Chapter 1
It was a warm day, although being in the Pacific Ocean usually meant that it was generally warm. There was an energetic vibe from the group that was at one of the docks at one of Alfred's territories, Guam, as they gathered supplies and made ready their ships. It was a sailing race that had started off more as a bet between two personifications and had escalated into this. This was due mostly to the Nordics comparing Viking legacy as pirates and explorers to something that Arthur had said about his own experiences as a renowned privateer or pirate depending on what sort of conversation the British man was in.
Denmark had suggested they put their sailings skills to a competition and as soon as Alfred had heard that, he had blown that competition to his usual grander scale and had enlisted several other personifications who had either genuinely wanted to enjoy the day sailing or had been more or less pushed into it by an obliviously overly-encouraging American. There were some, like Arthur, who would be sailing alone on his own ship, but others had opted for teammates to sail completely around the island. The Italy brothers were there also, although with the leisurely way they were preparing, it didn't seem like there was much self-urging to try and win as it looked like they were more concerned with enjoying the time out at sea.
Germany had tried his best not to take part, clearly hoping to enjoy the nice climate of the island, but at any lack of coordination between the Italy brothers, he found himself giving into his compulsion to keep order. While Ludwig did his best to keep the Italy brothers from being sidetracked with food, sleep, or girls during the day meant for preparation, Arthur was busy dealing with getting things just right while avoiding the teasing remarks of the Nordics. The group of them had teamed up, 'for old times' sake' as Denmark put it and Arthur was feeling a little more confident in himself despite the apparent disadvantage. He knew that with the group of them, as much as they typically grouped themselves, could easily dissolve into chaos with hardly any prodding on anyone's part. It was the constant presence of both Francis and Antonio, who had also opted to each sail on their own, that was providing a bit of an annoyance to him as well as the jabs brought about by Netherlands about their histories too.
The only ones not seeming to be caught up in too much yelling were the Baltics as they attempted to prepare their ship with the ever-watchful eye of Russia as he worked on his ship next to their own. Ivan had been persistent in trying to get them to join him, this time only for the race, but had to back down when the three kept disappearing on him. He'd attempted to persuade Yao, but the Chinese personification was eager to show off his own sailing prominence and had been goading Kiku to take part in the race. The Japanese man had repeatedly declined only to show up the day before they were to set sail on their course with his own boat, nearly ready to go.
This left the personifications on shore who had come to see the others off before taking their vacation, with the usual meltdown between China and Japan which entailed of Yao shouting while Kiku appeared to not be bothered by anything the other said. It was made all the more entertaining when Alfred came over to greet his friend, not picking up on the fact that there was an argument going on, and had effectively shut up China by dragging Kiku off to see his own ship that he was working on. Yao had called out to him to pay attention more, only to then slip off the side of his boat when he'd leaned too far over the side trying to get Alfred to turn around.
As night fell, Alfred had set up a bonfire for everyone to enjoy on the beach, although a few of those who had planned on sailing remained on their boats too. Arthur was suspicious of leaving his boat for longer than necessary, knowing it was likely to have something tampered with by one of the others. Instead, he watched from the deck how Alfred brought out all sorts of fireworks to light up, Yao remarking on how inferior his were to the Chinese man's own. He was treated to the sight of Alfred's show, supplemented by a performance put on by Feliks as the Polish man had apparently gotten too close to either the fireworks or the bonfire and was now running and screaming as he tried to put out the flames on his clothes while Lithuania had followed after him. The British man smirked as Feliks lunged into the ocean to douse the flames, shaking his head at their antics while also listening in to be sure that the blonde Eastern European hadn't actually hurt himself.
"Toris…" Arthur called out as he got off of his boat with a towel in hand, walking over to the Lithuanian as he listened to Feliks complaining about his ruined outfit. The brunette looked over to him, smiling gratefully and accepting the towel as he checked over Poland once more to be sure he hadn't been burned.
"Everybody okay over there?" Alfred shouted over from where he stood with a couple of fireworks in his hand. Handing them over to Hong Kong, the other man looking eager to set them off without waiting for the American to return, the American personification headed over with humor on his face. "Dude, I'd have thought you knew not to stand there. And everybody says I'm distracted." He said with a laugh, Arthur rolling his eyes at the other's attitude.
"Maybe you shouldn't have been setting off those fireworks where you did then, Alfred." Arthur said, Feliks grabbing onto that idea before storming off with several loud complaints. Alfred shrugged, not bothering too much once it was clear that Feliks was fine to hide his laughter, shooting Lithuania a sympathetic look. Toris sighed but understood the apology, following after Poland. Arthur simply shook his head, getting in a cuff to Alfred's head for no reason other than to laugh at the subsequent 'hey!' that action produced from the American. The rest of the night seemed to go by without too much drama that could come about, although Arthur couldn't help but feel his chances of showing up the Danish personification increasing with the increasing amount of alcohol being consumed by said man.
