To Be a Lady
She held a thin tube of lipstick in her hands. It was long and narrow with simple gold patterns on its sides. The color was a deep red. She bought it a day before with the money she had been saving for personal use. Originally, after purchasing the necessary equipment for the army, she planned to spend the money on books for entertainment. However, she instead dallied outside a women's hygiene shop, recalling her conversation with Chrom a few weeks ago.
After much pacing around, and odd looks from strangers, she entered the shop, making sure no one from the Shepherds saw her. The pleasant scent of flowers and other sweet things rushed at her. Taking a moment to adjust to this strange environment, Robin was met by a petite woman with light blonde hair and shining blue eyes. For a moment, she was jealous and thought back to her own dark hair and dull eyes. The short woman greeted her, while eyeing her cloak warily, and asked, "May I help you, miss?"
"Ah, w-well," Robin stammered, as she had not thought about her actions entirely beforehand. She had never bought makeup, or perhaps she forgot she ever did, and felt out of place standing in the shop. The woman, however, waited patiently with a kind, professional smile on her face.
After much embarrassment and awkward movement, Robin left the shop and immediately headed for the inn the Shepherds were currently residing at. Placing the small, pleasant-smelling bag inside the folds of her cloak, she made way to her room. Secured inside her sanctuary, Robin removed the cap on top the tube and placed it next to the stack of tomes on her desk. With a careful hand, she began applying it to the bottom of her lips, then to the top. A few minutes passed, and she was finished. She examined herself in the mirror and, feeling foolish, rubbed it off with the end of her sleeve.
It was ridiculous, she thought. As the tactician of the army, she should have been studying up on strategy instead. As far as she was concerned, few members of the army actually wore makeup. The only woman she could think of was Maribelle, the daughter of a noble who prided herself on being as lady-like as possible. Why, if Sully had seen her, she would've laughed and mock her. Robin frowned at the thought and scolded herself for buying something impractical for battle.
A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. A voice, "Robin, are you in there? I was hoping that we could discuss our next plan of action." It belonged to Chrom.
Startled, Robin jolted out of her chair, quickly hiding the bag and its contents inside a drawer. In her haste, she knocked over the pile of tomes. They land on the floor with a loud thump, sprawling all over the floor. Chrom, upon hearing the loud noise, barged in, forgoing all sense of common manners. Forehead creased with worry, he asked, "What happened, are you hurt?"
"No, I'm fine. I've just knocked over some things," Robin sighed, heart still erratically beating, bent over to pick up the fallen books.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Chrom asked again, examining the room, then her.
"I'm fine, really," she replied. Sighing once more, Robin got onto her knees and gathered the fallen books and scattered pieces of paper into a pile. Chrom followed suit, speeding up the process. When they are finished, she asked, "What is it that you want, Chrom?"
"Ah, I wanted to discuss…" He trailed off, frowning slightly. "Is that blood on your sleeve?" He pointed at the red stain marring the border of gold on her sleeve.
Following his line of sight, she brought it closer to inspection. The red smudge from earlier still remained, a blaring reminder of her previous actions. For a moment, she contemplated whether she should lie, but upon seeing his worried face, decided against it, figuring it would be easier to tell the truth. "Oh, this? It's just, ah, a bit of lipstick," she coughed slightly, embarrassed to had been caught. Damn the man for his acute observation.
"Oh," he paused. "I never thought you the type to wear makeup. I mean, I've never seen you wear it before." The only women he had seen wore makeup were those of nobility. Then it clicked. Cautiously, he asked, "Is this about that time when I said I hadn't thought of you as a lady?" He cringed at the glare he received. "It is, isn't it?" He eyed the tome in her hands warily, as her grasp on it suddenly tightened.
An awkward silence filled the space between them, as one was avoiding any and all eye contact, while the other flinched at the thought of being struck by another rock, or tome in this case. Robin, slightly flustered, sputtered, "Look, I know it's silly and as the army's chief tactician, my main priority—"
"No! Uh, I mean, that's not what I was going to say," he interrupted. "It, uh, looks great on you! That is, if you had any on, but I'm sure you'd look fine either way!" Chrom nervously jabbered, waving his hand in all sorts of direction.
Robin narrowed her eyes at him. Was he trying to make a fool out of her? Snappishly, she replied, "Are you done?"
"Er, what I meant to say is that…" he trailed off, gathering his thoughts. "I think you're perfectly fine the way you are now, honestly. So you shouldn't worry about the things I've said before," he said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. Gods, how he wished he had paid more attention to those etiquette lessons.
Robin, surprised at his response, smiled sheepishly and replied, "T-thank you, Chrom." Though his response was not entirely reassuring, she appreciated his efforts regardless.
"Y-you're welcome," he stuttered, blushing slightly. He suddenly glanced behind him. "Ahem, well, I should, ah, leave. It's getting rather late and I still have some things I need to do." With a few quick steps and a rushed good-bye, he had all but ran away, forgetting his original reason for coming. Robin chuckled at his haste, shaking her head all the while. It was still noon.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem Awakening.
Author's Note: Hopefully you guys liked this. I was a bit hesitant on what to call the shop since I'm not sure whether these types of stores existed in the medieval (?) ages or not. Feel free to point out any grammar mistake, awkward sentences, tense change, etc. as I am looking to improve my writing skills.
Nov. 30, 2013: I proof-read and edited this piece. Goodness did I make a lot of tense errors! I also added and deleted some from this story. Hopefully this is a better read overall.