Is there a standard amount of time that it's supposed to take for someone to get their mojo back after one is freed from a long and hard circumstance? If so, Vietnam isn't sure what it is but she is certain that it should be taking her so long. She is Vietnam, after all, so being both charming and powerful is simply who she is. And yet she has found herself plagued by fear - which is definitely not becoming of her.
If this was a millennia ago when she actually still really cared about the opinions of other nations she would surely die of embarrassment about her recent behavior. But one can not reverse the clock and make it do such things never happened - one can only attempt to make amends as best as one can and attempt to make sure that all future behavior is of a much better form. And it is while she was pondering her recent failures as a nation that she planned to do what she is doing now.
Though she knows that her brother and current leader Japan doesn't trust her - and rightfully so - he hasn't seen fit to restrict her movements very much. And in any event her very carefully made and humble request that she could please go to Europe so that she might find and negotiate a few trade deals for the betterment of both herself and Japan is only so suspicious. It's a well known fact, to her brother at least, that she has a supreme dislike of Europeans in general - in fact one might even assume that it's safer to send her to Europe so that she's not whispering instead to various family members, who she can more easily converse with.
And that might actually be true - but what is also true is that there is a difference between 'safer' and 'safe'. Because every visit to Europe takes a considerable amount of time, she'd asked before she went if there were any errands she could run for Japan while she was there. Those she did first, wanting to make sure that he would have no reason to be displeased with her when she returns. But now that she has finished those, she can run her own errands.
It wasn't difficult to find Germany's house - after all, the nation who may very well be the strongest in the world at the moment doesn't need to hide it, because who would dare do anything to it? Not her. Not directly, anyways... The building is surrounded by guards, though, but that doesn't surprise her. She walks right past the ones next to the front door - she's not even going to try to go that way, because there's only so many options if she does. Instead she walks past as if she knows exactly what she's doing, even though she only sort of does. She walks around the side on the sidewalk and then to the back. She's not really surprised to see that there are guards in the back as well, but a small part of her had been slightly hoping that the security would be a bit looser. Admittedly that's probably way too much to hope for in Nazi Germany...
Still, she walks with purpose as if she knows exactly what she's doing and where she's going. And walks up right next to a back entrance with a guard next to it and knocks as if she's supposed to be there. The guard watching the door eyes her suspiciously, but she casts him a friendly smile and waits patiently as if fully expecting the door to be answered, so he seems to decide to keep an eye on her but allow her to proceed and see who answers her knock. Fortunately for Vietnam, she's had well over a millennia to practice not showing a trace of nerves. Especially not ones that a Westerner with all their different mannerisms would understand. She just hopes that someone will open the door and that said someone is useful.
Day-to-day life had slowly worked it’s way into a sort of routine for Fane; and as most who knew the Romanian were aware of, he wasn’t really one for routine. Routine meant things became predictable, and wasn’t that just the most unfortunate, boring thing? Where was the excitement to be had when he could wake up up every morning and know exactly how his day would play out (and there was another thing he hated, for that matter. Waking up in the morning)? He could count on being up at a reasonable time for breakfast for once in his life. He could clean everything in the kitchen afterwards, since these oh-so-efficient Germans could claim they could clean well all they liked, but still wouldn’t meet his standards. Then he had plenty of time all day to pretend he didn’t speak fluent German, just so the humans around him would think they could speak candidly with him being none the wiser. Dicks. Throw in spending his time playing sheep dog to his little lamb of a brother, pointedly avoiding being in the same vicinity as Ludwig whenever he could, and simultaneously trying to also be around a certain Prussian, and Fane could call his day complete.
To put his feelings on it all into concise words: it fucking sucked.
So when there was an unexpected knock at the back door and only him around to hear it, he took it as a sign even God must be feeling sorry for him by giving him some form of potential trouble to get into. No one was supposed to be visiting today, as far as he knew. Were it someone important, no doubt everything would have been in tip top shape. Everyone would probably be dressed all nicely, and reminded - i.e. warned - to act with their best behavior. And besides - a guest who was meant to be here would have used the front door.
He waited a moment, then two, weighing his options and then deciding it was pointless to do so. He knew himself. He was going to open that door. Walking to the door with all the casual confidence ill-befitting a conquered territory, he opened it, staring at the woman on the other side. An asian woman, one who he was sure he’d probably heard of in passing, but never had a reason to meet. She was certainly pretty, even if he questioned the sincerity of the smile on her face, and her expression read as perfectly calm, but he questioned if that rang true underneath it all. What if he asked her why she was here, or said she shouldn’t be? Would she still look so peaceful? Did she even have a plan if he did such? He was curious of the potential answers, but he was even more curious as to just why she had come here.
“...Ahh, draga mea, so good to see you!” He was quick to take her hand and kiss it, smiling gleefully all the while, as if he’d been waiting all day to finally see her. “We were wondering when you would make it, but what am I doing keeping you out here? Come, come, you will be far more comfortable inside.”
Without another word he was ushering her inside and away from the scrutinous eyes of the guards. He didn't dare stop after he had closed the door, nor when he lead her through the hallway and past any rooms that could even potentially have people waiting inside. He didn't stop until he pulled her into his empty room, locking the door behind himself.
“Miss,” he said it with a tone still as pleasant as when he'd first spoken to her, but that smile was just a little too impish, his eyes full of the kind of curiosity that could kill a dozen cats. “Not that I hate sticking my neck out for a lovely stranger, but just what are you doing here?”
Someone knowing exactly what Vietnam is doing would likely assume that she would be extremely nervous, whether she appeared to be or not. And they would be correct, though only partially - she suspects that it's probably impossible for anyone to do something like this without being at least a little bit nervous, given the stakes, but she finds herself to be even less nervous than she'd thought that she'd be. When you face the same danger over and over again, even if you've suffered consequences as a result, it becomes very familiar and it loses much of its terror. In fact, the reason why she isn't completely calm about this situation is the fact that there are some unfamiliar elements to it, but on the whole she knows what she's doing and the risks involved.
So though she is doing something that probably seems unusual to the guard, it isn't that difficult for her to adopt the proper mannerisms to give off the impression that it's nevertheless nothing that he ought to be concerned about. Still, there are limits to that, which is why when the door opens the guard is clearly still keeping an eye on her - even more especially because it took several moments for the door to be answered. But when it is, the look that crosses her face is one of delight and happiness, as if she's greeting a friend.
Which she isn't, of course - she doesn't know the man at the door. Some European country she doesn't recognize - which is not surprising because she doesn't really know very of them, and is also just as well because she doesn't really like most of the ones she does know. But if she knew the questions floating around his head, she'd be offended - of course she has a plan! Well, sort of - things could go many different ways at this point, so it's impossible to prepare a contingency plan for absolutely everything that could go wrong, but she knows that to do to minimize the most severe possible consequences and she's also very good at improvisation.
Which she is now proving by not hitting him when he so familiarly not only takes her hand but kisses it, as would be her natural instinct. As much as you'd think that she'd be used to certain cultural differences by now, having served under France for so long, she never did get used to it and suspects that she never will. But instead of responding with violence, she lets out a laugh that hopefully doesn't sound as awkward as she feels. "Ah! Thank you for inviting me!" she says, very subtly glancing at the guard who had been watching her to see what he makes of the exchange. But he's not looking at her, he's looking over at the man greeting her. Though when their exchange seems to indicate that this visit had been arranged, he simply nods in greeting and then turns his attention back to keeping watch. He'll likely remember both of their faces, but he doesn't seem to think that this is something he needs to stick his nose into.
Besides, they're not at the door very long after that anyways - Vietnam soon finds herself being guided through a very unfamiliar and foreign building, and she doesn't protest. Though they've literally only just met, based on the way that he greeted her she suspects that she can trust him to be taking her to a safe place. And if not, she's far from being the small, delicate woman that she looks like and has many options for getting herself out of whatever trouble she's gotten herself into.
In fact, the smile that was on her face before doesn't disappear, though the type of smile changes. Now it is fully genuine and there is a mischievous quality to it - this is an adventure and she's enjoying it. And she only keeps quiet until they reach what she gathers is a safe place - then she lets out a laugh. "You don't need to worry. I'm not here to do anything that will get you into trouble. Not today. Not unless you'll get in trouble just for bringing me in," she says first, before pausing to better compose herself and get her bearings.
She takes a glance at the room, which isn't impressive by any means but that doesn't matter to her. What matters more to her is that it isn't a closet, which means that she is fully capable of moving to where she no longer feels like her personal space is at risk - which is slightly further than arm's length at the moment - so she does so by stepping back a pace. And at the same time, she straightens her ao dai, even though it probably wasn't actually wrinkled, but it helps her feel like everything is in order. Having done that, she turns her attention back to him and adds, "I am here to find someone to talk to - perhaps you? I am Vietnam." Then, since she introduced herself, she gives him a proper bow. Not that she expects him to understand that gesture.
