Round 5: A house divided can't stand

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It's an age old adage, but it rings true in this game, not only for the game in its entirety, but for the House of Ellen in particular. And I'll get to that in a second.

Mark 17:6
Ye cannot serve two masters. But you can if you know how to do it.

And frankly, most people in this game, don't know how to do it. According to Dominic, Quincy was voted out last night because he was double-dealing, and I can only hang my head back and laugh. I mean, it's the same reasoning I used to cut Dion last season. But what I really wanted was for Knox to be more isolated so he could be more loyal to me. Read: Chase to be more isolated so he could be more loyal to Dominic. But he made one slight technical error. Me. So, of course, I was very neutral last night when everything went down.

Dominic: Are you made at me too?

Well, no. I can't be mad at anyone for trying to play the game. Just know, the wider you dig your hole, the easier for me to push you in it.

Mark: Lol, I don't know anything about Quincy.

Dominic: Yeah, I know, but you seem moreso bothered by the fact that I left Chase out.

Nope, not bothered. It makes me laugh. You made your decision, and however you try to explain it away, I will just refute it behind your back because I know the truth. Woops.

Mark: I don't care if Quincy left or not. Truth. I'm just concerned if there is not an agreement on things. Lie. I have no concern for the alliance with Dominic and Chase but that Chase remains safe and I get all my the info from Dominic I want. This really makes no difference to me. I don't even know who Quincy was. Truth-ish. It makes a difference if this power group gains more power from this, but I do believe Quincy was double dipping, so *shrug*

Dominic: Okay. I just wasn't expecting Chase to react like this...

Really, dude? You convince them that Luca has an idol...which is stupid because WHY WOULD ELLEN DO THAT? You convince them to split their votes. You blatantly blindside them. Then you go and blame Quincy? And you wonder why Chase reacts as such?

Ryan, this is very disappointing. I thought you were better than this.

Back to my latest verse addition, if you're going to serve two masters, then you need to do it cleanly without getting your hands dirty, what is this...4, maybe more, maybe less votes before the merge? Pardon me while I deadpan. *ruffles Ryan's head* Oh, you!

So back to the house divided. This game is divided by two houses. The House of Ellen and the House of AJ? Cassie? Simply the rest of us? I'm not really sure. But if it's the house of AJ or Cassie, it's rather a small house...I'd say a townhome...with no real challenge threats to speak of. Hmmmm, I wonder to which side I should lean? Usually in an all star game, big groups are mere conjecture. But this one is pretty legit. Everything that has happened so far checks out and last night just seals the deal in my mind. But even within the House of Ellen, there are divisions. Colleen and Ellen may have a potential rift because of Thiago-gate. I don't have enough info on that to comment, so I'll leave it at that. But there's also the division between Ben and Selena. Unless all that hooplah at the end of last season was a charade, and it very well could be, there is some division we could exploit there. Thiago told me a valuable thing last season, probably one of the most valuable things I've learned in this experience. And that is: in this environment, things are usually as they seem. And I tend to agree.

So where do we go from here? I'm not exactly sure, but unlike all my compadres last night, I had no need to scramble or fear. I had no need to come unraveled and let my condescending nature overtake me (Thiago to Knox). I had no need to lay a drunken smackdown on Chase for being dense (Henry to Chase). I had no need to go on skype and do some virtual knob-slobbing to cover my sins (Dominic to Chase). I had no need to alienate my friends because I feared my status so much that I couldn't open up to anyone (Ellen to Thiago). I had no need to virtually flip my hair in absolute oblivion to what is going on around me. (Wendy to the world). Wait, what? And Ben thinks he's sliding by, acting disinterested and apathetic in this game. I gotcha, my pretty, and your little Colleen too! No...this game is unfolding about how I expected it to unfold, and I feel like I'm in the exact place I wanted to be. Neutral and out of trouble.

So, I quickly and with certainty told Chase that Dominic can no longer be trusted no matter what he says. And I swiftly came in to give Michael a run down on all that I knew, and he realizes that it all checks out. So I have me a new, solid ally if I can keep him safe for the next few rounds. All the while telling Dominic I wasn't mad and I didn't put much stock in all the rumors circulating...rumors which I most likely got started, though Gloria could have PM'd the world like she usually does.

As fortune would have it, Michael is my opponent in this challenge. I can't understand for the life of me why this challenge needs 48 hours to strategize. I'd much prefer to lose the challenge, and i feel like it would be easy to throw without seeming like it's thrown. But then that's true for the other side too. Michael has already ruled out my sins to where he has a 50/50 guess. Meaning, no matter what he guesses, he's still close by one sin. The strategy in guessing is not neuro science. In one question, I've already paired Michael's sins down to where my final guess will only be one away if I guess incorrectly. What I may do is go ahead and guess the furtherst away possible, so that if Proelia loses, Michael has a chance of being immune. If feel like it is not wise for Legatu to be safe again. Ben and Ellen have to be dealt with now.

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I've been going back and forth with a lot of things the past couple of days. This House of Ellen thing is really annoying. On the one hand, I know all these krazy kats are buddies and texters and skypers and ily'ers and <3'ers and what ever the cool label is these days. And let's just face it...

I don't fit in to that mold.

So that leaves little room for me in their stalwart of connections. That's on the one hand. On the other hand, there are too many archetects in that seemingly unbreakable wall for it to be invincible. I mean, come on. Ellen's a smart player, and I don't necessarily think it's her fault that all the links are being traced back to her. But then if she did start singling out threats before this game even started, then oopsy on her.

I had a great conversation with Ellen today. And while I think she is a lovely person, and I was honest in that I don't buy into all the House of Ellen shenanigans, I don't fully buy her explanation of things. Her story is spun that Selena was forced into voting Luca during round two. So basically, according to Ellen, Selena is the martyer and Hannah and Knox were the villains. It's all a matter of perspective, I suppose, becuase since it actually worked out for Selena, she can now easily be villified while Knox becomes the martyr.

You say potato...I say po-tah-to...

The only flaw with this theory is that Selena has been involved in such tomfoolery not once, but twice now, and always protecting the same people. And we can't sit her and say that she was being forced to do anything she didn't want to do...there was a majority over there. And as far as I know, Dominic and Selena led the charge to fool everyone into thinking they were voting Luca and stabbing them all in the backs. The simple fact of the matter, folkes, they didn't have go through all those hoops. Nope. Trust me, I know this.

They had an agenda. And that agenda was protecting Luca. Now whether or not that move ultimately solidifies the House of Ellen remains to be seen, but the moral of the story is this:

Dominc and Selena can't be trusted by anyone but themselves, Luca, and Colleen at this point. I don't even think Ellen should trust them...after all, they are the archetects of whom I speak.

Now back to my conversation with Ellen. Pleasantries. All pleasantries. And just because I like her doesn't mean I believe for a second that keeping her is in my best interests, or that her keeping me is in hers. It clearly isn't the case for either one of us. Though it is good for me to pave these inroads in the event that I do start voting with a minority alliance. If I'm to be honest, I won't be comfortable with anyone of that group remaining until some of them are whittled away. Even more so than Luca or Dominic, I'd rather see Colleen or Selena out the door. Colleen for personal reasons because Ben needs his own head cut off or his limbs pared.

AJ keeps pushing me into introducting myself to Cassie, and I just can't seem to do it. It would be completely insincere on my part at this point, and really...I trust Cassie about as much as I trust anyone from that other group. I tend to agree with Bill and Thiago that I want to stay neutral. Now, the question is, how long can I remain in that camp with Thiago residing there as well. AJ has also been pushing for us to be besties again. Thiago fears that she is fishing...but I am reflecting back on Thiago's own mantra from last season:

Things are usually always as they seem.

On a separate topic, I'm uber frustrated with this challenge, as I'm sure most people are. It's dragging on way to long. And if I'm to be honest, I was more ok with us going to judgment while AJ was immune. Ben could have been given his one-way ticket home. But no.....the mistakes. And of course I had to say something. While I can be sneaky, and I have no qualms with scheming, I do want to stay within the scope of fairness. And our losing and someone getting voted out when, in fact, we did not lose...is a SORRY way to go. I don't care who you are. So I had to say something.

Where do I go from here? I'm not exactly sure yet, but the walls are coming down. If I can chip away at both houses, I'll be just fine. I still want to see myself with the likes of AJ, Knox, Chase, and Thiago towards the end...though Thiago and Henry don't need to make it that far. My ideal final 4 is myself, AJ, Knox, and Chase. I feel like I stand a better chance against them in both challenges and jury threat.

But this is WAY to premature to be thinking about. I just need to get to the merge first.