E2 - "I don't think that man can love, at least not the way that he means"

[Rust Cohle]

I have to step back and take stock of where I'm at on this tribe and how I can adjust my overall strategy going forward.

I believe I am now protected by two dynamics on this tribe.  My inclusion in Chan's four person group PM with Nick and Chase puts me in an covert, established majority group.  Within that group, the trio of myself, Nick and Chase is also being courted by Detective Pikachu for another proposed alliance which may or may not also include Penelope.   Pika hasn't put Penelope's name in any PMs about it with me, but he made the initial pitch including her to Nick Wilde.  After Nick balked about Penelope he left her out of the conversation when approaching both myself and Chase.  Whenever this tribe does go to Tribal Council, Pikachu will push to make the vote a choice between Chan and Kate.  He may outright push for Chan based on the additional information I received from Kate revealing that she proposed an alliance of three to Penelope and Pikachu, a connection which also reinforces the idea that Pika is trying to include Penelope in an alliance with us because he has a deeper connection to her.

The outcome of any vote here will be based on what is agreed upon by Nick, Chase and myself.  I am going to be extremely hands off with the decision making.  Pikachu and Penelope may see themselves as a power couple, but I believe Nick and Chase are the real power couple and I have successfully established myself as being their pocket vote.  Whatever Nick and Chase prefer I will go along with, even if it ends up being a vote against Chan.  Nick in particular is the leader here, though I would say Chase is actually the more dangerous player in the long term because like myself he is letting Nick stick his neck out far more than he is.  If I were playing a more proactive game I would try to bend the vote away from both Chan and Kate to target Pika or Penelope.  I know Chan would like to target Penelope first and through our foursome group PM he may be able to successfully pitch his case, but I won't actively meddle on behalf of that push.  My game is well served by any outcome where Nick and Chase have dictated the elimination and I stay alive.

To answer the outstanding question regarding ranking my tribemates from my friend Heiji, I present an accounting of who I believe could be an asset to me in the future rather than an explicit rankdown.

Nick/Chase - Coattails for me to ride until their threat level becomes too great
Chan - Pagongy loyal friend, potential fall guy, the only person here who is a good FTC matchup candidate at this time
Kate - Great source of unfiltered information, good long term prospect if Penelope and Pikachu go out
Penelope/Pikachu - Least interest in long term relationships

I was perhaps a touch too social in the first few days, but I have refocused my efforts on reining that in.  I've made a conscious decision to forego the use of exclamation points.  I may have peppered a few into my earliest PMs, but those are done now.  Rust Cohle is far too misanthropic for that kind of excitement.  I hope this has a subconscious effect of making people feel less connected to me in the long run.  I'm also deliberately making myself hard to engage with strategically, for Pikachu especially, and letting Nick do the alliance building on my behalf there.  On multiple occasions I have removed opinions about other players and thoughts about who would work together well from my PMs on review before hitting send.

It takes a great deal of care to keep from slipping into my more natural and effusive play style.  For this True Detective, less is more.

[Heiji Hattori]

What's your thought process going into this challenge? Are you optimistic about your chances of doing well?

[Rust Cohle]

My initial thought is that in terms of impacting the overall tribe score it's more important to correctly guess what the majority of my tribe mates will select for me than it is to select what each other tribe mate says for their own traits.  The traits themselves are fairly arbitrary so it's a tough challenge to do well in, or even know what qualifies as doing well.  The outcome of this challenge feels like it will be fairly random, but personally I'd take a 66% random chance of winning tribal immunity over a skill challenge every time.

[Heiji Hattori]

Congratulations on immunity - can you explain your challenge answers and how you matched up people's personalities? If you can also come up with a humorous short story, I will give you spectator points.