Sacris Solemniis

[collector]

[Teapot before him, a plate of pastries beside it, Braxiatel sits at the kitchen table with Strindberg's Ett drömspel open in front of him. Braxiatel stirs sugar into his tea, and a faint smile crosses his face as his eyes flicker to something in the seat to his left.]

[He leans forwards and pours a second cup of tea, then lifts it up to hand it over, the smile widening.] I don't know what you mean by 'ulterior motives,' Comman—

[Braxiatel's fingers tighten on the cup before he can let it go. For a moment, it hangs there, hoping for a hand that cannot take it.]

Ah.

[It is a quiet realization.]

[Braxiatel sets the cup down, away from him. He leans back in his chair and picks up a scone to eat.]

Comments

[bit_impossible]

Well, you answered your own question. And from what I hear, it's not exactly a hassle--at least not to say the words, anyway. Annoying, certainly! But it does point out rather glaringly just how much people aren't saying to each other. [pot, meet kettle]

[a pause, softly] Did I get a chance to meet that friend?

[collector]

Commander Skutloid was an Ice Warrior. You tend not to like them---something of a contrast to how much Benny and I do. And, Thete, Bernice mentioned your recent conversation with her. I am not unaware of your hypocrisy.

[bit_impossible]

I haven't had the best of encounters with them, no. But that's balance for you!

[but upon hearing that Benny had told Brax about that conversation, he almost chokes on his pastry] ...Did she? Well, I can only imagine what you thought when you heard that. But I'm not the only one guilty of hypocrisy at times.

[collector]

[Braxiatel smiles] You've no idea just how much pleasure it gives me to see that look on your face.

[bit_impossible]

[frowns] How about you tell me how much it does, Brax?

[collector]

[Oh, but Braxiatel has gotten very good at fighting this, and he knows it. The trick, he has found, is to let the honesty drag you away.] I don't think you want to go into the ethics of what you just did. Why, it's near, ethically speaking, to a telepath who peruses the minds of others without their consent. An interesting moral proposition, and not a fair one, so why don't you stop trying to play those games with me? I've always been the better liar in this family, even under such duress.

[bit_impossible]

[he sighs, rolling his eyes] Really, you're going to lecture me now? Over something like that? You're just sore that I could ask you about anything and you'd have to answer depending on how I asked it. But you're also lucky that I'm a better man than that.

[collector]

[Braxiatel dunks his scone in his tea, at ease in his lecturing. He is, after all, a professor and a politician. He is well-trained in the art of the filibuster.] I don't have to answer anything as you want me to. It's a compulsion for the truth, not for honesty, and as loathsome as it is, I am a Gallifreyan politician. I wouldn't be worth my career if I couldn't dodge questions even now. And in my, hm, honest opinion, you need to learn to admit when you're acting immorally simply because it suits your mood. The power to control what people say, Thete. To force them to speak against their will. It may be a small crime just now, but how much would you enjoy it turned on you?

[bit_impossible]

[he glowers, knowing this fully well, and sure, he might have been taking advantage of it at times--not that he's going to admit it.] Well, like you said, you spoke to Benny.

[collector]

Quite a lot, actually. And she was polite enough not to impose the truth on me. I suspect, of course, that this is a matter of her having a certain distaste for the truth, as it is generally much more dreary than the jokes we use to mask it, but regardless, she respected that much.

[bit_impossible]

Whereas I do like the truth. [even if he doesn't always tell it] That's always been a difference between us. [adds as an afterthought] Her and me, I mean. [or does he? hmm]

[collector]

[absently] Clarence - !C-Mel in a new form - once told me that God liked to lie by using implied conjunctions.

[bit_impossible]

[firmly] His god, perhaps, but I don't believe in any such thing.

[collector]

Oh, you should. Implication is one of the most simple ways to deceive while being honest.

[bit_impossible]

Dealing with the ones claiming to be gods is enough for me, thanks.

[collector]

[gently] The Worldsphere's God, Thete.

[bit_impossible]

My point still stands.

[collector]

You strongly dislike coordinating conjunctions?

[There's just something about Ten that makes Brax feel irreverent]

[bit_impossible]

[he sighs, rolling his eyes] First lectures, now grammar jokes. What next?

[and there's something in Ten that gets annoyed a bit easier--though this isn't anything new]

[collector]

I couldn't say. I can't predict the future, after all.