Hong Kong was working on making breakfast for the other two passengers of their ship, yawning from the lack of a decent amount of sleep and no apparent decent tea on board to help start his day. Both Yao and Arthur had passed along that habit and the Asian man was a little irritated that he couldn't make some to help both himself and the others to become less tense since the radio transmission that had abruptly ended and hadn't been reestablished. Matthew had been nearly inconsolable at the news of his family being so injured, understandably so given the impression that his twin may have lost a limb on this voyage.
The Canadian had spent the rest of the trip firmly planted by the radio, refusing the food Tino had adamantly pushed on him for as long as his polite nature would allow before breaking down and eating something to calm down. Hong Kong had spent the better part of an hour convincing him to get some sleep and that he would be woken up immediately if another transmission was picked up, the persuasion only coming to fruition with the encouragement that with at least three ships that picked up on the signal, the location would be determined soon.
There had been some discouragement though when Australia's group did find a ship. But only to learn that it was Yao's half-sunk ship with no signs of the direction Alfred and the others had gone off in. So lost in thought, Hong Kong didn't realize that both Canada and Finland had joined him in finishing up preparing their meal, the Canadian looking like he hadn't actually slept soundly for very long.
"Why don't you go get some fresh air Matthew?" Tino suggested with a gentle hand on the Canadian's shoulder, Matthew sighing but nodding. He quickly stood up, apologizing for his gloominess and thanking Hong Kong for making breakfast as he headed up to the deck.
"He's going to wear himself out before we even find what's left of his twin." Hong Kong said, receiving an unamused look from Tino at his choice of words. The Finn clearly had been upset over the news, not that Hong Kong hadn't been upset to hear the details of the American's – and other members of his family's – injuries. Tino held the glare for only a moment before sighing and looking back to his coffee.
"True. Although I doubt the other groups are doing well either. I'm sure Spain's driving himself and everyone on his boat crazy with worry since southern Italy seems to have disappeared." Tino said, looking back up to Hong Kong. "And I'm sure you're worried about Yao...and, I suppose, Kiku. And to an even greater extent, Arthur too even if you won't admit it…" He said, giving a small smile at the look on the Asian man's face as he readied himself to deny any such thing.
"I just hope our efforts find them soon. We have to have something by now…" Tino continued, getting up to head over to where they'd been alternating their position at the instruments to collaborate with the others on finding out where the signal had been coming from. They'd almost had a fix on the location until the transmission cut out, Ludwig theorizing that if the radio hadn't been damaged, then their friends might have had to switch to a different broadcasting frequency or that they'd had to stop altogether for some other reason.
"There hasn't been anything all morning. It seemed like there might have been something at one point, at another frequency like Germany suggested, but I couldn't be certain. But then it just stopped." Hong Kong said, drinking some coffee to keep himself awake.
Finland nodded along with what the other man told him, looking over the work that they'd done to see if he might spot anything that had been overlooked the previous day in their concern. As the two sat in silence, there suddenly was the unmistakable sound of loud splashes that caught their attention. Looking to one another in confusion, Matthew's cries for them spurred them out of their seats to get out on deck as fast as they could.
"Look! Look!" Matthew said as soon as he saw the, pointing to the whale that had swum up alongside their boat. "That's Alfred's whale. He must've thought I was him or something, just like everybody else…" Matthew said with a laugh, getting a large squirt of water to the face from the whale.
"Or not…hey! This means Alfred's talked with you. Can you take us to him?" The Canadian said, Finland and Hong Kong looking again at each other to see if the other man followed the conversation the northern North American twin was having with an animal. But Hong Kong merely shrugged, Finland shaking his head at that since his experience with the Canadian over the years seemed to indicate that the other had an affinity for understanding all sorts of wildlife that they'd never had – or lost over time.
The whale gave a whistle that sounded very much like the chirping, trill-like sound Alfred would make when overexcited, diving underwater and taking off. Resurfacing shortly a good distance away from the boat, the whale shot a shower of water from its blowhole to indicate his position and most likely to encourage Matthew and the others to hurry up. Matthew scrambled to get the ship ready, the other two following his lead and just doing what he said as they prepared to follow the whale on a long shot. Hong Kong headed back to the radio to let the others know what was going on with as best an explanation as he could.
"Hello? This is Hong Kong. I may have something worthwhile to go off of…." He said, waiting for a reply. Not even a full ten seconds later, a reply came through from Ludwig, the Asian man sure that the others had been situated around their own radios for such a message.
"Ja? What is it? Have you found…" The German man began to say, Hong Kong deciding not to let him ramble off a list of questions that he no doubt would fire off rapidly.
"Well, it seems like Alfred has a pet whale…and that whale found us – er, Matthew – and he thinks it would be a good idea to follow it. I'm not sure if that's what's going on or if the whale, if it is Alfred's, thought Matthew was Alfred and wants to play, but Matthew's convinced it's taking us to Alfred." Hong Kong explained, wincing as he waited for the skeptical replies. He waited for a moment, silence meeting him as it seemed the others were taking a moment to process what he'd said.
"Are you saying you're basing your search tactics off the fact that a whale came up alongside your boat?" Ludwig asked slowly, Hong Kong nervously laughing in response as he replied.
"Ha ha ha…well, Canada is absolutely sure it's his twin's whale. I never saw it, but he would know, wouldn't he? Have you ever come across it?" Hong Kong replied, doing his best to not just end the conversation as he was getting fed up with the other's attitude already.
"Not to my knowledge, no." Ludwig answered, although Hong Kong could hear some hesitance in his reply. "There were some instances during the second world war where some of my u-boats had to be re-routed as the result of running across unexpected whale groups, but as far as I know, I've not seen America's pet whale." He replied, sounding like someone must've persuaded him to be a little less hostile and more open to this idea, Hong Kong theorizing a certain Hungarian might've been to thank.
"Well, either way, it's better than nothing and so far we haven't heard much. I did hear something earlier this morning on a different frequency." Hong Kong said, relaying the details of what he'd come across.
"Ja. Spain found something similar. His team is continuing to standby for another signal on that frequency. Let us know if your…plan…has any results. I think we are the closest to you. We should be able to get to you quickest if you need help." Ludwig said, Hong Kong recognizing the dismissal in the other's words and opted not to say anything further in reply.