The winning votes:
Truths:
- I've had boyfriends and girlfriends. (15)
- I can play eleven different instruments. (12)
Lies:
- I only sleep six hours at night. (16)
In the end, you decide the fact that you've dated both genders in the past will be a good truth. It won't give them much to go on either way, and hopeful your total lack of reaction to Honey's advances will lead them to think you just don't find women attractive. You also decide that the number of instruments you play will be a good choice, since most people don't realize the level of overlap that exists between instruments of certain families. The amount sounds impressive but once you've learned to play one it actually doesn't take long to pick up another. Your lie takes some deliberation, but you eventually decide to lie about the amount of sleep you get. They've already seen a lot of your skin so they might have picked up on the fact that you don't have a birthmark on your back, and it's possible they've identified your brother from some of the picture of him you have laying around.
You glance at the others and realize that they are looking around as well. Looks like they've picked their facts too.
"Everyone ready?" you ask, and receive a series of affirming nods in response. "Alright then. Who wants to start us off?"
"You're the host, why don't you start?" Zophar asks with a smile.
"Sure," you answer with an identical smile, rising to your feet. You live for competition. "Some facts about me: I can play eleven different instruments, I only sleep six hours at night, and I've dated both men and women in the past."
"The instrument thing," responds Zophar instantly as you sit back down. "Six hours of sleep isn't so weird for humans, and you were totally having a moment with snake-girl here earlier, so it's the obvious choice."
"A moment?" Georgia asks, snapping her head between Zophar and you frantically. "I-we weren't-I mean-"
"He's messing with you," you explain calmly, though admittedly if it were true it wouldn't have been the first time someone had been sending romantic signals that completely flew over your head. "And her name is Georgia, spider-boy."
"Oh, okay," she responds with a relieved sigh. "Um, I think I'm going to guess...the instrument thing?"
"No offense to you if I'm wrong, miss, but I'm gonna go with the dating thing," Clyde answered. "You've got a real nice piano in your living room. Nobody's got something that expensive if they don't know their way around a tune. And you already said your job keeps you busy, so wouldn't surprise me if you didn't get enough sleep."
"None taken either way," you state reassuringly before turning to Honey. "What do you think?"
"Men
and women," she says, locking her eyes on you and grinning in the same strange way she had before kissing you in the foyer.
"You do know we're supposed to be guessing which one
isn't true, right?" Zophar asks, his face suspicious. Honey cocks her head to the side, her expression turning confused. "Actually, you know what, never mind."
"Don't worry about it Honey," you tell her, watching as her perplexed expression slowly slides back to that troubling smile in a fascinatingly literal fashion. "This is mostly for fun, and you probably don't have as much context for this sort of thing as the others do."
"O...K..." she bubbles, and while you aren't sure your words sank in you suspect this is as close as you're likely to get for now. You return your attention to the game.
"I'm happy to say that every single one of your guesses was wrong," you pronounce with a triumphant smile. "I worked my way through college as the evening cook for a local diner. By the time I left it was past midnight and I usually still had schoolwork to do, so I got used to only getting about four hours of sleep at night. I kept it up even after I got my doctorate because I enjoy having the extra few hours."
"Well, that would explain the espresso machine I spotted in the kitchen," Clyde says with a nod. "I suppose I'll volunteer to go next then, unless anyone else wants to give it a shot?"
Both Georgia and Zophar shake their heads. Honey just smiles, shifting so her impressive chest is shoved toward Clyde. The burly centaur gulps audibly at the gelatnous mounds before shaking it off to take a small step forward.
"Alright, some stuff about me. I play the drums, I was a Caisson, and I once flipped a car with my bare hands."
"Caisson?" you ask in confusion. You know the word from that old Army song, but you're pretty sure it means something different here.
"Oh right, forgot y'all might not know about them. Caissons are like centaur heavy weapons teams. They got their start pulling cannons and gatling guns, but these days its more heavy machine guns and rocket launchers. Heavyweights like me are the only ones strong enough to haul and shoot the gear they've got."
The fact that centaurs actually had a modern military is news to you, but in reflection it probably shouldn't have been. Liminals were every bit as intelligent as humans and were apparently quite organized. The mass deception that had hid them for so long never would have been possible otherwise.
"Gotta be drums," pronounces Zophar, bringing you out of your thoughts. "It's the one that stands out."
"Drums," echos Honey absently, staring intently at the muscles on Clyde's chest.
"You carried all our luggage inside by yourself, and didn't get mad when I snapped at you earlier. I think you're too nice to flip a car." Georgia says softly, looking sheepish. "Thank you, by the way. I know I didn't say it earlier."
"Aw, it was a pleasure to help, Miss Georgia. You don't need to thank me. I'm just sorry I put that hole in the wall. If you show me where you keep the stuff, I'll fix it tomorrow."
"No need, I can take care of it," you repeat, thinking the problem over in your head. They were both right: the drums didn't fit with the others, and Clyde did seem far too nice to flip a car in anger. He was a bit clumsy though, and he correctly guessed you were a musician just from the piano. The way he talked about the Caissons though, in a neutral tone and the third person, with not a hint of pride for the military branch he allegedly served with? He might just be a good actor, but you doubted it. "You were never a Caisson, were you?"
"You caught me," he admits. "The car thing is something us kids used to do for fun when we were young and stupid. There was a human town a couple miles from where I lived, so we used to sneak over nights and flip a car or two for fun. We were dumb kids playing around, and I kinda feel bad 'bout it now. I picked up the drums about that time too, and thought about the Caissons, but I didn't think I could ever bring myself to actually hurt someone else. We don't fight much these days, but still didn't want to take the chance. Guess I'm kinda a wimp as far as centaurs go."
"I wouldn't say that at all," states Georgia with a fond smile. Clyde stamps his hoof awkwardly at the praise, and Zophar makes a slight retching sound.
"While you and the hippy get a room, I think I'll take my turn," he announces, rising to his full (unimpressive) height. "My favorite color is green, I have a standing long jump distance of over twenty feet, and thanks to my eyes I can see in three hundred and sixty degrees."
"I've seen you jump, I ain't touching that second one," Clyde drawls wryly, and Zophar preens slightly at the praise. "Gonna guess the color. You seem more like a red person."
"Can see," suggests Honey, literally rotating her head around in a full circle. Her neck doesn't move or twist, her eyes, nose, chin, and other features just slide seamlessly around her head in a lazy circle. There is a long pause as the room stops to process this, before Georgia speaks up.
"Um...I actually agree with her," Georgia remarks, before turning to you. "What do you think?"
"Hang on a moment."
You get out of your chair and walk over to Zophar, who looks back in confusion. Without preamble you grab his head and turn it to the right, eyeing the side of his face carefully. You let go just as he moves to swat your hand away.
"Hey, what the hell?"
"It's the eyes," you announce. "Your side-eyes don't have the same sockets as your primaries. They can't move as much, which limits their range of vision. It's small, but you do have a blind spot."
"That's cheating!" he objects angrily as you return to your seat and both Clyde and Georgia laugh. "You're not allowed to check!"
"Oh? The rules are you have to come up with two truths and a lie, they never said you can't try to fact-check someone when it's their turn," you point out with a grin. "I'll admit that's being a bit of a rules-lawyer though, so I'll take a forfeit this round."
"I suppose that means I'm up, doesn't it?" Georgia asks, taking a deep breath and rising off the couch. "Some facts about me. Um...my favorite book is
Pride and Prejudice...ah, I enjoy eating insects and...oh, winter is my favorite time of year."
"Yeah right, you're cold blooded," Zophar says as Georgia slides liquidly back into her old spot. "Winter isn't your favorite season."
"I'm gonna guess the book, actually," puts in Clyde. "The other two are just too odd not to be true. No offense."
"Eating," says Honey, her hair tendrils rising around her like bulbous snakes as she stares at Georgia. The medusa leans back slightly under the scrutiny, pulling her scarf around her head a bit more.
They all stare at you, and you think you catch a quiet twinkle behind Georgia's thick glasses. You remember the pauses in her list. She was going last, surely she'd had enough time to come up with everything. She said she was ready, so... You remember her expression as you walked back from examining Zophar and it clicks. She changed her choices at the last minute, likely realizing you'd be able to guess any biological trivia she listed. Her facts were all about preferences and emotions, things you would have no way of guessing accurately without knowing her better. A good strategy. You think about the way she retreated under Honey's scrutiny and her general embarrassment at being the center of attention, however, and smile.
"There's no way someone who blushes like you do would admit to eating bugs in front of a room full of strangers," you say with a smile. "Switching your choices was a nice trick though. You almost had me."
"You caught that, did you?" she asks as Zophar and Clyde both stare in confusion. "Ah well, so much for beginner's luck. I suppose that means you win?"
"No," Honey corrects, sliding forward confidently. "My turn now."
"Actually, yeah," you say, realizing with some embarrassment that you assumed Honey's limited intelligence and vocabulary meant she actually didn't have any facts to share. Perhaps she was much smarter than you had assumed. "Please go ahead."
"This first time out of meadow. Like making people happy." Her grammar is bad, but her pronunciation is good. There is absolutely nothing incorrect or even hesitant about her final statement though. "I want to have sex with every single one of you."
Thunder blasted ominously, and Zophar actually seemed to turn pale as the slime's eyes passed over him, the gelatinous orbs turning to look at each person in turn. Georgia gulped, and Clyde took a small step back, his tail swishing agitatedly.
"Um, Honey, not that those weren't fascinating, but..." you begin, playing a hunch. "From the sound of it, all those are probably true."
"Yes," she purrs, turning to face you. Now it's your turn to gulp.
"The objective of the game is to list two truths and a lie. One of them was supposed to be false."
"Why?" she asks, sliding closer with that smile on her face again.
"Uh, good point!" you exclaim quickly, hoping to distract her before she does something that will force you to shoot her with your water pistol. "I think that's the game then, so could you please go back over there now?"
"Want to play more," Honey objects, and from her tone you get the unfortunate suspicion she's thinking of a very different sort of game.
"And maybe we will a bit later," you say as consolingly as you can, while privately thinking:
'...right after Hell freezes over.'
She murmurs in slight disappointment, but slinks away obediently.
"I guess that really is it then," Clyde states, smiling. "Home team wins."
"So you're seriously bisexual?" Zophar asks, his expression curious. Georgia and Clyde also perk up, obviously listening for your answer. Even Honey seems interested, instantly snapping out of her gooey pout to stare intently at you both, though you suspect it's only because she heard 'sex'.
"Well..."
[ ] Lie and say you're bisexual. It's not like you're planning to date any of them, and you've given this speech enough times to know exactly how they'll react. You don't need that hassle.
[ ] Tell part of the truth: admit that you're asexual but don't let them ask you any questions. You aren't a Q&A board, if they want to know more they can look it up themselves.
[ ] Tell the full truth. Trying to clear up the inevitable misunderstandings will be a pain, but they deserve to know. Who knows how Honey might react though...
[ ] Deflect. It's late and this is kind of intimate for a first day conversation. You can tell them later if it becomes relevant, right now you should focus on getting them settled.