Accidentally discovered a hidden link between support convos today. 'Peeping Tom' seems to be the hottest trend among the Shepherds.
Won goph in my mouph!
"I didn't do anythiiiiiiing!" Robin's scream could be heard from across the camp, drawing Chrom's attention away from his work. His head snapped up and away from the maps carefully sorted in front of him as he set down the red pen he'd been marking the trail with, though he hadn't made any progress in quite some time. He assumed it was just as well; he'd have to ask Robin how to move forward anyhow.
Pushing his way out of the tent, central in the camp, his eyes were met by two figures tearing around the corner of the makeshift path between tents. Vaike and Robin were practically tripping over themselves in their sprinting.
The sound of an angry horse and the hard clopping of hooves was far louder than their yells of fear.
"What is going on out here?!" Chrom barked angrily at the duo as they ran straight past him, though he got his answer from neither of them. Rather, his answer came in the form of a dark brown mare on a rampage following close behind them. Startled and realizing that horse belonged to one of their own, Sully, Chrom jumped back before trying to run after it.
Robin took a spill in front of him, sliding across the ground on her belly. "Ugh!" she called out, halfway in frustration and halfway in fear of being trampled. "Oh no! My robe- Ants! Ants! Agh! Won goph in ma mouph! Blech! Ptooey!"
Thankfully, Sully's horse didn't run straight over the girl as she struggled to get back off the ground. Chrom pulled her up by the elbow and continued running after the rogue mare, its sole target now Vaike.
Once finally catching up with the horse, he made several attempts to calm it down and was almost crushed each time. It took yelling for Sumia and a great deal of trouble on her end to settle the mare back down as Vaike and Robin stood gasping for breath behind her, Chrom switching between a confused glance at the two of them and worried looks of concern at Sumia for her safety. He'd never seen Sully's horse behave so aggressively!
Once the perpetrating horse had been lead back to the stables, Chrom thanked Sumia for her help and turned his attention to his two out-of-breath Shepherds. Robin had grass and mud stains from her fall all over the front of her clothing, and Vaike's metal armor around his neck was twisted sideways.
"What in the Naga's name did you two do to Sully's horse to make it that angry?" he asked sternly.
"I didn't do anything!" Robin protested, her voice quieter than usual as she calmed herself down and caught her breath. Her eyes widened and a scowl began to form on her face. None of the Shepherds had seen that face before; it was quite scary. "Your friend here is a peeping tom!"
"I wasn't peepin'!" Vaike yelled back.
"Oh, no, that's right. Pardon me," Robin shot back, clearly being sarcastic. "You were just 'looking at the flowers.'"
Chrom's eyes followed the argument, but the rest of him remained still. He almost found it funny that Robin thought her claim was news to him. Sometimes it was easy to forget how little time she'd really been with them. Too little to live through Vaike's other escapades.
"All right, fine! It's just sometimes a man's just gotta see what can be seen!"
"If you say that one more time..."
"Chrom, you're a guy like the Vaike. You know what I mean, dontcha?" The captain found himself suddenly under two sets of eyes, one hopeful for support and the other threateningly awaiting an answer. The latter made it very clear what the next words out of his mouth should not have been. Not that he ever would've agreed with Vaike on that in the first place.
"I think you're alone on this one, Vaike," he replied, prompting a look of victory from a still-angry Robin. Before the man had a moment to respond, Chrom continued in the hopes of diffusing the argument before the conversation had a chance to turn more towards him... "Would you please go wait in my tent?"
"Aw, bu-"
"Go."
The fighter stalked off, defeated but looking none too concerned. Chrom figured it was likely due to the fact that this was already the third discussion they'd be having about this particular subject. The captain wasn't looking forward to putting himself through it yet again.
Now alone with Robin, Chrom suggested she hand her dirtied clothing to Frederick to clean. "Also," he added, a hand held bashfully behind his neck as an apologetic look appeared on his face. "It probably wouldn't be a bad idea for the women to keep an eye on that spring while we're camping out here. Or perhaps just use our bathing tents."
Thirty minutes and one thoroughly aggravating, mildly embarrassing and ultimately bound to be fruitless reprimanding of Vaike later, Chrom found himself finally able to get back to work. Sometimes he found himself wondering if his Shepherds knew the dire situation they were in. One wouldn't think it based on the way they acted around camp.
No, Chrom corrected himself immediately after letting those bitter thoughts cross his mind. They knew more than anyone. They were the ones that fought, and he knew they took the blunt of the most negative of war's experiences. Perhaps, he realized, it was a good thing they didn't behave so seriously around camp. For without them, he would turn into a hermit, thinking of nothing but alliances and the caravan size and which path to take to get to Ylisstol from Themis.
Getting Maribelle back hadn't been an easy task – the daft girl had tried to parley with the enemy commander alone – but alas, they had made it through the battle. They had triggered war, but everyone – including Emmeryn – was safe.
Now just for how to get back... The same question that had presented itself before the incident with Robin and Vaike. The path they'd taken on the way to Themis was known to the enemy scouts and therefore out of the question. To the north were hills, which would make the way longer than the shorter southern path through the plains. However, it presented a tactical advantage of higher ground and tree cover - "the basics" as Robin had taught him.
Needing a final decision to be made before he could plan further, he decided to go find Robin, having hired her for moments precisely like these. She always had the final say when it came to army tactics. After all, she always knew best. Chrom was growing to simultaneously admire and hate that about her.
He exited his tent and made his way through the canvas-lined 'paths' through the camp, finding each and every corner to look somehow just the same as the last. In the past month, the Shepherds had found themselves with more money on their hands to buy themselves more tents, meaning each Shepherd had his or her own tent, and the foot soldiers were now in pairs rather than fours. This meant the camp had twice the size it had once had. It didn't help, either, that due to the varying terrain on which the Shepherds always found themselves camping, the camp had to be set up radically differently each time. Just when he got a feel for his surroundings, they were packed up and moving again...
He managed to locate and check the healers' tent first, thinking Robin had perhaps found herself there after taking that fall. She hadn't. Then the storage tent where she often found herself organizing weapons. Empty. He even saw Frederick holding Robin's cloak and shirt and bringing them to the wash, though the knight knew not where she was either. Finally, he decided to check her tent on the far eastern part of the camp. Though only when he'd reached the eastern end did he realize he didn't know exactly which tent was hers...
Second on the right perhaps? No, that was Stahl's. Or Sumia's, perhaps. The last on the right? Or was it on the left?
From the left side, he could see mist a light shade of white pouring through the edges. He thought for sure that must be Robin's tent, being used to seeing strange colors from spell experiments gone out of hand coming from her area.
Approaching the off-white tent and tapping his hand on the flap, Chrom called within. He could already feel the slightest hint of anticipation growing in his stomach, involuntarily growing excited to see her alone again. "Robin?" No answer. "Hello? Robin! Are you in here? Hello?! I have a question about our next move!"
From within, Chrom could hear someone shout back at him. It was definitely Robin's voice, but why couldn't he make out a damn thing she was saying?
"What? Come on in?" he asked for clarification, carefully slipping his hand through the door and entering slowly, giving her the chance tell him to leave again before he entered completely. He heard nothing in response, and took that to mean he was all clear to enter. Though when he ducked in, it was as if his face had been hit by a wall of humidity, steam fogging up his vision. "Gods, why is it so steamy in here? Did someone leave the -"
His wondering aloud was interrupted by a scream from somewhere within the endless mass of steam. Vaguely, he could make out two large pigtails and the shape of Robin's head. Why had she screamed?
"Ah, there you are!" said Chrom, batting at the air in front of him in an attempt to clear up his vision. "I can hardly see a thing through all this blasted steam... Anyway, I wanted to consult with you on tomorrow's march. You see..."
Now his vision was clearing. It was clearing, and a strange feeling in his stomach began to tell him he may have entered the wrong tent after all.
"Er... Is there any special reason why you're not wearing any clothing?"
"Chrom?" Robin's voice was seething and her words began being spoken through clenched teeth. With such a scary expression, the prince found it hard to focus on her face. Though to focus elsewhere... Not an option. "Rather than stand there like a slack-jawed village idiot... Perhaps you could wait outside like I asked!?"
"But, I... You..." So that was what Chrom hadn't heard before when he'd knocked. "Oh gods, I'm SO sorry! I didn't mean to-" … see you naked. "That is to say-"
"OOOOOOOOOOUT!" She almost definitely would've been pointing an angry finger at the door if her hands weren't both busy covering things.
"R- Right! Absolutely!" Chrom couldn't seem to form complete thoughts anymore. "Straightaway! I- I'll, er, wait... right out-...side the tent."
He couldn't remember the last time he'd left any place with such haste. And once he was finally outside, he didn't quite know how to continue. Should he wait outside or go wait somewhere else? Should he sit? Or would standing be better? Whatever seemed less awkward and preferably made it clearer that he really hadn't meant to walk in on her... Naked... Free of clothing...
Sometimes a man's just gotta see what can be seen!
Taking the first natural reaction that came to him upon letting that thought enter his mind, he buried his face in his hands, pressing his thumbs to his temples. Oh gods, he thought miserably. I'm Vaike.
So I hope this is working out okay. I'm not putting too many of the major events in because let's be honest, we all know the main plot of the game. I'm mostly just trying to take things I feel would likely happen as well as stuff based on support convos and quotes (last chapter, Lissa's barracks conversation quote don't know if anyone caught that) and make little snippets. Just 'a few notes' to the game, if you will.
