Of Books and Writing
It was a surprisingly quiet day at the Shepherds' garrison; with the ongoing war with the continent of Valm, days like this came very rarely for the Shepherds. But whenever they were fortunate enough to have a day like this, everyone happened to make the most of it. And nowhere was this more apparent than with a certain duo who were spending their time in the barracks. Robin and Sumia were both sitting together and enjoying their new favourite pastime: reading. The young female tactician was sitting at the table with her face in the book she was reading at the time, along with a scroll of notes she happened to be taking down while she was reading, while the young Pegasus knight was sitting on the floor and leaning against one of the crates that happened to be placed against one of the walls in the room.
As there seemed to be nothing but silence with the two girls seeming to be engrossed in the stories they were reading, Sumia turned her glance up to spot the scroll that was placed on the table next to Robin, and she stood up and placed her book on top of the crate, with the book placed cover on top so she would remember what page she was up to, and walked over to see what was going on. As Sumia poked her head up to the table, she turned her glance to spot the scroll of notes Robin was writing on, before she turned her head to turn her attention to the tactician in question, as she was focused on the story she was reading.
"Hey, Robin?" Sumia asked. Robin let out a yelp of surprise as she nearly jumped out of her seat from shock, before she immediately turned her head to spot Sumia standing beside her, with the Pegasus knight showing an expression of concern as she took a few steps back upon realising that she accidently startled Robin. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you like that." Sumia rapidly said. After taking a few moments to recover from the shock that she received, Robin stood up from her seat before walking over to Sumia.
"Sumia…" Robin slowly shook her head in annoyance at what had just happened before she turned her head up to her friend. "Can you please not do that? You do realise that I'm a bit busy trying to do something, right?" Robin asked, showing an expression of minor annoyance; while she did enjoy spending time with Sumia, and the rest of the Shepherds for that matter, a lot of the mishaps she would get involved in with them, whether they be intentional or not, would sometimes make her feel like they were about to do her head in. Honestly, she considered it a wonder she was even able to deal with this eccentric roster with just how different everyone was from each other. Sumia then showed an expression of concern seeing that Robin looked a little upset about her accidently startling her.
"I know, I'm sorry… I just wanted to see what you were writing on that scroll you had with you." Sumia replied, pointing over to the table. Robin showed an expression of surprise as she started to wonder what Sumia meant, before she turned around to notice the scroll of notes that was beside the book she was reading, and then she showed a bright smile before she walked over to the table.
"Oh, you mean this?" Robin asked, picking up the scroll and showing it to Sumia, with the latter looking at the notes written on it in surprise. "They're just little ideas I have for stories I would like to write. I've been taking up a bit of writing as well as my reading when I'm not busy planning battle strategies." Robin explained. As Sumia looked at the scroll of notes, she could see the ideas that Robin had written down on it and she had to admit that it amazed her just how creative Robin was; there were so many different ideas she had written down that Sumia wasn't certain of where she should start.
"Wow… I didn't realise that you liked to write, Robin." Sumia commented. Robin simply showed a modest smile and started to rub the back of her head, as it was something that she had only recently gotten into.
"Well… it is something I have only started recently, to be honest. So believe me, my writing isn't exactly top-notch. At least, compared to the books that we've both been reading." Robin nervously replied, turning her glance down in uncertainty. Sumia could only stare in surprise, wondering just why Robin wouldn't be all that confident about her writing; knowing just how capable she was in a lot of areas, it was safe to say that this came as a bit of a surprise for her. However, it didn't take her long to show a bright smile before she hopped over to Robin, with the tactician turning her glance upwards to spot Sumia looking up at her.
"Is it alright if I have a look to see the stories you have written?" Sumia asked; naturally, her curiosity was getting the better of her as she wanted to find out just what it was that Robin was writing about. Robin stared at Sumia in surprise, before she showed a bright smile and nodded in agreement, seeing just how interested Sumia was in having a look at her stories.
"Of course." Robin replied. With this, she placed the scroll back down on the table before making her way over to the shelf on the far side of the room and spotted the book she was searching for, and picked it up from the shelf and walked back over to the table before placing it down on the table, while Sumia watched on in silence. Once she was all set, Robin slowly opened it up to the correct pages. "These are the stories I've been working on since I started. I tend to save some notes for reminders of ideas I want to write on. Most of these are only one chapter, so they don't take too long. But others tend to take a bit longer than I'm comfortable with. I… mainly hand that to my lack of focus…" Robin explained, showing a nervous smile at this last statement before letting out a nervous giggle at the fact that some stories would take her longer to complete than others.
Sumia wasn't focused on what Robin was saying, though; she was flipping through the pages and having a look at the stories that Robin had written since she had taken up the interest of doing so. As she was reading them to herself, Sumia couldn't help but feel impressed by how well Robin had presented her stories: it was clear to see from the amount of description and detail Robin had included in the stories, she had always placed a lot of time and work into making the stories as good as they were. Sumia slowly showed a smile of awe as she was reading the stories to herself, before she turned her glance up to Robin while the tactician looked down at her, wondering just what she thought of the stories.
"Wow… I have no idea how you do it, Robin. Your stories are amazing! You have so much detail, and I think that shows how hard you work to make them as good as they are." Sumia happily praised. Robin could only stare in surprise, hearing Sumia's positive reception towards her stories considering that she didn't think very highly of her writing since this was something she had only started doing. Before she had a chance to respond, Sumia quickly stood upright before turning her glance to Robin, with the big smile of awe clearly evident on her face. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but… I would really like to learn how to write! Can you please show me how, Robin?" Sumia asked, her eyes going big in excitement.
Robin nearly jumped upon hearing this; she had to admit that this was coming as one big surprise to her. She honestly didn't expect Sumia to react this positively to her writing, especially after seeing it for the first time and wanting to do something like her just straight afterwards. But as she could tell from the big hopeful smile Sumia was giving her, there was no way she could disappoint the young Pegasus knight; if there was a chance to put what she had learnt so far into practice, she had a feeling that using it to help Sumia would be the perfect place. So with this, she slowly showed a bright smile and nodded. "Well… I might be new to my writing. But since I can tell how excited you are, Sumia… I guess it wouldn't hurt for me to offer you a few tips to help you get started." Robin commented.
This response seemed to be exactly what Sumia wanted to hear, as her smile almost immediately grew from excitement and she jumped up in the air while Robin watched in surprise. "All right! Thanks, Robin! This is going to be so exciting!" Sumia excitedly cheered. Robin could only shake her head in amusement while letting out a giggle to herself watching Sumia's outburst of excitement, as she was looking forward to learning how to write from someone who knew.
A little later, Robin and Sumia were sitting at the table with Robin having gathered the supplies they needed: her papers of notes, a quill and a small pile of paper for Sumia to write on. Once she was certain that they were all set, Robin turned her head to Sumia while the Pegasus knight was listening intently to hear what she had to say. "All right, Sumia. If you would like to know how to write like I do, the first thing to do would be to have a few ideas of what you want to write about, and what kind of stories you want to write." Robin explained. She then reached forward on the table and pulled over a scroll of notes she had been taking and showed it to Sumia. "What I like to do is write down a brief outline that matches the story I'm going to write, so that way, I have an idea of what it's going to be about. And I also like to make a note of the number of chapters my stories will have if they're longer than one chapter."
Sumia slowly nodded in understanding as she was listening intently to all of this and she started to write down a few notes to herself on one of the blank pieces of paper, so she could have a reminder if she ever forgot what she was going to do. Once that was taken care of, she turned her attention back to Robin to hear the rest of her explanation. "And then once all of that's taken care of, I usually like to figure out which stories I want to write first, so I write those down as a reminder to myself of what to focus on first before I get started on other projects, so that way I don't overwhelm myself with too many stories that I need to get done." Robin continued. Sumia showed a bright smile before nodding in understanding.
"All right… it's a lot to figure out, but I think I have the basic idea." Sumia replied. So without any hesitance on her part, she stood up from her seat, grabbing the supplies that were provided to her along the way while Robin watched her in surprise. "Thanks, Robin. I'm going to go get started now; I think I have some ideas in my head. I'll see you later!" Sumia called, before rushing to find a private area for her to get to work on her writing; she couldn't wait to get started.
Robin could only stare in surprise as she seemed to take notice of how excited Sumia was to get started with writing, before she started to show an expression of concern. "I hope Sumia knows what she's doing with this, trying to write when she's just getting started…" Robin murmured to herself, pressing a hand against her chin to think over whether or not this was a good idea. But after a few seconds, she shook her head with a confident smile. "Oh, I'm sure she'll be alright. After all, she can always come to me if she needs help." Nodding in confirmation to herself, Robin walked over to where she had rested the book she was reading on the crate before she picked it up and opened it so she could pick up where she left off, now that it was just her in the barracks.
Meanwhile, Sumia was making her way down the path as she was looking for somewhere that she could write in private. As she was turning her head back and forth to try and find a quiet area, that was when she spotted an area just under one of the trees. "That's perfect!" Sumia happily commented, showing a bright smile. So with this, she rushed over and sat down on the ground, making herself comfortable as she leaned against the tree before setting her supplies down on the ground beside her. "Okay… we're all set here. Now it's time for me to get started!" Sumia said to herself. She then reached over and grabbed a blank piece of paper along with her quill and rested the paper against her knees as she had her knees pressed up in front of her while she was leaning against the tree. As she lifted the quill towards the paper, she turned her glance up to think.
"Hmm… let's see… what do I need to do first?" Sumia wondered to herself. As she was trying to think over how to get started, she then showed a smile as she figured out that maybe she should look over the notes that she wrote down while Robin was giving her tips; she knew for certain that there was a reason she wrote those down, as it would be a reminder for her in case she forgot what to do. But as she went to find the notes she had written down, it didn't take her very long to realise that there was something missing from her supplies. "Oh no! I can't find my notes! I must have accidently left them in the barracks." Sumia worriedly gasped, showing an expression of worry over her situation; how was she going to remember what she had to do if she didn't have the notes she had taken down? But after a few moments, Sumia let out a sigh to calm herself down; she had a feeling that getting herself worked up wasn't going to help her much.
"It's nothing big to worry about… I'm sure I'll be able to manage without them." Sumia stated to herself. So with that, feeling a bit better over her situation, Sumia turned her attention back to her paper and quill so she could start thinking about what she should write. After a few seconds of silence passed, Sumia showed a bright smile and clicked her fingers as she seemed to have an idea, before she started to get to work with writing on the paper.
Around a few hours passed, and back down at the barracks, Robin let out a content sigh as she walked over to the bookshelf and placed the book that she had been reading back on one of the shelves; it seemed that she had finally finished the story she had been reading. "Well… that was a great read. I wasn't expecting to take that long with getting it done, but I guess I was just enjoying it so much." Robin commented, showing a smile of amusement as she seemed to be aware of how long she had been sitting with the one story. She then turned around and showed an expression of surprise as she looked around to find that she was the only one in the barracks. "Sumia? Sumia? I wonder where she could be…" Robin commented to herself, showing an expression of puzzlement and she started to scratch the side of her head as she was wondering where Sumia went and why she hadn't returned yet. She then turned her glance to notice that there was a single piece of paper lying on the table. "What's this?" She then walked over to see what it was and picked it up to have a look at it, before she showed an expression of surprise. "These are the notes that Sumia took down! She must have left this behind when she went off on her own. I better find her so I can give this to her!" Robin stated. So without a moment to spare, she rushed off out of the barracks to see if she could find Sumia anywhere.
Back with Sumia, she was on her way back to the barracks so she could look for Robin; while she did have a few ideas written down on her paper, it was clear that she hadn't gotten anywhere with figuring out what story she wanted to write for. As she was walking to find the barracks, she let out a sigh of dismay to herself. "Why did I think that this would be a good idea…? I should have figured that learning how to write like Robin would be too much for me… How does she do it? I could barely get anywhere even though I know what I want to write about." Sumia sighed to herself. She turned her glance down to look at her supplies, wondering how she would be able to write if she was having trouble this early. But as she had her glance down at her supplies, she wasn't paying attention to where she was going and it didn't take very long for someone to run into her and send her flying backwards and landing on the ground, losing her grip on her supplies in the process. After a few seconds, Sumia slowly sat up and started to rub her head while she slowly shook it at the same time.
"Owww… That hurt…" Sumia groaned. As she shook her head, she then turned to see who she had accidently run into, and an expression of surprise crossed her face when she saw who it was. "Robin!" Sumia exclaimed from surprise.
At the same time, the tactician was slowly sitting up from having been run into while she was searching for Sumia. "Uhhh… Who was that?" Robin groaned, rubbing the side of her head. She then looked up to see who she had run into and an expression of surprise showed on her face before it was replaced with a smile of relief when she realised that the one she had run into… was exactly who she was looking for. "Sumia! There you are. I've been looking all over for you." Robin commented. She then slowly stood up while Sumia followed suit, with the latter watching her in surprise.
"Robin? What are you doing here?" Sumia asked. She then turned her glance down to notice the piece of paper Robin was holding in her hand, with her quickly showing a bright smile. "Is that my notes you have there?" Sumia asked, pointing down at the paper.
Robin turned her glance down to look at the paper she was holding, before she showed a smile and nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, it is. I noticed that you left this behind at the barracks, so I figured that I'd find you and give it back to you. How's your writing coming along?" Robin asked in response, showing the paper to Sumia.
Sumia let out a sigh of dismay as she received the paper from Robin, with the latter showing an expression of concern as she was wondering what was wrong. "Things aren't going very well, Robin. I do have a few ideas of what I want to write, but I don't know how I should do it. When I want to try to write, I end up thinking about the way that you write and… I don't know how I can up match to you. There's no way I could ever write as good as you…" Sumia sighed, slowly turning her glance down in dismay; it was clear to see that she was experiencing doubts about her own writing capabilities. Robin could only stare in surprise hearing this, before she slowly showed a gentle smile and placed a hand on Sumia's shoulder, causing her to turn her glance up to the tactician in surprise and spot her smile.
"Sumia… you shouldn't try to think about trying to write like me. And there's nothing wrong with struggling when you get started; I know that I did when I was starting out with writing. Rather than trying to focus on writing the way I do, you should write in your own style. Try to find something that works for you and write in that style. And then when things pick up for you, I'm looking forward to seeing the stories that you've written." Robin explained. Sumia could only stare in stunned silence listening to this advice, especially hearing just how much Robin seemed to know about this. There was silence for a few moments before Sumia slowly showed a bright smile.
"…Thanks, Robin. I'm actually surprised you didn't tell me that sooner." Sumia commented. Robin could only stare in surprise at this comment before she showed a nervous smile and started to rub the back of her head while Sumia couldn't help herself laughing. Once she was able to calm down, Sumia turned her glance back to Robin while the latter lowered her head from her head. "I hope it's not too much for me to ask, but…" Sumia fell silent for a few moments before turning her glance up to Robin. "I could use some help with finding my writing style. Could you give me some help?" she asked.
Robin simply showed a bright smile and nodded in agreement. "Of course, Sumia." she replied.
Sumia showed a smile of excitement at this reply, and so with this, the two started to make their way back to the barracks; if there was one thing Sumia knew for certain, it was that she was looking forward to finding the way she wanted to write, and she had a feeling that she would be able to do just that with Robin's help.