September 28, 2019
Ivar, People's Federal Socialist Republics of Kadikistan
Roger Barr was primarily known for his seminal works as a biopic filmmaker, which included a controversial treatment on Gary Ambrose*, legendary Sylvanian President Sander Rygaard, and more recently a documentary series titled "Known & Unknown Horrors from the Colonization of Westernesse". Barr suspected that the impact of this latest documentary series had secured him this invitation to Ivar to interview Sergei Moravscik, though in two weeks of sequester in a cramped hotel room and concise choreographed tours of Kadikistani cultural sites he was now beginning to suspect that he had been played.
Roger was free to walk about the hotel, though as he found that evening while visiting the People's Cafeteria downstairs - he was shadowed by the same two professionally dressed men who would sit down near to Barr and his crew without ordering anything. Barr lowered his eyes to a jiggling plate of holodets, a traditional aspic consisting of gelatin from pigs feet, chicken, or fatty beef contents and vegetables. The dish was bizarre but none the less appetizing, with the salty beef gelatin melting in his mouth alongside a smear of spicy brown mustard.
One of Roger's 'shadows', as he liked to call them, stood suddenly after consulting an old block of an electronic pager. The man approached Barr and his small skeleton crew with not so much as a greeting or a smile, simply declaring after all of these weeks: "You will not be seen . . ."
"Excuse me?" Roger asked the man, whose partners were already collecting their jackets to leave. Roger was puzzled, and the first thought that crossed his mind was that he would soon be arrested, killed, or never "seen" from again.
"You will not be seen for an interview with First Secretary of the Kadikistani Communist Workers' party Sergei Ljubomir Moravscik . ." the man divulged with calm recitation, ". . Good?"
Barr thought for a moment and struggled with the urge to protest, but stifled and perished the thought before it overwhelmed him. These were not the Westernesse States where government officials might actually think that something was off if a private citizen journalist did not launch into a tirade about their right to answers and to be heard.
"Thank you sir, we have enjoyed our stay immensely!" Roger gleamed, being sure to share his thanks with baffled cafeteria staff and expressionless hotel employees who did not seem to remember that he was ever there at all.
Soon thereafter, and when Roger Barr had safely returned to his apartment in Ambrosia, the news rang out across the world that Moravscik was dead. Barr himself was saddened, half due to his profound respect for the leader, and half due to the fact that he would never have the opportunity to document this man's life, words, and perspectives for a Western audience that have only ever heard the negative aspects of Moravscik and Kadikistan.
*Gary Ambrose was the religious and political founder of Ambrosia, which rose out of a war between the Free States of Westernesse.
Ivar, People's Federal Socialist Republics of Kadikistan
Roger Barr was primarily known for his seminal works as a biopic filmmaker, which included a controversial treatment on Gary Ambrose*, legendary Sylvanian President Sander Rygaard, and more recently a documentary series titled "Known & Unknown Horrors from the Colonization of Westernesse". Barr suspected that the impact of this latest documentary series had secured him this invitation to Ivar to interview Sergei Moravscik, though in two weeks of sequester in a cramped hotel room and concise choreographed tours of Kadikistani cultural sites he was now beginning to suspect that he had been played.
Roger was free to walk about the hotel, though as he found that evening while visiting the People's Cafeteria downstairs - he was shadowed by the same two professionally dressed men who would sit down near to Barr and his crew without ordering anything. Barr lowered his eyes to a jiggling plate of holodets, a traditional aspic consisting of gelatin from pigs feet, chicken, or fatty beef contents and vegetables. The dish was bizarre but none the less appetizing, with the salty beef gelatin melting in his mouth alongside a smear of spicy brown mustard.
One of Roger's 'shadows', as he liked to call them, stood suddenly after consulting an old block of an electronic pager. The man approached Barr and his small skeleton crew with not so much as a greeting or a smile, simply declaring after all of these weeks: "You will not be seen . . ."
"Excuse me?" Roger asked the man, whose partners were already collecting their jackets to leave. Roger was puzzled, and the first thought that crossed his mind was that he would soon be arrested, killed, or never "seen" from again.
"You will not be seen for an interview with First Secretary of the Kadikistani Communist Workers' party Sergei Ljubomir Moravscik . ." the man divulged with calm recitation, ". . Good?"
Barr thought for a moment and struggled with the urge to protest, but stifled and perished the thought before it overwhelmed him. These were not the Westernesse States where government officials might actually think that something was off if a private citizen journalist did not launch into a tirade about their right to answers and to be heard.
"Thank you sir, we have enjoyed our stay immensely!" Roger gleamed, being sure to share his thanks with baffled cafeteria staff and expressionless hotel employees who did not seem to remember that he was ever there at all.
Soon thereafter, and when Roger Barr had safely returned to his apartment in Ambrosia, the news rang out across the world that Moravscik was dead. Barr himself was saddened, half due to his profound respect for the leader, and half due to the fact that he would never have the opportunity to document this man's life, words, and perspectives for a Western audience that have only ever heard the negative aspects of Moravscik and Kadikistan.
*Gary Ambrose was the religious and political founder of Ambrosia, which rose out of a war between the Free States of Westernesse.
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