Episode Six - Pandora's Boxx

[John]

I got home Friday night just in time to log my vote for Slayer.  At the time, I thought that my plan with T.Q. had failed, and Slayer would get the idol and take Bryan out.  I was sad that we didn't seem to have the support to take out Sassy even though Slayer said he didn't like her, and I was sad that we were probably losing Bryan, but I didn't really think it would be game changing for me.  Kurtis and Jacob were drinking wine on Skype, so I joined them.  Then the results went up and we were all rocked.  Bryan had outbid Slayer and/or Sassy for the idol, and Slayer had gone home.  I was able to deny that I knew anything was up because I honestly had no idea things were going to happen that way.  Jacob knew better though and insisted he was going to ask Sassy what happened with her bidding for the idol.  I gently pushed him to drop it, saying no good would come of it, and I thought that he was going to let it go.

Then, last night while I was taking photos for this immunity challenge, Jacob called me on Skype without warning.  He asked if I had anything to share.  I continued to deny.  He presented me with one line of a conversation between Sassy and Bryan that Sassy had shared with him.  The whole thing seemed a bit sketchy because I guess as soon as she shared it with him, she'd delete it.  The line was Bryan telling Sassy that T.Q. told him that Jacob was up to something funny last round and that I would fill him in later.  This was news to me!  (Sort of.)  I confronted T.Q. and he swears he told me he was going to do that.  I reread my conversation log with him and apparently he did say that "Jacob had a plan," but he left out any mention of the word "sketchy" and he certainly didn't tell me to expect questions from Bryan about what was going on.  Now we're all just suspicious of one another.  Bryan doesn't trust Jacob or me.  He may trust T.Q. for tipping him off.  Sassy doesn't trust Jacob or T.Q. or me.  I don't trust T.Q.  Jacob doesn't trust me and T.Q.  T.Q. really pulled a fast one on us.  When I talked with him about our Sassy plan failing, he seemed to agree that it was not the right time to move and risk it all, but he tipped Bryan off anyway.  I think Bryan is more important to T.Q. than he wanted to admit.  This is what Jacob gets for pushing Sassy for answers.

The best plan now is to win immunity.  With Kurtis having immunity and Zavi having the express pass, we have decent numbers going into merge.  Of course, we don't trust one another now, and Zavi didn't use his express pass because Kurtis didn't tell him the plan.  Oh well.  Bryan must still be jumpy and Jacob's worried that Bryan and Sassy know about his plan, so the two of them are working really hard to win this immunity challenge.  Bryan snatched all the easy ones right away which frustrated me, but as long as we win, maybe I can afford to not look like such a competitor when it comes to challenges.

[John]

I feel pretty good about our progress on the challenge so far, so I do not think I will need to use my coffee & donuts for us. Hopefully I won't regret that.

[John]

I grow more and more weary as it becomes apparent that everyone's connections to one another are stronger than their connections to me. I've never struggled so much to integrate myself in a game. These groups feel so cliquish and I'm honestly just over it. I'm also tired of losing immunity challenges. My inner Puck decided to stir up some drama last night for two reasons: I'm frustrated and bored, and I want some people to start questioning their relationships with others.

When I saw that Kurtis had won his team 29 out of their 34 points in the challenge, I decided to capitalize on that. Kurtis has been talking a lot lately about how close he's getting with certain people on Aguila from Old Arana. I wanted people on New Arana to be aware of that and to eye him with a little suspicion for it. I texted Kurtis after the results went up and pushed a few buttons. Before I knew it, he was leaving our Skype group and messaging members of the alliance about how upset he was with me. I turned on my wounded heart bit, and both Jacob and Sassy began trying to make things better. Bryan, Jacob, and Sassy all discussed how concerning his rash behavior was. Then in a private converation with Jacob I suggested that Kurtis doesn't appreciate all that we've done for him and it's possible he's been making deals with his new tribemates ever since the switch and was lying to us about how much trouble he was in. I'm not sure if I believe anything I'm spewing, and I also have no idea if it will just completely backfire on me, but I'm determined to stir the pot before I leave. I also love that the round after I fail to blindside Sassy and she almost finds out she's stepping in to mother me. If Kurtis does decide to stop acting pissy (seriously, who knew he was going to act so petulantly?) and wants to make up with me, I think we'll keep that between me and him as others probably saw him as the player closest to me. To that end, I wish Jacob would tone it down with all the silly showmance stuff in the alliance chat.

The group sounds decidedly anti-T.Q. at the moment. Even Bryan is on board with voting him out. I think this either means Bryan is lying or he never got the full story about what was happening last round. Either way, the plan is to pool our money and outbid T.Q. to send him packing. I was the first to volunteer not to bid on the idol. I just want the group to see that I'm trusting all of them still. We ended up settling on Sassy. Jacob swears Joe will use the steal on T.Q. to help us out. Two things there - I don't want Sassy to not bid because she hears from Jacob that T.Q. will have his account drained, and if Joe really wants to work with us (scary that I still haven't spoken to almost half the players in the game) he should save that power for when it's needed. Maybe he's using it as a sign of good will. Anyway, we all swear that we gave Sassy our money and logged our votes last night, so hopefully everything goes off smoothly and I've at least made jury.