Post by Dorothy Hui on Aug 10, 2016 20:14:44 GMT
^One fun thing about repping Dorothy is that I can stretch my gif creation muscles. Last round may have ended on a bit of a somber note, but I'm still in a pretty decent mood regarding where I'm at in this game. You know, at least for now.
I think my position on Bruxelles is active enough for people to really get to know me adequately while not quite outwardly visible enough to the Amsterdam and Luxembourg to become an immediate concern for the coming swap. I've liked a few posts here and there on the board, but I haven't been to Exile Island and haven't made any public comments since the pre-game thread - unlike the last game I played where cross-tribal communication was limited, I haven't built myself a reputation to look like a leader on my original tribe, even though I'm almost certain I've made strong connections here that undoubtedly give me some measure of control over what's to come.
The most important capital you can have in this game isn't a prize like a double vote or a hidden immunity idol: it's trust. Those other things are useful tools, but long before they were introduced into the world of Survivor, the best, most useful thing you could be was to be trusted by people enough for them to keep you. As it is, I'm about 99% sure I'm Burnie's top ally, as I am with Julia. Carrie and Steuart, the next most active members of the tribe, have had strong conversations with me - some game, some not - which makes me think they would want to keep me around. As much as I've shaded Ricky, Shelli and Mackenzie in my journal, I've always made active attempts at communicating with them and never once did anything to outwardly upset them (as much as I would have loved to sit them out in the last two challenges, it wouldn't have been a good look to push for their sit-outs in any public capacity).
With a swap coming up in the future (perhaps as soon as next round), I want all my relationships with my tribe to be cordial. If there's one thing I don't want to be in Benelux, it's swap fucked.
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The best example of the trust I've gathered here is my hugely positive relationship with Burnie. I think I go every other day on which ally I like best between Burnie and Julia, but Burnie came back from Exile and IMMEDIATELY shared with me the idol clues he received while he was there. For reference, all the clues for the Bruxelles idol that I know are below:
"I can be either dead or alive,
But in this case,
I must be alive for you to survive
Seven Billion people in the world,
They speak in innumerable tongues
But they all share one thing in common
And without it, they'd be obsolete
Hooked on Phonics worked for me,
It could buy you a day or three
It taught me the letters from A-Z
If only I knew this wasn't all there be"
Burnie first messaged me right we he was released from Exile at a time I was offline, asking for me to hit him up as soon as I got the message. This week at work has been pretty stacked for me (four straight nights of evening meetings plus me preparing a pretty long feature article for this coming Sunday), so I couldn't respond right away, but when I finally got home and he was online at the same time, the first thing he did was send me the idol clues, telling me that I was the only one he trusted completely and that he would defer to me on how we use the clues.
Burnie trusting me enough to show these clues to me and only to me (assuming he is being honest and not also showing them to Julia, which we discussed but ended up discarding for now) is a huge compliment and a massive opportunity...not that I don't trust Julia, but I want to leave the ball in Burnie's court as for telling him so I don't look like the one on top. A swap HAS to be coming soon. There's no better time to find this idol than RIGHT NOW, this round. We need to stay safe for the future, and an idol is a massive boon to keep us around in an emergency situation.
Besides, too many cooks in the idol kitchen spoils the meal. Keeping this on the downlow for now limits the drama that could come if it spreads around further.
That's why I want us to kill this challenge today. I've plateaued on my time for now (I'm hoping I'll have a little bit more time to work on it if I finish what I need to get done at work soon), but I think my current time is decent enough for a positive finish. Another idol clue would be fantastic if it's a different clue from what Burnie received at Exile. Then again, losing wouldn't be so bad either to get rid of some dead weight - Mackenzie hasn't been on AIM in close to a week now, and even Ricky and Shelli have made more effort than that.
