Antonio had only just arrived back on land as soon as the sun came up thanks to his engine giving out a few times. He and the Baltics had been able to finally contact someone on land and had been met by rescue personnel shortly afterward, slowly but surely trudging back to land. The Baltics had requested that they return to retrieve their ship, clearly hoping that it hadn't sunk while they'd worked with the Spanish personification to safely reach shore. Eduard had been the one to also request use of the radio to contact the others, but had handed it over to Toris at the last minute with a look that had the Lithuanian man cautiously taking the radio to call the others.
It had only taken a moment to realize why the Estonian man had so easily passed along the opportunity to talk with the others to get updates from the personifications' end of things as Feliks' voice was quickly replaced by that of Ivan as he gave them 'warm greetings from land'. Toris had stuttered out all that he needed to pass along to Ivan, trembling along with the other Baltics at the promise the Russian made to be the first to pull them back to land. But Feliks had apparently been arguing for the radio, unintentionally aided by Ludwig as the German man took what semblance of control over the situation he could muster.
And so Antonio had been shoved the radio as Toris went off to sit with his fellow Baltics as they'd towed the Spanish man's ship back to land. Now back among the others, Antonio felt himself nearly being pushed off the docks as the three other personifications raced to get back to the resort without running into Ivan, although Raivis' shriek signaled to the others on the dock that he had effectively run straight into Ivan's waiting arms. Antonio winced sympathetically as he and the others heard the distinctive laugh that could only belong to Ivan, watching as Feliks took off to 'rescue' Toris.
"So where are all our other friends?" Antonio asked the others, ignoring the ongoing 'greeting' from Ivan, not bothering to waste too much time on whether or not Ivan really was only just expressing his 'friendship' in the only way he apparently knew how – by being creepy. "I wasn't able to reach anyone else but by now the others should have sent out a signal of some sort, si?" He asked as he entered the resort lobby, seeing the setup that only Germany could have constructed as it began to look like a war room of old with all the maps spread out over tables.
"Nothing yet Spain." Canada replied, taking the man by surprise and causing him to do a double-take. But before the man could ask the usual question regarding his identity, Matthew chose to continue to speak, taking the opportunity of being seen and heard to its fullest.
"One of the boats from the guard around here reported some wreckage that had floated in the opposite direction it seemed you and the Baltics ended up getting blown. It would seem the others must've been caught in a crosswind or something and pushed out toward open ocean." Matthew said, seeing the usually spacey man's expression sharpening as he came to the realization that Matthew was hesitant to outright say
"If it is how you say amigo, then…the Italy brothers? Have you had any sign of them? The last I heard about them was from Alfred commenting on them being in the rear." Antonio said, coming over to see the marks on the map that represented where wreckage had been spotted. "Perhaps they were not blown out with the others and are closer to land, just further south possibly." He said, Matthew not sure if he was talking with him still or had started voicing his thoughts aloud as he stood next to Ludwig. But it seemed the German man decided to answer on Matthew's behalf, the Canadian sighing and dropping his head at that.
"The Italy brothers' boat was found capsized further south just as you suggested. The rescue personnel searched for any sign of…bodies….but it's impossible to know." Ludwig said, jaw set tight as he spoke of the grim appearance that they'd heard over the radio earlier. Anyone could see that he was plainly worried about Feliciano's safety just as much as Antonio wanted to find him and Romano.
"Then I will be joining your efforts. When do you plan on heading out?" Antonio said, rounding on the German man with a determined look despite the fatigue from enduring the storm and the touch-and-go moments with his ship's malfunctioning.
"Nein. You just got back and won't be fit to sail." Ludwig said with a shake of his head, but blinked curiously at the response from the Spanish man. Antonio merely laughed, although it lacked the usual mirth that the man exuded.
"You misunderstand amigo – I am not asking. So unless you have a place for me on one of your ships, I'll be…borrowing….a ship of my own to head back out." Antonio said, reminding the others with just a look that he had every intention of demonstrating the remnants of his conquistador days when his 'little tomato' was still in obvious trouble. Matthew had no doubt that if Portugal had shown up for the race instead of having last minute plans - as he too was eager to remind everyone why a large portion of South America spoke Portuguese - then Antonio's determined look would've earned at least an eye roll from his neighbor and brother to ease the wariness such a look gave off. As it was, no one seemed eager to challenge the Spaniard with everything else going on at the moment.
"Ugh…Fine. Go with Poland and whoever else he is taking with him. I think Australia volunteered to help out too but he may have already just taken off…" Ludwig said with a sigh as he rubbed the space between his eyes from the stress trying to coordinate the rescue efforts was creating. Everyone understandably had wanted to take off on their own to go after their friends, but had only held back as they waited for scraps of information to take as their starting point.
"Australia hasn't left just yet. He's, um, persuading Netherlands to join in" Matthew supplied, interjecting himself back into the conversation and feeling proud of himself for being so vocal with the others than he usually was, especially since he was also seen too. "I'm actually surprised he hadn't joined the race. He was just about everywhere with his ships too, wasn't he?" He said, but the last part seemed to have not been heard as the two went back to their own conversation.
"Don't worry Canada. We'll head out soon." Tino said as he walked over and placed an arm around the Canadian's shoulders as best he could with Matthew being taller than the Finnish man. "There's just a few more checks to go over with the rescue teams and then we'll head out. You and me and Hong Kong – we'll be a good team!" Tino continued, shooting a small smile at Matthew as he comforted the other personification, the Nordics being slightly more aware of Canada than the rest of the group it seemed.
"Yeah. Mr. Sweden would come too but I'm worried the heat would be too much for him again, he he he. We all like a good sauna now and then but sometimes there is such a thing as a little too much." Tino continued, Matthew giving a small snicker as Tino's efforts to cheer him up reminded him of both Alfred and Francis.
"Alright. Let's head out to the boats then to check over our own safety precautions, eh?" Matthew suggested, making to head down to the docks. Tino walked out with him, spurring the others into noticing that someone was already heading out, Ludwig calling for order in futility as the others that had been planning on grouping up to search decided to follow 'Tino's' lead as the Finnish and Canadian personification left the room.
With everyone set to go, Ludwig being patted on the back 'sympathetically' by his older brother as he watched all sense of the order he'd been trying to construct dissolving, the groups headed out with the plan of reporting in to one another every couple of hours unless they'd found anyone.
"Let's go before the weather changes again." Hong Kong said as he boarded the ship with Canada and Finland, an armful of what looked like the remaining fireworks from Alfred's bonfire being carried onto the ship by the man. Seeing the curious looks sent his way by the other two, Hong Kong merely raised one of his large eyebrows back at them. "What? If their radio is broke, we can signal to them this way." He said as he dropped the explosives on the deck.
"Um…isn't that the other way around? You know, the ship in trouble sets off the flare and the rescue ship follows that?" Tino asked, not sure what to make of the other's actions. "We don't want to accidentally set our own ship on fire, he he he" He continued as Hong Kong continued to level a look at them that demonstrated Arthur's influence on him.
"But if their radio is broken, they will not be able to hear us signaling to them. We send up one of these and not only will they know to head toward us, but everyone else will know we've found them without even having to use the radio." He said with a shrug, making Matthew and Tino look at one another in shared concern. That was an explanation that fitted Alfred's sense of logic more than anything.
"Plus, I don't want Poland to mistake them for flares again." Hong Kong said, that reasoning making much more sense to the other two as they witnessed the other man oohing and ahhing the other night to the point of lighting himself up. "That was the only explanation Poland would take when he wanted one of them for his ship. I do not know how Lithuania can handle having such a….curious….friend." He said with a shake of his head.
Matthew laughed at that image, the Polish man having been more than a handful as he worried over Lithuania and attempted to prepare his own way of going after his friend. Which included some suggestions that made the others wonder if he was serious or not.
"Well, we might as well take the lead again, eh." Matthew said, climbing up to take the position at the wheel. The three had decided to take the outer most route that Ludwig had laid out, Matthew feeling as though that would've been the most likely place for his twin to have been.
"So, why did you want to come back out Finland? I mean, oh, I'm sorry….I didn't meant to sound ungrateful. I'm just curious as to why you didn't stay with Sweden and the other Nordics." He mumbled to the Finn once Tino had joined him in navigating to where they were supposed to start looking while Hong Kong maintained a lookout position.
"They're my friends too, well, sort of." Tino said with a small laugh. "I thought you might want someone who could see you helping you out and, well, America once asked about who he might consider calling 'father' a while ago and I did offer to make him feel better…" Tino said, trailing off as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. "I guess that would make me like yours too, huh? Isn't that a crazy idea?" Tino rambled, giving his typical smile when he felt things were getting a little awkward.
But Matthew, ever the polite person, just gave Tino a grateful smile for caring enough to make the trip with him. It was better than having to pair up with someone who would forget he was there and he did get along with the Nordics all right anyway.