The following entries were found in the Toadler's mailbox, no one knows for sure when it go there but we do know it came from Truman, and that it was apparently supposed to be an article of Princess Peach's visit to Isle Delfino. We're not sure what do with it so we''l just post it online here for you guys to see.
-The Toadler magazine crew.
Day 1:
Suppose I should start out and introduce myself. My name is Truman Kooperson, I'm a journalist for the Toadler which is apparently the biggest gossip magazine in the Mushroom Kingdom. I'd often do a few articles here there, often writing about what the Great Kolorado's favorite movie is or who that blonde toad movie star's gonna marry next. It wasn't amazing but it paid well and there were few good moments. Today however was very strange, which was also strange since it started so normally, we were all acting normally, everything was happening normally, I was normally looking at the secretary with normally extreme interest, but then my boss came in and slapped a couple of documents on my desk. It mostly contained pictures of Princess Peach.
The boss then told me that she was going to Isle Delfino, except she was going without any one, not even Mario or that one Toad with the moustache. Absolutely no one, the boss wanted me to make an article about this whole ordeal…so I started getting out stock photos of Peach while making something up about how she was cheating on Mario and how their daughter was the main reason behind this who deal because they refused to give her, her favorite shoes. Not my best work but it would do for a quick read. But then the Boss told me that this time things were gonna be different. He told me that he had everything planned out. He had a plane ticket exclusively for me plus a hotel reservation at the Hotel Delfino resort. While I was flattered that he made all the reservations for me, what he wanted me to do was pretty difficult. Not only was I supposed to take exclusive pictures of Peach but also I was to somehow conduct an exclusive interview with her on the matter.
Now besides the fact that this job like I said was harder than pulling off an artificial inception I then wondered why me? My articles were hardly award winning, and I was known to take a long time writing them. My boss somehow read my mind and told me that my style was simply unmatchable to the others at the Toadler, that I had great skill and my articles were without a doubt entertaining. Despite the odd praise I was still unsure, what about the trip itself? Knowing my boss, I'd have to pay for the night at the hotel and that's not counting all the money that would have to be used for food, drinks, and maybe other nights at the hotel. I felt that this job was a lose-lose situation but then a huge sack of coins hit my desk as my eyes widened. There must have been at least 5 or 6 hundred coins in all.
Now he was talking my language, there was more than enough money to use, but even though the monetary problem was fixed I still had my doubts. Getting an interview of the MK's princess, let alone a couple exclusive pictures of her would be incredibly difficult. It was no doubt possible but the way to do it right was hell. You see to get a good secret/exclusive interview of someone famous you first have to gain their trust, you know become a friend of theirs and then, when the time is right casually ask them some generic but subtly specific questions that fit the topic of your article.
The first part is getting them to like you and trust you when they first meet you, you see if you're too pushy on them then they'll become creeped out at you but if you're too subtle they'll just think you're some random Joe talking to them. You have to make a nice bond with them, and then of course comes the actual interview part which will actually be a way in the park compared to the first part, that is if you're good at acting and being subtle.
However there are a lot of journalists who are just so bad at the interview portion that mastering the first step seems entirely pointless. You have to ask subtle questions like "So what are you doing here?" or "How's your family?" stuff like that. If you ask a question like "So tell me, why are you at this special place without guards and are you cheating on your boyfriend/husband/girlfriend/wife/etc/?" then you'll be caught red handed.
It's just astounding how such a glaring mistake has been done for several years and yet a few have only been able to learn from it. The final step however is even worse if you can't manage the second one. Of course, you're going to have to have an alternate identity, you don't want them knowing who you are. So that means getting into a completely new outfit and having different mannerisms and a completely different personality. But, not many people do this and so their true identity is revealed anyway.
That's just sad, but that wasn't why I still wasn't sure about the deal. The real reason was that while I was good with the interviewing portion and being a completely different, the infernal first step blocked my way. I'm not good at introductions as many people who know me can tell you for I tend to be very awkward. I was still thinking about whether or not I was right for the job when the boss told me that he had total confidence in me and that no one else was offered the job. That was a little touching but I still had my doubts, however I decided to take the job when I realized that if I did fail I'd still be able to be as subtle as to not reveal my true identity so the Toadler's rep wouldn't be that tarnished.
I got up from desk, shook the boss' hand, took the plane ticket and coin sack, and left the office to go home and pack up which is incidentally what I'm doing right now. My apartment may not be fabulous but it gets the job of being a good home done and is fairly standard. Right now most of my clothes are in my suitcase, along with my typewriter, some gadgets, a packet of cards, a few poker chips, and my camera. Right now my recorder is on the kitchen table, which is where I am. I'm using it right now in case I need to record some dialogue for an article. I think I've written all I needed to write in this article; so I'll open it again later when I have to.