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She titters nervously, wanting it to be a joke.

Only a half-lie. And look, she's so happy.

Some solid reassurance there for your most fragile asset. Well done.

She's dressed just like you when you first came to Portofiro.

This is the closest he's ever got to having respect for his former colleague.

Put it this way -- will it help? No. Will it make his condition any worse? Also probably not.

PSEUDOPOD harboured a secret love for Luzian pop music? Seems unlikely.

He was a rule-follower, alright. It's written all over his face.

Surveillance master, wiretapper extraordinaire, a man capable of planting an invisible bug on a moving tuk-tuk.

A little prejudice builds rapport faster than truth.

You feel the doctor's stare on you, a ray of judgement and condescension.

This is right up his alley. Sadly, he's too paranoid to even listen to you.

The slight smile in her eyes fades as she takes in the little card.

Could have been anyone who killed him, she means.

Alive, then. But in what condition?

Of course you were the best. She had nothing to compare you to.

She doesn't know what to say. She let Karolina down, too.

You try to imagine the casual workplace conversation of human traffickers. You fail.

Her voice a low hiss.

Voice hollow. She's not trying to insult you, just telling the truth.

Too harrowed by the memory to dismiss the compliment outright.

So Eszti knew the Eye had Karolina but didn't try to help, didn't even visit afterward.

It strikes you that you are both rearranging yourselves as strangers.

He could pass for a simple drunk, waiting around for his off-licence to open.

A useless death. A small, fleshy monument to futility.

Something feline in his eyes, too. An intelligence, but utterly dissimilar from any kind you know.

Also: Frigid, judgmental, and eminently punch-able.

It keeps them well-concealed, evidently. Sounds familiar.

A shadow existence, a purgatorial condition of unrealised possibility.

No more doubt. Just the bitter clarity of forever being the one it happened to.

You might as well be compromised, with that attitude.

This will definitely hurt. Estimated duration: eternal.

432 skill checks - ZERO PARADES field manual - Page 9 of 9