Countryhumans Oneshots

The Outlier of Oceania

Madagascar meets her cousins in Oceania. Requested by TheEverlastingOne. Bold is English.

"French Polynesia, I don't think this is necessary," Madagascar pleaded with her sister as French Polynesia dragged her to one of her meetings with her Polynesian family. "I'm not Polynesian."

"Maybe not directly, but Malagasy is a Malayo-Polynesian language. And you're my sister, so everyone else will see you as a cousin, even if it is on my maman's side." French Polynesia said before turning back to Madagascar with a smile, "Besides, you're already here, so you might as well come."

Madagascar sighed, pushing aside the anxiety that she would be kicked out or yelled at for pretending to be part of their family as French Polynesia approached a group of...very small countries.

Madagascar knew they were islands and had seen them at UN meetings before, but she always forgot how small they were.

"New cousin?" Tonga said, raising an eyebrow at French Polynesia, "This family tree is getting far too complicated."

"Madagascar is my sister on Maman's side. Her language comes from the same family as ours, so I invited her to come along." French Polynesia explained.

"Nice to meet you, Madagascar," The only tall country there said. He was taller than Madagascar expected any island country to be (then again, she was tall for an island country, and Greenland existed, so who was she to judge) with swirling tattoos covering her body.

"Nice to meet you too," Madagascar said with a shy wave, "Who are you?"

"My name is Māori. My people live in Aotea—in New Zealand," Māori said, surprising Madagascar. She thought French Polynesia's family consisted of only countries and territories, not indigenous peoples as well.

"There are indigenous peoples here?" Madagascar asked, turning to her sister, who was in a very focused conversation with Tonga, who seemed to be... interrogating French Polynesia about Madagascar's family?

French Polynesia turned away, grinning brightly, "Yes! Our family is very big, and we have plenty of indigenous peoples here, like Enana and Māori."

"I didn't realize how many of you there were," Madagascar said. There were at least fifteen people there, if not more.

"Not everyone comes, though, for various reasons." French Polynesia said casually.

"This isn't everyone?" Madagascar asked. Polynesia was a collection of islands. How could there be so many personifications that were Polynesian?

"Like I said, we're always open to more cousins joining, even if it is distant." French Polynesia said, "We are a region that holds family in very high regard. And if one of us decides you are family, the rest will usually agree."

"Usually?" Madagascar asked. French Polynesia gave a mischievous grin.

"Go ask Hawaiʻi about her time as a country. She'll have so much fun explaining her actions." French Polynesia said.

"Welcome to the family. We welcome all peoples that are islands, even if they are African. Our ancestors were related, so we are, no matter how distant. You are welcome, and we will not exclude you." Tonga said.

"Thank you," Madagascar said. "I am glad you don't find it offensive to let an African country into a Polynesian meeting."

"You have a little Polynesian somewhere. That's enough." Tonga said, looking resolute.

"And we let Siki bring Solomon, and he's not very Polynesian. We've never cared. You're just going to get made fun of for being tall like Māori does." Hawaiʻi said for that must be Hawaiʻi, based on French Polynesia's description.

"Yes, please stay. I need another tall person to balance out all the little shorties we have here," Māori said, smiling.

"Welcome to the family!" French Polynesia chimed in, "Let me introduce you!"

Madagascar couldn't help but smile. It was nice to have other people who wanted to be her family, to give her something more than her Maman and her Maman's children.

It was nice to have people who wanted her for her African traits, not her French.