Hal's field guide to liars; the undetectable liar as the only real "monster"

pivotal · 11-12 Nov YDAU, pre-dawn

• When: night of 11-12 Nov YDAU, pre-dawn
• What: In the dark, Hal delivers an extended taxonomy of how people lie (the dominating still-gaze liar, the fluttery self-deprecator, the digression-burier, the Kamikaze retractor, the rococo over-elaborator and its terse subtype), while praising Pemulis's nerveless "brass mask" performance over the urinal. He turns it on himself and concludes that at seventeen the only real monsters are undetectable liars who "give nothing away" — the self-implicating figure of the concealer who "walk[s] among us. Teach[es] our children. Inscrutable. Brass-faced." Mario admits he can never tell he's being lied to; it never crosses his mind. A communication-solipsism / concealment beat that frames the confession to come.