Lon'qu and Peri: So it Begins

Day 14, midday

For the most part, Lon'qu didn't mind the new arrivals.

Mainly because he hadn't interacted with them at all.

All this time, Lon'qu had thought that Nohr and Hoshido were but fairy tails to occupy the pages of some children's book.

Of course, stepping foot on their continent and staring down Nohrian and Hoshidan blades had awoken the swordsman to the possibility that, just maybe, his new-found allies weren't just words on a page. Sure, said words were dramatic and vivid in their visualization of both kingdoms, but the men and women that came across that portal to join the Shepherds matched their depictions well. Even a skilled myrmidon like himself had to admit that both parties bore strong fighters, so Lon'qu gave respect to fellow warriors when due.

The male ones at least.

The females... rarely saw his face, let alone noticed his complaints.

Robin and his new butt-buddy Corrin, the tactical geniuses they were, decided that the Valmese were a prominent threat to even the highly-skilled among their number. As far as the Hoshidans and Nohrians were concerned, they lived up to their legends well. They pulled their weight and more importantly, they didn't often interfere with Lon'qu's style. The Chon'sin Feroxian found himself paired up with fighters from all three countries in combat now, and that would have been perfectly fine.

Except the fact that there were now dozens more women.

Lon'qu winced. So many females in close proximity to him put his nerves on edge. So many times did he pass a feminine stranger that was his ally who gave him a friendly greeting, only for the blushing swordsman to glare away or about face and disappear, usually in a rude way. His options had little variation.

He had better things to do then worry about females though, like slaughtering the bandits attacking this village. Thank Robin and Corrin for keeping the Shepherds busy on sorties.

And damn them for deliberately making his partner a female.

The soldier by his side was some cavalier woman from Nohr, bearing strange blue hair with pink tips along with possibly the scariest set of eyes that he had ever seen. When the other one wasn't being covered by hair, they were covered with blood and glazed over with euphoria at the carnage. It wasn't that she viewed battle as glorious like other Nohrians.

No, this one was a cut above the usual sadist. Like, way above. Multiple cuts, Lon'qu decided.

Perhaps a few Astra-technique swings above the usual.

There we go.

Speak of the devil, there she was, the battlefield just behind her a flowing river of red and groans. She turned to Lon'qu (the last conscious slab of meat on the field of slaughter) and grinned.

"Mister Lon'qu! There's blood on your arm!" She called out, her lance bouncing haphazardly along her shoulder as she ran at him. The swordsman backed off, though not really because she was a woman.

She was insane.

This is ridiculous. No one can be this... bloodthirsty. Right?

With a deep breath, the swordsman decided to calm down. Peri wasn't going to kill him.

He hoped.

"That's a lot of blood! It's so red!"

"That's what happens when you kill people," Lon'qu stammered, sheathing his blade. Peri made sure that there were to be no more bandits, but the real threat was still walking towards him. He nervously picked up the pace with his backpedaling but soon enough the cavalier caught up to him and grabbed his arm roughly.

"P-peri, it's fine-"

"Let me clean that off for you!" Without warning, the Nohrian woman smeared the bloodstain off Lonqu's arm and licked it off her fingers, sighing in relaxation as her eyes rolled back accompanying her blood-stained grin.

Lon'qu, both horrified that she ate blood off his arm, and that a woman touched him, decided now was a very good time to run.

"Mister Lon'qu! Where are you going! I still need to finish cleaning you!"

"Ohshitohshitohshitohshi-"

"What the hell?" Robin remarked, taking accountability of the sortie party. With a sigh, he prepared to scratch the letters 'KIA' next to Lon'qu's name, but held his ground.

"We've made a terrible mistake," Corrin sighed, watching from the other side of the battlefield.

Lon'qu finally made it to Robin, but neither man could hold back the blood-soaked Peri, who tossed aside the Commander with a swing of her lance.

Flying a good ten feet over Corrin, the tactician was helpless to cushion his fall and winced when his back hit a hard rock. Groaning the pain away, he rose to his knees, shaking his head at Corrin in bewilderment.

"What the hell is wrong with this army?!"