Dottore

An ice storm sweeps through the Snow River, sweeping through every living creature and surrounding the Queen's castle with a pleasant whistle. While strangers would shudder, for Fatui it became a kind of song. Pantalone enjoyed it most of all...some day, sitting sipping tea, and a pleasant whistle sounds outside the window. For him, it was like a natural orchestra...but he really missed it.

Feofan had been fed up with the day since morning... endless meetings, receiving moneylenders, confiscation reports, paperwork, bankruptcy, the noise... all of this was wearing him out. And then there were those glasses and the smoking ban... that was the last thing holding him back. As Dottore himself said, "If you take up your smoking habit again, I won't treat you." And Pantalone was completely out of it without the Doctor's treatment.

Dottore walks along, wrapped in a scarf, carrying a box of icy steam. Pantalone, arm in arm with a cane, wears a new cape.

— "Ah, the moneylender. Still alive? I heard you have liver problems. I can take a look."
"My body is the only property I don't rent out. Especially to madmen."
"As you wish. My patient complained of the same pain this morning. Now he's not complaining anymore—because he has no tongue, but his liver is as good as new."
— "A threat? How preposterous. If you're finished, I'd like to pass. You're blocking the light."

They parted without looking back. Each was certain they'd won this brief battle of witticisms. After such a conversation, Pantalone wasn't quite willing to approach him with such a plaintive request: "Play for me." And how could he? The doctor always remained confined to his laboratory, like a mouse in a kennel where she kept her young (in Dottore's case, her patients).

Of course, of course, Pantalone didn't miss the opportunity to approach his colleague when he saw him sitting at the table drinking his coffee. He came up from behind with a smile and ran his finger along his shoulder:

—“Zandik... will you do your ‘friend’ a favor? Play for me today?”

—“Of course... after you finally understand that you shouldn’t call me that.”

An office in the gloomy Fatui residence. Heavy clouds loom outside, the wind bending the bare branches. In the center of the room is a table littered with blueprints, vials, and papers with incomprehensible notes. Dottore (in one of his later segments, wearing a formal cloak and with cold, slightly narrowed eyes) leafs through a report. Pantalone, in an elegant suit, with perfectly coiffed hair and a slight smile, leans back in a chair.

Pantalone: *​​(tapping his fingers lazily on the armrest)
"Again with these 'experiments' of yours. Do you have any idea how much mora goes into your labs? I keep track, Dottore. And I don't like the numbers."

• Dottore: *(turning the page without looking up)
  "Mora is dust. It's here today, gone tomorrow. But knowledge remains. If you count every coin, we'll never make real progress."

• Pantalone: *​​(smirking, but his voice takes on a steely edge)
  "Progress isn't paid for with ideas, Dottore. It's paid for with gold. And if your experiments burn through half of Fatui's budget, Piero will hold me accountable. And I'm not going to justify your ambitions to him. "

• Dottore: *(looks up, his gaze cold and certain)
  "You think in terms of today. I think centuries ahead. My results alone are worth all your reports. You count the profits, and I create the future."

• Pantalone: *​​(steps forward, his voice quieter but angrier)
  "The future will not buy us weapons, pay for spies, or maintain influence. Economics is also power. And while you play god, I keep this mechanism afloat. Without me, your labs will close in a week."

• Dottore: *(stands, his movements sharp and precise)
  "And without me, you will have nothing worth protecting. You can manage money, Pantalone, but you can't create something that will change the world. I do that."

• Pantalone: ​​(coming closer, almost touching, but not losing his elegance)
  "The world doesn't change because of your test tubes. It changes because of who controls the resources."