NationStates Leaders Meeting (CLOSED INDEFINITELY)

[East Fredonia]

For members of NationStates only.
This is an RP in character as your nation's leader. Must be a member of our region to RP, moving for purpose of posting here/creating a puppet nation frowned upon but accepted, OOC posts are okay if you're not a member of our region.
I'll try to keep it realistic as long as possible, but feel free to be creative.
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9:15 AM, NationStates Regional HQ.
A tall, silver-haired woman steps from a van outside a massive ultramodern building in the heart of a bustling city. "Morning, ma'am."
"Hey, Joe." She slips the security guard a $20 and walks inside, down a long hallway, and enters a truly massive conference room. Smiling and waving at familiar faces, she takes a seat in a large leather corporate-executive-grade office chair and looks around at the sea of people/animals/killbots/gods and other transdimensional beings/holograms. "Your coffee, ma'am." "Thanks." Sipping her coffee, she opens her laptop and scrolls through e-mails, talking to herself softly. "Income taxes are too high, as usual. Training accident at Navy flight school, I'll have to get Janice to send the kid's parents some flowers later. Trump's being an asshat, predictably, and the stock market's looking up. Senate elections coming up, worth keeping an eye on, and that's pretty much it. The WA Delegate Mike takes the podium.
"Time to get this show on the road."

[PQ Forge]

"I really need to get on the Applied Tech staff to make an AI for this"

"Did I say that out loud?"

Seven wrapped a tentacle around the 3 gallon coffee cup and hefted his briefcase.

"Wait till they get a load of me."

He was small for his race, but made up for the lack of size with an unusual level of intelligence for a land squid. While the rest of his family excelled at the heavy work required to maintain the Ancestral Forge, Seven was the first to go to business school and get a degree in marketing. He was a natural, and for the first time in millennia the land squids bought their way out of slavery and ran the Forge as an independent business.

The profits were channeled back in to the business, and used for expansion. And business was good. Now that they had control of their own forge, the land squids created alloys that made the armour and weapons of the day truly impressive. But that was only the beginning.

These days the Ancestral Forge is a temple, the great furnace still stoked and the mighty hammers still pounding, but the items created are ceremonial. Production has been moved to huge factories, technology has been embraced, and the land squids are overseers rather than producers.

The millennia of slavery has not been forgotten. The long lives of the land squids means that most now alive were born free and enslaved young, and vengeance has been exacted on their previous captors, now referred to as Slave Labourers. Thanks to Seven, a new form of warfare was enacted -economic warfare. And in the lands of PQ Forge, victory is absolute.

But a new day was here. The previous international neighbours had been bought out due to defaulting on the payments from their arms purchases and folded into the corporate assets. New neighbours were at the expanded borders, and new markets were always welcome. It was time to negotiate.

Seven slipped Joe a $50 and tipped him a wink as he made his way inside to find his seat.

[East Fredonia]

Harriet waves. "Hey, Seven. How's business going?"
"A squid. Human men are bad enough sometimes, but squids I can deal with."
OOC: Italicized purple text is Harriet's thoughts.

[Duava (Ancient)]

Jerry was really tired. I can barely stand without falling kind of tired, and all of that because he didn't sleep a single hour this night. How would he? He was so nervous he spilled coffee over his shirt three times. Nevertheless, he managed to get to the meeting in one piece.

"Good Morning,uh...,Joe, right?" He said, while shaking his tired legs.

Jerry reaches out for his pocket, when he realizes:
"Joe, what currency do you take? Is New Silvers alright?

"Don't worry about that,sir" Says Joe, in a confused-embarassed sort of way

Jerry gives Joe $200 as a form of apologizing, enters the building, only to trip on his own feet and spill coffee on his shirt for the fourth time. Luckily, nobody was around, so he changed into his replacement shirt and continued on his path to find his seat.

"Good Mo..." He is interrupted by his own yawning

"So...Sorry about that. Good Morning..." He timidly makes his way to someone else's seat

[Altanni]

Arin was in as good a mood as ever. She gave Joe a small kiss on the cheek as walked in, waving to him as she went past. "I'll talk to you later, alright? Bye-bye!" she said to him cheerily, her heels clicking as she walked off.
Arin was a capable ruler, despite her age. She took the throne at the age of sixteen, and now four years later Altanni was thriving. Her people loved her, and she loved her people, as any good queen would. In her mind, she was married to the crown and the people were her children.
She smiled at everyone as she entered the conference room. Her bright white smile stood out against tan skin, and her long brown hair was a mass of thick curls. She wore a simple black dress with long, loose sleeves and gold jewellery. She walked over to her seat, tapping the shoulder if the man sitting there. "Um, excuse me. You're Jerry, right? I think you're in my spot," she said to him. "Oh, but if it's too much of a hassle for you to move, I can go sit somewhere else."

[Duava (Ancient)]

Jerry, at first confused with what was happening, soon realized: The woman standing by him was the owner of the seat, not him.

"Oh, I'm...I'm sorry, Arin." He got off the seat. "I didn't mean it, it was just a mistake." Said him, dazzled by her beauty.

Jerry turned around without looking back, as he was too shy to wait for her reply. He thought to himself:

I need to calm down. If I'm here it means I'm capable, So I should just act naturally, and learn from others.

Jerry stopped and said:

"Thanks, Arin."

He then proceeded to look for his seat

[East Fredonia]

*sips coffee*
"The newest leaders. I'm sure they'll become great leaders, but the first stage is the hardest: learning by example. Lots for them to learn."
"Good morning."
OOC: switched to pink for Harriet's thoughts since Duava started using purple.

[Duava (Ancient)]

OOC: Why don't just make purple a thought pattern? It's not like we will say other people's thoughts

[East Fredonia]

OOC: Why don't just make purple a thought pattern? It's not like we will say other people's thoughts

OOC: Sounds good. I hope PQ Forge gets back on, having a squid would be fun.

[PQ Forge]

Seven made his way to his seat, set down the briefcase and mug at the desk, then looked around.

"May as well start networking while we wait for everyone else to show.. But first.."

Seven looked at the finger tapping one of his tentacles. A short human male was trying to get his attention. "Yes?"

"Excuse me sir but I'm having trouble following your requests. Oh I'm sorry. You are new here, of course. I'm the page that has been assigned to you. Any requests you have can be handled by me."

"Very good. Your first quest is to find me a 3 legged billygoat named Pete. I need it quickly before proceedings begin."

As the page scurried off Seven thought as hard as he could:
BOMB!!! OMG THAT PAGE JUST PLANTED A BOMB AND NOW HES RUNNING FOR IT!!!


Ok now.. let's see if we can spot the telepaths..

[Altanni]

Arin smiled again at Jerry as she took her seat, smoothing out her dress. He's a bit of an odd one, isn't he? He should learn to calm his nerves, she thought to herself, swinging her legs slightly as she waited for things to actually begin. She was inspecting one manicured nail when she glanced up to see the large squid speaking to a page. Her dark green eyes widened a bit a bit in surprise. She'd only ever eaten squid before and had never seen one in person. Shaking her head slightly, she looked over to the other woman, Harriet, and smiled. "Good morning! How are you?" she asked cheerfully in an effort to kill time.

[East Fredonia]

Arin smiled again at Jerry as she took her seat, smoothing out her dress. He's a bit of an odd one, isn't he? He should learn to calm his nerves, she thought to herself, swinging her legs slightly as she waited for things to actually begin. She was inspecting one manicured nail when she glanced up to see the large squid speaking to a page. Her dark green eyes widened a bit a bit in surprise. She'd only ever eaten squid before and had never seen one in person. Shaking her head slightly, she looked over to the other woman, Harriet, and smiled. "Good morning! How are you?" she asked cheerfully in an effort to kill time.

"Oh, quite well, thanks. That's Seven, the squid guy. He's a little psychotic even by squid standards. Don't mention you've eaten squid while you're talking to him, he gets offended. There's been a training accident at our navy's flight school, I texted my secretary Janice and told her to send flowers and I''ll write his family a note when I get home." Harriet adjusts her sweater and drinks some more coffee while typing up a rough draft of her letter to the kid's family. You win some, you lose some. That's the first training accident we've had for half a decade.

[PQ Forge]

Seven was actually a bit disappointed at first - no response to calling out the telepaths. Then he saw a another page on the other side of the room pointing at his own page and tugging on a security guard's sleeve.

I'll have to keep an eye on that fellow, see who he's assigned to. Oh and i should probably find out my page's name. I'll have to apologize later.

As the other page and the security guard left the chambers, Seven settled in at his desk to prep for the meeting.
"Coffee, check. Earpiece, check. Notepads, check. Aaaaaand... I know I'm missing something. Oh right."

Seven turned to the three people nearby who were settling in, and evaluated them. They had obviously never dealt with a land squid in person, though the East Fredonia representative seemed less prone to being rattled than the other two. He decided to approach her first to give the others a chance to observe.

Seven bowed. "Harriet, right? My foreign minister tells me you are a very effective leader, he's very impressed with the way you've handled yourself in tense situations. Twelve, our Foreign Acquisitions Minister was also impressed at how you handled our recent purchase offer. I'm looking forward to getting to know you and your people better. Perhaps we could even arrange a visit in the fall after moulting season."

He looked at the other two and couldn't resist a poke. "I can hear you, you know. Would you like to visit the Forge sometime? I'd love to sit down with you both over a plate of sushi!"

[East Fredonia]

Seven was actually a bit disappointed at first - no response to calling out the telepaths. Then he saw a another page on the other side of the room pointing at his own page and tugging on a security guard's sleeve.

I'll have to keep an eye on that fellow, see who he's assigned to. Oh and i should probably find out my page's name. I'll have to apologize later.

As the other page and the security guard left the chambers, Seven settled in at his desk to prep for the meeting.
"Coffee, check. Earpiece, check. Notepads, check. Aaaaaand... I know I'm missing something. Oh right."

Seven turned to the three people nearby who were settling in, and evaluated them. They had obviously never dealt with a land squid in person, though the East Fredonia representative seemed less prone to being rattled than the other two. He decided to approach her first to give the others a chance to observe.

Seven bowed. "Harriet, right? My foreign minister tells me you are a very effective leader, he's very impressed with the way you've handled yourself in tense situations. Twelve, our Foreign Acquisitions Minister was also impressed at how you handled our recent purchase offer. I'm looking forward to getting to know you and your people better. Perhaps we could even arrange a visit in the fall after moulting season."

He looked at the other two and couldn't resist a poke. "I can hear you, you know. Would you like to visit the Forge sometime? I'd love to sit down with you both over a plate of sushi!"

"Oh, hello there. Maybe we could arrange a visit, I'm fairly busy right now with several other leaders. I think we could arrange that."
Huh, a talking squid. Not the strangest thing I've ever had to deal with.

[Altanni]

Arin's attention had wandered off somewhere again when the squid spoke to her. "Oh, I would love to visit the forge! Things are a bit busy at home though, so I probably won't be able to work anything out for a while," she said politely. Of all the things she'd been expecting today, talking with a squid was not one of them.

[PQ Forge]

"Excellent!! I will reserve a buffet table at Sushi Prime for 3 days hence. I expect to see you both there."

Seven returned to his seat and sipped his coffee, and picked a random person in the crowd and made eye contact.
And maintained eye contact until the Speaker stepped up to the podium.

ok let's get this party started.

[PQ Forge]

come on, I even stopped incoming issues so I could keep a static description on my nation page for this, where'd everyone go, I need something to look forward to on my lunch break!

[East Fredonia]

come on, I even stopped incoming issues so I could keep a static description on my nation page for this, where'd everyone go, I need something to look forward to on my lunch break!

OOC: Sorry, I've been so busy with other RPs that I just kinda forgot about this. NationStates is evidently a crap region for regional RPs.

[Fresynde]

Hi. The telegram said something about leaders. Am I supposed to be a leader now?

Edit: Oh, leader of my nation? All the same, a bit surprised that I was one of the people who was messaged.

[East Fredonia]

Hi. The telegram said something about leaders. Am I supposed to be a leader now?

Edit: Oh, leader of my nation? All the same, a bit surprised that I was one of the people who was messaged.

I just telegram-bombed most of the nations on Mikeswill's received endorsements list and whoever else I thought of.

[Nordval]

Steinarr Loken walked quickly toward the main door of Regional HQ nearly sweating in the heat. It was much warmer than he was used to in Arnavellir, where snow in July isn't uncommon.

Joe saw him, chuckled, and then smiled. "Late again, sir?" he asked.

"I'm not late, just not exactly on time." Steinarr responded in a Scandinavian accent, slipping a couple marks into Joe's hand as he opened the door, knowing his penchant for the multicolored banknotes.

As he walked through the building, he thought.I wonder who's going to bother showing up today. These meetings tend to be far too poorly attended for my tastes, but apparently its "important" this time.

Following the godforsaken maze of corridors, he finally arrived at the correct room. Being elected Stadminister two years prior, he had been to these kinds of meetings before. As he walked through the door, he was greeting by an interesting sight. Two women sitting with a nervous man, and...a squid? Hm. Don't see one of them every day, and the King certainly didn't mention him. Oh well, bigger surprises have come out of the ocean back home.

Steinarr sat in an empty chair, fixing the ruffles in his dark blue suit, looking dashing enough for his 34 years; the youngest Stadminister in the history of Nordval. The sky blue tie helps.

[Dahon]

OOC: I've been a NationsStates member for almost 2 years -- time to give you guys a boost while I'm still hot. Be back by tomorrow at the latest -- so what is this about, again? A meeting about something such as?

[PQ Forge]

Ooc: no idea what it's about. When has that ever stopped us?
--------------

Seven looked around while waiting for the meeting to come to order and saw most of the delegates hadn't even settled in to their assigned seats yet.

"I'll have to get on Nancy about this, she said I should show up early and it's already 43 minutes past start time. Oh well, let's see what we can accomplish in he meantime."

He started wandering around the room, listening in on conversations when he could, and rearranging nameplates from nations that had not found their seats yet when he could not.

He felt eyes on him and looked around to see who was watching, then made his way over to the Nordval representative.

"Lovely day for a meeting, no? I seem to recall you have a thriving fishing industry, how's your fleet? Do you have fishing boats that double as fleet naval vessels perhaps? If not, would you be interested in purchasing any?"

[East Fredonia]

"Good Lord, this is the latest we've started in months. Where is everyone?"

[Nordval]

"Ah, hello there. The day is a bit warm for my tastes, but that's alright. I can't imagine why everyone is so late." Steinarr responded, shuffling his papers. Not that anyone is ever on time, myself included.

"Yes, up north, fishing jykrir and fish is one of the largest parts of our economy. However, we only maintain a small defense force, Fujai handles most of our protection, you see, so we have no need for warships." he said, "You're from the Forge, right? If you have any advances in fishing or mining to share, I'd love to have a chat sometime to make an agreement." He smiles.