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[bluescreenwhitedragon]

"This is Intensity. Leave a message."

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[rollplayinghouse]

...What surprise?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

She asked for the eye to change colors.

[rollplayinghouse]

...I did noticing it doing that. So what's the surprise...?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Mood ring.

It seems to work. It's always black when I look at it.

[rollplayinghouse]

...

And you didn't tell her that's why it changes?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

She didn't specify. Nor did she ask.

[As if that was a good enough reason]

[rollplayinghouse]

...

[sighs]

You know, how would you feel if someone put a mood color-changer in your eye without telling you?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

I'd never let anyone put a device in my head that I didn't make so that's a moot point.

[rollplayinghouse]

[rolls her eyes.]

Well, whatever. I don't promise not to tell her if it seems relevant.

[but it also seems like a good way to tell when she's lying about her feelings...]

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Look. It's going to be funny until it isn't. Give him this one small thing. He's not even going to be the one who benefits from it]

Suit yourself.

You came about work?

[rollplayinghouse]

...Yeah.

[After a beat of hesitation, she offers her short sheet of notes.]

Like I said, I just talked to her before the game, a bit.

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

[Well now that is interesting.]

Made Pythia who she is...

Hadassah originally worked in talent recruiting. I thought that she meant idols. But what if she meant something different?

[rollplayinghouse]

Like what? Demons?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Left mentioned that he was picked. Or earned his position as a host. Of course he was cagey about it when asked anything directly about the process.

[rollplayinghouse]

So there's a recruiter picking hosts out of whatever crop of demons they've got? I guess that's possible... But why would someone who was in charge of that just be hosting herself now?

And, Pythia isn't a host... Who recruits for Princedom?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

She said she was doing a favor for Pythia. Something that she would never turn down.

...

So if Pythia wasn't the original Prince of Lies-- does that mean someone else was?

[rollplayinghouse]

Maybe? Or it could mean Hadassah was around before any of that was a thing.

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

So the Princes are a potential reorg.

[Laughs at that]

Well, I guess that's one theory. Maybe that's also why they are so bad at running this production.

[rollplayinghouse]

...As much as I don't want to say it, it's also possible Hadassah was just lying. I forgot to write it down, but she said something like "normally I wouldn't say this, but you don't seem like the type to make a big deal about it" when she told me they went "all the way back." Maybe that's true, but maybe she was just trying to get me to believe her. The most real-seeming thing she said was when she was surprised I asked about her abilities, but she got cut off.

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

It's possible that everyone is lying. Especially true for anyone who works for the Prince of Lies.

But we already know the talent department exists, so-- What does she gain by lying about that? Or being close with Pythia.

[rollplayinghouse]

Not about those parts, maybe. But what seems more likely...? That she's actually an ancient and powerful angel-or-demon who helped Pythia come to power, who ran the game just as a personal favor and was honest and helpful with us? Or something more like... she's just a recruiter from Pythia's faction, directed to talk to us and spin whatever narrative Pythia wants us to hear, and under a gag order that stops her from revealing anything actually useful?

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Then there is still value in trying to understand why that is the narrative they want to spin, isn't there?

[rollplayinghouse]

Yes. And why she couldn't say whatever she couldn't say. That's why I brought it up.

...I don't know how much we can figure out from just this much information, though.

[bluescreenwhitedragon]

Probably not much.

But each piece of information is just one part of the puzzle. And the more pieces we collect, the more chance we have of catching them in a lie.

[rollplayinghouse]

...Yeah. I guess that's true. At least, assuming that people share enough of the pieces.