08-09-2018, 08:04 PM
Fleura House
President Kieran MacKenzie was getting old. Half the time now, he couldn't even remember he was the President. But every once in a blue moon, he knew with crystal clarity exactly what was going on. This was one of those days.
President MacKenzie had been a Liberal all his life, even when no such party legally existed. His father had been killed by the Communists, and he had sworn he'd never support them. He was ashamed he'd broken that promise, even given the reason why.
Over two months earlier, Suleman Chaher had come to him, asking him to succeed Leanna Walker after her rigged impeachment vote. Initially, he had refused. And then one of Chaher's goons had escorted his wife, Patricia, into the room and casually asked the same question again. The implication was clear.
Now, MacKenzie stood looking at himself in the mirror. It was his first clear day in a month. The first since Suleman Chaher had died. When Chaher was Prime Minister, he had treated MacKenzie as a puppet. Charissa Clarke was even worse.
That morning, he had wanted to go for a walk around the grounds of Fleura House to appreciate the outdoors before the fog in his mind inevitably returned. One of the guards at the door had stopped him.
"I'm afraid you cannot leave the building Mr President."
"Why not? Is there some danger?"
"For your own safety, the Prime Minister has requested you remain here."
"That's all very well, but she doesn't have the right to give that order."
"I'm sorry, sir."
He may have been Chaher's puppet, but he was Clarke's prisoner. And that was a situation he could not allow to go on much longer.
Edmund Walker's house, Laeral
Edmund's wife, Amalie, was a small Laeralian woman who spoke only basic English and not a word of Spanish. Nevertheless, she doted upon Kelli and Jamey Moore from the moment they arrived.
The pair had been smuggled out of Lauchenoiria and brought to Daniel Garza, who, knowing nothing of childcare, had taken the pair to Amalie & Edmund's. The pair were rather subdued, for young children, at first but had soon brightened up. Garza wondered what had happened to them before they came here. He knew they'd spent some time in Chaher's custody, and then several weeks on the run.
"Uncle Daniel, do you want to play football with us?" Jamey looked up at Garza, his eyes sparkling like a puppy's. The young boy had turned five at some point while his mother had them on the run. Garza hoped his birthday had been celebrated, at least somewhat.
"Oh, all right then! Everybody outside!"
Jamey and Kelli ran for the back door, and Edmund translated for his wife and then the pair followed as well.
"I think we should do boys versus girls because girls are better!" Kelli suggested, dragging Amalie to one side of the garden.
"You sure she wasn't switched with a little Kerlian girl?" Edmund joked to Daniel. Daniel laughed as Jamey dragged him onto the "˜pitch' too. Edmund produced a whistle and proceeded to act as referee.
Once the game had finished (3-2 to the boys, much to Kelli's disappointment), they all tumbled back into the house at sat down in the living room. The TV was on in the background, but most of them were focused on the jigsaw puzzle the kids were doing.
"Hey, look! It's mummy!" called out Jamey, looking at the TV.
Sure enough, Laura Moore's face was frozen on the TV screen while a pair of Laeralites sat discussing whatever she had said in French too rapid for Daniel, even after living in Laeral for two months, to translate. The screen shifted fully to Moore and played.
"The unverified allegations regarding Sonja Alvarez's supposed "˜secret identity' are irrelevant. Charissa Clarke's government continues to arbitrarily detain supposed political enemies, violate the human rights of ordinary Lauchenoirians and allow foreign nations such as Kerlile to carry out atrocities in our territory. Until the day Clarke and all the rest of Suleman Chaher's allies are out of government, we will continue to resist."
The Laeralites went back to discussing the implications of Moore's speech, and Kelli turned to Daniel.
"What are "˜atrocities'?" she asked.
Elopolis, Ulinaria
Jae Chung had finally succeeded in convincing the guard at the edge of the city to let her pass. She'd been forced to hand over her weapons, but either they were certain she wasn't a threat, or just short-staffed, because they let her wander into the city unaccompanied.
She asked every passing Resistance soldier where Laura Moore was likely to be found, and each of them seemed to point in a different direction. She wandered around the city for several hours before she came upon the shopping mall. It seemed to be a hub of activity, and so Jae wandered in amongst the crowd.
It was there that she spotted Laura Moore, sitting at a table among the Resistance soldiers, playing cards with three of them. It was such an unlikely place to see a former Prime Minister, that at first Jae wasn't quite sure it was her. But the longer she stared, the surer she was. She approached the table.
"Prime Minister Moore?" she asked uncertainly.
"Nobody's called me that in a while. Laura'll do fine," she said, tapping the seat next to her. Hesitantly, Jae sat down.
"I have something important for you," Jae said.
"What is it?" Moore replied, still concentrating on the card game.
"I have a USB," Jae began, her voice lowered, "given to me by Yasin Zaunq shortly before the fall of Annatown. I was instructed to take it to Sonja Alvarez and told it could put an end to the war."
Laura Moore slowly put the cards down and gave Jae her full attention.
"Annatown fell on the 15th June. What have you been doing all this time?"
Jae launched into the long story of exactly why the forces of the universe seemed aligned against her, and when she finished, everyone nearby was staring at her. She suddenly felt very nervous.
"My brother was in Lorentonia," someone called. "Do you think the government will have him in one of those camps?"
Suddenly the whole room was filled with people asking her questions. Moore took her by the arm and led her out into an empty store that seemed to be used as a Resistance office these days.
"Sorry about them. Where is this USB?"
"Here," Jae said, breaking the chain she'd stuck it on to wear around her neck. She handed it to Moore.
"Thank you. I'm going to take this back to HQ and find out what's on it. Join me?"
"Of course."
Unknown Location
Leonie Bennett desperately wished she hadn't gone to that protest in Usera. She'd slept fitfully on the seemingly endless journey to who knows where. One of the other women had been crying all through the night. The temperature in the van was now so hot that Leonie felt like she had bathed in sweat.
Conversation and speculation had long since stopped, and Leonie just sat slumped against the wall trying to think of ice cream, snow, anything cold. Suddenly a slight crackle filled the air and everyone in the van jumped. Leonie glanced in the direction of the noise and noticed a speaker by the ceiling.
"Oh, no, here we go..." said one of the women, a 40-something year old who had been in the army in her youth.
The broadcast that came over the speakers was loud enough to drown out any other attempts at conversation, and was played on a loop for several hours.
"The Matriarchy of Kerlile is a project to build a feminist utopia. Quite unlike all other nations, women are not degraded, treated as inferior and exploited by male rulers. In other nations, women are taught that they are lesser, even if not in those words.
The governments of the world reinforce this in the subtlest of ways. Everything from advertising to education and entertainment is geared towards this. Ask yourself: have you ever watched a movie where all the strength is show as male and all the weakness as female? Have you ever been in a playground and watched the boys having fun while girls are told off for not being "˜ladylike'?
Kerlile is a society where women can thrive. Ignore the propaganda your government has told you. Women will never be treated with respect if we do not take the power for ourselves. Join us today, and make the future free for women!"
President Kieran MacKenzie was getting old. Half the time now, he couldn't even remember he was the President. But every once in a blue moon, he knew with crystal clarity exactly what was going on. This was one of those days.
President MacKenzie had been a Liberal all his life, even when no such party legally existed. His father had been killed by the Communists, and he had sworn he'd never support them. He was ashamed he'd broken that promise, even given the reason why.
Over two months earlier, Suleman Chaher had come to him, asking him to succeed Leanna Walker after her rigged impeachment vote. Initially, he had refused. And then one of Chaher's goons had escorted his wife, Patricia, into the room and casually asked the same question again. The implication was clear.
Now, MacKenzie stood looking at himself in the mirror. It was his first clear day in a month. The first since Suleman Chaher had died. When Chaher was Prime Minister, he had treated MacKenzie as a puppet. Charissa Clarke was even worse.
That morning, he had wanted to go for a walk around the grounds of Fleura House to appreciate the outdoors before the fog in his mind inevitably returned. One of the guards at the door had stopped him.
"I'm afraid you cannot leave the building Mr President."
"Why not? Is there some danger?"
"For your own safety, the Prime Minister has requested you remain here."
"That's all very well, but she doesn't have the right to give that order."
"I'm sorry, sir."
He may have been Chaher's puppet, but he was Clarke's prisoner. And that was a situation he could not allow to go on much longer.
Edmund Walker's house, Laeral
Edmund's wife, Amalie, was a small Laeralian woman who spoke only basic English and not a word of Spanish. Nevertheless, she doted upon Kelli and Jamey Moore from the moment they arrived.
The pair had been smuggled out of Lauchenoiria and brought to Daniel Garza, who, knowing nothing of childcare, had taken the pair to Amalie & Edmund's. The pair were rather subdued, for young children, at first but had soon brightened up. Garza wondered what had happened to them before they came here. He knew they'd spent some time in Chaher's custody, and then several weeks on the run.
"Uncle Daniel, do you want to play football with us?" Jamey looked up at Garza, his eyes sparkling like a puppy's. The young boy had turned five at some point while his mother had them on the run. Garza hoped his birthday had been celebrated, at least somewhat.
"Oh, all right then! Everybody outside!"
Jamey and Kelli ran for the back door, and Edmund translated for his wife and then the pair followed as well.
"I think we should do boys versus girls because girls are better!" Kelli suggested, dragging Amalie to one side of the garden.
"You sure she wasn't switched with a little Kerlian girl?" Edmund joked to Daniel. Daniel laughed as Jamey dragged him onto the "˜pitch' too. Edmund produced a whistle and proceeded to act as referee.
Once the game had finished (3-2 to the boys, much to Kelli's disappointment), they all tumbled back into the house at sat down in the living room. The TV was on in the background, but most of them were focused on the jigsaw puzzle the kids were doing.
"Hey, look! It's mummy!" called out Jamey, looking at the TV.
Sure enough, Laura Moore's face was frozen on the TV screen while a pair of Laeralites sat discussing whatever she had said in French too rapid for Daniel, even after living in Laeral for two months, to translate. The screen shifted fully to Moore and played.
"The unverified allegations regarding Sonja Alvarez's supposed "˜secret identity' are irrelevant. Charissa Clarke's government continues to arbitrarily detain supposed political enemies, violate the human rights of ordinary Lauchenoirians and allow foreign nations such as Kerlile to carry out atrocities in our territory. Until the day Clarke and all the rest of Suleman Chaher's allies are out of government, we will continue to resist."
The Laeralites went back to discussing the implications of Moore's speech, and Kelli turned to Daniel.
"What are "˜atrocities'?" she asked.
Elopolis, Ulinaria
Jae Chung had finally succeeded in convincing the guard at the edge of the city to let her pass. She'd been forced to hand over her weapons, but either they were certain she wasn't a threat, or just short-staffed, because they let her wander into the city unaccompanied.
She asked every passing Resistance soldier where Laura Moore was likely to be found, and each of them seemed to point in a different direction. She wandered around the city for several hours before she came upon the shopping mall. It seemed to be a hub of activity, and so Jae wandered in amongst the crowd.
It was there that she spotted Laura Moore, sitting at a table among the Resistance soldiers, playing cards with three of them. It was such an unlikely place to see a former Prime Minister, that at first Jae wasn't quite sure it was her. But the longer she stared, the surer she was. She approached the table.
"Prime Minister Moore?" she asked uncertainly.
"Nobody's called me that in a while. Laura'll do fine," she said, tapping the seat next to her. Hesitantly, Jae sat down.
"I have something important for you," Jae said.
"What is it?" Moore replied, still concentrating on the card game.
"I have a USB," Jae began, her voice lowered, "given to me by Yasin Zaunq shortly before the fall of Annatown. I was instructed to take it to Sonja Alvarez and told it could put an end to the war."
Laura Moore slowly put the cards down and gave Jae her full attention.
"Annatown fell on the 15th June. What have you been doing all this time?"
Jae launched into the long story of exactly why the forces of the universe seemed aligned against her, and when she finished, everyone nearby was staring at her. She suddenly felt very nervous.
"My brother was in Lorentonia," someone called. "Do you think the government will have him in one of those camps?"
Suddenly the whole room was filled with people asking her questions. Moore took her by the arm and led her out into an empty store that seemed to be used as a Resistance office these days.
"Sorry about them. Where is this USB?"
"Here," Jae said, breaking the chain she'd stuck it on to wear around her neck. She handed it to Moore.
"Thank you. I'm going to take this back to HQ and find out what's on it. Join me?"
"Of course."
Unknown Location
Leonie Bennett desperately wished she hadn't gone to that protest in Usera. She'd slept fitfully on the seemingly endless journey to who knows where. One of the other women had been crying all through the night. The temperature in the van was now so hot that Leonie felt like she had bathed in sweat.
Conversation and speculation had long since stopped, and Leonie just sat slumped against the wall trying to think of ice cream, snow, anything cold. Suddenly a slight crackle filled the air and everyone in the van jumped. Leonie glanced in the direction of the noise and noticed a speaker by the ceiling.
"Oh, no, here we go..." said one of the women, a 40-something year old who had been in the army in her youth.
The broadcast that came over the speakers was loud enough to drown out any other attempts at conversation, and was played on a loop for several hours.
"The Matriarchy of Kerlile is a project to build a feminist utopia. Quite unlike all other nations, women are not degraded, treated as inferior and exploited by male rulers. In other nations, women are taught that they are lesser, even if not in those words.
The governments of the world reinforce this in the subtlest of ways. Everything from advertising to education and entertainment is geared towards this. Ask yourself: have you ever watched a movie where all the strength is show as male and all the weakness as female? Have you ever been in a playground and watched the boys having fun while girls are told off for not being "˜ladylike'?
Kerlile is a society where women can thrive. Ignore the propaganda your government has told you. Women will never be treated with respect if we do not take the power for ourselves. Join us today, and make the future free for women!"
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax