All Children, Except One, Grow Up (Sealand Intro!)

[Sealand]

Peter Kirkland had never been out of London before. He was born in London – at least, as far as he knew – and was raised in London (if that could be considered raising at all). But somehow, recently, Peter found himself traveling very far from London, indeed.

He started his journey out of London heading north east. He passed through Brentwood, then Chelmsford, where he met a nice family that gave him a small satchel of food and a canteen of water. His next stop was Witham, then Colchester, then Manningtree. After a week or two of traveling on foot, and occasionally hitching a ride with a traveling cart or sneaking onto a cargo car of a train, Peter found himself in a town called Ipswich.

Ipswich was a small but quickly growing town in the eastern part of Suffolk, England. Peter had heard some about it on his travels, but nothing particularly stood out about the place. After a while of staying in Ipswich, Peter moved southeast to Felixstowe, where he procured a boat and set sail. However, his little row boat barely got him to a small abandoned seaport before it sprung a leak.

Now, at present, Peter found himself quite abandoned on the small seaport/micronation of Sealand. As he stood at the edge of the elevated platform, hands on his hips, Peter looked out over the the deep blue sea surrounding the port. And cursed.

"Someone come and rescue me!" he shouted out over the water helplessly, but still trying to look dignified in the process. He hated feeling helpless.

Sighing in defeat, Peter sat on the edge of the tall platform, pulled an old book with an extremely worn cover out of his small satchel of belongings, and began to read it aloud to himself.

"All children, except one, grow up..."

[japan]

Water splashed against the wood of the ship, it's flag that of Britain so no suspicion would come upon them. At the wheel with a Polar Bear sleeping by his feet was Matthew. He was enjoying the ocean spray and the sunny day as he headed off.

He wasn't heading anywhere in particular and was just sailing the ocean blue until suddenly something loomed in front of his ship. Curious he turned the ship hard starboard and headed to the raised lands ahead of him. Wondering what could be there.

[Sealand]

By the time that Peter heard the waves gently lapping against the ship that was in slow approach of his current location, the stars had already begun to blink on, the sun having just disappeared below the line of the ocean in the distance.

At first when he heard the creaking of the approaching ship, he had thought perhaps it was just the abandoned structure he occupied, rocking gently with the waves. However, as the sound grew louder - and evidently closer - Peter began to search for something other than his small nub of a candle to light the way with. Maybe if he attracted the attention of whoever was steering that ship, they would come and rescue him! ...At least, that's what he hoped.

Packing up his things, he quickly began to search inside all of the small buildings and shelters on the structure, hoping for a large light or something he could wave to get attention in the quickly blackening night. Digging through one supply closet, he found a few flares. Further searching provided him with a book of matches, and, running back out into the open air, he got as close to the edge of the structure as he could without falling off. Lighting a match and looking at the flare in his hand hopefully, he quoted softly in an almost prayer-like manner, "'They are the eyes a mother leaves behind to guard her children.'"

And then he lit the flare.

[japan]

Matthew yawned as he continued towards the mass of land. He was even more surprised when he heard a sound a light boom and a bright light. A flare. Someone must be on that island and possibly needed help. So hoping for the winds to blow a bit faster he turned the ship a hard starboard and on it's way to the island. Which soon grew.

[Latvia]

Raivis wasn't a particularly diligent lad, but when he had to, he could learn things. One of the most important things he had learned was how to be on a ship without wanting to throw up every few seconds. That one had taken a while to really work itself out. Luckily, he had already been over it by the time he had joined this ship. Now only his slightly greened complexion showed his less than ideal disposition and it was truly a faint coloring.

Still, as he walked up on deck from his duties, he started to feel a little wobbly again. He sauntered over to the side to see what it was they were approaching, having overheard someone mention they had spotted something. And there it was... a something. He had never seen anything like that before. He wasn't even sure what to call it. Perhaps a man made island? How bizarre.

On the platform, he saw a boy with a flare. From what he could tell, the boy was no taller than he was. Not knowing whether or not he could be seen, he waved over at the youth. That had to be lonely, to be stuck like that. He hoped the Captain was going to save him...

He stared at the other blond, not really realizing he was doing that. He wondered how someone ended up like that. The world could be such a cruel place. Maybe he had been part of a ship that had grown tired of him and just ditched him or maybe he had accidentally said the wrong thing to the Captain and was stranded. So many possibilities.

[Sealand]

Peter winced as the flare went off in his hand, shooting brilliant pink sparks into the sky and alerting all within a few miles radius of his presence. A few sparks hit the skin of his hand, sizzling softly and causing him to wince more as they burned, but just a little.

He looked toward the approaching ship and saw it moving more in his direction now than before. Seeing a form moving somewhere on the ship, Peter squinted against the light of the flare in his hand, shining bright above his head, and saw the waving arms of someone who looked just a bit taller than him.

Another kid? he thought hopefully, and began to quickly wave back, practically flailing with the arm that wasn't holding the flare.

[japan]

Thankfully in the darkness Matthew was able to steer his ship to a place for docking. He looked at the place where the flares where being seen and in all honesty he hoped this place wasn't haunted. He noticed that Ravis seemed to see something thought so it didn't have to be all that bad.

"Alright everyone it's time to get onto land! Look for anyone who needs help! Go!" Matthew ordered as he himself was just about to jump off ship and onto land. His black books hitting the ground as he looked around wondering what was here.

[Latvia]

Raivis was a little stunned as he saw the person waving back so energetically. He had assumed someone stranded on a platform would be tired and worn out or too low on energy from not eating. The boy must have really been desperate if he was mustering the power to wave like that.

The Latvian heard the command from behind him and looked over at the already departing captain. "U-uh yes sir..." he said, though he was likely too late for the message to reach his superior's ears.

Well, at least he already knew where he should go. That boy would have to qualify as someone who needed help. The young sailor made his way off the ship, stumbling onto the platform and heading straight for the boy. He considered for a second what he should say. He remembered from books that you should keep your voice calm so that the other person won't get more excited. So he just had to sound official.

"A-ah uh, hello, I-I'm Raivis Galante of the Arctic Winds... I-I'm uh here to save you..." he said, his face already slightly pink from nerves. He hoped that little line was good enough to inspire some confidence.

[Sealand]

Peter was honestly surprised when people seemed to be leaving the ship, climbing onto his odd little structure out there in the middle of the sea. However, before he had time to shout to any of them - one of them looked like the captain, maybe Peter should tell him that there's no one else here but him - the same boy that looked to be about his age approached, stuttering something about arctic winds or whatever. The only words that Peter really recognized - this was possibly due to the fact that he had run out of food and water hours before and was now completely exhausted - were 'save you'.

Peter, over-joyed and feeling slightly indebted to these people who have possible saved him from the cruel fate of starving to death, dropped the flare that was still in his hand and quickly threw his arms around the other boy's shoulders, hugging him out of pure joy and gratitude.

"Oh, thank goodness someone came!" he wailed weakly, finding that he wanted to cry but he wasn't sure if he had enough moisture in his body to shed tears. "I didn't think anyone would find me! Oh, thank you!"

[japan]

Matthew walked up to the two boys after looking around for a moment. He looked at the young boy, and his eyebrows seemed so familiar but from where. Matthew tried to think of where they could be from until Kumajiro nudged him lightly on the back of his knees.

"Oh right," the Canadian said as he was brought out of his thoughts. He turned his blue lavender eyes to the boy and looked at him carefully from behind his glasses. This didn't seem like a trick. So the boy really did need help.

"How can we help you?" he asked. He was beginning to sort things out in his head if they where to take this boy. Ravis would probably care for him until his health was decent and food and water would have to be rationed a bit more but that was hardly a problem.

[Latvia]

(Sorry for the lateness, school beat me down)

Raivis almost laughed at himself. He was really the last person on Earth capable of saving someone else. He had enough of a struggle keeping himself safe, even when there were no threats to be seen. His crew, sure, they could be here to save someone. But not so much Raivis in particular.

And yet, even with this under qualification, the other boy had dropped his flare and came toward him. He recoiled a bit as he was hugged, taken completely off guard. After a moment, he relaxed a little and pat the other on the back. "W-well uh... h-here we are and uh... y-you're welcome..." he replied, not sure what to say and more than a little anxious about being this close to someone else.

Raivis turned his head to look over at the captain as he spoke and then back at the boy. He found himself hoping the boy would come with them and strangely, he found himself blushing at this desire.

[Sealand]

Peter released the other boy and turned to face the captain, who had been addressing him. He kept a hand on the other boy's shoulder, however, to steady himself; Peter no long trusted himself to stand on his own.

"Please take me with you," he managed, voice growing weaker with lack of water and exhaustion. "You can drop me off on land somewhere if you want, but please...just take me with you."

He felt hot tears leaking down his cheeks, and somewhere in the back of his mind a voice told him that he obviously still had enough moisture left to cry. With a small, short sob, Peter lost his balance, grip slipping from the cabin boy's shoulder, and he fell to his knees as he continued to sob softly.