Forget Yesterday, What About Tomorrow? (Countryhumans)

Chapter 7: Dinner

Sitting at the dinner table, the only words Estonia could think of to describe the dinner so far was awkward and quiet, maybe painful even. The way everybody avoided talking like it was the plague definitely took a large toll on the atmosphere. But she was happy to not have a reason to fully blame that on herself, since in her opinion Iceland should also be one to blame, at least partly. As soon as Iceland entered the house, he said something to put off Sweden. The latter being loud, she could hear as he yelled out something like 'Island, you came!', but she couldn't quite make out what Iceland had responded with. And that was what was making this dinner so awkward, Sweden suddenly being unnaturally quiet, and with him being like that, the rest didn't seem to be in the mood for conversation either.

''So uh, I heard it was going to get warm soon...''

Every once in awhile someone would try and spark up a conversation, but it was almost always shot down, and Estonia didn't really feel confident enough to save the mood either.

''Yep..'' Denmark answered Norway's earlier attempt at starting something, still just pushing his food around with a fork. There wasn't much Eesti could do at the sudden curiosity that just appeared within her. She had to ask.

''Are you feeling sad?'' Denmark didn't realize the sudden question was pointed at him before looking up from his plate and seeing the Baltic country looking right back at him. Seeming unwilling to answer, he just sighed and looked down again.

''Don't mind him, he gets like this every time Greenland doesn't show up.'' Norway pat Den on the back while giving Estonia a half-genuine smile.

''Which is every time...'' Although having been dead silent so far, Sweden still couldn't help letting out that remark.

''...Greenland?'' Eesti's muttering was quiet, but Finn, who was sitting right next to her, still picked up on it.

''Grönlanti,'' he whispered to her. Ah, Gröönimaa. Finland had told her about him a while ago, a new grey-faced country had appeared near the Nordic house, so naturally, they took him in. It was a stressful situation for all of them, since a new country appearing obviously meant it had to happen at the cost of one of their lands. And when they finally mustered up the courage to ask for his name, finding out it was 'Grønland' cleared the mystery of who the victim was. Realizing that Grønland was one of Den's own lands completely broke him for a while, according to Finn.

Although Estonia didn't rule any land of that size, she could still understand Den's grief. If an island of hers suddenly appeared as an actual being, she'd feel horrible too. It would seem like somewhat of a betrayal, of the mainland and their history together. Finn had further explained that although Den tried to act uncharacteristically kind and welcoming to the soon-to-be country at first, that didn't make Greenland stay. At this point, Estonia didn't believe that he was independent yet... but that was surely on its way, if they're talking about Greenland's absence being a regular thing. Of course, they could never stop fate, only delay it.

''Ah, we shouldn't focus on him... he's not even here.'' Denmark tried to suddenly brush it off, acting as if he hadn't just been picking at his food in melancholy.

And suddenly the smoked cod on her plate didn't seem too appealing to her either. Somehow the way Den had just tried to play it off had made the atmosphere even thicker, which she didn't even think to be possible.

After coughing to somehow clear the air, Den spoke up again ''And since we have a new guest today, we should get to know her better,'' I don't mind that... ''You're like, Russian, right?''