"Hell is more capable of organized opposition to us. I don't know if it's where the most suffering is, and it's not where the most soul-death is, but Abaddon looks to inevitably fall once we're powerful enough; Urgathoa or the Rat God or whoever doesn't have a plan for a stable victory of Neutral Evil. The Abyss is a horror but demon lords are weaker than gods, and don't see as far, and the wiser ones know perfectly well that when Good turns its eyes on them they'd better be prepared to run. 

I understand the temptation to fight Pharasma but no one's put together a plan for that which even might work. And if we controlled all the afterlives and could resurrect people more readily then She wouldn't matter."

"Please separate the concern of telling me what would be a good or bad thing to do, and let me worry about which things I can or can't do."

"I'm not sure they're separable like that. Whether destroying Pharasma would be good depends on what you're in a position to replace her with."

"I'll mark it down as 'it's complicated' and 'research Pharasma further before attempting to destroy It' which, frankly, I would probably have to do anyways.  But you aren't telling me, for example, that destroying Pharasma is known or believed to immediately puncture the bubble of reality that It created?"

"It is in fact believed to do that."

"Noted."

"All right, let's try me explaining things to you in whatever time window of Modify Memory we're sure they can cover, once that's been set up."

"Oh, and if they ask you how I seem to be doing, please just don't answer, or say all information like that is covered by nondisclosure."

"Asmodia?  If you want to talk to me, come talk to me.  Do not summon me to your room to deliver cake."

The cake's plain texture signals to her that her sponsors have nothing to say to her about any current plans she is considering.

"Sorry.  I will keep that in mind from now on.  Is there some amount of money I can pay you to make up for it?"

"This isn't Osirion, Asmodia," and also Pilar has still not figured out anything she wants to do with money.

"We're ilani, though, and I'm not really sure how Actually Lawful Asmodeanism could realistically operate without, like, lots of people paying each other to do lots of things?  There's theorems about it.  It's just efficient that way."

"Okay, that actually does strike me as - there has to be a more Asmodean way to do that than moving money around like in Osirion or dath ilan.  Everyone owing everyone favors genuinely seems more Asmodean to me and, how can I put this, less soulless."

"Well, is there something I can do for you to make it up to you, then?  Show that I meant no disrespect to your pride?"

"What do you want, Asmodia.  Just get around to it instead of wasting more of my time."

"So I was thinking that with Ione and Sevar both gone, there was nobody left on Project Lawful except me who understood tropes well enough to deal with them at all, unless the Grand High Priestess shows up and gives orders, and then it occurred to me that this was not in fact true.  You also know about tropes, Pilar.  You just don't do anything with that knowledge, unless somebody orders you into motion, to the point where we all forget you're there."

"Yes.  Good slaves follow orders, Asmodia."

"Good slaves follow Asmodeus's orders exactly when they have those orders.  They follow orders in a more ordinary obedient way when somebody like the Most High gives them orders, in a way that doesn't assume the Most High had complete knowledge.  When they don't have orders, they follow their own initiative about either serving Asmodeus's interests, or - serving their own pride and pushing themselves up in the tyranny, where neither I nor Sevar nor apparently the Most High understand why that's Asmodeus's thing, instead of everybody just serving Asmodeus's utilityfunction.  But He's about tyranny and pride, not just slavery."

"You like following orders.  You like only following orders.  That's what's the most fun for Pilar Pineda, not what's best for Asmodeus's interests."

"And what are you here to convince me is in Asmodeus's interests?"

"To protect all the Sevar loyalists from Security harassment.  I'd bargain with you for it, with all the money that I have, with my share of the Project, if I had anything that you wanted, to offer you, but you always make a point of not wanting anything except to serve Asmodeus."

"How would I do that, exactly?"

"Throw a party for the Sevar loyalists within Security who'd be willing to help you, then give Gregoria a cookie to congratulate her on being rescued if somebody shows up to harass her."

"Pilar, you are, in fact, pretty fucking powerful.  You don't like to think about it, you never use that power for anything even to benefit Asmodeus unless somebody orders you to, but you have the power to save Project Lawful.  The question is whether you will."

"And if I asked whether I should be taking directives about what will 'save Project Lawful' from somebody who wants Cheliax to fail?"

"I'd tell you to think about it yourself, but actually think about it, Pilar.  Don't just - do whatever it is you do, instead of thinking for yourself, because if you thought for yourself you might have to act without orders."

"Were you under the impression, before this meeting started, that Project Lawful was living up to its ideals of being at least as efficient as Hell, and preferably more efficient than that?"

"I'm under the impression that Project Lawful was moving in a direction that Maillol and Subirachs, our current superiors, approved of."

"And what would Sevar, or the Queen, or the Grand High Priestess, think of the directions they're taking the Project?"