A Seafood Exchange (Franerre/Marrlan)

[callmedelta]

Felicia Auclair sat in her offices at the Franerri embassy in Harbaville, looking at the telegram on her desk. Her colleague, Luca, had the opportunity to oversee Franerre’s exposition to the World Culinary Fair. Felicia frowned. She was jealous of her coworker, extremely so. Felicia would have loved to sample the cuisine of the world, even have a few favorites from home like a nice Bordemer White, but she was needed here in Marrlan. Just the thought of it made her stomach growl, not helped by the fact that it was late.

Auclair sat the telegraph down and sighed. It was late, a quick glance to the grandfather clock standing on the wall showed it was 7:16 pm. She had worked long enough, it was time to go fix that growling stomach of hers. The ambassador picked up her handbag from where it sat on her desk and did the same to her jacket on the coat rack in the corner. Twenty minutes later, Felicia was seated at the Blue Crab, her favorite seafood restaurant in all of Harbaville.

Felicia had always had a soft spot for seafood. It was even part of the reason she requested to be sent as the ambassador to Marrlan, a country famous for its crabs. She’d be having one this evening, with a nice lemon accent and side of butter for dipping in. It was as Felicia was eating the crab that a thought struck her. She knew that one of the items on offer from Franerre at the World’s Culinary Fair would be Franerri  seafood, and due to Marrlan’s proximity to Roskana there would likely be plenty of visitors from Marrlan. Would it be that unreasonable to think that the Fair could leave some Marrlaners with an interest in Franerri seafood that the local variety didn’t quite satisfy? Felicia thought of one way to potentially gauge some interest. By the time she had paid her bill and left the Blue Crab, a plan had crystallized in her mind.

~

Two weeks later.

Felicia loitered around the head of the embassy’s dining table, waiting for her guest to arrive. Today was her birthday, and for the occasion she had imported a few of her favorite wines, pastries, and seafood from Franerre to be served along with some local Marrlaner cuisine like lobsters and crab cakes. The guest in question would be Leia Korsky, the Foreign Minister herself. Korsky would serve as a good litmus test to see if there was any interest in Franerri cuisine, as well as being someone powerful enough to have some sway in the Marrlan government as well as just generally being a nice person to be around. This meal wouldn’t be all business, after all.

While waiting, she took a mental stock of exactly what food would be on the menu tonight. Felicia had asked for Bromsole Trout, Franerri Tuna, and White Ocean Crab, to be served with a nice Franerri baguette and butter. Once the night had gone on, she could break out some nice Franerri wines, but it was a bit too early to lead with those. Felicia wasn’t a light weight, but she didn’t have the highest tolerance for alcohol. Macarons would be accompanying the wine, the sugary vanilla desserts a nice way to cap off the night’s meal.

Felicia saw a bit of movement from the corner of her eye and turned towards the door, catching sight of Kylian. He was the second in command here at the embassy, and would be joining Felicia and Leia at the dinner tonight. Both Kylian and Felicia were single, so it would just be the two of them from the embassy. The relationship between the two was cordial, and both of them knew it. Felicia wore a conservative red dress and flats, brown hair flowing down instead of tied in its usual ponytail. Kylian wore a black suit and blue tie, black hair trimmed shirt. The pair were saved from making awkward small talk by the arrival of Korsky.

[Artsy Astra]

Korsky entered the embassy and greeted the guards and receptionist warmly as she passed by them. She would open the door to the room with a casual smile, "Hello Ambassadors." She had a grey suit with black dress shoes and a boater hat with a yellow band around it. Her black hair in a bob.

[callmedelta]

Both Ambassadors turned towards the door. “Hello, Minister. Please, take a seat,” Felicia said, gesturing towards the seat to the right of the head of the table. The dining table itself was built to be able to seat larger parties than the three of them, making it a bit sparse at the end of the table with just three of them. Felicia and Kylian both took their seats, the latter gesturing to the servers looking on from the kitchen door. Three servers, two men and a woman, came out bearing platters of White Ocean Crab and a Marrlaner variety of lobster, served along with the accompanying butter, spices, and other dressings to the meal. “It’s wonderful to see you hear tonight, I’m sure you’re schedule is plenty busy.”

[Artsy Astra]

Korsky would take her hat off and move to take a seat, "Quite full, yes, but I try and make time for everyone." She said with a slight chuckle. A few flecks of grey hair could be seen after taking her hat off, but she still seemed at ease and happy.

[callmedelta]

“And I thank you for that,” Felicia said. “Work here at the embassy keeps me plenty busy, and it can be hard to find good company in a foreign country. We may be best described as work colleagues, but I’m glad to have someone else to share my birthday with than Kylian.” She chuckled, clearly not meaning it as an insult to her fellow ambassador. Kylian remained impassive towards the comment, filling his plate with a mix of White Ocean Crab and Marrlaner Lobster. “Let’s go ahead and dig in, I’m surprised my stomach isn’t growling already from the food in front of me. I imported some Franerri crab for the occasion, though the lobsters are local.”

[Artsy Astra]

Korsky tittered at the exchange between the diplomats, before nodding and beginning to eat. She hadn't tried any Franch cuisine before and was excited to see how their crabs held up to those of her home.

[callmedelta]

Having tried both White Ocean Crab and the local Marrlaner variety, Felicia knew that the White Ocean Crab was richer in taste and a tad sweet even without lemons. Most Marrlaner varieties of crab had more meat on them, though that wasn't exactly a factor now. There weren't any Franerri varieties of lobster, which was a real shame in Felicia's opinion as she quite enjoyed lobster. Both diplomats filled their plates, though with Felicia doing most of the small talk as it was her birthday, Kylian ate through his faster.

[Artsy Astra]

Korksy slowly finished her plate making pleasant conversation as she did. "Gee this crab is good, doesn't tase much like the stuff from here at home. Where's it from?" She said going back for seocnds.

[callmedelta]

"Home," Felicia answered. "Franerre has some wonderful crabs. No lobsters, though, but I'm glad you enjoyed it. Do you think anyone else from Marrlan would enjoy these crabs?" Felicia asked. "Franerre has some wonderful seafood, though it's mainly a fish diet. Speaking of which, the fish tonight is also from home."

[Artsy Astra]

"Oh most definitely! Their delicious!" She paused between mouthfuls, "The foreign seafood market in Marrlan is already looking for new flavors to play with."

[callmedelta]

“Wonderful!” Felicia said, beaming. She shot a glance to Kylian and succeeded in her attempts to not look smug. “I’m sure we can draft all the paperwork necessary after the mean. For now, let’s eat!”

[callmedelta]

Esrellia 16th, 1:17 a.m. Pareau, Franerre/1:17 p.m. Harbaville, Marrlan

Knockknockknock

Ambassador Felicia Auclair sat at her desk, enjoying the waning hours of her lunch break with a nice novel. Sighing, she looked at the time. 1:17. Auclair supposed she was on the clock now.

Knockknockknock

“Come in,” she said, somewhat aggravated now, putting a bookmark in the novel. Just what was so damned important?

“Ambassador Auclair, ma’am,” the courier said, “It’s from the telegram office, hot off the wire. Apparently it’s real urgent.” He handed Auclair the telegram.

FRANERRE AMBASSADOR ONLY STOP

GIVE THEM TELEGRAM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE STOP

KUMO THREATENING WAR UNLESS CEDE ELENERRE STOP

INFORM MARRLAN OF SITUATION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE STOP

LEVERAGE ALLIANCE IN TAFATU WAR TO ATTEMPT TO GAIN ASSISTANCE STOP

AMBASSADOR F A HAS BLANK CHECQUE AUTHORIZED BY KING STOP

ANY MAJOR AGREEMENTS MUST PASS NAT CHAMBER STOP

FRANERRE GLORIA STOP
Felicia’s hands trembled. Th…there’s no way. That was impossible. Elenerre was home to her…that…She dropped the letter on her desk. “M..ma’am?” the courier asked, hesitant. Felicia felt bile coming up into her throat. It was hard to think. She looked around the room, frantic. Felicia’s hand went to her mouth, trying to stop the tide of vomit. Her eyes found on her wastebasket in the corner of the office. The Ambassador dove out of her chair, crawling along the floor the last few centimeters, before grabbing the wastebasket and disgorging the contents of her stomach.

Felicia didn’t know how long she sat at that wastebasket, puking until there was nothing left, and dry heaving after that. Eventually, her stomach stopped, and Auclair fell back, exhausted. Weakly, she lifted herself back into her chair. Taking the phone on her desk, she dialed the Marrlan External Affairs office.

~

Esrellia 16th, 1:47 a.m. Pareau, Franerre/1:47 p.m. Harbaville, Marrlan

Felicia was still pale, though whether it was the news or the fact it was still hard to get anything other than water down, Felicia didn’t know. She stepped out of the car, unsteady for the first few steps, and walked towards the External Affairs office.

[Artsy Astra]

Korsky sat in her office, her secretary having informed her that the Franerri Ambassador wanted to speak, though without much detail. She read the paper while she waited, news of the war in Touli finally drawing to a close brought her into a chipper mood. One of her Noba siblings was a volunteer and was finally coming home. A nock at the door disrupted her sandwich snacking and newspaper reading. She quickly folded the paper over and tried to remember her place before sitting up and saying "Come in!" She dusted a few crumbs from her mouth as the door opened.

[callmedelta]

Ambassador Felicia Auclair stepped inside the office, shutting the door behind her with a soft click, worry and exhaustion evident on her face. She had tried to think of how best to tell Korsky about the news, but Felicia was still grappling with the oncoming Kumo invasion herself. How did one go about saying that Kumosenkan had doused their entire country in gasoline, and was now ready to throw a match onto it? Well, it wasn't like there were anything else she could do than say most of the truth.

"I got a telegram from Pareau just earlier this afternoon," Auclair said, "It's bad. Kumosenkan is threatening war unless Franerre cedes part of her territory-" she opened her briefcase, pulling out a map of Franerre and pointing to the now-disputed notch that jutted into Elenria "-here. I read some of the reports about what happened when the Marrlanner troops arrived in Franerre on their way to Tafatu, and this is why that happened. The only times foreign militaries have every taken an interest in Franerre is to take our territory and to make us their colony. It's hard to get an accurate read of things from a telegram, but from what it sounds like everyone back home's scrambling to try and make preparations, but who knows if it will be enough."

[Artsy Astra]

Korsky would lose 2 shades of her usual dark brown before speaking, "I.... I don't know what we can offer. beyond some material. We've tried t steer clear of the Kumo for a while. At most, we may be able to secure you a contract with an arms company, maybe some PMC's but anything more than that is either a chance or will be stonewalled." She'd sputter and shrug slightly, "And even the PMC's mostly only work for republics. I don't know what we can do."