Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2016 22:54:10 GMT -5
This, Izalene supposed, was nowhere near equal, neutral ground, but Izalene rarely called for a meeting that would be held on even grounds and she was not about to start now. No, she was especially not about to start now- not when she was already treading a very, very thin line by even having this meeting in the first place. If some other members of the Allegiance found out, she might jeopardize receiving their aid at all- not, she thought bitterly, that it would matter all that much, given what's been done thus far.
Honestly, if she hadn't felt mildly obligated to join the same side as Portugal, and if Vicente hadn't picked a side and brought their war into South America, she'd probably just have continued to sell weapons to everyone- she cared about her friends and she cared about herself, but she was only going to start jumping into other fronts if Portugal was invaded or other people actually helped her with her own. Given where Portugal was, unless things went horribly, horribly wrong...
Well. The point was, she didn't want to lose. She had enough problems of her own without letting that idiot Vicente take any control over what was hers. She idly poured drinks in her kitchen, keeping an eye on the time, making a mixed punch- the fruit did a nice job disguising exactly how much alcohol was in the sorts of drinks she liked to drink, and since she doubted China was familiar with South American drinks and/or South American mixed drinks, he'd probably have trouble judging, and Izalene would just keep on filling up his glass.
Had she mentioned that this meeting was with China? Because it was. Before this whole mess, Izalene had spent some time with Yao before. He'd been a very, very important economic partner of hers- that had been part of why she was so reluctant to jump into the war. In tandem with Russia and India, after all, the BRIC nations had been an economic force to be reckoned with. They had been aligning themselves somewhat politically, once, so that their combined economic power could actually mean something.
Stupid goddamn war. Stupid goddamn Vicente, bringing their alliances into this mess- or at least, doing so before Izalene had done so herself.
She glanced up at the time. She'd asked to meet in her house in Brasilia for two reasons: it was a much, much more informal setting (and Izalene was quite good at navigating informal settings), and it put her in her own home court. She could control enough variables to help prevent others from finding out what she was doing and to swing things in her favor before the proceedings even started- she knew what was in the drinks, for example, and Yao didn't. Like she'd said, the meeting was hardly on neutral ground, but Izalene rarely set up meetings on neutral ground if she had any say in the matter. She knew better than that.
She walked towards the doors, waiting for the flashing lights that would indicate someone had hit the doorbell. She hoped China wouldn't try to knock- that might leave the man waiting, and while that was an acceptable tactic sometimes, in this case it wouldn't be on purpose, instead because it was definitely a crapshoot as to whether or not she was capable of hearing any knocking in the first place. Brasilia began to finish setting the table and such as Izalene, dressed informally, went to go greet their guest as loudly and seemingly unpreparedly as she could manage.
She was dancing on a knife's edge, sure, but she climbed trees. She rather thought she could balance it.
Honestly, if she hadn't felt mildly obligated to join the same side as Portugal, and if Vicente hadn't picked a side and brought their war into South America, she'd probably just have continued to sell weapons to everyone- she cared about her friends and she cared about herself, but she was only going to start jumping into other fronts if Portugal was invaded or other people actually helped her with her own. Given where Portugal was, unless things went horribly, horribly wrong...
Well. The point was, she didn't want to lose. She had enough problems of her own without letting that idiot Vicente take any control over what was hers. She idly poured drinks in her kitchen, keeping an eye on the time, making a mixed punch- the fruit did a nice job disguising exactly how much alcohol was in the sorts of drinks she liked to drink, and since she doubted China was familiar with South American drinks and/or South American mixed drinks, he'd probably have trouble judging, and Izalene would just keep on filling up his glass.
Had she mentioned that this meeting was with China? Because it was. Before this whole mess, Izalene had spent some time with Yao before. He'd been a very, very important economic partner of hers- that had been part of why she was so reluctant to jump into the war. In tandem with Russia and India, after all, the BRIC nations had been an economic force to be reckoned with. They had been aligning themselves somewhat politically, once, so that their combined economic power could actually mean something.
Stupid goddamn war. Stupid goddamn Vicente, bringing their alliances into this mess- or at least, doing so before Izalene had done so herself.
She glanced up at the time. She'd asked to meet in her house in Brasilia for two reasons: it was a much, much more informal setting (and Izalene was quite good at navigating informal settings), and it put her in her own home court. She could control enough variables to help prevent others from finding out what she was doing and to swing things in her favor before the proceedings even started- she knew what was in the drinks, for example, and Yao didn't. Like she'd said, the meeting was hardly on neutral ground, but Izalene rarely set up meetings on neutral ground if she had any say in the matter. She knew better than that.
She walked towards the doors, waiting for the flashing lights that would indicate someone had hit the doorbell. She hoped China wouldn't try to knock- that might leave the man waiting, and while that was an acceptable tactic sometimes, in this case it wouldn't be on purpose, instead because it was definitely a crapshoot as to whether or not she was capable of hearing any knocking in the first place. Brasilia began to finish setting the table and such as Izalene, dressed informally, went to go greet their guest as loudly and seemingly unpreparedly as she could manage.
She was dancing on a knife's edge, sure, but she climbed trees. She rather thought she could balance it.
Imma make a deal with the bad wolf so the bad wolf don't bite no more.