Thank you Margot, that means a lot to me.
The conversation we had about my frustration with leaks and with no one trusting me was part of my strategy to begin reestablishing our formerly close connection. It's fair to say I oversold how frustrated I actually was. I relied on the fact that anything I would say about you being a big threat and needing to vote against you as soon as you weren't immune was an inevitable leak but also an easy thing to explain as a talking point. You understood yourself that everyone would be discussing something along those lines.
No doubt there were a number of players who really did see me as an untrustworthy player inevitably to be eliminated. Specifically I would say this was the place I occupied in the strategic plans of Duke, Oracle and M. Gustave. But Suzy, Madame D. or Royal saying anything along those lines was quite an effective bit of distancing on our parts, combined with my little pity party. I'm not saying this game wasn't mentally taxing at times because Survivor always is, but I was projecting more stress than I was really feeling when it was a beneficial narrative. Strategically the major tactical shift was to activate the Rings with Madame D., after which she joined Suzy and Royal in the echelon of players who I trusted implicitly to have my back. Beyond that, it was engaging with you that allowed me to not just survive but move into the next stage of the game in a good position.
Your brother,
Richie