What's new

El Presidente, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Conspiracy

Záhorie

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
7,834
Location
Planet Mercury
Capital
Relenksa
Nick
Fleur
The Emperor stood abruptly. A quick call down the call out the door and a succession of servants arrived, each more immaculately dressed. The Emperor shared a few words. Some apparently causing consternation among the staff who ran about rather quickly after a quick discussion. "Come" the Emperor said. "We will be going to a favorite place of mine".

The Emperor led El Presidente to a waiting car. The small sedan even was adorned with cloth seats. Aside from the two uniformed police officers in the front seats and El Presidente's security detail in a trailing car... the car was otherwise nondescript. The car zoomed through the narrow medieval streets of Chagny and crossed the wide boulevards. The Emperor stared out the window at his city and pointed out some niche history trivia before reaching down to his feet and hefting a thick file. He handed to El Presidente casually. The manila folder contained a huge number of documents, photos, and invoices. "Not for you to keep" said the Emperor, looking once more out the window. "It seems the new Tsar is rather erratic. Or rather, is a bit more.....intent on dealing with any manner of rivalry" the Emperor said with a frown. "Frankish intelligence is some of the best in the world- but even the most inept of agencies can see that this is purely medieval behavior. If...or rather when this breaks in the media even I will have a hard time justifying this alliance" the Emperor said finally turning from the window. "The point, my friend, is that even I and the Frankish people have limits to our pragmaticism".

The car rounded around a corner and shot down a side street before stopping in front of a tiny brasserie. The Emperor waited as El Presidente got out. The building was neither nice nor dilapidated but it had surely seen better days. Leading Presidente inside, the Emperor was pleased to see it was only partially full. The long but narrow restaurant had rust brown walls that were adorned with 1910s posters and the occasional crack. At the very rear of the restaurant was the kitchen- shrouded behind a very narrow doorway and two ancient stairs. The Emperor leaned in to whisper- "this place was built in 1768. It was originally, I am told, a laundry". A few patrons stared in awe at the Emperor and then did a double take as they saw El Presidente. Others seemed very unconcerned with their presence. As they waited for a prepared table, a disheveled man in his 60's with a giant bushy mustache appeared from the kitchen. "Your Majesty" he croaked with open arms. "Maurice!" the Emperor responded. They shared a hug. The old restaurant owner showed a genuine smile. "How are your granddaughters?" the Emperor asked. "Good, good" said Maurice- showing them to a table. "I have been coming here since I was a child" the Emperor said to Presidente. "Maurice is a family friend" he continued. Without inquiry, a bottle of wine was placed on the table and after a few minutes, escargot appeared. The buttery garlic snail was Maurice's specialty. "El Presidente" the Emperor began. "I brought you here so you may understand something" he said, taking an escargot from the dish and spreading it on a piece of toast. He gestured around the room. "These people" the Emperor said without apparent emotion, "are hungry. Not for food. But for their future. Some of them are Burgundian. Maybe some are from Arches. Some maybe Patois or Pilan. But they all want food. They are not going to order the same thing. No. They are going to order what satisfies them according to their wallet. They aren't going to order a shit meal just to please others. Sure, they may compromise for a child, family, or a date" the Emperor said, taking a bite. "But look at them Presidente. All hungry. Some compromising. Some ordering what they really want. What would you do?"
 

Josepania

Establishing Nation
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
7,648
Location
Los Angeles
Capital
Palmira
Nick
Jose
You must be registered for see images
Presidential Suite, Albergo Nazionale

Palmira, Oltremare, Radillan Republic


Il Governatore let the sounds of the crashing waves outside his Suite del Governatore envelope him as he methodically unpacked his luggage, setting every article of clothing, every toiletry, and of course every piece of electronic equipment in the most convenient location possible. This was an official visit to "hold court" as the tradition went, and he was here to listen to the grievances of the citizens, meet with the local bigwigs and mafioso representatives and ascertain their needs, and give the necessary speeches to wave the flag of patriotism amongst the population for the upcoming war. But why couldn't he have some fun and make this a vacation as well? It was easy as a statesman within an autonomous republic to mix business with pleasure, especially given a majority of the realm he was given extensive powers over was seemingly crafted by God himself to be a place for pleasure, and his actual governing responsibilities were so vague, limited, and ill-defined that he was more of a figurehead than anything. He was essentially 'un Piccolo Doge' as some of his detractors whispered behind closed doors, and that was the way he liked it.

His items sufficiently distributed, he flopped back onto the king-sized bed and let out a satisfied exhale, letting himself sink into the absurdly soft mattress and allow the sounds of the beach outside to further remove his consciousness from reality. He was, through this, able to briefly forget that war was imminent. He had given a public face of enthusiasm and indefatigable confidence that the Mondo Libero was destined to be victorious over the Tarusan Empire and its nefarious minions, but privately he fretted that the democracies of the globe were not as united as they appeared. There were already cracks forming between the post-delegationist faction in @The Federation, the @Hanseatic Republics, and the Anti-State led by @Touzen, CETO's largest member of @Tianlong not fully endorsing the Valls Pact headed by @Ebria, despite its allies of @Rheinbund and @Radilo signing on, and of course the wildcard socialists of @Thaumantica who had their own grievances with post-delegationism. Unity was held together by string and hopes rather than steel, and expectations of coordination were fleeting to say the least.

Still, it was better than any prior arrangement that was cranked out previously by a desperate free world, and that had to be good enough for what appeared to be imminent conflict. The only question was where it would begin: the Gothic Sea, or the Meridian Sea. Either way, Il Governatore had to get his vacationing in now while he could, before the optics alone made such endeavors that much more difficult to justify.

His phone rang, and his thoughts were disturbed enough for him to emerge from his cocoon of rest and bring the intruding piece of technology to his ear. "Yes? ... yes I am. ... I understand, please let Signore Bruno know our dinner reservation is confirmed, I shall see him in an hour."

Already the mafiosos were here, interrupting his pleasure in favor of business. In this case Signore Bruno no doubt wanted to complain about fears of his cocaina production being halted due to the war, and therefore impacting his bottom line. Il Governatore's job was to assuage such fears and point out profits were going to be bigger than ever due to the stresses of war on the layman's psyche that they needed their escape from brutal reality at any cost. He knew the mafioso knew that, but he also knew the mafioso loved to complain, almost as a past time, and he wanted to mix it in with a little wining and dining with the statesman to try and extract some more concessions from him. It'd be a fun game, but frankly, the Oltremarino was already feeling impatient to get it over with so he could relax on the beach and go back to his own coping mechanisms of leaving reality behind.
 

Josepania

Establishing Nation
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
7,648
Location
Los Angeles
Capital
Palmira
Nick
Jose
You must be registered for see images
Ristorante Presidential, Albergo Nazionale

Palmira, Oltremare, Radillan Republic


The normally bustling restaurant was much quieter than usual, given the unusual lack of patrons sampling the various cuisines both Radillan and Yaran in nature, though the quality of the food wasn't what drove the guests away as it was the extensive security of both Westernesse and Oltremarino guards, given the two patrons that remained.

The music was still playing though, an upbeat tempo that provided appropriate background noise to the luxurious, tropical atmosphere the restaurant, and indeed the hotel as a whole, had to offer. The paella being offered to both Il Governatore and his counterpart from @The Federation, Deputy Secretary of State Anita Hunnicutt certainly helped perpetuate that vibe, bringing more of an air of two foreigners on vacation rather than what it truly was: a low-level diplomatic discussion.

But then, Il Governatore had a reputation of mixing business with pleasure, and it was a reputation he was more than happy to continue perpetuating, given that it personally benefitted him.

"Vostra Eccellenza, I hope the paella is to your liking?" the Oltremarino statesman asked shortly after a swig of the local cerveza to wash down his own generous helping. "Palmira is renowned for the freshness of its seafood, though I understand some prefer the meat of terra firma to the open blue."

He paused briefly to allow for a response, before pressing onwards, "I'm glad you could travel south to meet with me, and do not worry, I am not offended by your diplomatic status as a Deputy Secretary, given that I am, comparatively, a Deputy Statesman of sorts. I do think we can still accomplish something here, ensure that there is as much cooperation between The Federation and the Radillan Republic as possible. For instance, I hear tell you all are already starting trouble with the Gutnish Pirates in the frigid north, I'm curious what your government would like the Radillans to do, if anything, to help with that?"
 

The Federation

Established Nation
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
2,187
Location
Northbound
Capital
Charleroi
Nick
RevolverZeek
Deputy Secretary Anita Hunnicutt had been to the Oltremarino tropics once before and had found the relaxed atmosphere to be just the kind of medicine she needed to heal the damage the fast paced world of Charleroi did to the human psyche. She enjoyed the wine and beer and the fresh seafood dishes that one could not find easily in the Federation.

"Everything is wonderful, it is good to be back, if even only for work. In this place even work seems to be relaxing." She took another bite of the excellently prepared dish and sip of wine to wash it down. "Perhaps I shall retire here when the time comes." She said with a laugh.

She took another sip of wine before going on to the topic of Radilo. "Yes, that is a sad subject, an entire nation fallen into anarchy and piracy, a terrible vision of post delegationism misapplied I would say. Someone had to do something and we were in the position to bring them to heel, the world's reaction to this is strange to say the least. So what can our friends in Radilo do? I cannot say what other then perhaps a word of support for their friends in the Federation. I understand that Radilo and their Tianese friends are quite busy in Himyar, what can the Federation do to help there?"
 
Top