Party Rockin' in da Jury!

[mark]

Oh and I should note, that one conversation with you was the only "confrontation" you and I had. And I feel like how you responded molded my perception of you of how you are when things get real. One instance really shouldn't shape my perception, I realize, but it's all I had to go by.

And I suppose, perception of you was the heart of this discussion in the first place.

I chased a rabbit.

[Dominic]

I'm all for discussion and flesh your grievances all you want! It's just a game and I actually really like this discussion as well! Although we ended up not being able to work together in this game, I just want you to know that I thoroughly enjoyed your company while I had it, but I knew you'd never really ~truly~ trust me again after what I did to Chase, so that was unfortunate yet necessary. Truth is, you had all right to be rude to me after what I did! Conversation I had with Chase were just...interesting though (something I'm sure you'll read about post game) and the stars just weren't aligning for me to work with him in the game. Ugh, I wish we could just go back to those old Proelia days with us idol hunting <3 I also miss Wendy thinking she was running shit. That was phenomenal. My allies weren't really too thrilled about it... and who knows? maybe it was all just a ~mist~ in the game, but regardless, I like you enough as a person to look past it. I can be a douche in games too so it'd be hilariously hypocritical to judge you for that haha!

Kyle = <3

But yeah, back to the move I made. I guess I should explain this to you because you deserve that much. The move I made wasn't against you or AJ, but merely against Chase. I wasn't "choosing Ellen" over you, I just didn't want to work with Chase anymore. The talks he and I had just weren't going ideally. There was always a lot of animosity towards Ellen and it was too negative for my liking (and that says a lot). Just a bunch of stuff that over the line and in poor taste, in my opinion. I was all for working with you guys, but a lot of moves Chase wanted to make just made me feel like he was using me so he could set himself up for smooth sailing come merge. It just seemed like he was using me to help him do his dirty work in the pre-merge stages so he could be secure as hell with everyone later in the game, while I would have to fight a continuous uphill battle (which I ended up doing anyway so *shrugs*). If I continued being Chase's tank, I feel like he would have protected me until he "just couldn't anymore" and then I would've ended up with a much lower placement. It was really just a combination of things that formed my decision to turn on Chase, and in turn, you.

I really think it's grand you adjusted appropriately though. I mean, I wouldn't have even trusted myself after a move like that. It was early enough in the game to where it didn't screw you over too hard and it showed how well-connected you were obviously, because you transitioned very well and found your way from one secure spot to another VERY secure spot. Like you said in an earlier post, you weren't going anywhere any time soon and you'd probably still be in the game, to be honest. Probably in Knox's place but I could be wrong because I'm sure I don't know all the dynamics of that side. Concerning Gloria, a lot of the information she told you was probably true, but a lot of it was probably INSANELY over-dramatic and over-the-top versions of the actual wording we used. But like I said, I'm glad you adjusted appropriately.

I'm all for discussion so if you'd like to continue, you can reply to this or message me on AIM. I'll be kinda busy today packing and such, but I'll reply to it when I can. Nice speaking with you again Mark! Always a pleasure <3

[mark]

Jul 26, 2013 12:06:43 GMT -5 Dominic said:

Wendy thinking she was running shit. That was phenomenal.

Choice! This made my day every day in the early game!

My favorite Wendy quote, when I [untruthfully] told her someone was out to get her

Wendy: They must not remember the evil I do. *flips hair*

Sigh. Swoon. *fans self*

If this wasn't my official, honest-to-God, last game, I'd so want to play with you again, Dominic.

OMG, I actually feel like a human being in this jury. Is this real life?

[ellen]

Mark. <3

Regarding Gloria, I still to this day have no idea what happened with her...

However, there was no long in place alliance three months in advance of this game, I can tell you that... I was friends with Gloria and Luca leading up to All-Stars, yes, but that was because I liked them both as people, not out of some machiavellian attempt to start playing/controlling the game early.

In fact, I never had an alliance with either of them until after the game actually began and Luca and I wound up on the same tribe, at which point I felt like I had no choice but to work with him, whether I had initially wanted to or not. There were Skype calls between Gloria, Luca and myself long in advance of the game, that's not a lie, but the game itself rarely came up, and if it did, the conversation was casual and hardly noteworthy or strategic.

I was shocked that Luca was even on my tribe because I knew Morgan was making it a point to split the three of us up, as well as other known relationships such as AJ and Cassie, Ben and Colleen, Chase and you, Dominic and me (because Dom hated me after Season 3 mind you, not because we were automatically going to align) and Thiago and both of us. Some of those relationships ended up together anyway, which I chalk it up to a last minute changing around of the tribes I guess... but yeah.

If anything, at the beginning of the game, I felt out of the loop with my eventual alliance, because as you probably know, all of them except for Selena and I were/are in another All-Stars game together.

I came into the game wanting to work with people like Chase (LOL I know right?) and Quincy and Thiago.

In fact, the only serious game talk that I ever heard about prior to the start of all this began back in April regarding AJ and her apparently spreading rumors about me to try and turn people against me for the eventual game. Ben, Dominic and Luca all came to me individually across several months and told me virtually identical stories about AJ confiding in them about something Cassie had told her. Apparently I was out to get her and was furious about something she'd done and I was playing the game hardcore already to get her out in All-Stars. None of that was true, whether or not she believed that it was I don't know. Things got completely twisted from a conversation I had with Cassie about AJ and it probably would have been better at the time for AJ and I to talk to one another about it, but such is life I guess.

I have no problem being targeted in these games and I think that given my reputation as the series "darling" as you say ( ) that it was always bound to happen... I don't however appreciate the way that AJ went about it, telling people like Selena that they shouldn't have me so high on their boot list because of how dangerous/heartless I was in Season 3 or telling Michael that I was only being nice to him because of the game... stuff like that... and then to accuse me of being the one playing early, that was incredibly frustrating.

Learning about Chase's apparent hatred for me just added more fuel to the fire I guess. That was a complete shock to me because I was quite fond of Chase up until that point when I saw his little artwork and heard some of the things he was saying.

As Dominic told you, a big reason that he turned on Chase was because of the nasty things that Chase was saying about me that reached beyond anything game related. It was probably part of the reason that Dom and I became so tight again in this game; Dom really stuck his neck out for me at that point, because he thought something not right was happening, and that meant so much to me, I was never going to turn on him. I felt indebted.

So yeah, I think that I had every right to feel hurt and attacked by what was going on. I think that the way AJ and Chase made me out to be some demon was pretty over-the-top, mean and irrational. I do understand why they were afraid of me though, especially AJ I guess, although I think that at the root of it all, she was really just threatened by my relationships with people who she wanted all to herself. I hate that it had to be a competition.

But back to Gloria, she definitely twisted a lot of things that helped fuel the so called war, including telling AJ that I hated her, which is ironic because Gloria is the one who spoke probably the most disparagingly about her, including making bigoted comments about AJ's race... which makes me recall and be even more perturbed about her telling Knox that we were all racist against hispanics... but I digress, it is what it is.

[ben]

YOU GUYSSSSS.

[mark]

All this tomfoolery! (Ellen <3)

It's when tensions actually subside and you can actually talk about the game!

I heard bits and pieces of the pre-game he said, she said, and none of it really made sense to me, especially when neither AJ nor Chase spoke anything, and I mean ANYTHING negatively toward you to me. Maybe they didn't fully know where I stood, which was correctly neutral in the matter, but that's where it was in my perspective. It just looked like people were threatened by people and people were mad they were targeted and all that jazz.

Ellen, you pretty much are the GvsE darling, and that is not an insult. I've said a million times you have the highest profile of this series, and I could see that during the last game before I knew who you really were or anything about the series for that matter. Whether it's because of your showing in the Plagues, or because of your relationship with Justin, or the connections you've made along the way, it is very respectable. For what I speculated about you feeling entitled, I apologize. It's just what the whole thing appeared to me.

But it's nice to hear the clear sides to the stories without all the in-game second guessing.

And I think what Gloria left us with was part truth and part clawing her way out of the game. For what it's worth, she definitely left her mark on the way out the door. Props, I guess?

[ellen]

She definitely did! She left ripples through the game long after she was gone.

I'm sorry if you felt lumped in with people in regards to the side drama. I think for me it was a better safe than sorry sort of thing. Chase told Dom after the first swap that AJ was upset about nuLegatu because her only sure numbers were you and Henry. You know what they say about assuming... I wish we could have been closer because you're an incredible player but I completely understand you going the direction you did!

It was like with Wendy, she was telling me the other day how she felt duped by AJ, Henry and Thiago but that at the time she didn't feel like she could work with me because she'd have been the seventh in a seemingly impenetrable six. No hard feelings at all you played a great game. <3

[zac]

I love the learning and growing that's happening in here. Hey guys, I'm Zac. haha.

[ellen]

Zac!

[ellen]

I take it that was a blindside! Knox could definitely be joining us next and I will happily cast my vote for AJ if he does.

[Dominic]

I hate to say it, but I'm glad Henry is joining us here. He would've won in a landslide vote and that would've made for such a boring finale. Definitely impressed with the move they made and way to fucking go!

[Dominic]

The fact Knox didn't vote for Henry (the obvious favorite) shows that he's not really playing to win. What a shame.

EDIT: Apparently he couldn't vote for Henry because they're meeting again in a few weeks and he didn't want it to be awkward. Cute, but doesn't change my opinion of the situation. Play to win, not to save face with people. I don't really care if people wanna meet and be friends, because its really not that big of a deal. But I have to judge him and possibly hand him the win based on what he does in this game, and this honestly knocks him down a few places in my eyes.

[LuCat]

Henry was the only one I wanted to vote for Sorry to see you here man.

[ellen]

Henry totally would have had my vote!

[Dominic]

Mine too, 100%.