Record:Teatime

Private audio-video transcript record from 72 PC:

[Early morning: Grand Magister Loqa Pili sits at the far end of a long table, sipping a cup of tea. A near-empty teapot rests in front of him on the table. He refills his cup.]

[Senior Magister Havo T'l opens the door to the meeting room and walks in, letting in a sliver of Mholos' urban noise which quickly dissipates into silence. He opts for a seat directly beside Pili.]

T'l: This meeting really could have been done over the television. You of all people should know that, right? [He chuckles.]

Pili: You are the one who agreed to my invitation. I don't care for your jokes.

T'l: Right then. I assume you didn't invite me here just for company, but I'm flattered if you did.

Pili: I have not announced my retirement, Havo.

T'l: I think we're in agreement on that. Seventeen Haracalnde years strong, right? [He lightly elbows Pili.] Your term is old enough to take the Exam.

Pili: Correct. My term is to continue for the foreseeable future.

T'l: And I hope with my heart and my mind that it does. You sure you didn't invite me just for company?

Pili: Drop the act. You are campaigning for Magistracy. My position. If I did not know better I would take you for a bottom-caste mind, based on the idiocy of your recent actions.

T'l: I scored a 36.

Pili: So?

T'l: I get what you're telling me. Loqa—forgive me if it's not my place to call you that—it really isn't anything personal. I'm campaigning to get a head start on my colleagues. You know how competitive Aris gets.

Pili: And what would you say convinced you to begin your campaigning?

T'l: With due respect, it should be obvious. You're sick. You have been for at least a few years, and it's only gotten worse. So logically…

[T'l trails off. Pili takes a long sip of his tea.]

Pili: [Loudly.] You expect me to die! You want to snatch up my power in your own greedy hands! You have broadcasted my illness to the public for your own gain! Is this not what you have done? Do I have to say it for you, since you seem so intent on avoiding your own actions?

T'l: This is rather ungentlemanly language. Do you speak like this to all of your guests, or are you dealing with a bout of your disease?

Pili: This is not a negotiation, Havo! You are a disloyal fraud. Evil is not to be negotiated with.

T'l: I could say much the same of you. If I am such a paragon of greed, then that makes two of us. At least I do not deny it.

Pili: My reputation is honorable. Yet because of you, I will become known as the sickly old man who was too weak to keep his power in his grasp.

T'l: Always trying to delay the inevitable. The public would have found out regardless. Most of them probably figured it out when you emptied your guts behind that podium.

Pili: Very well. I would have given you a chance had you admitted to your scheme, yet you remain a disloyal pig. Demotion is the only punishment fit for someone like you. [He downs the last of his cup's contents, beginning to noticeably shake.]

T'l: You're safe in your position until your last breath. Thank V'sha for that. There's no need to be so angry over something you won't even live to see.

[Silence. Pili grips his empty cup tightly, his hands remaining steady as the rest of his body continues to shudder.]

T'l: I've noticed you haven't offered me any tea.

Pili: Go piss into a hole! You will not convince me against your demotion, with niceties or otherwise.

T'l: I don't think there's any need for me to convince you.

[...]

[Pili's pupils dilate. He breaks into a sweat and drops his teacup on the floor. It shatters.]

Pili: [Bolting up from his chair, yelling.] Bastard! What is it?! What did you put in it?! [He snatches the teapot from the table, grabbing the collar of T'l's robe with his other hand.] What did you put in it?! Tell me! Tell me, you goddamn pig!

T'l: Civil and relevant, please.

[Pili slams the teapot into the side of T'l's head. T'l begins to bleed.]

Pili: Havata! You are an idiot, you goddamn traitor! I will see to it your inbred bloodline stays hungry for generations!

T'l: I don't think—

[Pili hits T'l with the teapot again. Pili's breathing is labored.]

Pili: Coward! You are a low-caste fool! I will make you pay for this, liar! You will see all that you love burn to the ground! [Pili forcefully pulls T'l closer.] Do you hear me?! You are a dead man! You are a dead man, you bastard!

T'l: So are you, old fool.

[Pili raises the teapot above T'l's head and brings it down. It shatters upon contact. T'l is unconscious.]

[Pili releases his grip on T'l, whose head limply thuds on the table. Pili begins staggering towards the door. His breaths have become pained gasps.]

[Pili keels over after several steps. Sweat streams down his face. He shakily reaches into a pocket on his robe, retrieving a near-empty container of Opulilum. He struggles unsuccessfully to open the cap.]

[Pili closes his eyes.]