"Aaaaand… voila!"
Ananias looked down at what Keaton was carefully holding within his hands. "It's a cobweb."
Keaton affectionately looked down and gave what he was holding a big, toothy grin. "I know, right? And just look at all that dust! How it just elevates the beauty of the spider's webbing to a whole other level!" He let out a sniff of happiness. "Isn't it just one of the greatest things you've ever seen?"
Ananias shrugged. "I mean, I guess there's a bit of an appeal on the whole naturalness of it and all." He then looked up at the wolfskin's face. "Um, no offense, but… are you crying right now?"
Keaton's eyes widened in surprise. "W-what? N-no, of course not!" He quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his arm. "Why would I be crying?!" He then looked back down at the cobweb within his hands. "B-but even if I was, can you really blame me? I mean," he held the cobweb closer to Ananias' face, "just look at it! To possess such an amazing treasure… it would bring just about any connoisseur to tears!"
Ananias gently pushed Keaton's hands and the cobweb away from his face. "Well, I'm no fine art connoisseur, so I wouldn't know."
Keaton's ears and shoulders drooped as his face fell. "Yeah, you and a lot of other people around here. Like, I don't mind having all of these treasures to myself, but it's a bit lonely when I'm the only one who can appreciate them, you know?"
Ananias nodded. "Yeah, that's rough. Have you ever thought about teaching people why your treasures are so great? That way, they might so what you see and you might be able to appreciate your treasures together."
"Yeah, I've tried, but every time I offer up the chance, they always seem to get cold feet." He sighed. "How am I supposed to help them see the beauty in my treasures if they never give me or my treasures a chance?"
"Yeah, it's a bit of a tough sell." Ananias thought about it for a moment before an idea popped into his head. "Hey, how about you teach me? Then I could write down everything you've taught, make a book out of it, and I could get someone in my family to make copies and sell it for us. Then other people could read it and there could be a whole bunch of people who see the beauty in your treasures the same way you do."
Keaton's face lit up upon hearing this. "Wow! Really?! You'd do that for me?"
Ananias nodded. "I mean, it's worth a shot. I figure people reading about your treasures from a book would be a good stepping stone towards actually appreciating them in real life. And besides, I know a thing or two about feeling lonely. Only guy born in a female dominated family, remember?"
"Oh, yeah! You are, aren't you? Hey, speaking of your family, do you think they'd really help us if we asked?"
Ananias simply shrugged. "Don't know, but it's worth a shot. I figure a book written by a wolfskin basically markets itself. You know, considering the fact that not a lot of books about wolfskins are from actual wolfskins and all."
"Hey, yeah! There aren't! Man, that would like, make my book one of the first ones, wouldn't it?" Keaton let out a satisfied chortle. "Wow! I never would've thought that I'd ever get this excited over a book before! Well, at least not one that's supposed to appeal to humans, anyway."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, you know. The clean books that don't have any dust or dirt on them? The ones without any wet or moldy pages? The ones that aren't falling apart and whatnot?"
Ananias gave Keaton a funny look. "Do you even read?"
Keaton blushed. "O-of course I read! W-why wouldn't I read? I'm sophisticated! I'm knowledgeable!"
"Oh yeah? And what kind of books do you read, exactly?"
"Well…," Keaton averted his eyes to the side, "you know! The really smart ones!"
"You mean the ones that require a high level of intellect to understand?"
Keaton nodded. "Yeah, yeah! Those! I'm all for workin' the old noggin'!"
Ananias wasn't exactly convinced, but he wasn't really in the mood to try and drag the truth out of Keaton either. "Alright, fine. You read. But writing a book and reading a book are two different things."
Keaton frowned. "Huh? What makes you say that? Shouldn't someone who's read a book know how a book should go?"
Ananias nodded. "It helps. But the book we're trying to make is going to be about a lot of things, right? We've got to plan this out, otherwise no one is going to be able to follow what they're reading, you know?"
Keaton slowly nodded and gave Ananias a faraway look. "Yeaaahhh. Totally."
Ananias sighed. "Okay, look, I need some time to get the supplies. In the meantime, why don't you sort out your thoughts about what you want to say? It'll make writing the book a whole lot easier that way."
Keaton grinned, wagged his tail, and gave Ananias a salute. "Right! Got it! Don't worry, Ananias. I'm going to be so eloquent and so put together that the book will be finished in no time! And once it goes public, everyone will be shocked when they realize what they've been missing out on."
"That's my hope, Keaton," Ananias murmured as Keaton off. "For my sake, at least."
Author's Note #1: The next supports after Keaton will be Subaki and then Mozu. Then, I'll finally be able to get to the Warriors supports.
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!
Author's Note #3: As Ananias has no real connection to the Three Houses cast and has no real reason to be there anyway, there will be no Three Houses supports for him. I know that an Anna is in Three Houses, but if we went by that logic, Ananias would have to support with every Fire Emblem character that has ever existed, which would be unrealistic to do, at least for one person. If any of you want to do that yourselves, however, then you have my blessing, it's just that I won't be the one doing it. Sorry.
