Et voilà! The brief introductory chapter to my second multi-chapter fic! This story is a bit more personal, so hopefully that (and practice!) will make it an improvement from my last one.

I use human names as follows:
Iceland - Emil
Netherlands - Lars
Finland - Tino
More will appear as the story is updated.

Chapter 2 will be up soon as well. Enjoy!

Wertheim Park didn't prove to be the clean patch of grass that Emil had been hoping for, and by the time he arrived he just wanted to turn around and walk right back home. Why was it so hard to find a quiet, comfortable space outside his own home to take a break and clear his head? Emil thought the entire city of Amsterdam to be a crowded, unsanitary mess, and wondered to himself if it would ever be worth leaving Iceland to live here - although either way he felt he had no choice.

He decided to rest his feet for a few minutes before walking back and settled on the edge of the park's fountain. Surveying the scene in front of him, as usual, depressed him. People walked - some briskly, some leisurely - along the sidewalks and through the grass. Sounds of laughter and traffic echoed through the atmosphere. There was a mother with her two daughters having a picnic to his left and the early afternoon sun was punctuating the carefree positivity of the space. No, this was definitely not a place he could relax. Not when there were so many people enjoying their day around him and all he could do was wonder how incredible it must be to be able to feel that bliss.

Emil decided he'd had enough of his little spontaneous adventure and was about to stand to leave when he suddenly became entranced by a gap in the cheery atmosphere. It was looming over a man sitting on a bench about 4 meters to his right with his back to Emil. This man was alone - had he always been there? - smoking a pipe and watching as cars passed by just beyond the park's fence. It seemed, for a brief moment, that everything else about the day around Emil disappeared - the fountain, the mother with her children, the sun shining much too hot - none of it existed and the only thing left to think about was this ominous man and his pipe.

The man in question seemed to blend into his surroundings - into the bench, into Wertheim Park, like he had established such a peaceful coexistence with this city that he himself had become a part of Amsterdam - and that this was all an outstanding and fascinating act unfolding right before Emil's eyes. He seemed to attract everything to him like some sort of magnetic force, but nothing and no one around him seemed to realize that this was happening.

What was it that had grabbed Emil's attention like this? Was it the man's silent and rigid stature that contrasted with the relaxed people around him? Was it the fact that he was the only person alone in the park besides Emil himself? Was it the oddity of a pipe? That was it, Emil decided, and he was instantly snapped out of his trance. How indecent it was to smoke so shamelessly in a public park! Yet another reason he hated this city: too many people polluting common air with their unhealthy habits! It angered him to watch and he decided that that was why he couldn't pull his stare from this stranger, of course! (Why did he feel he hadn't quite convinced himself?)

After concluding that he had solved the mystery of this man, Emil finally stood and walked the other way to return to the street.

For the rest of his evening, Emil busied his mind with his usual activities: tidying his flat, making himself dinner, even starting a new book, but his attempts to clear his mind of the man he had seen in the park earlier were futile. Who was he? What was he like? Why did his very existence cause Emil to feel the need to ask so many questions?

Sleep - he just needed to sleep.

The department stores on the east side of town were simply the best, that was all. At least, that was Emil's explanation as to why he was making his way down Amstel road towards Wertheim Park the Wednesday after his first adventure in this area. It certainly had nothing to do with his childish hopes of getting another glimpse of the strange man who refused to leave his mind alone.

Crossing over Blue Bridge, Emil picked up his speed. His excursion had to be completed within the next hour and a half - his shift at the supermarket started at 1.

By the time he reached the park, he had decided to walk along the road that was just outside the black fence surrounding it in the direction that the man had been facing. The exact bench where he had sat was now approaching on Emil's left, and he kept his eyes strictly on the concrete in front of him until the very second that he was passing the bench on the other side of the fence. (How ridiculous could he be? What was he hoping for anyway, that observing the spot where the man had sat would answer the questions consuming his thoughts? That for some odd reason, the man would still be sitting there and Emil could discover his face?)

Not knowing what to expect Emil turned his head, only to have his pulse freeze and his breath catch in his lungs. The man was there. Emil was certain that he was the same man as before - not only did he have the same tall blonde hair he had seen from behind, and even the same blue and white striped scarf despite the growing warmth of the day, but Emil also felt the same entrancing atmosphere around him as before. The four seconds that Emil spent passing by him felt like they occurred in slow motion, and Emil was convinced that they had become the only two people to exist within a 100 mile radius. Once he was no longer beside the man Emil snapped his gaze back to the sidewalk before him and reestablished his steady breathing.

After a few moments of trying to process what had happened, he was able to realize what the man had looked like. In his mind Emil recalled a stiff, hard face with a vertical scar above the the right eyebrow and bright green eyes that Emil could feel seeing right through him. Wait - the man had been looking at him! They had made eye contact! Why hadn't he noticed this while it was happening!?

And then there was the pipe. That goddamn pipe that ruined the whole thing. That's what he decided to focus on instead of the fascinating - dare he say it? - allure of this man. How great could this man possibly be if he makes those kinds of irresponsible and unhealthy choices for himself? Certainly he was not worth Emil's peace of mind, he concluded before he tried his best to return his attention to finding the nearest department store.