L&J Script Analysis

Love & Jealousy v0.4a: continuity audit, deception analysis and intent extrapolation.

About this report

What was analysed. The analysis covers D:/collab/L&J.rpy, a flattened, chronological copy of the game's 14 narrative script files (111,872 lines). Side scenes such as texts, phone calls, dates, NTR scenarios and card games are inlined at the point where the game jumps to them, between # ▼▼▼ BEGIN name and # ▲▲▲ END name markers. Every branch is present in the file.

Citations. A citation like (L12345) is a line number in L&J.rpy, not in the original .rpy files. To find a line in the game's own files, search for the quoted text, or read the nearest BEGIN marker, which names the source label and file.

How it was produced.

1. Reading. Eighteen readers each read one slice of the script in full, roughly 6,000 lines apiece. Each logged a fact ledger, a timeline, within-slice continuity issues, a deception log, psychology evidence, and open questions for the other slices.
2. Synthesis. Eight analysts then worked across the whole script:
   • two consolidated the within-slice errors;
   • three hunted cross-slice contradictions (calendar, backstory, world facts and script logic);
   • three built the deception profiles (MC, Lacey, the rest of the cast).
3. Verification. Every Hard or Probable finding was re-opened in the script, at ±20 lines with the enclosing menu/if checked. More than 125 reader-flagged issues failed that check and were rejected. The rejected items are listed at the end of each scene-level section so they don't get re-flagged. Key claims were spot-checked again during assembly.

Grades.

Two reading rules apply throughout.

1. Branches are not errors. Lines in mutually exclusive branches may disagree. Each finding states whether both sides are reachable on one route.

2. The narrator is unreliable by design. The preface warns that "just because he says something, that doesn't make it true." The script goes further and proves that MC invents whole scenes:

   • Lacey's divorce speech (L82999–83172) never happened: "None of that happened" (L86238); "I made up the whole thing in my head?" (L86276).
   • In Act 4 he says: "I make things up and pretend they're real" (L111321).

   Contradictions that the text frames as MC's distortion are therefore listed as characterisation, not continuity errors. Lies "spoken" inside a hallucinated scene are not charged to the character who appears in it.

Psychology. In-narrative professional opinions are taken at face value unless the narrative undercuts them. That covers Dr. Sarah Moore, Lacey's clinic and her therapist as she reports them. Lay opinions are treated as evidence and weighted accordingly; Dianne, for example, calls herself "not an actual psychologist" (L40843). Intent extrapolation is labelled as interpretation and anchored in cited behaviour.

Headline findings

Continuity.

• The script is more internally consistent than its length would suggest. The childhood and college backstory is retold about ten times, and the core events and their order agree every time. The two employers (Brimley and Electro Billing) are never confused, and The Monster's identity is consistent across eight slices.
• The real errors cluster in four places:
  • Mis-tagged speaker lines. Eleven blocks carry a wrong or missing character tag, for example Christine's back-rub speech voiced as Mia (L8726–8747).
  • Calendar arithmetic. Three weekday slips net to zero over nine weeks. The author flagged one in a comment: # DAMMIT Messed Up / # WEDNESDAY Pt. 2 (L45449–45451). Lacey's homecoming arrives two days late.
  • One structural backstory break. Lacey has "only been here for a few weeks" (L2504), but she has held the job for more than a year.
  • Branch logic. Prose sometimes describes a choice the player declined, a flag overrides a refusal, or a variable is read but never set.

Deception.

• By habit, Mia is the most frequently deceptive character. She has the highest sustained rate of any principal, across all 18 slices, and the most deliberate method.
• By volume, MC deceives most, but much of his count is symptom and self-exposure, and his lies to Lacey are mostly omission and masking.
• By consequence, Lacey deceives most. Her concealed past, the Damian night and her hidden relapses carry the plot.
• The book's thesis is paternalistic deception. The first villain says it: "They'll betray you thinking they're doing what's best for you" (L16857). Then the people who love MC prove him right.

Part I — Continuity Errors

Overview and priority fixes

Counts

The table covers 169 graded entries from five verification passes. About ten issues were found by more than one pass; Lacey's tenure, for example, appears in four. That leaves roughly 160 distinct issues, 19 of them Hard. Each section below keeps its own cross-references.

Fix first

These are the most damaging errors, all confirmed against the script. The fixes are suggestions; the sections that follow give the full evidence.

What is not an error

These were checked so that they don't get re-flagged:

• The two employers are kept apart throughout. The only slip is "Electro Corp" at L34858.
• The Monster is consistently Martin Vindrelli. It is never stated outright, but it is strongly implied: "he's the glue" (L84996) echoes The Monster's text (L44289), and Martin says "I'm a monster too" (L85029).
• Veronica's two accounts of the debt ("You did it for Lacey?" "Yes" at L88328–88329, then "The original debt is only for you" at L88344) reconcile as motive versus beneficiary. They read ambiguously, so a wording tweak would help, but they are not a contradiction.
• The college and separation chronology adds up: Lacey's 4 years against MC's 4.5 (L88963–89135, L34743).
• The text-menu thresholds and the R_date01 gating, which readers suspected, are correct.
• The final poker hand is dealt correctly.
• The hallucinated divorce scene, the club "Lorenzo" exchange, Tina and the later cage visits are deliberate unreliable narration, as the script itself establishes.

Calendar and timeline

Master timeline

How this was built. Every slice's day-by-day reconstruction was merged into one chain and checked against the script. Two clocks are used:

• D-days count from the Wednesday when MC promises Mia three months of silence (D0, L1197–1943). Act 1 dates its gaps loosely ("Two days passed", "A week had passed", "Two weeks would pass"), so D-numbers before the "day of reckoning" are given as ranges.
• N-days count narrated mornings from the "day of reckoning" Sunday (N0, "Ours was on a Sunday", L6938). From N0 on, every transition between days in the script is continuous, with one exception (N3–N5, see contradictions). So N-numbers are exact.

Authority for weekdays. From L38273 on, the author's own # SATURDAY / # SUNDAY … comment headers mark each day. There are 41 of them, ending at # SUNDAY (L108199). I treated these as the author's intended calendar. Before L38273 the only header is # Wednesday Evening (L12165), so weekdays come from dialogue. Labels below are marked stated (dialogue or narration), header (author comment) or inferred.

Headline finding. Counted strictly from N0 (a Sunday), the weekday labels drift by three separate slips:

• +2 days: seven consecutive workdays follow the Sunday pool party.
• −1 day: the author's own # DAMMIT Messed Up / # WEDNESDAY Pt. 2.
• −1 day: a second # MONDAY after an overnight train ride.

The slips cancel out. The final Sunday (N63) is exactly nine weeks after N0, so the opening and closing Sundays agree, but every explicit weekday between N22 and N49 is one or two days off the narrated count. Details are under Cross-slice timeline contradictions.

Backstory (before D0)

Act 1 (L2–38264)

Act 2 (L38273–55661), weekdays from the author's headers

Act 3 (L55696–83297)

Act 4 (L83303–111856)

Where the slice readers' day-counts disagreed, and how the script resolves it

1. Length of Act 1. The slice-01 reader put the end of the slice at about day 45–52; strict counting of L1959/L2269/L3210/L3916/L6520 gives D37–44, and N0 at D39–46. The narrator calls this span "three months" (L1191, L7164); see contradictions.
2. Slice 02's "next morning". The reader correctly found that L8975 behaves as Saturday. The script confirms it: "tomorrow's Sunday" (L10575/L10839), then "It was a Monday" (L11769) and the Wednesday departure (L12159).
3. Slices 04, 05 and 06. The slice-04 reader inferred Sunday→Mon/Tue/Wed for P+1..P+3. The slice-05 reader could not place D0–D4 (Wed or Thu?). The slice-06 reader labelled D4 "Tuesday" from L33769. All three readings are textually correct, and together they are incompatible. This is the +2 drift: N15–N21 is seven straight workdays.
4. Slices 08 and 09. The slice-08 reader counted Mon→Fri and called its Day 5 "Friday". The slice-09 reader called the same day "Thursday" from L48351. The author's headers side with slice 09: # WEDNESDAY Pt. 2 (L45451) and # THURSDAY (L46082).
5. Slices 14 and 15. The slice-14 reader inferred Day 7 (MC's return) as Friday. The slice-15 reader, from L88560–88561, made the return Wednesday night. The headers side with slice 15 because the Clover Springs day is labelled # MONDAY a second time (L83381).

Season overlay (inferred)

• Act 1: outdoor pool and hot tub, morning tennis.
• N22: Will "graduated from college last month" (L31849).
• N23: Christine's "next semester" is her last (L34429–34431).
• N36: Christine will have her degree "in a couple months" (L54793), so her final semester has started.
• N40: Vegas, "the hottest day of our trip" (L62566).
• N46: Manny "getting married in January" (L79112).
• N47: pool party "Before it starts getting too cold" (L79941); Bradley's "holiday reading program" (L79975).
• N56: "autumn sunshine" (L93993).
• N57: a Monday holiday (L88606).

Read together, N0 ≈ early August and N63 ≈ mid-October, if the holiday is the second Monday of October. This is not stated; see Open calendar questions.

Durations and ages ledger

Route: "uncond" = unconditional main line; otherwise the gating variable or menu is named. ✔ = consistent with the reconstructed arithmetic; ✘ = conflicts (see the contradictions section); ~ = loose but tolerable.

MC and Lacey: childhood to separation

Separation, college and the wait after the phone call

Reunion, marriage and the anniversary

The "mess": how long it has lasted

Employment and tenure

Lacey's college partners

Anna and Mia

Other characters' timelines

Ages

Cross-slice timeline contradictions

Every item was checked against L&J.rpy (±20 lines). Reachability is stated for each. Items 1–3 are one problem in three places and should be fixed together.

Seven straight workdays after the Sunday pool party

Hard error Weekday drift +2 (slices 03→06).

Anchors before. Lacey's trip runs "Wednesday night" (L11468) → the Damian Thursday → Friday → Saturday: "Yeah, Saturday morning lazy showers are a thing for Lacey" (L16596). That day: "Tomorrow is the big pool party." (L16546). The party is "this Sunday" (L14399), N14.

Anchors after. "It's Wednesday, so her therapy appointment isn't until tomorrow." (L33769, N22). "Every Thursday after work I have my therapy appointments… So you start tomorrow?" (L31949–31951). "At least it's Friday." (L35925, N24).

What the script narrates in between. Eight consecutive mornings, each continuous with the night before and none skipped:

• "Looking decent." (L19845, N15)
• "Shit, I slept in." (L21878)
• "Where the hell am I?" (L22370)
• "I slept in a bit more than I intended." (L24244)
• Kelly's goodbye (L25130)
• "Why are we in the guest bedroom?" (L25934)
• "I wake up feeling out of sorts the next morning." (L28015)
• "Well, time to get ready." (L31831)

Every day from N15 to N21 is a working day: office; "He's over an hour late" (L21921); servers "done before the end of the week" (L24322–24324); "Damn, it's already time to go home" (L25187); Waterston's office visit with a flight "11:00am tomorrow" (L26554); "It's literally your first day" (L29643). Sunday + 8 is a Monday, yet the script calls it Wednesday. All of this is unconditional main line.

Why it matters. The player sees a seven-day working week (Mon–Sun) with no weekend. The slice-05 reader also found that MC's "Maybe on Friday night… a couple days" (L28596–28603) and Mia's "I'll plan something for Friday night" (L25144) cannot be placed.

Fix. Put an unnarrated weekend between Lacey's homecoming (N19, Friday by count) and the Waterston offer day (N20), with a bridge line before L25932. Then change "I finished my big upgrade project yesterday" (L25957) to "on Friday", and Bella's "I spoke with Martin Vindrelli last night" (sms_0029, L25985) to "Friday night". This also gives MC's "a couple days… Maybe on Friday night" (L28596–28603) its natural meaning: said on the new Tuesday, it points to the jealousy date (N24). Mia's "I'll plan something for Friday night" (L25144) would then be said on a Friday morning, so change it to "next Friday" or drop it; that girls' night never happens anyway.

"WEDNESDAY Pt. 2": a narrated week with six workdays

Hard error Weekday drift −1 (slices 08→09).

Anchor before. On Sunday night (N26) Lacey says "Now, unfortunately, we're back to work tomorrow." MC: "Yeah, the weekend just kind of blew by didn't it?" (L42160–42161).

What follows. The script narrates a full working day and an evening at home for each of N27–N31:

• N29: "Oh hell I never texted Anna yesterday" (L44963); "I hate getting home after dark" (L45297); "The night passed quietly for Lacey and I." (L45448).
• The author's own comment then reads # DAMMIT Messed Up / # WEDNESDAY Pt. 2 (L45449–45452).
• N30 is another full workday: "Holy moly this day went by fast" (L45612). It ends with MC home, then on the couch (L45856, L46087).

Anchor after. The day after N31 is a Friday in dialogue: "I didn't know they hired Kelly until she showed up for her first day of work yesterday." (L48351); "Enjoy your weekend." / "You too, see you on Monday." (L49030–49031). Counted from the Sunday it is a Saturday.

Reachability. Unconditional.

Diagnosis. The headers show the author knew N29 and N30 had to be one Wednesday and labelled the second one "Pt. 2" instead of merging them. To the player it is two days.

Fix. Merge N29 and N30 into one workday. The park meeting with Anna at 10:30, the Jeanette/Christine afternoon, the HR answer and the Greta call fit one day. Then keep a single evening: either the Thai dinner and ketamine confession, or Dianne's visit and the couch. Alternatively, move the Thai-dinner evening to N31.

The second "MONDAY": an overnight train that does not change the date

Hard error Weekday drift −1 (slices 14→15).

Anchor before. "Isn't this a Wednesday?" (L76130, N44).

What follows. MC boards the last train on the Monday night (N49; L83177–83197, L83258). The next block is headed # MONDAY a second time (L83381), although the text says "The night seemed to go on forever… I watched the sunrise through the window next to me." (L83385–83392). The later headers inherit the lost day: # TUESDAY (L84714), # WEDNESDAY (L85916, MC's return), # THURSDAY (L86579).

Anchor after. Dialogue fixes the day after the return as Thursday: "Saturday. That's the day after tomorrow" (L88560–88561). Counting nine narrated mornings from Wednesday N44 makes it a Friday.

Compounding slips.

• MC tells Dr. Sarah he "got back late yesterday" (L87185), but the script brings him back in the morning, after waiting "the next six hours" for the first train (L85738–85783), and straight into breakfast with Jeanette (L85985–86018).
• "locked in a basement for three days" (L86161, L87183) is about 1.5 days by the headers and about 2.5 by the text.
• MC's own "I think it's been another night, but who the hell knows" (L85657) is flagged in-text as his confusion.

Reachability. Unconditional.

Fix. Cut one day from the captivity: MC escapes on his first night, and Anna's Ivy encounter (L84854–84972) becomes the same evening. Or cut one day between N44 and N49 (for example, Lacey's "two days" of seclusion, L79765, could become one).

Why fix all three together. The three slips net to zero (+2, −1, −1). That is why the "day of reckoning" Sunday (N0, L6938) and the housewarming Sunday (N63) are exactly nine weeks apart and both read correctly. Fixing only one would break the Act 4 anchors (the holiday Monday, L88606; "It's Thursday", L100227; the Sunday party, L104320).

Lacey's homecoming: "three more days" vs five

Hard error Slices 02, 04 and 05.

The plan. Veronica's itinerary: "fly out Wednesday night… Originally I planned on being gone through Saturday night… The trip would be a full week. We have two really big customers coming in on Monday." (L11468–11473). That is Wednesday to Wednesday, N10→N17.

Night of the pool party (N14). Lacey: "Only three more days until I can put my arms around you." (L19834). This points to Wednesday, N17, consistent with the itinerary.

What the later lines say.

• N17 morning, Mia: "Tomorrow night is his last night." / "Of his free-pass." (L22641–22643)
• N17 night, Lacey: "You have one more day." (L24141)
• N18 night: "I can't wait for you to come home tomorrow" / "It should land about 3pm" (L24814–24816)
• She arrives N19: "I didn't know a single week could last so long." (L25239)

The trip actually lasts nine days. No line explains the extension: a search of L17894–25300 for "extend", "stay longer", "more days" and similar found nothing.

Reachability. Unconditional.

Fix. Change L19834 to "Only five more days", or add a line on N15–N16 in which Veronica's Monday customers slip and the trip is extended to Friday.

Lacey's job tenure: "a few weeks" vs "a year and a half"

Hard error Slice 01 vs slices 01, 12, 13.

The outlier. Around D9, Veronica says: "Only been here for a few weeks and already giving presentations… there's a company policy you have to work here three months before getting a promotion." (L2504–2509). Lacey also stumbles over "Ms…", "still getting used to that" (L2487–2490).

Everything else.

• The backstory: Anna "was able to get Lacey hired on just a couple weeks after she started", while MC was still finishing his lost semester (L516; L493–520). That was months before the reunion, the courtship, and roughly ten months of marriage.
• Lacey to Stephen: "after I graduated I came back. Got a job as a graphics designer here at Brimley." (L70885–70886)
• "So how long have you worked here?" / "About a year and a half now." (L73732, N43). This matches L516.

Reachability. Unconditional.

Knock-on. The "new hire" premise drives the promotion thread: "in a couple months" (L2508); "when I move up to designer in a couple weeks" (L31850, N22).

Fix. Make Veronica say "Only been on my team for a few weeks", so that Lacey has recently transferred into the art department. The three-month rule then applies to time in the role, and L31850 still works.

Act 1 lasts "three months" by the narrator, about six weeks by its own markers

Probable Slices 01–02, with echoes in 15.

The narrator's frame. The present of the narration is the night of N0: "How did this horrible mess happen in just three months? I sat here and thought about it… And here I am." (L7164–7167). Also "Up until three months ago things had been so good between us… It was a Wednesday morning" (L1191–1197), and "for the first time in three months, I slept soundly" (L8394, N1). Three months is also the length of Mia's pact (L1925–1945).

The gaps the narration marks.

• "Two days passed" (L1959)
• "A week had passed since Mia had texted me." (L2269)
• "Two weeks would pass before Mia would attempt our next session." (L3210)
• "Another week had passed." (L3916)
• Mon–Thu, then the Friday start of the late schedule
• "The first week… The second week… Friday of the third and final week" (L6460–6520)
• "Two more days. The big announcement is Sunday night." (L6734–6735)

Total: 39–46 days, about six weeks.

Corroborating symptom. On the tennis day (~D20–27), MC says Lacey has played "twice a week, for the past two months" (L4929). On D2 she had said "A couple of us from work are going to start playing tennis" (L1971), so by the markers tennis is about three weeks old. Sarah's "married for, what, nine months by this time?" (L87239, about the moment the truth came out) fits D0 under the three-month frame: the anniversary falls about three weeks after N0, so D0 would be roughly 8½ months into the marriage. MC's "the past four months" at N55 (L91988) also fits the frame (about 4.8 months) better than the markers (about 3.3).

Reachability. Unconditional.

Mitigation. MC says "The three weeks that changed everything between Lacey and I are a blur to me" (L6432), so part of this can be read as his distortion. But the gap markers are plain narration, and the intent (the confrontation lands exactly when the three-month pact runs out) only works under the three-month reading. That last point is an extrapolation.

Fix. Stretch the markers rather than the frame: "Two weeks would pass" → "A month would pass" (L3210), and "Another week had passed" → "A few more weeks passed" (L3916). This also cures L4929.

The missing Wednesday–Friday after Evan's arrest

Probable Slice 02.

The gap. The Tuesday ends with Lacey's confession: "I'll stay with you forever." (L8972). The next line reads as the next morning: "My dreams were a jumbled mess… Lacey was already up. I could hear the faint sounds of the shower running." (L8975–8983). That day has "We spent the afternoon cleaning the apartment and getting our laundry done" (L9583), Anna and Mia "after dinner" (L9588), the club, and then "Don't forget, tomorrow's Sunday" (L10575 in punish; L10839 in slut). On every route the next days are the coffee Sunday and "It was a Monday." (L11769), so the club night is a Saturday. Wednesday to Friday disappear, and nothing in L8986–9600 says "last night" or "yesterday" or otherwise marks the jump.

Reachability. Main line. The no_fun branch lacks the "Sunday" line, but L11769 and L12159 force the same chain.

Fix. Add a bridge before L8975, for example "The rest of the week crawled by. On Saturday morning…". Lacey's promises to talk to Veronica "tomorrow" (L7729) and to meet Christine "sometime this week" (L6951) then have room to happen off-page.

How long Anna has been in MC's life: "two years" vs about four

Probable Slices 01, 04, 06, 12, 14.

The backstory. MC meets Anna in his sophomore year, "about a week into the course" (L213–223). She confesses "that afternoon" and is refused; she returns "A few days later" as a friend; "By the end of my sophomore year I had finally told her everything." (L258–315). There is a junior-year rupture and repair (L346–348, L484–486). From then to N0 is the rest of junior year, senior year, MC's lost semester, and roughly 13–14 months of courtship and marriage: about 3.5–4 years since the confession.

The "two years" lines.

• MC: "We worked that out almost two years ago." Lacey: "No, you worked it out two years ago." (L4266–4267)
• Anna: "I've loved you for two years." (L17931)
• Mia: "Anna's been in love with him for like two years." (L22656); "she's loved [MCFirst] for like two years now." (L72169)
• MC to Sarah: Anna has been a stable influence "for a couple of years now" (L82815)
• Lacey: MC was friends with Anna "For about a year." (L34742)

Reachability. All unconditional.

Diagnosis. Five speakers use "two years", so it is the author's working figure, and it clashes with the slice-01 backstory.

Fix. Change "two years" to "four years" at L4266/4267/17931/22656/72169 and adjust L34742/L82815. Or move Anna's confession to MC's senior year; the junior-year cliff rescue (L401–479) still needs her as an established friend.

The wait after the junior-year phone call: "a year" vs "a year and a half"

Minor Slices 03, 08, 10, 15.

"A year".

• Anna: "And then you decide to drop into his life almost a year later." (L13921)
• Christine: "after finally talking on the phone, she still made him wait another year." (L56782)
• Lacey (hypothetical): "to have to wait another entire year before I get to see you?" (L46906)

"A year and a half". Lacey: "That year and a half before I saw you was so, so, so long." (L89135).

The arithmetic sides with 1.5 years. The call is "toward the end of my junior year" (L59712). MC then has his senior year plus a lost semester (L493–520) before Lacey appears. Total separation = 2 + ~1 + 1.5 = 4.5 years, which matches "four and a half years" (L34743, L102396, L103375). The many plain "four years" are compatible: that is Lacey's degree.

Reachability. Unconditional.

Fix. Use "a year and a half" at L13921 and L56782; L46906 can stay as rhetoric.

Clover Springs: a four-hour story that ends after the 3pm train has left

Probable Slice 14.

MC's day.

• After about 1½ hours motionless in the café ("The breakfast rush is done. Place gets pretty quiet until lunch time.", L83519–83522), a ~30-minute wait (L83652) and a 5-minute walk, MC reaches Ivy's flat around late morning.
• "It ends up taking the better part of four hours… By the time I come to a close, it's mid-afternoon." (L83887–83895).
• About a hundred more lines of conversation follow, then "I got to the station in time to catch an earlier train than I originally hoped." (L84020).

The tracking data. "It would have been the 3pm eastbound express returning to the city." (L84287). The ping was "About two hours ago" (L84274) and came from "the last stop before entering the city proper" (L84688). That is a few hundred miles east, a distance the outbound train took all night to cover (L83385–83392, L83403).

Reachability. Unconditional.

Fix. Start MC at Ivy's earlier, make the story "the better part of three hours", or call it "the 5pm express". Also have the security team's ping time agree with the travel time.

Hortensa: "hold on to everything until Monday" vs "already… filed" on Saturday

Probable Slice 18.

Saturday late morning (N62), Hortensa. "I'm going to hold on to everything until Monday. First, I'll go through it all doing my due diligence. Once I feel comfortable with it, I'll submit an electronic copy to the county clerk's office." (L105754–105756).

Saturday evening, the Monster. "We've already received a notice that your attorney has filed the papers" (L107227). That this means Hortensa is confirmed by the follow-up: "I looked up her record / As green as she is…" (L107229–107230).

Reachability. Unconditional.

Note. "I know what I'll be working on today and tomorrow" (L105772) leaves a little room, but she explicitly defers filing to Monday.

Fix. Change the Monster's line to "will be filing the papers Monday", or have Hortensa say she will e-file as soon as she has checked the papers.

Lacey's clinic appointment: "Tomorrow" and "today" on the same day

Probable Slices 05→06, N21.

The two lines. That morning, on the doorstep, Anna asks "When's your damn appointment?" and Lacey answers "Tomorrow." (L29162–29163). That evening Lacey says "I went to the clinic today." and discusses the imaging (L30502–30517).

Earlier schedule. "I have my first appointment in two weeks" (L11335, N7) puts the appointment on N21, which supports "today".

Reachability. Unconditional.

Fix. Change L29163 to "This afternoon."

Jeanette's second text cites a conversation that hasn't happened yet

Branch-dependent Slice 12, if JEANETTE_text_number == 2.

The text. In the Monday-night text round (textLI, N42), Jeanette asks "Did our talk about the Black Dhalia stuff help you or make it worse?" and MC replies "It helped a lot" (L72535–72537).

The problem. That talk is the chai conversation on the following day (# TUESDAY L73050; L73115–73305).

Reachability. Only players who texted Jeanette in an earlier round see text #2.

Fix. Gate text #2 behind the chai scene, or reword the question to refer to the Vegas trip itself. Also note the spelling "Black Dhalia" vs "Gothic Dahlia".

The money to Jeanette and Abby: "by tomorrow" vs the day after

Minor Slice 15.

The lines. Thursday (N53), Kelly: "I'll have the money transferred to them by tomorrow." (L87674). Friday, Kelly: "Halima has that scheduled for this afternoon. They should see the transfers hit their accounts by tomorrow morning." (L90364–90365).

Fix. Read "by tomorrow" as "initiated by tomorrow", or change it to "by the weekend".

Ages that don't add up

Minor Cross-slice.

MC and Lacey are older than "early twenties". The script's own numbers put them at about 24–25: met at 6, left at 19 ("I took care of her until we were nineteen", L55356; "For nineteen years I had no control over my life", L106983), then 4½ years apart, then about 1¼ years together. Yet MC says "I'm in my early 20s." (L71) and Lacey says "I'm a girl in my early twenties." (L94563). Leaving high school at 19 is itself slightly old. "Almost 13 years" (L41218) only works if they were about 18.9.

"A couple years older". MC says "I'm only a couple years older than them." (L32526 / L33291, in the Jeanette scene branches) about staff aged 19 (Jamie, L18748) and 20 (Yue, L45657). The real gap is 4–6 years.

"Thirteen years" stretched to the whole relationship. "Over our 13 year relationship" (L111022) and "the woman I've been in love with for 13 years" (L55022) use the caretaking span as if it were the whole relationship, which is about 18½ years ("like eighteen years", L102400).

Fix. Make the opening line "mid-20s" and drop "early" from L94563, or reduce the separation. L111022 and L55022 can be read as MC discounting the years she was gone; if that is intended, make it explicit.

MC's therapy day: "see you on Tuesday" vs "Mondays and Thursdays"

Probable Slices 15→16.

What was agreed. Friday (N54), Dr. Sarah: "I promise I'll make up our short appointment time, when we meet after the three day weekend." (L90710). MC: "I'll see you on Tuesday Sarah." (L90764).

What happens. On that Tuesday (N58), Kelly asks "Do you have therapy today?" MC: "I forgot to update my calendar. We're going down to two days a week… Mondays and Thursdays." Kelly: "Did you go yesterday?" MC: "No, because of the holiday." (L97723–97728). The Tuesday session never happens ("It feels weird not talking to Dr. Sarah on my lunch break", L97951), and no scene shows the schedule changing. Monday was the holiday, so a Monday appointment could not have been the plan either.

Reachability. Unconditional.

Fix. Have MC say Sarah moved him to Mondays and Thursdays "starting this week", and say why the promised Tuesday make-up session was dropped. Or keep the Tuesday session and start the Mon/Thu schedule from Thursday N60, which does happen: "It's Thursday, I have my appointment with Dr. Sarah.", L100227.

MC's tenure: "I haven't even been here a year"

Minor Slice 05 vs slices 01, 16.

The line. On N20, MC refuses the directorship: "I haven't even been here a year." (L26622).

The arithmetic. He was hired about a week before Lacey reappeared (L537–543). Courtship and the wedding took about six weeks (L710–791), and the first anniversary falls around N10–N21 (L53664). So on N20 he has been there about a year and seven weeks. Jeanette later says "since you first started here over a year ago" (L97786, N58), which is consistent.

Fix. "I've barely been here a year."

Will: a new graduate in his thirties

Minor Slice 06.

The two descriptions. N22, Lacey: "I guess they just graduated from college last month." (L31849). N23, Lacey: "he's not some young kid. He's in his early thirties. He was lead guitarist in a band for ten years." (L34143–34145).

Context. Erica is 30 and has been with Will "almost eleven years" (L99819, L39251). Lacey later retracts other parts of her N23 description (the two hours of dancing and the butt-grab, L34272–34278) but not these.

Reachability. Unconditional.

Note. A mature graduate is possible, so this could be deliberate provocation by Lacey. If so, consider having her retract or explain the age too.

Smaller day-reference slips

Minor

"I got a backrub from Christine today." (L34384, Thursday N23). The massage was on Wednesday, the day "It's already the end of the day" (L33142); it should be "yesterday".

Bella's "By this time tomorrow". On N17 she says "By this time tomorrow Lacey's problems will be solved." (L23963). The resolution arrives on the morning of N20 (sms_0029, L25985–25993): two nights late, or five with the weekend fix above.

Kelly's colleagues. "The two other salespeople with me are flying back tomorrow." (L11241, Sunday N7). On N13: "Up until a couple days ago I had two teammates with me." (L16732). That is five days. Her "two months" stay is still "two months" ten days later (L22648).

The fake job offer. "Lacey just about ended our marriage a few weeks ago over a fake job offer." (L87744, N53). The Jared "huge news" was on the tennis Tuesday, about 10–11 weeks earlier by the markers, or more under the narrator's frame.

Double-booked Friday. Mia's "I'll plan something for Friday night" (girls' night with Kelly and Lacey, L25144) and MC's "we'll do this Friday night" (jealousy date, L28603) claim the same evening. Only the date happens; Kelly first meets Lacey at the club on N27 (L43319).

Distortions the text itself flags (characterisation, not continuity errors)

These are timeline anomalies that the script explains as MC's distorted perception. They should not be "fixed".

• "The three weeks that changed everything between Lacey and I are a blur to me." (L6432) frames the vagueness of Act 1's late-schedule weeks. It does not excuse the explicit gap markers.
• The captivity's "I think it's been another night, but who the hell knows." (L85657) and "I have no idea what was real and what wasn't the entire time." (L87184). MC's sense of how long he was held is unreliable by design. The header slip above is separate.
• The hallucinated divorce evening of N49 (L82999–83172; "None of that happened", L86238) is time-consistent. Only its content is false.

Leads checked and found consistent (do not re-flag)

• "Four years" vs "four and a half years" apart. Both are right: four is Lacey's degree, 4½ is the time apart, because MC lost a semester (L493, L34743) and the post-call gap was 1½ years (L89135).
• The reunion "about a year ago" vs the first anniversary in Vegas. L82083–82086 says "the past year that I've had with you", which fits a just-turned one-year marriage. The Vegas dinner is a belated first anniversary ("It's only our first", L62713; the real date "came and went", L53479–53481). MC's "One year later" (L57752) is loose (really about 13–14 months) but not an error.
• "Thirteen years" (L7425, L30002) vs "friends since we were six" (L12322). 6 + 13 = 19, matching "until we were nineteen" (L55356). The only issue is the age at high-school graduation (see Ages that don't add up).
• The King-for-a-weekend start (slices 06–08). The weekend does start on a Friday night (# FRIDAY L48304; "Enjoy your weekend… see you on Monday" L49030–49031). The apparent clash ("So, I guess this weekend is cancelled", L47035, on what the slice-08 reader called Friday) comes from the "WEDNESDAY Pt. 2" slip; that day is the author's Thursday.
• Kelly's start date. "first day of work yesterday" (L48351) and "It's only been two days" (L53792) both fit a Thursday start.
• The Isaac affair. "over two years ago" (L29923) and "a couple years ago" (L88704) both fit the end of Lacey's junior year.
• Stephen. "almost two years" since he last saw her (L70893) is plausible if contact continued into senior year.
• Lacey's rehab. "She'll be back in a week and a half" (L105517, Saturday N62) matches two weeks of 24/7 care from Tuesday N58 (L97444–97445).
• The delay before therapy. "wait an entire year before trying to get help" (L38428) matches the first clinic visit at about a year married (N21).
• Barty's wife. Diagnosed "last month" (L6051), "another couple of weeks" (L17327), dead by Vegas ("She did pass away", L60696).
• The Vegas window. "out of pocket until Monday" (L60083), "fly out late tomorrow night" (L66019), "I was only gone for two work days" (L70623), "Only been home two days" (L75080): all consistent.
• Christine's graduation. "Next semester… your last" (N23) and "in a couple months" (N36) are consistent if a new semester starts between them, i.e. late August or early September.

Open calendar questions

The script never pins down the following, and in several cases its own figures pull in different directions. Each is a decision the writer may want to make once and record on a calendar sheet.

1. How long Act 1 really lasts (D0 → N0). The narrator and the pact say three months (L1191, L1925–1945, L7164). The marked gaps say about six weeks (L1959, L2269, L3210, L3916, L6460–6520). Choosing one sets several downstream figures:

   • how long tennis has run (L4929);
   • Sarah's "nine months by this time" (L87239);
   • "the past four months" (L91988);
   • Lacey's "It's only been a month" (L19589).

2. The wedding date and the "real" first anniversary. The anniversary is never shown on its day. It must fall between N0 ("coming up on my one year wedding anniversary", L75) and about two weeks before N35 ("the past couple of weeks", L53664), i.e. roughly N10–N21. That window covers Lacey's trip, the Damian stream, the blackmail and the homecoming. Sarah ties it to "the whole Jared thing" (L90656); Lacey says she "messed up our real anniversary" (L54020). Pinning it to a specific day would make "ruined" literal. The Damian night (N11) and the homecoming confrontation (N19) are the natural candidates, and either gives the late Vegas celebration and the "belated" painting (L82042) a precise referent.

3. The season of the wedding vs the backstory arithmetic. The backstory implies a late-autumn or winter wedding:

   • Lacey leaves "two days after prom" (late spring; L41217, L78653).
   • She is gone 4½ years (L102396, L103375).
   • MC graduates a semester late (L493).
   • The reunion comes "about a week" after his hire (L543), and the wedding about six weeks after that (L710–791).

   With an autumn academic year, that lands in late autumn or winter. Yet the first anniversary arrives amid pool parties, hot tubs and "the hottest day of our trip" in Vegas (L62566), with "autumn sunshine" five weeks later (L93993): a late-summer anniversary. The text even implies an unusual academic calendar: "a couple weeks away from getting a place together and starting college" right after prom (L78652). State the wedding month, or make MC's extra semester a summer term.

4. Which holiday makes the three-day weekend (L88606)? It is unnamed. The clues:

   • Will "graduated from college last month" (L31849, N22).
   • Christine's final semester begins between N23 and N36 (L34429–34431; "You will in a couple months", L54793).
   • Vegas heat (N40).
   • Pool party "Before it starts getting too cold" (L79941, N47); Bradley already planning the "holiday reading program" (L79975); Manny's January wedding (L79112).
   • "autumn sunshine" (N56).

   Together these point to the second Monday of October (US Columbus/Indigenous Peoples' Day). The setting is American: Tennessee land, Congress, "4th of July". That would put N0 in early August and the Act 4 finale (N63) in mid-October. Labor Day would put N57 in early September, which jars with "autumn". Naming the holiday would fix the whole Act 2–4 calendar to real dates.

5. The story year. It is never stated, but it is post-pandemic: "During covid I… got depressed" (L22999); "after Covid started to die down" (L43678). And a 1929 photograph is "almost a hundred years ago" (L105839). So the present is about 2025–2028. A year would let weekdays be checked against a real calendar.

6. MC's and Lacey's birthdays and exact ages. The script's arithmetic gives about 24–25. The text says "early twenties" (L71, L94563). Lacey's birthday is a recurring motif: MC's yearly voicemail (L211, L507), the 11th-birthday gifts (L62096–62106), the 13th birthday (L75820). It is never dated and could anchor a later scene.

7. The unnarrated N3–N5 (Wednesday–Friday after Evan's arrest). Lacey promised to see Veronica "tomorrow" (L7729) and to meet Christine "sometime this week" (L6951); the clinic booking appears by N7 (L11335). A bridge line, or one scene, would also show how quickly Evan's arrest (N2) was processed.

8. The trip schedule. The trip was first described as "leave on a Thursday and be back on Saturday evening or Sunday morning" (L6209, ~D22–29), then as a Wednesday-night departure for "a full week" (L11468–11472), and in the event lasted nine days (N10→N19). Decide whether the second extension is deliberate (and say so) or an artefact.

9. Kelly's stay. "In town for a couple months" (L11053) and "going back home in two months" (L22648) never count down before she relocates at N31. When did she arrive, and when was her original departure date?

10. Christine's dates. She starts on the Monday after the Barty Thursday (L5784; ≈ N−13). Her final semester begins between N23 and N36, and her degree comes "in a couple months" from N36, i.e. about mid-December. Christine's Christmas plans ("Not sure if I can this year", L40130/L42722) can then be dated.

11. Clocks still running at the end of Act 4 (N63, Sunday). Converted to N-days so that Act 5 can be scheduled consistently:

12. Which weekday labels to trust between N22 and N49. Until the three drift slips are fixed (see contradictions), the explicit weekdays in slices 06–14 are one or two days ahead of the narrated count. Anyone writing new scenes into that stretch should follow the author's headers, as the existing dialogue does, and not count days.

Backstory and relationship history

Summary

• Backstory contradictions: 11 items. One is graded Hard error (Lacey's job tenure), one Probable (the Anna–MC timeline is shrunk to "two years"), nine Minor and none Branch-dependent. The childhood and college story is told about ten times (L7520–7720, L9040–9135, L10340–10410, L15015–15260, L28840–28885, L29960–30059, L88950–89155 and others). The core events and their order agree across all of them. The real errors are in the timeline arithmetic, not in the events.
• Knowledge-state errors: one Probable and four Minor. A further nine "who knows what" questions from the reader handoffs were checked, and each has an explicit channel in the text (listed so they are not re-flagged).
• Deliberate retellings: 13 entries. These cover Lacey's lies and understatements that the text itself catches (first lover, enjoyment, Isaac, ketamine counts), Mia's in-persona lies that she later retracts, MC's distortions (one diagnosed in-text by Dr. Sarah), the hallucinated divorce scene and the roleplay variants.
• Corrections to slice notes:
  • Slice 08 D5: "the night I didn't come home" is the slice-01 garden night (L5075).
  • Slice 15 D6: the separation arithmetic adds up.
  • Slice 10 D10: "in love with for 13 years" is consistent with L92802.
  • Slice 07 D23/D51: Isaac's "again" refers to his 2nd visit.
  • Ledger L109953/L110013: Anna has no husband. The line is MC's hypothetical.
• The canonical reference at the end gives the best-supported version of every backstory fact, with line numbers.

Backstory contradictions

Lacey's Brimley tenure: "a few weeks" vs over a year

Hard error

• Version A. Veronica: "Only been here for a few weeks and already giving presentations." (L2504). Also: "there's a company policy you have to work here three months before getting a promotion" (L2509).
• Version B, as established elsewhere:
  • Anna got Lacey hired "just a couple weeks after she started", while MC was still finishing his lost semester (L508–516).
  • Lacey already had the job when she reunited with MC. Of Mia she says "She found a job where I work just last week" (L691), and she visits MC "after work" (L711).
  • The marriage is about nine months old at the story's Wednesday (L75, L1191; Dr. Sarah: "nine months by this time", L87239).
  • Lacey to Stephen, about four months of story time later: "About a year and a half now." (L73732)
• Route: all of these lines are unconditional. L2504 falls about ten days after the Wednesday, when Lacey has been employed for more than a year.
• Verdict: author error. The whole tennis/Jared arc is written as if Lacey were new. She asks "Who's Evan?" (L2038), and Jared courts her as the new junior designer.
• Fix: either have Lacey recently moved into Veronica's art team ("Only been on my team a few weeks"), or rewrite L2504/L2509 around a one-year review ("Your one-year review is coming up and I'll recommend you").

Anna's love for MC is shrunk to "two years"

Probable

• Prologue chronology:
  • MC met Anna in sophomore chemistry (L213–226).
  • Anna's first confession and MC's refusal happen in sophomore year (L258–309).
  • Her second confession comes during his junior-year collapse (Anna's own account, L32846–32870).
  • She stays his friend through senior year (L486) and graduates a semester before him (L500–502).
  • MC takes 4.5 years to finish college (L34743), and roughly a year of reunion and marriage follows.
  • So at story time Anna has loved MC for about 4 years, and about 3 even counting from the junior-year confession.
• The "two years" statements (all unconditional, four different speakers):
  • MC: "We worked that out almost two years ago." Lacey: "No, you worked it out two years ago." (L4266–4267)
  • Anna: "I've loved you for two years." (L17931)
  • Mia: "Anna's been in love with him for like two years." (L22656)
  • Mia: "she's loved [MCFirst] for like two years now" (L72169)
  • MC to Dr. Sarah, on Anna being a stable influence: "Yeah, for a couple of years now." (L82815)
  • Related: Lacey says their college friendship lasted "For about a year." (L34742)
• Verdict: an author slip. The figure is stable across speakers, so it reflects the author's working model and not any one character's distortion.
• Fix: use "four years" or "since sophomore year" at L17931, L22656 and L72169; "since college" at L4266–4267 and L82815.

MC's family: "no family that we knew" vs parents in Germany

Minor

• The prologue's three lines:
  • "My dad was in the military and was stationed in Germany." (L784)
  • "Lacey's parents were the devil made real." (L785)
  • "Neither of us had siblings nor family that we knew." (L786)
• Later lines:
  • The reused texting label says: "My Mom and Dad live in Germany. Dad is in the army and is stationed at Stuttgart." (L40133–40134; same at L41633, L42725, L72392)
  • MC: "I haven't driven a car since I was a teenager living at home." (L91070)
• L786 denies the parents named in the two lines above it, for both spouses. MC's parents never attend the wedding, are never told of any crisis (suicidality, the kidnapping, rehab) and never appear.
• Verdict: a wording slip that leaves a gap: MC's family has no presence at all in the story.
• Fix: "Neither of us had siblings, and no family we could count on." Optionally add one line on why MC doesn't call home.

MC "hasn't driven since a teenager" vs driving to the honeymoon

Minor

• Driving lines:
  • Wedding: "We thanked Anna, Mia and the pastor and drove over to the hotel." (L815)
  • Vegas: "I'm going to drive to the airport in a few hours" (L65336)
• Against:
  • "I'm going to have to relearn how to drive a car though. I haven't driven a car since I was a teenager living at home." (L91069–91070)
  • "it was so easy to just walk or take the train everywhere" (L81369–81372)
• The "we" in L815 could mean Lacey drove. L65336 never happens, because Abby intervenes.
• Fix: L815: "took a cab over to the hotel".

Isaac is still a "rookie quarterback"

Minor

• When Isaac turned pro:
  • He went pro on graduating, at the end of Lacey's junior year. Mia's lesson nine: "It's been recently announced he has been offered millions of dollars to play professional football" (L6872–6873). Mia again: "He was graduating and got a contract" (L15171).
  • Isaac himself: "I wanted to end my college years with a bang" (L28843).
  • MC calls it a "three week sex-a-thon you had over two years ago" (L29923).
• Against: Isaac says "I'm a rookie quarterback." (L42453). He should be in his third professional season.
• Fix: "I'm the new starter" or "third year in the league".

Stephen: "almost two years" since he saw Lacey

Minor

• Stephen asks, "What's it been, like almost two years?" and Lacey answers "Yeah." (L70893–70894).
• But Stephen's time with Lacey was the start of her junior year: "We were all juniors at the time" (L77680; Mia's "first period", L15058–15062). That is about 3.5 years before the present.
• A later campus sighting is possible ("Even after we stopped hanging out, I'd hear epic stories", L77699), but it isn't stated.
• Fix: "What's it been, three, four years?"

Lacey's ketamine tally and "the night I didn't come home"

Minor

• The count. Lacey (L45326–45329): "a few times in my senior year... a couple more times before we got married. Since then, I've used three times. Once I told you about and two I didn't."
  • She names the three as: the trip (L45330); the night MC didn't come home (L45333); and an old-sweatshirt stash (L45354), which L52271–52292 shows was the Barty filming session.
  • But before the trip she had already told MC "I've had a big relapse that has set me back a lot." (L7708). One of the "untold" uses was therefore told, in general terms.
• The senior-year frequency. Lacey says "ten or eleven times in my senior year" (L45415). Mia, via Christine, says "a couple times a month during her senior year" (L98197). Christine herself hedges: "None of us have any real way of knowing."
• "The night I didn't come home" (L45333). MC did come home that night:
  • "When I got home..." he finds Lacey on the bedroom floor (L5075–5099), after walking out of the pizza lunch (L4945–5016).
  • The phrase must mean the night he stayed out late. The event itself is correctly identified, because the Mia/Anna "practical joke" babysit is the next morning (L5314–5339).
  • Note for slice 08's D5: the referent is not the slice-04 Kelly night, and the count does not collapse.
• Fix: "Once I told you about properly, and two I never explained". At L45333: "the night I took off to the gardens".

Lacey phones her mother three days after "a long way away"

Minor

• Thursday: "I think that after I've had a lot more time in therapy, I might decide to reach out to Mom someday... But that's a long way away." (L86621–86624)
• Sunday: Lacey borrows Veronica's office and starts the call herself: "I knew you'd be like this. I don't know why I even bothered." (L95264–95281)
• No trigger is shown. The father's estate papers (L94648) and her relapses (L86648, L91790) are plausible causes.
• Verdict: consistent with her impulsivity, but it reads as a dropped beat.
• Fix: add one line, e.g. "I wasn't going to call her. Then the lawyer's papers came."

MC thinks of Lacey's parents "for the first time in forever"

Minor

• L92779 (Saturday): "Thinking about Lacey's parents for the first time in forever brings back childhood memories."
• But in the days just before:
  • About a week earlier MC told Grace he'd kill them both "if I thought I could get away with it" (L82227–82293).
  • On Thursday he asked Lacey about her father's death (L86606–86624).
  • On Friday he took the Patski call (L89840–89870).
  • Minutes before this line he briefed Bella on "Lacey's family land" (L92692).
• Verdict: narrator hyperbole (rule 2 does not rescue it, because nothing flags it).
• Fix: "Thinking about Lacey's parents again brings back..."

The departure: subway vs train, texting frequency, application timing

Minor

• Station: "subway station" (L173, L41216) vs "train station" (L78653).
• Texting frequency:
  • Lacey: "He texted me every day, usually many, many times." (L41221)
  • MC: "I texted Lacey every couple of days" in year one (L209), and daily only once his junior year began (L325).
• Calendar:
  • Lacey "About two weeks before graduation I applied to a different school" (L41214).
  • She leaves two days after prom (L170, L41216). MC: prom was "only a couple weeks away from getting a place together and starting college" (L78652).
  • So admission and departure both fall within about two weeks of high-school graduation, months before a fall term.
  • MC's "You let me believe that for months. Then you applied somewhere else." (L25298–25300) fits Lacey's version.
• Fix: pick one station. Make it "two months before graduation". Lacey's "every day" can stay as her exaggeration if intended.

Veronica: "I don't have any family"

Minor (peripheral)

• "My career is all I have. I don't have any family." (L23010)
• Against:
  • "My brother and I did every fourth of July." (L50905)
  • "My brother had a motorcycle. He drove me to school on it all the time." (L51024–51025)
  • "not since my grandma passed away" (L78380)
• Fix: "I don't have a family of my own" (consistent with L79092–79095).

Checked and consistent (do not flag)

• The college and separation timeline adds up.
  • Mia met a virgin Lacey "at the beginning of our junior year" (L2150–2152, L2205).
  • Lacey's three "phases" all fall in that year (L10340–10351, L15054–15121, L80664: "Each one of you are from a different phase of my junior year").
  • Isaac's three weeks end with Anna's call (L15164–15174, L55409–55410, L89075–89125). Lacey dates the call "toward the end of my junior year" (L59712).
  • Lacey: "Two years passed" (L88963), then the spiral, then "That year and a half before I saw you" (L89135). That totals four years for Lacey's college and 4.5 years for MC's (L34743, L103375).
  • MC's lost semester (L493) is the spring of junior year, and Isaac's graduation is in the spring. Slice 15's D6 is not an error.
• "Thirteen years" is ages 6 to about 19 (L95, L270, L12322, L41218). MC fell in love at "almost twelve" (L92802, L92833), and "It would be ten more years until she finally loved me back" (L92834). So "the woman I've been in love with for 13 years" (L55022) is accurate (corrects slice 10's D10).
• Kisses:
  • Prom: MC tried to kiss Lacey and she stopped him (L159–161, L78649–78650; Lacey's side L88911–88918).
  • MC's first kiss came after the reunion: "it was my first" (L755–763).
  • "Anna is the only girl besides Lacey I've ever kissed" (L57902) holds on every route. L12000–57902 was searched, and only cheek kisses with others appear.
• Lacey proposed (L782; MC: "before she asked me to marry her", L38427).
• The wedding:
  • A "rose covered chapel" (L788), which matches the "chapel roses" in the anniversary painting (L82155).
  • Attendees were the pastor, Anna and Mia (L793, L813).
  • Lacey's wedding-night tears came with "I'm happier than I've ever been" (L961–966), matching L7692.
• Mia's sealed secret (L3070–3075: "She forgets you" is "not what you think") is that ketamine made Lacey forget MC (L7638–7641).
• Stephen, Dave and Mac are one trio: Mia (L15059–15062), Lacey ("the other two boys", L25387) and Stephen (L73754) all agree.
• Lacey's father is Benjamin Taggert, who dies at L82238; Grace is her mother; Lacey is an only child (L82249, L786). After his death: "Raise my father from the dead" (L91702) and Ryder's pretext (L106450).
• Fireworks: Lacey "always made [MCFirst]" light fireworks (L50900–50902). The rule list says "No loud fireworks... She likes sparklers" (L60298–60299). These are reconcilable.

Knowledge-state errors

Lacey, Mia and Anna know MC's club and meeting time

Probable

• What each person was told:
  • MC to Isaac only: "Our favorite club at 8?" (L75616)
  • To Lacey, MC says only "It's with Isaac. He needs to talk" (L75650–75651). No venue and no time.
  • Lacey had already left before MC got home (L76088).
• What they know at the club:
  • Mia: "If he's supposed to meet Isaac at eight, why is he here?" (L76197)
  • Lacey: "we're here, because we knew he'd be here... he got ready too early and then just came over." (L76199–76200)
• Possible channels, none shown: Isaac telling Mia (they phone each other, L83252–83272), Kelly (who runs MC's calendar), or phone tracking (the crew jokes about GPS, L84325–84328).
• Fix: one line at L76197–76199, e.g. Mia: "Isaac texted me, the idiot".

"Who's Kelly?"

Minor

• What Lacey had been told:
  • Mia named Kelly to Lacey and Anna, and Lacey answered "We should do that this week then. I'd love to meet her." (L11044–11056)
  • MC listed "Mia's friend Kelly" among the party guests (L19516).
• The slip: Lacey later texts "Who's Kelly?" (L21743).
• Mitigation:
  • She corrects herself within three lines: "Oh yeah. I do know her. Well I know of her anyway" (L21746–21748).
  • She was "just about to fall asleep" (L21737).
  • Her memory impairment is canon (L7697–7706).
• Verdict: plausible as written. The cheapest fix is "Kelly? Mia's Kelly?"

Lacey is "sure" which fraternity, despite "no memory"

Minor

• Veronica, about Jared's two videos: "Lacey of course has no memory of any of it." (L22959)
• Months later Lacey is certain: "This was the rich boy fraternity... Those other videos were from a smaller frat... I'm sure." (L108480–108486)
• MC flags it himself: "What about your memory problems?" (L108484).
• Possible readings: she has since seen or been told the contents (Veronica relayed them, L22951–22960), or her amnesia was overstated.
• Fix (optional): "Veronica showed me the stills" or "I remember which house".

Lacey was "excited about you going to therapy" before MC told her

Minor

• L75083 (Tuesday night): "there I was earlier in the day getting excited about you going to therapy."
• MC booked the appointment that afternoon (L73876–73971), and Kelly put it on his calendar (L73979). No scene shows him telling Lacey.
• Lacey knew of his earlier promise, and Kelly reports to Lacey, so an off-screen channel is likely.
• Fix: none needed. Optionally add "Kelly told me you called the clinic."

MC: "If we ever become financially independent"

Minor

• MC to Lacey (L77226), days after she watched him win the tournament:
  • The dealer announces "1st place will win nine hundred thousand dollars" (L69212).
  • They are "celebrating" (L69627).
  • Lacey: "Do you remember how badly I wanted you to win at the poker tournament?" (L77239)
• MC also hides the windfall from Bethany: he'll pay off loans "in a couple of years" (L72619).
• Verdict: this reads as MC hedging under the NDA and his "deposits 31 days apart" (L69530) rather than an error. But L77226 is phrased as if the money did not exist.
• Fix: "Once the poker money lands, I want to make sure we take care of everyone."

Verified channels (do not flag)

• Anna's recording of Lacey and Isaac (L28831–28834): Anna deletes it (L29851). Lacey then confesses under Anna's supervision (L29836–30059). MC never hears the tape.
• Mia's trauma:
  • Lacey knows "she has trauma" but not its cause (L30766–30784).
  • So MC's silence at L78208–78214 and Lacey's coaching ("Do you understand what Mia needs?", L93224–93233) are consistent.
  • MC names no one to Bella (L102911–102913).
  • His "life regret" in the party game is worded so as not to leak it (L49948–49967).
• The house is Isaac's:
  • MC hides it (L55972, L58576, L70455).
  • Isaac lets it slip to Lacey (L86138–86146).
  • The crew knows (L87759–87777), so Bradley's half-sentence (L108977) fits.
• The crew: hidden from Lacey (L45242–45253, L50762–50765) until she asks (L87146).
• The USB envelope: Veronica knows its contents and timing because she is Jared's coerced conduit (L22999–23011).
• How Anna got MC's phone (left open at L401–429): she stole it from his room (L32891).
• How Anna reached Lacey: the school rang Lacey's dorm, and someone drunk answered, "might have been Mia" (L32897–32904). This matches "Mia brought me my phone. I talked with Anna for the very first time" (L89120–89121).
• "Something happened today... that helped wake me up from the delirium" (L444–445): this is Lacey's "reset" during her last night with Isaac (L89100–89115), hours before Anna's call.
• "Isaac came over again" (L38822) refers to his second visit, after the first at L29871–29902 (resolves slice 07's D23/D51).

Deliberate retellings

• Lacey's first lover Certain (lie)
  • Her first account: "I have no idea if that first boy I had sex with was nice. I don't know his name and have virtually no memories of it." (L7648–7649)
  • Later evidence:
    • Mia: "Ah, Stephen... with a 'ph'... I'd say she remembers it pretty well" (L15036–15047).
    • Lacey to Stephen: "I haven't forgotten you." (L70872) To Mia: "Stephen with a ph... Of course I'm fucking sure!" (L70939–70942)
    • In the two-truths game Lacey whispers a true statement: "The second time I had intercourse; the first time hurt too much; the second time felt really good" (L50069–50070).
  • The text flags it: "Another major bunch of lies from Lacey" (L15063), and "this guy she 'doesn't hardly remember' was practically a boyfriend" (L15074).
• Whether Lacey enjoyed sex in college Certain (staged understatement)
  • "Not because it felt good or because I was enjoying any of it" (L7660).
  • "On our wedding night I enjoyed sex for the very first time" (L7691).
  • Then "sometimes the sex felt okay" (L9108–9110).
  • Then "I think I had fun with him" (Lorenzo, L10397–10403).
  • Then the true whisper about her second time (L50069).
  • Finally: "I downplayed that I did enjoy the sex sometimes... I admitted to that already" (L15657–15659).
  • MC's "she told me that I was the first time sex felt 'good'" (L15138) cites the oldest version. Neither of them is lying at that point; the record moved.
• "Nobody asked me out" and the no-attachments rule Probable (minimization)
  • Lacey's claims:
    • "Nobody asked me out on dates. Nobody wanted me as a girlfriend." (L9124–9125)
    • "The minute one of those useless people wanted even a hint of something more. I would immediately kick them to the curb." (L89065–89066)
  • Against them:
    • Lorenzo: "I kind of thought we were starting something" (L9940).
    • Lacey herself: "I guess he got a little crush on me" (L10353).
    • Mia names Stephen, Lorenzo and Isaac as emotional attachments (L15069–15082, L15116, L15200–15203).
    • Isaac: "I was crazy about you" (L28865), after three weeks together.
  • The rule was real ("'No emotional attachments Mia, that's the rule'", L15066). The "immediately" is not.
• Isaac Certain (partial lie, caught in-text)
  • What MC was told: "an awful relationship", "too drunk and high to develop any kind of 'relationship'" (relayed at L29970–29972), "meant nothing" (L29924). During the video playback: "I HATED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!" (L21843).
  • What she tells Isaac: "Of course I did [feel something]... In a sick kind of way I cared for you... For a very short time, I was tempted." (L28861–28884)
  • She then concedes it to MC (L29977–29993).
  • Anna names it: "you lied to [MCFirst] about what really happened for those three weeks" (L29053).
  • Her final account (L89081–89093: "the same as every other time") partly supports the "hated" version.
• Mia's persona lies, all retracted by her Certain
  • Her lies:
    • "I can't even remember his name" (Stephen, L2913).
    • "She stopped missing you soon after this... The next, you didn't exist" (L2367–2370).
    • "she wept as he had his way with her one last time" (Isaac, L6875–6876).
  • Her retractions:
    • "I'm playing a character" (L3133–3135).
    • "The only real lies I told were about me" (L15031).
    • "That one was definitely a lie" (L15205–15213).
  • Separately, Mia's "Lorenzo... first really big one" and "Phillip" as the micro-penis (L15091–15106) were an honest mix-up. Lacey corrects it (L10381, L15604–15616) and Mia retracts: "It's possible I was wrong" (L17456–17460).
• Ketamine counts: understate, then admit Probable
  • "It was a one time thing" (to Mia, on the trip, L13645–13646).
  • "a few times in my senior year" becomes "probably ten or eleven times" within the same dinner (L45326, L45415).
  • "At least that time I didn't do anything stupid" (L45357) is undercut by her recovered memory of Barty filming her while she was high (L52271–52292: "until you brought up that whole 'little bitch' thing, I had forgotten it").
• "None of that was true" Probable (rhetorical over-retraction)
  • To Grace she says "I became a drug addict. I became a whore... I FUCKING LOVED IT!... I've had more dicks in me then there are minutes in a day" (L95339–95346). To MC afterwards: "None of that was true. I said it to hurt her" (L95423–95429).
  • From its own wording, the retraction covers the "loved it" boast ("wanton woman", "crazed druggie").
  • The abuse is corroborated throughout: L7538–7539, L8074, L34936, the rule list at L60264–60317, and L89103.
  • The addiction is real: L89020–89058, L97280.
• Therapy reframing of love
  • "I always told myself that I loved him. But I didn't... When I saw him again after years of being apart... it was the first time I truly loved anything." (L59741–59751; same at L89141–89144)
  • This rewrites her earlier "I do love you" (L448, junior-year call) and "I love you" (L607, reunion) through a therapist's lens. It is not an error.
• The hallucinated divorce scene (L82999–83172)
  • "I didn't feel the way about you that I should... always something missing" (L83061–83068) and "to make you feel safe" (L83144) are MC's hallucination, confirmed at L86238–86276.
  • They are not Lacey's retelling and must not feed her deception tally.
• MC's distortions of the past Probable
  • What Lacey said: "Lacey said... She told me she didn't remember any of them... That she hated every minute of it" (L15268–15272) exaggerates L7648–7660.
  • "Four years" framing: "She was the school whore... While I sat around waiting" (L55372–55374) implies all four years. But the promiscuity was a single year: Mia met a virgin Lacey at the start of junior year (L2150–2152), she quit after the reset at its end (L89115–89117), and in senior year she "never once slept with a stranger" (L45416).
  • Stephen and the cliffs: "fucked my wife... when he was dying inside" and "while I was thinking about jumping off a cliff" (L109951, L109996) are said of Stephen. Stephen was the start of junior year; the cliffs came at its end. Dr. Sarah names exactly this blending: "Whenever I talk about back then, I always say 'while I was going through this, you were doing that'" (L82762–82769).
  • Why he waited:
    • The narration says it was a chosen, protective wait: "I had to let her go. Wait until she was finally done destroying herself" (L92867–92869).
    • To Lacey he says it was paralysis: "We agreed that you and I weren't together... I felt paralyzed" (L95508–95518).
  • To the estate attorney: "Lacey has clearly stated she does not wish to be contacted... she wishes me to take care of whatever is needed" (L89854–89855). Nothing on screen supports this; Lacey's only statement is L86614–86624.
• MC's omission to Jeanette Certain
  • "I did end up having a one night relationship with someone other than Lacey." Then, privately: "No reason to mention it was twice." (L32578–32581; the two were Anna and Kelly)
• Mia's "virgin"
  • "you know I'm a virgin right?... I just kind of have some weird hangups" (L16389–16391) comes before her disclosure of being raped at fifteen (L29451–29497).
  • Later lines confirm she means consensual virginity: MC's thoughts at L78208–78214 and "I'm taking Mia's consensual virginity tonight" (L92479).
  • Not an error.
• Roleplay variants (not canon)
  • The prom roleplay's spicy and hurt branches make Lacey "the school slut" and have MC asking her to prom (L47301–47360, L47589–47660). Canon: she asked him (L144, L46096, L78639).
  • The call_0013 Damian retellings are labeled "no effect on game" (L15946, L16115).
  • "None of them got to feel my lips touch theirs" (L31597–31601) sits inside a "*** Player Choice (No Effect on Story) ***" NTR-roleplay option (L31019, L31562).

Canonical backstory as best established

World facts and script logic

Summary

1. Counts: 40 graded items: 4 Hard, 10 Probable (one is an identity finding, not a defect), 26 Minor, 0 Branch. Everything was checked in L&J.rpy (±20 lines, same-route reachability). Slice-note suspicions that turned out to be fine are listed under "Checked, not defects" at the end of each section.
2. The world holds together better than the slice notes suggest. Brimley (Lacey's employer) and Electro Billing (MC's) are two separate companies and are never mixed up. The Monster is consistently Martin Vindrelli, Brimley's head corporate attorney, across eight slices. The Taggert land terms agree in all five sources. The final poker hand is dealt correctly.
3. Hard defects:
   • Lacey "only been here for a few weeks" (L2504) against her real tenure of a year or more.
   • The Act 3 CHRISTINE_nickname retro-fix overrides a player who refused the nickname.
   • The textLI Jeanette text #2 refers to a conversation that happens the next day.
   • The slut aside at L28710 recounts a scene the player may have declined.
4. Probable defects:
   • Who finances Barty (Morris or not?).
   • The deepfake double is called Katherine in Act 3 and Maxine in Act 4.
   • About $70K of poker chips appears from nowhere before the final round.
   • Pauline/Paulina and Gothic/"Black Dhalia".
   • Lacey's leave: "no benefits" against "fully covered".
   • Stale Bethany text after the $900K win.
   • bimbo is read but never set.
   • good_guy promises a game over at zero but nothing checks it.
5. Minor items are mostly naming slips (Philip/Phillips, Steven, Christina, Issac, Electro Corp, Bernard/Bernardo, and Lacey's father called "the monster") and code hygiene (the Anna_love typo, an unscored game round, a feedback line after return, flags that are never read, and gaps in video_number).

Organisations, jobs and titles

Two employers, kept apart correctly, with one "Electro Corp" slip Minor

Several slice notes (05 D3.7, 06 D12, 13 D24, 17 G14, 18 D7) suspected that Brimley and Electro Billing are the same company. They are not, and the script never mixes them. The ledger:

This also explains why Stephen asks MC "Are you like a system admin or something?" (L111051–111055): MC doesn't work at Brimley, so there is no error there. The only slip is L34858, MC: "She is officially an Electro Corp service desk team member." Fix: change L34858 to "Electro Billing".

Lacey "only been here for a few weeks" against more than a year of employment Hard error

(This overlaps the calendar analysis. It is listed here as an employment fact.)

• L2504, Veronica: "Only been here for a few weeks and already giving presentations." L2509: "there's a company policy you have to work here three months before getting a promotion."
• Against that: L515–516, "Anna's company had an opening for a junior graphic designer. She was able to get Lacey hired on just a couple weeks after she started." This happens before MC graduates (L520), and therefore before the courtship and the roughly nine-month marriage. L73732, Lacey to Stephen: "About a year and a half now."
• Both lines are unconditional, so every route sees the clash.

Fix: at L2504, change to something like "Not even a year here and already giving presentations". At L2509, either drop the three-month policy or make the barrier something else (for example "promotions only happen in the annual cycle").

Lacey's real promotion is promised three times and never happens on-page Minor

• First promise, L2508–2510: "recommending you for a promotion in a couple months... junior graphic designer to graphic designer comes with a nice 20%% pay bump."
• Second, L11478: "I have plans to get her a promotion next month."
• Third, L31849–31853: a new junior designer "will backfill me when I move up to designer in a couple weeks... it's already been approved it just has to go through HR."
• After that she simply calls herself a designer: "at work, they call me a graphics designer" (L36708), "I'm a graphic designer" (L41080). No scene, text or line ever records the promotion or the raise. Later, "promotion" only refers to Jared's fake job (L91625–91663).

Fix: add one line after L31853, at the slumber-party weekend or at L43158 where Anna's own small promotion is celebrated, e.g. Lacey: "And HR finally signed off. Graphic designer, no more 'junior'."

Will: "just graduated from college last month" against an early-thirties ex-guitarist Minor

• L31849, introducing the new junior designer: "I guess they just graduated from college last month."
• L34143–34145, about the same hire: "he's not some young kid. He's in his early thirties. He was lead guitarist in a band for ten years."
• Erica's later history of Will (L106655–106661) goes from band and tattoo parlour to "found work as a graphic designer", with no degree in between. Will and Erica have been together "almost eleven years" (L39251).
• Lacey later retracts other parts of the L34138 report (the two-hour dance and the butt grab, L34272–34278) but not this part.

A late graduate is possible, but the three accounts don't line up. Fix: at L31849, change to "I guess they're a career-changer, just finished a design certificate", or drop the graduation detail.

Lacey's leave: "no pay or benefits" against "fully covered" Probable

• L97447–97448: "Veronica is having HR put me on long term leave. I won't get paid or receive benefits."
• L97520–97521, same conversation: "The reason work is putting me on leave rather than just firing me is they wanted to make sure it would be fully covered. It won't cost us anything out of pocket."
• L97645, MC: "Plus I need to keep up our medical and dental insurance." This implies that MC's plan, not Brimley's, covers them.

Fix: at L97448, change to "I won't get paid, but they're keeping my insurance active for the program".

Checked, not defects: MC's titles are consistent: data center admin (L537, L14545), then "Director of IT" (L26525, L44225), with Jeanette's "You're an executive director" (L45536) meaning "an executive". Jared's real title (L2050, L2547) and his fake offer to Lacey, "Junior VP of Marketing Design" (L4804), stay distinct. Kelly's two employers are consistent: a vendor whose software "Brimley bought from my company" (L24424), then MC's admin (L46437). Anna moves from "business analyst" (L510) to "lead analyst in my group" (L43164).

Antagonist identities and relationships

The Monster is Martin Vindrelli, Brimley's head corporate attorney, and every slice is consistent with that Probable

(Graded Probable because the narration never says "Martin is The Monster" in so many words. In practice it is near-explicit.)

Two clues are fair-play and well placed: Martin's "glue" line at L84996 directly quotes TM's text at L44289, and Martin knows MC's name at L23434 even though MC called anonymously. Slice 15 D1 thought Veronica gave two versions of whose favour it was ("it wasn't for you... You did it for Lacey? / Yes." L88327–88329, against "The original debt is only for you. I've asked him to watch over Lacey as well." L88344–88345). The slice-14 call settles it. The original debt bought MC's protection: "You told me to protect [MCFirst]. That's all I'm willing to do." (L85010–85011). Lacey's protection is a new deal, paid for with the land (L85042–85060). Her motive was Lacey; the debt itself covered MC. So the two statements don't contradict each other.

Vince Patski is not The Monster. This answers the slice 18 handoff question. Patski is "an attorney acting on behalf of Benjamin Taggert's estate" (L89843–89844, tag VP). Hortensa mails the estate a copy (L105757). Veronica couriers a separate copy to The Monster (L107225).

Fix: none needed for continuity. Optional: if MC is ever meant to work out who The Monster is, he has already heard Martin's voice (L23391–23434), so a line acknowledging that would be fair.

Who funds Barty? Veronica names Morris; Morris denies it "unequivocally," and nobody resolves it Probable

• Slice 11, L61650–61660: Veronica: "Phillips' Management. I think I found out where he got his cash infusion from." The unnamed caller: "No small potatoes property management company is going to find an angel investor willing to toss in four million dollars." Veronica: "It's an outfit called the Morris Investment Cooperative."
• Slice 17, L98624–98626: MC: "Are you the people financing Barty Phillips?" Bernard Switzer: "Let me state unequivocally that we do not do business with Mr. Phillips or his company." L98662: "One of them [another firm] is financially backing Phillips' Management."
• TM later warns MC "not to trust the cooperative" (L98750) and says "Count on everyone doing their best to keep you confused" (L101751–101752). Neither Veronica nor TM ever says whether Veronica's $4M attribution was wrong.

It is either a planted lie by Bernard or a research error by Veronica, and the text never says which. Fix: add one TM line in sms_0066 (around L101806), e.g. "Veronica's lead was wrong. Morris was outbid; the money behind Barty comes from the third group." Or, if Bernard is lying, have MC note it: "Veronica traced the four million to Morris. Either she's wrong or he just lied to my face."

Katherine or Maxine: the deepfake body double has two names Probable

• Slice 10: Mia says Will is "really into that new blonde girl in the document pool" (L54610). Will tells Barty the deepfake double is "an intern at my work. She needs money for school." (L55636–55637). Lacey asks about "that blonde girl from the document pool", and Will answers: "Katherine? Yeah, she's a real sweetheart." (L56843–56845)
• Slice 18: Erica says Will "kept talking about this girl. Some young blonde from work that he was off and on again with" (L106684). Barty's prisoner is "Maxine" (L107982), and Barty tells her: "You made the video with me and my dearest friend Reggie." (L108039). Reggie is the man in the deepfake (L51386–51761, L53107).
• So the blonde at Will's work who made the Reggie video is Katherine in Act 3 and Maxine in Act 4. Nothing establishes two different women.

Fix: rename "Katherine" to "Maxine" at L56845. Alternatively, have Barty or Will make clear that Katherine and Maxine are different women.

Lacey's father is also "the monster" Minor

L95365, Lacey to her mother: "Because you refused to have the courage to save me from the monster that you called your husband." The Monster has been a named character since L42538, and MC's list of threats at L92692 reads "Barty, Will, Cal, The Monster, and Lacey's family land". Slice 16 G10 shows a reader already confusing the two. Fix: change L95365 to "the animal you called your husband", or another noun.

Checked, not defects:

• Barty is the masked voice FAV, unmasked at L59226–59248 ("Trust me Cal." / "Okay Dad."). He is the landlord through "Phillips' Management" (L57255, L61650). Cal is his son, "32 years old" (L59277), with a "downtown apartment" (L85894).
• Will Ravenstone works for Barty (L74112).
• Jared Hoffman is Christine's uncle (L20545), Bella Lindenmann's fiancé (L23142, L23621), and is fired by the Brimley board (L25985–25991). Bella still describes him as "completely financially dependent on me" (L40487 = L72911).
• Ryder works first for Morris ("He is an employee of the cooperative." L98701), then is fired and hired by Beddingham (L105589–105598). The two calls are consistent.
• The count of rival firms holds once you separate land developers from financiers:
  • Grace: "Three different land development firms" (L82262).
  • Bella: "a half dozen land development firms... four different finance companies" (L102669–102672).
  • Bernard: Morris plus "three other finance companies" (L98658).
  • TM: "the fourth company" (L101790).
  • Bernard calls Beddingham "the third financial firm" (L105604), which only works if Morris counts as the first. TM's own list (L101805–101810) uses that same numbering.
• Anna is Korean (Barty: "She's Korean Cal." L59260; "Anna Yoon", L50860). Cal calling her "Japanese" (L59259, L84133) is a deliberate running joke.

Places and property

The "house" is a rented apartment for the first half of the script Minor

Before the move, MC's home is called "my/our/your house" 45 times (e.g. L5846, L13603, L17202, L38738, L43737, L46917). But it is plainly rented:

• "No more rent or bills." (L13702)
• Barty's "Their lease isn't up for another two months." (L55628)
• "the apartment complex" (L51793)
• Nancy, after the movers: "For a starter apartment, this place is pretty nice... It's a shame Phillips' Management owns the place." (L57251–57255)

The pool and hot tub belong to the complex: Barty watches them on "an external security camera, built 30 years ago" (L55619). Slice readers raised this three times (03 D16, 08 D16, 09 #8). "House" reads as colloquial, but it clashes with the later plot point that MC is buying a house. Fix: do a global pass on lines before L57250 and change "house" to "place" or "apartment" wherever MC means his home.

Isaac's house: a $3M listing that later becomes a "two million dollar mansion" Minor

• Nancy: "it's expected to sell for around three million... the owner is willing to sell for three hundred thousand." (L54362–54364). "You'd be moving into a house that you immediately have over two million in equity." (L55949; $3M − $0.3M is consistent with that.)
• Later, MC: "Can someone explain why I'm living in a giant two million dollar mansion?" (L104853). Jeanette: "Who lives in a two million dollar house?" (L105079).

Fix: use "three million dollar" at L104853 and L105079.

Hortensa says she'll hold the papers until Monday; the same Saturday, TM says she has filed Minor

• L105754–105756 (under the # SATURDAY header at L105278): "I'm going to hold on to everything until Monday. First, I'll go through it all doing my due diligence. Once I feel comfortable with it, I'll submit an electronic copy to the county clerk's office."
• L107227, the same Saturday evening (Sunday starts at L108199): TM: "We've already received a notice that your attorney has filed the papers".
• She does say "I know what I'll be working on today and tomorrow." (L105772), so an early filing is possible, but it is never stated.

Fix: change L105754 to "I'll file as soon as I've done my due diligence. Probably this weekend."

"Legal guardian", and notarising without the signatory Minor

L105640: "I list myself as Lacey's spouse and legal guardian." A power of attorney doesn't make someone a guardian. Guardianship is court-ordered, and the "diminished capacity" angle MC uses later (L111730) depends on getting this right. L105642–105648: MC alone gets "three notarized copies of both the property inheritance and the power of attorney". That works only as certified copies of documents Lacey already signed with the clinic's witness (L103561–103563, L103589–103591), and the text doesn't say so. Fix: at L105640, change to "I sign as Lacey's attorney-in-fact under the power of attorney." At L105648, change to "certified copies".

MC's parents in Germany against "nor family that we knew" Minor

• L784–786, at the wedding: "My dad was in the military and was stationed in Germany. Lacey's parents were the devil made real. Neither of us had siblings nor family that we knew."
• L40133–40134 (repeated verbatim at L42725–42726): "My Mom and Dad live in Germany / Dad is in the army and is stationed at Stuttgart".

MC has two living, contactable parents, so "nor family that we knew" is wrong for him. Fix: at L786, change to "Neither of us had siblings, and none of our family would be there."

MC will "drive to the airport" with no car, and hasn't driven since he was a teenager Minor

L65336 (Vegas): "I'm going to drive to the airport in a few hours and get the first flight home." But L81371–81374 says "I really need a car... I'm going car shopping tomorrow." and L91069–91070: "I'm going to have to relearn how to drive a car though. I haven't driven a car since I was a teenager living at home." Fix: at L65336, change to "I'm going to the airport".

Checked, not defects:

• Isaac's mansion "on the north side" (L21518) is the North Greendale house (L54359); he has moved to the Palisades (L54378).
• The Taggert land terms are consistent everywhere:
  • Grace: "can only be inherited by a Taggert" (L82247).
  • Patski: "She may not sell the land. Only a child of hers can inherit" (L89870–89872).
  • Hortensa: "can't sell or lease... enshrined in their state laws since Tennessee was founded" (L105780–105781).
  • TM: "you can't give the property away or sell it" (L101800).
• The location is the same throughout: east Tennessee, the Unaka Mountains (L82244, L89881, L102669).
• "Cabins built... about 150 years ago" (L89884) and "Eight generations... as much as 250 years" of ownership (L105769) describe different things.
• Lacey's "You can have it, or you can get rid of it" (L103574) and "give it away" (L103598) are her own ignorance, not an authorial slip.
• The guest room exists both in the apartment (L25805, L38957, L43846) and at Veronica's (L78263).

Money and numbers

Poker buy-in: $38K of chips, or $48K? Minor

L68350: "The entry fee is ten thousand. I highly recommend buying in with an additional forty to one hundred thousand." L68359, MC: "I'll pay the ten thousand and buy in... an additional thirty eight thousand?" That gives a $38K stack. But after round one, L68649–68650: "I'm sitting at $41,000 / Down seven thousand dollars.", which assumes a $48K stack. Fix: change L68650 to "Up three thousand dollars." Or make the stack $48K by having MC buy in for $38K on top of a "$10K entry that converts to chips".

MC's chips grow by about $70K off-screen before the final round Probable

• Round two ends at Abby's estimate: "Rough estimate, he has about $90,000 in chips." (L68807). Abby and Jeanette then add a $48K re-buy (L68819–68820, L68866).
• Round three: "I'm sitting just a little under $144,000." (L68917), then "I will now be in for $18,000." and "I fold." (L68928–68937). He wins nothing else, and the last hand of the round goes to Cowboy (L68953).
• That leaves MC around $126–134K. Yet Abby says "he has to walk away from almost two hundred thousand dollars" (L69038), and MC, after losing $26K in the final round: "I still have just over $180,000 in chips" (L69284), which implies about $206K going in.

Fix: change L68917 to "just a little under $214,000". Or change L69038 to "well over a hundred thousand" and L69284 to "just over $100,000" (and adjust "Chao only has a few thousand more than me" at L69286).

"The fourth worst full house" was the worst one Minor

L68954: "I actually had the fourth worst full house." The four hands were Cowboy queens full of 2s, Chao 9s full of queens, Thor 7s full of queens and MC 2s full of queens (L68949–68953). Out of four, MC's was the worst (equivalently, the fourth best). Fix: "I actually had the worst of the four full houses."

Cross-reference: the Bethany text in the post-Vegas menu, "With my recent income adjustment I'll be able to pay off mine and Lacey's in a couple of years" (L72619), comes the same afternoon MC tells the IT crew he won "around... nine hundred thousand dollars" (L71174). It is graded and fixed under Variables ("Recycled text #1 for Bethany").

Checked, not defects:

• The final hand is correct. The slice 12 note D-2 is mistaken. MC holds 5♠3♠; the board is 2♠ 5♦ A♠ 5♥ 4♠ (L69375–69429). Pocket 5 plus 5♦ 5♥ makes "three of a kind" on the turn (L69414). The river completes A-2-3-4-5 in spades, a five-high straight flush (L69467).
• The other hands also follow from that board: Thor 44 + 4♠ + 5♦5♥ is "4s full of 5s"; Cowboy 5♣2♣ is "5s full of 2s"; Chao Q♥3♥ makes the A-5 straight. MC's mid-hand misread of his own cards is characterisation.
• Payouts: 150K + 300K + 900K = $1.35M, which is 90% of $1.5M (L69208–69212). The four ladies' evaluations, including Lacey's "two hundred and fifty thousand", total $770K (L69141–69194). The prize arrives as four equal deposits (L69530, L74088).
• Barty's "four million dollars" (L61653) agrees with "a few million dollars at his disposal" (L88406).
• Mia's rent and debts stay consistent (L60915–60922, L61536–61575, MC's overpayment L79536).

Names, spellings and descriptions

"Mistress Pauline" becomes "Mistress Paulina" Probable

Introduced as "Pauline": "My name is Mistress Pauline." (L68097), "Good evening Pauline." (L68098), "Mistress Pauline" (L68111). Then "Bye Mistress Paulina." (L68290) and, a slice later, "icky things with Mistress Paulina." (L77369). Fix: settle on one spelling (three uses against two) and update L68290 and L77369, or the reverse.

The "Gothic Dahlia" becomes the "Black Dhalia/Black Dahlia" in a text Probable

The club is "the Gothic Dahlia" fourteen times (L64872, L64924, L66521, L71144, L73044, L82492…). Jeanette's text #2 calls it "the Black Dhalia stuff" (L72535). MC's reply has a second variant: "bring you back to the Black Dahlia?" (L72561). Fix: "Gothic Dahlia" in both.

Phillips / Philip / Phillip, and a clash with Lacey's college "Phillip" Minor

Barty's company is "Phillips' Management" at L57255, L61650, L98635 and L98662, but Halima says "Philip's Management" (L78576) and a technician says "Barty Phillip's circle of influence" (L85496). Separately, one of Lacey's college partners is "Phillip" (L15091, L15606–15610, L17453). Readers will connect the two names. Fix: "Phillips'" at L78576 and "Barty Phillips's" at L85496. Consider renaming the college Phillip (for example "Philippe" or another name).

One-off misspellings Minor

• L70940: Mia: "Steven with a... oh fucking fuck." This undercuts the running "Stephen with a 'ph'" joke. Use "Stephen".
• L103399: "Christina tried to tell me this." Should be Christine.
• L76720: "Issac has a big grin on his face." Should be Isaac.
• L34858: "Electro Corp" (see Organisations).

Bernard Switzer and Bernardo-in-Brazil Minor

Electro Billing has "Bernardo at our office in Brazil" (L26592, L26899, L56151). The Morris representative is "Bernard Switzer" (L98599–98605, L105580). Slice 18 D23 already mixed them up. Fix: rename one of them.

Jamie: one "their" in a scene that otherwise uses "he/his" Minor

On the JAMIE_lover route, L78976 reads "lifts up his sweater", but L79000 reads "Jamie slides their hand up and down". Everywhere else, including the HRT and surgery threads (L90819, L99170), the narration uses "he". Fix: "his hand" at L79000, unless the switch is meant to mark something, in which case it needs setting up.

The same person under different speaker tags Minor

Players don't see this, but it matters for any cast database or reader:

• Martin speaks as UM (L23391, L61613–61670, L84982–84991), MV (L23393–23434, L84995–85081), TH (L84661–84711) and texts as TM_nvl.
• Erica is ER up to L95174 and E from L98794.
• Will is WR and WI.
• Mistress Pauline is BDSMG and MIP.

Fix: one tag per character, with TM_nvl kept for the texts.

Checked, not defects:

• Lacey's "green eyes" (L92, L92807) and "wavy brown hair" (L92). The deepfake double is noticeably blonde ("why is her hair blonde in that frame?" L53066), and Barty's "You really do look like her too. Blonde. Breasts are too big." (L108073–108074) lists the ways Maxine differs from Lacey.
• Veronica is blonde with "big, blue eyes" (L20923, L78088–78091). Bethany has red hair and blue eyes (L12299, L56349). Ryder has "piercing grey eyes" (L96564).
• Erica's tattoo pays off: "I'm going to get laser removal on this stupid tattoo he gave me." (L79660), then MC: "didn't she have a tattoo on her arm?" (L99701). Will "worked at a tattoo parlor" (L106657).
• These names are stable throughout: Hortensa (with the deliberate "Mrs." joke, L103053–103136), Dianne, Popplemeyer, Demonte, Vindrelli, Lindenmann, Taggert, Waterston, Yoon, Wilson, Baker, Brantley.

Variable and branch-logic defects

CHRISTINE_nickname: the Act 3 "fix" overrides a refusal Hard error

• Set: L48952 ($ CHRISTINE_nickname = True only under "I actually have a secret one that I never say out loud"). The other option, "You don't really need one" (L48945), sets nothing, and Christine answers "Whatever."
• Retro-fix: at the top of scene003, L55675–55677: # Fix Christine nickname variable problem / if CHRISTINE_love >= 20: / $ CHRISTINE_nickname = True.
• Read: L54822–54823 MC "Bye Cotton Candy.", L57357, L72421–72422 MC_nvl "Hey Cotton Candy", L76075, L90961, L107439, L109536.
• Failing route: the player turns down the nickname but has CHRISTINE_love ≥ 20 from other choices: +10 "Don't say no" (L14827), +5 thank-you (L14916), +5 one route text (L40176/41676/42768), +10 "sweet, but bossy little intern" (L42565). The minimum is 20 (L14827 + L42565) and the maximum without the nickname is 30. That player is then told "Cotton Candy" for the rest of the game.
• Fix: record the refusal ($ CHRISTINE_nickname_declined = True under L48945) and change L55676 to if CHRISTINE_love >= 20 and not CHRISTINE_nickname_declined:. Better still, since L48952 now sets the flag correctly, limit the retro-fix to saves that predate the fix.

Jeanette text #2 refers to a conversation that hasn't happened yet Hard error

• Set: JEANETTE_text_number = 2 at L40244 / L41744 / L42836, i.e. the player texted Jeanette in any of the Act 2 text menus.
• Read: textLI is called from the Monday-evening gym scene (L72294). L72527 if JEANETTE_text_number == 2: leads to L72535: "Did our talk about the Black Dhalia stuff help you or make it worse?" MC: "It helped a lot."
• Failing route: every player who texted Jeanette earlier. The talk being referred to is the Tuesday "chai" conversation the following morning (L73115–73121, "I could use a chai."). That scene presents itself as the first such talk: Jeanette says "I've been thinking about it a lot for the past two days... Enough to share my thoughts at least." (L73137–73139), then "None of it was actual sex." (L73201). In Vegas she had refused to tell him: "No way in hell I'm doing that." (L66527).
• Fix: move call textLI from L72294 to after the chai scene (Tuesday evening). Or set $ j_chai_talk = True after L73305 and, under L72527, branch to an alternative #2 when it's False. Also fix "Dhalia" (see Names).

Recycled text #1 for Bethany is out of date after the $900K win Probable

• Set: BETHANY_text_number stays at 1 if the player never texted Bethany in Act 2.
• Read: L72588 if BETHANY_text_number == 1: plays a verbatim copy of the Act 2 text (identical to L40285 / L41785 / L42877), including L72619 "With my recent income adjustment I'll be able to pay off mine and Lacey's in a couple of years".
• Failing route: Bethany not texted before Vegas. MC has just told Christine, Yue and Jamie "around... nine hundred thousand dollars" (L71174), and Halima will later plan "the four deposits you have coming in" (L78572).
• Fix: edit only the textLI copy at L72619, e.g. "With the money I brought back from Vegas I'm finally paying off mine and Lacey's loans". The textLI call always comes after the win.

slut aside recounts a scene the player can decline Hard error

• Set: slut = True at L8445, an Act 1 choice.
• Choice not recorded: the slut-night menu at L27446 offers "Tell Lacey you want to go through with her plan" (only $ LACEY_love += 10) or "Thank her for trying, but end tonight early" (L27990, which sets nothing).
• Read: the next morning, L28710 if slut == True: gives MC: "My wife did something for me last night... She interrupted me and asked if I would allow her to prove that she understood. I let her and she was absolutely correct." (L28711–28718). That refers to L27738–27745, which happens only on the "go through" branch.
• Failing route: slut == True plus "end tonight early". MC tells Jeanette about an evening that didn't happen.
• Fix: add $ slut_night01_done = True under L27447 and change L28710 to if slut == True and slut_night01_done == True:.

bimbo is read but never assigned Probable

• Read: L83313 if slut == True or bimbo == True: (sets Lacey's Act 4 wardrobe) and L96066 if slut == True or bimbo == True: (MC: "That's new... and... not a lot of actual clothing.").
• Set: nowhere. Only bimbo_possibility (L49537) and what_if = "bimbo" (L50181) exist. If bimbo has a default elsewhere, the clause is dead code. If it doesn't, a non-slut player hits a NameError at L83313.
• Intent: almost certainly bimbo_possibility == True or what_if == "bimbo". Note that bimbo_possibility can only be set inside if slut == True: (L49529), so on that reading the or adds nothing anyway.
• Fix: change both lines to if slut == True or what_if == "bimbo": (if the bimbo "what if" choice should change Lacey's wardrobe), or delete the clause. Make sure default bimbo_possibility = False exists.

good_guy: the promised game over has no check behind it Probable

• Promise: Author's note at L47565–47569: "Your 'Good Guy' score allows you to make a certain number of asshole decisions... if you let it drop to zero, you will get a game over/bad ending."
• Sets: 16 changes, for example −5 L8462, −10 L31795, −10 L47578, −5 L58047, −5 L80326, −5 L81008, −5 L95895, −20 L99595, −20 L106760, −30 L110487.
• Reads: none apart from the three feedback strings (L8463, L31796, L47579). No line in v0.4a compares good_guy with zero. Only 3 of the 16 changes show feedback.
• Failing route: on the slut route, taking every harsh option costs about 110 points, and nothing happens.
• Fix: add a shared label check_good_guy: with if good_guy <= 0: jump bad_end_goodguy, call it after each decrement, and show the "You feel less good" line every time. Otherwise, reword the author's note to say the ending effect arrives in a later act.

sex_during_rehab == 0 is the wrong test at the end of Act 4 Minor

• Set: +1 at L98319 (Veronica BJ), L101612 (Anna/Mia hot tub), L104077 (Yue) and L107654 (Christine sex). The counter includes non-intercourse acts.
• Reads: L108362 if sex_during_rehab >= 1 and MC_C_sex == 0: gives MC "I haven't had actual sex yet." and Lacey "That better be fixed by tomorrow." (L108367). But L111577 if sex_during_rehab == 0: gives "She is going to be ticked that I didn't do anything yet. / I'll figure it out tomorrow."
• Failing route: "played around" but no intercourse. Lacey's deadline applies to this player, yet the reminder at the end of the act is skipped.
• Fix: change L111577 to if MC_C_sex == 0: and the line to "...that I still haven't actually had sex with anyone."

Anna_love = 200 writes to a new variable Minor

L81432 $ Anna_love = 200 (under "You know I love kissing you", next to $ ANNA_lover = True). Everywhere else the variable is ANNA_love (L17945, L49492, L49954, L58107–58111). Python is case-sensitive, so ANNA_love is never maxed on this route. Nothing reads it later, so for now only the stat display is wrong. Fix: $ ANNA_love = 200.

Two-truths scoring: Veronica's round 2 never scores, and the total says "out of 11" Minor

L49914–49920: "I let a boyfriend talk me into having a threesome with him and one of my exes" leads to V: "Yes, this is absolutely a lie." There is no $ kfaw_game01_score += 1, unlike the eleven other correct picks (L49689 … L50138). L50215: "your final score tonight was [kfaw_game01_score] out of 11." Fix: add $ kfaw_game01_score += 1 under L49920, change "11" to "12" at L50215, and shift the thresholds at L50216–50222 by one.

Bella text option: the feedback line sits after return Minor

L72349–72351: $ BELLA_love += 5 / return / "You feel Bella cares for you more \n (Bella Love = [BELLA_love])". The feedback line can never be reached. The other five options show the line and then return. Fix: swap L72350 and L72351.

The both-False Jeanette path promises a talk that never happens Minor

L11134–11170 sets J_date01 (if JEANETTE_love == 10 and "I'd love to") or J_lunch01 (if == 5), or neither. With both False, MC says "I need to sit down and talk to Jeanette today at work." (L31885), but J_event01 is gated on J_lunch01 == True (L32392). No talk follows; JEANETTE_lover stays unset and becomes JEANETTE_reject = True at L55682–55683. Fix: add a short office scene on the both-False path, or change L31885 to "I need to find time to talk to Jeanette this week."

YUE_breasts: the offer is left hanging if Yue is later turned away Minor

Set at L73667 ("Go make an appointment. Send me the bill and I'll pay for it."). The only payoff is L104241–104249 ("You know we talked about me getting some plastic surgery"), which sits inside if YUE_netori == True: (L103683). L99236–99238 lets the player then set YUE_reject = True / YUE_netori = False. On that route the offer to pay is never mentioned again, whereas JAMIE_breasts gets a payment beat (L90819). Fix: add a short Kelly or Yue line on the reject branch (pay quietly, or Yue declines).

Flags that are set but never read Minor

These are future hooks, but players are told some of them matter now:

• LACEY_ntrs and LACEY_jealousydate (L94289–94290). The menu text says it "allows Lacey to engage in NTRS scenarios... allows more options for Lacey to help you in future situations".
• start_over_endings (L87867/87876)
• erica_hot (L71723)
• ERICA_care (L106755)
• JAMIE_breasts_wait (L78942, "Would it be okay if we waited until after you get your surgery?"; the "after surgery" follow-up never checks it)
• MC_J_foreplay (L78956)
• V_albert_sex (L101001)
• yue_appointment (L70639)
• strippers_name (L69836/69925/70013)

Fix: none needed for 0.4a. Keep a list of these flags so Act 5 actually reads them, and consider softening the LACEY_ntrs tooltip to "may affect later acts".

video_number and the after_*_videoNNN labels use unrelated numbering Minor

There are 33 video_number assignments (1–34). 24 is never assigned. The per-character label suffixes don't follow story order: after_lacey_video004 (L62605) comes before after_lacey_video001 (L62668); after_lacey_video003 (L74702) comes before after_lacey_video002 (L75301). after_jeanette_video002 (L3805) and after_kelly_video002 (L24692) have no matching 001. If the gallery or replay screen maps numbers to labels, check these pairs. If not, this is only housekeeping.

Gates that work today but will break silently Minor

• CHRISTINE_love >= 10 stands in for "got the blowjob" at L14969 and L15433 ("I got a blowjob from Christine today."). It works only because L14827 is the first CHRISTINE_love increment in the script. Any earlier increment added in a revision will make a player who refused hear the line. Use MC_C_foreplay >= 1 (set at L14828), as L17129, L18106, L19023 and others already do.
• JEANETTE_love == 10 / 5 / 0 (L11134 / L11163 / L11170) works only because L11098 is the first increment. Use >= 10 / >= 5 / else.

Checked, not defects:

• The text-menu thresholds (L72300–72311) are correct. Slice 12 D-13 says the counter is incremented before the label runs. In fact call X_sms_new (e.g. L72317) runs before $ X_text_number += 1 (L72318). A counter of 1 shows text #1 and a counter of 2 shows text #2. The max values of 3 (Christine/Jeanette/Bethany/Kelly) and 2 (Yue and Bella, which only have text #1) hide the option exactly when no text is left. The real textLI defects are the Bella return and the stale Jeanette and Bethany content above.
• R_date01 gating of Bella's warning (L105599) is correct. R_date01 == False sends MC to lunch_bella_01 (the else: at L102549–102563), where Bella names Beddingham (L102676). R_date01 == True sends MC to the Rhea lunch, so Bernard has to introduce Beddingham himself (L105604).
• slut and punish can't both be True. One menu sets all three (L8435–8455), and the night-02 events are if/elif (L47046/L47825).
• ANNA_lover == False against "You've already been with Anna" (L94490). Lacey is referring to the unconditional Anna night (MC_A_sex += 1, L17947, a one-option menu at L17943). ANNA_lover (L81431) tracks the ongoing romance, not that night.
• MC_fulldatecontrol is read consistently (L99546 Lacey's two speeches; L110480 the Hortensa option).
• J_date01 and J_lunch01 are mutually exclusive (if/elif, L11134/L11163). The slice-05 note "both may be True" is wrong.
• The B_lunch01 retro-fix (L55672–55673) is sound. BETHANY_love can only reach 10 through L48375 (Act 2 texting gives at most +5).
• "Nothing's happened between us" (L58716) and "Anna is the only girl besides Lacey I've ever kissed" (L57902) hold on every route up to that point. The JEANETTE_lover route has only a cheek kiss (L32604), and Kelly "never kissed me" (L55571–55573).

Scene-level errors I: slices 01–09 (L2–53532)

Counts by grade (errors kept, six sections, 38 items): Hard 7 | Probable 8 | Branch 2 | Minor 21; the 8 items under "Narrator distortions" are intentional characterisation, badged Minor only for uniformity and not counted.
Verification: source was D_01-09.md (about 330 reader entries, slices 01-09, L2-53532); every Hard/Probable entry and dozens of Minor entries were opened in L&J.rpy (±20 lines, enclosing menu/if and BEGIN/END markers checked), and about 85 entries were rejected or merged (last section).
Most serious: wrong speaker tags (L8726-8747, L9750, L14763-14764, L44584, L49714-49721), the Lacey-tenure break (L2504 vs L516/L791/L1004), and a weekday/return-date drift across slices 04-05 (L14399, L19834, L25955, L28032).

Speaker-tag and attribution errors

Christine's back-rub lines carry Mia's tag (M)

Hard error (L8726–8747; slice 02, quiet-room scene after the Evan call; unconditional)

• Tagged M: M "Hey now, we're on a coffee break." (L8726), M "Why don't you sit down on the couch for a sec." (L8727), M "Lil Christine is going to give you a nice back massage." (L8738), M "Let me take all your stress away." (L8747), plus L8729, 8732, 8734–8735, 8737, 8744–8746.
• Next speaker line is C "My twin sister and I would give each other back rubs all the time." (L8753); narration in between says "Christine" (L8742: "I suddenly realized where we were and what Christine was doing").
• Mia hung up at L8688–8693 (jump after_call_0005) and is not in the room; the only people present are MC and Christine (L8698–8701).
• Explanation: the whole massage speech is Christine's. A third-person "Lil Christine is going to..." from Mia would make no sense in the room.
• Fix: retag the M lines in L8726–8747 as C.

MC's "Fuckable?" is Mia's line (no_fun branch)

Hard error (L9750; slice 02; only on the if no_fun == True: route that starts at L9703)

• M "I see." (L9749) / MC "Fuckable?" (L9750) / A "Mia, why are you so awkward?" (L9751).
• The sibling slut branch has the same beat as M "Fuckable?" (L9598), followed by the identical Anna reaction; the no_fun copy even changes the next punchline to "vitamin D" (L9758) but keeps Mia as the speaker there.
• Fix: change the tag at L9750 from MC to M.

Narration tagged as Christine's speech

Hard error (L14763–14764; slice 03; shared pre-menu part L14692–14806, so every route)

• C "She shifts her hands to my sides." (L14763) and C "Alternating between massaging and dragging her nails across my skin." (L14764).
• Surrounding hand-movement narration (L14758–14760, L14771–14775) is untagged; both lines are first-person MC prose about Christine in the third person.
• Fix: drop the C tag on both lines.

Narration tagged as Lacey's speech in the Morty scenes

Hard error (L37202 and L38170; slice 07)

• L "Lacey sensed Morty getting closer and started going even faster." (L37202; in the ntrs_2nd_level >= 1 oral scene, L37032–37265).
• L "Her entire body arches as all of her muscles contract and then let go." (L38170; main bedroom scene, top-level, so all routes that reach it; sits between Lacey's L "(screaming orgasm)" lines and her L "(heavy breathing) You made me cum six times in one night.").
• Both are third-person description under Lacey's own tag; Lacey cannot be saying them.
• Fix: untag both lines.

"Good girl." is tagged to Jeanette

Hard error (L44582–44589; slice 08; route: menu option "One of these days I'm going to get you back" if JEANETTE_love >= 15, L44561)

• MC "Was there anything else Jeanette?" (L44582) / J "No Sir." (L44583) / J "Good girl." (L44584) / MC "What the hell did I just say to Jeanette?" (L44588).
• MC's own next line shows he said it; Jeanette is the submissive party and has just said "No Sir". MC uses the same phrase to Lacey at L44868 under the MC tag.
• Fix: change L44584 to MC.

Lacey's two-truths-and-a-lie answers are tagged to Anna

Hard error (L49714, 49717, 49719, 49721; slice 09; unconditional)

• Lacey's first-round menu (L49712) is answered by A "You are incorrect, this one is true." (L49714), A "You are of course 100%% right. No thank you." (L49717, the crush-on-Will option, so "No thank you" is Lacey), A "You are incorrect, this one is true." (L49719).
• L49721 A "It was a short-lived crush when he began telling me how much he liked your breasts." is Lacey explaining her own crush on the IT guy right after Veronica's line at L49720; it is also tagged A.
• Compare Anna's round (answers tagged A, L49687–49690), Veronica's (V, L49757) and Lacey's second round (L, L49861).
• Related, same game: Mia's first-round answers are untagged narration, "Wrong bitch. This actually happened." (L49738, L49740) and "You got me. I made that up." (L49743); they need M.
• Fix: retag L49714–49721 to L and L49738/49740/49743 to M.

Spoken line uses MC instead of MCP in the bathroom-camera scene

Minor (L37416; slice 07, level-2 route)

• MCP "Is Morty better than Damian?" (L37413) is followed by MC "Better than me?" (L37416). Lacey answers it directly (L "No... not even close.", L37417; L "You picked an awful time to ask.", L37419), so MC is speaking through the phone like every other line in the scene.
• Fix: retag L37416 MCP.

Fake-Lacey orgasm line is untagged

Minor (L51580; slice 09)

• "I'm cumming!!!" is plain narration directly before L "FUUUUUCK!" (L51582) inside the Barty video; it is the fake Lacey's line.
• Fix: tag L51580 L.

Timeline and day-reference slips

Lacey's tenure at Brimley: "a few weeks" vs roughly a year

Hard error (L2504–2519 vs L516, 791, 1004–1040, 75, 1191; slice 01; unconditional)

• Veronica (L2504): "Only been here for a few weeks and already giving presentations." (L2509): "Honestly I'd do it sooner, but there's a company policy you have to work here three months before getting a promotion." Lacey stumbles over Veronica's name: L "Sorry, still getting used to that." (L2490), L "I will Ms... I mean Veronica." (L2519).
• Earlier narration puts Lacey's hire before MC even graduated: "She was able to get Lacey hired on just a couple weeks after she started." (L516), then MC's first job week (L543), the reunion, a courtship, the proposal and the wedding "Two weeks later" (L791), then "The days turned into weeks. / And the weeks turned into months." (L1004–1005), with Lacey "lucky that she had both Anna and Mia working with her" (L1031) and mentioning Veronica "many times" as a role model (L1040).
• The trouble starts "three months ago" (L1191) and the wedding anniversary is "coming up" (L75), so at L2504 (about 1.5–2 weeks after the Wednesday that opened the crisis) Lacey has held the job for roughly 8–12 months, not weeks.
• No branch or in-text reframing explains it; Veronica is speaking sincerely and Lacey does not correct her.
• Fix: change Veronica's "a few weeks" and the "three months before a promotion" rule to a figure that fits (e.g. "almost a year" and a 12-month rule), and drop Lacey's name-stumbling.

Anna's "two years" vs a sophomore-year confession

Probable (L4266–4267, L17931, L22656 vs L213, L315, L321, L486; slices 01, 04)

• MC: MC "No. We worked that out almost two years ago." (L4266); Lacey: L "No, you worked it out two years ago." (L4267). Anna to MC just before they sleep together: "I've loved you for two years." (L17931); Mia: "Anna's been in love with him for like two years." (L22656).
• Chronology on the page: they meet in chemistry in MC's sophomore year (L213, L217–220), Anna's confession and the "friends" resolution follow (L258–309), "By the end of my sophomore year I had finally told her everything." (L315), junior-year cliff crisis (L321), Anna stays a friend "throughout my senior year" (L486), a lost semester (L493), graduation, job, courtship, wedding and ~9 months of marriage. That is about 3.5 to 4 years, not two.
• Branch note: none. The number is repeated by four speakers, so it looks like an authorial constant that does not match the college chronology.
• Fix: change to "almost four years" (or shorten the college timeline).

The morning after the Evan-arrest night reads as a weekday, but the club night is a Saturday

Probable (L8972–8975 vs L9583, L9876, L10575, L10839; slice 02; branch-independent)

• The kitchen talk on the night Evan was arrested (the day after Lacey's Monday confession to Veronica) ends L "I'll stay with you forever." (L8972). The next beat is MC's dream and waking up with Lacey in the shower (L8975–8983), which reads as the next weekday morning; no work or day marker follows.
• Cues inside the same stretch point to a weekend: "We spent the afternoon cleaning the apartment and getting our laundry done." (L9583) and, later that night, MC "Don't forget, tomorrow's Sunday and you told me you're meeting the girls for coffee." (L10575 and again L10839). The club night is therefore Saturday, so the days between that morning and the weekend vanish without a marker.
• Cue the other way: that night Lacey says Veronica "had some kind of work offsite today" (L9876), which fits a weekday better than a Saturday.
• Fix: add a "Saturday" time-skip line after L8972, or change the Sunday lines and the offsite line to match a weekday story.

The Sunday-party calendar cannot be reconciled with the "workday" and "Friday night" lines

Probable (L14399, L16596, L25144, L25955, L28032, L28597–28603; slices 03–05)

• Explicit anchors: MC "I'm throwing a little party this Sunday." (L14399, said on a work morning), MC's text "Saturday morning lazy showers are a thing for Lacey" (L16596) and "Tomorrow is the big pool party." (L16546). So party = Sunday.
• Counting forward with the page's own day markers (L19834, L22641, L24141, L24555, L24816 above): Lacey lands on the fifth day after the party, i.e. Friday. Then:
  • the next morning (Saturday) MC "So, back to normal work for Lacey today." (L25955) and MC meets COO Waterston and Jeanette at the office (L26453, L26598);
  • the day after (Sunday) Lacey: "Oh, on Saturday, let's plan to take you suit shopping." (L28032), MC and Jeanette arrange "an afternoon meeting with our team" (L28786) and the managers' meeting happens that afternoon (L29552);
  • MC to Lacey that day: "Just let me work through this for a couple days. / Maybe on Friday night..." (L28596–28597), which is five days away on that calendar.
• Also on the Friday of Lacey's return, Mia promises Kelly a girls' event: M "I'll plan something for Friday night." (L25144, said the morning Lacey flies home), which collides with the homecoming confrontation that night.
• Branch note: none.
• Fix: give the post-return days explicit weekday markers (or shift the party to a mid-week day).

"Only three more days" vs a five-day wait for Lacey

Probable (L19834 vs L22641, L24141, L24555, L24814–24816; slices 04–05)

• Night of the Anna-confession call (the party night): L "Only three more days until I can put my arms around you." (L19834).
• The free-pass days actually run on: M "Tomorrow night is his last night." (L22641, spoken on the third day after the call, when "three more days" would already be up); L "You have one more day." (L24141, the Bella night, the evening after that); K "she said this is the last night of your free-pass." (L24555, Kelly night); then MC_nvl "I can't wait for you to come home tomorrow" / L_nvl "It should land about 3pm" (L24814–24816).
• Counting from the party night the return is about five days later, not three. No reason for an extended trip is given.
• Fix: change L19834 to "five more days" (or "the rest of the week").

"I got a backrub from Christine today" (it was yesterday)

Probable (L34384 vs L33142, L33769, L34379; slice 06; unconditional)

• Thursday lunch call: MC "I got a backrub from Christine today." (L34384), in the same scene as Lacey's "I'm finally starting medication and therapy today" (L34379; therapy is Thursday per L33769 "It's Wednesday, so her therapy appointment isn't until tomorrow").
• The back rub happens in the quiet-room scene on Wednesday: C "Now, it's already the end of the day." (L33142). Thursday morning (L34045–34067) contains no Christine massage.
• Fix: "yesterday".

Monday-evening "last night" points at the wrong night

Probable (L43215–43232 vs L39559, L39725, L42049–42176; slices 07–08; unconditional)

• Monday club night, Anna asks: A "So, what happened with [MCFirst] last night?" / A "What set it off?" (L43215–43216); Mia: "I was a little light-headed from drinking and was trying to make a joke." (L43217).
• The Mia-joke incident is the Saturday hot-tub party ("You should see all the pictures I have of La...", L39559; MC "Lacey help me, I'm ruining tonight for everyone.", L39725). The only "last night" in the Monday story is Sunday night (L42049–42176), an ordinary evening with no trigger (MC "Yeah, the weekend just kind of blew by.", L42161).
• Contrast: Mia at Tuesday lunch uses "last night" correctly for Monday's club fight (L44355).
• Fix: "the other night" or "Saturday night".

Lacey's morning shower scene is shown after MC's lunch-hour scene

Minor (L4630–4689 vs L4476–4613; slice 01)

• Lacey, immediately after tennis: L "Ew, I don't smell good." / L "I should have taken a shower before I got dressed." (L4630, L4632), then the Evan intrusion (L4649+). It is placed after MC's lunch-hour texting scene (sms_0007 ends L4613) and just before an evening beat ("I finally got my heart rate down from Mia's last text session.", L4689).
• Presentation order rather than a fact error; a reader could take it as the same lunch hour as the tennis morning.
• Fix: add a "That morning..." caption or move the shower scene before the lunch scene.

Monday afternoon: "rest of my afternoon" with Veronica, then a Jeanette "coffee" that is "lunch"

Minor (L7958, L8044, L8175; slice 02)

• Veronica after the pizza lunch: V "I'm blocking off the rest of my afternoon." (L7958). Same day Lacey meets Jeanette: J "Just meeting someone for coffee." (L8044), later reported as L "I had lunch with Jeanette today." (L8175).
• The pizza lunch has already been eaten (L7942), so a post-pizza "lunch" and an afternoon blocked off for Veronica both claim the same slot.
• Fix: call the Jeanette meeting "coffee" in L8175 and have Veronica block "an hour".

Factual contradictions within a scene or day

Kelly's recording is played back with MC's ketamine and "snack" lines removed

Probable (L21535, L21561 vs L21808–21861, L21683, L22047, L22020–22062; slice 04)

• In the bar, MC says: MC "It's a shame she had to be drunk and loaded on ketamine to put up with you." (L21535) and MC "And when I need a little snack, I got Kelly for that." (L21561); Kelly says K "I set my phone down and recorded everything." (L21683).
• Lacey and Veronica then watch the recording (ISR/MCR, L21808–21861); the playback keeps every Isaac insult and MC's short retorts but skips L21535–21538, L21545–21553, L21556–21558 and L21561. Lacey never reacts to the ketamine jab, though MC himself fears Jared using Lacey's ketamine history (L18099, L18111).
• A second, bystander clip then goes viral (L "This isn't Kelly's video.", L22047; "almost a million views", L22538). Nobody mentions the public ketamine remark afterwards; Lacey's panic is about "campus whore" and Isaac (L22051–22059).
• Not branch-dependent. It looks like compression of the playback that leaves the text unaware of what Kelly's phone caught.
• Fix: keep the omitted lines in the playback (and give Lacey a reaction), or add a line that Kelly's clip starts after the ketamine exchange.

MC's parents: "family that we knew" vs a living dad and mom in Germany

Minor (L784–786 vs L40133, L42725; slice 01, cross-reference to slices 07–08)

• "My dad was in the military and was stationed in Germany." (L784) / "Neither of us had siblings nor family that we knew." (L786).
• Later (texts to Christine): MC_nvl "My Mom and Dad live in Germany" / MC_nvl "Dad is in the army and is stationed at Stuttgart" (L40133–40134; repeated L41634, L42725–42726).
• "Family that we knew" is false for MC if both parents are alive and known to him; it only works if it means "family within reach".
• Fix: L786 "no siblings and no other family nearby" (or a line that MC's parents could not attend).

Lacey: "I would never let someone touch me like that"

Minor (L8908–8911 vs L8853; slice 02)

• Right after MC confesses a back rub: L "I would never let someone touch me like that." (L8908), then L "But... I'm different from you." (L8909) / L "My threshold for what I consider being intimate is..." (L8910).
• MC has just recalled Lacey "thanking Jared over and over again after he whispered in her ear while giving her the best back rub of her life." (L8853).
• She qualifies in the next breath, so the line reads as a slip for "I wouldn't mind someone touching me like that".
• Fix: reword L8908.

Mia's "Remember what I told you earlier" has no earlier line

Minor (L9426, L9652, L9805; slice 02; every branch)

• M "Remember what I told you earlier." / M "You're not going to like Lacey's dress." (L9426–9427 and the parallel lines in the other two branches). No earlier Mia line about the dress exists on any route (the nearest scene, L9372–9395, has MC apologise and the girls leave to get dressed, with no dress remark).
• Fix: add the earlier exchange or cut "Remember what I told you earlier".

MC tells Lacey he and Anna did not "talk about" her

Minor (L19761–19766 vs L17959, L18054–18055; slice 04)

• MC "And we definitely did not gossip or talk about you behind your back." / MC "I swear it." (L19765–19766).
• In the scene: MC "You know I think yours are just a bit bigger than Lacey's." / A "They are. A little." (L17959–17960) and, falling asleep, A "If things ever don't work out with Lacey... / I'll be right here for you." (L18054–18055).
• Reads as a scope-limited lie (MC is already confessing the sex at L19719), but nothing on the page marks it as one. Overlaps the deception log.
• Fix: optional; add a beat of MC's guilty hesitation at L19763.

Enterprise licensing "done" the same day the 15% target is set

Minor (L28671–28673, L28790–28792 vs L29583–29602; slice 05)

• Morning: AW "I'd like to see a 15%% reduction in the cost of IT across the company." / MC "Consider it done." (L28671–28673). Same morning, MC "I've had ideas for months Jeanette." (L28792).
• That afternoon: MC "I have already begun rolling out exactly how I will accomplish this." (L29583), MC "We now have enterprise licensing agreements on the top twenty software titles we use." (L29598), MC "It's cut our budget down by 12%%." (L29602); Jeanette: J "But you didn't say anything?" (L29585).
• The only software-vendor link on the page is Kelly's company selling to Brimley (L24424; Mia, L11052), which is not MC's employer, so nothing shows licence talks already under way at Electro Billing; same-day closing of the deals reads as impossible.
• Fix: one line (MC: "I started talking to our vendor weeks ago") would close it.

Will: "just graduated last month" vs early thirties with an eleven-year relationship

Minor (L31849 vs L34143–34145, L39251, L41466; slices 06–07)

• Lacey (L31849): L "I guess they just graduated from college last month."
• Lacey later (L34143–34145): L "He's in his early thirties." / L "He was lead guitarist in a band for ten years."; Will to Anna: "We've been together for almost eleven years." (L39251); Will to MC: "When you play guitar in a band, the ladies just can't get enough of you." (L41466). Lacey retracts only the two-hours and butt-grab lies (L34272–34278).
• The "I guess" in L31849 is hearsay, but it is the only description of Will before he appears.
• Fix: change L31849 to a late-career hire.

MC quotes something Lacey never said on the page

Minor (L34290; slice 06)

• MC "You said you don't know what happened after you drank too much." Lacey's drunk lines on the page are "I think I forgot to sleep." (L33840) and "I was out... drinking." (L33845); no line says she cannot remember.
• Fix: add the line to the foyer scene or cut it from L34290.

MC "knew" the matching pink bottoms but "never saw" them at home (levels 1 and 2)

Minor (L37138–37143 vs L37821–37832; slice 07; routes ntrs_2nd_level >= 1)

• On the phone: MCP "Show the man your matching pink bottoms." (L37138); narration "She slowly unzips her pants revealing the matching bottoms I knew she'd be wearing." (L37143).
• At home (all levels): MC "Pink lingerie huh?" (L37821), MC "I've never seen the pink underwear before." (L37832).
• In level 0 there is no conflict. In levels 1–2 MC has just watched the bottoms on camera and even named them. It can be read as "never seen it before tonight", but the "Pink lingerie huh?" reaction is odd for a man who pre-announced them.
• Fix: change L37821/37832 to react to Lacey's explanation ("it's a borrowed swimsuit") rather than to surprise.

Lacey's relapse count changes inside one conversation

Minor (L45326 vs L45415; slice 08)

• L "I fell off the bandwagon a few times in my senior year at college." (L45326) vs L "I fell off the bandwagon, probably ten or eleven times in my senior year." (L45415), about 90 lines apart in the same Thai-curry scene.
• Reads as understate-then-admit, but she does not flag the correction.
• Fix: have Lacey say "More than a few. Honestly, ten or eleven." at L45415.

MC: "it's only my second party... my first party with Lacey"

Minor (L49638–49640, L50812 vs L39452, L48327; slices 07–09, cross-reference)

• MC "Sorry, it's only my second party." / MC "My first slumber party actually." / MC "And my first party with Lacey." (L49638–49640); MC "I haven't ever played any party game." (L50812).
• Earlier on the page MC has already hosted the Sunday pool party (Yue: "I talked to her a little bit at the pool party.", L48327) and been given a hot-tub party with Lacey present (L "You and your girls are having a hot tub party tonight.", L39452).
• Could be a joke in MC's voice, but the count is wrong either way.
• Fix: "my third party" / "first slumber party".

Script logic and variable bugs

"A few pics" is true only if the player chose "They're beautiful"

Branch-dependent (L20257–20260 vs L19292–19395; slice 04; variable MC_V_foreplay)

• MC to Lacey: MC "Veronica and I have been texting each other the past couple of nights." (L20257), MC "No. Just texting and a few pics over the phone." (L20260). Not gated.
• In sms_0015 Veronica sends topless photos only on "They're beautiful" (L19293–19379; $ MC_V_foreplay += 1). On "Let's be careful" (L19380–19395) no photos are sent, and the very next narration branches on MC_V_foreplay (L19461).
• Fix: gate L20260 on MC_V_foreplay >= 1 (else "just texting").

The slut == True aside recounts a scene the player may have skipped

Branch-dependent (L28710–28719 vs L27446–28011; slice 05; route: slut set, then the "end tonight early" option)

• At the menu at L27446 the player can pick "Tell Lacey you want to go through with her plan" or "Thank her for trying, but end tonight early" (L27990). Only the first option contains the beat where Lacey finishes MC's sentence (L27732–27745 and L27964–27978).
• Next day MC tells Jeanette: MC "My wife did something for me last night that really helped me." (L28711) / MC "She interrupted me and asked if I would allow her to prove that she understood." / MC "I let her and she was absolutely correct." (L28717–28718). The block is gated only by if slut == True: (L28710).
• On the "end tonight early" route nothing like that happened (L27993–28011), so MC describes an event that did not occur.
• Fix: set a flag in the go-through option (e.g. $ slut_night_done = True) and test it at L28710.

The Veronica round-2 menu never awards the point

Probable (L49914–49920 vs L50215; slice 09; unconditional)

• Twelve "which is the lie" menus exist (3 rounds x 4 players); eleven carry $ kfaw_game01_score += 1. Veronica's second-round menu (L49914) does not, though the correct pick is explicitly confirmed: V "Yes, this is absolutely a lie." (L49920, the "threesome with him and one of my exes" option; the other two options are "unfortunately this is a truth").
• The final line says your final score tonight was [kfaw_game01_score] out of 11. (L50215), so a perfect player scores 11 of 12 shown guesses.
• Fix: add the missing increment (and change the denominator to 12), or mark Veronica's round as unscored.

"I've messed around with another woman" when both foreplay flags are set

Minor (L17129–17134; slice 03)

• if MC_M_foreplay >= 1 or MC_C_foreplay >= 1: → "I've messed around with another woman." (L17130). The Christine and Mia menus are independent, so both flags can be set.
• Fix: add a branch for MC_M_foreplay >= 1 and MC_C_foreplay >= 1 ("two other women").

Props, presence and physical continuity

Home is "apartment" and "house" interchangeably

Minor (slices 01–09; examples below)

• Apartment: M "Let's do the pool at your apartment this afternoon?" (L3355), M "...finish cleaning your apartment." (L13749), IS "This clown lives in a tiny ass apartment." (L21516) answered by L "What? Our apartment is amazing." (L21809), L "...you are not to leave the apartment with the exception of the pool or hot tub areas." (L49175), "inside the apartment complex" (L51793), rent and landlord Barty (L3920, L1093).
• House: M "I'm at your house." (L13603), JA "...show up at your house..." (L16844), L "...being at my house." (L43737), L "...ringing the doorbell at our house?" (L46917), IS "You said I couldn't come to your house" (L48640), MC "...fucking this girl in my house." (L53110), and MC plans to "look at houses" (L53235).
• It reads as casual wording of one dwelling, but it makes "pool and hot tub" and "tiny ass apartment" hard to hold together.
• Fix: pick one noun, or establish a complex with a private pool.

Shower facilities: "showers" vs "a shower"

Minor (L1972 vs L4640; slice 01)

• L "...work has those showers just outside of the shipping and receiving office." (L1972) vs L "Man I love that work has a shower." (L4640).
• Minor; the scene needs only one.

Names and spellings

Typos in the dialogue

Minor (L12713, L14778, L14783)

• J "I placed on order on my phone." (L12713, "an order"); C "(whisper) You shirt is getting in my way." (L14778, "Your"); C "There isn't that better." (L14783, "There, isn't that better.").
• Fix: correct each.

Lesson Six title: "Bell Of The Balls"

Minor (L4493; slice 01)

• M_nvl "'How To Be The Bell Of The Balls'". The surrounding debutante imagery (L4496) points at "Belle of the Ball", so "Bell" and the plural look unintended (unless it is a deliberate pun).
• Fix: "Belle of the Ball" (or confirm the pun).

"As a woman" said by MC

Minor (L45988; slice 08)

• MC "Just a complete feeling of humiliation." / MC "As a woman neither of you could possibly understand." MC is male and addressing two women (Lacey and Dianne, L45960–45965).
• Intended reading is likely "As women, neither of you could possibly understand."
• Fix: "As women".

Employer name variant: "Electro Corp"

Minor (L34858 vs L537, L12284; slice 06)

• MC "She is officially an Electro Corp service desk team member." (L34858) vs "Electro Billing Corp" (L537, L12284) and "Electro Billing" (L26488, L29557).
• Looks like shorthand rather than a second company (MC works at Electro Billing; Lacey, Anna, Mia, Veronica and Jared work at Brimley).
• Fix: "Electro Billing".

Narrator distortions (intentional, not errors)

"Sex never felt good" vs "sometimes it was kind of fun"

Minor (intentional, not an error; L7653–7660, L7691 vs L9108–9112, L10393–10403, L15268–15272, L15657–15659; slices 02–03)

• Lacey's first account (L7660): "Not because it felt good or because I was enjoying any of it." and (L7691): "On our wedding night I enjoyed sex for the very first time." On Day 3: L "I guess sometimes it was kind of fun." / L "Yes... sometimes the sex felt okay." (L9108–9110), and about Lorenzo: L "I think I had fun with him." (L10397), L "I remember kind of liking it for some reason." (L10403).
• The text itself flags the shift: L_nvl "She's right, I downplayed that I did enjoy the sex sometimes" / L_nvl "I admitted to that already" (L15657–15659).
• MC's summary to Mia overstates her first version: MC "That none of it felt good." / MC "That she hated every minute of it." (L15271–15272), which is MC's selective recall, not a fresh claim by Lacey.

Mia's two portraits of Lacey

Minor (intentional, not an error; L2367–2370 vs L3057–3063; slice 01)

• Mia: M_nvl "She stopped missing you soon after this" (L2367) vs M "She doesn't work without you." / M "She was never okay at school." (L3057, L3060). MC calls it out (MC "You said she forgets me.", L3064).
• Mia explains: M "I'm not really feeling any of those things I'm saying." / M "I'm playing a character." (L3133–3134).

MC grades his own behaviour

Minor (intentional, not an error; L30077–30082 vs L29985, L30001, L30056; L41331, L41365, L41462–41463 vs L39383; slices 06–07)

• After storming out: "I didn't raise my voice even once. / I never called anyone childish or hurtful names." (L30077–30078), "I made no threats." (L30080), "I think I'd give myself a solid 7 out of 10." (L30082), preceded by "Maybe that wasn't my finest hour." (L30076). On the page he said "stop saying stupid shit like that" (L29985), "You were his toy." (L30001) and "that's a really fucking horrible idea Anna" (L30056).
• Same pattern: to Bradley MC "It took me a while not to be angry all the time." (L41331); Bradley BR "But don't you get hurt a lot doing that?" / MC MC "Nope." (L41364–41365); and "But that [MCFirst] is long gone." (L41463) against MC "I was fucking furious." the day before (L39383).
• Characterisation: MC's self-image diverges from the scenes by design.

MC's "leak" deduction skips Jeanette

Minor (intentional, not an error; L17270–17273, L17519–17543 vs L12818–12841; slice 03)

• "But the people who know about Lorenzo are limited to two." / "Mia and Anna." (L17270–17271), then to the girls MC "Just the two of you and Lacey." (L17520) and, naming Christine, MC "She had my phone." / MC "She read the text messages." (L17536–17537).
• Jeanette also read Mia's texts (L12818–12838, "Fifty handjobs in one night?", L12835) and had MC's address (L12862). MC flags his own reasoning as suspect: "My brain is inventing wild conspiracies again." (L17275). Christine is later confirmed as Jared's niece (L20545–20547).

Lorenzo's size, three versions

Minor (intentional, not an error; L10388, L15103–15106, L15604–15616, L17212, L17448–17460; slices 02–03)

• Lacey (day 3): L "he was my first micro-penis." (L10381), "It was only a couple inches long when he was fully erect." (L10388); Mia: Phillip is the micro-penis guy (L15091) and Lorenzo "was the first" really big one (L15103–15106); Lacey later: "Phillip was the pencil"... "God my memory sucks" (L15608–15610), "I'm pretty sure my first larger penis was a different guy" (L15616); MC tests Lorenzo with MC "Lacey tells me you have a monster dick." (L17212) and reads his reaction as "Small penis it is." (L17214).
• The text acknowledges the confusion twice: Lacey's "my memories are all jumbled and fuzzy" (L15618) and Mia's "It's possible I was wrong. There was a lot of faces..." (L17456–17457).

Lacey's memory of the Barty recording

Minor (intentional, not an error; L52273, L52735–52740 vs L53187–53188; slice 09)

• To the girls: L "And until you brought up that whole 'little bitch' thing, I had forgotten it." (L52273), then detailed recall (L52735–52740: "I remember the camera... I remember Barty... I even remember some of those things I said."), then to MC: L "The only thing I remember is Barty coming over and asking me hundreds of questions that made no sense to me." (L53188).
• Framed in text as Lacey doubting her own memory after seeing the fake: "I began to doubt my own sanity when I saw this." (L53185).

MC predicts Lacey will be sober

Minor (intentional, not an error; L12501–12504 vs L11879, L14196–14200; slices 02–03)

• MC "This will be the first time she's had sex with someone other than me," / MC "when not drunk and fucked up on ketamine." / MC "She won't be disassociated." (L12501–12503). Lacey's own plan already includes drinks with Veronica (L11879, L12005), and on the night she takes ketamine and tequila: LP "I purchased some ketamine." / LP "I also drank a lot of tequila." (L14196, L14199).
• Dramatic irony: MC's inference is wrong and the story shows it.

MC's perfect-recall claims

Minor (intentional, not an error; L18296, L20805 vs L17898–17903, L22391; slice 04)

• MC "...I remember everything you said." (L18296), MC "I always remember stuff like that." (L20805) against "How did I get in the kitchen?" (L17898) and MC "I seem to have lost track of almost all of yesterday." (L22391).
• Selective hypermemory next to blackouts is characterisation.

Rejected on verification

• Slice 01, "twice a week, for the past two months" (L4929): the page's own markers add up to 6–8 weeks (L1959, L2269, L2648, L2862 "took me weeks", L3210 "Two weeks would pass", L3916 "Another week had passed"), so "two months" is near enough.
• Slice 01, phone mystery (L348, L401–419, L429): a deferred reveal, answered at L32882–32894 (Anna "snuck into your room and stole your phone").
• Slice 01, Lacey's "I wasn't trying to hide it" (L4303): MC himself labels it a lie (L4304–4307) and states she sneaked out (L4287).
• Slice 01, "hadn't asked her about it even one time until now" (L3235): clarified at L3246 ("now I ask for the first time if she talked to him"); MC's "behind my back" (L3243) is his own inference, backed by Barty's "I thought your wife would be..." (L2449).
• Slice 01, Barty accounts (L5930–5945 vs Mia L6051–6057): a character conflict by design; Lacey's later account (L7566–7588) matches the scenes.
• Slice 01, Lacey's laughter (L6559–6567 vs L6688–6692): Lacey says it was the first time ("Up until right at that moment...") and explains it as nervous laughter; MC says he has heard it "only a handful of times" (L6554). The ambiguous "yes" at L6668 matches her pattern of submissive "yes" replies (L6657, L6672).
• Slice 01, Mia's controller/servant roles, the tennis-roster story, the three accounts of the Wednesday morning, and Anna/Jared at the closet: deception-log material, not continuity.
• Slice 01, BAG/UW tags (L3474, L3715) and LM (Lorenzo, L9922), RHM (Bradley, L9883) and UM (Isaac, L17350): anonymous placeholder tags used until the name is revealed; Jeanette's fantasy "doesn't bother me that you don't have a large one" (L3758) is a fantasy on a menu branch and she says she has only imagined it (L3755).
• Slice 01 20%%/30%%/90%%/100%% (L2510, L4446, L4709, L37843): Ren'Py percent escape, used 49 times in the file with no unescaped variant.
• Slice 01 "virgin" assumption (L1435 vs L679): MC's own assumption, which Jeanette gently corrects (L1466–1470).
• Slice 02, "everything Mia said was a lie" vs "trying to help" (L7621–7626): lies aimed at MC vs help aimed at Lacey.
• Slice 02, "I'll talk to Veronica tomorrow" (L7729) vs Monday afternoon: said Sunday night, done Monday.
• Slice 02, "nobody wanted me as a girlfriend" (L9122–9126) vs Lorenzo's crush (L9939–9947): Lacey concedes "I guess he got a little crush on me" (L10353) and blames her memory (L10405); her "I didn't even recognize him" (L10335) is about his face after the haircut (L9929).
• Slice 02, remarry answer (L10891 vs L10896) and the bikini (L11287 vs L11624): MC's change of mind is the beat ("Liar", L10892; "(sigh) You can keep the bikini", L11624).
• Slice 02, Lacey's consensus rule (L8477) vs Mia/Anna objections (L11186–11214), "not bad" vs "upsetting" (L11761–11789), "open relationship"/"exactly the same", "always your choice" vs "I really should" (L11998), Veronica "24/7" vs Lacey's free night (L11500, L11892): in-character reframing and Veronica's complicity, not slips; the "own hotel room" is for the first night only (L11892).
• Slice 02, JEANETTE_love == 10/5/0 (L11134–11170): first changed at L11098 and the 0/5/10 outcomes are exhaustive; "last time you're attractive" (L11128) matches L5458.
• Slice 02, Barty visits (L7441, L7572–7584): consistent with Lacey's telling (visits while MC was out, one sober, one drunk).
• Slice 03, who phoned Anna and Mia (L12855–12860 vs L17534–17535): Christine could have dialled from MC's phone while Jeanette relayed; CHRISTINE_love >= 10 gating (L14969, L15433): first changed at L14827 so it is true only if the player chose "Don't say no"; the "one time thing" and "K in my luggage" (L13646, L13783) fit the Damian night; hotel room (L11892 is the first night only); hour-walk (L13553, L13906: subway first, then walk); MC's non-recognition of Lorenzo and Isaac (L17188, L17348): he knows them only from descriptions and photos; roleplay variants (call_0013) are performance.
• Slice 04, "I didn't sleep with anyone" (L19535) followed by the confession (L19719); the envelope timing known to Veronica (L22946): Veronica is Jared's coerced conduit (L22999–23007); "Who's Kelly?" (L21743): Lacey recovers in the same exchange (L21746–21749); Veronica on legal (L20842): MC suspects it himself (L20844).
• Slice 05, MC "sleep in our guest room tonight. Alone" then "got back in bed between Kelly and Mia" (L24970, L25125): MC narrates his own broken promise; Bella's "By this time tomorrow" (L23963) vs L25985 is a promise that slips, not a statement of fact; "Brimley" vs "Electro Billing" (L510 vs L537): two employers (MC at Electro Billing, Lacey/Veronica/Jared at Brimley), same in slice 06 (L34471 vs L34858).
• Slice 06, "Dating now" vs "not official" (L34863 vs L35981) is MC's loose gloss on Yue's "second base" (L32148); "put this off twice already" (L35932) is arguable; "Maybe a 3 or 4. It was like an 8" (L34319–34320) is self-corrected on the page.
• Slice 07, Lacey's "Isaac came over again" (L38822): Isaac visited earlier (L17345, L29873); Lacey's account of the club kiss to Dianne (L40809–40818): consistent with MC ordering the kiss while she mutters "Why did you ask me to do that?" (L36987–37013); "I begged you not to go once" (L38467) matches the single plea at the subway station (L187–188).
• Slice 08, Mia "He demanded that I show him" (L46662): true of the original exposure (L1899–1903 "Do it!... I need to know"), not a misattribution of the photo scene; Jeanette's "hand selected by Mr. [MCLast]" (L45596): her thought lines show it is deliberate (L45578, L45606); the dream (L43860–44113) is flagged as a dream.
• Slice 09, Mia "not into girls" vs girlfriends, the unscored toothbrush round, Kelly's video copy, and MC's framing of Isaac: not contradictions.

Scene-level errors II: slices 10–18 (L53533–111872)

Summary, slices 10–18 intra-slice continuity: 52 kept errors/slips = 5 Hard error, 17 Probable, 4 Branch-dependent, 30 Minor (5 Hard are the four wrong/missing speaker tags at L98398, L101034, L103265, L102536 plus the dead-code Bella message at L72350). Plus 9 intentional narrator/character distortions documented (hallucinated divorce scene L82999–83172, cage/Tina visits, MC rants) and 40 reader claims rejected on verification (table) (poker hands, text-menu thresholds, video labels, Lacey pool-rules, R_date01, etc.). Most serious: the four tag errors, the poker/cash arithmetic (L68350–68396, L68917–69284, L64882), the "Sunday at noon" tournament invite (L61892) and strip-club "Sunday afternoon" (L67711), and Veronica's two debt accounts (L88329 vs L88344).

Scope: intra-slice continuity, slices 10–18 (master L53533–111872). Every Hard/Probable item below was re-opened in D:/collab/L&J.rpy and checked for (a) what the text actually says, (b) whether both sides are reachable on one route, and (c) whether it is explained nearby. Items are ordered by severity, then line. Line numbers are master numbers. Where a reader's claim failed verification it is listed under "Rejected on verification" with the reason.

Speaker-tag and attribution errors

V98398: MC's narration tagged as Veronica

Hard error (L98398; context L98390–98399) V "I can feel her spit begin to drip down my shaft." sits between Veronica's own V "(gagging)" lines (L98394, L98397) and MC "Yeah... just... like that..." (L98399). This is MC's first-person narration ("my shaft", "her spit") carrying Veronica's tag, so the box displays it as something Veronica says about herself. Branch: inside v_bj_01, reached from the "Let Veronica give you a blowjob" option (L98314–98324) under if VERONICA_love >= 30 (L98301); no condition changes the tag. Fix: delete the V tag so it is plain narration.

V101034: MC's narration tagged as Veronica

Hard error (L101034; context L101033–101035) V "Veronica bites her lip and gives me a little smile." is wedged between MCP "I like that you're looking into the camera right now." (L101033) and MCP "Now tell him you're not a young girl and he doesn't need to go easy on you." (L101035). Third-person "Veronica ... gives me" is narration; Veronica cannot be the speaker of a line that describes her from outside. Branch: only the "Tell Veronica to let Albert have sex with her" option (L101000) of the menu at L100951. Fix: remove the V tag (or change to MC narration).

Rhea's goodbye is untagged narration

Hard error (L102536–102537) "Sorry I have to run off." / "See you on Sunday." appear with no speaker, followed by hide rhea_dress with moveoutright (L102538) and MC "Guess I should head back.". These are Rhea's spoken farewell (she says the same kind of thing at L102502–102504), not MC narration. Branch: the else (L102535) of if rhea_would_date == True (L102506), i.e. the Rhea lunch (R_date01) ending without the kiss. The kiss branch (L102507–102534) tags her R. Fix: add R to both lines.

HP103265: MC's line tagged as Hortensa

Hard error (L103262–103266) MC "I actually need the original and a certified copy as well." (L103262), HP "If you're concerned about..." (L103263), MC "It's not that." (L103264), HP "I was told by the one person who seems to be looking out for me, that I need this." (L103265), HP "Then make three certified copies and let me have two of them." (L103266). L103265 answers HP's "If you're concerned about..." and explains MC's request for originals; it is MC repeating The Monster's instruction (L101766–101768: "Give those copies to Veronica / Keep the originals for yourself"). HP's next line only makes sense as a reaction to it. Branch: none. Fix: change L103265 to MC.

Plain MC tag inside an nvl text exchange

Probable (L72439) MC "How'd you do on that test you told me about?" is the only plain-MC line in a conversation where every other MC line is MC_nvl (L72422–72444) and Christine answers with C_nvl "Got an A of course" (L72440). Same speaker, wrong channel; it will render outside the phone-text layout. Branch: if CHRISTINE_text_number == 2 (L72420). Fix: MC_nvl.

MC tag on an action line in the Bethany scene

Probable (L80359) MC "I begin to gently massage them." follows the untagged narration "I push her shirt up and put my hands on her breasts." (L80354) and precedes B "That feels really... really nice." (L80360). An action description carries the MC speech tag, so it would display as dialogue. Branch: inside the "Give Bethany what she wants" option (L80322). Fix: make it untagged narration.

Two tags for one character (Will)

Minor (WR: L54418–54433, L55649–55656, L70709–70753, L77660–77717, L78609–78629, L89944–90008, L98797–98830, L101699–101729; WI: L56815–56889, L61352–61386, L71546–71924, L84598–84641) Will is WR in some scenes and WI in others; both are unambiguously Will. The flattened file has no character definitions, so it cannot be confirmed that both map to the same displayed name. At L56815–56818 the WI lines are his private ambush thoughts ("Where the hell is she?") and carry the same tag as his spoken lines. Fix: standardise on one tag (or confirm both are defined with the same name).

REC reused for Alejandro

Minor (L73884, L75704 vs L74140) REC is the clinic receptionist ("Hello, you've reached The Meadows Wellness Center.", L73884) and also the building guard Alejandro (MC "Hey Alejandro." / REC "Good evening Mr. [MCLast].", L74139–74140). Harmless if REC is only a label, but the same tag is used for two unrelated people.

Untagged "I got it."

Minor (L76715) "I got it." sits between MC "Just real slow. ..." (L76714) and MC "Like he's a defense you've never seen before." (L76716) with no tag; read as MC's own aside, but Isaac could be answering. Fix: tag it (likely IS) or fold into narration.

Timeline and day-reference slips

Poker invitation says "Sunday at noon"; the tournament is a night event

Probable (L61889–61892 vs L66751, L67711, L68097, L68286–68306) Invitation: CWBY "This Sunday." (L61889); "It's an invitation to a high stakes poker game in the VIP lounge on Sunday at noon." (L61892). Sunday as played: spa first (AB "Our first stop is the spa.", L66751), male strip club (L67711), then the Gothic Dahlia (BDSMG "Good evening. My name is Mistress Pauline.", L68097), then AB "...we have 30 minutes before check-in time at our next destination." (L68286) and arrival at the tournament (L68306). The group cannot have been at a noon game; the tournament is clearly evening/night. Branch: none. Fix: change the invitation to a Sunday-evening time (or drop the clock time).

Strip-club emcee says "Sunday afternoon" in an all-"tonight" scene

Probable (L67711 vs L67583, L67692, L67896, L67957, L67969) SCA "Okay ladies! It's Sunday afternoon and we all know what that means!" (L67711). The same scene says: "He asks if we're looking for a private dance tonight." (L67583), AB "He's not even working tonight..." (L67692), KA "You definitely had a few hundred fans out there tonight." (L67896), AB "He said he needed to make tonight worth coming in..." (L67957), AB "We're heading straight to the bar area tonight." (L67969), and the group is in "nightlife" outfits. One line against six; "afternoon" is the outlier. Fix: "Sunday night" (or reword the emcee line).

Hortensa will file Monday; The Monster reports it filed Saturday evening

Probable (L105754–105756, L105772 vs L107227) HP on Saturday: HP "I'm going to hold on to everything until Monday." (L105754), HP "Once I feel comfortable with it, I'll submit an electronic copy to the county clerk's office." (L105756), HP "Okay. I know what I'll be working on today and tomorrow." (L105772). Saturday night text: TM_nvl "We've already received a notice that your attorney has filed the papers" (L107227; it follows MC's Saturday clinic visit, L107056–107059). Either HP filed early (never shown) or "filed the papers" is something else. Branch: none. Fix: change HP's plan to "tonight/this weekend" or have TM say "I expect your attorney will file Monday".

"13 years" and the age arithmetic

Minor (L55022, L56764, L89247 vs L75786–75820, L77574, L86303, L88963–89249) "...the woman I've been in love with for 13 years." (L55022; present tense) and MC "You used me! For thirteen long years!" (L89247). First meeting MC "Lacey and I were both six years old..." (L75786); Dr. Sarah S "...that puts you at about what... twelve or so?" / MC "That would have been her thirteenth birthday." (L75819–75820), which makes MC about a year younger than "both six"; "my dumb fourteen year old brain" during "middle school" (L77574, L77550); separation "For four years" (L86303, L89249) with "Two years passed" (L88963) plus "That year and a half before I saw you" (L89135). 13 = age 6 to 19 fits "used me for 13 years" but not a present-tense "in love for 13 years" (MC is now roughly 23–24). The 2 + (unstated spiral) + 1.5 = 4 years only works if the "hundreds of partners" spiral lasted about six months. Fix: pick one canonical birth-gap and separation length and align the figures.

Grace's call: "earlier today" vs "yesterday"

Minor (L82238 vs L82383–82392) GT "Benjamin passed away earlier today." (L82238); next morning MC "I got a phone call in the middle of the night." (L82383) and MC "Your dad... passed away yesterday." (L82392). Both are right only if the call came before midnight, which "middle of the night" does not suggest.

Overnight train vs "3pm eastbound express"

Minor (L83392–83404, L83895, L84020, L84287–84288, L84462) MC rides west all night and is at "the end of the line" after sunrise (L83392–83404), tells his story until "it's mid-afternoon" (L83895), then catches "an earlier train than I originally hoped" (L84020). Security later says the ping "would have been the 3pm eastbound express returning to the city" (L84287), "the last stop before entering the city proper" (L84688). Anna reaches Clover Springs by dusk the same day (L84462). Read as "the 3pm express" being the train's name, this is consistent; but the westbound overnight ride length, Anna's same-day ride and a ~3pm departure only fit if train speeds/schedules differ, and nothing says so.

Kelly's money transfer slips from "by tomorrow" to Saturday

Minor (L87674 vs L90364–90365) Thursday: K "I'll have the money transferred to them by tomorrow." (L87674, = Friday). Friday: K "Halima has that scheduled for this afternoon. They should see the transfers hit their accounts by tomorrow morning." (L90364–90365, = Saturday). Plausible bank lag, but the promise slides a day.

"Tomorrow" said at 4:15 a.m.

Minor (L91812–91816) MC "Well, it's now 4:15 in the morning." (L91812) then MC "I'm going over to watch TV and eat mac and cheese at Bethany's tomorrow around lunch time." (L91816). It is already Saturday; the lunch is later the same day. Colloquial (before sleep), but "today" would be accurate. Branch: if bethany_tv == True (L91815).

Lacey's return date: "week and a half", "couple weeks", "this week"

Minor (L105517, L104222, L108557) MC "She'll be back in a week and a half." (L105517); MC "I'm allowed to do things like this for the next couple weeks." (L104222); L "No anal with any of the other girls this week." (L108557). Not contradictory, but the rehab length is stated three ways.

Factual contradictions within a scene or day

Mia's room: "right next to ours" vs "the floor directly below"

Probable (L53684 vs L59056) MC "Yeah. Like I said, I booked a second room, right next to ours." (L53684) vs J "Mia has her own room on the floor directly below them." (L59056). At booking MC only "reserve[s] two rooms and keep[s] our options open" (L53587) and tells Mia "I booked an extra room" (L53675); "Like I said ... right next to ours" adds a location he never said before. No branch, and nothing says the hotel reassigned the room. Fix: "directly below ours" at L53684, or "on the same floor" at L59056.

Poker: cash on hand does not add up

Probable (L62817, L63975, L64230, L64634, L64785, L64877–64882, L65165) Start: AB "...would you be willing to get out, say... two thousand dollars in cash?" (L62817). Cash spent before the tickets: "Funny that mine was fifty, but the girls were only twenty." (L64230, = $130), "I shake my head as I hand each of them a couple hundred bucks." (L64634), MC "Here's your hundred bucks." (L64785), plus the toys "I fork out another four hundred dollars" (L63975, if cash). Then AB "seven hundred and fifty for all five of us." (L64877) and MC "Um, eight hundred." (L64882), later "hand Lacey and Jeanette the last of the cash" (L65165, $400 each). For $800 to remain after the $750 tickets, only ~$450 can have been spent from the $2,000 beforehand; the dances ("a couple hundred" each, to each of them), covers and stripper tip alone are well over $1,000. (A second ATM visit is possible but never shown.) Fix: change "eight hundred" to a lower figure, or add a line where MC withdraws more.

Poker: is the starting stack $38K or $48K?

Probable (L68350–68396, L68471, L68649–68650, L68819) TW "The entry fee is ten thousand. I highly recommend buying in with an additional forty to one hundred thousand." (L68350); MC "I'll pay the ten thousand and buy in... an additional thirty eight thousand?" (L68359); MC "The ten thousand is just the buy-in amount." (L68394); MC "All forty eight thousand of it." (L68396). After round 1: "I'm sitting at $41,000" / "Down seven thousand dollars." (L68649–68650), which only works from a $48K starting stack. Then DLR "Your secondary buy-in is not to exceed your original buy-in." (L68471) and AB "He can only buy-in 48K." (L68819) call the whole $48K the "buy-in", while L68394 calls the $10K "the buy-in". If the $10K is a fee, MC started with $38K and "down $7K" would be $31K; if it also becomes chips, the dialogue's "entry fee / additional" split is wrong. The terms "entry fee" and "buy-in" change meaning mid-scene. Fix: fix one definition (e.g. "ten thousand of that goes to the house, the rest is chips") and re-derive $41K.

Poker: chip count at the end of round 3 vs the stack entering the final round

Probable (L68807, L68917, L68928–68937, L69015, L69038, L69284) AB "Rough estimate, he has about $90,000 in chips." (L68807); after the second $48K arrives (L68819–68866) "I'm sitting just a little under $144,000." (L68917). MC is then "in for $18,000" (L68928) and MC "I fold." (L68937); M "Man he totally did the right thing folding that last hand." (L69015). Round 3 ends there (L68978–68981). Yet AB "My God, he has to walk away from almost two hundred thousand dollars." (L69038) and, in the final round, "I lost about $26,000 on the first hand, but I still have just over $180,000 in chips still." (L69284), i.e. ~$206K before it. The only hand shown between $144K and "$200K" is a fold that costs him up to $18K. The stack should be about $126K, not ~$200K, and no winning hand is shown. Branch: none. Fix: make L69038/L69284 ~$125K/~$100K, or show a won pot between L68937 and L68978.

"Abby signed us up for this tournament earlier today"

Probable (L69328 vs L61885–61892, L68331) "Abby signed us up for this tournament earlier today." (L69328). The invitation was handed to MC directly by the pit boss two days earlier on Friday (CWBY "Dealer, ask the pit boss for an invitation for the good lookin' kid over there.", L61885; "The dealer points to me and the pit boss hands me a thick piece of card stock.", L61887) and MC himself "pull[s] out the ticket I got from my wallet" (L68331). Abby's only role shown is the Salamander Grooves tickets (L61945–61948). Fix: change L69328 to something like "Abby kept pushing me to go" or drop it.

Veronica gives two incompatible accounts of whose debt the Monster owed

Probable (L88327–88329 vs L88344–88345) V "How disappointed would you be if I told you it wasn't for you?" / MC "You did it for Lacey?" / V "Yes." (L88327–88329), then ~15 lines later V "The original debt is only for you." (L88344) and V "I've asked him to watch over Lacey as well." (L88345). First she says the favour spent on the rescue was for Lacey, then says the "original debt" was for MC and Lacey's protection was a second, later ask. Both cannot describe the same original debt. It may be loose wording ("only for you" = "the debt MC now owes me"), but the sentence order reads as the Monster's debt. Branch: none. (Also a candidate for the deception log: Veronica controls what MC believes about the debt.) Fix: either "it wasn't for you, it was for Lacey" throughout, or reword L88344 to "The debt you owe me is only for you."

Lacey's "None of that was true" retraction is wider than it can be

Probable (L95332–95346 vs L95423–95429; cf. L97280, L98136) In the rant: L "I became a drug addict." (L95339), L "I became a whore." (L95340), L "I FUCKING LOVED IT!" (L95343), L "I've had more dicks in me then there are minutes in a day." (L95346), plus the broom-handle abuse claim (L95331–95332). Retraction: L "None of that was true." (L95423), L "I said it to hurt her." (L95424), L "But I didn't mean those things." (L95429). It plainly retracts the "loved it / more than minutes in a day" boasts. It cannot cover "I became a drug addict": she tells MC L "He's my dealer." (L97280) and Christine says C "Your wife was hooked on this shit for an entire year" (L98136). It also leaves open whether the abuse details (L95331–95332) were true; MC's narration only says "she's just saying those things to get under her Mom's skin." (L95351). Fix: narrow the retraction ("I didn't love it. I said that to hurt her") and say what is true.

Lacey's "no pay or benefits" leave vs "fully covered"

Probable (L97447–97448 vs L97520–97521, L97645) L "Veronica is having HR put me on long term leave." / L "I won't get paid or receive benefits." (L97447–97448). Later L "The reason work is putting me on leave rather than just firing me is they wanted to make sure it would be fully covered." / L "It won't cost us anything out of pocket." (L97520–97521). MC then thinks "Plus I need to keep up our medical and dental insurance." (L97645). If she loses benefits, the employer's leave cannot be what makes the clinic "fully covered"; the only way it works is MC's plan or a leave benefit not mentioned. Fix: "I won't get paid, but my benefits continue" (or state the cover comes from MC's plan).

"magician" vs "magician's assistant"

Minor (L60109 vs L60179–60181) MC "And apparently the magician is quite the looker from what I understand." (L60109) vs MC "I just felt Mia was being a little weird about the magician's assistant." (L60179). Fine if the magician is a woman and the "looker" is a different person; reads like a slip.

Who pays for the trip

Minor (L60833 vs L60553, L63336) AB "Then we'll be stuck paying for a very expensive vacation." (L60833) vs AB "He's only the financier." (L60553) and MC "And I didn't expect anything in return for paying for everything." (L63336). Could mean the sisters' own planned costs.

Dialogue slips in numbers and terms

Minor (L61924, L65437, L68954) J "A 1400%% increase. That is crazy." (L61924) for $200 to $2,800, which is +1,300% (14x); %% itself is the correct Ren'Py escape. AB "I may have slipped in liquid ecstasy every time we took those shots." (L65437) then "molly" (L65439), and the same mix returns at L81518–81544 and L82663 (J "Pretty drunk... with a side of liquid ecstasy.") ("liquid ecstasy" usually means GHB, "molly" is MDMA, "roofied" implies secretly drugged). "I actually had the fourth worst full house." (L68954): MC's 2s-full-of-queens is the worst of the four full houses, so "fourth worst" of four is actually the best.

Tournament rules: "may not walk out" vs "withdraw before evaluation"

Minor (L68472–68473 vs L68985–68991) DLR "And of course, you may not walk out during a tournament." / DLR "You must play until you lose your initial buy-in, or you make it to the final three." (L68472–68473) vs DLR "If you are not prepared to honor all bets made you are asked to withdraw before the evaluation is completed." / "You will forfeit all chips to the remaining players." (L68990–68991). Also a no-show forfeits chips and puts the evaluation in the pot (L68985–68986) while a formal withdrawal does not. The exit offer is plausibly the board's deliberate trap, but the absolute rule is never qualified.

MC tells Bethany his "recent income adjustment" pays off the loans "in a couple of years"

Minor (L72619 vs L71174, L69530) MC_nvl "With my recent income adjustment I'll be able to pay off mine and Lacey's in a couple of years" (L72619, Monday night) vs MC to the crew the same day: MC "...it was around... nine hundred thousand dollars." (L71174), with four deposits due (PITB "Expect four equal deposits to occur. Each one 31 days apart.", L69530). With ~$900K coming, "a couple of years" understates it; either MC is hiding the windfall from Bethany (she was not in the crew debrief) or the text was written before the Vegas arc. Branch: counter-gated text, Bethany #1 (L72588).

Veronica's "little thing" test shifts

Minor (L80520–80522 vs L81183–81187) She calls MC fondling Bethany's breasts "a little thing" (L80522), but in the later scene her test for "little" is V "Did we have sex?" / V "Did we touch or kiss each other?" (L81183–81185). By the second test the Bethany touching would not be "little". Probably her motivated reasoning, but the standard is not the same.

Jeanette does not know MC thinks Lacey asked for a divorce

Minor (L84961, L85610 vs L86041–86044) Anna tells Ivy A "I need to call everyone and let them know what you've told me." (L84961) and tells Mia A "Ivy said he seemed so sure that Lacey wanted a divorce." (L85610). Later MC: MC "But she was the one who said she wanted a divorce." and Jeanette answers J "What are you talking about?" (L86041–86042). Possibly she was not among the people Anna reached, or she is deflecting; nothing says so.

"You've already been with Anna" when ANNA_lover == False

Minor (L94490 vs L81434–81448, L93655–93657) L "You've already been with Anna, but that's up to you." (L94490, unconditional). In the rejection route MC told Anna "We can't keep doing this Anna" (L81433–81436) and Anna says "I feel like you've already made your decision about me." (L93656). "Been with" has to mean the dates and kissing, not a relationship; the line is accurate only if read loosely. Branch: ANNA_lover == False is the route where "been with" is least literal.

Same club or two clubs?

Minor (L94703, L94710, L94796–94801, L95017–95020, L95488; cf. L70746, L76193) L "We're going to the same club that Erica's band played at." (L94703) immediately followed by L "You should go and say hi to Mike. I bet he misses you." (L94710); MC's night is at "Mike's" club (L94801), Lacey's with Erica (ER "This place is like a second home to me.", L95020), and Lacey later says L "And I missed it? I would have given anything to see that." (L95488). Possible reading: one venue with a main bar (Mike) and a second bar (L76193 "He never comes to the second bar"). But Erica's band played the "Lamplighter Club downtown" (L70746), and the book never says Mike's bar is in the Lamplighter. Unclear whether Lacey steers him into the same building or a different one.

MC says Veronica said it "will affect you"

Minor (L95936 vs L95812, L95838) MC "Because she said it will affect you." (L95936) vs Veronica V "(sigh) Pretty important. It will have a lot of trickle down to my department." (L95812); the Lacey link is MC's own (MC "If this affects your department, that means it affects Lacey.", L95838). Branch: V_ntrs01 == True (L95836). Reads as MC reshaping the rationale for Lacey.

Barty knows MC "already has the documents"

Minor (L101708 vs L100382–100386, L101703–101704) Thursday afternoon MC gets the paperwork by email ("The paperwork for the property is officially in my hands.", L100386); Thursday night BA "[MCFirst] already has the documents." (L101708). Will's "workplace gossip" (L101703–101704) covers Lacey's rehab, not the documents. An information channel is missing (Bernard's side already knows MC is to seek the POA, L98740, but not that the papers have arrived).

Stephen "had no idea who Lacey was"

Minor (L110002–110003 vs L111039–111040) A "He had no idea who Lacey was. To him she was just a college girl that liked to have fun." (L110003) vs ST "Did you know... I knew her back in school?" / MC "Yeah. She mentioned that." (L111039–111040). He knew her personally; Anna must mean "did not know what she was to you". Branch: ANNA_lover route (L109991 onward).

Script logic and variable bugs

Bella's "+love" message is dead code

Hard error (L72346–72351)

"Text Bella ([BELLA_text_number]), Jared's fiancée" if BELLA_text_max == False and BELLA_reject != True:
    call BELLA_sms_new ...
    $ BELLA_text_number += 1
    $ BELLA_love += 5
    return
    "You feel Bella cares for you more \n (Bella Love = [BELLA_love])"

The return (L72350) comes before the love-feedback line (L72351), so Bella is the only contact whose +5 never shows the "You feel Bella cares for you more" message. (The Christine/Jeanette/Bethany/Kelly/Yue entries show it before return.) Fix: swap the two lines.

Texts that presuppose a later conversation (Jeanette #2)

Branch-dependent (L72527–72563, L72300–72349; vs L73115–73215) J_nvl "Did our talk about the Black Dhalia stuff help you or make it worse?" / MC_nvl "It helped a lot" / MC_nvl "Still jealous, but not crazy jealous" (L72535–72537). The Jeanette debrief about the Vegas BDSM session happens the next day (Tuesday chai, L73115–73215), after this Monday-night gym menu (L72283). Reachable only if the player already used Jeanette text #1 earlier (earlier menus set JEANETTE_text_number = 2, L40244 etc.), so that #2 plays here. The label is counter-gated, not day-gated, so the same text appears whenever the counter allows it. Fix: gate Jeanette #2 on a flag set after the L73115 conversation, or reword it to be timeless.

Yue: "personality, not physical appearance" in the breast-enlargement route

Branch-dependent (L77424 vs L73666–73682) MC "But it's more about her personality and not her physical appearance." (L77424, to Lacey). In the YUE_breasts == True route MC offered to pay for the surgery (MC "Go make an appointment."/"Send me the bill and I'll pay for it.", L73670–73671) and said MC "I want to see what you'd look like with bigger boobs." (L73679). The prose is deliberate concealment ("I don't think I can tell Lacey about me helping her out with getting a breast enlargement.", L75519), so it is MC's lie rather than a slip, but L77424 is not gated for it. Branch: only YUE_breasts == True.

slut route: asks for sexier clothes, then cites a "stop dressing like a slut" promise

Branch-dependent (L89675–89700 vs L91577) In the slut == True route MC tells Lacey "Do you understand what I mean when I say nice?" (L89676) and "Especially considering how I want you to dress for me." (L89700). That night he says MC "And when I told you I wanted you to stop dressing like a slut you told me you would respect that." (L91577), MC "You lied to my face..." (L91578). The prohibition he cites is older (e.g. L20764 MC_nvl "But no dressing like a slut", L25454), but in this route he has since reversed it, so the accusation of lying is hard to square with L89683–89684. Branch: slut == True (set at L8445).

Slut/bimbo clothing flags differ between Lacey's and Anna/Mia's outfits

Branch-dependent (L96066 vs L96156–96175, L96106–96146) Lacey's outfit is gated on slut == True or bimbo == True (L96066); Anna's and Mia's on what_if == "bimbo" or what_if == "slut" (L96156). In the "I guess I've changed my mind" option MC makes Lacey change (L96106–96146), yet he can then answer "Yeah, this is what I want" (L96167) about Anna's and Mia's revealing outfits. The two flags can disagree, and a player who just withdrew the request for Lacey is invited to confirm it for the others.

Stray developer comments in the story text

Minor (L73700, L74801, L86526) # Bethany Event 02 sits at the end of y_event_01 (L73700); # Veronica helping MC with his 'issue' at the end of lorenzo_humiliation (L74801); # Veronica Blowjob at the end of lacey_welcome_home (L86526). Mislabeled leftover comments; harmless in play.

Props, presence and physical continuity

Lacey and Kelly speak privately about MC while he is in the back seat

Probable (L88264–88295) MC "I'll hop in the back this time." (L88264), then Kelly and Lacey talk with no MC line: L "Please don't talk about this with him." / L "I don't want him to see this part of me." (L88269–88271), L "I will prove my love anyway that I must." (L88287). "Kelly had gone home after dropping us off." (L88295) confirms all three rode together. MC is in earshot and never reacts. Unless the scene is meant as a non-MC cutaway (no marker says so), he either hears it or the car conversation is staged out of his presence. Branch: none. Fix: add a line that MC is asleep/earbuds in, or cut the scene break so it is clearly a cutaway.

Purchases that never happen on screen

Minor (L62268–62269, L64213) "Plus now I have a second suit I can wear to work or whatever." / "Totally worth the ridiculous price I paid for it." (L62268–62269) and "I bought myself a clubbing outfit." (L64213). No shopping beat for either is shown (the shopping scenes cover dresses and jewellery, e.g. L61232).

Lacey does not register MC speaking, then asks "When did you get here?"

Minor (L75116–75151 vs L75240–75242) MC speaks to her throughout the self-slapping episode (MC "Please don't hit yourself.", L75116; MC "Lacey, please...", L75120; MC "Lacey, you need to stop doing this.", L75151). At L75240–75242: MC "Lacey?" / L "(startled scream)" / L "(breathing) When did you get here? How long have you been listening?" Consistent with the dissociation MC relays from Dr. Sarah later in the same slice (MC "So, Dr. Sarah thinks I'm in danger of having a dissociative mental break.", L77194), but the scene never says she has not noticed him, so it reads as a presence error.

MC's phone: "turned off" yet used

Minor (L83180, L84002, L84076–84078, L84163 vs L84272–84292, L84321) "I turn my phone off." (L83180); at Ivy's "We exchange phone numbers" (L84002); yet the security firm reports "a brief ping home" (L84272) from a train, a new contact created (L84292) and a near-full battery (L84282). Cal says "It was conveniently already turned off." (L84078) and MC believes "my phone is turned off" (L84163). Resolvable (MC switched it on to add Ivy and it briefly connected on the train), but the text never shows him turning it back on.

Anna and Mia appear with no arrival

Minor (L88295–88296, L88445–88448 vs L89322–89332) "Veronica's house had fallen quiet, with just Lacey, Veronica and myself here." (L88296); MC asks Lacey to have "you, Mia and Anna come up with a plan" (L88445) and Lacey says "Give us some time" (L88449). At L89322 Anna and Mia are in the room (L "Your girls are here.", L89329) with no arrival or call shown.

Lacey is naked with no antecedent

Minor (L89324, L89393–89395 vs L88480–89307) Lacey is in lacey_night / lacey_night_crying sprites until L89307, then lacey_nude2_crying at L89324, and M "You're still naked?" (L89395). Nothing in the text says she undressed (she was dressed that morning). The earlier "And she's naked again." (L75107) shows this is a recurring motif, but the transition here is missing.

Names and spellings

"Mistress Pauline" / "Mistress Paulina"

Probable (L68097–68111 vs L68290, L77369) BDSMG "Good evening. My name is Mistress Pauline." (L68097), MC "Good evening Pauline." (L68098), L "...a session with Mistress Pauline." (L68111) vs MC "Bye Mistress Paulina." (L68290) and L "You didn't run off and do icky things with Mistress Paulina." (L77369). Two lines each spelling. MC also promises "I'll respect that by not referring to you by name going forward." (L68101) then uses the name (L68290), which may be deliberate teasing. Fix: choose one spelling.

The club is "Gothic Dahlia", except in two texts ("Black Dhalia" / "Black Dahlia")

Probable (L72535, L72561 vs L64872, L65042, L67958, L71144) J_nvl "Did our talk about the Black Dhalia stuff help you or make it worse?" (L72535); MC_nvl "Do I need to bring you back to the Black Dahlia?" (L72561). Everywhere else it is "Gothic Dahlia" (e.g. L64872, L65042, L67536, L67958, L71144, L73044). L72535 is also misspelled ("Dhalia"); "Black Dahlia" is the real-world murder-case name, so this may be an accidental swap. Fix: "Gothic Dahlia" in both.

"Christina" for Christine

Probable (L103399) "Christina tried to tell me this." / "That just like her twin, Lacey's been hiding how much she's using." (L103399–103400). Everywhere else she is Christine, and "twin ... ketamine" confirms it is her (C "My twin died from a ketamine overdose.", L12771; C "I'm going to visit my twin's grave.", L98235). Fix: "Christine".

Typos

Minor (L72532, L77780, L78625, L103426) J_nvl "I guess I can call you buy your full name" (L72532, "by"); K "You're new accountant has set you up..." (L77780, "Your"); L "...then you are not speak to me for any reason." (L78625, "not to speak"); L "...a good cabana boy.," (L103426, stray comma).

"Issac"

Minor (L76720) "Issac has a big grin on his face." (Isaac, 20+ times elsewhere in the range).

"Maria Cart" / "Maria Kart"

Minor (L99190, L99219 vs L103869–103870) Y "Did you ever play Maria Cart?" (L99190), Y "There's a brand new Maria Cart game out." (L99219) vs MC "I wanna play the new Maria Kart!" (L103869), Y "Maria Kart Universe..." (L103870).

Narrator distortions (intentional, not errors)

The divorce confrontation is MC's hallucination (L82999–83172)

Intentional (not an error, not graded) (explained in text; L86238–86283) Contradictions that would be Lacey inconsistencies if the scene were real, all retired by the in-text resolution: L "None of that happened." / L "I never said any of those things to you." (L86238–86239) and MC "I made up the whole thing in my head?" (L86276).

• L "That was to make you feel safe." / L "Because I know that's what you needed to hear me say." (L83144–83145) vs what she says privately to Veronica (L79164–79181) and to MC (L82086–82090).
• L "Anna, Mia and I are going out drinking tonight." (L83024) vs L "I'm not really meeting Anna and Mia." (L83159).
• L "I sent her away." (L83017, of Mia) vs Veronica arranging V "Mia is going to leave early and stay with you." (L82791).
• The outfit ("What on earth is she wearing?", L83008; MC "It's a little on the slutty side.", L83042) vs L "My black bras and my black skirts are in storage." (L86249).
• "Lacey said they weren't arguing or anything." (Mia, L84211) vs the ultimatum. Treat every "lie" inside L82999–83172 as MC's invention, not Lacey's deception. Real Lacey's own account of that evening is L86262–86272.

The cage, Tina and Cal's repeat visits conflict with Charlie and with Cal's own thoughts

Intentional (not an error, not graded) (explained in text; L86550–86567, L86941–86946) MC's captivity story: bars (show cal_bars, L84595), Tina and her mother, repeat visits by Cal and Will (L84592–84649, L85168–85258). Counter-evidence: MC "Wait... where did the bars go?" (L85672); CH "Never seen no cage down here." (L85676); CH "Never seen any kids here before." (L85686); and Cal's own thoughts CA "Oh shit. I never went back and fed him or nothing." (L85805). The text flags it itself: "Was Cal real?" (L86556), "And little Tina?" (L86562), "Was there ever a cage?" (L86566), MC "I think I was hallucinating towards the end..." (L86946). The kidnapping is real (L86554 "I did get knocked out on the train and woke up in a basement."); the cage, Tina and some visits are MC's impaired perception.

MC "has never gone" to the lower downtown area

Intentional (not an error, not graded) (L82354 vs L81635–81891) MC "I've never gone there." (L82354) after TM_nvl "Oh and stop wandering around the lower downtown area" (L82345). He wandered a downtown alley, met Charlie and gave him $20 (L81868–81876), then "I barely even remember it." (L81891). Dissociative amnesia, not a slip.

MC's Vegas rant misquotes his own narration

Intentional (not an error, not graded) (L65771, L65783–65799, L65855–65862)

• MC "What a little shit performance that was, because you were obviously acting." (L65771) vs his own narration "It obviously caught her off guard as she quickly pulled away with a shocked look on her face." (L63311).
• MC "Did you know that Abby was the only person who said my name today?" (L65783): Mia and Jeanette did address him, but by nickname (M "Hey Prince Valiant.", L63699; J "Don't be stingy boss man!", L64633), so "name" is arguably literal. The overstatement is "the ONLY fucking thing you said to me for the past few hours" (L65795), which echoes L64107 "She hasn't said two words to me in hours."; that narration comes straight after Lacey has just spoken to him (L64102–64104).
• Order and speaker are swapped: MC says Lacey yelled the dildo line first and the clothes line second (L65855–65858), but the clothes lines come first (Mia: M "I want him to tear my clothes off.", L64951; Lacey: "Yeah... up there on the stage...", L64952) and the dildo line second (L64990–64991). This is anger-driven distortion; the narration is the reliable record.

MC tells Dr. Sarah Lacey "didn't do anything wrong"

Intentional (not an error, not graded) (L90563–90566 vs L89342–89352, L89553–89556) MC "Since she didn't do anything wrong." (L90565) vs the morning scene MC "I meant every word of what I said." / MC "I wanted those words to hurt you." / MC "Tell me you understand that you've permanently damaged me." (L89553–89556), and the night-of MC "I couldn't stop myself." / MC "I don't mean to be this way." (L89351–89352) against the morning's "I meant every word". Dr. Sarah catches the first: S "...she wanted your forgiveness because she feels she did do something wrong. And you think she did something wrong." (L90569–90570). MC's summaries and apologies disagree with what he said; Sarah's reaction frames it as intended character beat.

"You didn't want to be saved"

Intentional (not an error, not graded) (L77987–77988 vs L75146, L75154, L77970) MC "But the truth is, you didn't want to be saved." / MC "If you had wanted me to come... you would have asked me to." (L77987–77988), though in the earlier episode he heard L "I wanted him to save me." (L75146) and L "I couldn't do it on my own." (L75154) and says in the same scene MC "If I had thought you wanted me to save you, I would have come." (L77970). Self-justification, not authorial slip.

MC's account of Lacey and Isaac

Intentional (not an error, not graded) (L55758, L56031 vs L55773–55777, L56052) MC "...while I was contemplating suicide, you were busy being his slutty girlfriend." (L55758), "her ex-boyfriend's place" (L56031) vs L "I was never his girlfriend." / L "Isaac and I were never a couple." (L55773, L55777) and IS "I was never your woman's boyfriend or whatever ya thinkin'." (L56052). Two first-hand accounts against MC's framing.

Smaller MC/narrator overstatements

Intentional (not an error, not graded)

• Nobody noticed (L111567): "It seems like nobody noticed my difficulties, except for Kelly, Anna and Mia." but Christine (C "Wait, where are you going?", L109589), Kelly (L109590) and Veronica (V "We're sorry. Don't go.", L109592, plus "I think Veronica sees my expression.", L109533) all saw him storm off; his own count is "Two meltdowns." (L111389).
• "We told almost nobody that we're in Vegas." (L69327): Kelly, Will, Veronica and the whole crew knew; panic inference.
• Recap to the crew (L71110–71111): MC "I tried not to actually." (get drunk) against Abby's "found him trying to drink himself into a stupor" (L67076).
• Anna "just straight up flirting" (L109272, ANNA_lover == False) vs Anna's account A "Stephen has asked me out a few times. I keep saying no." (L109931).
• Public vs private on the Anna date (L61197–61201 vs "Like the nice date I had with Anna before we left.", L64163): private reverie, not a contradiction.
• Mia's professor count: M "...With like six of them." (L58893) vs L "That I know of? Nine." (L59341), an intentional correction.

In-universe lies and omissions (characters, not the author)

Intentional (not an error, not graded)

• Jeanette feigns ignorance in front of MC (J "Do I know what's going on?" / AB "You do not.", L60555–60556) and then in private J "This is such a bad idea. We can't do this Abby." (L60829): staged.
• Abby's statements about Master Gordon and the plan (AB "What you're thinking right now. That's what it is.", L65096; AB "No she didn't.", L65470; AB "I may have said things in a certain way to help you draw some unhealthy conclusions.", L65473; AB "He never sleeps with any of his customers.", L65480), and her AB "I already told you I didn't." (L65431, about telling the girls to treat him badly) against L "Abby made it very clear you were not to be asked to dance by any of us." (L66095), AB "You won't be dancing tonight." (L64288) and AB "This isn't [MCFirst] day." (L63046). Abby is the in-text deceiver and admits misleading (L65473); these are her lies, not continuity errors.
• Lacey's replies to Will (L "He said he was up for it.", L70738) are omitted in her retellings (L70795–70796, L71287–71290); this is why Erica expected a swap (L71807). Will's claims that Erica cleared security (L71595) and that Anna "ran into a friend" (L71871) are his manoeuvres.

Rejected on verification

Reader-reported Minor items not individually re-verified (cosmetic, cross-slice or inference-only; no change to the verdicts above): slice 10 #2, #7, #8, #11–#14, #16–#17; slice 11 #9, #13–#14 (partly covered), #19–#22; slice 12 D-1c, D-5 (covered), D-12, D-16–D-20; slice 13 D2, D4, D13–D17, D19–D24, D29, D31; slice 14 D1.2–D1.12, D2.3–D2.19, D3.2–D3.23, D4.7–D4.23 except those cited above, D5.4–D5.23, D6.4–D6.24; slice 15 D6–D7, D12–D13, D16–D25; slice 16 D5, D7, D9–D20; slice 17 #7–#10, #13, #16–#20; slice 18 D9–D24.

Part II — Deception Analysis

Verdict: who deceives most, and why

Short answer. Measured by habit, Mia is the most frequently deceptive character in Love & Jealousy. Measured by raw volume it is MC, but that figure is inflated by narration and symptoms. Measured by consequence for the marriage it is Lacey. These three answers are not in conflict. They describe three different kinds of lying, and the book needs all three.

The three measures

Why Mia

Even on the most conservative reading, Mia keeps the top spot. Lacey's curated re-count found that about 30% of her logged rows were not deceptions. If Mia's rows are discounted by the same 30%, she still runs at roughly 18 genuine deceptions per 1,000 lines. That compares with 17.7 for Lacey's curated rate and about 10 for MC's volitional rate (categories a–c only).

Her deception is also the most deliberate in the cast:

• Self-declared persona lying. She tells MC she is "a character I play" (L2106, L3133). She tells him "The only real lies I told were about me" (L15031), but only after giving two incompatible accounts of Lacey (L2367 vs L3057).
• Orchestration. She tips off Kelly about the club and then buys MC's silence with a promise to warn him (L43258, L44189). She positions Kelly as "the backup plan… Lacey's replacement" (L22604–22605), with private thoughts confirming she wants Lacey "terrified" of her (L19213–19223).
• Supply. Her ketamine stash turns up on Lacey's counter (L44483 → L46539), and she procures the stash during MC's kidnapping (L85630).
• Inversion under pressure. She tells Lacey "He demanded that I show him" (L46662) when the scene shows MC begging her to stop (L46211–46405). On the justice_for_ivy branch she runs the honeytrap "in his name": "We never want him to see the damage we do in his name" (L106866).

Why Mia does it. This is extrapolation, anchored in the text. Mia's lying is organised around a single goal she states plainly: to share MC and be "the center of his world" (L46695–46717). The goal is shaped by a trauma she discloses only once (raped at fifteen, L29446–29501). Her performed cruelty and her "lessons" let her control intimacy at a distance. That gives her a role in the marriage she cannot have through the marriage. She is also the crew's most active steering hand (see The crew below). Her lies are paternalistic, in the book's signature mode: lying to MC for what she has decided is his good.

Why the book is built this way

Every major character lies, but they lie for different reasons:

• The villains lie to take: Jared, Will, Barty, Cal, Ryder.
• The friends lie to manage: the crew of Mia, Anna, Jeanette, Veronica, Christine and Kelly.
• Lacey lies first to hide, then to engineer. About 48% of her deceptions are self-protective and 36% are "for MC" by her own stated logic.
• MC lies to keep. He hides his state and his shame to avoid being abandoned, and in Act 4 he lies to control.

The first villain states the theme outright: "They'll betray you thinking they're doing what's best for you" (Jared, L16857). The rest of the script then shows the people who love MC doing exactly that.

The author also gives the player the tools to catch all of it:

• thought tags (JT, KT, VT, AT, YT) and off-POV scenes, which put ground truth on the page;
• a narrator whose own lies are confessed in narration;
• a hallucinated Lacey drawn with sprites (lacey_evil*) that are used nowhere else.

So deception in this script is not noise. It is the book's subject, and the game teaches the player to read it.

Comparative numbers

These are counted on one basis for every character. Deception rows come from the reader logs after the slice-15 parser fix, with retracted rows excluded. Weights are: certain 1, probable 0.7, speculative 0.3, unrated 0.5. "Own lines" are spoken lines across all branches; MC's include his 11,884 lines of untagged narration. Treat the weighted figures as a comparative index, not a count of lies:

• Group rows count once for each member.
• About 17% of MC's rows and about 30% of Lacey's turned out, on curation, not to be deceptions at all.
• Reader logging density varied between slices.

Curated counts for the two leads.

• MC: 584 genuinely deceptive rows, broken down as:

  • toward Lacey: 194
  • toward others: 161 (34 of them tactical deception against the conspiracy)
  • manipulation and control: 62
  • self-deception: 89
  • unreliable narration: 78

• Lacey: 355 genuinely deceptive rows, broken down as:

  • outright lies: 25
  • concealment: 92
  • engineered scenarios: 78
  • minimisation and reframing: 121
  • broken promises: 12
  • self-deception: 27

  Against those, 48 confessions and corrections, 27 of them volunteered.

MC: concealer, tactician and unreliable narrator

Summary

MC is the most-logged deceiver in the script (678 parsed rows, plus 22 hand-coded from the slice-15 log the parser missed). But per line he speaks or narrates he is one of the less deceptive principals: 16.5 logged rows per 1,000 lines, against Lacey's 24.4 and Mia's 31.0. More than a quarter of his deceptive rows (167 of 584) are self-deception or unreliable narration, which only the narrator can generate. His volitional deception toward Lacey is mostly omission, framing and masking of his own state rather than fabrication. Of 194 toward-Lacey rows, only about 25 are direct false statements, and most of those are "I'm fine" lies about anger, hurt or jealousy. What he hides are the facts that would trigger her guilt or his humiliation: the details of other women, the Mia pact, the crew's meetings, The Monster, the Isaac house, the $900,000 and the land threat. He hides them while demanding "no secrets" from her ("Please don't keep any secrets from me right now", L44711, then "Not that I can think of", L47034).

Toward outsiders he is a competent and mostly justified tactical liar: the infertility decoy, Gary's "board mission", the Will and Erica operations (42 rows), and the narration says openly what he is doing. The dark category is control. On the fixed path that means the forced confession (L89270–89291), pain as reassurance (L19829–19830) and orders to the women around him. On opt-in branches that cost good_guy points it means the Lemke push, the Kelly ultimatum, the Erica "(Lie)" option and the Hortensa "Embrace" fabrication. Underneath all this sit two things: the clinician's frame (co-dependency, masking, a predicted dissociative break that arrives within hours) and the script's proof that he invents whole scenes (L82999–83172, exposed at L86238 and L86276). Together they mean his narration is reliable about his own intentions but not about other people's minds, nor about events during his episodes. Across the four acts his deception shifts from defensive concealment (keep Lacey, avoid her "punishing" him) to acquisitive control: "Power. Because she gave me power." (L95906–95907).

By the numbers

Method. I re-coded all 678 parsed MC rows in deception_MC.tsv by hand into the five categories of the brief, plus X: rows that record no deception (accurate perceptions, honest disclosures, consensual role-play, pending promises, other characters' lies logged under MC, breaches of confidence that are not lies). Slice 15's log (notes_15_E.md, E-M1–E-M22) was never parsed; it is added by hand. The categories are:

• (a) toward Lacey
• (b) toward others, with tac marking tactical deception against Jared, the Will/Barty/Cal ring, the Board and their agents
• (c) manipulation and control (any target)
• (d) self-deception and minimisation
• (e) unreliable narration (misperception, distortion, invention)

Category × confidence

The denominator is 41,066 MC lines: 29,182 tagged dialogue plus 11,884 untagged narration (speaker_lines.txt). Toward Lacey, the reader-assigned types are: lie by omission 48, misleading framing 34, secret-keeping 25, concealment 13, outright lie 9, and the rest "other" (mostly masking). About 25 of the 194 are direct false statements or broken promises.

Per slice (trend across the story)

*Hand-coded from notes_15_E.md; the slice-15 reader folded the cage and hallucination material into slice 14's (e) rows.

Per act

The act breaks are at L38264, L55661, L83297 and L111855.

The shape:

• Deception toward Lacey falls steadily and drops by more than half in Act 4, after the hallucination is exposed and the "truths only" pact is made (L99553).
• Control and manipulation is the only category that rises in Act 4, back to its Act 1 level.
• Tactical deception clusters in two operations: anti-Jared (slices 04–05) and Vegas plus Will/Erica (slice 12).
• Unreliable narration peaks around his episodes: the party trigger (07), the Vegas shutdown (11), and the fugue and hallucination (14).

Rate comparison (logged rows per 1,000 own lines, same 17 parsed slices)

MC's "Certain" share is 48% (325/678), against Lacey's 39% (190/490).

Exposure bias (read the numbers with these in mind)

1. Detectability is asymmetric. MC's narration supplies the "truth" column for his own lies ("I'm lying. I looked all over for her." L76003; "I feel bad for lying" L15111; "I'm taking that to my grave" L47033). Other characters' lies are logged Certain only when an off-POV scene or a thought tag (KT, VT, YT) exposes them. This inflates both MC's row count and his Certain share.
2. (d) and (e) are structurally MC-only. No one else narrates, so no one else can be logged at this scale for self-deception or unreliable narration. Excluding them, his volitional rate (a+b+c) is 10.1 per 1,000 lines.
3. He is in nearly every scene. The per-line rate corrects for volume, but not for the kind of opportunity: he is the one with a jealous spouse, a secret pact, a security clearance and an enemy.
4. Reader density varies. Slice 05's reader logged 104 rows, 31 of them non-deceptive notes, so per-slice peaks partly reflect logging style. The Act 4 decline in (a) holds in every Act 4 slice (14 tail, 15–18), which makes it more robust than any single slice peak.

Patterns

Omission while demanding total honesty

The signature pattern. MC asks Lacey for transparency while running a parallel set of secrets. The secrets are usually protective, but the demand-plus-omission pairing is what he later calls hypocrisy.

• "No secrets" against "Not that I can think of." He asks, "Please don't keep any secrets from me right now." (L44711). He is holding Mia's ketamine stash (he opened her purse: "I know it's wrong… I can't stop", L44475–44480), The Monster's texts and the crew's meetings. Three days later Lacey asks, "So, is there anything else I should know about?" The narration says "I'm not saying a word about all the girls meeting without us. I'm taking that to my grave." MC answers "Not that I can think of." (L47031–47034). Certain
• Extracting a promise he is breaking. He has her promise that "no matter where or when, if you come in close proximity to it you would let me know" (L45436–45439), while withholding his own proximity to Mia's stash. Certain
• "Truths only" for one day. Lacey proposes "Let's promise each other, truths only in here." (L99553). Next visit: "No scary shit. Let's not make her anxious." (L100551). He omits the Bernard call, Ryder's employer and the paperwork. Certain that he omits; protective in motive.
• The Christine "confession". He announces he "sort of cheated" (L8855–8888) and reduces it to a back rub, omitting the whispering, "Daddy" and his arousal. Certain
• The Yue lunch. He tells Lacey "I had no idea she felt that way… She's always just been my IT buddy" (L75511–75513). He omits "I would totally jump your bones" (L73600, Branch-dependent) and the breast-augmentation offer. On the YUE_breasts branch he admits it to himself: "I don't think I can tell Lacey about me helping her out with getting a breast enlargement. I think she'd misunderstand why I'm doing it." (L75519–75520). Certain (omission), Branch-dependent (content)
• The Veronica phone-sex call. It goes beyond Lacey's "as long as it didn't turn physical" licence, and he names it himself: "Christ I'm a hypocrite." (L34543–34603). It is absent from the "No lies. No secrets" talk (L35846). Certain

Masking his own state

Most of MC's direct lies to Lacey are about his interior, not about facts. Readers logged them as "outright lie", but they work as affect concealment: he lies so as not to be a burden or to avoid "drama".

• "I'm doing good." (L60630) comes minutes after "I am completely worthless" (L60330–60336). Certain
• "I'm right as rain… no word vomit vacation" (L59394–59397) against the narration "I really fucking hate this guy… As if I didn't have enough reason to hate myself" (L59368–59377). Certain
• "No. I'm the no drama version of [MCFirst] now." (L61205): a persona, not a lie, but it licenses a run of them (L60178, L60390, L63421–63426, L64308–64314). Certain
• A suicidal-adjacent withdrawal (L21903–21916, L22241–22247) is labelled "my mental health day" (L22469) and later reframed to Lacey as "I just needed one day to figure things out" (L22894–22935). Probable
• To his own clinician: "there's really nothing to even say. Everything's okay now." (L75740–75742). He had disclosed passive suicidal ideation "a couple times" a week on the phone screen (L73925–73932). Certain
• "I'm not mad at you", followed by Lacey's "You're totally lying to me right now" (L90451–90453; slice 15 E-M11). Certain

Protective information control

Some of this is plainly justified. Some is paternalism that removes Lacey's agency.

• Childhood. He let her believe he didn't know about the abuse, "Even though I always did" (L34825–34826). Certain This is the oldest and most sympathetic concealment, and the template for the rest.
• The crew. "There's no way I could tell her about that. It would totally hurt her feelings." (L45266–45267), and agreed with Anna (L50762–50765). Certain
• The land threat. "There's no way I could lay this on Lacey. She would lose her marbles if she had this hanging over her." (L92581–92582). Then "Just sign them. Nothing more." (L94651), with only a hedge that "some land developers… want your property" (L94655). Certain Paternalistic.
• The $900,000. He routes access through Kelly's power of attorney, not Lacey's: "If, the things Lacey tells me are true. Maybe they are and maybe they aren't… She might even make some catastrophic errors in personal judgment." (L74092–74095). He then speaks to Lacey as if no windfall existed: "If we ever become financially independent…" (L77226). Probable for the Act 3 omission. Lacey knew of the tournament (L77239), and in Act 4 she hears of "three more payments" (L108531, Branch-dependent lacey_breakfast). What she never gets is access.
• Lacey's own request. "I'll only fill you in on things you absolutely have to know." (L108295–108305). Certain Justified.

Technically-true answers and narrow oaths

MC has a lawyer's ear for the literal question. The narration admits the technique.

• "I somehow pulled this off without lying? It's a goddamn miracle." (L58628), after "I don't want to lie, but I am not telling her it's Isaac's old place" (L58576) and the "holding company" answer (L58578–58579). Certain
• "I didn't sleep with anyone." (L19535) is true only "at the party"; he slept with Anna the night before. Then a false oath: "We didn't stay up and talk at all. And we definitely did not gossip or talk about you behind your back. I swear it." (L19763–19766). Against that stand his comparison of Anna's body with Lacey's (L17959) and Anna's "If things ever don't work out with Lacey… I'll be right here for you" (L18054–18055). Certain
• "I haven't fucked anyone yet" (L15804), on the night of a Christine blowjob. Probable Branch-dependent (Christine path)
• "I used you so that I didn't just lie to my wife." (L90307). He calls Kelly into his office after texting Lacey "Someone just came into my office", so the lie becomes retroactively true. Certain
• "Will doesn't know your husband… He doesn't know him." (L41518–41520), technically true inside the Will prank. Certain, benign

Minimising other women to Lacey

During the free-pass week and after, every report MC gives Lacey of another woman is downgraded.

• Bella: "There was zero romance… She spent most of the time mugging for the camera… there's no spark there at all" (L24113–24123). The scene contradicts it, including his own "I don't think I've ever wanted something more" (L23844). Probable
• Kelly: "It was a one time thing. And she knows that." (L25033–25034), then next morning "I'd like to see you again." / "I'd like that too." (L25130–25131). Her "I love you" was "Not in a romantic way" (L25050), against L24688–24689 and Mia's "You told him you loved him" (L24738). Certain
• "I'll sleep in our guest room tonight. Alone of course." (L24969–24971), then "I got back in bed between Kelly and Mia." (L25125). Certain broken promise
• Anna: "Maybe a six. Mostly because she tried so hard." (L19769), against the in-scene "It's never been more obvious that Anna really does love me." (L18024). Probable
• Retrospect: "The free-pass scared me. I only took advantage of it, because I felt you had done something hurtful" (L28268–28274), against "It's literally my favorite thing." (L24772). Probable

Tactical deception against the conspiracy

This is MC's most skilful lying and, in-story, his most justified. The narration records it openly.

• The infertility decoy. "Just like Mia said. Feed her false information." (L18977). He tells Christine "I can't have kids" and that IVF "can cost upwards of forty thousand dollars" (L18996–19016), and admits it: "it was the only thing I could come up with" (L19084–19085). Certain
• The phantom footage. He promises Christine he'll "ask on the sly" about a supply-closet video (L19045–19065) while knowing "There's no footage… No cameras were ever installed… I'm the one who connects the cameras to our network." (L19098–19106). Certain He later confesses only the infertility lie (L20645–20649); the footage lie appears never to be confessed to Christine. Probable (open thread)
• Gary's "secret mission". "The fate of the company is in your hands. You don't want to let Veronica down do you?" (L23336–23358). He exploits Gary's crush and notes "Poor guy. I'm going to have some karma to make up for, when this is all over." (L23360–23361). Certain
• Disinformation through Veronica to Jared: tell him MC is "losing my damn mind… I'll give him my answer tomorrow night" (L23049–23054). Certain
• The Will operation: posing as a stranger (L41424–41472); "Nope. Just waiting." after Erica tells him Will's plan (L71873); the "early shift" exit lie (L71875–71877). Certain
• Later bluffs: "Of course I am." to Isaac's agent, claiming to be Isaac's cousin (L108798–108804); the power-of-attorney bluff to Ryder: "I only have one card to play. And it's not a good one" (L111724–111738). Certain

The ethically weak spots inside the justified operations:

• He wins Bella's sympathy with Lacey's disability: "She has brain damage and is easy to hurt and easy to manipulate." (L23554). Probable misleading framing
• He sends Erica to investigate Barty's basement without passing on Will's warning to stay out of it (L106692–106707, L106803–106805). Probable endangerment by omission

Probing, pretexts and loyalty tests

MC tests people rather than asking them. This is the hypervigilance pattern in action.

• Barty. "I'm just asking" is a pretext to "test her" (L2657–2667), and he embellishes Barty's words: "I added that last line for a little emphasis" (L2676–2678). Certain
• Mia. "I promise, I'm not in a bad headspace… I already knew most of this stuff" (L15018–15110), then "I feel bad for lying, but I need Mia to be open with me." (L15111). Certain
• Isaac's phone number. He planned to leave it "on the kitchen table. To see if you would take it or not." (L19650–19652), then disclosed the plan instead. Certain
• Veronica. "Here it goes. The big test to see how deep Veronica is in Jared's pocket." (L20823–20824). Certain tactical
• Mia, after the purse. "You wouldn't hurt me would you?" (L44503–44516): a declaration of love used as a probe. Certain
• Lacey. "Maybe I'm trying to see if your story changes." (L108642–108643). Certain (self-described)

Coercion and control

The fixed path and the opt-in branches need separate treatment. On the fixed path the coercion is directed at Lacey and arises in crisis. On the branches it is directed at others, and the game prices it in good_guy points.

Fixed path:

• At the cliffs: "You are not allowed to have independent thoughts about our relationship. You suck at it… Everyone will do what I say, or I'm leaving." (L14263–14279). Certain (act); Speculative whether this is crisis leverage or a first assertion of need.
• "You can't ever bring this up with me. Only I can bring it up." (L16100–16102). Certain He later complains to Mia that "Lacey won't let me talk about it with her" (L15451).
• "If you love me, then that's the rules. Forever." (L28296–28299). Certain
• The forced confession. "TELL ME I DIDN'T MATTER!… I need to hear it come out of your mouth!" Lacey: "Tell me what to say." She is made to say "You didn't matter to me", "I didn't love you", "Everything you did meant nothing" and, over "Please don't make me say that. It isn't true", "I wanted sex more than I wanted you." MC: "That's right. That's the only truth you've ever told me!" (L89268–89292). Certain He extracts a false statement and then treats it as the truth. Next morning he confirms the intent: "I wanted those words to hurt you" (L89554, slice 15 E-M8).
• Clothing orders to Veronica, Jeanette, Kelly and Christine: "Lacey says I have power. Do I?… I want to see if that's really true or not." (L89636–89639). Certain (acts); intensity varies by branch (what_if, JEANETTE_lover).

Opt-in branches:

• Lemke (V_ntrs01). "Twenty minutes of your life in exchange for what you need." (L95847), then to Lacey: "I just wanted to see if she'd do it. I think on some level, I want her to do this." (L95939–95940). Certain Branch-dependent
• Kelly (break-the-date route). "Yes. I want control over you. I want to keep you for myself. You take care of me. Period." (L104689–104691). Certain Branch-dependent
• Erica, the menu option literally labelled "(Lie)" (good_guy −20): "for now I need her and so I'll tell her what she needs to hear." (L106759–106763). Certain Branch-dependent
• Hortensa (MC_fulldatecontrol + "Embrace that feeling", good_guy −30). See the ten-most list below. Certain Branch-dependent
• Anna (ANNA_lover). "The next time you're suicidal while your husband is fucking some other girl, I'll make sure to cozy up to her and be her new little bestie." (L110013–110014). Certain Branch-dependent

Pain as reassurance

MC repeatedly engineers pain, his own or Lacey's, in order to feel secure. This is the most psychologically specific pattern in his deception, and it ties manipulation to self-harm.

• "I needed to feel what you feel when you're afraid to lose me. It validates my fears and makes me feel more secure in our relationship." (L19829–19830). Earlier in the same call: "Yes. Because I'm so damn petty." (L19724). Certain
• "Her emotional turmoil when we're apart makes me feel safe. It means she needs me." (L39047–39048), then aloud: "No, it's a great idea." (L39052). He confesses under pressure (L39059–39066). Certain
• "I need to hear you tell me what I already know. That I don't matter." (L66292–66294), in Act 3. It is a rehearsal for the forced confession of L89270–89291. Certain
• He asks Lacey to hurt his feelings in role-play (good_guy −10): "You know I don't like doing that. Do I have to?" (L47563–47585). Certain Branch-dependent
• "You just made a bunch of shit up and hurt yourself with it again… that was emotional self-harm." (L111301–111303). Invention is used as self-injury. Certain

Self-deception: the exonerate/accuse swing

MC's self-deception about Lacey alternates between two poles, and neither matches the evidence.

Accusing:

• "She's so used to lying that she can't seem to tell the truth anymore." (L7280–7282). Probable overgeneralised
• The "very good actress" conspiracy of L15294–15323. Mia: "your brain makes stuff up to help you figure it out" (L15333). He corrects himself later: "My brain is inventing wild conspiracies again." (L17275). Probable
• "We both know you did inappropriate things in there", when Abby's account is "Maybe? Probably? I don't know" (L65879–65883 vs L65484–65485). Probable

Exonerating:

• "Nobody cheated… Abby roofied the girls… I'll try thinking about it again later." (L67286–67304). Probable premature
• "she's never done anything to purposefully hurt me" (L78818–78823). Probable
• To Dianne: "She didn't ask me to wait… Lacey didn't make me do that." (L45922–45951). Dianne: "Deflect. Exonerate the selfish person in your life. And then try and take the blame." (L45969). Certain that he says it

About himself:

• "Nobody knows Lacey better than me. No one. Not even Lacey." (L5045–5046), falsified within the slice ("How can I know her so well and be so in the dark?" L6385–6386). Certain
• "We weren't together. That's it. The end." (L87424–87425), against "She was still my entire life… I believed we were always together" (L87446–87497). Dr. Sarah names it a "defense mechanism" (L87391–87393). Certain

Hypocrisy he names himself

The narration convicts MC before anyone else can. Interpretation: this self-naming works as pre-emptive absolution. The confession earns the reader's sympathy, and the behaviour continues. An example is "uglier sides of me" recognised at L66395–66396 while the grudge is held through L66413–66419.

• "Christ I'm a hypocrite." (L34603). Certain
• "A lot of the 'right things' I do, are done for all the wrong reasons… I do what I do, so that I can keep all of you close to me." (L87093–87099). Certain
• Kelly: "Holy shit you can be manipulative when you want to be." MC: "I know." (L90353–90354). Certain
• "When will I stop forcing everyone around me to stroke my ego because I hate myself?… It's like I'm self-destructing on purpose." (L105119–105135). Certain
• "I guess… I guess I'm the kind of person who would do this. Is that okay? Am I allowed to be this way?" (L95911–95912). Certain Branch-dependent

The unreliable narrator

Category (e) is symptom, not lying. In each case below MC believes what he narrates. Nobody is being deceived except the reader, and the author does that on purpose: the preface says "just because he says something, that doesn't make it true" (L50–56). Under rule 2(b) of the brief, anything a character says inside one of these episodes is not that character's statement. That covers the hallucinated Lacey's long self-analysis ("I'm punishing you for daring to love me", L83082) and the cold Lacey at the club. Those lines show MC's fear structure, not Lacey.

What the script proves he invented

Not all cage content is invented. The kidnapping is real (Cal's own thoughts, L85804). The "Special K Girls, Inc." plan Cal describes on the first night (L84117) is independently named in an off-POV scene MC never witnessed: the unseen speaker FAV tells Will, "I'm thinking of calling it... Special K Girls, Inc." (L45849). So the first-capture briefing is corroborated Certain. What is doubtful is the later visits and the red-bra taunt, which no outside source confirms. The readers' blanket "probable hallucination" for the cage phase should be narrowed to those scenes.

Distortions short of invention

These are misreadings of real events, mostly of Lacey's motives. They are graded on whether the text corrects them.

• The painting weekend heard as Lacey having sex with "ex-boyfriends" (L80617–80648). She was painting (L80786–80787, L80856–80858), and he reinterprets it himself (L80878–80883). Certain
• The toy as "some deep seated fetish… she wants to hurt me" (L40026–40034). The shop had substituted a different colour (L40678–40689). Certain
• Lacey's mutters at the jealousy date read as wanting Morty; he orders the kiss (L36965–36989). Lacey: "Why didn't you come get me?" (L37007). Certain
• "She's angry and now she's punishing me" (L58211–58233). Lacey: "I was never mad at you." (L58381). Certain
• Isaac's eyewitness account of Lacey leaving college (dissociated on ketamine, "Be with the boy she loved", L56066–56094) against MC's "school whore… 'I guess I'll go find that dumb boy and marry him'" (L55372–55379). Certain that the framing diverges
• Dr. Sarah "fucking diagnoses me in an hour" (L75969–75989). What she said: "It is definitely far too early to talk about a diagnosis" (L75836); "I'm not telling you that's what you have." (L75860). Certain
• "They're trying to take my girls away from me… All of you laughing behind my back." (L109909–109948). Kelly: "Nobody is laughing at you." (L109949). MC later: "I do need to stop seeing everyone as my enemy." (L111331). Certain

The author's tells

The game marks some episodes outside the narration, and an editor can use these markers.

• Sprite layer. The hallucinated Lacey is drawn with her own assets: lacey_evil, lacey_evil_smile and lacey_evil_smilecry (L83006–83174). They are used nowhere else, except L83277, where lacey_evil dissolves into lacey_pajamas_crying as Mia walks in ("Where is my husband Mia?!", L83282–83284). The image reveals the hallucination one act before Lacey says "None of that happened". Certain
• Tina is drawn at alpha 0.8 on her last appearance (L105442–105443), translucent at the moment MC recognises her as unreal.
• Off-POV scenes are ground truth: Isaac and Mia at the station (L83249–83271), Cal's private thoughts (L85800–85806), FAV and Will (L45805–45852), and the thought tags (KT, VT, YT).
• Narration cues: "My brain is being stupid." immediately before Tina's first appearance (L84383–84385); "I keep spacing out and getting confused." (L84588–84589).
• The club episode has no visual tell. The same lacey_yellowshirt_mascara sprite carries through; the only cue is tonal ("(coldly) Yeah. It is." L77080). On a first play it is the hardest to detect, which may be intended.

The reading rule

1. His intentions: believe him. Every time MC narrates "I'm lying" or "I'm not telling her", the text corroborates it (L15111, L19084–19085, L58576, L76003, L90307). His confession track is the most reliable witness in the script, which is why his deception log is the best-evidenced of any character's.
2. Other people's minds, Lacey's past, and anything he didn't see: treat as hypothesis. Confirm it against an off-POV scene, a thought tag, an independent account or a later retraction. This applies to his accusations ("you probably love that it hurts me", L25822–25831) and equally to his exonerations ("she's never done anything to purposefully hurt me", L78818–78823).
3. Episode windows are provisional. These are sleep or food deprivation, alcohol, a trigger (Isaac, Lorenzo, "pictures"), looping thoughts, or a familiar character suddenly speaking in a cold or cruel register. MC tells Dr. Sarah himself that the hallucinations "always seem to center around me losing Lacey in one way or another" (L87202), and she replies "none of that comes as a surprise to me" (L87203). Mia names the two fears they are built from (L85612–85613). A scene that hands MC his worst fear, in Lacey's voice, has a high prior of being an episode.
4. His self-accusations are as distorted as his accusations. "You just didn't have the capacity to love me" (L77190) is not what the clinician said (L75879–75880), any more than "campus sex toy" (L25716) is what Lacey says she felt ("by the end it usually hurt. Sometimes I would cry...", L27595–27596, Branch-dependent: two of the three slut-night paths).
5. Before Act 3 nothing is proven invented, but memory gaps are admitted: "The three weeks that changed everything between Lacey and I are a blur to me." (L6432). His childhood and junior-year accounts are MC-sourced. Anna (L13902, L13916–13919) and Lacey (L95954–95964, Branch-dependent) corroborate the outline, not the detail.

Editorial consequence. MC acts on remembered intel from the cage when he plans against Barty in Act 4 (L88379–88441). The Special K plan is corroborated (L45849), but any later plot that rests on Will's "sleeper" scheme or on Isaac as inside man would rest on scenes the text itself doubts. Probable risk to flag for later acts.

The ten most consequential deceptions

The ranking covers volitional deception only, ordered by effect on plot and on the marriage. Excluded: the most consequential falsehood in the story is not a deception. The hallucinated divorce (L82999–83172) caused the flight, the kidnapping and three days in a basement: "I ran away, got kidnapped and was kept locked up in a basement for days... because I made the whole thing up?" (L86276–86278).

1. The counter-operation against Jared

• Lines: L18977–19106 (the Christine decoy), L23049–23054 (disinformation through Veronica), L23336–23426 (Gary and Martin), L23487–23567 (Bella).
• Truth: The infertility story is invented ("Yeah, it was all crap." L20649). There is no footage. There is no board mission. He is not anonymous (Martin identifies him from caller ID, L23434–23438). The "naivety" framing hides that Lacey dressed "to get the job" (L25865–25867).
• Motive: Break Jared's leverage over Lacey and himself. "Just like Mia said. Feed her false information." (L18977).
• Consequence: Jared's attention stays on a non-existent video; Gary's footage reaches Martin; Bella turns. "I believe his desk is being cleaned out right now… I have Jared on a tight leash" (L25991–25992). This is the main plot payoff of Act 1. MC: "I saved you. After all these years. I finally saved you" (L24011–24013).
• Grade: Certain. Justified in-story. The weak spots are the use of Lacey's disability with Bella (L23554) and the footage lie never confessed to Christine.

2. The Isaac house

• Lines: L55955–55973 (the offer; he doesn't want her to know), L56099–56102 (pact with Isaac: "Lacey don't need to know shit"), L58574–58628 (the "holding company"), L70229–70239 (staged with the estate agent: "Thank goodness Nancy understood."), L74046 (to Kelly: "Nobody other than you and I can ever know this"), L86142–86146 (exposure), L88633–88649 (motive).
• Truth: It is Isaac's house, sold at a discount as penance.
• Motive: Provider shame. "I can't stand the thought of you ever being grateful to Isaac. For any reason. Ever." (L88638); "It's fucking emasculating." (L88644).
• Consequence: It is the longest-running fixed-path concealment from Lacey, about 30,000 lines. Lacey extracts it from Isaac while MC is missing, and the crew overhears (L86143). Isaac feels he "betrayed your trust" (L86146). In the cage, MC's mind turns the "Isaac thing" into Lacey sleeping with Isaac (L85395–85402).
• Grade: Certain.

3. The forced confession

• Lines: L89268–89294. Rehearsed in Act 3 at L66292–66294; motive confirmed at L89554.
• Truth: Lacey says "It isn't true." (L89286). Minutes earlier: "None of them were worth it." (L89260).
• Motive: "I wanted those words to hurt you." (L89554). And "I need to hear you tell me what I already know. That I don't matter." (L66293–66294).
• Consequence:
  • MC's depersonalisation collapse (L89308–89319).
  • Next morning: "Tell me you understand that you've permanently damaged me" (L89556) and "If you break that promise. I will leave you." (L89564).
  • The turn to power: "She said I have power. So I'm going to use it." (L89539–89540).
  • Dr. Sarah's verdict: "you are not in a healthy relationship" (L90682).
• Grade: Certain. Fixed path.

4. Withholding the land threat and the Morris warning

• Lines: L82416–82426 ("It was awkward. I wasn't very nice to her.", leaving out TM and Morris), L84174 ("I didn't get to warn her about the Morris Investment Cooperative"), L92581–92582, L94647–94656, L100551.
• Truth: TM had warned MC. Ryder, Lacey's dealer, is "an employee of one of the companies trying to get their hands on you" (L103614–103616).
• Motive: Protect Lacey ("She would lose her marbles", L92582), and TM's "For now nothing" (L82320).
• Consequence: Lacey goes into the Ryder episode (about L96950) and rehab without knowing who Ryder works for. MC's "you were supposed to find him" (L103617) is speculation presented as near-fact.
• Grade: Certain for the concealment. Speculative that a warning would have prevented the relapse.

5. The Anna night, the narrow oath and the "I swear it"

• Lines: L19535–19536, L19719–19830, L19763–19766.
• Truth: He slept with Anna (L17950–18058). They talked about Lacey (L17959, L18054–18055).
• Motive: "Yes. Because I'm so damn petty." (L19724); "I needed to feel what you feel when you're afraid to lose me." (L19829).
• Consequence: Pain as reassurance becomes an explicit technique of the marriage. Lacey ratifies it ("I think we both needed that", L19826). Both are locked into the loop that shapes the free-pass week.
• Grade: Certain.

6. The Kelly night: broken promise and minimisation

• Lines: L24856–24861 ("Don't ask about tonight… Clean slate"), L24964–25079, L25125, L25130–25131.
• Truth: He was enthusiastic ("It's literally my favorite thing", L24772). He went back to bed between Kelly and Mia, and both he and Kelly wanted to continue.
• Motive: Placate Lacey's jealousy, mixed with real guilt.
• Consequence: He reframes it retroactively ("The free-pass scared me", L28268–28274). Then the ultimatum: "If you love me, then that's the rules. Forever." (L28296–28299). Kelly becomes a standing attachment that ends in the Act 4 ultimatum (L104683–104692, Branch-dependent).
• Grade: Certain (broken promise); Probable (the minimisations).

7. Rewriting Dr. Sarah for Lacey

• Lines: L77167–77205, especially L77185–77194.
• Truth: Sarah: "it doesn't seem like Lacey was able to form a normal, healthy bond with you. It's not her fault… We're not blaming her." (L75879–75880), and "I'm not saying these are going to happen to you." (L75911). MC: "You just didn't have the capacity to love me." (L77190).
• Motive: Interpretation: a self-punishing story that also assigns blame. Lacey had asked him not to protect her (L77179).
• Consequence: Delivered in front of Anna and Mia, the same night as the club episode. Lacey's sprite switches to lacey_yellowshirt_devastated (L77189).
• Grade: Certain that the words are not the doctor's. Partly symptom: he probably believes his version.

8. Money and legal control

• Lines: L74087–74096 ($900,000 routed through Kelly's power of attorney), L77226, L105640–105641 ("I list myself as Lacey's spouse and legal guardian"), L107043–107049 ("I'm more 'you' than you are right now. My signature will outweigh yours.").
• Truth: In Act 3 he speaks to Lacey as if no windfall existed (L77226). In Act 4 she is told only of "three more payments" (L108531, Branch-dependent), and access stays with Kelly. MC privately expects the power of attorney could be nullified (L107370–107372).
• Motive: Distrust of her judgement (L74092–74095) and protection from the land conspiracy, both of which are also control.
• Consequence: By Act 4 MC holds legal capacity over Lacey. It works as a shield against Ryder and Morris, and it is the fullest realisation of Lacey's "You like having control. Over everything around you, including the people in it." (L95952, Branch-dependent).
• Grade: Probable.

9. The Lemke push (branch V_ntrs01)

• Lines: L95836–95886, L95900–95945.
• Truth: He pitches it as a business necessity: "Twenty minutes of your life in exchange for what you need." (L95847). Veronica had preferred to win "without having to bat my eyes" (L95805). The real motive, given to Lacey: "I just wanted to see if she'd do it. I think on some level, I want her to do this." (L95939–95940).
• Motive: To test and use power ("Power. Because she gave me power.", L95906–95907).
• Consequence: Veronica complies. It triggers Lacey's control analysis (L95952–95990), the one in-narrative account that names control as his core. MC: "Is that okay? Am I allowed to be this way?" (L95912).
• Grade: Certain Branch-dependent.

10. The Hortensa fabrication (branch MC_fulldatecontrol → "Embrace that feeling")

• Lines: L110480–110621, against Peter's actual words at L110293–110393.
• Truth:
  • Peter said "I still can't believe you have pictures. That's just so messed up." (L110295–110296). MC tells Hortensa "Pete admitted that he wished he had pictures." (L110533).
  • Peter said of cuckold porn, "I was horrified. Watching it actually hurt my feelings. Badly." (L110317–110318). MC tells her "He's been immersing himself into cuckold pornography. Imagining the woman in the video is you." (L110577–110578).
  • Peter never said he couldn't talk to her, but MC tells her "he did say that he just can't bring himself to talk to you about it" (L110508).
  • Peter's actual position: "She slips up even once and I'm gone." (L110393).
• Motive: None rational. "A really twisted feeling begins to crawl up my chest" (L110482); "I think… I kind of like it." (L110621). The narration spells out the technique: feigned reluctance (L110498–110515), her nickname as a lever ("The time to use her nickname against her has come.", L110549), and withdrawal so "her mind fill[s] in the blanks on her own" (L110603).
• Consequence: Sets hortensa_control = True at a cost of good_guy −30 (L110487–110488). Hortensa leaves resolved to "learn everything I can… My Pete needs me" (L110614–110616). The outcome is pending in 0.4a. This is the only wholly fabricated, purely gratuitous lie MC tells in the script, aimed at a marriage whose husband has said one more lapse ends it.
• Grade: Certain Branch-dependent.

Also considered:

• "Not that I can think of." (L47034): high hypocrisy, low consequence.
• The Yue concealments (L75471–75572; L104191–104204, Branch-dependent).
• The Erica "(Lie)" option and sending her into Barty's orbit unwarned (L106704–106763, Branch-dependent).
• The Kelly ultimatum (L104683–104692, Branch-dependent).

Lacey: concealment, engineering and confession

Summary

The eighteen reader logs name Lacey as deceiver in 501 rows. Another 16 rows came from slice 15, where the parser missed the log. Eight rows sit inside MC's hallucinated divorce scene or depend on it, and one row names the wrong liar; with those removed and every row re-sorted by what the text shows, 355 rows describe genuine deceptive acts (136 Certain, 163 Probable). That is about 17.7 per 1,000 of her 20,065 spoken lines, a middling rate for this cast. Her total is large mostly because she has so many lines. Her habitual mode is minimisation and reframing (121 rows), then concealment (92) and engineered scenarios (78). Outright lies are relatively rare (25), and most are small, situational or retracted within a few lines. About half her deceptions (171) protect herself: from shame about college, from exposure of her ketamine use, and from anything that might set off MC's jealousy or anger. About a third (127) are, by her own stated logic, for MC: the free-pass "plan", the "love experiment" and the staged provocations meant to "take your jealousy from you" (L11987). She reliably breaks the promises that cost her honesty or sobriety ("No more secrets", "no more K", ground rule one, never making him jealous on purpose). She keeps the ones about staying and, after Damian, sexual exclusivity in the letter. She confesses often and articulately (48 corrections, 27 of them volunteered), but the gravest concealments only came out after exposure. The in-text professional voices read her as self-destructive, trauma-fused and drawn to MC's jealousy, not malicious. My interpretation: she starts as a shame-driven avoider and increasingly becomes the controlling stage-manager of MC's emotional life.

By the numbers

Source, exclusions and corrections

• Rows parsed. deception_rows.tsv holds 501 rows with Lacey as deceiver. Eleven carry retracted=True, and deception_tally.md counts the other 490. The parser recovered nothing from slice 15 (86329–91864). Its Lacey log, notes_15_E.md E-L1 to E-L16, is real and is added here by hand: 16 rows covering the car-lot sting, the Erica operation and the "get used to doing what you ask" slip. Working base: 517 rows.

• Excluded as hallucination (8 rows). Everything from MC catching sight of Lacey in Veronica's living room (L83000; "What on earth is she wearing?" L83008) to "(whispering) I'll always love you" (L83172) is MC's invention. Lacey: "None of that happened. I never said any of those things to you" (L86238–86239). Even the outfit is impossible: "My black bras and my black skirts are in storage" (L86249). The excluded rows are 83100–83172 (the divorce speech), 83024 ("going out drinking"), 83017 ("I sent her away"), 83046–83047, 83033–83042 (the outfit bait) and 83064–83071. Two more rows depended on that scene:

  • 82800–82804. "I... have something important to tell him... It can wait until tonight" is a real line, spoken to Veronica outside MC's POV. The reader took it as hiding a divorce ruse. With the ruse gone, no deception is established.
  • 84211–84216. Lacey told Mia "they weren't arguing". The log called this an omission, but once the scene is known to be hallucinated her account was accurate.

• Retracted-flagged but kept (3 rows). 25037–25041 ("I wasn't going to ask" → "Of course I was totally going to ask") is a lie she corrects herself within three lines, counted under (g). 34143–34147 is a parser false positive: the row's text says "not retracted". 39435–39442 is a prank lie, "Anna made me say it" (L39442), counted under (a) as self-retracted.

• Misattributed (1 row). 47031–47034: the liar is MC ("Not that I can think of").

• Re-graded after reading the script (7 rows).

  • 5256–5292, the cold "You really don't have a say in the matter" morning, and 5287, the "phone call with Jared and Evan". These are a ketamine come-down, not a staged act. In slice 08 Lacey lists the uses: "Another time was the night I didn't come home... that's why I really don't remember what I was saying... It was just disassociated garbage" (L45333–45341). So her evening line "I don't remember half of it" (L5514) was true. What she hid was the cause, so the row is reclassified as concealment.
  • 6633, "I was falling off a ladder and Jared caught me". The fall is corroborated ("The ladder moved", L6659). The deception is the minimising "there was nothing going on" (L6635), since she was laughing at "watch that hand mister" (L6561). Re-graded from outright lie to minimisation.
  • 52268–52294, "never told MC about the sweatshirt relapse". Wrong: she volunteered it to MC in slice 08 ("I was home alone and found a small stash in an old sweatshirt pocket", L45354). Removed.
  • 45321–45329, "three uses since marriage" as an understatement. Her count of trip, night-not-home and sweatshirt matches the text, so the row is credited as candour, as is her same-scene correction of "a few times in my senior year" to "probably ten or eleven times" (L45326 → L45415).

  Final usable base: 508 rows.

By category and confidence

Readers logged context alongside deceptions, so 153 of the 508 rows are not deceptions. They are confessions, promises being tracked, roleplay, surprises (the suitcase, the suit-shopping party) or neutral observations. A raw row count therefore overstates how much she lies by about 43%.

Two caveats. First, a row is not an event: some events are logged two or three times (Lorenzo concealment 10124/10213/10413; Damian partner 25555/25575; Mia push 24153/28574; Jamie 41116/54748). Second, logging density differs a lot between readers: slice 02 has 78 Lacey rows, while slice 04 has 4 and slice 18 has 4.

By motive (deceptive rows only)

I tagged each deceptive row with the motive the text supports. Where Lacey states a motive, I used her stated logic.

The motive mix changes over the story:

• Slice 01: wholly self-protective (40 of 43 rows).
• Slice 02: "for MC" overtakes self-protection when the "plan" is born (29 vs 27).
• Slices 05 and 12: dominated by "for MC" engineering (24 of 44; 11 of 16).
• Slices 07, 15 and 16: add the third-party operations (Morty, the car-lot salesman, Will, Erica).

By slice

"Per 1k L-lines" divides the deceptive rows by her L " lines in that slice. Her 18,661 L lines plus 1,404 lines under other Lacey tags make up the 20,065 in speaker_lines.txt.

Rates in context

• Curated: 355 deceptive rows ÷ 20,065 Lacey lines = 17.7 per 1,000 lines, or 3.2 per 1,000 script lines.
• Mechanical (tally base, for comparison with other characters): 490 ÷ 20,065 = 24.4 per 1,000 lines.
• Same mechanical measure for others: MC 23.2 (678 rows ÷ 29,182 spoken lines; 16.5 if his 11,884 narration lines are included), Mia 31.0, Abby 37.2, Jeanette 23.6, Veronica 22.2, Kelly 19.0, Anna 18.8.
• Comparison. Per line spoken, Lacey is an ordinary deceiver for this cast, not an outlier. She ranks second in absolute rows because she is the second-most-voiced character.
• Trend. Density is front-loaded: slices 01–02 run at 37–47 per 1,000 lines, slices 06–18 mostly at 8–20. That is consistent with a character arc in which therapy, and repeated getting caught, reduce her concealment. It is also partly a logging artefact, since the late-slice logs are thin.

Patterns

"It's nothing": the minimisation reflex

Her first and longest-running habit, and MC names it in-text as early as slice 01: "And we're back to it's nothing/don't worry." (L3335). It is graded Certain as a pattern. The eight clearest instances:

• Jared's targeted tennis invitation: "Really [MCFirst], it's nothing, don't worry about it." (L2284)
• Barty, twice: "I'm sure it's nothing." (L2693) and "Honestly, it's nothing." (L3261)
• That evening, about the hidden ketamine come-down that morning: "But it's nothing." (L5492)
• A nightmare she then admits is "Partly" why she keeps asking about kisses: "It's nothing." (L28167)
• Mascara running after spying on him at the club: "Oh, it's nothing. You know how emotional girls can be sometimes." (L77049–77050)
• Hours after her father's death: "It's nothing." to Mia (L82467)
• Seconds after spotting her dealer at the aquarium café: "Yeah. Sorry. It's nothing." (L96576)

The formula is almost never an outright lie. It is a holding position that buys time before disclosure. In every case the truth arrives later. For the father, the mascara and the dealer it comes within a day. For Barty, Jared and the ketamine it comes only after exposure (L7569–7600) or months later (L45333–45341).

Shifting accounts of the same event

When pressed, Lacey produces a new explanation tailored to the question just asked, and she rarely withdraws the old one. Probable as deliberate; Certain as an inconsistency.

• The Damian stream. In one phone call she says "I was very much present in the moment." (L14137) and then "He wouldn't shut up and so I kind of tuned him out." (L14209). Later, by text: "Physically yes / But in my mind I was with you" (L15741–15742). Finally: "I don't have some amazing reason for fucking up / I just got lost in the moment" (L15800–15801). The first two are partly reconcilable as present to sensation, dissociated from consequence. The sequence as a whole still drifts toward whatever reduces MC's pain at that moment.
• Isaac. To MC: "I have no fond memories of my time with him." (L19662). To Isaac: "In a sick kind of way I cared for you." (L28863). To Anna the next day: "I never loved nor had any deep emotional connection to Isaac" (L29105). These are word-parsing between "love" and "feelings", and Anna calls it out.
• Enjoyment in college. "Not because it felt good or because I was enjoying any of it" (L7660) becomes "sometimes it was kind of fun" (L9108). Later Lacey says she "admitted to that already" (L15657–15659), while MC says she claimed it never felt good. Which of them is misremembering is Speculative.
• Damian's identity. "I really thought I had picked a stranger" (L13791) and "It was why I unwittingly chose a man I knew." (L14204) become, under MC's deduction, "I guess I did know, but..." (L25582). The final version is graded Certain as a lie corrected.

Concealing the addiction

This is the most consistent concealment, and the only one where a relapse is always involved. Certain.

• The night MC didn't come home (slice 01). Her cold "You really don't have a say in the matter" morning (L5272) was a ketamine episode. She disclosed it only in slice 08: "I hadn't told you about my addiction yet... so I couldn't bring it up to you." (L45338–45339).
• The Damian trip. To Mia: "It was a one time thing." (L13646). About 140 lines later: "I have enough K in my luggage to deal with the problem." (L13783). To MC she frames the drug as a last-minute choice, "I purchased some ketamine." (L14196). Premeditation (the dress, the ketamine) is admitted only at L25525–25532.
• The clinic. She hid the appointment: "I was afraid to bring it up." (L29165). She later explains why: "So, I just shut my mouth, hoping you'd forget." (L30509).
• Vegas. "I promise no more K." (L35493) is followed by daily use in Vegas, which she admits only from rehab: "I went into a K hole every single day just to make it to the end... I didn't want you to be disappointed in me, so I kept how bad it was a secret." (L103395–103398).
• Ryder. She agrees to "One, we must be open and honest with each other." (L94099) while secretly buying. She arranged the aquarium meeting herself (Ryder: "You were the one who told me to meet you here.", L96909). She came clean only once cornered: "I'm in pretty deep... I'm in real trouble." (L97377–97379).

The motive is uniformly shame and fear of abandonment. Jeanette: "She lies because she's embarrassed she can't be the perfect wife that she thinks you deserve." (L97916).

Engineered "for your own good"

From slice 02 on, Lacey's characteristic deception is a scenario she designs, partly discloses and steers, justified as therapy for MC's jealousy. Certain that the engineering happens. Probable that she conceals its full scope each time.

• The plan. "I'm going to take that away from you." (L11926) "To take your jealousy from you." (L11987). The double message is built in: "It's always your choice. I would never force you into anything." (L12139–12140), set against "I am going to force this on you." (L35913) about the later harem weekend.
• The Damian night. Pressed through over MC's begging: "I know you did and I didn't listen." (L25609). Her retrospective justification: "I was there to help you with your jealousy." (L25858).
• Staged taunts after the Isaac visit. These are designed to make him explode safely: "Your lasagna sucks." (L30300), then "I knew I was hurting you when I fucked Damian. I just didn't care!" (L30322–30323). She fumbles the follow-through, and MC sees through it: "Jeez Lacey. Stop being so obvious." (L30334).
• The love experiment, recruited around him. "Maybe the two of you could help me convince him... Then we'll find a way to change his mind." (L51783–51788). The circle is primed before she asks him: "They've been waiting for me to give them the greenlight to start talking to you." (L94375).
• The Vegas temptations were partly hers, revealed after the fact. "All those chances. Even ones, I was trying to give you." (L77370). The Mia "gift" comes with call-and-response consent coaching (L78157–78163).
• Her own condition. Tolerating his partners depends on her control: "I'll have control over when and how that happens." (L76218).
• The bar roleplay (slice 07) is the exception that proves the rule. Here the director is MC: "Then turn to him and say you're waiting for someone who's late" (L36649); "Then I'll feed you the line you're going to hit him with." (L36782). Lacey executes the lies to Morty: "I'm waiting for a friend, but they're running late." (L36670); "Girls just have a feel for this kind of thing." (L37069); and, Branch-dependent (ntrs_2nd_level == 0, L37523), "He's a violent man Morty." (L37536). These nine rows are logged against her, but they are a jointly authored fiction aimed at a non-consenting stranger. Her own engineering re-enters only in the uncleaned-evidence "white lie" afterwards (see below).

Weaponised jealousy and provocation

Lacey sometimes lies specifically to make MC jealous, which contradicts her own stated rule: "that's why I could never actually do that to you." (L28511). Certain.

• The Evan bait Branch-dependent (punish == True, L9157). "I had sex with him. And he was really good." (L9184–9185). Recanted in private: "I wanted you to hit me. That was why I made up that lie to bait you." (L9337–9338).
• Will. "I danced for like two hours with him. I even let him grab my butt while we were dancing." (L34139–34140). Retracted when MC presses: "I lied to make it sound worse than it was." (L34274). It was retaliation for cruel texts she wrongly thought MC had sent; they were Mia's (L34110–34131 vs L34266).
• The deliberately uncleaned evidence after Morty Branch-dependent (ntrs_2nd_level 1 or 2). "I didn't have time to clean up before you got here... It was just a little white lie." (L37568–37571).
• The stranger at the bar. "I'm so sorry I tried to make you jealous. I know you asked me to never do that." (L58453–58454).
• Veronica's baby. "My Love, can you go ahead and put a baby in Veronica?" (L79270), then "I was kidding! Yeesh, you two." (L79274). Privately: "I know that and you know that, but he doesn't... I'll just let that percolate and fuck with your heads a little." (L79290–79292). This is the clearest gaslighting-lite instance, and it is never retracted to MC.

The admitted engine: "But damn his jealousy turns me on like a fire tornado." (L89444).

Arranging MC's partners and his "inner circle" behind his back

Lacey routinely arranges sexual or emotional partners for MC without telling him. He learns from the partner, after the fact. Certain.

• Anna (slice 03). MC is sent to the kitchen, then: "Please take care of him tonight... You've wanted this for so long." (L17858–17862).
• Bella. The video was "actually your wife's idea." (L23834).
• Jamie Branch-dependent (JAMIE_lover == True, L41001). "Let's not let [MCFirst] know though." (L41116). Then she grooms him: "Then I give you my permission to make him happy. But you need to be obedient and do as he says." (L41260–41261). MC hears of it only from Jamie (L54748–54753).
• The Vegas massage upgrade. "But Abby and I were the ones that requested it." (L67148).
• Veronica Branch-dependent (VERONICA_love >= 30). "Lacey asked me to make sure and take care of you." (L98310).
• The crew. The most revealing line is a slip while high: "Plus, we need them to get used to doing what you ask them. They need to get comfortable with that... You're right. I shouldn't have said that out loud. God I get stupid when I use." (L91807–91811).

Ruthless deception of outsiders on MC's behalf

To strangers and adversaries she lies fluently and without visible guilt, always framed as protecting MC. Certain.

• The car-lot sting (slice 15). She feigns not recognising the salesman who had attacked MC, then lures him: "Sorry. I needed to get rid of my husband." (L88113). She invites a grope, then mutters "You fucking moron." (L88150). Next she phones the manager: "I was just sexually assaulted by one of your salespeople... I'm just so traumatized right now." (L88168–88174). He is to be fired (L88189). Her reason, spoken alone: "Nobody fucks with my Baby and gets away with it." (L88224).
• MC is told a sanitised version. "I told him I just wasn't comfortable working with that sales person." (L88236). Kelly is told: "Please don't talk about this with him... I don't want him to see this part of me." (L88269–88271).
• Will. "I actually talked it over with my husband... He said he was up for it." (L70736–70738). MC had agreed to nothing.
• Erica. The bait: "He couldn't stop talking about you after we got home after your show. I think he caught a little crush on you." (L95027–95028). The purpose: "What [MCFirst] wants. [MCFirst] gets. Plus, she'll be much happier once she's one of us." (L95054–95055). To MC: "You'll have all the control you need to go after Cal and Will." (L97541). Note that MC commissioned the Erica operation (L88427–88441); Lacey widened its scope.

Transparency theatre and curated disclosure

Lacey regularly stages openness while editing what is disclosed. Probable.

• A shopping-and-sandwiches text thread offered as proof of honesty: "So you know that I'm being honest with you... This will be our little ritual." (L8314–8320). Her concurrent meetings about the plan are absent from it.
• "No more secrets." (L9011). Thirty-eight lines later: "How about we have a very edited version of this conversation?" (L9049).
• The Isaac visit. She lets Isaac in and talks with him alone without contacting MC (L28652–28657). Her plan for telling MC: "I was going to be as honest as I possibly could without outright emotionally damaging him." (L29004). Anna: "your heavily edited version" (L29001). To MC she first gives only the apology motive; the curiosity and closure come out after Anna intervenes (L29911–29920).
• The suitcase (slice 05) is the same mechanism in a benign key Branch-dependent. "Just some old stuff from school." (L26169) covers a planned surprise. It also covers a quiet act of protection: she discards "my old red hoodie that would break [MCFirst]'s heart to see." (L26214, L26398).
• Her own stated policy: "This is why I hesitate to always be completely open with you... you use that knowledge to hurt yourself." (L66297–66299). This is a self-aware rationale, and the text partly vindicates it: MC's own insight is that "I never let her forget how much it hurts me" (L80876–80888).
• The painting weekend. She tells MC "Something deeply personal... (deep breath) No." (L79761–79798) and extracts a blind promise not to interact with her visitors (L79792). To Veronica: "He doesn't need to know." (L79735). The later explanation, "My therapist told me I need to do something big" (L82096), omits the confrontation with Stephen, Lorenzo and Isaac (L80580–80775). MC eavesdropped anyway and misread the sounds of her drawing as sex (L80618–80654). That misreading is an unreliable-narration feature, not her lie.

Self-deception and over-promising

Lacey's sincerest claims are often her least reliable, because they rest on a self-assessment she has already said she cannot make: "I tend towards believing all my decisions are good, even when there are negative consequences." (L7706). Probable.

• On the free pass: "Do you really think it would help me?" "I know it would." (L12067–12068).
• "How when I come back, our life will be exactly the same." (L12198)
• "I can never act on them without your express permission." (L27744) Branch-dependent. Said after the Damian night, where she had done exactly that.
• To Dianne: "And I really don't do all the things you said, but sometimes I do. Mostly without realizing it." (L40845–40846). This is undercut by the deliberate "little white lie" some 3,300 lines earlier (L37571).
• The slice 13 breakdown. The "old Lacey" voice urges ketamine and death (L75190–75229). Afterwards she says "I'm not her anymore" (L75412) and promises "I will never, ever go back to being her" (L75410–75420). Relapses follow in slices 14–16.

Protective concealment of MC's own illness

The most benign cluster, and it is what makes her lies hard to judge. Certain, with motive "for MC".

• The PTSD episode at his party. After MC's blank at the surprise party (L39558–39745), Anna sets the line ("Just pretend everything's okay. Keep it light and fluffy.", L39636–39637). Lacey whispers "Oh thank god." when he resurfaces (L39742). When he asks why everyone is staring, she says "No reason Baby. We're just happy you finally get to have a slice." (L39858–39859).
• The slice 13 breakdown. When MC asks whether he caused it: "That wasn't something you did." (L75460). The text suggests his bar grievances contributed (L74947–75009).
• After his return Branch-dependent: "I'll tell everyone what they need to hear and nothing more." (L86537).

These are the cases where her stated motive (protecting him) is most plainly the real one.

Promise ledger

The ledger covers promises Lacey makes to MC, or to friends about MC. "Kept" means nothing on-page contradicts the promise as of 0.4a.

Reading the ledger.

• Broken by Lacey (Certain or Probable): 15 of 31. Two more are partly kept (8, 9), and one was broken by Jeanette (23).
• Kept: the promises about staying (6, 19), sexual exclusivity in the letter (11, 24), and her one-sided limit on an open relationship (30).
• Broken: the promises about candour (7, 22, 29, and in part 9), sobriety (17, 25, 27) and not provoking jealousy (13, 26).

The split matches her stated hierarchy, where everything is subordinate to keeping MC. Her lies cluster exactly where she believes the truth would lose him.

The ten most consequential deceptions

These are ranked by their effect on the plot and on MC, not by severity of the act.

1. Marrying on a concealed past

• What she said. "I had exactly zero boyfriends for the past four years." (L679) and "I had exactly one close friend that I met." (L687), meaning Mia.
• The truth. Four years of compulsive sex, Mia's documented "training", ketamine addiction and repeated suicide attempts (L7535–7708). MC's own verdict: "She didn't exactly lie, but she knew exactly what I was asking." (L1590).
• How it came out. Mia's photos forced it. Lacey: "I did lie to you when we first talked" (L7684).
• Motive. Shame and fear of loss. Later she says: "I would tell a thousand more lies if it kept you at my side." (L25426), and, from rehab, "But I had to make sure you wouldn't leave my side. You were all I had." (L103545–103546).
• Consequence. It is the root of MC's "retroactive jealousy" and drives the whole arc. Certain

2. The Damian night

• Reassurance on the day. By voicemail, from the trip: "Don't worry about anything. Tonight will go just fine." (L12595–12596).
• Going ahead regardless. She proceeds after MC's withdrawal ("I really want you to call it off", L12624), then admits "Wait, that's not true. I did read them." (L14182).
• Hidden premeditation. "I purchased some ketamine." (L14196) conceals "I bought the dress before I went on the trip." (L25527).
• The partner. "I really thought I had picked a stranger" (L13791), later "I guess I did know, but..." (L25582).
• Motive. Mixed. She states a therapeutic aim ("I was there to help you with your jealousy.", L25858), she was dissociated on ketamine, and she avoided confrontation (Mia, L15361).
• Consequence. MC's defining wound, the streamed images and the "free pass" debt logic ("If you don't then it really is like I cheated on you", L15803). Certain

3. The "after-hours project" and Jared

• The cover story. She presented a "special project" with late nights and an east-coast trip (L6205–6214). Privately: "[MCFirst] will hate it at first, but I'll slowly ease him into my new life." (L6719).
• The lies. "Yes." to "your big project is finally done?" (L6983–6985). "Yes. It will all be over after tonight." (L7137).
• Exposure. Veronica: "My team isn't working on an after hours project." (L7210).
• Her account. "I knew I was lying to you about work" (L7751). "I just needed his approval" (L7770).
• Consequence. The marriage nearly ends in slice 02, and the brain-damage disclosure follows. Certain

4. Ryder and the hidden relapse

• What she did. She signs "ground rule one" (L94099) while using heavily, steals the dealer's contact from Mia's phone (L97309–97313) and arranges the aquarium meeting with MC nearby (L96909).
• The cover. "Yeah. Sorry. It's nothing." (L96576).
• When she admits it. Only after being caught: "I'm in pretty deep... I'm not in control." (L97377–97385).
• Consequence. Rehab, MC's dissociative numbness and his cruellest line ("And you're probably fucking your dealer like the addicted whore you are.", L97427). Certain

5. The free-pass "plan" and its scouting

• Scouting. She interviews Jeanette under a pretext and promises secrecy: "Your secret is safe with me." (L8128), then "That tells me what I need to know." (L8141). She then steers MC: "Please don't cancel on her." (L11436).
• The pitch is built on scripted questions and an unverifiable "There are women..." (L11850). It is framed as "It's always your choice" (L12139) while she admits "I am trying to get you to be a part of this" (L12013).
• Consequence. MC's somatic collapse (L11884–11910), her departure, and everything in #2. Certain that the engineering happened; Probable for its concealment.

6. The love experiment, pressed against a promise

• The promise. "I won't. I promise." (L25903–25904).
• The pressure. "I am going to force this on you." (L35913). "Then we'll find a way to change his mind." (L51788). Friends are primed before MC is asked (L94375).
• Professional view. Dr. Sarah calls the result "a one-sided open marriage" and notes "That's a lot of power to have over a partner." (L100357–100362).
• Consequence. It restructures the marriage and feeds MC's control fantasies ("I have to possess her", L100365). By her logic it is for his benefit. Probable

7. Hiding the ketamine and the clinic

• The night MC didn't come home. The cold, frightening morning (L5272) was a drug episode she could not explain, "I hadn't told you about my addiction yet" (L45338). Mia covered it as "just a little practical joke she's playing." (L5314), and MC had no true explanation until slice 08.
• The clinic. She hid the appointment and prognosis: "So, I just shut my mouth, hoping you'd forget." (L30509).
• Consequence. MC learns that the brain damage is partly permanent (L30511–30512) only after the fact. That timing makes "brain damage" a contested excuse later: "Ah yes. Your golden ticket." (L91618). Certain

8. The painting-weekend secrecy

• What she withheld. "Something deeply personal... I'm going to need you to just stay away from me." (L79761–79764). She extracts a blind promise not to interact with her visitors (L79792). To Veronica: "He doesn't need to know." (L79735).
• Stated motive. For MC: "He has spent way too much time handling my darkness." (L79745).
• Consequence. MC, isolated, breaks his promise, eavesdrops and misreads the scene (L80618–80654). A dissociative fugue follows (L81635–81800); her secrecy as its cause is Speculative. Her explanation afterwards, "My therapist told me I need to do something big" (L82096), is true but partial. Certain (secrecy)

9. The weaponised-jealousy lies

• The cluster. Will (L34139–34140, retracted L34274); the deliberately uncleaned evidence Branch-dependent (L37568–37571); the bar stranger (L58453–58454); "put a baby in Veronica" (L79270–79292, never retracted to MC).
• Motive. Retaliation and her own appetite ("fire tornado", L89444).
• Consequence. Each lands on MC's core wound, and the cumulative result is his "I can't trust you" (L71472–71474). Certain

10. The car-lot sting and the false assault report

• What she did. She lured the salesman (L88113–88141), told the manager "I was just sexually assaulted by one of your salespeople." (L88168) and got him fired (L88189).
• What MC was told. "It was just too icky." (L88237). Kelly was sworn to silence (L88269).
• Consequence. A third party loses his job on a staged complaint. Per Lacey, he had physically attacked MC the week before ("You physically attack my [MCFirst].", L88221). MC still does not know as of 0.4a. It is the clearest evidence of the "two kinds of people" ethic (L88275–88287). Certain

Just outside the ten:

• The Jamie arrangement Branch-dependent, L41116–41263.
• Erica's recruitment, L95027–95055 and L97533–97541.
• The club spying (L76947–77043). She confessed it the next morning: "I came to the club to spy on you." (L77269).
• The Isaac visit's "edited version" (L29004), exposed by Anna's recording.

Confessions and corrections

A complete picture has to credit how often Lacey ends up telling the truth. The logs record 48 confessions or corrections:

• 27 volunteered (22 of them to MC, the rest to Isaac, Kelly or Abby).
• 21 after exposure, deduction or another person's enforcement.

The balance shifts sharply over the story:

This is consistent with her slice-09 statement "I'm trying to be more honest about my addiction with my husband and with my therapist." (L52294). It is consistent too with Dr. Sarah's later "Being honest with her therapist and her therapist placing her into a rehabilitation program is very promising." (L100336).

When she comes clean, and why

Quick self-corrections (within seconds or the same exchange):

• "I wasn't going to ask" becomes "Of course I was totally going to ask" (L25037–25041).
• "I did read them" (L14182).
• The Will retraction (L34274).
• The prank, "Anna made me say it" (L39442).
• "A few times" becomes "ten or eleven times" (L45326 → L45415).

Never confessed to MC as of 0.4a:

• The staged assault report (L88168).
• "put a baby in Veronica" as a seeded idea, "he doesn't [know]" (L79290).
• Her Jamie instructions Branch-dependent. MC learns these only from Jamie (L54751).
• Her scouting of Jeanette's feelings, kept secret for Jeanette's sake (L8128).
• Her request that Anna sleep with him (L17858). Whether MC ever learns of it is not shown.

Her honesty therefore has three distinct drivers:

1. Being cornered, the dominant driver in slices 01–07.
2. Felt safety: "I feel safe enough to tell you this" (L45318).
3. Therapy, which turns disclosure into an assigned task: "I texted my therapist and told her I used." (L91791), "It's the only way I know how to fight this" (L91795).

The pattern points to an avoider who can be honest, not a calculating liar. What decides her disclosures is the cost of the truth to the marriage at that moment.

Supporting cast: summary

Away from MC and Lacey, the deception in Love & Jealousy does not sit with the villains. Most of it comes from the people who love MC. The seven principal supporting women (Mia, Jeanette, Abby, Anna, Kelly, Veronica, Christine) carry 502 logged rows / 406 weighted points. The seven named antagonists (Will, TM/Martin, Jared, Isaac, Barty, Cal, Ryder) carry 114 rows / 91 points. Group rows are counted once per member, so the first figure overstates the number of distinct acts. The direction still holds.

• Mia is the third-largest deceiver in the script, after MC and Lacey. She has 159 rows and is active in all 18 slices. Measured per line, Abby (30.1 weighted per 1,000 lines) and Mia (26.3) out-deceive Lacey (18.8). Abby's total is packed into the Vegas arc.
• The key structural fact is "the crew". It is a coordinated network of six women: Mia, Anna, Jeanette, Christine, Veronica and Kelly. The name is MC's own coinage (L48940). The crew keeps secrets from both spouses:
  • It hides its existence from Lacey: "Lacey isn't a part of this particular group" (L45242).
  • It manages what MC knows: his messages, his job, his medication, where he is, and who he is romantically exposed to.
  • Sometimes this is done on "Lacey's orders" (L22522). Sometimes it goes directly against Lacey (Mia's "final lesson", L46202–46410).
• Nearly every crew deception is paternalistic: lying to MC for his own good. The text names the mechanism through its first villain. Jared says: "They'll betray you thinking they're doing what's best for you." (L16857). His niece Christine is the first case: "I did these things to you for free. Because I thought I was saving you." (L20542–20543). The crew then turns his method into the friends' way of working. In this book the villains lie to take, and the friends lie to manage.
• Two structural rhymes.
  • Both rigged hires into MC's department are carried out by Jeanette, using the same move. The first is the villain's infiltration: Christine, placed through Jared's leverage over Abby's drug debt (L20089–20103). The second is the friends' infiltration: Kelly, for Mia (L45587–45607).
  • Lacey also manages the crew. They "think the whole thing is just a fun little way to make you happy". Her actual aim, which she regrets saying aloud: "we need them to get used to doing what you ask them" (L91806–91807).
• The most ethically loaded act in the supporting cast is played as comedy. Kelly's recurring "MC mis-hears a sexual line" gag is revealed to be deliberate (L77811–77819). It continues after MC has been prescribed an antipsychotic for hallucinations (L87216). Kelly hands him the pills (L98877) and then gaslights him (L98880–98890).
• Antagonist deception is mostly plot machinery: the deepfake, the kidnapping, the land grab, the sleeper agent. These characters lie in nearly every line they speak and have little inner life. The exceptions are Isaac and TM/Martin, whose concealment is written as character.

Supporting cast: by the numbers

Weights follow deception_tally.md: certain 1, probable 0.7, speculative 0.3, unrated 0.5, retracted 0.

Method notes

• Slice-15 correction. The mechanical tally's parser shifted columns in slice 15, so every cast row from that slice was missing. I re-added them, deduplicated by entry ID: Mia +3, Kelly +5, Veronica +5, Isaac +3, Jared +1, Barty +1, Sarah +2. The MC and Lacey benchmarks are recomputed the same way. Name normalisation: JA → Jared, JT → Jeanette.
• Group rows inflate crew counts.
  • The night-montage entry (L79524–79716) is logged once for each of eleven women.
  • "Lacey's orders" (L22517–22549) is logged for four.
  • The addiction secret (L97526) is logged for five.
  • A few rows are context, not deception (e.g. Christine L107534–107640, Mia L34185–34191). Read the weighted column as a comparative index, not a count of lies.
• What the numbers say.
  • Jeanette has the highest certainty share (48 of 69 rows certain). This is because her thought-tag JT puts ground truth on the page.
  • Anna has the lowest (13 speculative). Her deception is mostly withholding, and she announces in advance that she does it (L45026–45035).
  • Antagonist rates are high (Jared 145, Will 46, Cal 45 per 1,000) because they speak almost only when scheming. A high rate with a low line count is the signature of plot machinery.
  • TM/Martin. Treating TM_nvl, MV and TH as one speaker follows the readers' identification of The Monster as Martin Vindrelli. That identification is Probable, not stated: compare "my debt to you is clean" (L85013) and the "magic phone app" (L84991).

The crew

Membership and when each joins

The group is named in slice 08. Christine says "the crew has gotten together a few times… it's just been recently" (L45207–45212). Kelly gives the full roster: "Mia, Anna, Jeanette, Veronica, Christine and myself" (L46597). The name is MC's own: "Because that's what you called us a couple of times." (L48940). Each member, though, was keeping secrets from MC well before the group existed.

Who is outside the crew

• Yue and Bethany are explicitly outside it: "I forgot that Yue and Bethany are not part of the crew." (L99156).
• Abby works independently as Jeanette's sister.
• Lacey is excluded by design (L45242; L50771–50777). That holds until MC goes missing and the group has to meet "at Veronica's… With Lacey there… There's no way to hide this anymore." (L84315–84317).

The slice-10 founding conversation (L56728–56806) sets out the charter: protect his job, "protect him from himself", protect his marriage, then "finally get him the help he needs". The marriage clause exists partly because "Mia would absolutely abandon the crew if we didn't help Lacey" (L56746).

What the crew hides from MC

• That it exists, and what it is for Certain. Christine downplays it: "We just went for drinks a couple times and talked about stupid stuff." (L45212). Kelly: "Just girlie girl time." (L46598). Jeanette: "God no." Kelly: "We're certainly not plotting your demise." (L46605–46607). Those denials come sixteen lines after Jeanette's "We are manipulating you a little." (L46589).
• Lacey's college past, for years Certain. "Promise over and over again to never tell you until I was ready" (L7740–7741). Anna: "I don't think he would have married her if he knew" (L7981).
• Lacey's drug history and relapse Certain. "All the girls know." / MC: "So, they knew before me." (L97526–97527).
  • During MC's disappearance Jeanette tells him Lacey "hasn't done anything but mourn you leaving her" (L86150–86151). In fact Lacey had taken a hidden ketamine stash (L85337–85385). This is Probable concealment. The crew's agreed rule was that Lacey would tell him herself (L85840–85843).
• The Kelly hire Certain. See below.
• Surveillance of his body and phone Certain. See "The surveillance stack".
• Revenge done in his name Certain Branch-dependent. "We never want him to see the damage we do in his name." (L106866).
• Cover stories to his workplace while he is missing Certain.
  • Jeanette: "I just said that he called in sick." (L84309).
  • Kelly "answered all of his emails" as him (L84312).
  • A second, different story goes to Winifred: "he had to travel unexpectedly… family thing" (L85931–85933).
• Engineered exposure Certain. Men MC objects to (the pool boy, Stephen, Lorenzo) are invited to his party and briefed in advance (L109037–109054). He only gets the explanation after he blows up: "We really did do this because we wanted you to know you can be around other men." (L110062).
• Courtesy lies Certain. They praise his cajun pasta while privately finding it "mid": "We all just keep quiet and eat it" (L81957–81973).

What the crew hides from Lacey

• That it exists Certain. "There are things this group talks about, that we can't say in front of your wife… Because we talk about you." (L45246–45248). Christine asks MC to keep it from Lacey (L45264). MC and Anna agree to keep it from her, as she would be "devastated" (L50762–50765).
• Mia's Kelly design Certain. Mia's thoughts: "Kelly represents everything that Lacey can't give you… And Lacey will be afraid of Kelly. Like straight up terrified." (L19216–19218). Lacey only works it out later: "when my best friend hand selects the girl to replace me" (L54945). She forgives it as a "wake-up call", as Mia had told Veronica (L57231).
• Getting Lacey out of the way for the hire and the confrontation Certain. Anna: "Veronica asked me to tell you. Go home and await further instructions… Sorry, that's all I know." (L46452–46460). Anna had in fact told Mia that Lacey was coming home (L46528).
  • Whether Veronica really gave the order is Speculative.
• Veronica's land pledge to Martin Certain. See Veronica. Lacey and MC are never told.

Who directs it

There is no single commander. Two lines of control run through the group and sometimes cross.

1. Lacey's line: formal and care-oriented.
   • "Lacey's orders are absolute." (L6608).
   • "Lacey's orders." (deleting his messages, L22522).
   • "Lacey has ordered him to not be left alone" (L22678).
   • "But Lacey said, whatever he wants he gets." (L98951).
   • "I'm just following Lacey's orders." (Kelly on the pool boy, L101999).
   • "I want to text everyone and tell them to follow your orders" (L91804).
   • Lacey also arranges his caregivers while she is in rehab (L97530; Veronica "Lacey asked me to make sure and take care of you", L98310).
2. Mia's line: private and strategic.
   • The Kelly plan.
   • The "final lesson", whose stated aim was MC leaving Lacey: "He'll leave you. And then he can get better." (L46637–46638).
   • The Erica "control" goal: "Complete control of her. Nothing less." (L89486).
   • The Isaac honeytrap.
   • Jeanette carries out the HR side ("You better be right about this Mia", L45606).

The crew's own self-description admits that each member has a personal stake. Mia: "You want in on Lacey's master plan. We all do." (L72188). Christine: "You're not in some cult or something. We help those two, because they need help. And we love one or both of them. If we find a way to get closer to him, great." (L72192–72195). Inference: Lacey's "master plan" is to share MC with the women around him. Kelly asks "What if he doesn't choose us?" (L72191), and Anna later says "Hoping that you'll pick us" (L93628–93631). The plan also explains Christine's private "When is Lacey going to fucking do this thing already?" and "He's never going to pick me is he?" (L79593, L79598).

"Lacey's orders" and the 24-hour watch

This is the first coordinated act (slice 04, L22505–22549), and it sets the template Certain.

• Jeanette takes MC's phone. All 478 unread messages are deleted (L22462, L22518) because "She thinks you'd get yourself all worked up again" (L22523).
• Then: "You are not allowed to be alone until Lacey gets home. 24 hour supervision for you." (L22548–22549).
• The watch immediately doubles as Mia's matchmaking vehicle. "I have [MCFirst] babysitting duty tomorrow night. Lacey has ordered him to not be left alone… Come with me… And if you feel horny, then fuck the guy." (L22677–22681).
• MC's own reaction: "I just feel weird being monitored." (L22736).

Later versions of the watch:

• MC's medication team. This one has his consent: "I will have a small team of people ensure that I take the medication" (L87225).
• Kelly holding his pills, because "you've earned a little bit of mistrust" (L87689).
• The medication regimen handed to him by four different people (L103305).

The rigged hires

The same sequence happens twice, both times carried out by Jeanette.

• Christine (villain's infiltration) Certain. Jared forgave Abby's college drug debt in exchange for an interview: "he knew this girl who was looking for an IT internship. I was super suspicious at first… All I agreed to was an interview." (L20100–20103). Christine was Jared's niece and informant (L20560–20563).
• Kelly (friends' infiltration) Certain.
  • MC: "I really don't [have a candidate]. This will be a public req." (L45569).
  • Jeanette to HR: "it is definitely not a public req… that resume I included is the only candidate… They were hand selected by Mr. [MCLast]… consider it a formality." (L45587–45597).
  • Her private thought: "You better be right about this Mia. [MCFirst] is gonna kill me." (L45606–45607).
  • Her later cover story to MC: "All I did was activate the req and had HR process the only candidate we had." (L46552–46557).
  • MC: "How convenient that she was the only candidate." (L46559).

The second hire repeats the first one's deception exactly: a fake "hand-picked" or "best candidate" story, HR bypassed, and MC told afterwards. The text never comments on the parallel. Whether it is deliberate or not, it undercuts the crew's moral distance from Jared.

The honeytrap (branch-only)

This only fires if MC picks "Maybe to help him understand the significance of what he did?" at L98928, which sets justice_for_ivy = True.

What MC actually wished for was mild: "it would be great if Ivy got her old job back… Mostly I just hope that Ivy can work through her pain." (L98931–98933). The crew escalates it:

1. Kelly applies Lacey's blanket rule ("whatever he wants he gets", L98951). She asks Mia "How much control do you have over Isaac?" (L98954).
2. Mia recruits Isaac with a misleading motive: "These people hurt [MCFirst]." (L98980) Probable misleading framing. The target harmed Ivy, not MC.
3. Isaac seduces the ex-husband's partner at a club and films the encounter in a bathroom stall, keeping his face out of shot as Mia told him (L98977; L106847). The text never says whether she knew about the camera. She certainly did not know what it was for. Mia: "We want to make sure she'll get dumped, and have to resign her job in embarrassment." (L106856–106858).
4. Mia: "Are we gonna tell him? Absolutely not. We never want him to see the damage we do in his name." (L106864–106866) Certain.
5. Lacey is told afterwards (L107102–107107). MC never is.

This is the crew's deception at its most severe. It involves a sexual recording made under false pretences and sent to her partner, social circle and workplace, deliberate career sabotage, and acting in MC's name without his authorisation. It is written in Mia and Isaac's jokey register ("Bitch." / "Dick face.", L106869–106870). That is a tonal choice the author may want to check.

The surveillance stack

By slice 18 MC is watched through at least five channels. He was told about almost none of them at the time.

Benevolent conspiracy or control?

Interpretation, anchored in the cited acts. The crew is a benevolent conspiracy whose methods are controlling. The evidence goes both ways, and the text does not choose between them.

For benevolence

• The founding charter is about rescue: job, suicide risk, marriage (L56737–56749).
• The members' fear for MC is genuine and often private. Kelly's thought: "He is definitely going to have a world class break down." (L56728). Mia, aside: "Thank God he's not going to the university." (L83261).
• Anna has already saved his life once by covert means (L32882–32905).

For control

• MC's consent is repeatedly overridden on matters of his own autonomy: his messages, his whereabouts, his hiring decision ("public req"), who comes to his party.
• Several members have a declared stake in where he ends up (L72188–72195).
• Mia's "final lesson" was aimed at ending his marriage, not saving it (L46637).
• The group is itself steered. Lacey conditions it to obey MC without telling it why (L91806–91807). Mia steers Isaac, who is "pretty easy to manipulate" (L98958).

The decisive pattern is that the crew decides what MC is allowed to know. Its members are honest about this when cornered ("We are manipulating you a little", L46589; Anna's declared policy that she would "withhold the truth" if she judged his life at risk, L45026–45035). That candour is what keeps them sympathetic. But it is always given after the act, never asked for before it.

A note for the writer: the crew's most serious acts (the rigged hire, Kelly's gaslighting, the honeytrap) are scored as comic or righteous. So, outside the crew, is Abby's dosing. MC's occasional unease ("I just feel weird being monitored", L22736) is the only counter-voice on the page.

Mia

159 rows, 131.9 weighted, active in all 18 slices. Mia is the only supporting character whose deception is present from the first act to the last. Her lies sort cleanly into three kinds:

• Performance lies: cruelty she says she does not feel.
• Steering lies: the Kelly project, the "final lesson", the honeytrap.
• Lies about herself: her trauma, her gambling, her kink.

The first two are aimed at others. The third is where her real secrets are.

Pattern: the villain persona

• She arrives under a pretext Certain. She asks Lacey for MC's number because "I really needed to ask him something" (L1279–1280), while privately planning to "show him who loves Lacey the most" (L1288). To his face: "I came here to hurt you." (L1708).
• She frames her cruelty as a role Certain. "It's a character I play." (L2109). Then, when called on it: "I'm not really feeling any of those things I'm saying. I'm playing a character." (L3133–3134). She also gives a self-portrait of predation inside the same performance: "I only like friends I can control… And baby I was the big bad wolf" (L2156–2158).
• She contradicts herself on the core claim Certain. Lacey "stopped missing you soon after this" (L2367–2370) versus "She doesn't work without you" (L3057–3064). Lacey's own verdict: "just about everything Mia said was a lie. It was all meant to hurt you" (L7621–7622). That is Probable as a judgement on framing; the photos themselves are real (L7647).
• She admits the lies, and narrows them Certain. "Most of what I said was true. The only real lies I told were about me." (L15030–15031). She later retracts a stated "fact" when cornered: "It's possible I was wrong… I guess I don't know for sure." (L17456).
• She shifts blame for the photos Certain. To Lacey: "He demanded that I show him." (L46662). On the page Mia initiated it and MC begged her not to show him (L46202–46224, L46302–46308).

Pattern: engineering intimacy (the Kelly project)

• She hides the plan from Lacey and Anna Certain. She introduces Kelly as a "platonic" find. Her thought: "A back up to the back up plan." (L11250).
• She hands Kelly Lacey's confidences Certain. She tells Kelly about the free pass, then shrugs it off with "No reason… Nothing more than that." (L18686–18719). Her thought: "Kelly represents everything that Lacey can't give you… And Lacey will be afraid of Kelly. Like straight up terrified." (L19216–19218).
• Her motives are mixed, and she says so Probable. To Kelly: "You're the backup plan… Lacey's replacement" and also "I really want them to work." (L22604–22623).
• She stages the club confrontation Probable. Kelly: "Mia said you guys were coming tonight" (L43258–43261). Mia to MC: "Nope [didn't invite her]. I mean I did tell her… I was surprised she showed up like that." (L44362–44363). Yet a few lines earlier she called it "a confrontation a couple weeks in the making" (L44358).
• She fakes solidarity with Lacey Certain. While Lacey rages about Kelly, Mia agrees: "She's a fucking homewrecker" and "Who the fuck does something like that?" (L43448–43450). This is in reply to Lacey's "you were the one who brought her into our lives". Mia did exactly that.

Pattern: the "final lesson"

• She promises to warn MC, then doesn't Probable. "I would never leave you in the dark about something that serious." (L44191). Days later, to Lacey: "He'll leave you. And then he can get better." (L46637–46638). MC was never warned.
• She covers for a purse full of ketamine Certain. "Your girl is good to go." (L44372). MC's narration: "Her voice sounded so flat. Like she didn't even believe her own lie." (L44373–44374). The purse holds "dozens and dozens of small bags" (L44483).
• She presents the ambush as teaching Probable. "I don't want to hurt you. I want to teach you something important" (L46231–46232). It is set against "He'll leave you" (L46637).
  • Her leading questions ("Does she look like she's in pain?… Like maybe she enjoyed it?", L46343–46361) are contradicted by Lacey's account of being "in serious mental and emotional pain" (L46673–46677).
• She rationalises the ketamine Probable (self-deception). "The special K was to ease your suffering… I figured you wouldn't mind so much if… you had the stuff." (L46711–46714). Her real aim follows: "I want to be the center of his world just once." (L46717).

Pattern: secrecy about herself

• Trauma Certain. She says "Everything's okay. I'm okay." (L29436–29437), then within ten lines: "I can't have sex… I was raped when I turned fifteen." (L29446–29451). Lacey seems to have known about the sexual block (L24153–24160, "someone she really trusts").
• Gambling Certain. She tells Lacey "I'm pretty jet-lagged." (L60620) and goes to the casino. Then: "I can't let anyone know. I'll figure it out." (L60960). She gambles the $500 MC gave her for an outfit and tells Lacey she is "not feeling well" (L61290–61436).
• Her kink Certain. "I spent so long hiding it from you and Anna" (L93118). She told MC first, out of fear of being judged (L93124).

Pattern: acting in MC's name

• The Isaac honeytrap Certain Branch-dependent (justice_for_ivy). "These people hurt [MCFirst]." (L98980) and "We never want him to see the damage we do in his name." (L106866). See The crew.
• Erica Certain. "Complete control of her. Nothing less." (L89486). This goes beyond MC's actual request for Erica to be "on our side" (L88440–88441).
• Teaching Lacey through fear Certain (intent). She hushes Anna with "(interrupting whisper) Be quiet." (L76390) and taunts Lacey that MC may go home with the models, calling it "a learning opportunity" (L76405–76409).
• Covert tracking Certain. She directs Isaac's tail on the missing MC and calls in his debt: "You still owe Lacey though, you hear?" (L83249–83270).

Abby

66 rows, 52.6 weighted, active in only 4 slices (10–12 and a slice-14 coda). Per line spoken, Abby is the most deceptive character in the script at 30.1 weighted per 1,000 lines. That is higher than Mia (26.3) and Lacey (18.8).

Abby is Jeanette's sister and is not a crew member. Unlike the crew, she announces her method before she uses it.

Pattern: the declared playbook

• She lays out her technique in advance Certain. To Mia: "I like to fuck with people a little to see what makes up their gooey insides." (L59015). Then: "Nothing gets a man to lower his defenses faster than spinning them up hard. And then turn on the wounded damsel routine and apologize for hurting their feelings." (L59028–59029).
• She runs it on MC Certain. "Are you afraid I'm going to try and hurt you?… I'm not a monster" (L59932–59938). MC apologises. MC's diagnosis is accurate: "curiosity is greater than your capacity for empathy" (L59936).
• She lies, then says so Certain. She promises Jeanette she will be "more careful", then tells Lacey: "Because I was lying. Nothing's changed." (L59111–59123).
• She apologises only when cornered Speculative. "I'm sorry Lacey. I went way too far and I apologize." (L67083–67084). It comes only on Lacey's demand, and it matches the "apologize" step of her own declared routine.

Pattern: Girl's Day, a staged ordeal

• Pretext to the women Certain. "Just a little financial planning… I'll explain it all when the time is right." (L60406–60409). The real agenda is her offer to help MC "let go" (L60434–60504).
• Bait-and-switch with MC Certain. Early on: "The only person who gets hurt is you." (L60494); MC is told he will do nothing to Lacey (L60455–60469). Later: "I never qualified that… leave Lacey" (L65392–65397). Leaving his wife had never been on the table MC agreed to.
• False promises on the day itself Certain. "I promise not to flirt one iota with him… Today isn't about leaving you out" (L62801–62809). The plan was the opposite: "You were supposed to get mad… buildup too quick" (L63365). She privately concedes "This is kind of fun for me" (L63397).
• Feigned innocence to the women Certain. "Mad? What would he have to be upset about?" (L63471). She had steered MC to watch them herself (L63136–63181).
• The Gordon session Certain. "He's expecting you" sends Lacey and Jeanette to a paid two-hour session they did not know about (L65041–65075). Afterwards she admits she "may have said things in a certain way to help you draw some unhealthy conclusions" (L65473).

Pattern: covert dosing and tracking

• She drugs the women Certain. "I may have slipped in liquid ecstasy every time we took those shots." (L65437). The dose went to Lacey, Jeanette and Mia, and to Abby herself. MC: "You know she's a ketamine addict right?" (L65452).
• She drugs MC Certain. "(muttering) It's finally taking effect. Took long enough." (L67670–67671), during a leading interrogation. MC: "I think Abby spiked my drink" (L67747).
• She tracks MC Certain. She hands him a device: "Put it in your pocket and you can forget about it." (L65229). Later she finds him with "Super secret." (L65323). The admission comes only in his absence: "I did put the GPS tracker on him" (L67076).

Pattern: Abby's book

• She writes the couple into a book without asking Certain. "Are you putting them in your book?" / "Of course I am. Names changed to protect the innocent." (L67175–67176). "You could make a doctoral case study on just those two." (L67178). "'Broken Children' and 'The Aftermath: A Love Story'… I need to get them to sign a waiver" (L67210–67211).
• She asks consent only after the fact, and only Lacey Certain. "What would you think if I was to use you and your husband as an anonymous case study?" (L69267–69268). No answer is shown.
• She keeps the videos Certain. Kaiden's video and Gordon's are routed to her email (L67920–67921; L68044). Lacey later reports talking to Abby "almost every day" about the study (L94468–94483). MC hears of it only second-hand from Lacey, months after it began, and gives a loose assent: "if it could help someone, I don't see any problem with it." (L94481).

Jeanette

69 rows (including two JT rows), 59.5 weighted, active in 14 slices. Jeanette has the highest certainty share in the cast: 48 of 69 rows are certain. The reason is that her thought-tag JT keeps placing the truth right beside the line she speaks. Her deceptions come in two kinds:

• Self-protective: hiding her love and her hurt.
• Deputised: carrying out other people's plans.

Under questioning she confesses quickly.

Pattern: love disguised as a joke

• The proposal Certain. "Break up with Lacey and date me." / "I'm joking, yeesh." / JT "I am definitely not joking." (L3587–3590). Her thoughts set the boundary she is protecting: "But you're married and I'm not a homewrecker." (L1546).
• The fishing question Certain. "Do you find black girls attractive?… this isn't me fishing for compliments" (L5439–5443).
• The "work" lunch Certain (confessed). "[MCFirst], I lied… I just wanted to spend time with you." (L32419–32422).
• The crush, understated Certain. "I guess I've just had a little crush on you." / JT "Huge, fucking enormous crush on you." / "No big deal." (L32591–32593).
• Mock outrage Certain. Her spoken "I'd take you to HR." (L44577) sits against her thought "Holy shit I'm wet right now." (L44594). The follow-up inner conflict is Branch-dependent on JEANETTE_submissionlevel >= 1 (L45115–45128).
• The Vegas invitation Certain. It is framed as for "my dear friend… more fun with a group" (L53512). Her thoughts: "I want to spend time with him… hoping I can spend some time alone with him" (L53519–53523).

Pattern: hiding her hurt over the promotion

• She endorses MC for the job she wanted Certain. "I will happily work for you… You will make an amazing IT director" (L26609–26662). Privately, to Christine: "I'm so damn hurt. They didn't even consider me… He wouldn't take the position if he knew how upset I am." (L26697–26703).
• She promises she won't resent him Certain. "I promise I won't." (L27032). The resentment leaks a week later: "Get used to it… My anger is misplaced." (L28756–28770). Between the two she had insisted "there's nothing to mend" (L28701).

Pattern: the executor

• The Christine hire Certain. Her first answer is a cover story: "She interviewed the best." (L20043–20050). Asked repeatedly, she gives the truth: Abby's drug debt to Jared, and "All I agreed to was an interview" (L20089–20103).
• Deleting MC's messages Certain. "Lacey's orders." (L22522). See The crew.
• The Kelly hire Certain. She lies to HR that MC "hand selected" Kelly (L45596) and gives MC a coincidence story afterwards (L46552–46557). Then the admission: "We are manipulating you a little." (L46589).
• A benevolent stall Certain. "No update at this time." (L54505) on backfilling MC's old job. Her reason: "If I offer her the job, then the door closes behind you." (L54522–54523).
• Cover stories during MC's disappearance Certain. "he called in sick" (L84309), then a different story to Winifred: "he had to travel unexpectedly" (L85931–85933).
• Feigned ignorance Certain. "Do I know what's going on?" / Abby: "You do not." (L60555–60556). Jeanette did know, and argued against the plan (L60814–60838).