[Day 5 - MM] First Interview

[Dapper Dog]

A studio office upstairs is prepared for a comfortable interview between one of the producers and the Elite Academy contestant. It has large wall length windows allowing plenty of light and a great view of the Refuge, there is a small fridge stocked with water and refreshments and the crew is ready.

Time for an interview.

OOC: Open to any Contestant, first come and first served. People who have not done an interview are preferred. But if the slot does not fill, you are more than welcome to jump in.

[Uri-el]

Malik had been shown into the interview room quietly but firmly by the film staff. His somewhat puzzled expression as he came under the lights faded as the feed was cut to allow for more adjustments to be made. It wasn't often that the crew had to deal with someone who was in themselves a light source.

So he waited, carefully sizing up the crew, for the fireworks to start.

[Dapper Dog]

He said in practiced Arabic, “Good morning, can you state your name and a little bit about yourself and your experience thus far?”

“Oh feel free to have some refreshments.”

[Uri-el]

Malik bowed his head slightly. "Thank you," he replied, also in Arabic. "It is kind of you to offer, but I am well."

He looked back up. "My name is Malik Bekhit el-Eskandarani. I am from Alexandria in Egypt, where I am called by the name Uri-el. I have tried in life to be modest and unobtrusive, but I look like this, so I am not always successful."

"I am learning a great deal in your competition. For example, I have found that one needs to be conscious of connections between people and how their interests overlap. Very fascinating. Before this, I was merely a fisherman, of sorts. I pulled people from the water, or plucked them off the sinking ships. Now, I am apprised of a great many more ways of being. Some are more positive than others, but all are interesting."

[Dapper Dog]

“Well, that is an interesting response, so what has been challenging about this process and can you be more specific in your examples?” he asked.

[Uri-el]

"Before this, I did not speak much to others, for instance. But I have seen people now who do, routinely, and who are good at it. And I see what they can achieve, and what they cannot. For example, people who communicate well are able to reasonably and calmly redirect unacceptable behavior without making a situation more tense. Your viewers will have seen this in the interaction between Galatea and the Elite Chai assistant-manager-in-training. That is a very useful skill. They are also able to work together with people that they find distasteful. Your viewers will have seen the opposite of this in Camilo's dispute with Little Disaster."

[Lil could maybe, if one were clever with language, be reconstructed in Arabic. Malik, not at all clever with words, uses the phrase "khata saghir"--"minor mistake."]

[Dapper Dog]

"Have you faced any new challenges or seen anything that challenged your world view?" he asked.

[Uri-el]

"Yes, but not to the degree that I believe some may expect. I come from a country in which there is rich nuance between all parties in civil society, so it was not a complete surprise to discover that organized crime is allowed to function even next to a major UNJE facility as though it is merely a well-armed legitimate business, nor that it felt that it was owed compensation from the UNJE due to business disruption, though I believe the UNJE had the self-respect not to take their claim seriously."

[Dapper Dog]

“And how would you handle this organized crime organization if it was p to you?” he asked.

[Uri-el]

"It is not," he said, as though mystified by the question. "What use is dreaming?"

He leaned forward. "I have given the UNJE the opportunity to take action. That is what is up to me at the moment."

[Dapper Dog]

"What will you do if you think that the UNJE is not acting on your information?" he responded.

[Uri-el]

"I will weigh the options, as a responsible person does. I am a guest, here. That creates obligations that ought to be respected. To do otherwise would be discourteous."

[Dapper Dog]

"So what are your thoughts on your fellow contestants?" he asked.

[Uri-el]

"Bea Hawkins is a good person, genuinely. After that, I see people who are trying to make the best of challenging circumstances. Well, most of them are trying to make the best, I suppose, but then I do not know most of them in any deep sense. I am not terribly practiced at being sociable, and I am reminded constantly of the third impossibility. I imagine it shows.

[Dapper Dog]

"Third impossibility?" he asked.

[Uri-el]

"It is a saying where I come from. There are three impossibilities: the ghoul, the phoenix, and the loyal friend."

[Dapper Dog]

"So who do you consider a loyal friend?" he asked.

[Uri-el]

Uri-el shook his head. "No one. There are some I would not mind considering friends, if I felt that they could say the same about me. Raul. Iris. Bea, perhaps. But it is a foolish person who does not know that everyone has a point at which the bond will break. And doing what we do, we encounter extreme situations, greater pressures, more regularly than others who choose or are able to live differently. It is more likely for us that a friendship will have to come to an end than for those whose friendships are seldom tested."

[Dapper Dog]

"Is that not lonely?" he said.

[Uri-el]

Uri-el nodded slowly. "It can be, but also, consider that knowing that things are finite does not mean that we cannot enjoy them. A meal ends, but we are happy to eat it."