The situation that Natalya found herself in..was not ideal. She didn't always like life under her brother's rule (no matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise), but it was far preferable to this. She could at least be herself most of the time around her brother, even if she was forced to speak in Russian most of the time rather than her own Belarussian tongue. But still, he was family. Germany was not. He should have never gotten as far as he did. And to think that even her brother..
There was one small advantage to the situation that Natalya found herself in, and that was that most of those she fraternized with (both friends and family) were also under German control. Her brother was one, though she rarely had the chance to talk to him. She could only imagine that Ludwig was keeping Ivan under close watch. She had not seen much of her sister yet either, and her heart ached for her kind-hearted older sister. Still..Natalya was in a better position than some, if only because she'd learned long before that she could catch more flies with sugar than she could with vinegar. On the outside, anyway. She was still just as bitter, just as determined to see Germany fall right before her eyes..she just refused to let him catch wind of any of that.
She wasn't going to let him use that against her. Not to mention she earned a few privileges this way. She hated that she had to kiss Germany's ass to get these privileges, but it was worth the small sacrifice for the bigger gains in the long run. She had no choice but to keep up hope because honestly, what did she really have left to lose at this point? Other than losing those around her permanently, there wasn't much..and even that did not seem entirely unlikely with the way things were going nowadays. She knew that she had to be smart about what she was doing though..there might be chances yet, but she couldn't just take them willy-nilly. She needed to keep her eyes open and pounce just at the right time.
One nation that she wanted to visit was Serbia - Snežana. She wondered how the other was doing, having not spoken with her in a while. She also wondered where Snežana stood on certain matters, though knew they would have to be careful if they wished to discuss anything in detail. Natalya approached a room that she knew Snežana to be within and knocked on the door frame before stepping inside and shooting one of her rare smiles and nodding a hello toward the other nation
There were certain subjects on which no one with any sense wanted to have the wisdom of experience, and Snežana had long since found herself unhappily an expert on some of them.
One of those subjects, which she wished very much were less applicable to her present situation, was how to handle a despised foreign power asserting dominance over her. She knew how to fight subtly, how to protect herself in the face of harsh laws designed expressly to harm her, how to tell the difference between a time when rebellion was the right way out and a time when resisting too openly could make things worse. And, knowing all this, she thought she would be able to survive, one way or another.
In such a situation, as in almost every situation, it was important to have friends. The fact that the knock at the doorway now was followed by the appearance of a cousin she was fond of was therefore most welcome, on multiple levels. "Zdravo, rođako," Snežana greeted the blonde woman with a smile. Hello, cousin. They hadn't seen each other in some time, but Snežana had always thought well of Natalya. The two of them had known each other for many years, and as best Snežana could recall, just about every interaction they had ever had had been positive. That was a welcome change from so many of the people Snežana had been spending time with lately -- such as a certain German one might name, with whom she could scarcely remember a single interaction that had given her a good opinion of him.
"It's been a while since we last met, hasn't it?" she asked. "How have you been faring?"
At a time like this, good and reliable friends were sorely needed. Perhaps the two of them could be that for each other.
Last Edit: Apr 19, 2017 22:10:34 GMT -7 by Deleted
As happy as she was to see Snežana, she knew that they could not speak with one another as freely as she would have liked. This caused a flash of anger to course through her, though there was of course little that she could do to act on said anger. She was supposed to act calm and collected. Her good behavior meant more freedom. More freedom meant that she would have more opportunity to break free once and for all. She just had to bide her time in the process. Good thing she was fairly patient.
The corners of her mouth turned upward into a smile when Snežana greeted her. "I've been faring well enough, what about yourself?" Well enough. That was as close to an honest answer as she could give. She could think of far more places she'd rather be than where she was now, but she couldn't exactly admit that without finding herself in trouble. But she could acknowledge that there were worse positions than where the two found themselves. Natalya was fairly certain her brother was in one of those.
Her smile faltered at the thought of her brother. Something happening to her brother or sister were probably the only things at this point that could bring Natalya to snap. "I'm happy to see you again." Natalya decided to add for effect..which was indeed the truth, and she didn't have to dance around that. Of course she'd be happy to see her cousin again. They'd always been on good terms with one another, even now. There was no reason to pretend otherwise.
Yes, this was something that Natalya sorely needed. She'd scarcely seen her brother in months, nor did she see much of her sister. She suspected her brother was being kept away on purpose, which was even more painful a thought. So..she would take advantage of this situation, this chance to spend time around family. Natalya didn't get close to many, but family was of utmost importance to her. Family was what was keeping her going
Last Edit: Apr 30, 2017 15:50:38 GMT -7 by Deleted
