A Christmas in Neo-Manila [OPEN][SIGN-UP FIRST][IC]

[Pan-Asiatic States]

"Where to, sir?" the cab driver - a sangley who appears to be quite fluent in English - asks Vern.

''uhh,well,to whatever embassy''he turns back again to look to the window,he felt that lifeless glass blocks surround him[ooc:the architecture]

The driver nods. Vern is stuck in Neo-Manila traffic for a couple of hours before he reaches his destination, stuck listening to radio station hosts review the latest Pan-Asiatic States blockbuster film Dragon Division Alpha.

Eventually, however, he reaches the embassy. The cab driver points to the meter. The trip accrued several dozen PALV.

[Great United States]

he gets out and goes to an atm machine to convert his dollars to PASLV,he goes back to the cab and pays the driver,he then goes goes inside the embassy and adjusts his tie,he shows his id to the front desk

[Pan-Asiatic States]

American Embassy
Capital District

---

he gets out and goes to an atm machine to convert his dollars to PASLV,he goes back to the cab and pays the driver,he then goes goes inside the embassy and adjusts his tie,he shows his id to the front desk

The clerk bids Vern a good day, and lets him through.

[Great United States]

American Embassy
Capital District

---

he gets out and goes to an atm machine to convert his dollars to PASLV,he goes back to the cab and pays the driver,he then goes goes inside the embassy and adjusts his tie,he shows his id to the front desk

The clerk bids Vern a good day, and lets him through.

he heads in the main hall hall he can hear bustling,and busy dipolmats talking,and some on their phones,he checks the map of the embassy he decides to go to the meeting room to see the local minister of trade,he sits in a random chair and waits patiently as he watches the crowd

[Great United States]

well it looks like he is busy,he sighs,he books a meeting with the minister of foreign relations,he wants to talk about these propoganda posters,and to see the people and the city,he feels that alot is waiting for him here

[Great United States]

hes angry as he finds out that there is no minister of foreign relations ,he heads out of the embassy and gets another taxi to drive him to a resteraunt he looks to the huge company building bright with lights and advertisements before going inside the taxi

[South Reinkalistan]

NEO-MANILA
TAGALOG SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLIC, PAN-ASIATIC STATES
НОВИМАНИЛА - ТАГАЛОГИ ХАРАКЕЧ RЕПУБЛИКА СОШАЛИЗТУ - УНАДА ТАК-АЖТАНА


The Great Pacific Revolution Memorial
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

It felt like his skin couldn't sit still. The awe-inspiring monument before Andrevin Harikavich would have, a few years ago, invoked feelings of proletarian solidarity in him. Now he just saw the bitter tragedy of circumstance. The men carved from stone before him stood stoic and proud, but their foundations in the revolutionary dreams of millions - a once insurmountable bedrock - had been reduced to pebbles. The gift-shops and imperial excess in which they wallowed made him sick. Asian socialism was dead.

Harikavich had come here once, as a boy. It was the late 1980s, when the member-states of the Mutual Assistance Bloc were in the process of assembling the unified Asian civilisation-state which culminated in 1991. He did not remember much. But it felt tainted, now, regardless. His blonde hair and pale skin were quite rare in Asia; he noticed people giving him second looks. Some stared.

He hated this place.

With little else to do, he produced an old, battered, and unbranded digital camera, and took a picture of the monument, angling it so that the private businesses surrounding it were not in view. He had to admit, it was a fairly magnificent structure. The trip from his office had been worth it.

With money to spare, the young businessman walked into one of the surrounding businesses - a coffee bar-cum-gift shop - and reluctantly ordered a beverage.

This was not going to be a fun place to work his new job.

[Great United States]

he found a crumpled paper in the taxi,he looked at it and it said there was a place called the laurel district,he asked the taxi driver to change directions,he laid back on the comfortable black seats and sighed ,wondering about the adventures and people he would meet

ooc:i think it should be morning in the rp now

[Pan-Asiatic States]

Goliæth Sports Café - Neo-Manila Branch
The Great Pacific Revolution Memorial (Outskirts)

---

With money to spare, the young businessman walked into one of the surrounding businesses - a coffee bar-cum-gift shop

Just around the corner of the memorial's outskirts lay a three-story brick-built apartment repurposed into a miniature commercial center, with various small enterprises operating out of its interior. On the ground floor, a shop that sold propaganda posters, hats, costumes, commemorative memorabilia, and even stern-faced portraits of the Secretary-General. On the second floor, the Neo-Manila branch of the Ko-oren-owned Goliæth Sports Café franchise served an ample quantity of customers, a small crowd clearly skewed towards the demographic of foreigners looking to relax after a long day of touring the monument and museums that lay nearby.

A waiter offered the South Reinkalistani national a seat at "the Pavilion", a high-end seating area with a great view of the Great Pacific Revolution Memorial.

- and reluctantly ordered a beverage.

As Harikavich waited, his ears were exposed to the loud humming of a broken air conditioner and the raised voices of a particularly noisy group of teenagers speaking to each other in Chinese while intently watching some sort of football game at the bar area's wall-attached television.

This was not going to be a fun place to work his new job.

"Will that be all, sir?" the waiter asked the zoned-out Harikavich.

[Erloane]

December 20, 2021

Riley Church has left the Neo-Manila airport recently. He looked at his phone, on the screen there were various points of interest. "Little Moscow Mall huh ? Sounds alright. There might be something interesting." Riley thought to himself. Then he opened a GPS on his phone, from Neo-Manila Airport to Little Moscow Mall. To get there Riley to get of at North Avenue station. So for now, Riley walks the streets in the search for a subway station. After about half an hour of wandering he decided to ask a local.

"Excuse me sir, but can you please tell me how to het to the North Avenue station ?" - Riley asked a man walking on the street

[Pan-Asiatic States]

Neo-Manila International Airport (Arrivals)

---

December 20, 2021

Riley Church has left the Neo-Manila airport recently. He looked at his phone, on the screen there were various points of interest. "Little Moscow Mall huh ? Sounds alright. There might be something interesting." Riley thought to himself. Then he opened a GPS on his phone, from Neo-Manila Airport to Little Moscow Mall. To get there Riley to get of at North Avenue station. So for now, Riley walks the streets in the search for a subway station. After about half an hour of wandering he decided to ask a local.

"Excuse me sir, but can you please tell me how to het to the North Avenue station ?" - Riley asked a man walking on the street

"You've missed it," the local Tagalog men tells Riley. "The station is located at the lower ground level of the airport. The tube there can take you to any of the major districts in Neo-Manila," he says.

He points at Riley's subway map and indicates one Markov Rail Transportation line that passes through Little Moscow Mall and many other major commercial centers in the capital.

[Erloane]

"Alright, thank you, have a nice day." Riley said as he walked back. Riley finnaly arrived to Little Moscow. He looked around and said to himself "Anything interesting here ? Eh, might as well look around." He walked around and looked on his phone. Riley then went to Activity Plaza.

[Pan-Asiatic States]

"Alright, thank you, have a nice day." Riley said as he walked back. Riley finnaly arrived to Little Moscow. He looked around and said to himself "Anything interesting here ? Eh, might as well look around." He walked around and looked on his phone. Riley then went to Activity Plaza.

The mall plaza was open-air and dotted with a variety of foreign-based commercial establishments: such as an ATM for the Bank of Ibica, a Vozhroczkiy tech store, and a Peyton Wards Barbershop. There were also several restaurants lined up one after the other with a great view of the park which sat at the middle of the mall, each specializing in the foodstuffs of almost every state in the Pan-Asiatic States. Oddly out of place but still within the bounds of the plaza was a booth run by the "Committee for the Liberation of Jaragupta" whose keeper distributed pamphlets and appealed to passerbys for donations.

An elevator on the North side of the plaza took customers to the mall's upper levels, where an arcade, a movie theatre, and even more commercial establishments were open to visitors.

[Erloane]

"Alright, thank you, have a nice day." Riley said as he walked back. Riley finnaly arrived to Little Moscow. He looked around and said to himself "Anything interesting here ? Eh, might as well look around." He walked around and looked on his phone. Riley then went to Activity Plaza.

The mall plaza was open-air and dotted with a variety of foreign-based commercial establishments: such as an ATM for the Bank of Ibica, a Vozhroczkiy tech store, and a Peyton Wards Barbershop. There were also several restaurants lined up one after the other with a great view of the park which sat at the middle of the mall, each specializing in the foodstuffs of almost every state in the Pan-Asiatic States. Oddly out of place but still within the bounds of the plaza was a booth run by the "Committee for the Liberation of Jaragupta" whose keeper distributed pamphlets and appealed to passerbys for donations.

An elevator on the North side of the plaza took customers to the mall's upper levels, where an arcade, a movie theatre, and even more commercial establishments were open to visitors.

Riley took a look around, the restaurants have caught his interest, after all, the flight was long. After a moment Riley entered one of the restaurants, he took a look around and he sat down ad he waited. As Riley waited a thought began in his mind, what will he have for lunch.

[-Astoria-]

OOC: 3,000^th post, apparently.

---

Liskerry, Astoria
12 November 2021
19:39 (GMT -2)

---

Today had been a normal — if exhausting — day for Jack Curtis, "travel vlogger extraordinaire"; planning for future videos and hosting question-and-answer sessions for his subscribers on the regular tended to do that. That session had just been completed, so it would now be time to check whether any more questions came in via his email.

Whilst scrolling through countless shout-outs, requests and abuse-filled epithets — or what he termed as 'love letters from many secret admirers" — one particular request caught Jack's eye; one coming from a well-known paid subscriber to one of his channels.

"'Thought you might wanna check this place out..." mm...'

"'...the Pan-Asiatic States." Yeah, that'd be great, I think — how can I say no to somewhere new, as long as it isn't a warzone?' Sure!

---

Neo-Manila International Airport
Neo-Manila, Tagalog SSR, Pan-Asiatic States
20 December 2021
12:00 (GMT +8)

---

After more than a day spent between flying and multiple-hour stopovers, Jack's final destination was now at hand.

The Air Astoria-liveried Boeing 737 aircraft, fresh from a recent stopover in Hong Kong, now completed the last leg of its journey with a literal bang as it touched down at Neo-Manila's international airport.

Jack, meanwhile, had his attention focused on the view outside his window; the sheer density of the surrounding areas immediately served as an indelible hint that things might likely be done a little differently here.

After disembarking from the plane, shortly arriving at the lines streaming out of the border control desks, he noticed a television in the background declaiming the latest in some political intrigue with some other country of note in a barely-audible volume — well, barely, with the hubbub of people milling around, of course.

"[...] -would trust the lies of the foreigners rather than put faith in the leadership of the Party? How dare you!' This of course comes in light of rising diplomatic tensions with the People's Federation of South Reinkalistan, whose leader - long-time detractor of the Asian Communist Party's EEZ system - President Mozhkin Turaniski, recently condemned the privatization of the Pearl River Delta, something that he termed 'Guanyuite Revisionism'. Turaniski himself has recently been accused by several Asian politicians with orchestrating the arrest of Vozhroczkiy Technology Ltd. proprietor Natayavi Vozhroczkiy, further heightening the tensions between the—

Jack paid it little heed; there were far more important things to worry about than whatever some guy said to some other guy, after all — such as planning where to go to first.

Sunk in thought about trip specifics, he hardly noticed that the line had started to move again, and started to shuffle along the zig-zagging mass of other travellers.

For now, your name has been called by the attending officer at the immigration booth. "Next!" he says, looking at you in anticipation with the stern, lifeless face one often finds is possessed by those with as mundane a job as stamping people's passports.

It all seemed like mere seconds to him — it was actually a couple of minutes — but Jack suddenly heard his name being called out; he was next for the age-old ritual of passport processing.

'Doesn't look like he's in much of a good mood; I wouldn't be too happy either if I was just sitting there, day in, day out, just stamping documents,' Jack thought to himself, as he produced his blue passport and offered it to the glum-looking official behind the counter.

[Pan-Asiatic States]

Little Moscow Mall
Laurel District

---

The mall plaza was open-air and dotted with a variety of foreign-based commercial establishments: such as an ATM for the Bank of Ibica, a Vozhroczkiy tech store, and a Peyton Wards Barbershop. There were also several restaurants lined up one after the other with a great view of the park which sat at the middle of the mall, each specializing in the foodstuffs of almost every state in the Pan-Asiatic States. Oddly out of place but still within the bounds of the plaza was a booth run by the "Committee for the Liberation of Jaragupta" whose keeper distributed pamphlets and appealed to passerbys for donations.

An elevator on the North side of the plaza took customers to the mall's upper levels, where an arcade, a movie theatre, and even more commercial establishments were open to visitors.

Riley took a look around, the restaurants have caught his interest, after all, the flight was long. After a moment Riley entered one of the restaurants, he took a look around and he sat down ad he waited. As Riley waited a thought began in his mind, what will he have for lunch.

The Chinese-style restaurant An's Rice Bowl welcomed Riley warmly. As he sat at one of the tables, a waiter approached him with a menu listing the dishes which An's served. The following items stood-out:

• Beef Tenderloin
• An's Spring Rolls
• An's Lemon Chicken, which is indicated as an apparent specialty of the restaurant

[Pan-Asiatic States]

OOC: Welcome to the 3,000+ posts club!

Neo-Manila International Airport (Arrivals)

---

'Doesn't look like he's in much of a good mood; I wouldn't be too happy either if I was just sitting there, day in, day out, just stamping documents,' Jack thought to himself, as he produced his blue passport and offered it to the glum-looking official behind the counter.

The immigration officer nodded, opened Jack's passport, and asked him a series of standardized questions. The first set was composed of the following:

"What is your name and what is your occupation?"

The second set was composed of the following:

"Where have you flown from? Where are you staying? What's the purpose of your visit? How long will you be staying here?"

[-Astoria-]

The immigration officer nodded, opened Jack's passport, and asked him a series of standardized questions. The first set was composed of the following:

With the passport now in the hands of the official, Jack assumed that the process would not take long; simply giving out one's fingerprints and eye data seemed to be the norm in most of the airports he had been to.

However, this turned out to be not the case, as the official suddenly started asking multiple questions, with Jack attempting to keep up as fast as he could.

"What is your name and what is your occupation?"

'My name is Jack Curtis, and I work as a freelance travel blogger,' replied Jack.

"Where have you flown from? Where are you staying? What's the purpose of your visit? How long will you be staying here?"

These questions took Jack by surprise; surely the visa application form obtained from the Pan-Asiatic embassy would have already answered them. Was there some sort faulty connection between the airline and the airport? All of these questions swirled around Jack's mind.

'That's odd... maybe they're just making sure I'm not a scam, perhaps,' he thought. 'They really like doing things differently, here.'

'I flew in from Astoria by way of Dubai and Hong Kong; you'll see it here,' at this point, producing a binder holding various receipts, boarding passes and documents out from his carry-on and handing it over to the unusually inquisitive official, 'there's also a booking for the, ah, Miracle Hotel, it's called.'

'I'm also here for two weeks for a holiday; you know, just to see what it's like here. It should be on what they pinned to the passport, too,' Jack continued.

[Pan-Asiatic States]

-snip-

As Jack suspected, the questions really were just a matter of formality. After all, the quickest way to catch an identity thief was to catch them not being able to answer the most basic questions about their own identity.

A few other checks were observed, such as Jack having to undergo a brief medical check-up to make sure he didn't have the coronavirus. Once standard procedures were out of the way, Neo-Manila opened up to Jack. A few cafés and restaurants stood in the perimeter of immigration. A recreational area with an indoor park and a small exhibit stood at the center of the airport plaza, underneath a glass ceiling from where natural light could seep in. A MagLev train ran under the Arrivals complex and there were a few duty-free stores that set-up shop in and around the airport that were accessible to him as well.

The hustle-and-bustle of Neo-Manila life made it seem like every person knew where they were going, and they did so expressionlessly. Crowds of people of all Asian ethnicities strode undeterred in colored facemasks to where they needed to be. Jack had well and truly reached the Pearl of the Orient - it was a city that never slept and was always on the move.

Outside, the exit awaited. Taxis lined up to serve guests whose hotels were within the same district. Skyscrapers gleamed in the distance, outside the window, distantly gleaming in the December Tagalog sun.

[Bengal and Assam]

3rd Floor
Little Moscow Mall,
Neo-Manila, Tagalog SSR, PAS
05.45 PM PST

---

---

3 women in female business suits walked out of the elevator. They looked around, and pointed at different goods on display on the windows of the numerous amount of shops located in one of Manilla's premier shopping districts.

"Not much different from malls at home, eh Nance?" asked Miranda Lambert. "There is literally a bloody store dedicated to imported products from Bengal. Can't have a Christmas without a 4 season sock-set for the fireplace."

"But that's the thing, you don't have a fireplace" said Suyeon with a grin, "Although of course, while this place does have lots of stuff from home, certain categories of goods that aren't in the good graces of the local authorities may have been turned back at port.
For example, merch related to that certain Ani-Game that supported the anti-government protests that happened a year ago. Sad really, that game had a huge following here. And once the devs decided to use it as a platform to focus on current issues, the fanbase just disappeared from the internet overnight."

"Then again" said Yuki Katase, the third woman in the group, and a security officer off duty. "We are here to see what the locals like, so that the embassy can throw an open-door Christmas party that will also work as a form of on-the-ground cultural exchange."

"Speaking of which, I heard that the Security Dept has its own plans about the party." said Miranda

"You're not wrong." said Yuki. "While we'll keep the place secured along with private security, since most of the Security Dept for the embassy is from the military, we're planning to have a 'Christmas on Hantu Island' themed stall. The Winter Quarter of National Service that almost everyone picked for Mandatory Military Training goes through takes place on Hantu Island, far away from home. Very good and unique experience."

"Hmm... to be honest, me and Miranda don't have much of an idea." said Suyeon. "I was picked for the Air Force based on my aptitude. Miranda went for Home Service in the Civil Defence Force. But still, I think we can get it done if we could get better input."

"Alright then" said Miranda. "Lets check out the local stores, see what the locals like. Then we can work out what the overall party will look like. And maybe after that, some Fish&Chips with Udon won't be bad for lunch, eh?"

[Erloane]

Little Moscow Mall
Laurel District

---

Riley took a look around, the restaurants have caught his interest, after all, the flight was long. After a moment Riley entered one of the restaurants, he took a look around and he sat down ad he waited. As Riley waited a thought began in his mind, what will he have for lunch.

The Chinese-style restaurant An's Rice Bowl welcomed Riley warmly. As he sat at one of the tables, a waiter approached him with a menu listing the dishes which An's served. The following items stood-out:

• Beef Tenderloin
• An's Spring Rolls
• An's Lemon Chicken, which is indicated as an apparent specialty of the restaurant

"An´s Lemon Chicken." Riley wondered, this dish has caught his attention. After a few seconds Riley ordered the Lemon Chicken and some water to drink.

[Pan-Asiatic States]

Little Moscow Mall
Laurel District

---

The Chinese-style restaurant An's Rice Bowl welcomed Riley warmly. As he sat at one of the tables, a waiter approached him with a menu listing the dishes which An's served. The following items stood-out:

• Beef Tenderloin
• An's Spring Rolls
• An's Lemon Chicken, which is indicated as an apparent specialty of the restaurant

"An´s Lemon Chicken." Riley wondered, this dish has caught his attention. After a few seconds Riley ordered the Lemon Chicken and some water to drink.

Several minutes passed and the waiter returned with the dish and some water in his hand, ready to serve Riley. "Enjoy your meal," the waiter told him before returning to his duties.

[Bengal and Assam]

3rd Floor
Little Moscow Mall,
Neo-Manila, Tagalog SSR, PAS
7.17 PM PST

---

After having lunch, the trio decided that the best course of action would be to conduct interviews on Christmas shoppers in the mall. They've decided to target shoppers that 'do not seem busy'.

Suyeon was pushed to the forefront, asking people she came across. "Excuse me. I'm from the Kawanese Embassy. Would you consent to being recorded for a very brief interview?" she said with a curious and inquisitive tone. If the answer was negative, she apologised and moved on to other targets.
If affirmative, she proceeded to ask
"Do you have an idea as to how Christmas is celebrated in Bengal, either from books, mangha, anime or video games?" and "What do you think sets Christmas in the PAS out when compared to Bengal?"

The trio will then go on to correlate the responses.

[Pan-Asiatic States]

3rd Floor
Little Moscow Mall

---

"Do you have an idea as to how Christmas is celebrated in Bengal, either from books, mangha, anime or video games?" and "What do you think sets Christmas in the PAS out when compared to Bengal?"

The three staff members from the Kawanese embassy received a variety of responses to their query, and from all sorts of people.

"Christmas? In Bengal?" one middle-aged man in jeans, plain black shirt, and a cap that read "P.A.S Dieu Python" cap (signifying that he was a veteran and had served on that naval vessel) said. "Frankly, I didn't even know Bengalis celebrated Christmas. Aren't you guys Buddhist or something?"

"I'll be honest, I only ever heard about Bengal in Age of Conflicts: Cherry Blossom," a young teenager in a Red Science Youth League uniform that the staff interviewed said. "I never play as the Kawanese though since I'm actually from Fuzhou I always play as the Ming Dynasty. Yeah I'm just here to attend a youth conference," he continued.

"I'm aware that there are a vast number of traditions, but to be honest I'm not aware of the specifics," one woman in a hijab told the staff. Overall, the general consensus seemed to be a lack of awareness on the topic.

[Bengal and Assam]

~snip~

Hands on their heads, the three were sitting at one of the many resturants in the mall, waiting for their order of 3 sets of Chinese Set Menu.

"Well girls" said Suyeon. "That didn't go well."

"That didn't go well at all" said Yuki.

"Here's the data" said Miranda. "2/3rd thinks everyone belongs to one religion, 1/10th scolded us for following 'western festivities' despite being Asians, most people have no idea. I'd say we abandon this."

"You're the statistics guy. So the odds do indeed look bad" said Suyeon. "But what I see as a Cultural Affairs student is that if we plan this right, we can generate a fair amount of curiosity, as well as attendance at the party."

"How do you suppose we do that?" said Yuki "We barely have any idea on what to do."

"Well... we do have a basic outline set up already" said Suyeon. "The best and unique bits of your average PAS Christmas party, with the best and unique bits of your average Kawanese party, that too open door. Now hear me out.
First off, we contact an expert, or someone with connections who can hook us up with an expert. Then, we contact certain influencers, and run an SNS ad campaign. The previous Communication Office boss has spent enough money promoting Kawanese pots and sweets like a bloody idiot, I'm sure no-one cares about the newest car factory Kei-Vauxhall set up in Johor. We can use that money to get the SNS and influencer thing done. By the 24th, we'll get the response measured and plan for the event accordingly. The hall has been booked, its pretty big, so we must make the investment count. But in case we have a bad response, we can give up the hall to someone with a late booking."

"Who do you plan to call?" asked Miranda.

"Remember Aang Sophon from the New Year party?" asked Suyeon. "She might have an idea since she works out social policy for the Party, and is a local. She might have connections with other folks who may have an in-depth idea. You know what? I'll call her office, probably leave a message there and hope for the best."