes right, I can stay yet again this round!

"zibaq"

- So, we have lost. Again. Daaaaaaamn, it sucks a hell. However, I have the numbers. So I can made whatever I want to send Aras home.

"najma"

- I noticed a distinct lack of cheer among the Najmas after this win. Ha ha ha. I hope Brett had fun trying to throw this one. I can’t wait to see another Najmalite bite the dust. My money is on Malik. Dude has been to the bazaar too many times for comfort.

"zibaq"

- Yessss I think the plan worked. After I buddied up with Aras he tried to make an alliance with Anna and I, then I convinced Anna we needed to vote Aras and I told Malik that Aras was putting him on the bottom.

Now Aras thinks it's Romain going home but it's going to be him as long as Zaks doesn't do something stupid again.

We can't lose another challenge though, if we do I'm going to have to vote out one of the people that I need for the merge.

"zibaq"

- im a fucking MESS

if i pulled off a 3-2-1 cirie vote i will be shOOK but i wont be surprised in the least if its me going tonight lol this was just so stupidly crazy

"najma"

- We have the day off and now I'm just biding my time until we find out if Aras was able to make it through over Malik or if Aras got something cool at the bazaar like a vote steal that could make things super interesting at Zibaq.

In the meantime, this episode was super lame for me and my edgic is likely invisible, so let's take a moment to liven up the extremely slow proceedings by talking about how much I don't like my tribe, Najma.

So Scott and I are living in a mental asylum as the only two sane people. Well actually...Tate's sane, too, but he's original Zibaq and as much as I love Tate, I know I would be foolish to think I could trust him. It would be very naive of me. I really hope circumstances allow for Tate to go far with Scott and me because a lot of these people are just plain annoying and Tate's the closest thing resembling a friend that exists for me here. Scott and I have made plans together for just about everything, but we are in the worst position right now because we are standing atop a very unsteady house of cards ready to collapse at any given moment by crazy people.

Roodman likens himself as some sort of DC Comics villain mastermind. He really likes to wax poetic over how intelligent he is and it's like--you're a teenager. Calm down. You don't have the experience. I don't even have the experience and I'm nearly a decade older than you. Sit down. You don't know anything.

Whitney is sweet, but she is so desperate to put her game panties on because she is overplaying left and right, salivating at the mouth to make big moves and she is coming across as quite the shit starting loose cannon. I can't trust her for anything, but she's at least fun to talk to.

And lastly we have poor Kristen whose personal problems always end up in our tribe because she likes to share and she just comes across as unstable and crazy and above all--useless. Her challenge performances have been completely laughable and should come in handy more often, but we've yet to lose immunity because of her.