The Stahl Ball

[Kaiser Martens]

[quote]"Well that is very pleasing to hear. Usually, to us, peace and prosperity in neighboring nations means economic stability and no hindrance of cultural development which is caused by war and instability. I hope that good relations will continue between Germany and Bohemia. But not to a degree that Dalmatia must invade.....again." chuckled the Emperor as he took another sip of his drink. [/quote]

"Well. You know them Dalmatians. They can be rather [i]proactive.[/i] But luckly not [i]too[/i] proactive in this particular situation."

[Sarah Tintagyl]

[i]"...So this is my Waltz I suppose... you want to dance, I have been taking lessons!" he said proud of himself.[/i]

Theresia looked up from the bench, the water and sweat still trickling down her face and the back of her neck. "Oh, you know I have no look to dance. Why, Jia, I look like a wreck and a whore, all sweaty and disgusting." But his face said otherwise, as if she was the only one who mattered in his eyes; and of course the eyes of the vassal behind him, which Theresia gave a nervous smile. "Well, I can deny you a dance, especially with your wife." With that, Theresia's dainty hand took his own as she let Jia lead her out, back into the ballroom and onto the dance floor. There they linked hands and bodies entwined as the Emperor's Waltz softly played over the dance floor. This of course was the moment the Austrian Aristocracy was waiting for, when the Empress had decided to awe them with a dance.

Slowly the lights in the room began to dim and hues of green, blues, and purples focused on the Imperial Couple as they moved like water and air across the floor. Jia was right, he had been taking lessons and his footsteps were impeccable, never missing a single step as they gracefully clicked their heels against the marble. "So you did learn to dance." Theresia grinned as her eyes sparkled and her hair blossomed under the lights. "I couldn't be any happier." She said as the sweat began to cool and the other people on the dance floor began to melt away. She could only focus on his eyes now and it was wonderful.

---

Meanwhile, Margareta, who had been dancing with Varma for much of the waltz and the following waltzes was obviously getting bored. She leaned into the General's space and turned to his ear, nibbling on it gently. "I'm getting fatigued Herr General, would you be so kind as to take me to my room? It isn't far, I assure you." She said then moving to suckle, lightly, though with a hint of passion, on his neck.

[Triyun]

Jia smiled playfully, "Come on, our best times have involved you swea..." he turned around to see leader of Mascurian Siberia awkwardly close behind them. "Eh heh. Hi hope your enjoying the... party." he said awkardly. "... yeah dance floor?" he asked Theresia.

Leading her out, Jia copied the moves he had been taught to the letter. He had started out awkwardly in his lessons, tell he was told to mimic it like a wushu taolu. During one particularly humiliating one, Kou was giving a briefing, and Jia could swear he could discern a reflection of Kou mocking him while his back was turned. But when he saw the smile in Theresia's eyes he could see that it had been worth it.

[i]"So you did learn to dance." Theresia grinned as her eyes sparkled and her hair blossomed under the lights. "I couldn't be any happier."[/i]

"Yup, I even got extra credit." he said winking and lifting her up and twirling her in the air before setting her down and continuing the Waltz. "... yeah I can be pretty awesome sometimes."

Xuehua walked up to the Khan of Mascurian Siberia, "Hey you!" she said. "Your the leader of the Great Turnips, right?" she asked Melech. "I heard that you once grew one the size of a pumpkin!" she said awe struck by the concept.

Across the room, Wei Hai nodded to Gao, "I am glad to see things are progressing smoothly, we should be opening bases in Zanzibar and enlarging our one in Oman too." he said. "I hope you'll find the facilities quite adequate."

[Captain Enema]

Dellion and his wife quietly watch as the Empress and her husband dance. Mrs. Dellion quitely says, "I remember when you danced with me once upon a time."

"That was before I got shot in the ass in Somalia," Dellion mutters.

[king of cochin]

[quote name='Sarah Tintagyl' timestamp='1314851123' post='2791974']


Meanwhile, Margareta, who had been dancing with Varma for much of the waltz and the following waltzes was obviously getting bored. She leaned into the General's space and turned to his ear, nibbling on it gently. "I'm getting fatigued Herr General, would you be so kind as to take me to my room? It isn't far, I assure you." She said then moving to suckle, lightly, though with a hint of passion, on his neck.
[/quote]

The dance was quite pleasant enough and Mahesh thanked his stars that he maintained his physical fitness else a lesser fit man may have gotten injured in the frenetic dancing. But what happened next was even more shocking. Leaving the obviously inebriated girl to what she was doing, provided it did not get any more rambunctious, Mahesh would lead her to the room. It was only for public good and her own wellness, the General assured himself in his mind as after a space of several years he led a beautiful young woman reclining in his arms to her room.

"Okay dear, come along and lead the way."

Edited September 1, 2011 by king of cochin

[Padraig Rua]

[quote name='Kaiser Martens' timestamp='1314843913' post='2791903']
"Well. You know them Dalmatians. They can be rather [i]proactive.[/i] But luckly not [i]too[/i] proactive in this particular situation."
[/quote]

[i]"Haha, Indeed Herr Glasserman, Indeed!"[/i] said the Emperor as he glanced around the room, making sure the Supreme Nordic Leader did not hear the Germans comment, and the Bohemians laugh.

[Rauchen]

[quote name='TheShammySocialist' timestamp='1314648144' post='2790590']
Upon Theresia's introduction of King Alaric, however, Michelle quickly turned to the monarch of Kurland, and curtsied, "Your Majesty, it is a pleasure. If my current events memory of Europe serves me well, it is your country that has been carving a name for itself in the Baltic over the past year or so."
[/quote]
"The pleasure is mine, Your Grace," Alaric replied, inclining his head to the Lady Protector. "But this is a celebration, let's drop the formalities. Call me Alaric." He took two glasses of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter and offered one to Michelle. "We do what we can." he added in response to her comment. "But I daresay the Cajun Federation has done as much, if not more, for the Caribbean as we have for the Baltic."

[KaiserMelech Mikhail]

[quote name='Triyun' timestamp='1314854650' post='2792021']
Xuehua walked up to the Khan of Mascurian Siberia, "Hey you!" she said. "Your the leader of the Great Turnips, right?" she asked Melech. "I heard that you once grew one the size of a pumpkin!" she said awe struck by the concept.
[/quote]
"Uhhh, yeah," Mikhail said, thinking back to the turnip he grew last summer, "the official measurement was 45 pounds, but I still think they short-changed me a bit." [i]A nice discussion on turnips[/i], Mikhail thought to himself, [i]this could be fun.[/i] "Miss," he said to Xuehua, "I don't believe I know your name."

[Kaiser Martens]

"Ja, heh"

Glassermann moves along to find himself a snack. Dierik still doesn't feel too participative and hangs around outside, having one of the many waiters bring him a bottle of something alcoholic. His mind is elsewhere, he's too cynical to go and say happy hellos to some of the people that, whether if they know it or not, may wish for him and his land to be dead anyway.

[Triyun]

"I am Yuan Xuehua!" she said. "Princess of the United Federation of the East, Imperial Regent of the South, and youngest sibling to the August Imperator. Nice to meet you!" she said offering a hand shake.

"So how did you grow such a big one, I grew up in Mongolia, which isn't too far away and I never heard of one that big!" she exclaimed.

[Kankou]

Göbbels, noticing Rebecca, came over to speak with her.

"Hello, I'm Grecia Göbbels, Minister of Communications. Since I'm the only one besides the president who is actually the part of the government, just ask this ältere Schwester."

A wink, with what seemed to be a heart momentally sparkling in the air.

[Lestari]

[quote name='Domingo the Honored' timestamp='1314821263' post='2791743']
Sergei raised his half-full glass of Coca-Cola in the air, smiling and chuckling. "[i]To the success of the Northern Federation![/i]" he said, taking a drink. He put the glass back down on the table and turned towards King Geoffrey.
[/quote]
et Violaine in turn smiled as well. "And to the Chancellery of Cyrantia," she said, raising her own glass. As Aleksandrov turned away and nearby Eyvindsson was still speaking to one of the Cyrantian officers, Isabelle glanced to one of the open doorways that led out to one of the outside balconies, seeing someone standing alone and detached from the ball. Excusing herself politely, et Violaine made her way towards the as yet unidentified recluse, and as she approached, stepping out into the cool outside air, she recognised him vaguely as Dierik Martens, Kronprinz of Germany. "Good evening, Kronprinz Martens; you seem to be enjoying yourself here," she spoke as she stepped forth.

[Amyante]

Rebecca blinked at seeing what appeared to be a small heart drift in the air. Maybe the wine was getting to her. Either way, it seemed she had the correct person in front of her, so after offering to shake hands she proceeded to ask her questions.

- "Good evening, i'm Rebecca Célentin, Royal Secretary of Zargathia. First off, i would like to thank you for your support during the... [i]unpleasantness[/i] with the UFE. It occurred to me that at the moment, we actually know very little about your nation. You mentioned only part of your party is part of the government?"

She thought on this. Grecia had mentioned a president, and had introduced herself as a minister, giving her government the characteristics of a republic. However, only two of their party of eight were actual members of government, and she had spotted several military uniforms as well, telling her the army held a fair share of power as well. That still left several people unaccounted for... Perhaps another extra-governmental institution?

[Kankou]

"Yes, since I don't really consider members of the military or the two special representatives of the Papuan Europeans and Japanese as technically part of the government, Sure, they're important in keep Grand Papua running smoothly, but the executive is certainly different from the special parts of it. The military and security folks are only here for protection, so to speak, and to see if we can meet some other nations who might be interested in relationships.

Grand Papua's a relatively unique place, with more than three-fourth being of European or Japanese descent. There has been a great influx of people following the mass deaths of the original Papuans, and with that the demographics were what we can say truly mixed. Our cute Retia Adolf here, who's the Idol of Papua, is what you can say the star of the Europeans, with the Mikado a symbol for the Japanese."

[Amyante]

Rebecca nodded in understanding. It seemed Grand Papua shared some similarities with Zargathia in that the demographics looked a bit off. Approximately a fifth of the population was of Nordic descent or had visible traits of it after all. There were some concerns about the names of the delegation, but being the trained diplomat that she was she simply ignored the negative connotations the surnames contained.

- "I see, thank you. The... uhm... Mikado is an official title for the representative of the Japanese population within your country acting as their spokesperson to the government or is it more similar to a diplomatic rank of sorts? Forgive the questions, but as a diplomat i am expected to know these things before i am asked."

[Kankou]

"It's more of the title of the symbol of unity of the Papuan Japanese, since all traditional heads are either dead or missing. Given her position within the Japanese society, she naturally became the representative to the Papuan government. I wouldn't say she's a spokesperson, since she is more than that: she is the [i]de facto[/i] queen if the Japanese were to secede from the state, something which has been avoided partly by given the Mikado influence within the government as the official representative of her people."

[Kaiser Martens]

[quote]Excusing herself politely, et Violaine made her way towards the as yet unidentified recluse, and as she approached, stepping out into the cool outside air, she recognised him vaguely as Dierik Martens, Kronprinz of Germany. "Good evening, Kronprinz Martens; you seem to be enjoying yourself here," she spoke as she stepped forth. [/quote]

He takes off his cap and places it on the balcony's thick, safe railing, after having turned his face to spot a...stranger. He nods respectfully and offers a brief, enigmatic martens-style smile for a moment - an ambiguous but sincere smile. "Good country, good air." He paused, sipping. "Decent wine. How might you be doing?"

[Lestari]

[quote name='Kaiser Martens' timestamp='1314933132' post='2792744']
He takes off his cap and places it on the balcony's thick, safe railing, after having turned his face to spot a...stranger. He nods respectfully and offers a brief, enigmatic martens-style smile for a moment - an ambiguous but sincere smile. "Good country, good air." He paused, sipping. "Decent wine. How might you be doing?"
[/quote]
Isabelle nodded at the Kronprinz's words. "The evening finds me quite well, thank you." She reached out a hand to shake Martens'. "Isabelle et Violaine of the Northern Federation. A pleasure to meet you, Kronprinz Martens."

[Amyante]

- "So, between the Japanese, the Europeans and the remaining quarter of the population, would i be correct to call your government a triune of sorts? Not a triumvirate because you mentioned having a single president, but the picture i'm forming has elements of all three groups combined into one single government."

She tilted her head slightly, trying to catch the expressions upon the Papuans' faces to see how accurate her deduction was.

[KaiserMelech Mikhail]

[quote name='Triyun' timestamp='1314926912' post='2792672']
"I am Yuan Xuehua!" she said. "Princess of the United Federation of the East, Imperial Regent of the South, and youngest sibling to the August Imperator. Nice to meet you!" she said offering a hand shake.

"So how did you grow such a big one, I grew up in Mongolia, which isn't too far away and I never heard of one that big!" she exclaimed.
[/quote]
Mikhail took Xuehua's hand and gave it one of the fancy shakes. He would have kissed it, but was afraid of what her older brother would do. "It is a pleasure to meet you Princess Xuehua. I am Khagan Mikhail Stein, loyal vassal of your brother." Thinking back to his farming secrets, he remembered how he managed to achieve the monster root. "Well princess, the key was the soil," Mikhail began to explain, putting his drink down in case he needed to gestate with his hands, "the soil I used contained a lot of peat moss in it. This allows for a large amount of air to circulate and for sufficient drainage to keep the roots healthy. You just need to keep the soil moist so that the root can swell and will not become too fibrous. Add that to a large amount of selective breeding, and presto, we have a giant turnip. I don't want to be too hasty, but I think that we have a couple of plants this year that might break that record. We'll harvest one or two, and will allow the rest to produce their seeds for the next year." Mikhail felt himself going off on a tangent, and had to snap himself back to the princess. "So tell me," he said, picking up his glass again, "what makes a UFE princess so interested in our humble root crop?"

[Kankou]

Only Göbbels was paying attention to Rebecca, with Manstein nowhere in sight, Rommel helping himself to the drinks, and Adolf and the Mikado over at the other side of the room talking with some of the Austrian nobles.

"Grand Papua is more complex than that, with all the subfactions which only few can understand completely. But if we summarize it, Papua is made up of three main groups. How things will evolve is something that we'll have to see, since there is still much to do for Grand Papua to become truly stable and mature."

---------------------------------------

In the meantime, Manstein also went outside, where he saw Kronprinz Martens with several people. He stood quietly in a corner, waiting for the others to go before approaching.

[Yawoo]

[quote]Across the room, Wei Hai nodded to Gao, "I am glad to see things are progressing smoothly, we should be opening bases in Zanzibar and enlarging our one in Oman too." he said. "I hope you'll find the facilities quite adequate." [/quote]

Gao nodded to Wei, "I am sure that the facilities will be of the utmost quality. I must confess, I am quite excited to see the Zanzibar base - it opens quite a few more opportunities for our great nation."

[Kankou]

A tall figure had arrived in the ballroom some time ago, dressed in a simple dark suit with a sash studded in sapphires and an overcoat. The most characterstic part of him would be his garnet eyes.

[center][img]http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac318/kousenkankou/Characters/keishojitsu.png[/img][/center]

Kei Shojitsu looked around the room coolly. The overall aristocratic atmosphere, like that of a vampire count, would seem to freeze the space around him. But slowly a smile appeared on the icy face, as he saw Angelika dancing happily with Emperor Thomas Atkinson-Asgeirsson. He hadn't been able to keep his particular promise, but with the fall of Korea and the Austrian War, perhaps he could be excused for now. Still, to see that particular person happy for enough to make him content.

He kept to himself, drinking a bit of whisky while leaning against the wall, looking at the ball going on. Europe was peaceful, for now that is. Austria had expanded, Germania was still intact, France was still the same old divided piece of insignifiacnt c**p that would easily fall apart time and again. Scandinavia was quiet with a growing Kurland loyal to Germania, while the Med was under the control of Greeko-Italians. Of course, there was the eternally meddlesome Rebel Army and self-important Dalmatia, but those weren't significant actors in the large view of things. It seemed he could have a nice quiet temporary retirement in Germania, until the time for when his services would be needed.

He started to leave in one fluid move, as if he had known this place for quite a long time. No one seemed to even notice him, except for one person.....

[Triyun]

[quote name='Yawoo' timestamp='1314991541' post='2793086']
Gao nodded to Wei, "I am sure that the facilities will be of the utmost quality. I must confess, I am quite excited to see the Zanzibar base - it opens quite a few more opportunities for our great nation."
[/quote]

"Indeed it does..." Wei said, his eyes shifted past Gao to see Kei standing there. "Hmm... I do believe those are red eyes..." he said to Gao.

"Excuse me, I'm going to go get some garlic confit to throw at that gentleman and test my theory." with that Wei was off to the Kitchen, coming back with a cup of the garlic in oil which he tossed into the face of Kei Shojitsu.

[Kaiser Martens]

"I can see that." He nods during the brief, but solid handshake, making eye contact for a moment. Then his demeanor shifts back to his usual calm one, calm even around exploding bombs although in this context such a thing would never be suspected. "The pleasure is all mine. Isabelle from the North. I will have to read up on your country one of these days."