NationStates Jolt Archive

Tomias Salias shivered, it had been many days since he had seen land. There had been a storm, just off the coast of Sanctaphrax, and Tomias had been out fishing in it. The storm had swept him away, he had slept that night under the tarpaulin, and when he woke up in the morning, it was to a world of waves, crashing one after the other, a never-ending sea of blue, as far as the eye could see.
Since then, Tomias estimated that he'd been at sea about a week. He'd been forced to eat raw fish that he'd caught lately, as his food stocks dwindled, and finally vanished.
Tomias started day-dreaming again, there wasn't much else to do out here. He had left the boat to do what she would. The woodmoth was a sturdy little ship, and she had ridden out the storm admirably. He started slipping into dreams of a three course meal, when suddenly he heard a crashing noise, and his ship ran aground on some rocks. His first though was more repairs to be made until he realised that he had hit land, and that his nightmare at sea was finally over.
He scrambled out onto the pebble beach that he'd hit, and knelt down and started kissing the ground. Unknown to him, nearby two kids were watching this strange newcomer from behind a rock.

The kids just stared at him for a while, trying to make out who he was... after about 10 seconds the kids started to talk to eachother.

Kid 1 (male): Whtgoot diurgut do higam?

Kid 2 (female): Dent nedgot, meedbegee neece?

They started to laugh a bit, then spoke again.

Kid 1: Fudagieen... hetego lodoks rangry, shad fredog higam.

The kids approaced Tomias and took some candy out of their pockets, after watching him gorge it down they helped him up and seemed to signal him to follow them.

They walked for a couple of minutes, until they reached what looked like a hut... The little girl ran to her father who was busy gutting some fish with a spear.

Afterwhich the father signalled him in, and gave to him some fish to eat.

Once Tomias finished eating, the father spoke.

Father: "I don't think i've ever seen you around here before.... my kids said you crashed on the beach, did something go wrong with your boat?"

Tomias gulped down the fish, but nearly threw it up. After a week of eating raw fish, it was the last thing he wanted to eat. He ate it anyway, at least it was cooked, and talked to the man.
"Yes, i'm from a nation, far from here, called Sanctaphrax. I was fishing, a bit further out than I normally do, when my boat got caught up in a storm. I was swept away. I couldn't control my boat, so I curled up under the tarpauline and went to sleep. I woke up in the morning, and I couldn't even see Sanctaphrax. I've been at sea for about a week, until I chanced on this beach here." Tomias finished talking, and for a few moments they ate silently.

He starts scracthing his head "Sanctaphrax...Sanctaphrax, i don't believe i've heard of that nation. Well i was never good in Geography." he said smiling.

"But i don't suppose it could be too far, if it took you a week to get here by boat."

"I don't suppose to have another means of getting off our nation do you?"

"Anyways don't worry about going home for now, what you need to is rest up before you can consider the possibility. Anyways we're going to be having a BBQ soon, and since you seemed to like to the fish so much, i'll cook up some more!"

Anyways you should walk around a while get some fresh air and see the scenery. The kids will take you sightseeing...right?

Kids: "Fine...", they then start running into the woods, telling you to come, then proceed to talk that weird language again to eachother again.

"It probably isn't that far, but far enough to cause me severe discomfort for a week." He was pulled to his feet by the kids, who seemed anxious to take him on a sight-seeing tour of the area. Tomias creased up his head with amusement, an estimated 10'000 nations, and he arrived at the one with kids who couldn't talk English, and they still gutted fish on spears. He followed the kids into the woods, ducking at some low branches, following them, working on gut instinct alone. The kids seemed to know this area incredibly well, and they seemed to know exactly where they were taking him. At one point, Tomias heard the two giggling, and soon after the girl held a branch as he walked past, then let it go, ducking swiftly as it dealt him a blow to the head. It was only a thin branch though so it only stung a bit. They giggled and continued to trek. The journey seemed to last forever.

The kids would stop every now and then and show him "great areas" as they called them... what was so great was unknown...until he found out, that they liked tormenting things. That's when he noticed lots of sticks and stones on the floor.

The kids stopped at the edge of a small hill, with a mini river at the bottom.

"We call this place Arhgfragkalltyu!"

Tomias: "Why do you call it that?"

They laughed, and then pushed him down the hill, where he then rolled down the hill for a while, before landing in the river below.

Tomias appeared unhappy, and was about to shout at them, when he noticed what he was about to say..was pretty much the name of the hill.

Kids: "We're sorry... it's just an initiation we do to all newcomers... since we can only do it once, before they want to kill us."

"We'll take you to the Strawberry field. The Strawberries there are great!"

They then proceeded to run off again.

Tomias spluttered and coughed. The water wasn't overly clean, and it wasn't very warm here even without him being wet. He noticed the kids running off, and decided to sneak off in the opposite direction. Anything would be better than this. He picked his moment, and moved slowly down the stream, he knew that water covers footprints, so he moved quietly down the stream, until the forest swallowed him up.

The kids ran for a bit, then looking back they saw he wasn't there anymore, they were worried he fell unconcious in the river or worse their father would be mad because the fell unconcious in the river. They hurried back to the scene but didn't see him, they also noticed that there were no footprints leading into the forest.

Girl: What happened to him?
Boy: I don't know.. he was skinny maybe he didn't leave footprints.
Girl: That's silly, he's not a squirrel or something...
Boy: Wait... maybe he went upstream!
Girl: To play Hide and Seek?
Boy: That must be it! Why else would he run away?!
Girl: Heehee, well let's go find him!
Boy: But which way did he go though...
Girl: Hmmm... well we're certainly faster then him...
Boy: We'll go upstream, and if he's not there, then go back downstream.
Girl: Isn't that where the city is?
Boy: True... but it's not like he'll get lost in there that easily. Plus the waterfall is more dangerous obviously

They then nodded and ran off Upstream.

Tomias laughed from his place in the bushes at the side. He watched them running upstream, and quickly ran downstream, as quickly as he could. He ran in the water, and there were no footprints. By the time they would finish searching, he would be well away from them.

After about 20 minutes, they reached the waterfall, only to their dismay, no footprints or any other type of signature to show he was here.

Boy: Great... he probably went in the other direction... and might even be lost in the forest now.

Girl: We should go after him...but i'm tired, can we take a break?

Boy: Yeah... it's only noon and we've got pretty much until sundown, before the BBQ starts, we can rest for a bit, then we'll check the city.

Girl: Did you notice how he looked at us strangely... and did you see that dinky boat of his? He must come from some 3rd world country, where they still canoes as their navy

Boy: Heheheh, true that... i don't think he'll fit in that well in the city, i wonder if he's even heard of electricty.

After about a half hour of more conversation and jokes they went back on their track and went to search the city for him.

Tomias left the stream, and padded quickly into the forest, taking care to avoid stepping in mud, or other things that might provide obvious tracks. After an hour or so, he changed course, and headed for the north, where the father had told him there was a city, in the brief time they had talked.

OOC: Not much for me to post, and you complain that i'm not thorough -.-

The kids went through the forest until they reached the city.
They wandered around a bit searching for him.

Boy: Hope he's not scared...
Girl: I thought you said grown men don't get scared.
Boy: I also said that Santa Exists, since when did you start listening to me?
Girl: .. You mean Santa's not real?!

10 minutes of pointless conversation later...

He stumbled clear of the forest an hour later. He tripped over a low branch on his way out, as if it was the forests way of saying goodbye. He didn't care by now though, as he was so close to the city. It should be just around the hillock. He climbed it and gasped. The city was huge! He'd been expecting a collection of mud huts, not this. A modern city, complete with electricity, shops, hotels, restaurants. This was incredible. He momentarily forgot that he was standing on top of a hillock, and was at this point, quite hard to miss.

Girl: Where is he?!

Boy: *spots him* Over there!

Girl: C'mon let's get him

The kids run into the forest, where they appear behind him moments later.

Together: Boo! Thought you could escape us eh?

Boy: Anyways if your done gawking at it, we'll show you how a civilized world acts like.

Tomias jumped, then stared back as he saw the kids behind him. Mentally, he thought of putting his head in his hands and crying. Physically, he started running as if... well as if two crazy kids were chasing him. He was a full grown adult, and could therefore match their paces, as he gave a final sprint, and charged into the city. Women with shopping baskets had the baskets overturned as he charged past, couples holding hands broke apart as he sprinted through all obstacles. He didn't dare look back, afraid of how close the kids were.

Girl: Wow he's faster then he looks.

Boy: *looks at her* Let's tackle him!

Girl: Yeah!

They then proceeded to chase after him.

Girl: Wait up, we only want to talk!

The kids managed not to knock into anything somehow, and the boy went through an alley.

He popped up in front of him, and proceeded to throw himself on him, to knock him off balance. Meanwhile the girl grabbed one of the grapefruits knocked onto the street, and rolled it under his feet in an attempt to trip him.

"Aaaah, help... they're trying to mug me, please help." He pretended to break down, as if these kids had been haunting him for weeks. He wheeled back on the grapefruit and fell, knocking his head, and knocking him into semi-consciousness.