Alliances, and rankings

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

Hmm... I think I'm in a pretty good position. Almost everyone on the Villains tribe wants me! ... And I'm pretty sure they'd like alliances, too. xD

On a serious note, though, Really, the majority of my tribe mates have approached me, either to find a connection or make one stronger. However, for reasons I'll explain shortly, this puts me in an interesting... And kinda tough... Situation. But first, I've made a handy chart to help me out with this! I hope to keep it updated, to help me sort things out as well as to give my thoughts on my eleven tribemates(Myself obviously not included). So, here goes...

Game Start:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Mary	1st	N/A	Yes
Yau-Man	2nd	N/A	Yes
Joe	3rd	N/A	Yes
Sierra	4th	N/A	Not Yet, Very Likely
Teresa	5th	N/A	Yes, tentatively
Erik	6th	N/A	Not yet, Likely
Matthew	7th	N/A	Maybe
Jenna M.	8th	N/A	Maybe, by association
Jenna L.	9th	N/A	No
Lex	10th	N/A	No
JP	11th	N/A	No

So, that said, on to the good stuff. Yau-Man, as the little dictator we all know and love, has pulled together a nice little bundle of people. She has unknown agents among the heroes, as well as Sierra, Jenna M., Erik, and Matthew among the villains. How do I know this, you ask? Because she wants me as her 6th Villain.

Now, this set up with the fact that half the remaining 6 want me as an ally sets me up pretty well, but I have to choose veeeeery carefully, here. Yau will have a lot of allies, and a lot of power... She's promised me that we'd go all the way to the end together, but frankly, she started trying to recruit me with the line 'Sierra really wants you in it', and, uh... Had the first " of a quote in front of her sales pitch, of how we'd go to the end together.

I give her enough credit not to think she'd be dumb enough to give me a quoted speech that she gave to others, WITH THE QUOTES, but I'm still a little wary-- especially since Jenna M. is such a wild card, and Matthew and Erik are more 'potential allies' than real ones, as of yet. Of course... If I DON'T go with them, my only options are the 3 outsider allies I have, and a need for at LEAST two of the 3 outsiders I don't care about to join up with me, to combat Yau's 5.

Not to say I don't trust Yau. I KNOW we can get far together... But I wonder how far, and whether or not I can actually trust her long term with so MANY possible options available to her. However... I don't care about Jenna L, and both of the boys I've not spoken to are... Boring. And rarely around, if at all. xP I think I'm gonna see how the challenge goes before I decide, but for now I think I'd take Yau's offer, and just try to look out for my 'outsider allies' as best as possible. If things go South... Well, I know Yau's plan, and her connections; and I doubt it'd be too hard to convince people to, ahem...

'Come with me if you want to live'.

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

So, disappointing results of the 1st challenge. Some people surprised me, while some people... Really, really pissed me off. Rankings this round are compounded; strength ranking being placement(Minus myself), and Overall being strength factored in with how I feel about them, personally.

Post Challenge 1:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Mary	1st	2nd	Yes
Joe	2nd	3rd	Yes
Sierra	3rd	4th	Not Yet, Very Likely
Teresa	4th	5th	Yes, tentatively
Matthew	5th	7th	Maybe
Lex	6th	1st	No
Jenna M.	7th	6th	Maybe, by association
JP	8th	8th	No
Yau-Man	9th	10th	Yes
Jenna L.	10th	9th	No
Erik	11th	11th	Not presently

... Erik is on my Shit list. Yau-Man, too, to a lesser extent... But Erik just gave up, and I guess prayed to some higher power a hero would be as stupid as him, and forfeit as well. Yau-Man had an excuse, and while she showed up recovered conveniently enough to miss the challenge by only like 20 minutes, and apparently did challenges for other games while she was home the first time... I'm sure if she'd started, at least she would have finished. No clue how this will all turn out, but Miss Stephenie is not pleased that the top 4 Villains could have beaten the BEST hero's time, and that the tribe overall would have won without the dead weight...

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

Strength obviously stays the same, since we had no new challenge, but I'm doing a ranking update overall, because I've talked to some of my other tribe mates, and updated relationships with a few.

Post Tribal Council 1:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Mary	1st	2nd	Yes
Sierra	2nd	4th	Yes
Joe	3rd	3rd	Yes
Teresa	4th	5th	Yes
Jenna L.	5th	9th	No
JP	6th	8th	No
Lex	8th	1st	No
Matthew	7th	7th	No
Jenna M.	9th	6th	Maybe, by association
Erik	10th	10th	No

So, as you can guess, Yau-man left last round. I'm not too beat up about it; it was best for her health, and based on challenge preformance, best for the tribe, as well. I know she CAN be stronger than that... but I want her to get better, first and foremost. Now, on to our tribe's new dynamics...

First of all, I solidifed the alliance with Teresa. ... Whom forgot she's even asked me for one. Pffft. Hence why she's a little further down than my other allies... A group to which Sierra is the newest addition, I might add! I finally asked outright, the night before Yau left. Also notable is Jenna Lewis-- I took the initiative to go talk to her, myself. She seems really nice, and we got along well, talking for a while, so I bumped her up a few notches. She seems trustworthy, and has probably shared a little more with me than she should have(Like, Teresa helping/supporting her, all throughout the 1st challenge), but uh... I don't mind. xD

And of course, with some rising comes a few slips-- Matthew's fallen because I've only spoken to him once thus far. As for Jenna M... I've not spoken to her at all, since premier night. This is a bit disconcerting... And, Erik. If it were possible for him to faller, he would have. His initial scramble to save himself was to try and throw ME under the bus... But almost all my allies came back to me about it, and eventually he changed his plan because he realized too few people would go for me(love iiiit <3). So now, he's after Jenna M. I do not mind this at all... Especially since he's given very subtle hints that she may have pushed him to go after me in the first place.

But, enough of speculation. Interesting developments-- we'll see where it goes from here!

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

The challenge isn't 'officially' over yet, but the Villains finished first. ... We just have to wait for the heroes to do whatever they want for T-minus 2 hours. -.- Of course, Kelly didn't get in... But her team's had time to search for pieces the entire time. I'm expecting them to win as a result, which seriously pisses me off, since she wasn't 'waiting' the whole time she's getting credit for, or even online for part of it... But I digress. Based on the last challenge, I was the MVP, so yay... But let's review the rest.

Post Challenge 2:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Sierra	1st	3rd	Yes
Mary	2nd	7th	Yes
Joe	3rd	5th	Yes
Teresa	4th	8th	Yes
Jenna L.	5th	1st	No
Lex	6th	4th	No
Jenna M.	7th	2nd	Maybe, by association
Matthew	8th	6th	No
JP	9th	9th	No

JP takes a major dive, seeing as, well, if we lose... it's entirely his fault. Meanwhile, Matthew and Jenna M swap places-- I'm finding her more agreeable, and a bit more relatable. Still haven't talked much, least of all alliance-wise, but Matthew's presence is just fading, to me... I don't have much to say for him.

Jenna L, meanwhile, has stepped up in my eyes. Still no alliance, and I'm like... 90% sure she's in good with Teresa, but still. She worked hard in the last challenge, and was the only person besides me to help Teresa do the challenge when she was stumbling-on-her-a$$ drunk. I really appreciated that, and it shows that, at the very least, when the going gets tough she won't just sit down and complain-- she'll keep trying.

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

Okay! Time for another ranking update! JP left, which I was happy for... And now, we get to make one more cut. I'm starting to notice that I seem to have a lot of influence on this tribe... But I need to be careful. More exposition after the break!

Post Tribal Council 2:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Mary	1st	7th	Yes
Sierra	2nd	3rd	Yes
Joe	3rd	5th	Yes
Lex	4th	4th	Yes
Jenna L.	5th	1st	No
Teresa	6th	8th	Yes
Jenna M.	7th	2nd	Maybe, by association
Matthew	8th	6th	No

Okay then... a few changes, already. First of all, I have a new alliance with Lex-- one with him, Joe, and Mary; which works just fine, since I was already alligned with 2/3 of them anyways.

Now, I've been earning a bunch of trust points, I think. Both Matthew and Teresa(Opposing alliances, yay!) have told me how supportive I am, and how they both trust in me. ... I think I'm starting to reprise my villainous role again, since Teresa even commented to me about how, 'if I'm just BSing her, she'd congratulate me on a job well done', essentially. ... I don't know why you'd SAY that unless you half-expected it, but still.

I am currently in the middle, along with Joe and Mary, of two waring factions-- Team Tara(Jenna M, Sierra, and Matthew) VS Team Dustin(Teresa, Jenna L, and Lex). Currently... I am playing on the fact that both groups are disdainful of one another. Aside from keeping in my own allies, I'm whittling at both of their alliances by logically picking off people as they need to go... But also making sure one side is never strong enough to dominate the other, without me and my allies' help. This is giving Mary, Joe, and I a steadily better and better position in the tribe, and I love it.

Now, as for the next vote... Teresa wanted Sierra at first. She was relatively indifferent however... So I convinced her, Joe, Lex, and Jenna L that we had to target Matthew, instead. Of course, I want to protect Sierra, so I have my own reasons... Though I sold it as for the best of us 'on the outside'.

Oh, and one final note for the round... Teresa apparently went to try and throw votes off of herself, by telling Matthew and others that he needs to target 'threats'. ... After telling him that -I- called him 'weak'. Shaaaaaaaady b*tch. for this reason, the at least reasonably trustworthy Jenna L. moves up in T's place... And T is on my hot seat, should we lose again, and nothing change.

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

Okay so... Things are getting interesting, and a little ridiculous as of the last Tribal Council's end. However, the newest, most shocking development?... The Villains are NOT going to Tribal Council, for the first time in the game! It was kind of an uphill battle-- Lex was actually the only one of us 3 volunteers to initially step up, and the only fully confident one in his odds of winning. ... A bit ironic that he was the only one to lose his tie-breaker bout, but I can't complain; they were hard fought, and even if I really, REALLY wanted to put the heroes in their place... They gave us a run for our money. Now, on to the rankings...

Post Challenge 3:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Mary	1st	1st	Yes
Lex	2nd	2nd	Yes
Sierra	3rd	4th	Yes
Joe	4th	7th	Yes
Teresa	5th	6th	Yes
Jenna L.	6th	3rd	No
Jenna M.	7th	5th	Sort of?

Wow, the chart looks a lot smaller now. But, yeah, if you couldn't work it out, Matthew went home last Tribal Council. I was VERY happy for this; I got exactly what I wanted at Tribal Council again, broke up a tough pair, and found out a bit more about tribal dynamics. Jenna M, for example, is wily, and will do whatever she has to in order to survive. Word has it she was going to get Jenna L to hand over HER idol-that-she-almost-got... But of course, someone helped Jenna M get an idol of her own. Lovely. Just another reason to be glad for no Tribal Council, aside from evening the numbers a bit. Down by one is FAR preferable to down by 3, much less 5.

Now, as I said, around camp it's been alluded to that Jenna L, who Teresa's been using in her alliance since the start is really a mole for Jenna M-- something I'd hypothesised to Teresa about a week ago, but got reassured Jenna was loyal, and I just paranoid. ... And now Teresa's the one flipping a sh*t, wanting Jenna L out before Jenna M, even. ... Quick, grab the binoculars. It's a mile away, and I think I can see it coming! Really though, if Jenna L leaves, that's great for me; eliminates the only player left I have no sort of connection to, and keeps Tara/Dustin both around and at each others' throats. Sierra is still outside Dustin's(my) alliance, but I worked it out with Dustin that Jenna L makes sense as a first boot, followed by Jenna M, and then Sierra; to take them by surprise and flush out idols, as well as keep the one who'd be most loyal to us(me) around longest. Very nice!

In unrelated news, Lex makes some interesting moves... Boy wants to get idols passed out, ASAP, so he's working on Karma rewards for all his allies, with me as his first prospect. I swear, I must have like 10 to 15 smites from him alone, today. Now, don't get me wrong-- I love the prospect of an idol, and someone who wants to help me get it, no strings attached. However, I'd wanted to wait til later... nearer merge, maybe, so there'd be less chance of drama arising over who had it and who didn't, etc. Either way though, it seems like he's really trying to engraciate himself to me, which is something kind of new, and kind of nice.

And lastly... I'm sure it's gonna come back to bite me in the a$$, or make me some kind of crazy big target, but it's soooo cute how everyone in the tribe wanted a warning after I got one. xD I felt a lot of support and love; and even after Bo told them they DIDN'T want strikes, they still suggested some kind of team spirit thing where we all put a little 'warning' to the heroes of our own on our profiles. May not come to anything, but the levels of 'Awwwww' were just overwhelming. <3 I know I'm a villain, but making up in the tie breaker for my first loss in the challenge, and feeling all the love backing me up... Tonight, I feel like a hero.

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

Phew. Been a while since I hit an update milestone; or at least it feels like it, what with finally have a few Tribal Council free days. Not a whole lot has changed alliance-wise(Oh, what a shocker. No tribal Council, no crazy shenanigans), though My rankings fluctuated slightly with this last challenge... And two strength rankings may throw you for a bit of a loop, until I explain it.

Post Challenge 4:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Mary	1st	1st	Yes
Sierra	2rd	4th	Yes
Joe	3th	5th	Yes
Teresa	4th	6th	Yes
Lex	5th	7th	Yes
Jenna L.	6th	3rd	No
Jenna M.	7th	2nd	Sort of?

Okay! So, most of this may seem pretty straightforward, but you may notice Lex and Teresa, and Jenna M. And Mary swapped in how their actual scores came up. The two of these are for seperate reasons. Firstly, Between Lex and Teresa, Teresa DID fail for having put her Avatar in correctly, yes... However... Lex didn't even START the challenge until the last 12 minutes, despite being on for hours, and being badgered for nearly hours to do it. Being a lazy a$$, or putting up a b*tch fit because the challenge made him upset over timing... Get over it! I mean, seriously, especially when one match makes the difference between one, or NO people going home... I don't have the time, or the patience to put up with any bull sh*t. Hence, for having to be DRAGGED, by multiple people, into even attempting a challenge he had an almost guaranteed win at... And doing only about 17 minutes of work on top of it... Lex scrapes the bottom of the barrel this week.

As for Mary VS Jenna M, It's more a matter of principle. Both girls worked hard, the hardest of anybody on our tribe! ... But Jenna M. worked hard in a match she already knew she had won, and solely so she could win individual immunity if the Villains lost. Not to knock her for it; it's a smart move, especially since, odds are, she'd have needed it. But Mary takes top honors this week, for having worked hard knowing she was against a hard opponent in John... Knowing she was SICK... And knowing that she wouldn't get immunity, even if we tied, based on how little time there was left for her to post. She worked hard for all of us, so for this week, she's a savior once again.

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

This challenge... Well, it kind of blew Chunks. For the most part it was a wipe, since we couldn't control how much we had to put into it, so the 'strength rankings' for this round are pretty shot...

Post Challenge 5:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Mary	1st	N/A	Yes
Joe	2nd	N/A	Yes
Sierra	3rd	N/A	Yes
Lex	4th	N/A	Yes
Jenna L.	5th	N/A	No
Jenna M.	6th	N/A	No
Teresa	7th	N/A	Sure as hell not anymore

Once again, we were very close to the win, but lost due to rotten Luck-- Mary and Jenna L both played a small roll in the failure, with Mary compiling our 'dig chart' using a spot that hadn't actually been dug in, and Jenna digging in a spot where a flag was... but changing where she dug, when she had to re-do it, which led Mary to think it had been dug in the first place. Not fun.

So now, two people have to go for a challenge that almost all of us(Baring T, who sat out) worked our a$$es off for from the very start. What's annoying is that I trusted T fairly well, but since she found out she's on the chopping block(Since Lex told her, the person who least needed to know, as his damn big-mouth tends to do), she's now after me and tried to throw me under the bus to save herself; AND told Sierra me and my allies want her out next. ... Way to go, Lex, you f*cking moron.

I think I can STILL work around that, since most people agree that T is a compulsive liar and a crazy b*tch, but who knows. Only time will tell if I receive one... Or many more votes at Tribal Council tonight.

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

Strength rankings obviously still null and void, but let's see how the others stack up in general, shall we?

Post Tribal Council 5:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Mary	1st	N/A	Yes
Joe	2nd	N/A	Yes
Lex	3rd	N/A	Yes
Sierra	4th	N/A	Yes
Jenna M.	5th	N/A	No
Jenna L.	6th	N/A	No

Not a whole lot has changed, here. Lex has nudged Sierra out of the #3 spot overall, and the two Jennas have swapped places... For very related reasons, actually.

You see, Jenna L is scheming against me and my allies. We assumed she would be a hapless follower, going wherever majority went... But, this is clearly not the case. Truth be told, I've wanted one less Jenna on this tribe for ages... However, the other Jenna is undeniably strong, which was her saving grace over Teresa. The two fo them being alligned, as well as Sierra is dangerous... But, unless one of my allies is messing with me, we need to get one of Jenna M's girls out tonight, and have the votes to do so.

Now, Lex stepped up in the rankings because he came to me, and told me in confidence that Jenna L was trying to get him to flip on us. I'm feeling I can trust in his a little bit more for this; that he sees something wrong, and he tells us. He even showed me his vote going into TC tonight... and while I COULD see this as a ploy to get me to lower my guard, I don't think it is. Who knows, though... All I can say for sure is that Jenna's sudden decision to become a strategic player couldn't have come at a better time, to keep Sierra safe, over her.

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

So! The Villains pulled off another win, after a near mishap that thankfully wasn't, due to some dumb (good) luck! My ranking list has had a few fluctuations since the last Tribal Council, but I'll cover that after the break...

Post Challenge 6:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Mary	1st	1st	Yes
Lex	2nd	4th	Yes
Joe	3rd	3rd	Yes
Jenna M.	4th	2nd	No
Sierra	5th	5th	Strained

It may not seem it, with Mary still Ms.#1 in my eyes, but the rankings have gone through a major spin. To go from the start... Sierra acted like an ungrateful b*tch after the last Tribal Council. I went to tell her that the vote had sided against Jenna M-- even though their alliance had tried to turn Lex against us, the three of them still wanted Lex out... Up until I told Sierra that it wasn't as set with Lex as we thought.

I built it up around the fact that Jenna L was seen as weaker, and that people couldn't trust her-- which, frankly, is true. b*tch is trying to throw me under the bus when I hardly talk to her, and has been pretty hot-and-cold in the last challenges. Now, what I DIDN'T tell Sierra is that the next 'weakest' considered was her-- if Lex hadn't told me about Jenna L's scheming, and I hadn't pushed Mary and Joe to change our target as a result? Sierra's a$$ would be grass right now.

So, how does Sierra respond to me being the ONLY person upfront enough to tell her how the vote is really going down?... Sierra tells Jenna M about the plan, and gets the WHOLE decision to keep Lex(You know, the one that my alliance, Joe, Mary, and Lex himself obviously made together) blamed on ME. So, I take up the roll of vote sponge, and get to soak up another 3 votes tossed my way. One from Jenna L, who I expected it from. One from Jenna M, who I hadn't told the truth and could understand it from. And one from Sierra... Who pretended she had my back, and tried to f*ck me over for being honest.

In the following hour that Jenna M and Sierra both spent ranting at me, long story short, Sierra explained her decision as not being able to trust me anymore, since 'clearly' I don't care about our alliance if I only let her know the plan an hour and a half before votes were due. ... I'm sorry, did you want me to tell you the night before, before talking to ANY of my allies but Lex, that Jenna L would be taking the heat that was on you? My mistake for waiting until I actually HAD a plan before telling you it. As for Jenna M, she babbled for a bit before eventually coming to the agreement that we're even (Uh huh, yeah, sure you're not planning to knife me in my sleep), and though I don't really get it, we smiled and nodded over what nasty b*tches we are for both having tried to play each other, and how we may as well put it past us for now for the good of the team.

Long story short, even shorter, Jenna and Sierra are both okay, for now. I don't THINK they'd switch at merge, and Sierra and I are going to... Try... And mend our alliance over the time in between... But right now, she's on my sh*t list.

Now, one last note on the last vote. After hearing I'd talked to Sierra to try and test her loyalty(ie, if she did or DIDN'T sell my a$$ out in a heartbeat), Joe threw a hissy fit on me. He went on about how, 'Well maybe I got picked as a villain because I could keep my mouth shut, but I don't know about the rest of you'; 'you' referring to me telling Sierra, and Mary telling Lex about the voting plan he spilled to T. Pardone MOI? If we're annoying him soooo much with our incompetence at, y'know, keeping people that are supposed to be allies informed, you'd think at the very least he'd have the common sense not to lecture me like a child about it. I know he's trying to play both sides(That vote at TC; 'I hope this is with majority!'); but the cardinal rule of that strategy? Don't piss off the people you're trying to play. He's not out of good standing with me yet, especially since I DO need him... But I have had about as much as I can take from just one sitting of his BS.

Now, finally... On to the challenge's revelations. Sierra is ranked last because, well, she opted to sit out. Joe sat out as well, but also encouraged all of us, and joined in on the standard 'challenge-chat', despite not having to. This ranks him higher than Sierra, and... Lex. Who, while he did his work well... ALMOST screwed us all over. Had he and Mary not accidentally tilted an extra two times more than necessary, his attempt to pull some cute sh*t at the end with *Exiting the maze* or whatever(instead of the VERY simple 'Tilts Down' he'd been doing the entire time), COULD have cost us the win... And another two people, to drop us to 4. I do need his vote, and consider him an ally... But when slip ups like that are what's cost us MOST of our wins up until this point, I can't say for certain I'd have been able to keep him through another vote, had he really cost us.

As for Jenna M... Ranked one higher than usual overall, due to Sierra's betrayal, and second in the challenge. Mary snags first because I'm pretty sure she did more Right tilts than Jenna M had to do Up tilts, but both of them put in the effort and really rocked it tonight. ... Here's hoping we can keep this up for the next one.

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

Hm. Rankings are kinda screwed again, since uh... I'm the only one that actually did any posting this round... But There were some side factors to it, I guess.

Post Challenge 7:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Mary	1st	4th	Yes
Lex	2nd	5th	Yes
Joe	3rd	2nd	Yes
Sierra	4th	3rd	No
Jenna M.	5th	1st	No

If I could rank Sierra and Jenna M BOTH in 5th, I would, but it sort of defies the point of the whole ranking system. Going on that, if you couldn't tell, Sierra and I did NOT repair our alliance-- we palled around a bit, and if by some odd twist of fate she DOES make jury I'd be happy for her... But the word ally never even came up after the round she tried to screw me over, so I'm not primed to even shed a tear, should she be sent packing soon.

However, not TOO soon-- like I said, if there's some bizarre twist of fate where the second of the two people eliminated this round gets jury, I'm holding out that I can keep Sierra in long enough for it to be her-- I do feel our connection warrants that much, as opposed to Jenna, who I genuinely don't owe jack.

In terms of challenge strength... It's all piss poor to base it on. I'm not sure it I'd be number 1 or number 6, if I were ranked... Number 1 because I was responsible for all that was DONE, or number 6 because I was RESPONSIBLE for all that was done.

Either way, wherever I rank, Jenna M is right behind me-- she didn't physically do anything, but tried her best to prime me for the challenge by(admittedly, at my prodding) going back into the VS 7 boards and giving me the instructions. Through her, I actually knew what all the blocks for the heroes and villains looked like before it even started... But, because she didn't actually do the challenge THEN either, she didn't know how to move them, or about the spacing... So, I was in the dark, too. Joe is right behind her because he made a valiant effort, despite being on vacation and not having access to the VS 7 boards-- essentially, all from memory.

In 3rd for the challenge is Sierra, for having been there, and not screwed us up-- she didn't really do anything bad, but she didn't really do anything at ALL, either. Mary comes in 4th simply because she sat out, and obviously didn't show up. Aaaand Lex rounds us out as #5 for the challenge because Mr.Needy sent me about 20 IMs, asking me if the challenge was done, if he could help, why am I not replying, etc. Hmmm, I dunno, could it be because I'm the only one DOING the challenge, and every second I stop to talk to YOUR inobservent a$$ is another second the Heroes get ahead? I swear, I know who he is in past seasons, so I'm honestly surprised to say the guy has the common sense of a tree stump, at times.

Overall ranking are the same, for the most part-- people I trust on top, people that tried to backstab me on the bottom. Bleh. At least, hopefully, with Jenna gone it may be easier to swing Kelly... If she's even receptive to swinging, at all.

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

Eep! Sorry this is late, but it's pretty self explanatory, as is.

Post Tribal Council 7:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Mary	1st	4th	Yes
Lex	2nd	5th	Yes
Joe	3rd	2nd	Yes
Sierra	4th	3rd	No

Joe still near the bottom of the heap, for his wavering loyalty to Jenna M... I wanted to give Sierra the benefit of the doubt, but as she explained to me, her loyalty was to who came to her first. Joe may be shifty, but he never voted against me, even if he didn't always side WITH me... So, my loyalty to Sierra was ended, just like that. I kept my loyalty to the people who had been loyal to me, as well... And that's that.

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

Woooo hoo. Merging 5-4... My fondest nightmare come true. <3 But, my tribe has now more than doubled in size, so it's time for this list to expand some!

Merge:

Name	Overall ranking	Strength Ranking	Alliance?
Mary	1st	N/A	Yes
Lex	2nd	N/A	Yes
Joe	3rd	N/A	Yes
Kelly	4th	N/A	Working on it!
Kel	5th	N/A	No
John	6th	N/A	No
Chicken	7rd	N/A	No
Elisabeth	8th	N/A	No

Now... It's not much of a secret that Kelly was the odd Hero out on her tribe. There's a possibility that she's actually really tightly part fo the group, and has just been playing a b*tchy, manipulative roll this whole time... But she's always been honest before, and has no reason to lie while in the majority.

Now, knowing this... My four has lobbied her LIKE MAD to get her to flip to the Villains. We've promised her the moon(Seriously. Me and Mary promised, together, in the same chat, that we would take Kelly to the final 3, give her a hidden immunity idol at final 5 to ensure her safety, and lastly, no matter who wins the final immunity challenge? Take her with us to the finale. ... If Kelly goes for it, Mary says she doesn't REALLY want to follow through on that last thing. ... I don't either, honestly, but Kelly is still non-committal to us, so we've gotta give her our best offers.

... Or well, that's Mary's philosophy. Mary appeals to her on a game level, while I try to work on an emotional/loyalty level. See, Kelly has told us multiple times that she recognizes that we would likely be better for her game in the long run... But she doesn't want to betray the Heroes. ... The same heroes who lied to her and left her in the dark on votes previously. ... The same Heroes who, 20-internet-bucks says, have NO plans of letting her a$$ anywhere near the finale. But, still... She's loyal. To an aggravating fault. But still, we are trying, and she's... Making sad faces, and seems to be considering it. No clue. ... But still.

As for my other new tribe mates, 'strength rankings' will come after this round's challenge. But overall... Let's see.

Kel is really nice and talkative, but adamantly says from the start that he will not flip-- the only one to actually talk to me since merger.

John... Well, I don't have much against him. Generally civil and polite, but hasn't spoken to me yet this season.

Chicken... I don't like much to start with. Has been a bit uppity in the past; admittedly at times provoked by Villains, but hey, John, Kel, and Kelly stayed out of it, so I don't see why he didn't.

Aaaaand Elisabeth... See, I generally love Elisabeth to death. But this season... I can't stand her. Her pre-merge attitude just completely puts me off, and like the other three, not having talked with her isn't doing anything to counteract it. I mean... Elisabeth went out of her way pre-merge to trash the Villains, from posts in which she jokingly murdered us all as 'GoGo' (Still no idea where that 'Kill Bill' nod even came from), to making her signature... Not HER tribe's buff, but OUR tribe's buff, with the eliminated players faces brushed over, and cheery little font telling us to keep biting the dust. Har-dee-har-har, you can quote a song, and reference it to people leaving. You are soooooo funny, I could just vomit. e_e Yes, the Villains tended to be whiney, often conceited pricks. But Elisabeth didn't just go from 'Hero' to down and dirty right with them. She defaced our buff-- the representation of our team and all the people that left so we could be here now. And I. Don't. Like it.

[Hosty Bo]

If I may ask...of those who haven't spoken to you...how many have you contacted?

[Stephenie LaGrossa]

I haven't contacted them(Save Ed, who I spoke to in very brief passing, twice early on, I think), which is why I'd expect myself to be equally low ranked on their lists. Lack of communication doesn't play that big of a part in their ranking though, honestly, because A)it's still early in the merge; B)as the saying goes, communication is a two way street; C)the three allies I've had since the start take priority the recent weeks introductions, for the most part; D)Kelly takes Priority over Kel because I've known her longer and think I have a shot at working with her; and E)I technically already know all three of the ones that haven't spoken to me since merge started. Each of the bottom three actually have over-riding reasons for their rankings, so when I think about it... The only one that having talked to me this week -vs- not having talked to me has really effected, ranking-wise, was Kel, since I didn't know him at all.

If you're asking in relation to the part about being put off by Elisabeth(Which I'm guessing you are, since, reading it again, it sounds like I put extra emphasis by there), I meant it more as a side thought-- like, his pre-merger attitude has put me off, and not having spoken to him hasn't changed my mind about it any. ... I might go back and re-word that actually. xD