"Hey," Ananias softly greeted.

Gerome turned away from petting Minerva to acknowledge whoever had greeted him so. When he saw that the greeting had indeed belonged to one of his allies from his alternate future, as he had expected, he nodded a silent greeting of his own before returning to caring for his partner. "I'm guessing that you were scheduled for guard duty at this time as well, yes?"

Ananias gave Gerome a small nod as he slowly took a seat next to the masked wyvern rider. "Yeah," he answered.

"Hmph, fine by me," Gerome said. "Maybe I'll finally have some peace and quiet for once."

Ananias stretched his arms and back a bit as he dully replied, "If that's what you want."

Gerome nodded. "It is."

Ananias nodded his head obediently as he stretched some of the kinks out of his neck. "Alright then." He then sat straight and at full alert.

Gerome let out a grateful grunt. "Thank you," he said before he gave Minerva a small pat and did the same.

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…."

Minerva gave Ananias a curious look before giving the same curious look to her master. In a way, this was all too amusing. Her master had often complained over how persistent his friends and the other Shepherds were at trying to socialize with him, despite his somewhat rude, but admittedly straightforward and direct way of trying to turn them down; and now, finally, he had gotten what he had wanted: peace and quiet, time to be left alone with only his own thoughts to keep him company, privacy; and yet, she noticed her master's fingers twitching involuntarily and his mouth frowning uncomfortably. Something akin to an amused smirk briefly appeared on the wyvern's face. How ironic that, despite her master's wish to be left alone, once that particular wish had been granted to him, he was at an utter loss of what to do with himself. On the other hand however, even Minerva had to admit that watching the shared silence between (arguably) the least social and the most introverted members of the Shepherds gave her an uncomfortable feeling that even she could not fully explain.

She turned her attention back to Ananias for a moment with the intent of catching any signs of anxiousness from him. After quickly looking the red-clad trickster down not once, but three times, she concluded that she could find none, not that this surprised the wyvern one bit. Sure, when it came to socializing and holding a conversation, signs of anxiousness were particular easy to find on him, but place a job on him such as guard duty and his resolve seemed remarkably unshakable. In a way, she had to admire and respect that particular part of him, but if you had to ask how Minerva felt about him as a whole, she honestly couldn't tell you, even if you did understand her. Back when she first met the man, back when he was but a boy (similar to that of all of the future children), his presence honestly puzzled her. She hadn't felt threatened by his presence whenever she saw him, but she hadn't felt particularly at ease either. He felt like neither a threat nor an obvious ally. He honestly felt like he was just… there, if that made any sense, and for the longest time, Minerva didn't think that it did, so whenever she saw him, she noticeably acted strangely, or at least, at first. Throughout the years of interacting with and fighting alongside him, despite his unreadable presence that still befuddled her whenever she thought about it, she had learned of how loyal, valuable, and kindhearted an ally he was and grew to accept and respect him in a way. That being said however, she still often wondered what went on in that head of his. She was tempted to request for Gerome to ask for her, but she decided against it. Her current master, despite his newfound awkwardness to the situation, had finally gotten what he had longed for. She would respect that and let his long-awaited fantasy play out.

It was at that moment that the lunch bell rang. Ananias looked towards the direction of the bell's ringing. "Looks like lunch is ready," he noted out loud in a deadpan tone of voice. He turned to Gerome and asked while nonchalantly pointing towards the direction lunch was being served with his thumb, "You want me to go grab us some food?" He then quickly glanced at Minerva before quickly adding, "I could even get some food for Minerva if you want."

Gerome considered the trickster's offer for a moment before calmly answering, "That would be much appreciated, thank you." Minerva let out a shriek in Ananias' direction. "Minerva thanks you too."

Ananias nodded. "You're welcome," he said as he got himself up to go fetch their lunch. Before he left, he turned to Minerva, gave her a small nod, and said, "You're welcome too." Minerva shrieked a reply, and then he was off.

"Ugh," Gerome said once Ananias was well out of sight, leaning forward, hanging his head and shaking it as he rested his elbows onto his knees. "I can't believe how unbearable and awkward complete silence can be." Minerva shrieked a reply. "I know it's what I've always wanted, but this is complete silence between two people! This is completely different from wishing to be left alone!" Minerva let out a small growl as she shook her head. "It is!" Gerome insisted. "The feeling of two people just sitting around doing nothing and saying nothing with one another. It's just so… awkward. I'm sure even someone like Ananias could feel the effects of such a strange phenomenon." Minerva shook her head. "Huh?" Minerva let out a small shriek. "He what?!" Minerva repeated her previous shriek. "Not even the slightest hint of awkwardness?" Minerva nodded. Gerome grimaced. "Gods, how does he do it?" Minerva grunted a suggestion. "No, I am not going to ask him!"

"Ask who what?"

Gerome jumped in his seat. "Gah! Nothing!" he blurted out hastily before turning himself around to find that Ananias had already come back from his little errand.

Ananias raised his hand up to greet the obviously panicked wyvern rider. "Hey." He then handed Gerome his plate, waiting patiently for Gerome to take it, as Gerome was taking a moment to recover from his initial shock from finding out that the very person he was talking about had apparently been right behind him at an embarrassing moment of the conversation. Once he had recovered, he recomposed himself, calmly took the plate out of Ananias' hands, muttered a thanks, and began to slowly eat it. Ananias then unhooked a large bag that was attached to his belt and untied the bag to reveal a large leg for Minerva to tear apart and feed on. "Dig in, Minerva," he said as he nonchalantly tossed the leg to Minerva, who was all too happy to comply.

Once the three of them had finished eating their meals, Ananias returned their utensils, plates, and leftovers before sitting back down and joining Gerome and Minerva in returning back to their duties.

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…."

"…."

Minerva looked between the two of them and let out what was akin to an exasperated sigh. Same awkward silence, same person who was showing signs of having trouble dealing with the said silence, same person who showed no signs of awkwardness at all. The novelty of this scenario had official run its course. She was now regretting the fact that her master had requested for silence throughout the duration of this task. She let out a small grumble of frustration, but the moment Gerome gave her a funny look for it, she instantly regretted it. What was she thinking? She was a proud member of the wyvern species for Naga's sake! Was she not also tasked with guarding the camp as her master and her comrade were? Minerva shook her head to rid herself of the disgraceful thoughts that had plagued her head mere seconds before now. It didn't matter if it was boring, she had a duty to uphold, and she would do it with pride and to the very best of her ability! She straightened herself up a bit before going back to full alert, just as Ananias and Gerome did.

When their guarding duty was finally over and they were replaced by the next pair of guards scheduled with guarding the camp, Ananias, Gerome, and Minerva walked back into camp together for a while before Ananias asked, "So, seriously, who were you and Minerva talking about back when lunch started?"

Gerome let out an annoyed grunt as he continued walking and looking forwards. "None of your business," he answered gruffly.

Ananias stared at him for a moment before giving him a nonchalant shrug and saying, "If you say so," before beginning to part ways with the wyvern rider and his wyvern, giving them a small wave, and saying, "See you around," and going on his merry way.

Gerome gave Ananias' farewell an acknowledging nod. "Indeed," he said. When the two of them were far enough away, Minerva let out a small shriek, which caused Gerome to embarrassingly grit his teeth and to sheepishly hang his head. "No, I am NOT going to ask him to teach me how he stays calm during mutual instances of silence. Quit asking." Minerva couldn't help but smirk at her master's sudden immature behavior. While Ananias didn't consider himself talented in anything, she had to admit, when it came to keeping one's cool despite the situation, he was practically and naturally Gerome's superior.


Author's Note: And here begins Gerome's supports with Ananias, as well as the only supports where there will arguably be a big focus on Minerva. Then again, what were you expecting exactly? It's not like these two were ever very talkative to begin with. Well, hoped you like this one! Hopefully the next two will be just as good, if not better!