You Do Not Belong Here [Venezuela]

In retrospect, Vicente really should have continued to support FARC. He really only stopped because he eventually gave up on their ability to actually force his sister into having a communist Boss - which would have been hilarious. But if he'd kept helping them anyway, then maybe his sister wouldn't be able to put up such a fight right now. But he's still going to win, so that doesn't matter too much - it'll just be a bit harder, is all.

He has indeed been preparing for this battle. Well, this and many others - he's suddenly found himself fighting on more than one front, so in reality he's been preparing for battles in general. The logistics of coordinating all of that has been hard, but he's also gotten a lot of tips from the other members of the Joint Pact - all of whom seem to pretty much be experts on this sort of thing. Oh, and weapons - a lot of weapons. The logistics of his oil for weapons trades have also been complicated because of their scale, but now that he's armed to the teeth it's also a lot of fun. Brazil has been finding it difficult to hold him back. His sister will be the same.

This mountain pass will be an important battle. If he can get just a toe hold on the other side of this mountain range, he'll be able to use it as a starting point to flood everywhere west of it with his military. But the pass is difficult - much easier to defend than attack - but he thinks that he has both the men and the gear for the task.

It's very late, but excitement about the morning has made it difficult for him to sleep. On a whim, he'd decided that he wants to go take a look at what will be tomorrow's battlefield. He didn't actually go look at it in person before, but his scouts brought back all the information that was needed to have a really boring strategy session about it. And there should be no danger - while he knows that his sister's army is just on the other side of the pass, they seem to have an unspoken agreement that they'll both camp tonight and the fight will take place in the morning. But, just in case someone thinks it would be clever to try to attack overnight, of course there are guards posted to watch the pass.

Unfortunately, on his way to it he accidentally woke up Pablo, and when he said where he was going he also got a volunteer to come with him. Okay, fine, he can come. So it's the two of them headed a short ways into the pass, speculating on the effectiveness of their plans, when the distraction of their conversation is suddenly not enough for him to sense someone coming. "...You should go back, Pablo," he suddenly says, interrupting what they were talking about. But his aide hasn't had time to really react to this when their enemy walks into view. They're still far enough apart and it's dark enough that she's more of a silhouette, but he knows who it is without having to use his flashlight. Naturally, he uses it anyway and directs it directly at her eyes.

And her words don't make him any more happy to see here here. "You think that I am the one who is immature? I'm not the one who started this war - it's your good friend Brazil that you have to thank for that! I'm only going to finish it. And if you don't like this war - fine, you can surrender. I'll give you good terms - you are my sister, after all," he responds, grinning at the end. Oh, he'd give her good terms all right - very good terms...

Perhaps once, a long time ago, Vicente had simply tormented his sister because it was funny. He was young, and things that squeal when you poke them are funny when you're little. Perhaps he would have learned better over time, or if he'd been properly disciplined, but when she'd had the nerve to actually fight back, it was officially on. They've still managed to do a few things together that required some cooperation over the years, like getting out of Spain's house, but sometimes even mutual best interest isn't enough.

It's difficult to get along with his sister even when he's trying, you see. She's so moody and pretentious. Acts like she's so much better than him, even when she's clearly falling apart. And a good half of everything she says about him is completely hypocritical. So he doesn't feel badly at all about the things that he does to her - she clearly deserves each and every one of them.

If he'd been the least bit afraid of the dark, her comment about his flashlight would have insulted him. But he merely has it to make it easier to see while he's looking around here - nothing more or less than that. Instead he takes her words as confirmation that the light is bothering her, so of course he holds it steady. Which may make it difficult for her to see how Pablo gives her a regretful look then quickly makes himself scarce - he's a mere state, and doesn't want to get caught between two nations.

An action which he won't soon regret, given what Vicente's sister says next. "You're only saying such things because I'm winning! You're afraid, but your insults won't help you! You should try begging me for mercy - maybe I will listen," the Venezuelan shoots back, trying really hard not to shout and almost succeeding. Having said all of that, though, he manages a somewhat calmer tone as he adds, "And I didn't invade Guyana - you can't invade land that belongs to you." Well, much of it did - according to him, anyways.

Though Camila may consider her inward struggles to be private, Vicente is very well aware of them. And not just for the innocent reasons that he so loudly protests against - when her inward struggles fail to remain quite so inward and actually affect his life - but because he's been encouraging them. It went so far beyond supporting FARC, even - whenever there's a flare-up in her drug problem, for example, who is there to profit from it? Him, of course. And he managed to do it without falling much into inward struggles of his own - or at least not the same kinds as his sister. It wasn't very difficult to figure out who he was, his problem is that he figured out that he's someone with extremely poor life management skills.

In spite of that, he knows that he's been changing. The process of maturation is not nearly as straightforward for nations as it is in humans. All a human needs to grow up is time and the proper food for a developing body, and they all grow up in about the same way. Nations, on the other hand, can find their growth stalled for centuries at any given age if conditions aren't right for them. But Vicente is a man now - he can feel it, even though his body still has some growing left to do. With that comes a change of his mindset. No, that doesn't mean that he'll give up tormenting his sister - he may be a man, but he's a very young man - but he seeing the world a bit differently than he used to. That has been its own struggle - change always is.

However, there's a certain very synergistic relationship between that change and the position he's found himself in with this war. Since joining the Joint Pact, he's been growing more powerful. He needs weapons for his battles, and his allies need his oil. But even beyond his oil, his allies need him to be strong so that he can offer his support instead of the other way around. However, just as a young man is getting his first taste of adulthood is perhaps not the best time to increase his strength - it's a lot to get used to, and it leads to rash decisions on what to do with that.

Especially in someone who already makes too many rash decisions. When the flashlight is knocked out of his hands, he sees no reason not to respond exactly as his first impulse suggests - he takes the one required step to be near enough to backhand her sharply across the face. "It's not a fantasy, but reality!" he tells her. And though he's not really enraged enough at her to use his full strength against her for her actions and words, he does so anyway because of a certain perverse curiosity. He has no idea what she's been doing with herself since the last time they exchanged blows but he's been taking every weapon and bit of land he could get his hands on. So now he has to ask himself: Exactly how much stronger than his sister is he now? Well, he can't find that out if he holds back, can he?

Vicente watches the results of his little experiment with a certain almost sadistic glee. There had been a time, and not that long ago, that she was actually stronger than him. Of course, she was also so internally divided at the time that she couldn't use all of her strength, but it still rankled the easily upset young man for his younger sister to have that over him. It hadn't been his fault, he insisted to himself - America had been very unhappy with him and convinced almost everyone to stop helping him. But that's what had caused him to turn to many of the nations who would eventually form the Joint Pact. He was weakened, but it did nothing to convince him to be more cooperative with the large, imperious nation.

But as he watches his sister, how she stumbles, the sound that she makes as she pulls away - oh, how the tables have turned! "I'm sorry, did that hurt?" he asks, a mocking smile coming to his face. What she says rankles him a little bit, but only for an instant because he quickly responds, "I have all the friends I need." True, he's quite lacking in friends that are on the same hemisphere - actually powerful ones, anyway - and the ones that he does have are perhaps not of the highest quality when it comes to actually behaving like friends, but as far as he's concerned the proof is in the pudding: which of them is doing better? "And where are your friends, little Camila? Is America so busy being everyone's hero that he has no time for you? He has no business being in South America anyway - he's no better than the Europeans. In fact he's worse, trying to tell everyone what they must do and how they must be by force," he teases.

Having said that, he now begins to advance upon her, very slowly, intentionally giving her time to decide if she will advance or retreat, or simply remain where she is. "South America is for South Americans - nobody else. You remember what they did to mother's family, but we will not let them do the same to us. We must unite against them and be strong or they will control us. And if you don't agree then I'm sorry, sister, but I will have to make you," he says with a certain cruel smile. He doesn't really even want her to agree - it would deny him the pleasure of tearing her to pieces for every offense, real or imagined, that she's ever committed against him.

Does Vicente consider his allies to be his friends? Not really. Not even Yao, who is probably his biggest supporter - that nation is more of a mentor than anything, and he's under no delusions about the fact that the ancient nation has his own agenda for their relationship that he doesn't entirely agree with. Iran is similar to Yao. And then there's Ivan... about all he can say about their relation is that they conveniently don't like the same people.

But he wasn't lying when he said that he has all the friends that he needs. He has all the help, support, advice, direction, and other such things that he needs - he's just not very needy. Some weapons, some pointers, perhaps a loan when he's dug himself into another financial hole - that's all he needs. He doesn't need a shoulder to cry on or other dumb things like that like his sister.

As his sister goes into a completely meaningless and unrelated rant about Ivan, though of course it's a complete delusion on her part, he can't help but feel his blood start to boil even more. He's about to really let her have it (verbally), when there's this sudden, inexplicable pain on his face. What the actual hurt? Okay, maybe she's actually strong enough to still hurt him if she gets him in a soft spot. He can shake it off! But ouch! Backing up a step and bringing a hand over his nose, he tries desperately not not let the pain show on his face. And he succeeds - well, except that his eyes are watering more than usual, and he's momentarily rendered speechless.

Nevertheless! The moment that he can shake off the surprise that she actually hit him and that it actually hurt that much, he finds his tongue again. "I'm not on the wrong side!" is his masterful comeback, though what he was going to say before she punched him in the face chooses to come back to mind a moment later. "Is it Ivan who tries to kill the Boss of everyone who isn't doing what he says? Is it Ivan who was kind enough to share his drug problem with everyone? Are the drugs why you don't seem to remember that it's America's fault Panama left you? And the Banana massacre? The failure of Plan LAZO? He's done nothing but screw with you to get what he wants from you since the day I left you to fend for yourself," he declares.

Now that he's not inwardly writhing in pain about his nose he steps back forward again - this time keeping his arms lifted a bit so that he can (hopefully) block her from doing that again. In fact as he comes closer he hopes that she tries it again, because this time it's his intention to grab her arms and if she predictably tries another strike that would make it all the easier. Otherwise he'll have to simply make a grab for them when he's close enough.

It would be a lie to say that Vicente feels nothing for his sister, but all the more positive feelings aren't the ones that come out. A part of it is simply the fact that he's not especially good at expressing such feelings, but most of it is because he can't get past just how stupid she is. Look at how easy it is for him to list off so many terrible things that America has done to her, but will she listen? No, it's like she's purposely ignoring it all, clinging to America for protection just because he's the strongest guy around like a helpless little girl. How can he seriously show any care for someone so pathetic?

And yet she's still his sister, so a part of him does hope that some day she'll wise up and listen to him. He just hopes that it's not until after her crushing defeat - because she deserves that. Then he can tell her what's what and she'll have to listen and tell him that he was right about everything all along.

When she starts to yell, he responds by looking more amused, at least until he sees her leg coming for him. Mierda, he hadn't been expecting that! Which means that he's not able to avoid the blow very well, but as his hands were already poised to grab her he lunges forward even as he starts to fall. His hands still aim to get her arms, but it doesn't matter what he can grab - her clothes, her hair - all that matters is that he gets a firm grip on her and won't let go. Not that he expects her to be strong enough to handle being used by him to catch his balance. No, instead it's that if he's going to fall to the ground, then she's going with him.

In fact, he attempts to twist as he falls so that she'll end up beneath him - but though the maneuver works in his mind, in reality he doesn't quite have the finesse for that. Instead his effort merely makes them both land on their sides, which... well, at least she didn't land on top of him. Though the main thing that he's focused on is maintaining his firm grip on her - which is made all the easier by the fact that he frankly doesn't care if he's hurting her.

Landing in the dirt with a thud, unfortunately Vicente is slower to react to the situation than his sister and the next thing he knows her hands are on his throat. Fortunately for him, however, that struggle doesn't seem to last for very long before she abruptly seems to think better of her actions. This is an excellent demonstration of why her inner conflicts are so much to his advantage.

He, on the other hand, has very few such internal conflicts. Probably because, as a socialist state which is constantly accused of being dictatorial in nature, internal conflicts are quickly and swiftly crushed. He rarely questions what he does, because of course whatever he wants to do is right.

So when he sees that his sister seems to be having some sort of a girly emotional breakdown, he's very quick to take advantage. He's pulled her hair enough times to know that if he manages to get a hold of enough of it and doesn't pull it too sharply, it's less likely to pull out and simply gives him control over her head. So he gathers more of it into his hands and then uses it to pull her head back and away from him. Then he takes advantage of his new strength to roll both of them until he's the one on top, quickly shifting his hands to her wrists - he doesn't want her to choke him again after all.

"Because you are a simple-minded fool who wouldn't know the truth of her situation if it fell on her head! You don't learn the simplest lesson unless it's repeatedly pounded into you, and even then you are slow! You should listen to me, your older brother, but do you? No, you don't! Because stupid Camila thinks that she knows better, no matter how many times everything she does blows up in her face. She'd rather run after the imperialist brother of a bastardo nation among bastardo nations, because of course he has her best interests at heart even though he's repeatedly proven otherwise. She'd rather side with Brazil instead of her own brother!" he rants angrily in her face.