~1200's, Philippines looks like a 3 year old~
Preparations for another busy day of bartering was underway. The seashore was overflowing with merchants, jewelry, medicinal products, silk, pottery, fine china and food. Philippines inhaled the familiar scent of mangoes. He sat under the shade of a stand, watching his humans set up stands.
Philippines hadn't seen China or India for three consecutive months. He reckoned it was either because his uncles were really busy or they simply wanted to take a break from watching over young kingdoms. Before they left, Philippines heard China quietly ask India, "Why do I need to look after them aru? I have more important things to attend to and Mongol is starting to scare me."
"Don't worry about Mongol, it's just a phase. Also, correction!" India retorted. "You're not the only one taking care of them, I am too! We're in this together!"
"That doesn't reassure me aru," China deadpanned.
"Don't worry," India said with a comforting tone. "It wasn't supposed to."
China scowled. "I hate you aru."
This brought a small smile to Philippines' face. Since then, he has repeatedly tried to leave his kingdom for a while to check on the others. He figured it was the perfect way to meet other personified kingdoms. Besides, he needed to check on his other kingdoms anyway. But he couldn't find the time to leave. Maybe I should schedule it with Raja again, Philippines thought. I hope his wife approves this time.
...
It was almost noon when Philippines spotted the silhouette of Indonesia's ships. He could almost smell the barrels of spices from where he was standing. He waved excitedly as her ship came closer to shore. She waved back with the same enthusiasm.
Philippines' first meeting with Indonesia was brief but unforgettable, mostly because of what she was wearing. That day, she wore an eye-catching golden headdress, partnered with multiple bracelets and necklaces, and a long dress with elaborate designs sewn with beads and golden threads. Calling her outfit stunning would be an understatement. Philippines remembers being mesmerized by the swaying beads of her dangling earrings.
Indonesia, currently known as Srivijaya, was the personification of one of the many great empires Philippines knew. When he was younger, Philippines was a part of her empire for a while before he separated to create his own kingdoms with some help from his uncles.
"Butuan, please help me unload the cargo!" Indonesia said after the ship has safely docked. Philippines quickly ran to her side and together they struggled to carry sacks to one of the stands. Once they reached the stand, they roughly dropped the sack on the ground. They repeated this procedure a couple of times before stopping to catch their breaths.
"What's in this, kak?" Philippines asked, poking one of the sacks.
"Rice," Indonesia says nonchalantly. She exhaled loudly and moved a few strands of her dark hair behind her ears.
"Yeah, but..." Philippines said opening the sack. He briefly caught a whiff of the rice powder, then quickly moved it near the other sacks and went back to where Indonesia was. "These are from kak Pekan's area. How come you brought these and not her?"
Believe it or not, kingdoms situated near China and India have the unusual ability to accurately pinpoint the location from where a pile of rice was grown just by smelling it. Before Philippines found out about this strange ability, he was convinced that he was the guardian of all rice.
Indonesia laughed and placed an arm on Philippines' shoulder. "Right! I took it into my own interest to bring these here since she's kind of busy with... guarding my territory."
"Huh?" Philippines tilted his head. He hasn't quite developed a very competitive spirit. The lack of competition contributed to his slack reaction towards territorial disputes.
"I'm a bit weary of a neighboring kingdom. His name is Sukhothai if I remember correctly," Indonesia said.
"Sukho?"
"Sukhothai," Indonesia repeated. "He's been around since before I found you so it's only natural that you don't know him... It's actually a good thing you don't know him, Butuan."
"You sound like uncle China, kak," Philippines pouted.
Sukhothai was Thailand. Philippines had always been suspicious of him because of the stories his sisters have told him about the kingdom. He didn't really know much about the kingdom, but what he knew was enough to know that it was best to stay away from him.
"Psh, whatever," Indonesia waved my comment off. "Well, I need to go. I'll come back later once I'm finished selling most of the stuff I brought."
"No problem, kak," Philippines said and grabbed a mango from a nearby basket. He offered it to Indonesia. She politely refused and ruffled his hair. Her face exaggeratedly scrunched up in disgust. "What is it, kak?"
"Your hair is so sweatyyyy!" Indonesia jokingly whined as she frantically flailed her hand to get my hair sweat off.
Philippines pouted and reached up to cover his head. "You're sweaty!"
...
Later, Philippines got into an argument with one of his humans.
"But, my kingdom," the human said. "Two bags of garlic is more than enough for one giant tuna."
"I don't know, it doesn't really sound like a good deal," Philippines argued. "How about three bags of garlic?"
"That's seems like too much."
"Two and a half?"
When Philippines first started selling items, he quickly lost interest while trying to negotiate. It was boring to him. His attitude only changed once China told him that to become a successful kingdom he must be well-versed and knowledgeable in the field of business. He must be resourceful, systematic and goal-oriented. For him, selling items to other kingdoms was easy since his neighbors usually came to his islands instead of him travelling to theirs. Unfortunately, that limited his travelling experience. It would've be great to be able to travel to different kingdoms, but Philippines used to fear the ocean despite being an archipelago.
One time, he almost didn't make it to China due to an unreasonable panic attack. It was something political, so it was mandatory for him to be there. One of his humans had the "brilliant" idea of knocking him out until the boat reached China, but he unfortunately woke up before the boat reached land. This resulted in Philippines punching the living daylights out of the genius. His other humans didn't really know how cease him, so they just took a step back and prayed for their crew-mate.
Thankfully, he had already gotten over this fear. He finally decided that he was more scared of failing as a personification than drowning. Also, China reassured him that kingdoms won't die from drowning. Since then he's been doing annual visits to his kingdoms.
...
Near his house, Philippines was sitting under a mango tree with India. India had decided to teach him how to write. He practiced by writing all of the names he had at the time again and again, then India checked my writing to see if it was legible.
"Ma-i, Tondo, Butuan, Cebu… Wow, that's a lot of names," India commented as he peeled a mango.
"Is that bad, uncle?"
"No, not at all," India smiled. "I have lots of names too."
"Really?"
"Yup, now open," India said and fed me the mango. It was a fun memory. India has influenced him a lot as a child, but the best thing he inherited from the older nation is his love for mangoes.
Suddenly, they were interrupted by a screaming China. They both jumped in surprise and Philippines almost spilled the ink he was using if not for India's quick movements.
"What is it, China?" India whined. He clicked his tongue noticing a drop of ink on his hand.
"There's a newly formed kingdom of the coast of the peninsula where Pekan lives aru. And you know what the best part is, Púduānguó?" China asked, addressing Philippines. The young kingdom merely blinked as a response. "He's not a child, he's a teenager aru!" China looked very pleased, clapping his hands excitedly. Philippines furrowed his eyebrows at the sight of the happy empire. This was news.
"Are you sure that's good news?" India asked. "I mean, you know what teenagers are like, right?"
"Of course aru!" China exclaimed. "This means even early in his life he's already a successful kingdom! I can't wait to meet him aru!"
"Uncle China, what is he called?" Philippines asked.
"He's called Singapura aru!" China said. "I'm going to visit his kingdom after I trade here."
"Oh, I'll come with!" India proclaimed.
"Maupod man ko!" Philippines followed up.
"Sure, let's go!" China said as he skipped away.
Philippines' eyes widened. Very rarely does China agree to take him places. With that in mind, he shared in the empire's enthusiasm. He quickly hid his writing materials in his house while India waited for him outside. Once he came back outside, he saw a bewildered India.
"Uncle, are you all right?" Philippines said, grabbing India's hand.
"Yeah, it's just... do you think he's drunk again?"
"I don't think so... I think maybe he's just genuinely ecstatic," Philippines said with a smile. It was quite funny to see China acting like that.
"Hm, maybe... It's been a while since I've seen him like that. Let's go meet this new kingdom, shall we?" India asked, offering to link arms with the young kingdom.
Philippines didn't link arms with him. "Let's just go, uncle!" He instead grabbed India's elbow with both hands and pulled the older nation with him.
( ' - ')
AN: I am so sorry for not updating! I had to focus on my finals. I'll try updating faster now since it's finally summer!
Maupod man ko! (Hiligaynon) - I'll come with you too!
Púduānguó (established in the year 1001) - is what the Chinese called the kingdom of Butuan, an ancient Indic polity centered on the present Mindanao island city of Butuan in what is now the southern Philippines.
Srivijaya (established in the year 650) - was a dominant thalassocratic city-state based on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Pekan - was an important site in the kingdom located in the modern-day state of Pahang, Malaysia.
Singapura (established in the year 1299) - was a historical Malay kingdom that existed on the island of Singapore. It rose from a small Srivijayan trading outpost into a centre of international trade with strong ties with Yuan Dynasty (China).
Preview:
He isn't late so he took his time...
His constipated look is worse than usual...
Yeah, yeah, just do it...
