Round 01

[Ethan]

I have become very close to Silas, and that allowed us to work together in the first challenge. I won with his help, chose the role of a cop, and I gave him a gem and protection in return. It makes our alliance obvious, but it was the right thing to do. This early in the game, not choosing to keep both of the gems could possibly be my downfall, but I saw just as many potential problems with not saving Silas as I did with saving Silas. He seems like the lovable, social guy who can make it far with almost an assured victory in finals if he makes it there because he's also smart, good at challenges, and very strategic. I need him on my side.

We were going to settle on Rocky for the target because he's a challenge threat, potentially close to Russell, virtually never online, and a huge wild card. I wanted to see Rocky gone to at least put more of the game in my control. However, between late last night and early this morning, Silas decided to switch the target to Stephenie because signs indicated that she was close to Shii Ann. And both of them are threats. I didn't particular like this idea because it would leave Shii Ann in the game, probably with two gems, and looking for revenge. She's the kind of player who can pull something amazing off as well.

And now, Silas has apparently gone about his plans to oust Stephenie poorly. Someone revealed the plans to vote out Stephenie to Stephenie and Shii Ann. Tracy, perhaps? Or maybe everyone? So, now, the retaliation is to take out Brandon. And I am playing the middle ground, like always, with Silas/Brandon leading one side and Shii Ann/Stephenie playing another. I'm gathering information from everyone involved and trying to decide what the best decision to make is.

I have so much more to say, but this basically sums up my thoughts for now.

[Ethan]

This round will be an excellent way to test the actual influence of Silas. He does fine talking to me, but I can adapt to different personalities well. Silas feels like he has the vote swayed in favor of Stephenie going, but has he? Is he overconfident? Is his cockiness turning other people against him and causing them to run to Shii Ann and Stephenie? Or he is a very smart, very influential player? I have no idea. If Stephenie is voted out, then he has succeeded. If Brandon is voted out, then he has failed. And if he fails, then I really need to consider my options for next round.

Supposedly Tracy is the one who Silas talked to who told warned Shii Ann and Stephenie about the target. But besides Shii Ann, Stephenie, and Tracy, I don't know of any definite votes for Brandon. I talked to Brandon, Brett, and Silas and feel very confident about the four of them voting for Stephenie. Silas is my primary partner and the person who wanted to target Stephenie in the first place. I established contact with Brandon and let him know that he was going to be targeted, showing him that I was making an effort to save him. Silas told me that he was talking to Brandon about me and the vote, and then I told Brandon that Silas was going to be voting for Stephenie...and Brandon pretended to act surprised, even though Silas told me that he knew. So Brandon is trying to hide his connection with Silas, which is possibly greater than my connection to either of them. We shall see. Brandon and Silas approached Brett to get him to vote Stephenie, and then Brett approached me, apparently not knowing how I was going to vote. He actually tried to persuade me to vote Stephenie, and I acted like he did persuade me. I told Brandon and Silas about Brett but didn't tell Brett about how I talked to Brandon and Silas.

Anyway, after that horrible/confusing paragraph, that's 4 votes for Stephenie and 3 votes for Tracy right there. Apparently Silas convinced Kelly, Parvati, and Sugar to vote for Stephenie, even though Kelly and Parvati apparently hate Shii Ann and wanted to vote for her. So that makes the vote 7-3. Marcus apparently voted for Stephenie (he told this to me and others) and Ace apparently voted for Brandon but will change his vote if he gets internet access. Assuming he doesn't change his vote, that makes the vote 8-4.

Who is left? Jerri, Rocky, and Russell. Regardless of what they do, the vote should be between 8/11-4/7 with Stephenie going home if everyone sticks to the plan. However, people are already lying and playing both sides. So...we will see. I've lied to Shii Ann this round --- but no one else. Shii Ann's going to get a gem next round if Stephenie goes, which could be problematic, but I'll deal with it.

I have not yet talked to Rocky or Russell, Stephenie or Tracy, or Kelly, Parvati, or Sugar. That's a fairly large chunk of people. I associate them in 3 groups, though, ha. Hopefully Stephenie goes, so then I'll just need to talk to 6 people rather than 7.