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Switzerland had only met the Netherland’s a handful of times. Regardless, he admired his business practices and general mantra. Switzerland couldn’t help but think this as he reread the price on the shirt he was holding and scoffed. Pure thievery. Austria would never buy it… and that thought alone almost has him stuffing it into his cart. In the end, however, the price won out and it got hung back up on the rack.
He walked further down the isles, keeping his eyes open for a bargain rack or clearance bin. The more he shopped in these sort of modern department stores, the more he missed the days when everybody just made their own clothes and, provided you weren’t nobility, didn’t much care how they looked. For a moment his mind jumped to the folded pajamas he had in his wardrobe back home: well made despite the questionable color. It would be taking advantage of the girl, though, to ask her to make more clothing, regardless of the fact that she would certainly do it. She was too trusting, no matter how many times he warned her. Despite how much this aggravated him intellectually, he couldn't help the warm feeling that descended upon him whenever he thought it.
It hasn’t been even a hundred years since he took her in (though coming close to being so). So little time in the grand scheme of both their lives. Yet it was as if they really were siblings like the Italys or the Britians, who were born with that bond. She aggravated him, and he refused to call her sister out loud where any nation could hear it, and he hardly ever referred to her as anything besides ‘the girl’ and yet… The words ‘big brother’ in a small voice echoed in his head. The modern age has made him sentimental.
That must be why he paused when he passed the girls section of the department store. The prices there are even more ridiculously exorbitant than they are in the rest of the store. He urged himself to roll his eyes and keep on walking. Something of his struggle must have shown on his face.
“Oh, I know. Little girls like the brightest things.” A salesperson stopped next to him with a friendly smile; friendlier even than if he was just a customer who needed assistance. He knew she felt they were friends. He knew her name and age and hometown and hopes and dreams and family and… he shook the information out of his head. “Is it for your daughter? Or a niece?” She looked at him a second time, noticing his apparent youth, “A little sister, maybe?”
He gave a small grunt of acknowledgment. Like any nation, he enjoyed interacting with his people, but he wasn't and will never be the talkative type. As usual, his citizen doesn’t mind.
“How sweet of you, to be thinking of her like this.” He just knew that color had risen in his cheeks. Damn his non-sunny climate. “Good luck, have a nice day.” The woman smiled at him again with the warmth of an old friend and even a little bit of a giggle before making off. He looked again at the girl's section and scoffed before walking away himself. Everything here was too expensive anyway. No point in getting anything he didn’t exactly need. He quickly bought a much cheaper shirt and headed on his way back home.
And if there were a handful of highly superfluous but rather pretty ribbons sitting at the bottom of his basket, well, there was nothing to be said about that.