As useful and perhaps even entertaining as it has been for Vietnam to attend the meeting for those periods of time when all the nations are mingling freely, there's only so much of the actual official business that Vietnam can take. Some of it has been interesting to watch, actually - she feels like she's been 'out of the loop' for the past 80 years or so, and quite a few of the world's strongest nations were not of much importance back then. So it's educational to go and see them negotiating - to learn their personalities and get a sense of their strengths and flaws. But once she felt that she had done that she found her mind wandering.
And then her feet began wandering - she slipped away while Japan seemed to be distracted by his negotiations. He may or may not have actually been distracted, and may or may not have cared that she left, but either way she managed to leave and that matters to her more than discovering just how long of a leash he has her on. From her own perspective, it doesn't matter - he doesn't need her help with the negotiations, at least not this particular portion because it has nothing to do with herself. And she doesn't need a leash either, because she's literally not planning on doing anything. Not right now, and not in general, unless you count attempting to make strategic friendships and keeping an eye open for opportunities as 'doing something'. And right now all she's attempting to do is to relieve her boredom with a walk. And if her brother objects to that later, she'll worry about the consequences then.
Slipping into the hallway, she takes a breath, knowing that either she got away cleanly or her bother didn't mind. And either way, that means that she's both free from the meeting and free to do as she pleases for a while. And there are few things that she enjoys more besides the freedom to do as she pleases. Even if there are limits to it, she'll take what she can get.
And the first thing that she does with that freedom is to wander a bit. She's never been to this building before, after all, and it seems very foreign and interesting to her. Though she doesn't wander very far before she finds a window and pauses there to look out and see what she can see. The afternoon is ending and the sun is low on the horizon. It will begin to set soon, though the sky hasn't begun to change its color.
It had been amusing, for a time. He'd really had no reason to come here, at all- Matthew still wasn't sure why he'd asked, actually. He suspected part of him wanted to see them start talking about the peace treaty with his own eyes, see proof that it was actually signed. It'd bring some kind of peace to his mind, maybe, kind of, to know that at least someone was getting some sleep tonight. Or was it that he wanted reassurance that someone else also wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight? Who even knew at this point. At some point, when it was all over, he'd probably need to sit down and sort out his head better.
Hah. That's a laugh.
Anyway. The "party"- funeral march- gathering- whatever the hell that had been was fun for a time. Useful, too. Matthew was perfectly capable of being observant after all, and even as peace treaties were being negotiated the next room over, he could watch the supposed Axis practically already holding knives at each others' backs. It almost seemed as though it'd only take one careful push- one carefully instigated action- one miss-blamed "mistake"- and then- hm. It was a thought worth considering, for whenever the time to act arrive. They were already bickering enough, on edge with each other. Eris would only have to throw the golden apple (not for the fairest, no, label it for the strongest) and then watch to see what would happen.
And Matthew could only think: "these were the people he threw me aside to ally with", and then think, "he'll deserve what he gets when their time comes, really". Well, that, and taking immense pleasure in imagining himself as Eris, one of these days- but first he'd have to wait. First he'd have to be patient. (Hell, they'd probably do it to themselves if he waited just long enough.) But he'd get his time at some point and that, at least, was worth watching the seams while shuffling in the most overwrought meeting Matthew had to attend in recent memory. So he had come, and he didn't exactly regret it, but-
-well. Once they actually started talking territories and serious business... look. Matthew wasn't normally terrible in these kinds of meetings, but the fact remained that no one would listen to him, everyone's eyes were sliding right past him at this point, and his opinion didn't matter in the slightest. It was that last part especially that was setting off Matthew, actually. It stung that his opinion mattered about as much as a wandering bear's opinion, as far as the people talking in the meeting were concerned. Plus, most of what they were discussing was completely and totally irrelevant to Matthew. Certainly, Hawaii was relevant to Alfred's continued happiness and good mood, but to Matthew? Literally no part of Canada was up for dispute. No one argued that Alfred had won in that regard. So Matthew's presence was not only unnecessary to them, it was unnecessary to Matthew. Once he regained his footing with Alfred, he'd probably be able to figure out anything he missed, anyway.
So he left. He even waved cheekily as he did, confident that absolutely no one would watch him doing it anyway, except maybe Alfred- who could come find him if he really needed Matthew in that meeting for some reason, and Matthew would end up coming back in, but Matthew rather suspected he'd wait until after he was done talking, at least. Instead, he'd taken the moment to walk around the building, maybe find something less grating to do. Seriously. If he had to sit in on ten more minutes of these people subtly trying to declare "my empire is better than yours" and "I deserve more than a fifth of the fucking world," Matthew was probably going to end up doing something drastic that he'd end up semi-regretting later.
He doesn't wander very far, though- for one thing, he really doesn't want to get lost, and he definitely doesn't want to push it with Alfred or the German Empire at the moment (no matter how much fun it would be). If he didn't find something new to do, he'd probably end up just sitting right outside, where he was somewhat out of range of the multiple people he currently felt like stabbing with a rusty stake. It would be better for everyone's health overall, really. However, before he could determine how far to wander, he paused- there was someone else wandering out here.
Matthew could vaguely recognize her. He hadn't really interacted with the Asian nation, though, and only really realized she was Vietnam because of something Francis had said several years back. (Matthew was quite good at remembering names. It was his own kind of quiet, odd retaliation for his own being constantly forgotten. People felt much more guilty about forgetting his when he remembered theirs impeccably.) At any rate, it was someone to talk to that Matthew didn't have any real reason to be angry with, which would be refreshing. So talk he would.
"Meeting getting long and irrelevant for you, too?" he asked kindly, before, preemptively, introducing himself- he wouldn't really blame her, this time, for not knowing who he was, since he barely knew who she was. (Next time, though...) "I'm Canada, by the way."
When it comes to the rivalries between the empires, Vietnam feels a bit helpless, actually. She does feel a great amount of respect for her brother Japan, and even has a great deal of confidence in his ability to come out on top. But she's not even sure if she wants him to come out on top - it depends, really. Perhaps if something happens to Japan she'd be able to break free of him - and it's whether or not she can somehow arrange for herself to become an independent nation that matters to her, not the posturing of the empires. She's an empire herself, after all... or at least she will be... on paper...
But any such thing seems too far away to be within reach, at the moment. After all, she's unlikely to have any success until she strengthens herself first and sorts out her internal harmony. All of the changes lately have left her troubled and uncertain in many matters, and she knows that she needs to get that sorted out before she expect to do anything about her external situation. Her brother China had taught her this lesson when she was quite young, and she learned it well.
So for now it seems like all she can do is watch and wait, hoping that things that are favorable to her will happen even if she can't do much to influence them herself. The world seems to be in a rather volatile state right now so it's quite possible that many opportunities will come her way. She just has to be careful to choose only the right ones and to take advantage of them properly.
Though she hears someone walking around behind her, she pays no attention to the sound as her mind has wandered off into other things. However, when someone speaks to her she turns to see who it is. It isn't anyone she recognizes, but then again that's true of a rather large number of nations - even back before she was colonized her contacts with the rest of the world were somewhat limited. That was certainly a different time... Still, hearing the kindness in his voice, she smiles and turns around more fully. "Vâng - it seems unlikely that any of the border disputes will involve me," she replies. Not unless England or Japan decides that they should have a different border in Indochina than the one the England had with France before, and neither of them have any real reason to change the border. Well, except that they both probably would like to have more land, but that desire alone isn't a very effective argument.
And she appreciates the fact that he gives her his name... though it doesn't ring any bells for her any more than his face does. But she's quick to explain away her ignorance, take the full blame for her lack of knowledge, and return the favor in case he doesn't know her either. "And I am Vietnam, Japan's little sister. But it's okay if you didn't know that - I haven't been a country for about eighty years, and it was only recently that my brother made me a protectorate again so I haven't been around. And I'm afraid that don't really know you either, so sorry! I wasn't really able to pay close attention to what was happening during those years, and so much has changed. And even then I didn't know my European countries very well - there are so many of you, after all, and not all of you visited Asia very much," she says very politely.
