Record:I hate my wife
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Q'so: Any minute now.
(Pavti Q’so, his wife, unlocks the front door and enters the house. Q’so does not bother to sit up or address her, his eyes remaining fixated on the radio.)
Pavti: So at least you had the sense to get blackout drunk somewhere that isn’t a nightclub. Great start. I’m so glad I’ve finally gotten through to you.
Q'so: And again with the sarcasm. Hell, lady, did it ever— (hiccup) did it ever occur to you, maybe, that I deserve a little fun every once in a while? Huh? I’m the most important guy in the goddamn nation. It’s stressful. God, lady, I’m telling you it’s hard work.
Pavti: This is a problem, Insi, okay? This isn’t just a little fun or whatever you call it, you’re imbibing enough to kill a cow on a daily basis. And is this what you call work? Fixating yourself on a radio all day?
Q'so: And here she goes again, folks, it’s incredible, with the big fancy words like imbibing and fixating just to show off how she finished her studies and I didn’t, goddamn linguists, this whole nation, I— this is important shit, I’m so close to finally making a breakthrough and I could deal without your snarky know-better ass.
Pavti: Doqa, you know I’ve seen this happen before. You’re acting like Sitri.
Q'so: (Breaking concentration from the radio, shouting.) Don’t you ever say his name!
(Q’so brings the bottle to his mouth and drinks.)
Q'so: Don’t— my dad has nothing to do with this. Piece of shit.
Pavti: Where is the man I married, I wonder?
Q'so: Doqa, listen, lady, I’m the most powerful man in the country, anywhere I go I’m the man of the room, if you think you’ve got any smack of leverage against me you’re dead wrong, I have a million better options than you, so shut it— (hiccup) shut it with the Who are you, the Where is my husband, you don’t—
(Q’so snaps his attention to the radio, the usual static of which has begun to morph into clear language.)
Q'so: It’s— here it is.
COMM LOG (PWR-Tietero): As you’ll be happy to know, I sent an envoy to Kelelemi to check in since we haven’t heard from them in a while. They reported back that they are now "a thriving utopian metropolis." Remarkable it is.
Q'so: And more of the taunting. They are, they’ve gotta be, they’re hiding it from me— (Q’so drinks from the bottle) and they’re taunting me with it.
Pavti: You’re insane. Genuinely, absolutely, without a doubt, full-on crazy. Using your little pet speaker to pick apart every little statement, every minor quip?
Q'so: And here it is, everyone, the same goddamn— (hiccup) same goddamn thing I’ve been talking about, what with every single person in this horrid archipelago feeding me the same horseshit, that there’s nothing wrong, that everything’s fine, trying your damn hardest to lure me in with your poison-laced words, plotting assassination, maybe imprisonment, telling me I’m crazy or paranoid, calling it "borderline, the same shit they called Sitri, I’m nothing like him, the miserable bitch.
(Q’so drinks.)
Pavti: And the moth flies towards the sun, chasing the biggest light of all. Do you understand? Do you have any notion of the idea that what you’ve been fixated on for years is something completely irrelevant? Effectively nonexistent? That your attempted pursuits of the truth and escapes from imaginary evil only perpetuate the fatal cycle? They aren’t plotting against you. They aren’t plotting against you because they don’t care about you. You are at best a concept to them. Do you understand?
Q'so: Too many words. Goddamn linguists.
Pavti: I’m not entertaining this. Good night and happy new year.
(Pavti begins to walk up the stairs to her bedroom.)
Q'so: I’m the most powerful man in the nation. The world. And they’re trying their damn hardest, do you hear me? Do you? V’sha saying— the bitch V’sha, saying he has to "babysit" me over the radio, thinking I’m not listening in, they all hate me, the bastards, every last one of them, goddamn Modhesians, goddamn Ketwa, with their fancy words, Pili too, calling me paranoid, and "borderline," and I’m not like him, I’m nothing like him at all— (hiccup) I’m not.
(Q’so tries to drink, but the bottle is empty.)