(private) Conflict of Interest

[Pepper]

Pepper stood outside of the Byzantine, observing the building and wanting something to help cool the little stone of fury sitting hot in her gut. @Bishop . She was going to talk to Bishop.

Well, no, First, she was going to listen. As much as the thought made her cringe, she had said she wanted to know what he was attempting with... that. It wasn't a complete lie. She had just hoped to put it off long enough that she didn't have the urge to induce Violence at the sight of him first.

She took a slow breath in and let it out as slowly as she could, letting it leak out of her body and deflate her coal of anger a little more. Ready as she could be now, she headed inside and asked for the reservation under Andrew Preacher.

[Xander]

The Byzantine is closed, and the mages are unable to enter the premises.

[Samaritan]

<Well, I suppose all good things must come to an end it seems.> Bishop mused idly, while he was sitting at the Guardian section of the Circle of Creation. He had not known, that the Byzantine was closed. But apparently Reverb had left town.
<I should really get a chalkboard and keep tabs on how many people I have met simply just vanished. Maybe I am the problem. Maybe fate lets all those people disappear after running into me.>
But then again...the Consilium was still in town, last he had checked, so no luck on that end.
He had sent a brief text to Pepper , inviting her to the Guardian Compound or, should she wish for a different location - one with a little less of a potential home turf advantage for Bishop - make a suggestion. He had also apologized for the mess, but Bishop felt, that it wouldn't really matter.
So he had sat down, made some tea and studied some reports of recent online activities. And waited.

[Pepper]

Pepper glanced down when her phone indicated a new text, then frowned at the message... and the time stamp. She quickly fired off an apology for only just then getting the message, and that she'd be over in a few.

Sometimes, she really wished her phone was more consistent with the text messages. Still, she made her way over to the Guardian Compound, not minding any potential advantage of comfort that Bishop might enjoy from it. So she wound up a bit delayed, but she still arrived.

There'd be an intercom or doorbell or something, right? She stood in front of the door, then spoted a button and pushed it.

[Samaritan]

Bishop got up from his pile of stuff and stashed it away. Then he went over to the door.
"Good evening, Mrs. Pepper. I am sorry about the abrupt change in plans, but it seems Mr. Reverb has decided to change his lodgings and for the time of his absence the intended facilities were not available. Nevertheless, we have privacy here. Please come in." he said with an almost-apology.
He led the woman inside towards a small, round table.
"I am afraid this locations hospitality is limited to tea, coffee or water. Can I offer you anything, or would you like to get started right away?"
There was no need to be uncivil. Even conflicting parties could show respect.

[Pepper]

"That's a shame. I found some good reviews of the place, it seemed interesting." Pepper gave a half-hearted shrug, and followed him to the table with as much composure as she could. She still wasn't very fond of him, but he was being civil... And a decent host too, she appended with his offer.

"I prefer tea, do you have any choices there?" not that she was infinitely picky, but it was always good to know what was being offered. "Though I'm good with starting when you're ready."

[Samaritan]

"Well, for simplicities sake, I will supply you with hot water and you can take a pick from the box." he answered, while producing a wooden box with a glass cover, which contained a rainbow of small tea bags. Bishop fetched hot water from an electric kettle and placed it on the table, before taking a sip from his own mug.
"Very well. I suppose, I could sum up the events, which have led to the fallout - so to speak - but I suppose, that since you are of the Silver Ladder, you are intimately familiar with how Aquinas came to power here and what happened at the last consilium."
Bishop leaned back, closed his eyes and drew up the events in front of his minds eye, before placing his fingertips at each other.
"It stands to note, however, that since Aquinas has taken the seat of office by means of duel, there are very few people in this city, that could actually challenge him and that his rule is uncontested."
Tilting his head, Bishop continued.
"The current situation is that of a newly appointed council - some of the members at that evening were selected quite literally two minutes to midnight, your sister included. So, we have a set of completely inexperienced councilors - which in itself is neither a shame nor problem; everyone has started somewhere - and we are under a provisional charter. You yourself have seen to it, that this will be replaced by something more solid, which again is laudable and also not a problem."
Bishop's tone was level, he was merely stating facts and did so in a detached and passionless way.
"Feel free to add anything, if necessary, but this in principle is my perception of the current situation at that evening."

[Pepper]

Pepper nods, and begins sorting through the tea box, nodding slightly with approve. Options, Options are always nice, and options he has. She selects one and pops it into the hot water, makes not of the time then leans back to listen as it steeps.

"I don't know the exact conditions before, but one of the first things I witnessed here was the Duel, yes." And thinking about him being uncontested drew a nod from her - even if Animus could match a twice-master, he wouldn't want the job.

She nodded, this time with a grimace, when he mentioned the councilors who had stepped up unprepared. Even Ermac couldn't have known what she was thinking, and Nous... well, they were founding a cabal together.

"You're trying to keep the lead up as neutral as possible." A statement. It wasn't as dry as it could have been, but where there were verbal flares it was to add a touch of accuracy. "At this point is when I accuse Weavebreaker - largely do to her use being the first I witnessed among several incidents I've heard about. A Public Trial would make it clear that not only was blatant use of Vulgar in front of sleepers frowned upon, but would also give the consilium some material to consider, in regards to the actions of their councilors." She glanced at the time again, then took a sip of the tea to see if it needed any extra time.

"I could have just mentioned that I have heard of a few incidents, and witnessed one myself, of the use of Vulgar magic, but that would hardly be test enough to judge whether the people in those seats should stay there."

[Samaritan]

Bishop nodded. "Yes, precisely. You went for a public trial."

He straightened up.

"So here is why I took offense. First and foremost, a provisional charter will only yield you provisional verdicts. If I understand the system correctly, it relies heavily on precedents for base of trials. That means, ultimately, that the first precedents for this fledgling Consilium will be precedents, which are provisional and therefore inherently flawed. And this flaw will carry over to an extend to any verdict based on the precedents. We had all the time in the world to ratify the new lex and then go for a trial. That would mean solid footing and clear cut guidelines. It would mean a strong precedent, untainted by uncertainty."

Bishop gestured with his hands as if waving this aside.

"But that is not the main problem. The problem was, that between you, the Hierarch and Mrs. Telos, I believe not one mage exactly knew, what this provisional body of law consisted of. That means, judge, jury and attorneys did not know for sure what to do. And that is a massive problem. A trial at this stage would mean simply justice for actions sake, a blind actionism to get a meagre sense of self-confirmation. And that is in essence what a mob does. Demonstrations of power in order gain legitimacy. We were moving too rash and without either moderation or guidance."

Bishop cleared his throat. He was about to come to the core of his argument.

"Justice needs a blind eye and an even hand. You said, you had witnessed the breaches. That makes you unsuitable for judge or defense, meaning the trial needed to be conducted by either the Hierarch or one of the councilor. So, in a manner of things, we were about to pass justice for actions sake with an open eye and shaky hands. If you absolutely had to conduct a trial, then do it behind closed doors and without the whole mage populace, that is supposed to be governed by your actions. That way, any mistake in the trial would not harm the trust in the judicial system and the people involved could learn how to do it properly. You were setting massively bad examples and you were undermining the integrity of the body of law, for which you yourself have worked pretty hard I assume. People either respect the law out of fear for judgement or out of recognizing the need for rules governing our society. We need the latter, but we were heading straight for the first."

Bishop raised his right index finger.

"Now understand this. I am a Guardian. I deal with threats to the Awakened society that are not visible enough for the Arrow. And at that Consilium, I perceived a threat, that could open the gates for corruption and unsound descisions for all mages of Sacramento, which would make my job infinitely harder. The mages of this city need to trust one another, if this awakened society shall prevail. The lex and charter need to strengthen us, but the actions of the last consilium would have lead to a weakening of our society."

Bishop relaxed a little and leaned back.

"So I spoke up and yanked your chains, because I also want Aquinas to know, that he may be beyond physical challenge, but he should not become complacent in his seat of power. Because making sure that these problems are dealt with is my goddamn job. Loath me for all you want, but don't think for a second, that I will stand idly by when this cities awakened society and its integrity are threatened."

[Pepper]

Pepper looked like she wanted to speak several times, though Bishop's dialogue continued. Irritation flickered across her face, more from the realization that she'd either have to interrupt to be heard, or wait patiently until he determined himself done. Out of some token to the unspoken agreement that she was here to literally hear him out, she let him finish.

"You're first error in judgement is that you believe you know what a Provisional Lex is. Bluntly: You don't. The Provisional Lex leaves the Charter untouched, and removes Silver, Bronze, and Iron Laws from play. Gold Laws remain - Gold Laws that are determined and reinforced in Convocations, confirmed by centuries of extensive meetings of many Consili as firm tradition. Although a Provisional Lex may not be as comprehensive of minutiae as a full one, it is, in essence, the Foundation of every Lex Magica in the world, laid bare without trim." Speaking of Trim... She was getting a little flowery in her descriptions.

"Your second mistake was thinking that I was Judge, Defense, or in anyway intending to
conduct the matter of the Trial. I merely presented and issue to the Counsel, and it was up to them to determine how they would go about solving the issue based on sense and what they had before them. Your third error is that as this decision could be argued to be 'Provisional' It could in fact be one of the things they choose not to Ratify in January, if they come to believe it was a mistake."

She took a breath, putting on some breaks to her thoughts. "Your biggest misconception is the belief that closing the door to the public would reduce corruption. It never does. There has been no evidence in all of history that closing the public out could cut the possibility of corruption. All Closed Doors do is increase it." She closed her eyes and took a sip of her tea, before setting it back down with a sigh.

"And that is why Briar never manged to convince me to join the Guardians. Though I will give you props on successfully Rattling Aquinas's chains. He wasn't strictly flustered when we went into the private room, but he was definitely shaken enough to put on one of those 'I'm not mad, just very, very disappointed' voices on."