11-11-2019, 06:42 PM
Alvarez's New Direction - Part 1
Fleura House, President’s Residence, Buttercity, Lauchenoiria
Monday 11th November, 2019 – early morning
“You do realise this is an incredibly strange thing to ask me to do?” said the voice on the phone. “We barely talked until recently, and now you’re asking really quite strange favours, Josephine.”
“Things need to change,” Alvarez responded. She was sitting outside the President’s office, waiting for Marwick to be woken up and come down. She had shown up unannounced requesting an urgent meeting. Then, she had picked up her phone in the waiting area, much to the surprise of Marwick’s secretary, and dialled her ex-wife, Councillor Jennifer Hale of Kerlile. “And to do that, he needs to snap out of it. And as far back as I can find, there is only one person Alex Marwick ever obeyed. Sonja Viratnen, leader of the Lauchenoirian Resistance.”
“But, Josephine… I’m not her any more. You’ve made that perfectly clear. This is all rather irregular, I’m on the ruling council of a foreign country.”
“Well, if you want to play this the Kerlian way, play it the Kerlian way. Tell him that sexist meme is going to have a detrimental effect on Lauchenoiria’s international relations. Just… please do something to scare him straight. As a favour for me?”
“You sound a lot more confident than the last time I saw you,” Jennifer said softly. “I’m glad. You’re finally taking the steps necessary to improve things. You’ve been dealt a bad hand, and a terrible president. But, Josie… I can’t solve this problem for you. You’re going to have to convince Marwick to stop acting like a child yourself. I wish you luck.”
Before Alvarez could respond, Jennifer put down the phone on her. Alvarez sighed in exasperation, shaking her head, but smiling slightly as she did it. Jennifer was right, she couldn’t just call in the ghosts of the past to try and convince their immature president to grow up and get a handle on things. No, she would have to deal with her problems herself, rather on relying on her soon-to-be ex-wife. The paperwork had to come through soon, surely?
It was at that moment that a marginally dishevelled and exhausted looking President Marwick kind of shuffled into the room, looking like he wanted to be back in bed. He grunted in Alvarez’s direction, which she interpreted as a request to follow him into his office. Once they were inside she shut the door behind her and waited as Marwick plonked himself onto his seat and moved slowly around to face her.
“Mr. President, I apologise for the early morning interruption, but we need to talk, and I’m afraid it is rather urgent,” Alvarez began.
“It’s 5:30am. Are we at war or something?” Marwick groaned, yawning.
“No, we are not. But we could have been, so easily. Had things taken a slightly different path, this meeting could have been rather more concerning. You see, Mr. President, we have been foolish. We have been incredibly foolish, ever since we entered office. And that has to change. That is going to change. Allow me to show you some videos,” Alvarez said, then produced a tablet from the bag she had brought with her.
“… what is this even about?” Marwick yawned, but sat up and let Alvarez set up the tablet so the pair of them could watch. Once it was set up, she clicked play.
“It’s been ten days, and no sign of Suleman Chaher. Is he alive? Is he dead? Of course, those aren’t the real questions. The real question is: does it even matter? If he’s alive, nothing has changed. And if he’s dead, well, seemingly nothing has changed. So much for the idea that this is all his doing.”
Marwick leaned over and pressed pause. He stared at himself on the screen for a moment, and his finger brushed over the scar on his cheek in the recording. He absentmindedly brought his other hand up to his real-life cheek in the present day. He turned to Alvarez.
“One of my old Resistance broadcasts. What of it?”
She did not answer him, instead reaching over and clicking onto the next video in the playlist she had compiled in anticipation of Jennifer rejecting her request for assistance.
“Leanna Walker is still nowhere to be seen, and now Laura Moore has vanished even further into the ether. For all we know, the pair are both dead. Is it time to start thinking about the future rather than restoring the past? I think so.”
“Alvarez, what are you trying to prove? Showing me clips of stuff I said during the war? You woke me up to reminisce?”
Silently, she played another clip.
“There’s two layers to this - what happens on the battlefield, and what happens in the general population. Supporters of Chaher’s coup still exist all across the country, along with the armies of the apathetic. And if we can convince his old supporters they’re on the wrong side? If we can convince those who don’t care to start acting?”
Marwick had leaned back in his chair; he had given up on his protests, and let Alvarez move on to the final video in her playlist.
“So, just a message to Clarke: any harm comes to Moore, Noguera or any of the others and we’ll be right here, waiting. We all want peace, but never mistake talking for surrender. We will respect the ceasefire, as long as you do. We all know you’re watching us. Never forget that we’re watching you too.”
Alvarez picked up the tablet, placing it back in her bag, and taking a seat in front of Marwick’s desk, leaning her hands on the table and clasping them, looking him right in the face.
“Mr. President you spent the war preaching action. Making sure people knew what was going on while Chaher’s government tried to hide it. Giving hope to the millions of people living under his regime, and Clarke’s after. You were respected, admired. Yet… have you seen your poll numbers now? What actions have you taken, apart from the wholly unpopular extradition of Peter Bloch? How did you go from the widely admired voice of the Resistance to posting misogynistic memes on social media?”
“I…” Marwick paused, lost for words.
“I know what you did. Maybe that scar was a car crash. But I still believe that back then you did care. And we might have our differences but something is clearly wrong, because this is not a case of power corrupting, at least not entirely. I’ve seen that, and this is different. President Marwick, for the good of the country, please tell me, so we can resolve it: what’s wrong?”
Marwick opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. He looked around, as if for an escape route, then sighed. He opened a drawer in his desk wordlessly, then took out a photograph, unframed, and slid it over the desk to Alvarez.
“My sister. She moved to Kerlile.”
“Your…” Alvarez glanced down at the photo. It was Marwick, aged about 12, with a girl who appeared about 5 years older than him. They were at an amusement park, next to a rollercoaster, and the girl was holding candyfloss. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”
“Half-sister, really. My mother’s daughter, from before she met my father. Lizzie lived with her father growing up. She didn’t have very many female role models. She got pregnant when she was sixteen, and her father kicked her out. She came to live with us, with the baby. Left when she was about 20. I didn’t see her for years, she just kind of vanished. I never knew what happened. But… but after I became President, I, well…”
“You became curious, didn’t you?” asked Alvarez softly.
“I asked someone to find out. Didn’t much like the answer.”
“So, she lives in Kerlile now?”
“No. She’s dead. The Kerlians,” he spat out the word, “executed her in 2015. Never could work out on what charge. I will admit, that meme was inappropriate, but the Council make me so angry. I just… why should we have risked Lauchenoirian lives for Peter Bloch? It just seems so pointless. I always thought she’d be out there. What scares me, is that she thought Kerlile was her last option. And in the end, it killed her. We, as a country, failed her. How many others? What can we realistically change? Does what we do here matter?”
“I’m sorry,” Alvarez said. “I truly am. But, Mr. President, what we do here does matter. We can change things, prevent anything similar from happening again.”
“I’ve been childish, I know. It’s like… I heard the news and just couldn’t function as an adult. My rage just… took over. I think, deep down, I wanted to hurt Eddington and Bloch, like I could take the pain away by passing it on. I just can’t help utterly despising the Kerlians. I’ve been… such a fool. I’m not capable of this, I’m sorry. To you, and the country.”
“Mr. President… recognising that is the first step to changing it.”
“So, you agree, I’ve been a fool?” Marwick laughed grimly.
“I won’t deny it. You have indeed. But resigning and throwing the country into more chaos will not help. President Marwick, I have a plan. If you are willing to listen, and try to put it into practice, and to stop being a fool, then, first I’d like you to issue a public apology for the meme. We can… leave the extradition debacle in the past now the law has been changed.”
“Deal.”
“Secondly, I would like you to come to the cabinet meeting in two hours.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Good. We have a lot to discuss. It is time that we stopped just reacting to events going on around us, and took control of our own destiny,” Alvarez said, standing up. “Get another hour’s sleep, Mr. President. It is going to be a busy week.”
Fleura House, President’s Residence, Buttercity, Lauchenoiria
Monday 11th November, 2019 – early morning
“You do realise this is an incredibly strange thing to ask me to do?” said the voice on the phone. “We barely talked until recently, and now you’re asking really quite strange favours, Josephine.”
“Things need to change,” Alvarez responded. She was sitting outside the President’s office, waiting for Marwick to be woken up and come down. She had shown up unannounced requesting an urgent meeting. Then, she had picked up her phone in the waiting area, much to the surprise of Marwick’s secretary, and dialled her ex-wife, Councillor Jennifer Hale of Kerlile. “And to do that, he needs to snap out of it. And as far back as I can find, there is only one person Alex Marwick ever obeyed. Sonja Viratnen, leader of the Lauchenoirian Resistance.”
“But, Josephine… I’m not her any more. You’ve made that perfectly clear. This is all rather irregular, I’m on the ruling council of a foreign country.”
“Well, if you want to play this the Kerlian way, play it the Kerlian way. Tell him that sexist meme is going to have a detrimental effect on Lauchenoiria’s international relations. Just… please do something to scare him straight. As a favour for me?”
“You sound a lot more confident than the last time I saw you,” Jennifer said softly. “I’m glad. You’re finally taking the steps necessary to improve things. You’ve been dealt a bad hand, and a terrible president. But, Josie… I can’t solve this problem for you. You’re going to have to convince Marwick to stop acting like a child yourself. I wish you luck.”
Before Alvarez could respond, Jennifer put down the phone on her. Alvarez sighed in exasperation, shaking her head, but smiling slightly as she did it. Jennifer was right, she couldn’t just call in the ghosts of the past to try and convince their immature president to grow up and get a handle on things. No, she would have to deal with her problems herself, rather on relying on her soon-to-be ex-wife. The paperwork had to come through soon, surely?
It was at that moment that a marginally dishevelled and exhausted looking President Marwick kind of shuffled into the room, looking like he wanted to be back in bed. He grunted in Alvarez’s direction, which she interpreted as a request to follow him into his office. Once they were inside she shut the door behind her and waited as Marwick plonked himself onto his seat and moved slowly around to face her.
“Mr. President, I apologise for the early morning interruption, but we need to talk, and I’m afraid it is rather urgent,” Alvarez began.
“It’s 5:30am. Are we at war or something?” Marwick groaned, yawning.
“No, we are not. But we could have been, so easily. Had things taken a slightly different path, this meeting could have been rather more concerning. You see, Mr. President, we have been foolish. We have been incredibly foolish, ever since we entered office. And that has to change. That is going to change. Allow me to show you some videos,” Alvarez said, then produced a tablet from the bag she had brought with her.
“… what is this even about?” Marwick yawned, but sat up and let Alvarez set up the tablet so the pair of them could watch. Once it was set up, she clicked play.
“It’s been ten days, and no sign of Suleman Chaher. Is he alive? Is he dead? Of course, those aren’t the real questions. The real question is: does it even matter? If he’s alive, nothing has changed. And if he’s dead, well, seemingly nothing has changed. So much for the idea that this is all his doing.”
Marwick leaned over and pressed pause. He stared at himself on the screen for a moment, and his finger brushed over the scar on his cheek in the recording. He absentmindedly brought his other hand up to his real-life cheek in the present day. He turned to Alvarez.
“One of my old Resistance broadcasts. What of it?”
She did not answer him, instead reaching over and clicking onto the next video in the playlist she had compiled in anticipation of Jennifer rejecting her request for assistance.
“Leanna Walker is still nowhere to be seen, and now Laura Moore has vanished even further into the ether. For all we know, the pair are both dead. Is it time to start thinking about the future rather than restoring the past? I think so.”
“Alvarez, what are you trying to prove? Showing me clips of stuff I said during the war? You woke me up to reminisce?”
Silently, she played another clip.
“There’s two layers to this - what happens on the battlefield, and what happens in the general population. Supporters of Chaher’s coup still exist all across the country, along with the armies of the apathetic. And if we can convince his old supporters they’re on the wrong side? If we can convince those who don’t care to start acting?”
Marwick had leaned back in his chair; he had given up on his protests, and let Alvarez move on to the final video in her playlist.
“So, just a message to Clarke: any harm comes to Moore, Noguera or any of the others and we’ll be right here, waiting. We all want peace, but never mistake talking for surrender. We will respect the ceasefire, as long as you do. We all know you’re watching us. Never forget that we’re watching you too.”
Alvarez picked up the tablet, placing it back in her bag, and taking a seat in front of Marwick’s desk, leaning her hands on the table and clasping them, looking him right in the face.
“Mr. President you spent the war preaching action. Making sure people knew what was going on while Chaher’s government tried to hide it. Giving hope to the millions of people living under his regime, and Clarke’s after. You were respected, admired. Yet… have you seen your poll numbers now? What actions have you taken, apart from the wholly unpopular extradition of Peter Bloch? How did you go from the widely admired voice of the Resistance to posting misogynistic memes on social media?”
“I…” Marwick paused, lost for words.
“I know what you did. Maybe that scar was a car crash. But I still believe that back then you did care. And we might have our differences but something is clearly wrong, because this is not a case of power corrupting, at least not entirely. I’ve seen that, and this is different. President Marwick, for the good of the country, please tell me, so we can resolve it: what’s wrong?”
Marwick opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. He looked around, as if for an escape route, then sighed. He opened a drawer in his desk wordlessly, then took out a photograph, unframed, and slid it over the desk to Alvarez.
“My sister. She moved to Kerlile.”
“Your…” Alvarez glanced down at the photo. It was Marwick, aged about 12, with a girl who appeared about 5 years older than him. They were at an amusement park, next to a rollercoaster, and the girl was holding candyfloss. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”
“Half-sister, really. My mother’s daughter, from before she met my father. Lizzie lived with her father growing up. She didn’t have very many female role models. She got pregnant when she was sixteen, and her father kicked her out. She came to live with us, with the baby. Left when she was about 20. I didn’t see her for years, she just kind of vanished. I never knew what happened. But… but after I became President, I, well…”
“You became curious, didn’t you?” asked Alvarez softly.
“I asked someone to find out. Didn’t much like the answer.”
“So, she lives in Kerlile now?”
“No. She’s dead. The Kerlians,” he spat out the word, “executed her in 2015. Never could work out on what charge. I will admit, that meme was inappropriate, but the Council make me so angry. I just… why should we have risked Lauchenoirian lives for Peter Bloch? It just seems so pointless. I always thought she’d be out there. What scares me, is that she thought Kerlile was her last option. And in the end, it killed her. We, as a country, failed her. How many others? What can we realistically change? Does what we do here matter?”
“I’m sorry,” Alvarez said. “I truly am. But, Mr. President, what we do here does matter. We can change things, prevent anything similar from happening again.”
“I’ve been childish, I know. It’s like… I heard the news and just couldn’t function as an adult. My rage just… took over. I think, deep down, I wanted to hurt Eddington and Bloch, like I could take the pain away by passing it on. I just can’t help utterly despising the Kerlians. I’ve been… such a fool. I’m not capable of this, I’m sorry. To you, and the country.”
“Mr. President… recognising that is the first step to changing it.”
“So, you agree, I’ve been a fool?” Marwick laughed grimly.
“I won’t deny it. You have indeed. But resigning and throwing the country into more chaos will not help. President Marwick, I have a plan. If you are willing to listen, and try to put it into practice, and to stop being a fool, then, first I’d like you to issue a public apology for the meme. We can… leave the extradition debacle in the past now the law has been changed.”
“Deal.”
“Secondly, I would like you to come to the cabinet meeting in two hours.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Good. We have a lot to discuss. It is time that we stopped just reacting to events going on around us, and took control of our own destiny,” Alvarez said, standing up. “Get another hour’s sleep, Mr. President. It is going to be a busy week.”
LIDUN President 2024 | she/her | Puppets: Kerlile, Glanainn, Yesteria, Zongongia, Zargothrax