My angel [Vietnam]

It hadn't necessarily been Vietnam's idea to be on this front either, because this is the part of the overall war that she doesn't really see as applying to her very much at all. She doesn't care about who did what between Israel and Iran. And she doesn't really care about Europe either - well, except that she in general likes the idea of seeing them crushed under a communist's heel. All in all she'd rather be back where she actually feels like she's protecting her homeland, making sure that she and her allies can keep a tight grip on all the most strategic Pacific islands so that they don't need to worry about any threats coming from that direction.

However, Russia suggested that she would be helpful on this front, at least for a little while. She's rather skilled at this sort of fighting, after all - from a tactical standpoint, fighting amongst buildings is not that different from fighting in the forest. There's entirely too many places to hide - something that you must use to your advantage or else it will be used against you. And the heat is not something that bothers her so much - it's hot at home too, but it's also humid at home so in some ways the dry heat here is less oppressive. So she has skills that are useful here, and she can certainly help ensure that they're taught to the others on this front so that her allies can increase their odds of victory. She just hopes that they're fast learners so that she can leave them to it as quickly as possible.

Of course, though she sees being here as a temporary teaching position, if she's going to be on the front lines she's going to fight. It's thanks to these forces of the Alliance that she's not at home right now, after all - and that's enough for her to want some of them dead by her own hand. The assault rifle in her hands is so familiar to her - an outdated model, but she doesn't need the latest technology to blow someone's head off. And though she's far more used to dark green, the mottled tans of the uniform she's wearing blend in far better to their surroundings.

She's found a very good ambush position: an alleyway that's difficult for anyone to approach without her seeing them first. So when some fool clearly not on her side wanders into view, she has little reason not to immediately shoot him in the head. However, this particular solder seems so cocky and... well, who in their right mind brings a battle axe to a fight like this? It's enough to cause her to raise an eyebrow. Instead she shoots just close enough to his head to get his attention, but then immediately shifts it to aim for a shot right between the eyes.

The list of European nations that she cares enough to recognize on sight is rather short, but though she doesn't recognize him, his oddness seems to indicate that he's a nation instead of a mere soldier, and he couldn't look more European if he tried. Though she can't kill him, a head shot would certainly put him down for the count for awhile and the urge to pull the trigger the hair's width further it would take is intense - between France and Germany, her opinion of the entire continent is not very good at all. A group of pushy, heartless bastards.

However, she has him exactly where she wants him - she can pull the trigger at any time and there's little chance that he can do anything to stop that since she would, of course, pull the trigger the instant he tried to do anything stupid like shoot her or escape - so, since she sees that he's not going to immediately try to shoot her, she has no reason to be quite that hasty. She still tells herself that he's not leaving this situation without a bullet through his head, but she might as well see if she can get anything useful out of the situation first.

But what he does next is completely unexpected - his expression, the words, his actions... Is he insane? Her rifle remains steady, but her expression is extremely perplexed. She is aware that she's attractive, but she considers this to be unimportant - it's the least of her qualities and therefore not worthy of noting. It takes half a second for her mind to catch up with what's going on, but when she does, her face shifts into a hard, angry frown. "Stop where you are!" she tells him, "All of you European ăn đi tiêu are the same! You're on the wrong continent, chàng đẹp trai!"

When someone points a gun at your head, the polite thing to do is to shut up, agree with them, and do what they say - at least until you can cleverly get them to stop doing that somehow. The fact that this nation isn't following that most basic piece of common sense is extremely annoying. That he seems to be ignoring her gun completely is insulting. And the words that he says are downright offensive. As this fuel is added to the fire already within her, she abruptly realizes that she's holding the wrong weapon for this situation.

Now, a gun is a fine weapon for most purposes. Shoot a human in the right spot, and they're dead. A nation may not die, but it's a handy way of putting them out of commission for awhile. What it is not good for, however, is educating an idiot. You see, idiots are slow learners, and a bullet is a very fast lesson - it just doesn't give one sufficient time for the fact that they've done something very wrong to sink in. And she should know a thing or two about such things - she was taught by China. Fortunately, Denmark isn't the only one who brought a secondary weapon to this battle - hers is simply much less ridiculous.

Lowering her rifle, it only takes one quick jerk for her to take her oar from where it had been leaning against the wall behind her and slam the handle of it hard underneath his jaw. Some may see an oar as an odd thing to use as a weapon, but she's had hers for centuries and it's thus much more familiar to her than a rifle. It's not that much different than a quarterstaff, really, except that the end with the paddle gives one several more options than your basic pole. Another motion, and she's shifted her rifle to her shoulder so that both hands are available, which leaves both of her hands free to twist her oar around so that she can whack him hard on top of the head with the flat end - something she can do with a surprising amount of force for such a petite-looking woman.

"You do not begin to understand your rudeness!" she tells him sharply, her voice low and angry but with surprisingly little volume, "Do not act so familiar! You do not know me - you do not know if I wish to know you! You don't even know my name and presume to appreciate my appearance as if such a thing matters? I am not some Christian demi-god and do not care to be compared to one! And you presume to correct me on matters in which you yourself are wrong! And you tell a woman who has more quả bóng than you that you're her knight?!? You do not deserve to know my name!"

Though Vietnam may appear to be quite petite, she's a nation just like all the others - the strength of her country is her strength. And her country is doing very, very well right now - she's in a favorable position, within easy reach of her very powerful allies and not really anyone's main target. Well, except for Thailand, but he knows better than to attack her right now and is just hoping that she won't go after him. The only reason why she hasn't is because if she doesn't use her entire army in that effort she would still probably win but incur very heavy losses, but that part of her army not needed to protect her own lands is busy helping her allies.

It would all be different if Russia would simply allow her to bring Laos into her house, but he seems to think that it's better for the weak, useless nation to be independent just because he's also a communist. It's her opinion that such a lazy, ineffective nation makes a poor ally - especially since she could quite easily put him to work as a member of her household staff, strengthening both her and their larger cause. But who is she to argue with Russia? Of course he knows what is best.

But in spite of all that, she's stronger now than she's been since... Well, quite possibly ever, actually. She may not be the strongest nation in the world, but she's also nowhere near the weakest. In fact she's pretty sure that could take down Denmark, if it was just the two of them. But it's not, and while it does occur to her that she could shoot him and hand him over to one of her allies for safekeeping, she only has so much reason to do so. Really, the main reason she has to want to shoot him is simply because he's European - she generally likes America more than she likes Europeans. And she doesn't really like America.

When he starts to laugh, she looks down on him with a look of contempt on her features, still holding her oar with both hands in a manner that clearly indicates that she's ready to use it again at a moment's notice if she has to. His laughter is doing nothing to convince her that she wasn't right when she decided he was an idiot. However, he manages to fix that somewhat when he finally starts to speak. Though she's not impressed by his eloquence, at least he seems capable of learning from his mistakes.

As he continues to speak, her expression changes very little. Though she doesn't object when he gets up, which is a good sign. But she hasn't set aside her oar either, which is not a good sign. She does, finally, actually react to the last thing that he says. "If you guessed wrong, it would probably offend me," she notes, because that's true. She's quite obviously Asian, and she can't think of a single one of her siblings that she wouldn't be insulted to be mistaken for.

But, recognizing that puts him in an impossible spot if she's to assume that he's sincere at all in his desire to get to know her - something she's still yet to decide if she believes - her expression eases somewhat as she shifts her oar to one hand and holds it as if it was a staff. "There is a legend in my homeland - it's a long story, but in short there was a young dragon prince who rescued a princess of the fairies. The two fell in love, and my people are the descendants of their hundred sons - which is why we are beautiful and charming, but powerful, fierce, and untameable," she tells him, then adds, "If you understand that much, I don't think that there is much more you need to know about me." Not even her name would be as helpful of an explanation about who she really is.

Sadly, Vietnam can't say that she's ever had a reason to stop and think about what she 'has a thing for'. There have been far too many unwanted nations forcing themselves into her life that she'd have a hard time figuring out what sort she would want to associate with by choice. Which isn't to say that she hasn't pursued anyone before, but she'd been so jaded about the whole prospect of romance by that time that she saw the whole thing purely as a strategic maneuver. Which isn't to say that she hasn't had a crush before, but it was such a long time ago that she doesn't really remember who it was for - it doesn't matter now.

Life has given her every reason to be very defensive, especially during the last few centuries. She's a much older nation than many might suspect, mostly because she's been allowed so little time to be left alone to develop so she's never been able to play a very big part on the world stage. It used to be mostly China's fault - she'd start making something of herself, and then he'd come in and ruin it. She'd get him to leave, but then she'd have to pick up the pieces. When the West started coming it was simply more of the same - just new faces doing the damage.

So it's very difficult for her to not become suspicious of anyone's intentions when it comes to her - she can't recall a single nation whose intentions were both what she wanted and sincere. Even Russia, who probably counts as her best friend simply because she has nobody better, only seems to care about her at all when they have the same enemy - fortunately, that's most of the time and even more especially since the war began, so she doesn't have to be worried about being left to fend for herself (again) any time soon.

When he suddenly shouts the name of a nation that she really, really doesn't like, she blinks in surprise and then frowns impatiently. If she'd thought that was his guess he'd get another taste of her oar, but she figures that nobody is stupid enough to mistake her for him - if only because America is obnoxious enough that absolutely everyone knows him on sight. Instead, it seems that the persona non grata has led him to remember her name, and for the first time in this conversation she looks somewhat pleased - though that's mostly because she's assumed that he'd remembered her name based on a related, but different, line of thought. "Yes, I'm the one who made America give up and go home," she says with a certain dark smile.

There's a pause as she tries to remember what she can about him. He's one of the Scandinavians, but that's easy enough to remember just by looking at him. Let's see, other than that... ...other than that... ...Nope, mind is blank. So instead she tilts her head at him and asks, "What are you doing here, anyway? We are far away from Europe."

In spite of the decades that have passed since then, Vietnam can't help but be extremely pleased with herself about the results of that war. Yes, she'd had help from other countries - to the point that she most certainly would have lost without their assistance - but though someone else gave her the guns and the training, and even flew the planes overhead, it had been her and her people who were on the ground, making that overbearing child pay so dearly for every inch that he just wanted out of there.

But that's what he deserved, thinking that he had any business getting involved in what should have been an internal matter. It was because of outside meddling that it wasn't possible to resolve things peacefully to begin with, and then when the war began it was outside meddling that made it as bad as it was. And of course she blames America for this - he chose to fight on the other side.

The so-called 'pose of awesomeness' causes her to simply lift an eyebrow. Possibly because the effect is completely ruined by the mark her oar left on his face. It'll heal very quickly, she's sure, but at the moment he doesn't look like someone who has been kicking ass. Her expression shifts back to something more neutral when he mentions the meeting though. "Oh, I see," she responds, her lips pursing slightly and her expression a bit thoughtful as she mulls over what meeting that would be.

But the fact that she doesn't seem to be interested at all in attempting to ask for more details about the meeting is yet another sign that she's not really that interested in treating him like an enemy. Or at least, nowhere near to the same degree that Russia or China would. She can be utterly ruthless, but she sees no reason to be so now. Which makes the question he asks her in return all the more relevant. Shrugging her shoulders a little, she says, "I might have decided to remain neutral, but I could not ignore how helpful I could be to Russia. My ports and military bases make it so easy to reach the Pacific - when I am helping, Russia does not need to help China with it. And I owe him so much, it is good to be able to do something that matters for him."

Well, that and she didn't really lose anything by joining the war - in fact, the war has put her in a much more favorable position than she was before it started. Still, though she saw the potential for that, the fact remains that most of the reason was her loyalty to Russia.

At hearing such an extremely rude word being applied to Russia, her expression immediately shifts into a very deep frown. But she doesn't respond to his words immediately, instead appearing to give herself a moment to decide how best to properly respond. It's not that she's angry and needs to calm herself, it's that not just what he said but the thoughts she knows are behind them are so completely wrong that she doesn't know where to begin to correct him. In fact, for a moment she has to ask herself why she's bothering to correct him at all, but she's heard the same thing spouted by so many Europeans that she's grown tired of hearing it without saying something.

"I don't understand you Europeans. You make these ships, go around saying that you've 'discovered' all these lands, claim that they're yours, and find and raise up siblings as if you have any right to do it - as if that land didn't already belong to anyone," she says, watching him intently while she speaks, "France was the one who tried to do it to me. It was over a hundred years before my lands were mine again. And who supported me? Who recognized that it was not France's little sister but me who belonged there?"

Pausing for a moment to let that sink in, she relaxes somewhat as she adds, "Of course, Russia did it for other reasons, but who doesn't do that? I'm just grateful, as I should be, that he gave me what I needed to fight for my freedom instead of taking it away." Taking a deep breath, clearly fighting off a wave of irritation, she asks, "When you accuse Russia of causing this bloodshed, do you say it with clean hands?" Though she can't remember much about Denmark, let alone his history, she figures that the answer is no - everyone's done such things. Well, except for small, inconsequential nations. And, of course, herself - all the wars she's ever fought in were defensive.

Being on so nearly the opposite end of the world from him, it's only natural that Vietnam would have a completely different perspective on Russia, and pretty much everything else. All the nations that he knows so well are practically strangers to her, and vice versa. But some things are universal - war with one's siblings being one of them. "I have often fought with one of my brothers as well, yet I respect him," she says with a nod, showing that she understands that much of it.

Of course, China was always the one who started it - she simply wanted her independence, and that's hardly a crime, is it? Though she can't exactly say that she loves him - partly because she's not sure that emotion really exists in the form so many claim that it does. But mostly it's because their wars didn't stop at her independence - instead there have been numerous little incidents that have resulted in some bad blood between them. But by comparison to some of the bad blood between her other siblings, it's hardly worthy of notice.

Other than that, she doesn't have much to say about his attitude on colonization. She's said her piece, he's said his, so what more is there to say? She doesn't suppose that one well-reasoned argument would change his mind, and it would certainly take more than that for her to change hers, so what point is there to further discussion?

His further opinions on Russia, on the other hand, are worth further discussion - at the very least, she can make her opinions on the matter clear. "I do not understand why you are blaming Russia for breaking the peace - was this war not started by Israel and Iran? Was it not America who was first to decide that it was anyone else's business to get involved?" she says, giving a heavy sigh before she says, "And Russia's interactions with his sisters is a family matter - that especially is no one's business but theirs."

And now she must pause, because his last statement touched a bit of a sore spot to her. Her expression falls, becoming a mixture of worry and sorrow as she says, "He has gone after my brother." But then her expression becomes more firm, and even a bit angry as she adds, "But it's Japan's own fault - everyone knows that he sides with America, even after all that America has done to our family. He deserves what he's getting!" But then that sad look returns as she adds, "Perhaps China can talk some sense into him."

Only then does she realize that she's saying all of this to someone who has absolutely no business knowing any of it, so her lips press together for a moment in embarrassment, before she attempts to smoothly gloss over that and get back on topic by adding, "I do not see how Russia's actions are any more horrible than anyone else. And should I not appreciate the help he has given me?"