"Ah, Ananias, there you are!" Xander said.
Ananias turned towards him and showed his respect towards him with a quick bow. "Lord Xander," he greeted. "How goes things?"
Xander nodded his head approvingly and answered, "Smoothly. Quite smoothly. But I did not come looking for you just to initiate a bit of small talk. I came because I think I finally figured out what's been holding you back on the battlefield."
Ananias raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Oh? Well, what is it?"
"The answer... is confidence."
"Confidence?"
Xander nodded. "Yes. You see, from what your answers from our little quiz have told me, you seem to not have much of a very high opinion of yourself. For example, you expect yourself to never be given a leadership position, and when you do, you assume that you will be incapable of leading with any dignity whatsoever, opting instead to rely on cheap or shocking tactics to get the upper hand or begging for mercy from your enemies, proving that you entirely lack confidence in your abilities in combat as well."
Ananias visibly winced. "I... see."
"So it stands to reason that if we were to raise your own opinion of yourself, then perhaps your abilities in combat will be raised as well."
"I doubt that it's that simple, but I guess that's a start," Ananias muttered. He heaved out a sigh, anticipating the worst. "Alright then. How do you propose we do that?"
Xander smiled. "Well, believe it or not, I actually do hear my fair share of gossip every now and then, and I must say, the various things that I've heard about you have been quite flattering."
Ananias raised an eyebrow mildly in surprise. "Really? You're into... gossip?"
Xander coughed embarrassingly into his fist. "Well, no, not per say, but sometimes you just can't but overhear what others are whispering, now can you?"
"So you and... eavesdropping?"
Xander cleared his threat and lightly blushed. "We are veering off topic," he quickly retorted.
"R-Right," Ananias said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly as he did. "Sorry."
"That's quite alright. Let's just agree to keep what we talk about here private and leave it at that, shall we?"
"Wasn't this conversation already supposed to be private?" Ananias murmured.
"Now," Xander began, "where shall we start?" He then smiled and snapped his fingers. "Ah, yes! How about how attractive many of the women in the army think you are."
Ananias closed his eyes uncomfortably and lightly blushed. "I immediately regret going along with this."
"But no, it gets better!" Xander continued. "One of the reasons why they are so attracted to you is because of how mysterious they think you are!"
"How am I mysterious?"
"I believe that it is your stoicism. Apparently it makes all of their imaginations run absolutely wild."
Ananias blushed even harder. "Okay, okay. We can just... stop right there. I already don't want to hear the rest of this."
"Are you sure?" Xander prodded. "I must say, the tall tales that they weave about you are quite interesting."
Despite Ananias' reservations towards hearing any more of this, his curiosity unfortunately won out in the end, as he let out an exasperated sigh, folded his arms, and apprehensively asked, "What tall tales?"
"Well, one rumor about you is that the reason why you are so stoic is because you were madly in love with another woman, and that, when she left you, the heartbreak was so severe that you swore off emotions entirely, because how can one ever feel or love again if half of his heart was ripped away from him?"
Ananias buried his face into his hands. "Oh, gods," he groaned.
"But wait, there's more! Out of all of the men in the army, the women believe that you are secretly the most romantic of us all."
"Based on what?!"
"Based on how willing you are to do the chores around the castle," Xander answered. "'He must treat any woman he loves like his very own queen or princess,' they say."
"That's... that's not..."
"And your lack of fighting prowess," Xander continued. "They believe that it comes from the fact that, deep down, you are a lover, not a fighter."
"I... I..."
"And they seem to be quite enticed with the idea of being the one and only girl to make you smile. Why, they fantasize that your smile was comparable to that of a rare gem that could only be found in the most magical of fairy tales!"
"Okay, that's it, I'm done." Ananias began to walk away, much to Xander's confusion. "I can't take much more of this."
Xander raised an eyebrow in incredulous surprise. "Are you sure? Has your opinion of yourself changed for the better?"
"No," Ananias muttered, "if anything, you've only made it worse."
Xander frowned and scratched his chin in confusion. "Worse? How can that be?"
Author's Note #1: The next supports after Xander, will be Azura, followed by Flora, Odin, Laslow, Rinkah, Arthur, Silas, Leo, Keaton, and Subaki. Kanna's supports will be like Ophelia's and Soleil's, with Kanna being Odin, Laslow, or Selena's kid and Ananias being an honorary uncle to them. The supports will also be written as if Kanna is a boy, but will be generic enough to fit both genders. Got someone else you want to support with Ananias that isn't on this list yet? Request it. Remember, all Nohr first generation characters, Soliel, Ophelia, Anna, Kanna, Rinkah, Subaki, and Setsuna are allowed to support with him as well and it is a first come, first serve system.
Author's Note #2: The Fire Emblem Warriors poll is now officially up on my profile! Vote for which five characters you want for Ananias to support with from that game the most and, in the end, ten characters will be selected for Ananias to support with, so make your voices heard. Happy voting!
