Harsh Realities: Lesson 3
2021-07-30, circa 23:44 Miyana International Time
On the third floor of one of the better hotels near the political centers of power in Königsstadt is a selection of rooms long occupied by the Imperial Consul, now Imperial Ambassador, to the Kingdom of An-Astral from the Holy Empire of Toonela. It bears no indication of its use for those not informed of the status of its residents, not even security forces or special provisions at the front desk. In a room not technically a part of this selection which is the basis for the Toonelan-Imperial “embassy”, but directly adjacent to it, the light of a handheld device illuminates the round face of Muttunbaal, the recently promoted ambassador, and the tall wooden headboard behind it, as a video of the Astralian Prime Minister’s joint press conference with the nation’s monarch comes to an end yet again. The ambassador’s furrowed brow and stern expression, evidence of some degree of frustration, only relaxes when one of the other two figures in the room’s singular bed with Muttunbaal rolls over and props their own head up by placing an elbow on the pillow, so that their sleepy gaze can be more level with the ambassador’s. Now somewhat visible in the glow of the device’s backlight is a handsome face, perhaps belonging to someone in their early thirties at oldest, with strikingly blue eyes and long, currently messy dark curls atop their head. A lazy smile forms on their lips as they speak.
Ambassador Muttunbaal: I’m sorry. Did I wake you, Konrad?
Konrad Wessel-Horst: Yes, and not in the way I prefer to be woken up, either.
Muttunbaal: You are a fiendish one, teasing me so when both of us should already be asleep.
Konrad: At least I was asleep. Why were you watching that again at this hour anyway? You work too much as it is, Mut.
Muttunbaal: The Pavillion finally passed along a House affirmed policy for Toonela to pursue here for the immediate future. I thought I’d watch that video again and try to decide better for myself if I agree with it before sending it along to Minister Weiser. It’s nonsensical of me, I . . .
The other figure in the bed, one Knut Reinecker, back turned to the conversing pair, shifts and mutters slightly to themselves, but does not awaken.
. . . should go to sleep.
Konrad: Hold on, hold on! We both know Knut is a more sound sleeper than that. It’s not nonsensical to figure things out for yourself when those things are bothering you. Do you disagree with your people’s chosen policy?
Muttunbaal: Yes. Well, no. I don’t know. I cannot fault them for the decision they came to, really.
Konrad: So what is the problem?
Muttunbaal: Things were just so much less complicated before this promotion. Yes, we do not like the monarchy. Yes, we would regularly make appeals for clemency in high-profile cases of repression or ecological discussion, but we knew we couldn’t make these decisions for Astralians.
Konrad: Well, it’s not like that’s changed. You still can’t make decisions for us. Well, most of us. You could make decisions for me.
Muttunbaal: You are lucky you have such a pretty face. You know that’s not what I meant. I mean all I’m getting these days are mixed signals. A CIO agent is murdered and local organizations pledge to help investigate, so the police respond by harassing them? A sitting party of the coalition government pushes for an end to the harassment, so its partners in government stand idle for over a month, and then, when the Prime Minister orders the police to withdraw, effectively siding with the union workers, the Communist Party just up and leaves, pushing all the blame onto the others as if it hadn’t also been apart of the feet dragging? A decades inactive act of anti-democratic law has to get dragged out just for the now-minority government to continue functioning, but what’s worse: to act as the Communist Party does, so high-and-mighty because a few thousand, far fewer than the people they were elected by and to represent, are willing to take up arms on their behalf, and create this situation by withdrawing from the government in the first place, or to act as the government does, trying desperately to save a hopeful situation so that the streets don’t run red with more blood while the reactionaries are repressed and they work to eject the monarchy legislatively, but always running the risk of falling back into its clutches?
Konrad: They all mean well. I know the communists, both those inside the government and those outside, do.
Muttunbaal: I know. Honestly, so do Erfurt and the others. That just makes it worse, from a diplomat’s perspective, when they’re all either denouncing one another or seem to be on the verge of doing so.
Konrad: Wouldn’t it be nice if they could all just realize they’ll never get everything they want in the Onaron all at once? Speaking of which, you can’t figure this out and send that communication to Weiser and sleep all at once.
Muttunbaal: Nonsense. I’ll start typing up the email now. What would you do, if you were Toonela?
Konrad: I am neither Toonelan nor a diplomat.
Muttunbaal: Thankfully, you’re much more fun than either of those.
Konrad: Oh? Now who is teasing?
Muttunbaal: Hah. That wasn’t an answer though, and you know it.
Konrad: Hmm. Fine. If it were me, I’d tell the government that Toonela welcomes their pending cooperation with both the Red Fighter’s League and Toonelan intelligence services in the manhunt for Stoffler and his loyalists, but that Erfurt and the government are strongly advised that Toonelan support could be withdrawn prematurely if they cannot manage to reassert democratic control, and that means heeding the national mood by taking note of stuff like the new Astralian Patriarch, calling new elections as soon as possible to shed the stain of the charter, getting their progressive policies out to drum up support, and curtailing militant reactionaries within the municipal police forces. If they can reform a majority government dedicated to the realization of egalitarianism again after all that and the absent communists end up trying to overthrow the government anyway? Call them out for the mindless militants they’ve become and Toonela will stand by a new Republic of An-Astral.
Muttunbaal: By the Onaron!
Konrad: What? Did I give offense with how little I know of your expertise?
Muttunbaal: Not at all. In fact, you’ve practically said the same thing my fellow Toonelans conveyed in this email.
Konrad: I’m constantly shocked and appalled by how blunt your people are.
Muttunbaal: Don’t be ridiculous. It’s much more eloquent than you are. There, sent.
Konrad: Your manners are terrible. Can I go back to sleep now?
Muttunbaal: I will pamper you tomorrow to make up for it. Let’s both get some rest.
Konrad: Finally.
Muttunbaal: Thank you, Konrad. Goodnight.
Konrad: No need for thanks, Mut.
The light fades from the device’s screen as it is passed over and then tucked into a drawer. The ambassador and their partners settle back in for the rest of the calm, summer Astralian night.
(This post was last modified: 07-31-2021, 10:07 AM by wateryfoothill.)
2021-07-30, circa 23:44 Miyana International Time
On the third floor of one of the better hotels near the political centers of power in Königsstadt is a selection of rooms long occupied by the Imperial Consul, now Imperial Ambassador, to the Kingdom of An-Astral from the Holy Empire of Toonela. It bears no indication of its use for those not informed of the status of its residents, not even security forces or special provisions at the front desk. In a room not technically a part of this selection which is the basis for the Toonelan-Imperial “embassy”, but directly adjacent to it, the light of a handheld device illuminates the round face of Muttunbaal, the recently promoted ambassador, and the tall wooden headboard behind it, as a video of the Astralian Prime Minister’s joint press conference with the nation’s monarch comes to an end yet again. The ambassador’s furrowed brow and stern expression, evidence of some degree of frustration, only relaxes when one of the other two figures in the room’s singular bed with Muttunbaal rolls over and props their own head up by placing an elbow on the pillow, so that their sleepy gaze can be more level with the ambassador’s. Now somewhat visible in the glow of the device’s backlight is a handsome face, perhaps belonging to someone in their early thirties at oldest, with strikingly blue eyes and long, currently messy dark curls atop their head. A lazy smile forms on their lips as they speak.
Ambassador Muttunbaal: I’m sorry. Did I wake you, Konrad?
Konrad Wessel-Horst: Yes, and not in the way I prefer to be woken up, either.
Muttunbaal: You are a fiendish one, teasing me so when both of us should already be asleep.
Konrad: At least I was asleep. Why were you watching that again at this hour anyway? You work too much as it is, Mut.
Muttunbaal: The Pavillion finally passed along a House affirmed policy for Toonela to pursue here for the immediate future. I thought I’d watch that video again and try to decide better for myself if I agree with it before sending it along to Minister Weiser. It’s nonsensical of me, I . . .
The other figure in the bed, one Knut Reinecker, back turned to the conversing pair, shifts and mutters slightly to themselves, but does not awaken.
. . . should go to sleep.
Konrad: Hold on, hold on! We both know Knut is a more sound sleeper than that. It’s not nonsensical to figure things out for yourself when those things are bothering you. Do you disagree with your people’s chosen policy?
Muttunbaal: Yes. Well, no. I don’t know. I cannot fault them for the decision they came to, really.
Konrad: So what is the problem?
Muttunbaal: Things were just so much less complicated before this promotion. Yes, we do not like the monarchy. Yes, we would regularly make appeals for clemency in high-profile cases of repression or ecological discussion, but we knew we couldn’t make these decisions for Astralians.
Konrad: Well, it’s not like that’s changed. You still can’t make decisions for us. Well, most of us. You could make decisions for me.
Muttunbaal: You are lucky you have such a pretty face. You know that’s not what I meant. I mean all I’m getting these days are mixed signals. A CIO agent is murdered and local organizations pledge to help investigate, so the police respond by harassing them? A sitting party of the coalition government pushes for an end to the harassment, so its partners in government stand idle for over a month, and then, when the Prime Minister orders the police to withdraw, effectively siding with the union workers, the Communist Party just up and leaves, pushing all the blame onto the others as if it hadn’t also been apart of the feet dragging? A decades inactive act of anti-democratic law has to get dragged out just for the now-minority government to continue functioning, but what’s worse: to act as the Communist Party does, so high-and-mighty because a few thousand, far fewer than the people they were elected by and to represent, are willing to take up arms on their behalf, and create this situation by withdrawing from the government in the first place, or to act as the government does, trying desperately to save a hopeful situation so that the streets don’t run red with more blood while the reactionaries are repressed and they work to eject the monarchy legislatively, but always running the risk of falling back into its clutches?
Konrad: They all mean well. I know the communists, both those inside the government and those outside, do.
Muttunbaal: I know. Honestly, so do Erfurt and the others. That just makes it worse, from a diplomat’s perspective, when they’re all either denouncing one another or seem to be on the verge of doing so.
Konrad: Wouldn’t it be nice if they could all just realize they’ll never get everything they want in the Onaron all at once? Speaking of which, you can’t figure this out and send that communication to Weiser and sleep all at once.
Muttunbaal: Nonsense. I’ll start typing up the email now. What would you do, if you were Toonela?
Konrad: I am neither Toonelan nor a diplomat.
Muttunbaal: Thankfully, you’re much more fun than either of those.
Konrad: Oh? Now who is teasing?
Muttunbaal: Hah. That wasn’t an answer though, and you know it.
Konrad: Hmm. Fine. If it were me, I’d tell the government that Toonela welcomes their pending cooperation with both the Red Fighter’s League and Toonelan intelligence services in the manhunt for Stoffler and his loyalists, but that Erfurt and the government are strongly advised that Toonelan support could be withdrawn prematurely if they cannot manage to reassert democratic control, and that means heeding the national mood by taking note of stuff like the new Astralian Patriarch, calling new elections as soon as possible to shed the stain of the charter, getting their progressive policies out to drum up support, and curtailing militant reactionaries within the municipal police forces. If they can reform a majority government dedicated to the realization of egalitarianism again after all that and the absent communists end up trying to overthrow the government anyway? Call them out for the mindless militants they’ve become and Toonela will stand by a new Republic of An-Astral.
Muttunbaal: By the Onaron!
Konrad: What? Did I give offense with how little I know of your expertise?
Muttunbaal: Not at all. In fact, you’ve practically said the same thing my fellow Toonelans conveyed in this email.
Konrad: I’m constantly shocked and appalled by how blunt your people are.
Muttunbaal: Don’t be ridiculous. It’s much more eloquent than you are. There, sent.
Konrad: Your manners are terrible. Can I go back to sleep now?
Muttunbaal: I will pamper you tomorrow to make up for it. Let’s both get some rest.
Konrad: Finally.
Muttunbaal: Thank you, Konrad. Goodnight.
Konrad: No need for thanks, Mut.
The light fades from the device’s screen as it is passed over and then tucked into a drawer. The ambassador and their partners settle back in for the rest of the calm, summer Astralian night.
