I created the "make it harder to tell a story by framing the entire thing within very strict game-mechanic parameters" box and then got in the box and said "yay my challenging box."

(Lying Game Chapter 1 / Chapter 2)

GOOD IM GLAD SOMEONE CAUGHT THAT!!

I think I described it as a "bait and switch and switch back" to my friend.

Jax has asked this question which is clearly meant to hurt Pomni and force her to divulge something she shared with Jax in confidence. And even despite that Pomni does pause to consider "Maybe this isn't all about me? Just maybe Jax is also divulging the loss of his father?" Just pure pure benefit of the doubt to a guy who doesn't deserve any real benefit of the doubt right now (this is pre-truth spell)

And you get this

“My guess is… yes, he’s alive.” “JAX, IS THAT CORRECT?” Jax held his arms in an X formation over his chest, and he imitated the incorrect buzzer noise: “EHR. Not correct.” A cocktail of wet feelings swirled in Pomni’s chest. Sadness, pity, grief, embarrassment, for her own assumption, but was it wrong to admit some of this feeling was warmth? Jax had meant something by it. Jax was revealing something to her. Jax hadn’t— “WHAT IS THE CORRECT ANSWER, JAX?” “The correct answer is ‘We can’t know.’” Jax said, arms thrust outward. “We’ve been stuck here for years, so no one actually knows if our loved ones are dead or alive, right? Not like anyone’s popping in to tell us.” Jax crossed his right leg over his left, full weight supported on his left leg while his right toes brushed the ground. He leaned his elbow against the podium and dropped his chin on his waiting palm. “C’mon Pomni I thought you were smart. You shoulda realized ‘yes’ can’t be the right answer.”

Absolutely an answer manufactured to be a jackass. He costs Pomni the point, and he very intentionally prefaces it with "We’ve been stuck here for years, so no one actually knows if our loved ones are dead or alive, right?" to make it sound like he's doing this on a pedantic, assholish, loophole technicality (while reminding everyone that anyone they care about might be dead.)

But then um. In chapter 2, while under the truth spell

And Jax barked a noise, incredulous, strained. His tongue clicked. “Proud of myself, ha! Yeah right. Not sure I even know what emotion you’re talking about. I haven’t been proud of myself since before Dad walked out—AAAAAAAA!” And when Jax slammed his fists down it was with a violent hostility. It came with weight, and force, and a shockwave of silence across the stage as Jax lunged in Kinger’s direction. “You STUPID CHESS PIECE. YOU SPACE CADET. YOU IDIOT. It’s not even your turn!”

Forced to divulge the loss of your father? Right back at you, Bunny Boy.

(Lying Game Chapter 1 / Chapter 2)

He honestly reminds me of a certain type of person- those 4 Chan dudes who make a lot of edgy *jokes* about minorities, who, when criticized, fall back on the old ' it's just my dark humor! It's just a joke! You're so stupid for thinking anyone here is being serious, ha ha!' schtick. (Of course, it's not funny- and for that matter, a lot of them aren't *actually* joking)

Jax isn't as ill intentioned as the above example, but he does do the whole 'say something horrible that I may or may not believe' and then rapidly backtrack and insist *You're* the one being sensitive thing. Really good stuff.

(Lying Game Chapter 1 / Chapter 2)

New fatally radioactive discourse just dropped: is Jax a 4channer

ansdjhbsd thank you! I am very invested in The Specific Way He Sucks. (I am not immune to fandom content that will take a character who sucks and reinterpret them to suck less) but I do think I'm here for Jax Who Sucks in Lying Game.

It really is something that went through a couple rounds of calibration while I was planning and writing it. My original notes did have Jax leaning pretty hard into the "Is your father alive?" question, but I adjusted it to a "swung too hard in a heightened emotional moment, realized and regretted that it was too mean, but refuses to admit this and so just uncomfortably backtracks into making it a joke." He does this in ep6 after telling Pomni he'd forget about her if she abstracted, and then when he made himself uncomfortable for hurting her, he goes the "you can't take a joke!" route.

And this fact doesn't get Jax off the hook at all in Lying Game. He does the whole "well I'll change the question if Pomni wants me to" but she doesn't let him use her to get out of what he just caused. His attempts to "lol jk" it do not get him anything.

(Lying Game Chapter 1 / Chapter 2)

Aaaaaahhh thank you!!!! And that's a good question. No one else was lying in the game per se, but also the Caine's truth effect is not just 'don't tell a lie' -- it takes things further by forcing the person to spill their stream-of-consciousness truth unfiltered. Jax calls this out in his "Why is it making me say everything?" You lose any benefit of discretion in your answer. And having that discretion, and having your choice of words, while still telling the truth, makes a big difference here.

Thinking through the other questions, I feel like the only answer that would truly have to change (granted, this was before the Truth Effect was even introduced) was Zooble confirming Jax is the thing they hate most in the Circus. That was a heated in-the-moment answer out of anger for what Jax had just done to Pomni, and Zooble wanted to get that jab in against Jax. In total truth, Zooble still hates being trapped in the Circus more than they hate Jax (if they can even honestly say they hate-hate Jax.)

I also think Pomni's "I like to believe everyone here is my friend" answer would have been a bit more couched with uncertainty, considering she starts the fic feeling a little out of place among everyone. (And likely there would be a big qualifier of "not Caine" tbh...)

Specific questions aside, it's a good point to consider if they would have simply played differently in general knowing they're under the same truth effect. Ragatha is so careful with her exact choice of words, I think she'd be pretty terrified being under the effect and risking saying One Slightly Not Positive Thing about someone and freaking out over it. While not as severe as Jax, I think she'd also be trying to avoid the podium as much as possible. Pomni, Zooble, and Gangle I don't think would play too differently. Kinger would be unaffected.

(for real though that last truth has been buzzing around in my head all day, it's very good. the whole fanfic so far has been so well written, and i loved how intense caine feels at the end too, even if he's seemingly not doing much.)

(Lying Game: Chapter 2)

AAAAAA thank you!!!!!! And honestly in some ways, Lying Game is a 15,000+ word fanfic vehicle to deliver that specific headcanon about Jax via the last truth he was forced to tell. I’ve even gone rambling in a post about it here

The funniest part about this headcanon is that, by its very nature, it is The Absolute Last Thing that Jax would ever willingly admit to, so delivering the headcanon did in fact require 15,000 words of fic.

In fact I’m kinda laughing about this message I sent to my friend a few weeks ago about the headcanon

(Lying Game: Chapter 2)