[b][i]Intermission Five - Aftermath of Victory (Not a GM Post)[/i][/b]

[b]Municipality of Lubao, Pampanga Province, Philippines - 1/1/2023, 8:04 AM, UTC+8[/B]

Bahram cringed at the older male's attempt to be hip and said, "Yes, I am an Arms Master. You?"

As for Levi... Bahram did not know what to say or do now that his gift had been refused. To buy time, he ate one of the chocolates, then mused about what he could talk about. Then he realized that Levi [i]just accepted his offer[/i].

"Cool!" Bahram said, "Fireworks are banned because we're at war, but we can eat... what foods do you like? I'll treat!"

As for politics, the Persian boy decided to spoil some details, albeit in a way that can be plausibly denied as rumors. 

"ASEAN has allied with the Qing Restoration Society, a group of... LARPers whose goal is to pose as monarchists to look so ridiculous that the People's Republic of China cannot take them seriously enough to clamp down on them. The problem was, actual monarchists joined, plus enough people in China believed that they were the real deal, not helped by the fact that Jin Li is a Qing descendant. So now they cannot just do a sudden conversion to Republicanism and keep their credibility, which is bad as the [i]actual[/i] democratic rebellion has erupted in Shanghai, where after the first few dozen peaceful protesters were shot, there was an open uprising and they're more popular than the QRS." 

Bahram then added, "Or so goes the rumor mill among the mercs and info brokers..."

He let the implications hang in the air; ASEAN had allied itself with a liability and may lose the initiative because of that.

[@LladyLloki][@Ducksworth]