Heroes vs Villains - Ponderosa

Chapter 4 - Juror 4

You know what, maybe I'm growing even more appreciation for the Ponderosa series. Though it can get repetitive, it is refreshing to sit back, relax, and write about this as I dive deep into the minds of the castaways and picture how they think as well as their overall Survivor experience.

And with Golden being a rather intelligent player, we'll see what goes on in his mind. We also can't forget about the three people he's going to be with.

~KF

"Hello. I am Golden, juror number four. And this is my Ponderosa."

Night 29

One thing was for certain regarding Golden Fredbear. Considering that it was raining for pretty much the whole day, he did not have to worry about being drenched and cold unlike the other nine players that were still in the running.

Though obviously, he knew he would rather have been soaking wet and still playing than to be sent home eating a nice warm meal at the Ponderosa cafe. It was all just something he had to process, however. He lost. There was no more simple way to put it.

"Here I am going through this again. Got voted out roughly around the same time since Mexico only had eighteen players. Oh well..."

He heaved a deep sigh. "Well, I managed to survive this long in spite of all that's happened. I had someone play an idol on me again. I've managed to create stronger real life bonds with people, while forming some new ones at the same time. Even Plague and I managed to have a conversation yesterday. I just couldn't do enough justice for Isabelle, and I apologize for that because she was screwed over the moment she stepped on the old Heroes tribe. But for me, this really has been a rollercoaster kind of experience for me. Maybe this does show me how different someone's Survivor experience can be compared to somebody else's. So it was probably good to come out here again."

"You can have one person where everything goes almost perfectly well. You have someone else who's journey would be great with almost everything going well for them, only for the rug to be snatched underneath them just like that." He snapped his finger as he paced along. "You have people like me and DK who is good one minute, and then the next we're feeling terrible. Then there are those folks where nothing seems to be going right for them and they somehow still manage to make a deep run. Bottom line is if you look up the word 'unpredictable' in the dictionary, you're going to see the Survivor logo next to it. That's why we all strive to play the best game we possibly can."

"My way of thinking is that I need to act like this is my only life to live. That's why I'm never super aggressive. I am decent in challenges and a physical guy, but I don't need to have a big personality or show all of my cards to other players right out of the gate. That is never going to get me anywhere. My main focus was to fly under the radar because with me being physical, I'm going to be targeted anyway. Why makes things worse? And if I feel like my name is on the chopping block, then I try to make big moves in order to save myself. ...Honestly though, I don't think I ever made a super flashy move throughout both experiences. I was never known for that. Ryu did that in Mexico and that didn't turn out too well for him in the end, which brings me back to my point. Everything doesn't work for everybody and it shows."

"Some fans try their hardest to understand how difficult this game really is. But at the end of the day, they know they don't experience what we experience unless they actually come on the show themselves. And I believe that is why us players are able to form great bonds and genuine relationships with each other, because there are actually so few people in the universe that experience something likes this. Whether or not that makes the bond stronger is up to how each player thinks and perceives it. But now I am making friends out of this that I will hopefully have for the rest of my life. And I cherish them one thousand percent."

He was such a good guy.

"Doctor Crazy."

"Hello, Golden! Fancy seeing you here tonight! Did you get summoned here or something?"

"..." Fredbear blinked, but kept his grin. "Well, more like voted off. I was forced to come here, because I'd rather still be fighting on that miserable island."

"Well you may not like it, but I'm glad your here." So much for sympathy. "You need to get your check up. Physically, there could be things going on with you that you might not even know about! I needed to put Sheik on antibiotics due to a scrape she had after the big immunity challenge."

"Fine, then. I've got nothing else to do..."

"Crazy Hand is obviously an eccentric kind of individual. I can imagine how he and Master behave towards each other behind closed doors."

"Step on that scale!"

"Hmm... 157.2. What did I weigh before?"

"172.5. That's 15.3 pounds you lost this season." Crazy Hand noted. "And according to my records, you weighed at 172.1 before you started your first season."

"Okay, so you're saying I've gained four ounces when I came back." Golden folded his arms and grinned widely. "What is it that you're trying to tell me?"

Hahaha!

"Nooooo comment."

"I began to think of the people I was going to be with when I arrived. Shadow, Ridley, and Vector. Two of them are people that I never really met like that, and Vector and I were on opposite ends the whole time. A bit of an awkward situation on the surface. But at the same time it's an opportunity for me to have conversations with these people and clear the air." He was then seeing looking at what he possibly wanted to eat off the menu. "Vector is not known to take things rather personally, so hopefully the two of us can shake hands. ...I knew I needed to think about what I was gonna do with Ridley and Shad, however. Those two are a little more complicated."

Perhaps for him it was as if he was a new student going to his first class. And in this case scenario, one of them was a guy he was sort of familiar with, but did not always get along. And the other two were edge lords that hated everything.

Fans were definitely going to be curious to see how it all went down.

Getting off the boat and making his way to the cafe, he was already beginning to frown out of confusion as he paced closer.

"Usually when people get off the boat and walk over to Ponderosa, there are people who have been voted off before waiting for you to arrive. They either have open arms, shake hands, or at least acknowledge your presence. ...The only person that I saw waiting for me was Vector and he was the one that was on the opposite side of the fence when we were playing together. If anything, he would have been the only one that I would not have seen. But at first glance, Ridley and Shadow were nowhere to be found."

And the moment when Vector was able to see the dumbfounded expression on the bear's face, he immediately snickered in reaction. It was a response that he pretty much expected, knowing first hand of what he felt like.

Upon him recognizing his humorous look, it made Golden grinned and snicker as well. "I thought I was the fourth member of the jury, not second."

"Hahaha! How ya doing, man?" The croc immediately shook his hand and friendly embraced him. "What do you say we call this a truce?"

"I'm more than happy to end off on that." Gladly accepting his offer, he looked ahead to the inside of the cafe. "But I mean,... I didn't do anything to piss them off, did I? I barely even talked with them."

Oh yeah, because Golden was only with them from the time they were all merged and that was it.

"You didn't do anything." He shook his head. "They just don't really, um... You know."

"I get it." The former FNAF contestant took the hint. "I am not going to be mad towards them."

"I had a feeling that Shadow and Ridley weren't going to meet Golden at the steps when he arrived. Hahaha! That was how they were towards me. I had to actually go inside the cafe to see them, which is fine. But ya know, I told them both I was going to be waiting for Golden outside. It's just common courtesy." But as he was aware, the two other jurors in question were in a world of their own. "They're gonna keep doing it, too. But now that Golden's here I'll have somebody standing beside me by the time the next juror comes."

"Have you tried connecting with these two to some degree?"

"I have tried." The flashbacks from his own Ponderosa experience came immediately. "Shadow and I come from two completely walks of life and it's a whole process for Ridley and I to officially make amends, given our two season history with each other. But hey, you're pretty good at adapting to different social situations. Maybe you could do a better job than me."

Hmm. It was looking as if it was going to be mission.

After glancing at himself in the mirror, he finally made his way to see the two jurors that came before Vector: Shadow the Hedgehog and Ridley Zebesian.

"'Sup fellas?"

"Hello."

"Greetings..."

At least they spoke, right?

"...Surprised to see me here?"

"Well, we certainly didn't expect to be Zelda, Shovel Knight, or Yoshi." said Ridley. "Nobody wrote one of their names down and we knew they were all staying. All of you were playing up, and at the time we thought it could have been pretty much anyone else."

"Same." Shadow agreed.

"I suppose that makes sense." Golden scratched the back of his head as he found his seat. "We were all trying to act like one of them were going home to fool the other side, but everyone in the end wanted to use them as swing votes. I had no idea they were really with the Villain Three for this one."

"Why do you think Springtrap wasn't voted off?" The purple creature wondered.

"Probably because they still wished to write off one of the more strong players of the tribe again, and all of us except Bowser were the last ones remaining in the immunity challenge today. Had a feeling that I wouldn't have been voted off if it weren't for DK winning immunity. But hey, maybe for him I needed to be sacrifice so he could hopefully pull this off somehow."

"The Strong Guys Alliance fails again." Ridley did not like where this was going. "The fact that we keep getting picked off only proves our point. Ryu was ahead of his time when he explained of how us strong, physical players have the hardest time post-merge. That's why we decided to align together in the first place. And for me personally, I was the strongest out of all twenty of us. But now that Golden has been voted off, I don't know about the chances of one of us winning at this point. DK, Bowser, and Ryu are all that's left."

Well as far as the three alliances were concerned, there were three members each: the Hero Three, the Villain Three, and everybody else from SGA. Dead even. Whoever was set to go home next was going to be one alliance jeopardy.

As the bear's food started to arrive, Vector decided to ask about what his overall thoughts were in general about his most recent Survivor experience.

"So, after all that's happened,... when or if you think the show is gonna let people play for a third time?"

He thought of answering, the animal could not have waited any longer to take a bite out of his ribs. Being hungry in Survivor was really something else. Thank goodness Vector understood by patiently waiting until he swallowed.

"I think as long as the show goes on, we will start to see three time players taking another shot at this. There are loved ones of former players that are set to play again, so my theory is that second time players will be eventually mixed in with three time players... That'll make things more complicated than ever before. Would I be one of those people they'd bring back, I really don't know." He took another bite. "But hey, the Survivor Gods have blessed us enough for it to play twice. Not everyone had the opportunity to come out here one more time, and I feel we should all be thankful for it."

"Yeah." The croc bobbed his head up and down. "We were all voted off a little early and we feel like we could have done something to make us have a deep run. But like you said, we were fortunate enough to come back out here at all. All we have to deal with now is us simply not finishing what we started."

"Okay, I know about being... grateful and everything." Ridley commented. "But in all honesty, there's this side of me that still feels a little bitter that certain things did not go exactly according to plan. I am no bitter at anyone in particular, but the whole situation. I really don't believe I could have played any harder, and my life in the game was cut short again. It's going to be a whole process for me to get through, realizing that for some people, getting voted off is the inevitable no matter how hard you try..."

The dragon was literally admitting to being bitter right in front of everyone's eyes. Though the way he was handling himself about it made me feel that he was attempting to find a way to get over it.

"Well, you were genuine with your feelings." Golden talked with him, taking a forkful out of his Caribbean style macaroni pie. "That is something I can acknowledge you for. Telling others exactly what's on your mind is the key to open communication. I may have placed higher than you in both of our seasons, but I never went too far myself. I thought I was playing the best game possible (despite a few setbacks), and it ended up being no use. For some people, there's only so much you can do. Maybe it was never meant for a certain someone to win anyway, which is why we always strive to play our hardest and... perhaps hope for a little bit of luck. May not be exactly what you or anyone wants to hear, but it's the truth. Not everyone can win Survivor (or ever). But we can still try to go as far as we possibly can. Seven people weren't lucky enough to make it to the jury phase. Hell, some of us have no chance of even making it to the swap. In comparison, it makes us look as if we all did make a deep run."

That made Vector, Ridley, and even Shadow stop and think it all over. Were those all decent points for Golden to make?

"You know, in the game I can't say I really cared for Golden much at all." Not surprising coming from the black hedgehog. "At worst, he's simply boring. Not worth talking with someone who pretty much has nothing to offer. Yet at best,... he's open to talk to when it comes to pretty much anything. Even pretty intelligent. Though we still come from two different walks of life."

Survivor was literally all about people coming from different walks of life. That was what made each different group of players special.

Day 30

For those who enjoyed the sunshine, they were in luck. There was no precipitation scheduled for that day. There was so much rain the previous day that the castaways had to play around the rain when it came to strategizing before the Tribal Council took place. It really limited the communication that went on the day prior.

Now that there were no clouds in the sky, the day was hopefully going to be enjoyable for everyone involved. The door to Golden's room was opened and he was already being seen heading out the door outstretching his arms.

"I got a good night's sleep. But it's the moment where you actually wake up in the bed that makes you really realize that you're not in the game anymore. I would be helping around doing morning camp life chores by now, but I have the luxury of not doing that for the rest of the game. ...But I know it's still gonna feel a little weird for me to not do anything, since that was my part of my everyday routine and now I gotta get used to relaxing. Hopefully I can do so pretty quickly so that I will not have to think about the game as much."

Eating breakfast with the other jurors, attempts at conversations were made once again.

"So what are we doing today, boys?" And Vector tried to lead the way.

"Hmm." Golden hunched his shoulders. "Only thing to do around here is relax your mind and distract yourself from what's going on in the wilderness if you know what I mean. ...What about you two?"

"Same."

"I suppose so..."

...

"Anything... you two wish to talk about? I'm open." Now it was the bear who tried to get something going.

"I'm fine."

Shadow shook his head in decline.

"..." Vector and Golden were already exchanging glances. No one really had the ability to read minds, though they knew the feelings between the both of them were mutual. Neither of them knew what to do.

"This is gonna sound blunt, but... Shadow and Ridley are without a doubt two of the hardest people to get through." The green Mobian spoke in frustration. "I mean, I've managed to do something with them. So that's possible. Though it's still really difficult to really connect, or at least have a few conversations. I've always been an extroverted guy, these two are the exact opposite. They barely talked to me, so I did feel a bit lonely. Golden's friendly and open enough to talk to, even though we don't really know each other like that. ...But he could tell that I desperately needed his help with those other guys. Luckily for me, he knows how to handle himself in different situations like this. That's one thing about him."

"...Do you two still feel some kind of way based off how you were voted off?" Golden popped an invisible eyebrow.

"Okay..." Ridley finally began to talk. "Here's the thing. I still have some bitter feelings in me. Not towards anybody in particular, but based off the whole situation. There are some people who end up going far, even making it all the way to the end by not really lifting a finger. And there are some folks who play their damn hardest every single day, but get cut short multiple times. From my perspective, I don't think I could have played any harder. I had no other choice but to align with other super physical players. It is not my fault that we're always the first group of people targeted post-merge, because to the weaker ones, we're always going to win all the immunity challenges."

"I was voted off solely because solely because of my rep." Shadow then voiced his own thoughts. "People just weren't able to get over my perception from season two, so I had a target on my back from day one and didn't really get a chance to do anything. I only attended two Tribal Councils before the merge and if I did any little thing early on, I would have been gone before then. Why make the target on my back larger? ...And yet, there were some folks who I played with both this season and my last who are able to get away with everything."

"Hmph..." Ridley took a glance at him. "Your point of view seem like the opposite of mine."

"Exactly my thoughts." Golden bobbed his head up and down. "So you two are still going through it, which is normal because I was just voted off the night before. But I don't know how either of you handle things in your mind when it comes to stuff like this. Though we're all here for a common reason. I wouldn't want you both to go through this alone. Not asking you two to be my best friend or be super socially charming or anything. But don't think your thoughts and words are falling on deaf ears. I'm a pretty good listener and I wanna hear your perspective on everything."

Both of them said nothing in reply, but they were began to think at least a little bit.

"My family and friends from back home have always told me that I should have been a therapist." The bear snickered at the thought of it. "I don't know if I'm talented and smart enough to be one. But sometimes when it comes to other people feeling pain and frustration, if you wanna know where they're coming from, all you have to do is listen. If you can listen and understand what the other person is feeling inside, it can really go a long way. Maybe you are able to give them some advice they might need, and it may change their perspective a little bit. I know we all think differently, so they can take my advice however they want. That's the mindset I always have when it comes to listening to other people, and it came to a point where I'm suddenly the 'go-to' guy when a person needs someone to talk to... And in this case, even if they wouldn't talk to me under normal circumstances. Ridley and I for example were in the exact same alliance this season, but we still didn't talk to each other that much. But today Ridley and I decided to have a one on one because he feels like he needs someone to hear him out and that in his eyes, I have an unbiased opinion."

The Metroid dragon relaxed comfortably in the hammock as Golden sat in a chair near him.

"I mean, I am of course well aware of the social aspect of the game a lot more versus how I was in my original season." He talked, staring off into nothing. "You were with me, so you've seen me interacting with a few others this season. Sure, I may have needed to be the one that got talked to first. But,... I didn't blow up on people too much. And I suppose I didn't act as if one small stick was out of place, the whole camp caught on fire. That's what people thought of me in season four, and that played a large factor of me having no allies, which eventually lead to my downfall. The only person who voted with me at the time was Meta Knight and I kind of unintentionally hurt his game in the process."

"I have a strong feeling that Meta Knight means a lot to you." Golden already hit the nail on the head. "You've probably never said it yourself, but it obvious based on how often you think and talk about him. If it weren't for Meta Knight, you wouldn't have gained that much self-awareness. You have clearly done some work on yourself internally."

"You know it's not an overnight process, though." Ridley reminded. "But progress is progress. Yet for me in particular, it's about how can I properly adapt to the game socially, while at the same time sticking true to myself. For instance, Vector and I have two completely different personalities, different walks of life, different thought processes. And to be fair, Vector tried having a couple talks with me. But in my opinion he seems to act like everybody has to get along with everybody, and that means that someone needs a reality check. Everybody is not going to like you and I don't think some people understand that."

"Well nothing you say is wrong at all. That's the reality of it. Not everybody likes everybody and some people are so different, opposites don't attract all the time. And,... this is based off of my impression. You don't have any ill will towards Vector, but say if you two... go on a road trip together, I see you two being in petty arguments with each other."

"The thought has already crossed my mind." He nodded in reaction. "The most we can do is be civil to one another, but nothing more."

"You know Ridley, I'm just as big a fan of the game as you are, and I really do feel like I'm seeing two completely people here. I think you already know right from wrong regarding social interactions. You don't have to like everybody, no one's forcing you to like everybody. But at least for business purposes, the most we can do is respect and be civil towards one another. Regarding your social issues at your home is another topic, which we can also work on. Regardless, I know Meta Knight is very proud of you."

He was not ashamed of showing his smile in reply. "He's probably gonna be the first person to watch my Ponderosa video."

"And when it comes to making relationships outside of Survivor, you have your own criteria of who you would get along with. From that point, it should be all about communication of what you and others would want to do together. Perfect opportunity to get to know each other more and connect. Need any help with that, you know who to go to. And I actually like Meta Knight, so I plan on talking with him anyway, and maybe the three of us can have a conversation together once we reunite."

"..." The space pirate went silent for a moment. "You know, I never really expected myself to actually like you, Golden. You are an intellectual, and your amount of patience is something worth noting. If I can take some of the qualities you and Meta both have, I'd obviously benefit from it greatly. I am grateful we were able to align together."

"And I like you as well." Fredbear smiled. "Hopefully the two of us can get something going once we all leave here and we'll learn more about each others lives."

"It's about time someone around here understands where I'm coming from with certain things." Ridley sat on the steps. "Now I did manage to make some connections. Bowser and I have similar lifestyles based on our professions, I had good talks with Ryu, and Golden seems to understand and get along with everybody. I do not know a single soul in Survivor (except for maybe Plague Knight) who ever had a problem with him. Even from watching his season, he was in an alliance with Isabelle, Espio, and Funky Kong from his old tribe. Yet he was also in an alliance with Ryu, Panther, and even Incineroar. I don't think I would have ever gotten along with him. But Golden managed to do just that, and part of it was because of his ability to adapt to any social setting no matter what. There was even an important conversation he had with Chica Candance of all people, one of the most annoying, unlikable folks of her group. ...Then again, I was pretty unlikable out of the gate on my season. So if Golden can get through to me, he can get through to anyone."

Now, what about Shadow? The challenge was probably even harder by comparison.

"Hmph..." And with the hedgehog folding his arms and puffing, it was obvious to everyone he was a tough cookie to crack. "So this is all about opening up, right?"

He giggled in reply, Fredbear himself now being in the hammock and Shadow sitting in a chair by him. "I wouldn't necessarily call it that. I would call this a moment of being honest with yourself and being vulnerable. Not asking for your whole life story or anything, but... we all need a moment to self-reflect."

"I suppose I have done that a little, especially after Ridley came here two rounds ago." He stared at the ground. "Right now I can say that I sort of... learned the hard way of not being able to communicate with other people about what's going on inside my mind, and the importance of other people understanding what you're thinking about."

"Give me an example."

"I'd say for instance," Shadow glanced to the side in thought. "...maybe the first time when I realized I was not going to get the best reception on the old Emperors tribe. I've had conversations after season two finished and even with Zelda and Shovel this season. I was alienating people to the point where no one wanted to work with me, because I didn't... talk enough. More specifically, I didn't care too much for the social aspect of the game. I was aware of it, but I did not pay attention to it at all since I know I'm not the most outgoing person."

"That's exactly what Ridley was feeling when he played in season four." Golden chuckled again. "I am not surprised you two actually manage to get along out here,... but neither of you can really get along with Vector."

"He's plainly the opposite of me." The villain began to glare. "What else did you expect? ...But really, I know I can't change myself to be something that I am not. Though at the same time when it comes to the game, adaptability could make or break everything for you. And it took me this long to realize that. But I didn't at the time, so for a while I just couldn't understand how it was so easy for other folks in both my seasons to strategize and do slimy things and get away with it. Yet when I do it, it's a problem. And you know, the only two real allies that I had were Knuckles and Mega Man. But even with Mega, the truth about him was that he was simply using me to help him get to the end because he knew I wouldn't have gotten the votes. He already knew exactly what was becoming of me. And... when I found that out, I sort of stopped talking to him for a while."

Wow...

"But then I realized I was sort of being a hypocrite." He went on, now feeling a bit ashamed of himself. "It was still part of the game. I for some reason took that rather personally. Yet last time I checked, I was the one who voted him out."

"That is true." Golden was in complete agreement on that. "How could you honestly expect everybody else to not take things personally when you do or don't do a certain thing towards them, but when it comes to you, it's different. You can't have it both ways, Shadow. So yeah, that does make look very hypocritical."

"Ugh..." He groaned under his breath. It was the last part of his fellow survivor's response. But even with that, he was not taking it personal. "I appreciate your honesty."

"Just telling you what you need to hear, mixed in with my honest take on it. The thing people can notice about Ridley is that you can clearly see him trying to be better socially, as well as real life. It's just simply all about finding those that care about you. Whatever it is you're looking for, hopefully you can be a better place inside your mind. It is not fun to feel like the universe is against you or you feel like you are misunderstood by everybody. Nobody likes that. But the thing is that Ridley has been already making improvements to better himself, while you are still in the stage of recognizing your flaws and everything. Not saying that is fine, because if anything, I strongly encourage you to take as much time as you need. Move at your own pace. However, at some point you do have to take some action and take some steps to better yourself and there are people who can help you with that."

"...Hmm..." That really had him thinking. "You know, I wish I would have talked to you sooner. It probably would have kept me even more level headed in the game than I thought I was."

Golden grinned. "I'm glad I could be some sort of help."

"All of a sudden, I realize that Golden is sort of... alright." Just by thinking about it, he was a bit in disbelief. "He is calm, patient, intelligent, and... if only I had talks with him more, I probably would have tried a little harder with this whole thing about... social connections. I am not the best at it. That is something that I am willing to admit. But the main thing that Golden made me realize that it's possible to have people understand you without acting as if you got to talk to the entire world to accomplish something like that. You don't have to like everybody, but just find a few folks that are willing to hear you out and those you can hopefully relate to. Now that I've talked with Golden, I've actually learned something. Maybe this is what Ridley had to understand as well. Perhaps later today I can go up to him to seek some more advice."

Vector and Golden were now talking as they wandered down the shore.

"Man..." The former sounded really impressed, with him apparently being told about the details about Golden's conversations with two social pariahs. "I gotta hand it to you. It's the whole way you handled it, dude. I would have never handled it in the same way. You're a genius!"

"Oh, I'm just silly ol' me." Humble guy, too. "I just try to do what I can. When someone decides to talk to me of all people, I try to offer and contribute to the conversation as much as I can. And I suppose I do learn from different types of people, so I suppose that plays a factor of me fitting in different types of situations. I can hang around complete social butterflies and have a good time with them, or I could have extremely introverted people drawn to me just so we can have deep, personal conversations. I am good at doing both."

"So is it far to say that you're pretty much an ambivert, then?" Vector guessed. "The fine line between being an introvert and extrovert. Espio told me and that's basically what it is."

"I suppose so. You meet all types of people, you gotta go with the flow. It's impossible to connect or be close to every last person on earth. But for some reason, I... tend to like folks that come from all different walks of life. It's kind of what Survivor is about. Eighteen to twenty random strangers being forced to work together while battling it out for a million dollars?"

"Hahaha! That's exactly what this is! Right on it."

"As long as you're a decent person, you might have some chance of getting along with someone like me or at least have an open dialogue about almost anything. You are a really good socially in and outside of the game, Vec."

"Aww, thanks. I kind of felt weird being here by myself with Ridley and Shad, honestly." He heaved a sigh. "Made me feel like I had some social problems that need working on."

"Then it's a good thing I'm here. All you did was try to get them to open up a little bit, so you didn't do anything wrong. People just understand and process things differently. You just keep doing you, because you pretty much can't help but to be anyone but yourself. Just stay true to you and that's it."

"What I honestly expect for my edit of the season when this comes out? Not really that much, honestly. Hahaha! I'm fine with it. I was never known to be a complicated, edgy, big personality. I'm just me, and that's okay. But I can say that I have played rather similarly: under the radar while trying your best to get along with everyone, which is an extremely hard thing to do in Survivor. But that's something I try to do in the best way possible. Though one thing that I have noticed is that the social game does not really translate to good TV. With normal, everyday conversations, there is really only so much you can do. But at the same time, it still builds relationships which are a crucial part of the game. And in regular life, that's a win right there. We all want to love and be loved, and that's pretty much all we need in this universe. I honestly think it would be an even better place because of it."

With someone like Golden, and not really... that much character depth to go off of, I thought that my options were rather limited with him. So I am completely surprised his Ponderosa chapter ended up being this long (by far my longest Ponderosa chapter ever). But his conversations with Ridley and Shadow were the clear highlight of it.

Maybe if one of you like him enough, you could vote for him on my poll. ;-)

Stay tuned for the next chapter of the main fic!