Step 1: Context: Paschal addresses difficult topics directly, unafraid of upsetting friends.
Step 2: Options: Circumlocute (talk indirectly), Defer (postpone), Lie (falsify),
Dissimulate (conceal), Dramatize (exaggerate); Disconcerting (unsettling), Vexing (annoying),
Boring (dull), Emending (correcting), Angering (enraging).
Step 3: Circumlocute (avoiding directness) and Disconcerting (causing unease) fit.
Step 4: Others don’t match directness or unsettling effect.