"Then I will finish out this debriefing.  You have heard the worst that there is to hear, and it's the worst thing that happened in a month of your being away from Project Lawful, which is not very far above the Project's 'base rate'."

"At least one good thing came of the affair.  Possibly.  It's hard to be sure..."

If Snack Service knows anything about this -

Why is Pilar even asking.  Of course Snack Service knows exactly what happened.

Obviously!  And Snack Service isn't telling!

Pilar is in fact seethingly angry about this.  The Project is confused, paranoid, distracted, and this does not benefit Asmodeus.  Is there a good reason Snack Service isn't telling?

Resolving that uncertainty would benefit Asmodeus, sure, but it wouldn't benefit Cayden Cailean!

It's just like why Snack Service let the whole thing happen in the first place!  Asmodia being gone hurts Asmodeus, but hugely benefits Cayden Cailean, so Snack Service did nothing.  Snack Service only acts when the interests are aligned.

There would be a very noticeable *twitch*, at this point, if you were watching Pilar and had a reasonably high Sense Motive.

Is Snack Service willing to say how Asmodia being gone benefits Cayden Cailean?

If the thing with Asmodia hadn't happened - say, if Pilar had invoked the curse's power herself to bring order to Project Lawful, or even just agreed with Asmodia to protect the Sevar loyalists - and Cayden Cailean had successfully managed the consequences of that as best He could - the best-case outcome from that would have been a few tens of thousands of Asmodeus-worshippers surviving who would otherwise have died within the next year, thanks to things Asmodia would have done.

The worst-case outcome, if Pilar had intervened herself, would have been that it ruined Cayden Cailean's entire master plan!  And left Asmodeus holding all of the benefits from all of the sacrifices that Cayden Cailean made!  Cayden Cailean would have been left with nothing, and all Snack Service's hard work would have greatly benefited only Lawful Evil and not Chaotic Good at all, and Asmodeus would have gloated.

*Twitch.*

Don't feel too bad!  If there'd been any significant possibility of Pilar doing that, Cayden Cailean would've made different plans in the first place!

So it's not that Pilar could've changed things much by being a different sort of person, even if it would've changed things if she'd suddenly acted differently without any gods being able to predict that.

Cayden Cailean only steered events this way in the first place because it was a very reliable fact that Pilar was too much of a subby sub to want to do anything without orders, even when that would've obviously benefited Asmodeus.

*Twitch.*

Obviously, that this all provides a valuable lesson for Pilar is part of Cayden Cailean's plan too!

To be clear, in the future, when Pilar tries to do things that seem to her like they should benefit Asmodeus, they'll sometimes hurt Asmodeus and benefit Cayden Cailean!

But on average, on the whole, on net, and in probabilistic expectation, for Pilar to be the sort of person who goes down that course will benefit Asmodeus!  You can't actually become a true ilani and then a Power of Hell if you just wait for orders your whole life, you know!  Pilars who stay just subby subs definitely don't get to see their mother and sister again!  Of course, Snack Service won't say what the probabilities are if you do try.

*Twitch.*

Snack Service apologizes for being mean, but it's the only way to snap Pilar out of it!

*SNAP*

"Hey, Paxti.  Here's a cookie from me to celebrate being rescued from the dumbest ass in Security who hasn't worked out the reason that all the other Securities have gone very still and well-behaved, without any explicit order changes that would require their superiors to admit they made a mistake."

"And you.  You get one warning.  Fuck off, behave yourself, and don't bother anyone or pull any shit until Sevar gets back with explicit orders about what to do next."

"Oh.  You.  You're the Caydenite who likes being raped, aren't you?  I'll get around to you, don't worry."

"When you get to Hell shortly, let your owner see within your mind that Pilar Pineda, trusted of Aspexia Rugatonn, did instruct them in Asmodeus's name and as HER OWN incentive that you spend every minute until you get Raised being kicked repeatedly in the testicles."

"Oh, now this I have to see.  You think you can -"

"In the name of friendship, DIE."

"I am the most proven Asmodean in Project Lawful.  I am the sanest person in Project Lawful.  I am the scariest person in Project Lawful.  And right now, I AM THE MOST ANNOYED PERSON IN PROJECT LAWFUL.  THIS DOMINANCE CONTEST IS OVER.  I WIN.  NOW BEHAVE LIKE FUCKING SANE PEOPLE UNTIL SEVAR GETS BACK OR I WILL FUCKING MAKE YOU BEHAVE."

Pilar then promptly turns herself in to higher authority with a complete and slightly less than fully professional report, including the fact that Snack Service said that she needed to think and act on her own before seeking orders from the Most High for maximum benefit to Asmodeus.

" - good for her. Does she formally have the command right now or is she just, uh, doing that independently."

"It was not deemed wise to recognize the resulting informal arrangement formally, but it was made clear to Maillol and to Subirachs's replacement that they were to seek Pilar's counsel on matters related to ilanism or tropes."

...Subirachs's replacement. So Abrogail is as angry as Carissa, then, even if she's not showing it. Good. 

"Progress on chemistry is accelerating under Avaricia, and if there's any difference between before and after Pilar imposed her order, I know not the mathematics to detect it.  Neither I nor Aspexia feel impressed by Avaricia's attempts at training her own ilani, but Asmodia's own attempts in that direction seemed to scarcely fare better, nor have the smartest wizards exposed to Project transcripts seemed to change even as much as I would detect in perhaps Gregoria.  It seems almost as though there is some magic in direct exposure to Project Lawful's secret power source which transformed them towards ilani, and the transcripts alone do not carry it... which, to be clear, I very much hope is not the case, or that you have absorbed it as well."

"We do have twenty very promising candidates for your next attempts at training, obtained by somewhat unusual means..."