"Ah, there he is!" Laslow cried, grinning ear to ear as he approached his stoic childhood friend. "My eternal rival in love!"

Ananias let out an exasperated sigh. "Please don't call me that," he softly pleaded. "People are going to get the wrong idea."

"Ah, but it's true, isn't it?" Laslow cheekily pointed out. "Because, if I remember correctly, the last time that we had competed for the hearts of maidens fair, you were proven to be my better, were you not?"

Ananias thought it over for a bit before giving Laslow a funny look and answering, "Okay, one, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a competition. I think you were just using me to make yourself look better - "

"Er, yes," Laslow said, tugging uncomfortably at his collar, frowning, and sheepishly averting his eyes to the side. "Admittedly, not my proudest moment."

"And two, we're not rivals. I wasn't actively trying to steal those girls away from you. They just, I don't know, took an interest in me for some reason."

"Ah," Laslow painfully groaned. "You really know how to rub it in, don't you?"

Ananias gave him a concerned frown. "I wasn't trying to."

Laslow let out a good-natured chuckle. "I know. I know. But alas, a rivalry was sparked regardless, and I'll have you know that I've been improving my technique since we last met. I will not be so easily beaten this time!"

Ananias sighed. "There you go again. This isn't a competition! I've got no stake in this! Emotional or otherwise."

"Ah, but you see, I do!"

"But... I don't," Ananias simply argued.

"But I do."

"But I don't."

"But I do."

Ananias stared at Laslow long and hard for a moment before asking, "You're not going to let this go until we do this, are you?"

Laslow smiled and shrugged. "I'm afraid not. I'm feeling particularly competitive today."

Ananias sighed. "Let it be known, I participated in this begrudgingly."

"Noted. Now, as for the rules. Whoever can gather the most ladies to the town square by sundown wins. Do you think you can manage that?"

"No," Ananias flatly retorted. "But I've got no better ideas, so you're on."

"Yes," Laslow said, puffing up his chest and placing his hands behind his back as he gave Ananias a look of pure confidence. "And may the best man win."


"Bah!" Laslow frustratedly muttered. "Time's nearly up and I still haven't managed to convince a single maiden to join me in the square! Grrr. If Ananias manages to procure even a single date, then I will have no choice but to admit defeat!" He paused for a moment, weighing his options before shaking his head and saying, "No, it's not over yet! If the women today have been so terrible to me, then I can only imagine how hard that they must be on him! Best case scenario is that neither of us have any dates, so as long as I can make good use of whatever time I have left, the least I can do is manage a tie! Alright. Come on, Laslow! You can do this!"

"Oh, there you are," a familiar voice from behind him said. "We've been looking for you."

"Ah, Ananias," Laslow greeted as he slowly turned himself around. "How goes thi- " What he saw behind Ananias left him completely and utterly gobsmacked. "Gah! Ananias... this crowd... this entire sea of people... a-are they all here, with you?!"

Ananias nonchalantly nodded. "Yeah."

Laslow continued to survey the crowd in soul-crushing horror. "So many lovely ladies... and even some men too!" Laslow turned to Ananias and threw his arms onto Ananias' shoulders before desperately beginning to shake him. "How?! How did you manage to win over so many hearts in so little time?!"

Ananias shrugged before sheepishly scratching the back of his head. "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure myself. I mean, I tried my hand at flirting the way you do, but I must've not been very convincing, because the ladies I tried to flirt with saw right through me. They then asked me why I was acting so weird, and so I told them about the competition that we were having -"

Laslow's eyes grew as wide as dinner plates as his jaw practically dropped to the ground. "Wait, you TOLD them about what we were doing?!"

Ananias innocently nodded. "Yeah, I mean, what else was I supposed to do, lie?"

Laslow covered his face with his hands and groaned. "And what exactly did you tell them?" he asked.

"I told them that whoever could bring the most ladies to the square by sundown would win," Ananias simply answered.

"And then they just followed you here?!"

Ananias shook his head. "Actually, they didn't. They just agreed that they'd meet me here by sundown and then hurried off somewhere. The same thing happened with every other girl I talked to. Then, when it was time for us to meet up, here this crowd was, apparently waiting for me so that we could all go into the square together."

Laslow's eyes widened when he was hit with a sudden and horrifying realization. "Wait, so let me get this straight... you told a couple of girls about our competition, they ran off, and then they brought a lot of other people here with them?"

"Um, yeah, that exactly what I just said." Ananias gave Laslow a funny look. "Is everything alright? Because you're not looking too good."

"Unbelievable!" Laslow murmured as he clutched his forehead in disbelief. "Did all of these people really come all the way here just to show me up?!"

Ananias couldn't help but laugh at this. "Wait? Seriously?" He shook his head. "No way. No one person is that petty, let alone this many people."

Laslow let out a nervous laugh. "Ah, well, yes, normally no one would, but... I must admit, I may have flirted myself into more trouble than one reasonably should. In fact, now that I've gotten a good look at them, I do recognize a great deal of faces among the crowd."

Ananias' eyes widened in surprise. "Wait, what?!" He pointed back at all of the people standing behind him. "You mean to tell me that you actually flirted with this many people?!"

"Well," Laslow sheepishly shrugged, "not all of them. I'm pretty sure all of the men are some of the disgruntled boyfriends, brothers, and husbands."

"What?!"

"Ah ha ha."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You need to leave, NOW!"

"Don't have to tell me twice!"


Author's Note #1: The next supports after Laslow will be Rinkah, followed by Arthur, Silas, Leo, Keaton, and Subaki.

Author's Note #2: The Fire Emblem Warriors poll is 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!