NationStates Jolt Archive

After Senior Vice President and External Affairs Officer Grant Haffner and Lieutenant President Nicole Lewis took off for Timiocato in an effort to fully restore Paci-Sarzonian relations to their pre-Panic of 2006 levels, President Jay Tyler was suddenly alone in his office.

First Gentleman Brian Patrick was on his way to Qazox to extend the Incorporated Sarzonian Government's congratulations to the Sarzonian athletes competing in the inaugural Qazoxian Winter Sports Festival. Thus, Tyler had a few moments to himself after a hectic campaign schedule and an inauguration that seemed to come out of nowhere.

Tyler stood up behind his desk -- Mike's desk -- and stared out at the office where Sarzo made so many important decisions. His eyes scanned the room. He'd insisted on a painted portrait of Sarzo which was hanging over a fireplace on the wall to the right of the desk as Tyler looked toward the door. Sarzo never wanted a photo of himself in the office, but with the nation's founder six feet underground, he couldn't exactly object.

Tyler decided to take a walk around the Gray House. He'd certainly seen plenty of it as First Partner, but he now had a different perspective as President. As a result, everything was the same, except everything had changed. Becky Davis retired after Sarzo's death. An impossibly young Monique Harris replaced her as the president's executive administrative assistant. Then again, Tyler himself could be considered impossibly young. He was approaching his 33rd birthday. He knew that there weren't very many world leaders as young as he was.

He didn't notice Harris in the doorway and only her sharp "Sir!" kept him from crashing into her.

"Sorry Monique."

"Mr. President, I have a dispatch for you."

"Oh? Who's it from?"

"I'm having a hard time pronouncing the name."

"That's fine, Monique. Here, let me have it." She handed Tyler the dispatch. His eyes widened slightly as he read it. It was Davrain Nayadol, Minister of Internal Affairs for Yafor 2. He had planned a state visit during the run up to the Sarzonian presidential election, but his visa hadn't been approved by External Affairs until 5th November, the day after Tyler won in overwhelming fashion.

Poor Grant, Tyler thought, remembering the toll 20-hour workdays took on Haffner. Oh well. Perhaps Nayadol was still interested in paying a visit even though the election had already taken place.

"Send a message to Nayadol," Tyler said. "Let him know if he wants to pay a state visit, he's welcome to, and apologise for the delay in approving his travel visa."

"Will do," Harris said, taking the dispatch from Tyler and briskly turning around. She didn't turn around when Tyler yelled out "thanks!" She just yelled back "It's what I do."

A plane, en route to Atlantian Oceania

"Remind me again why, of all the possible choices for envoys, they're selecting the Minister of Internal Affairs?" Davrain Nayadol was going over ground that he had already passed through earlier in the conversation. It was clear to the other person on the plane that he had either not understood the answer the first time, or was interested in emphasizing that very answer. Neither was very much in character for the mid-sized Minister of Internal Affairs. Normally, he was not only very quick and on the ball regarding causes behind actions he was ordered to partake in, but he was also usually not even close to subtle while emphasizing phrases. If it was the second that was the motivation for his question, she was glad - after all, to be an envoy, one needed to have a certain level of tact and delicacy.

"She" of course was Amalria Godarian. Yes, that one. The one who was a former ambassador to Tiburon, present at that party in that place...yeah, yeah, referencing old story lines without bothering to open said story lines is a bit unnecessary. Anyway, she was not only very pretty, but also rather intelligent, and a rising star in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in part due to her familial connections - the Godarian family were old aristocrats and somewhat prominent in the government as a result). This was her first major assignment where she was the senior-ranking foreign affairs officer, and like most Yaforites, she had prepared in a fashion that one would most likely regard "over-the-top". Thus, dealing with seemingly-unnecessary questions fielded by the Minister of Internal Affairs was not anything that she did not expect.

"Because you're really the last true high-ranking Sodoist in the government. We can only send someone who has experience working with Sarzonians and even though that was a long time ago, you're the best person. Even if your job is somewhat, well, not a foreign affairs job." She rather easily flashed him a smile, hoping that perhaps that would put an end to his somewhat-irritating questions. After all, while there was a certain charm in small talk, it had never been something that Amalria (or, for that matter, most Yaforites) found particularly appealing - especially in lieu of the fact that there were certainly a number of more intelligent and more relevant topics to approach, given that they were about to land on foreign soil.

"So, we'll be dealing with Tyler directly, then?" Nayadol knew very well that they were, but from the change in tone of his voice, Amalria could tell that whatever subject they were now breaching, Nayadol meant business in regards to it. "Yes sir. The new president, the former, er, First Partner, or whatever his title was," she still had trouble getting her head around the fact that Sarzonians actually had titles for their president's partner. It struck her as wrong on more than one level; it seemed strange that a partner would have a title without actually having a post in government, and since the revolutionary ages, in Yafor 2, at least, every democratically-elected leader had been single (or, in the case of the first leader, prior to Rudiv Sodo, a widower). It just didn't seem right to Amalria, or indeed, to most Yaforites, in that way.

"We want to see his resolve. As you know, the original purpose of this trip was to gauge the candidates and their resolve, but the Sarzonians had a little bit of a problem regarding passports." It had been slightly out of the blue - after all, Yafor 2 was a former Woodstock Pact nation; Sarzonians should have been used to admitting Yaforite nationals. The Yaforite government, given the original purpose of the trip, had its own suspicions about the nature of that delay, but there was no need to voice them here. That had all been in the pre-departure briefing (as had all of this, which made Amalria somewhat suspicious on the whole). "So, as you're no doubt aware, the new purpose is to take ourselves and meld Sarzonian foreign policy in an amenable direction."

"Preferably away from that militant capitalism the Pacitalians will no doubt be indoctrinating them with." Davrain Nayadol's voice carried a "sick" quality to it and there was no question that what he said was widely accepted in the Yaforite community. The Yaforite-Pacitalian rift had happened somewhat gradually, as they developed in their own directions and the two countries, once closest allies, now found themselves on somewhat opposite sides of the world. Part of that had come from Yaforite development of their own sphere of influence, and their displays of their own philosophies regarding the world and, as a result, when events like a new president came about, beyond small congratulations, there was little from either side in the way of reparations, or developing new bonds.

"Sarzonia's the size of, hell, the size of a neighborhood in Toralen!" Nayadol was exaggerating slightly (Toralen, of course, being the most upper-class suburb south of Chelmar proper), but he was not entirely incorrect about their size. "Nonetheless," Amalria knew that her own response bore a sort of return to professionalism, a departure from the opinionated statements that Nayadol had been expressing. "Sarzonia still has a remarkable influence internationally and to have a nation like that in our pocket, supporting our policies, is certainly what we are looking for. I would recommend tact, though, sir. It has been a long time."

Davrain Nayadol took one last lingering glance out of the window before replying; "Yes, far too long indeed."

[OOC: Sorry for the wait and the quality of the post - I had wanted to get something better up before finals, but that didn't happen, so I tried to hurry this one up, so I wouldn't keep you wait. I apologize for making you wait all this time for a reply.]