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When she first met her, she introduced herself as Olga Borislavovna, and by that name alone, she figured out that she was likely of Norse descent, just as with her first-born son, Novgorod—for her name meant holy. As she converted to Christianity, the name that she chose for herself was Zinoviya—life of Zeus.
Well, though she may not be like how Zeus is portrayed in those Greek myths, she is most definitely one of the more lively amongst her siblings, even more so than Novgorod. There was a certain electricity underneath those eyes of hers.
Russia expected this predicament she was in. Well, it wasn't a predicament. But of course she did, Izborsk was sitting on the same bench as her two older siblings did, in the same position, same starting behaviour, same everything. She wasn't against this, though.
She was more wondering how they would've communicated this. Well, those three always liked doing things together, except for when it came to being a country, of course. One of them became a republic, the other became a leading principality, while this one became Smolensk's appanage.
Well, Smolensk was fine. He was one of the more experienced of the principalities, like Murom. So it's all fine in her book.
"So... what did you and Fedya talk about?"
"Hm, nothing important."
"That is not what I wanted to know about."
"What, did Posidosiya give you the same answer?"
"She did."
"Why wouldn't she?"
"I keep saying that you might as well enjoy inflicting pain on others. Do you?"
"Quite the opposite, actually."
Izborsk stared at her blankly for the longest while. That made sense, her response was purposefully ambiguous, and to her, it might as well seem that neither of the options presented to her made any sense, at all. Well, everything about her contested common views, so why shouldn't that be as well?
It really was an odd—in a lighthearted manner—thing to keep seeing herself be portrayed as this cold-hearted individual who drinks herself to death. Alright, she does look like that, but that doesn't mean she was like that. Plus, she was always more of a tea-drinker than alcohol.
Even if she does drink, it wouldn't be Polish vodka of all things. Eiswein was a nice one, though, it had a nice sweet taste to it compared to vodka, and she does like sweeter stuff much more. It's a miracle she doesn't even have diabetes in the first place. Plus, kvas was way more than vodka would ever be. But she'll still put vzvar before any other alcoholic drink, of course.
Ah, she's going off-track again. That's to be expected.
"What makes you happy?"
That was a sudden question. Her children all had that knack of doing that, perhaps because she also did the same thing, even back then. To answer that question though, the state of being happy was barely ever a constant thing for her. She could actually count the times she'd ever felt happy on her fingers, at least by grouping the causes together. The individual times it happened were way more than ten, or twenty if you count the ones on her feet.
Well, there's also those with The Sun, but that was another thing entirely. But perhaps a good start is that, anything that makes her happy does not make her bored out of her mind. Ah, and it also should have nothing to do with her duties as a Personification. Being one was never a happy moment for her. At least when she was forced to do such duties.
"Being human."
"Ah, I see why people say that you are an obvious person."
"You're saying I'm too vague?"
"Hm, I thought I could not be more clear than that."
"Quite the contrary. You always spoke more compared to your siblings."
"Well, like how you do, speaking more is not always the same as telling more."
"Of course."
She knew that very well. There was a reason why she found the act of having to be specific as a very nice one to press on. People know how easy it was to have someone else twist their own words, yet they do nothing about it. A little specification would never hurt anybody, after all.
Despite that, to be happy while being a Personification was a rare moment in the first place. It mostly only happened with humane interactions with one another, whether it be with another Personification, or a human. Russia has never met a Personification who genuinely enjoyed the political value of themselves.
All of them held a degree of envy towards humans, including her.
"What makes you happy?"
"I think it is not fit for you to turn the question on me, mama."
"Hm, having you answer would make it easier for me to answer yours."
"Ridiculous."
Izborsk always had this specific sharpness towards her words, and that was what Russia liked the most of her personality. In where Beloozero had a more silent sort of retort, Izborsk on the other hand, wouldn't hold herself back, even against her own mother. That was certainly clear to her in Izborsk's last moments.
"I suppose whenever Fedya would ask me to come with her and would always agree to what I say. And whenever Talik would shove his flowers to me. He was always a bit unusual with that."
"Hm, his love for flowers made me learn them, actually."
"Of course you did."
"I had nothing better to do."
"So does that count, then, understanding your own children makes you happy?"
"The way they get excited when I listen to them, more like."
"Seeing them happy makes you happy?"
"Yes."
"See, is that not a worse way to be clear compared to your previous answer?"
"Keep it, Zinoviya."
"Hm, would it not be better if I did not? You said this was what you liked the most about me."
"I suppose I did say that."
"You definitely did, mama."
Her children were one of the more prominent reasons of bringing the best out of her. Excluding the times in which she killed them, of course. Those were hardly her best moments, if she could even call them as such. Most of what reigns within her mind was also with the topic of them, if she had to be true to herself. Other than the politics of being herself, but that was something unrelated and she shouldn't even be thinking about that at the moment.
A thousand years since she first had those children of hers, and she still thought of them daily. And people call her unfeeling. But that really was how she presented herself, and was how she wanted people to see her as, but it would be much more appreciated if they managed to see through such a thing, wouldn't it? It's such an obvious thing in the first place, that most of what she perceives herself as to the prosopon agenda was hardly what she truly felt. Her hints were as obvious as they could be when it came to that matter.
It really wasn't in her nature to make them unhappy. She just couldn't help not doing that.
"That cannot be all that makes you happy."
"Of course it isn't."
"Then what?"
What a simple question, but only a complicated answer formed in Russia's head. Which was far from what she wanted. But it wasn't like she ever got what she wanted, anyway.
"I always had a sweet tooth."
"How could I have forgotten..."