In post 392, Chemist1422 wrote:Hello
I am obligated to do nothing but I am not good at fulfilling obligations so I’ll just wish the finalists both good luck!
Thanks so much! Also, your presence reminds me of a moment that I can't honestly say was my favorite in response to xof, but has come to mind while I've tried to decide on a favorite, and I think is worth sharing.
So for context, Chemist voted for me when I ran for immunity in round 5, and he was the sole lucky winner of prize #5: "Photographic evidence that an edible arrangement attempting to depict your MS avatar was created." Attempting was a key word there. Fortunately his avatar did not have a pirate hat at the time; no idea how I'd have handled that. But the previous version, notably, did have this tinier second green ghosty buddy up in the corner. Originally my idea was to make it entirely out of jello. But then it occurred to me that his avatar looked remarkably similar to a bell pepper. I ended up deciding to do the star out of yellow pepper. The closest thing in shape to the tiny ghost that was similar in color was a jalapeno pepper, so I got that. I then wasted a good while trying to find tylose powder at a couple of stores to make an edible clear glue before saying fuck it, surely I have something sticky at home that will do.
The first thing I tried to do was make the star. Mistakenly I tried to do this freehand on the flattest edge of the yellow pepper, but I screwed it up. So then I kept trying to draw stars on paper so I could cut one out as a model. It turns out I also was inept at that, and had to print myself a "you tried" star to use. I then cut the tops off both peppers to make the arms, with peanut butter adhesive. I cut eye and mouth holes and also tried to cut the jalapeno into the right shape (which, IMO, was a disaster). It also turned out that I apparently made one of the peppers a mirror image of his avatar but of course not the other one. The now soggy "you tried" star really summed up the whole experience. I made a last minute creative decision to stick a peppercorn in each peppers' mouths to make them look black, which at least somewhat worked.
After carefully arranging the peppers for their photoshoot and then dismantling the project so as to not waste food, I washed my hands in what I THOUGHT was reasonably thorough manner. Unfortunately, I have this habit of doing this swipe-pinch motion on the cartilage across the front of my nose. Apparently this got jalapeno residue close enough to the inside of my nose that my skin was Not Happy. It burned pretty badly but even at the time I found it funny. I washed my hands several more times. I later got the bright idea to try to use lotion to soothe the area near my nose. That more or less just spread more jalapeno residue onto the rest of my face. More burning. I joked that I nearly got myself medevaced from the game.
I think N was probably the most candid player in the entire game and that's what got him here. His social game was good enough for Haschel to see "long-term" value in saving him over Gork, who was a highly entertaining in-thread presence. N was definitely a rival of yours (after a certain point you two seemed to be voting each other at basically every opportunity xD) that successfully positioned himself and formed the relationships needed to outlast you, which I think is worthy of respect. The only round I'm aware of that he may have lied to someone in is to Spangled at F5, which was a round he was excellently positioned in, with 3/4 of the other players wanting to go to F2 with him. N is also hilarious and will surely remind us of this as soon as he is available to.
You specifically might consider voting N on the basis of voting against me for, well, jury management and the fact that I systematically killed your friends and lied to you about it. I highly valued my relationships with Meme and Malkon (formally core allies of mine as of Round 1) and DV (formally a core ally of mine as of Round 3), and as such leaked much of what you told me to them. I was the initial leak of Formerfish's plan against IPS and worked until the literal last minute to get a vote spread that would save my column allies without me having to move my vote. I actively gathered votes to eliminate Gork (though I was initially actually targeting Vash, which I also lied to you about), Chemist (total sweetie), and Menno (I didn't enjoy ruining the haiku contest that was literally my idea in the first place but felt I benefited too much from keeping ani at that point). I spent most of the game trying to kill Spangled but failed to do so until F5. I completely respected your motivation of not wanting the game to be so dominated by Meme's somewhat random alliance as opposed to the alliance you actually chose, and you certainly helped me by protecting me and giving me information. I lied to you a lot because I ultimately felt it was a better strategic decision for me to work closely with people I was more clearly in the inner circle of, and I do think my loyalty to them got me here. But I can understand that the extent of my dishonesty could make N more deserving of your vote.