“All right, people, we’ve got to pull this off. Everyone know their lines?” Deceit stood before everyone, grinning spitefully.

“You and I are the drive,” Revenge said, fist bumping Deceit, his leather jacket squeaking.

“I give us the memories of why we should,” Sadness spoke up, her quiet and slow voice sobering them for a second. She was portrayed as a young girl and the deep sadness in a voice always made them pause.

Each emotion was portrayed when or who Andy, the host, had first felt the emotion on the deepest level. Deceit was a toddler, a little thing full of terrifying evil from when they’d accidentally colored on the wall and lied to Mom about it. Revenge had taken the form of the first boy to break their heart. And Sadness was an eight year old when their parents had divorced.

“I’ll give us as many what if possibilities for why we should lie!” Fear shouted, his jittery voice echoing off the walls and made him cover his ears. He was a four years old. The year they’d crashed the car.

Deceit nodded. “Goood...”

“I’ll make sure to remind her that not lying will loose us popularity points,” Self Esteem volunteered. He had braces and glasses and pimples. A tween middle schooler. “And try my hardest not to give her self hate about lying.”

“You can do that after.” Deceit waved his hand and looked at Joy, Innocence, and Empathy. He grinned at them. “And what will you be doing?”

They struggled against the bonds on their wrists and ankles, trying to shout through their gags at him. Joy was the youngest, by far, only two years old and the one that normally slipped out of her chains. They had to do this quick.

Innocence shifted and morphed as Andy grew, always constantly a new form or shape. Sometimes she couldn’t speak and other times she could. It all depended on how much innocence Andy had that day. Today she was silent.

And Empathy was thirteen from when they related to a boy with divorced parents. A buetiful creature. Loving and kind, with big blue eyes and a lovely smile. Even then her eyes spoke of compassion rather than anger. Not that the emotions could feel much else than what they were.

Obviously their struggles did nothing and Deceit’s smile just enlarged.

“That’s right. Perfect.”

Of course they’d untie them once they had lied but the three had a bad habit of being good.

“And finally, Self Control?”

Self Control was four years old from when they hadn’t had a temper tantrum after being denied chocolate. He was, of course, reading a newspaper.

He peered over the rim and raised an eyebrow before turning back to it. “I will be doing nothing because this petty lie does not concern me. If it gets out of hand, however, I will intervene,” he warned, not looking at them.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let’s get this thing rolling!” Revenge shouted, whooping.

Deceit turned to the controls, and began his work. Andy shifted into motion and each of the other emotions lined up beside him, doing their job.

This would be the best lie ever, Deceit decided.