There's only one more support conversation to go till we get to the future children supports! I'm really excited and hope all of you are as well.
ShadowRogue: I actually enjoy your long reviews, they are full of great ideas and suggestions, so you can write as much as you want, it will be appreciated.
NoSoGreatGamerGirl: I'm glad you think so highly of Kou'li, it makes me feel proud of myself!
The Punch Lord: It's pretty disappointing to see that children OC's are barely a thing, especially in the writing department! This is why I decided to step in!
As Robin walked throughout her camp making her usual rounds, a thought occurred to her. She had not seen her daughter around for quite a while. The girl was usually seen around the training tent or just outside the camp's area, but when Robin checked for those places, she was not there. Just as she began to worry, she felt a light tap on her shoulder. As she turned around she was met with none other than Kou'li herself.
"There you are Mother. I've been looking for you everywhere," Kou'li said.
"Funny, I was doing just the same. I haven't seen you around, Kou'li. Where have you been?" she questioned.
Kou'li shrugged. "Doing something different from usual. My daily routine has been boring me, so I decided to do something different for once. It wasn't until mid-day that I realized I haven't been able to truly talk to you, Mother. You're always so busy."
Robin sighed. "Just a tactician's job, I suppose. That and I'm known for being a bit of a workaholic."
Kou'li huffed. "Well, you need your rest, Mother. Having someone as important as yourself fall from exhaustion would be a disaster."
Robin rolled her eyes. "I've heard that line way too many times…but I do appreciate your concern." Robin smiled at her daughter. "Why don't we talk then, that won't get me tired."
Kou'li stood up straight hearing those words. Grabbing her mother's hand, she guided the both of them to a pile of crates where they could sit down and talk. Who knew she had this kind of energy? Robin thought.
The two sat there in silence for a good while from their lack of questions and stories. Kou'li barely knowing her mother had no experiences to tell. And Robin was still new to this whole, motherly thing, so no words left her. But at the same time she was a tactician. And one of the best things that a tactician can do is improvise.
"Since we both can't think of anything, why don't we start simple?" Robin suggested. "How about I ask about how you've been? Have you been well here, Kou'li? Adjusting to things?"
Kou'li let out a breath of relief when her mother started the conversation, and she was happy to answer. "I've been quite well, Mother, thank you. Everyone had been kind and helpful, assisting me when I've been lost or confused. I'm just happy to be together with everyone again."
Robin nodded approvingly. "Good, good…" she muttered.
Hmm, what else? What else?
Robin rummaged through her brain, trying to think of mother-daughter conversations and topics. Well…there was that one thing she read from a book once…
"So, Kou'li…" Robin began shyly. "Have you…taken a liking to anyone?" she said humbly.
The way Kou'li turned red could have given Lon'qu a run for his money. "M-Mother! What sort of question is that?!" she says as she tried to hide her face in her hands.
"I-I'm just asking! You don't have to answer if you don't want to," she tries to compose her daughter. "You don't have to be shy about it you know?"
Even though her face still remained red, Kou'li answered, "It's not necessarily that I'm shy…well, that does play its part. It's just…I did not expect that. I assumed you would pick a more serious question. I have not seen you in over ten years, so I thought…" she trails off.
Robin silent berates herself and quickly changes the subject. "Well, although I know you're quite serious like your Father, I feel as though speaking of humorous things would lighten the mood, for example," Robin grabs a stray strand of hair from Kou'li's bun and gives a her a teasing smile. "Are you copying my look, because we seem to be twins at this point?"
It seems like her jokes have worked because a small smile forms from Kou'li. "I had to get something from you, didn't I?" she kids.
"But to steal my entire look! I might be the first mother to be able to lie and seem truthful about you being my sister."
The two proceed to laugh for what seems to be the longest time. When they finish doing so, Robin inhales sharply when she remembers something.
Kou'li looks at her puzzled. "Is something the matter, Mother?" she says concerned.
Robin slaps her forehead and gets up from the crate. "I forgot I had a meeting with Chrom! I was going to go to my tent to pick up some strategies I made last night, but since you stopped me on the way…"
Kou'li shoos her mother away with the back of her hand, slightly worried her mother would get in trouble. "Then go on then, Mother! Don't let me stop you," she encourages.
Robin nods and begins to jog towards her tent, she shouts as she leaves, "We'll continue this talk later, Kou'li. I promise!"
Just like that, she is gone.
Kou'li and Robin attained support level C
And just as promised, Robin came looking for Kou'li the next day. Once again, the girl was not training, instead she was at her tent, focusing on something intently on her small desk. Deciding not to interrupt her train of thought, she quietly tiptoed her way inside and stood behind her daughter. Looking over her daughter's shoulder she could see she was…drawing something?
"What in the world is that?" Robin whispered under her breath.
Kou'li almost jumped out of her chair as the ghostly words whispered in her ear. Her first suspect was that her tent was haunted, but as her eyes scanned around wildly, she only found her mother standing there.
"You frightened me so, Mother! Why are you sneaking around like you're facing an enemy in the shadows?" she shouts at Robin.
"I didn't mean to scare you, I just didn't want to interrupt whatever you're doing," she justifies herself. "But Gaius says that I'm terrible at sneaking, so the fact that you didn't notice me until now let's me know that you're really focused there."
Kou'li nods and looks back down at her work. "Yes, I've been here a good portion of the day. I have been slaving over this to the point where my back aches and cries for reprieve," she moans as she rubs her back.
"Then let's have a look at what it is, shall we?" Robin says as she takes a good look at Kou'li's work sprawled out on the desk.
It takes Robin a few minutes to try to decipher what's going on on the grand paper. She notices the map next to the paper and she notices it's the map of Ylisse, as for the drawing…well that's a different story. There seems to be a random assortment of lines, arrows, x's, and…people? Strewn about the paper. As Kou'li eagerly awaits her mother's response, Robin finally says,
"Oh…what a nice drawing of a cat."
There is silence.
Robin quickly looks at her daughter's face to she dead eyes and her lips in a terse, straight line. She looks as though a chill has gone through her body.
"Kou'li…?" Robin says, slightly frightened by her expression.
Kou'li does not respond. The only action she performs is letting out a big gust of air from her lungs. A sigh of disappointment.
"It seems my attempts were for nothing…" she says with shut eyes. She opens them again with glumness in them. "The cat that you saw Mother…was actually a battle strategy."
"Oh." Is all she says. She eyes a fairly large book in the corner of Kou'li's desk.
The Art of War 101.
Oh… "Oh! Oh no…Kou'li, Honey! I am so, so, sorry I-"
Kou'li shakes her head before her mother finishes. "It's fine, Mother. I understand now that I am not suited for this kind of thing. As always, I am one step being you and Morgan."
Robin frowned. "One step behind me and Morgan? Kou'li…what is this exactly about?" she peered into her daughter's eyes.
Kou'li stared down at her boots like they were the most interesting thing in the world for her. "I feel like a child right now," she murmurs.
"You can tell me anything…you know that right?" Robin says softly. She reaches out to pull Kou'li into a deep hug, running her fingers through her daughter's soft hair. "I hope you know how important and special you are. You are so, so strong," she says in a low, caring voice.
"No I'm not…" Kou'li's voice is muffled by her mother's shoulder. "I'm not like you or Morgan…not at all."
"What's makes you say that?" Robin rubs her daughter's back softly.
"I'm not…smart like you too. I'm not confident, or friendly…or strong. I can't even make simple strategies like you two. I'm not helpful at all…" she croaks out.
Robin pulls away and stares intensely at her daughter. "Do you truly think that, Kou'li? Is that what you really think of yourself?" she questions.
Her voice wavers. "I do. I have for a long time…It's a fact I've accepted of myself," she admits with a forlorn look.
Robin's expression hardens. "How could you think that? How could you think such terrible things of yourself?" she says coldly.
Kou'li winces when she hears her mother's fierce tone. "Because it is a truth I have come to know! How could I compare myself to two powerful people such as you and Father! I was the eldest child of the world-renown Grandmaster Tactician and Champion of Regna Ferox, yet the younger sibling achieved more than anything the eldest did. Constantly I would hear that the only thing I ever inherited from the both of you was your looks, and Father's sword!" she rants, her voice cracking at certain points.
"And your words mean nothing because you are my Mother and you're supposed to say kind things," she finishes.
Kou'li is panting when she's done with her fulmination. Her cheeks have turned to a scarlet color and her hands are shaking. How long had she kept this inside?
"So you won't listen to what I say…?" Robin says after a while.
"No…I don't find them to hold any significance…I'm sorry, Mother, that's just as it is."
"Very well," Robin flips the hood of her cloak on and turns her back to Kou'li. "Then I think this conversation is over."
Kou'li steps forward to try to stop her mother, slightly startled of her mother's sudden actions. "Wait, please don't be angry with me, Mother! I don't mean it that way!" she tries to take back what she said.
But Robin ignores her daughter's words as she opens the tent flap and rushes out from the tent. Realizing it is too late to do anything, Kou'li's hand falls limply to her side and she flops onto her cot with a loud thump. This she have to do everything wrong?
Kou'li and Robin attained support level B
The next afternoon, Kou'li searched and scoured everywhere for her mother. As she walked past the tents, making sure to check each and every one of them, she felt her guilt weigh down on her. What she had done was unforgiveable. To speak to her mother in such a manner…she had no right to do that. No, no to her mother. Never to her.
With her mind in another place, she did not notice the warm greetings and smiles of all the fellow Shepherds passing through. Some would walk past her and pat her on the back, others would greet her and ask her about her day which she would respond with a monotone, generic response of 'fine'. It was not until she saw that familiar-looking cloak that she finally awoke. She ran to her mother as quickly as her feet could take her and confronted Robin.
"M-Mother," Kou'li said through pants. "I-I'm so sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean to say those harsh words at you, I shouldn't have dared to do so. That was not place and it's fine if you're angry at me, I understand. But at least forgive me!" Kou'li is practically on her knees at this point, her hands clasped tightly together till her knuckles with bone-white. "Oh, Mother…please."
Robin tries to keep her serious demeanor, but it soon breaks as she notices how silly her daughter looked this way. In a way she was being a little bit too cruel at the moment, but at least her daughter understood her mistakes.
"You said that you wouldn't listen to what I have to say about you, isn't that right?" Robin pulls up the conversation from yesterday.
Kou'li shakes her head furiously. "No, Mother, I did not mean that! I appreciate what you have to say, I do, I do!" she repeats desperately.
"If you really think that…then please look at this," Robin says as she hands Kou'li a rather large journal. Kou'li stares at it for a long time until her shaky reaches out for it. Kou'li looks down at it with curious eyes and then glances back at her mother. Robin motions her to open it. "Go on, look inside," she insists.
With extreme care as though the journal was made from glass, Kou'li slowly opens it to its first pages. On it is a big block of writing. As she reads it, she notices who it's from…her mother. They are words of encouragement, words strewn and concocted together to say such kind and gentle words to Kou'li. Never had she felt this special.
But it did not end there. The next couple of pages are the same, except now with the handwriting of all the other Shepherds. Each and every one of them, not a single one missing has written a kind thing to say about her. Everything from her fighting, to her intelligence, to her kindness, even her appearance, and not once was she ever compared to anyone. To see all of this written for her and the trouble her mother went through to do this filled Kou'li with an unexplainable emotion, one that made tears well in her eyes.
"I hope you see now, Kou'li. I hope you see yourself for who you truly are," her mother says in a tender voice.
Kou'li nods and wipes away some stray tears streaming down her face. "Yes, Mother. I see it now, it seems I have been blind," she grasps the journal tightly between her chest and holds it like a precious gift. "I'll treasure it always."
Kou'li had a lot of people to thank.
Kou'li and Robin attained support level A
You guys would think that a person such as Kou'li wouldn't have any insecurities, but believe or not she has many. Having such influential parents has left her living under the shadow...doesn't help that Morgan seems to be everything Kou'li wishes to be. But jealousy isn't exactly the right word for it.