"This the book you wanted?" Ananias asked, showing Robin the book that she had asked him to fetch for her as she busied herself with formulating the Shepherds' next best move.

Robin inspected the contents of the book Ananias had brought to her for a moment before giving Ananias a small, grateful smile and a small, affirmative nod. "Yes! Thank you, Ananias. I hope it wasn't too much trouble, getting this book for me and all."

Ananias calmly shook his head. "Not at all," he said in that usual emotionless and monotonous voice of his, a voice that Robin had to admit fascinated her to a certain extent. How such an intonation (or, arguably, lack thereof) could possibly and consistently come out of a living and breathing human being's mouth was a question she would like to answer some day (though, admittedly, getting the answer out of Ananias would probably be easier said than done, not that that was anything new to her).

Ananias nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders and reassuringly added, "You asked me to get a book and I didn't have anything to do at the moment. If anything, I should be thanking you for helping me kill some time."

Robin nodded her head understandingly. "I see." She glanced back at the various maps and books laid out across her table before looking back at Ananias, smiling affably, and asking, "Well what about now? You still have some time to kill?"

Ananias thought about it for a moment before shaking his head and simply answering, "Yeah." He then gave Robin mild, inquisitive look and asked, "Why do you ask?"

Robin indicated towards the table by lightly tapping the edge of it. "A tactician can't just be left to make whatever tactics she wants you know! Someone's got to rock the boat a bit, if you know what I mean. So what do you say? You want to help me strategize for a bit?"

One of Ananias' eyebrows rose up slightly to mildly convey his surprise and confusion before he averted his eyes to the side and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I don't know if you remember, but the last time I was forced to strategize, the best strategy I could come up with was sneaking into enemy lines all by myself with no real backup or actual game plan."

Robin chuckled. "I guess you have a point there."

Not wanting for Robin's suggestion to have been in vain, Ananias asked, "Is there anything else you need? Maybe some food or something?"

Robin shook her head. "Thank you, that's very considerate of you, but I'm not really in the mood for eating right now. And as for 'something'," Robin thought about it for a second, holding her chin thoughtfully as she did, "I'm afraid nothing else really comes to mind at the moment." She gave Ananias a small, apologetic smile. "Sorry."

Ananias simply shrugged. "It's alright," he said reassuringly. "I'll find something to do eventually. I just got to be patient is all."

Robin smiled. She always admired Ananias' patience. It made him just a teensy bit easier to work and confide with, and considering the more extreme personalities the Shepherds housed, his unique personality, despite its flaws, was a welcome change of pace. "If you say so." She then proceeded to resume her work, rubbing one of her shoulders tenderly as she concentrated on the multitude of information sprawled across the table.

Ananias noticed this, and asked, "You alright?"

Robin, only now realizing the fact that Ananias had not yet left her quarters, let out a soft gasp before once again turning away from her work to properly speak with the dull trickster. "Hmm? What do you mean?"

Ananias nonchalantly pointed towards the shoulder that Robin continued to tenderly rub. "Your shoulder. You're rubbing it like there's something wrong with it or something."

Robin looked at what Ananias was pointing out to her before giving him a reassuring smile and answering, "Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with my shoulder." She then frowned, and added, "It's just that with all of the constant fighting, it's gotten a little sore."

Ananias raised an eyebrow slightly in surprise. "You do realize that what you just said was self-contradictory, right?"

Robin gave Ananias a mildly angry pout. "Well it's not like it's injured or anything!" she argued.

Ananias calmly shrugged his shoulders. "No offense, but I'm pretty sure that's still nothing to sneeze at." He then crossed his arms solemnly and asked, "So, just how long has it been like this?"

Robin let out a defeated sigh. Despite what people were usually lead to believe, due merely to his appearance and personality, Ananias was surprisingly firm when he needed to be, and at this very instance, he seemed to be serious in helping Robin with her aching shoulder, or rather, shoulders. "It's been a while," Robin admitted softly. "And it's not just this shoulder," she then reached to tenderly rub the opposite shoulder, "this one's no different."

Ananias nodded his head understandingly. "I see. You should probably go get that checked out then."

Robin sighed. "I wish I could, but with how serious our situation has been, I need to focus on my tactics."

Ananias' face mustered up what little of a frown it could convey. "But-"

Robin flashed him a small and reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I'm fine. The pain isn't so much that it hinders my tactical expertise, and I've actually grown used to fighting in this condition." When Ananias still did not look convinced, Robin gently added, "If it gets worse, then I promise to get the problem checked."

After a brief moment of silence, Ananias placed his hands on his hips and let out an exasperated sigh. "If you insist," he said. "But do you at least want a massage or something? You rubbing your shoulders this entire time is making me a bit anxious."

Robin took a moment to consider Ananias' suggestion. "Hmm." She smiled and gave Ananias an approving nod. "Yes, a massage does sound good right about now." She then frowned and turned back to look at the maps and books scattered across her table. "But with all this work…."

After another brief moment of silence, Ananias once again let out an exasperated sigh, and said, "Fine, why don't I give you a quick one then?"

Robin whipped her head around to give Ananias a surprised look. "Wait… you're going to give me a massage?" she asked incredulously.

Ananias simply nodded his head. "Yeah."

When he didn't say anything beyond that, Robin asked, "But, um, no offense, but… are you any good?"

Ananias nonchalantly shrugged. "I've given my fair share, and as far as I know I haven't killed anyone yet."

Robin gave Ananias a funny look. "That's… not exactly reassuring."

Ananias pondered over it for a moment before once again shrugging his shoulders. "Yeah, I guess it isn't. So is that a 'no go' for the massage then?" When Robin didn't immediately answer, Ananias quickly added, "It's perfectly okay if you don't want it, I was just offering is all."

After taking a moment to truly consider Ananias' offer, Robin let out a lighthearted chuckle, and said, "Sure, why not? I doubt you could make it any worse."

"Well, that's not very encouraging," he mused.

Robin smiled. "No, I guess it isn't." She then sat herself down on the nearest chair and straightened her back, preparing herself for whatever amateurish therapy Ananias was going to perform on her aching shoulders. "You ready?" she asked.

Ananias made his way behind her and cracked his knuckles. "Will I ever be?" he asked.

He then began to massage Robin's shoulders, and, much to Robin's surprise, his massage really did relieve a lot of the pain her shoulders had been giving her for the last couple of days. "Ah," she said after she told Ananias that she was satisfied with what he had done so far, stretching her arms above her head, satisfied, "that felt good."

Ananias crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow slightly in surprise. "Really?" he asked.

Robin nodded. "Yeah, that really hit the spot! Who knew that you were a natural masseur?"

Ananias shrugged. "Not really. Like I said, I've done my fair share, so I've got a bit of amateur experience under my belt."

Robin chuckled to herself. "Well, whatever the reason, thanks for the massage. Now I know who to go to if I'm ever in need of one."

"Pleasure's all mine," Ananias said, though, per usual, his voice and his facial expressions didn't successfully portray said pleasure. "Ditto for helping me kill some more time. There's bound to be something else to do now." He turned to take his leave, giving Robin a little wave as he did so. "See you around."

Robin returned his farewell with a little wave of her own. "See you, and thanks again for the massage!" After Ananias mumbled a reply and officially left her presence, Robin couldn't help but chuckle to herself one last time before getting back to work. Ananias was a nice guy, albeit a bit quirky, but they were nice quirks, and with how crazy her life could be and how crazy the people she usually surrounded her life were, they were definitely welcome change of pace.


Author's Note #1: And thus, the beginning of Ananias' support with Female Robin begins. I hope I kept Female Robin in character. I don't know why, but I feel like I haven't really pinpointed her and her male counterpart's personalities yet. Maybe I have and I'm just being paranoid about it, but that's how I feel. :P

Author's Note #2: The next supports will Male Robin, Father, Tan'bay, Lucina, Gerome, Nah, Cynthia, Noire, Kjelle, Zephyra, Lumaria, Yarne, Laurent, and then Brady.