>>5196720‘TECHNICALLY, it only binds the demon,’ Irinnile corrects you. ‘It’s jus’ that no demon who isn’t… Like, in a real damned bad position is gonna’ make a deal that doesn’t have a big-ass carrot or stick attached for the mortal, ta’ keep ‘em honest. Or, if they can swing it, they’ll attach a contingency curse.’
‘The Incubus didn’t seem terribly bound by our agreement,’ you grumble.
‘We-eeellll…’ Irinnile hesitates. ‘Look, I’m not the BEST at the whole… Pacts… Thing. I’m a lover, not a lawyer! But, well… Inky’s actually been pretty lax on holdin’ you to account with loopholes, I think.’
“What?!” you cry aloud, before reverting to mental comminiques. ‘It promised me magic lessons, the safekeeping of my goods, and then attempted to extort further conditions after the fact! How is this permitted, if demons are bound by their word?!’
Irinnile explains, saying: ‘If a demon can find a loophole in phrasing, or conditions… Like, say, not TECHNCIALLY deliverin’ every demon to meet your end of the bargain, or a lesson on better usin’ ectoplasm counting as ‘teaching you dark magic’ ‘cause you didn’t specify a number of lessons to fulfill that end of things…’
‘It was implied!’ you exclaim, outraged. ‘It was in the spirit of the agreement!’
“And, but only the words count—‘else the ‘spirit of the agreement’ for the demon would always be ‘to try an’ screw over the mortal, obvs’, and that’d probably end up implicit to every deal.’
‘Even ours?’
Irinnile freezes up, saying nothing for a moment.
‘I mean, I’d say we have a pretty good whole mutual thing goin’ here, NOW, but when we first got together…’
‘Yes?’ you press.
‘W-well, you had me over a barrel an’ trapped in an incense-holder, anyway, ‘member?’ Irinnile says, laughing nervously. ‘I couldn’t have done nothing, anyway, soooo…’
You let the silence hang.
‘You ever heard the humans talk about a ‘devil’s advocate’?’ Irinnile asks, changing the subject abruptly. ‘It comes from this kinda’ stuff! If you can make a demon see that something is contextually implied in the wording of a deal—even IF they don’t WANNA’ pony up, they gotta’. But if they can find wiggle-room where they can make the case that they couldn’t KNOW or be EXPECTED ta’ know it was part of the deal… Well, they can slip through those cracks, even if they’re tiny. We aren’t obligated ta’ fill in gaps like that for ya’, or to assume th’ most favourable-ta’-you-guys kind of assumptions, even if someone might ask us to.’
You muse on this, albeit not too happily.
