Tisa_37_

You can never trust what you see on the surface level with liars/deceit.

But it’s also something that enriches the mind. Heavily. It makes the right people stop and think when they see something wrong and go “what? That’s up for debate.” Or stop and actually THINK. To clear up confusion or finally understand where you went wrong. Strengthening ideals or personal theories/beliefs.

Using lies to further critical thinking and analysis skills.

Shadow Milk Cookie used deceit against Pure Vanilla Cookie, forcing PV to search inside of himself for answers where he once took things at face value.

By lying, SMC furthered Pure Vanilla’s growth in a compact amount of time. PV gained deeper knowledge over who he thought he was and his ideals.

It feels fitting that the liar, even after eons of deceiving others (though in not as enriching/knowledge centric ways) still has slivers of his old ways tucked away. Even after causing so much death and destruction.

Shadow Milk Cookie is still a catalyst for knowledge, just not the kind of knowledge he was so used to answering for others.

At bare bones, and if you were to ignore just how many wars he’s started, SMC feels like this character that would test others knowledge in a world where Google isn’t at our fingertips in any way whatsoever by saying the wrong thing even though he knows the right answer. It’s simply a matter of if others catch on that he is deceiving them and their willingness to correct him. (Except current SMC would probably gaslight them into the lie even more)

From a world where if you wanted to know something, you had to search for it yourself. Through books and articles published from credible sources.

It didn’t matter, but you couldn’t magic up an answer from a block of metal where everyone, credible or not, can post whatever they’d like and lie about who they are and what they actually know.

Maybe that’s why Shadow Milk Cookie’s exhaustion hits so much. Maybe that’s who SMC, or even the Sage of Truth in his parallel world, was. Just maybe.

Maybe that’s why he just wanted someone to really debate with. Maybe that’s why he fell to deceit.

Because as the living search engine he was turned into, he caved underneath the disappointment that no one ever stopped to think for themselves anymore. No one was searching for true knowledge. And deep down, Shadow Milk Cookie’s realized this.

He just deceived himself into thinking otherwise.

Until Shadow Milk Cookie became deceit itself.