Zory, demonic attorney at law, at your service. At least that's what the business card says. "I've seen this before and it rarely ends pretty. Hanahaki is an unfortunately specific yet aggravatingly ambiguous in nature. So many loopholes possible, but so ill-defined as to make those secret exit clauses lose effectiveness in many cases. Still, I'll do what I can here." The demon's tail flicks through the air, brows furrowing as he stares over a sheet of parachment. (Technopathic-games 1/?)
The demon continues, pacing. "The wording of the curse upon casting implies prior knowledge of its nature, so it might benefit you to write down the specifics of what you knew of Hanahaki when it was cast. That will narrow down the possible loopholes here." He glances at Arthur, ruby eyes glittering, "Don't fret, though, this is pro bono work. All free. Frivolous fae casting curses carelessly... pisses me off, so it'll be nice to stick it to 'em."Ā
āSo, based on prior research and the particularities of the magic involving this curse, the other member of the second party ensnared in this little curse is one Lewis Pepper, hereto referred to as Party (L).āĀ
āAccording to most Hanahaki curses, Party (L) is an object of affection, and the curse will be effective for the duration until such time that Party (A), yourself in this case, divulges their amorous affections to Party (L), though the means of this is usually not specified. In your case, itās entwined with a Silencing curse, therefore opening up the means of divulgence to any reasonable means that does not involve vocalization.ā
āHanahaki curses are generally infamous for being specific towards amorous feelings, though there are cases in which there are exceptions (i.e. Robinson v. Wade, in which the āfeelingsā in question were platonic in nature and the curse was resolved by means of vocally expressing platonic affection for a close friend, or Egil, C. v. Egil, A, in which the unspoken feelings in question were that of broken familial bonds.)ā
āBased on the letter of the magic, though, it only stipulates that you must admit "feelings," not which feelings, thereby opening up the possibility that the āfeelingsā in question could be literally anything, as long as they have gone unspoken.ā
āAdditionally, another possible factor for exploitation is the lack of specification surrounding other factors of the proposed confession, including range, duration, target, and most importantly, recipient comprehension and/or acceptance. Based on the magic present, āAā Lewis is required, but āWHICHā Lewis may not actually matter, nor whether or not he actually understands the message being conveyed.ā
āTherefore, given this ABSOLUTE MESS of a magical contract, it would be arguably possible for you to chuck a wadded-up paper ball at a Lewis that is not from your home reality that you will likely never meet again that contains the message confessing some dubious, unspoken emotion written entirely in an esoteric cipher, and the book it for the hills.ā
āOther alternatives include: A) Telling a Lewis you are afraid of losing him as a friend, satisfying the āunspoken feelingsā clause. B)Expressing your emotions through interpretive dance, or even C) flashing the confession on a piece of paper in front of his face for less than a second, not actually giving him the chance to actually read it, then burning the paper then and there. For an extra measure it could be in a language he does not understand.ā
Zoryās grin turns mischievous. āIn any case, given all this evidence, itās entirely possible to rules-lawyer your way through the specifics of the curse and thus weasel your way out of it. There are a number of possibilities, but based on my analysis, there are a few glaring loopholes:ā
āA) You do not have to confess to your reality variant of Lewis, B)You do not specifically have to admit LOVE, as any unspoken emotion can likely satisfy the conditions, C) The person you confess to does not necessarily have to understand your message, allowing you to confess while also fully obfuscating its meaning.ā Zory preens, feeling clever. āI didnāt go through 400 years of demon law school for nothing.ā
Arthur tried really really hard not to let his eyes glaze over as this-- demon person, was speaking. It was hard, with how fast they slipped into legal jargon. It wasnāt exactly difficult to understand, but it was a bitĀ mind-numbing to be hit with it all at once and to listen to it. His brain kept wanting to abandon ship and think about other things. Now they were quoting cases and other things and some of the words were incomprehensible with his attention flicking in and out. It was just-- so much to take in at once.
Why couldnāt lawyers talk in laymanās terms? Wasn't the point of understanding the way laws and contracts were worded so they could translate for people who didnāt? So they could get what was being asked of them exactly?Ā
Well. Maybe it was a demon thing to want to stay a bit irksome even when helping?
Arthur sighed and tapped at his tablet.Ā āI donāt know exactly how it works, but this magic doesnāt always explicitly have to be said to work a certain way. Itās not the end of the world if I do something. Itās not like he doesnāt already know.āĀ He rubbed at his shoulder.Ā āThank you for offering your help. But I think Iām just gonna suck it up.āĀ
Heād been considering signing it, in the hopes that it wouldnāt be understood. But at the same time? He didĀ know already. So what was the point besides just-- not wanting it to be awkward? Itās not like he wouldnāt understand if he told him it was a curse. A long time ago when he didnāt even likeĀ Arthur heād let him kiss his hand for a different magic spell. Heād understand. He was a a good guy like that.
