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Post by Ivan Braginsky on Mar 11, 2018 1:31:00 GMT -5
It had been a while since he had seen Iryna, though these days meetings were less common with his siblings as time wore on. They almost didn't seem as close as they once were. Nevertheless, contact was not cut off completely fortunately, Ivan could still be in contact with his sisters, but he couldn't help it but feel slightly isolated from either of them, after all he lived alone and it was quite different to the living arrangements of the past: they used to all live in one house, nowadays not so much. Trade thankfully was still operating and one such large export of Ivan's was in fact gas, many nations in Europe imported Russian energy products, this group of nations included his elder sister who had urgently requested that he send her gas for assistance. Ivan had of course been grateful that his elder sister had sought him out when she was in trouble and he had as a result assisted her of course, not even bothering to expect his elder sister to repay the bill for at least a month.
That was when two months went by, then three. As much as he wanted to help his family, he couldn't let anyone simply get away with not paying for something he had given them, even his elder sister. As such, Ivan had traveled to Iryna's house, he knew her sister was poor, but he had given her at least three whole months to repay! Family was family, but debts were debts! It wasn't that he needed the money, Ivan was well off, but he certainly didn't want to be taken advantage of either.
Silently, he walked up to the door. Ivan hoped that she was around, because that would really cause trouble for his personal life, there was to be a UN meeting soon, hardly an event to be asking for payments, but one he could not afford to miss. It was bad enough that Irnya had made him wait this long, any longer would simply be frustrating. Though Ivan wanted to maintain a firm line, he was well aware of his sister's habit to be a little.... Emotional, the last thing he wanted was Iryna to cry, that was for sure.
Carefully, Ivan knocked the door. Not wanting to make it seem as if he would aggressively take it by force. He certainly didn't want to scare his sister, that was for sure.
"Sister~ Open up, I want to talk!"
@narlov
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2018 20:49:24 GMT -5
The situation that Iryna found herself in was not one that she necessarily wanted to find herself in. She was looking to stand on her own two feet. Though she enjoyed the thought of being close to her family during the Soviet Union - She, Ivan, and Natalya living under one roof once more - it wasn't under the right circumstances. Ivan had too much of the power, and she and Natalya had far too little. Not that Iryna was power hungry - far from it. But she did have her own people to care for, and she wanted to make sure that everything was well for them. And as much as she loved her family, she did want some autonomy. Thankfully, after the fall of the Soviet Union she finally found said autonomy - though it came with an unfortunate price.
She might not have had as much autonomy under the Soviet Union, but she did have more of a security net as far as economic matters were concerned. She hadn't wanted to go to her brother to ask for gas - not because she did not love her brother, but because she did not want to have to rely on him - but she'd been forced to, and now she was in a position where she knew he was expecting her to pay him back, but it was incredibly difficult to do so due to the circumstances.
Nor did she want to appear weak. So when she heard her brother's knock at the door, she had an ill feeling that she knew what it was about..but ultimately she could not ignore her brother. Despite troubles they might face, he was still her younger brother and she loved him dearly. She slowly opened the door, a genuine smile coming across her features at the sight of Ivan. She pulled open the door and threw her arms around him in greeting. "Oh brother, please do come in. Would you like anything to drink?"
She held the door open for him to step inside. Indeed, her smile was real, and she truly was happy to see her dear brother..though she wished that it were under much better circumstances. She worried that this meeting would turn sour sooner rather than later, and she wanted to at least have a few sweet moments with her brother before the subject had to turn to much harsher matters. Hence why she'd greeted him so fondly - She hoped to put off the inevitable
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Post by Ivan Braginsky on Mar 13, 2018 2:02:11 GMT -5
Ivan never considered that he was all powerful within the Soviet Union, he of course used his power simply to protect his sisters and friends at the time from the world outside. Sometimes, they didn't know what was good for them, so he intervened, he never truly wanted to control their lives, but upon reflection it may have looked exactly that and had he not kept them safe? Had he not done the right thing? Ivan knew that of course, he himself would be able to ensure that his family was safe, in return certain liberties had to in fact be sacrificed by Iryna and Natalya. Something, which eventually would not lead to an ideal outcome for Ivan. But that was then, his sisters had chosen what they had wanted to do and Ivan unfortunately couldn't stop either of them.
Eventually though life had gotten back on track, despite some moments of his house being seemingly so silent that one could hear a pin drop, Ivan had eventually gotten used to the new routine and on some days was even grateful for it. No longer did he have to be angered or feel annoyed by the constant disloyalty and sheer toxicity of some countries that had once been under his roof. That being said, it was sometimes awfully depressing to now be quite lonely, especially when Iryna avoided him to try find friends and some form of autonomy with other countries. He had to get used to this harsh reality. If his elder sister wanted to be more independent it wouldn't hurt to try and teach her how other nations could be... After all, this was the world they lived in, Iryna may not be so lucky if she owes debts to the more greedy nations.
Iryna not opening the door would not have gone well if she wanted to maintain at least some limited contact with Ivan, refusing to pay would also be much worse. He of course had no intention to harm his sister, that wasn't even a thought in his mind. But it would've certainly helped Ivan learn quickly about the state his relations with Iryna had just become. Not long after he knocked, the door was opened with his elder sister smiling, Ivan personally loved it when she smiled, something about the way she smiled had always made Ivan calm down slightly and to worry less, particularly when he was a child, practically being raised by her. Iryna in his personal opinion should smile more.
"Hello big sister. You have made excellent suggestion! Some tea would be lovely."
He may as well have a beverage before leaving with what he wanted. Whether this was some attempt to soften his heart and give her another month mattered little. He had to take the savor the moments he talked with his sisters these days, so it wouldn't hurt to at least converse with Iryna before he revealed to his older sister the realities of the international world. Walking inside, he allowed Iryna to lead on, examining closely how his sister had been doing for herself recently, Ivan was well aware that she was poor so he did not attempt to find out whether she was withholding money, it was simply something that the Russian did, he was quite observant of other nations, so his family wouldn't be exempted from this either.
"What have you been doing these days?"
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2018 19:48:56 GMT -5
It was still hard for Iryna to cope with what she'd done to her brother in leaving the Soviet Union to strike off on her own. On occasion she still felt as though she'd betrayed her dear younger brother, one of the most important people in her life (the other being her dear younger sister, Natalya). But she had to think of her people as well, and her people were not thriving under the Soviet Union. Her people wanted what they wanted, and if Iryna had to be honest with herself the Chernobyl accident was a turning point. She could not pretend that her people were not suffering under the current arrangement, and she could no longer pretend that she did not need to do anything about it, that even if they were struggling Ivan would make everything alright again. Though she could see that Ivan was doing what he thought was best..
Shaking her head as if to shake those thoughts away, Iryna focused her attention back on the brother that was standing before her. "I'll get some started then. Would you like anything with it?" It still seemed as though she was putting off the inevitable, but she genuinely wanted her brother to feel comfortable as well. In her position, it felt as though there was little she could do to care for him as she used to when they were young, and she would relish any opportunity to dote upon him even now, no matter how small.
But she also wanted to stave off the inevitable as long as possible. She did not want to argue with her brother. She did not want to admit that she could not pay, not at this point. "I've been working on my sewing a bit. I could make you something?" It almost sounded as if she was trying to buy his calm at this point, and while to some extent she was - The offer came from a genuine position of love as well. She smiled a little more as she reached out to brush at his scarf gently with her hand.
That he still wore the scarf that she gave him, after all these years, after so much happened..she found it truly touching. She remained aware that it might not merely be out of loyalty to her, that he might have other reasons for keeping his scarf on as well, but it reassured her that perhaps she was not alone in her feelings toward her siblings, that perhaps at least Ivan longed for the 'good old days' as well. Natalya..it was a lot harder to read with Natalya, but Natalya always was the hardest of them to read so it stood to reason
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Post by Ivan Braginsky on Apr 19, 2018 8:04:36 GMT -5
The collapse of the Soviet Union and in fact the Eastern Bloc itself mattered little to Ivan, sure, having to admit to have "lost" the Cold War to a "boy" wounded his pride a little, but his family seemingly leaving him was much more of an issue than wounded pride. The fact that his family and other "friends" ran to the West instead of relying on him as they had once done made him feel slightly betrayed and bitter, no one wanted to stay with Ivan, everyone just wanted to leave him and declare independence. It didn't feel nice being simply discarded like that, Ivan though did understand their reasons for doing so, it didn't mean he had to necessarily like their decisions however. Admittingly, he was a little excited, tea with his older sister! It had certainly been a while since the last time they had done such a nice activity, drinking tea alone next to a fireplace was although peaceful, terribly tiring when you had no one to accompany you.
"Some biscuits, if you have any would be quite good to have with tea. Just like how you used to make back then!"
Although it seemed that his mind was far from thinking about his sister's debt, it was on the top of his mind since he walked into the house, but he wouldn't let that problem take over the whole visit, after all they were family. He certainly didn't want to walk out with his sister crying, that was for sure and his calm and smiling face was always able to throw off most nations and people from his true intentions. If Iryna truly believed that she had distracted Ivan, she would be seriously mistakened, but in a loving way of course, just because she was family, didn't mean Iryna could escape financial debts to Ivan! He looked down as his sister brushed the scarf which was so dear to him, he only ever took it off when he was inside his home, outside they were practically inseparable, even joking that it was a body part of his.
"Ah sister~ You don't have to go to the trouble of that. You have already made something very dear to me already. Something new just wouldn't feel right like this one."
Once again Iryna smiled, it made Ivan blush slightly. It was simply lovely seeing his elder sister smile. In fact it almost made him feel ashamed of coming to her house demanding payment. Almost. The fact that Iryna gave him the scarf on that bitterly cold day made him appreciate it more than ever, instead of giving it to Natalya, she gave it to him. Being the young boy he was, who practically saw Irnya as his mother figure he made sure to make great use of it, Ivan guessed he never really grew out of the trend since those days of him once being a meek young child.
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