Inigo heaved a heavy and dejected sigh as took a seat next to Ananias, who had been busy tending to his weapon's blade. After taking a quick glance at his uncharacteristically dispirited companion, Ananias sighed, nonchalantly turned his attention back to properly caring for his sword, and casually asked, "The usual?"
Inigo nodded. "Yep," he answered. "Another beautiful girl, another ugly rejection." He sighed once more as he wearily rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Honestly, you'd think after all of these rejections, I'd finally catch a break."
Ananias was tempted to point out that, even if Inigo did catch a break and did actually find someone who could tolerate his shamelessly womanizing ways, they were members of an army fighting an ongoing war, and as dark as it may sound, there was technically no sure-fire guarantee that they would survive; so even if Inigo had finally found someone who liked him, if he just so happened to perish, he would only break the poor girl's heart (or, with how many girls Inigo flirted with, girls' hearts, but in all honesty, no one for a second would believe the notion that Inigo had somehow managed to endear himself to multiple women, much less one), but he managed to bite his tongue, mainly because he knew Inigo well enough by now to know that even if he did say that, it would fail to deter Inigo in the slightest; and besides, who was he to instruct someone to discontinue their love life? Ananias continued to calmly clean his blade for the day, opting to care for it and talk to Inigo at the same time. "There are plenty of fish in the sea," he commented disinterestedly. "Eventually you'll find someone who will take you up on that offer of yours."
"Yeah, but you should've seen her!" Inigo said, smiling at the mere thought of the said beauty who had rejected his proposal for a cup of tea. He sighed dreamily. "She was one of a kind."
"No offense," Ananias said as he carefully inspected his sword, "but that's what you say about every girl you meet."
Inigo thought it over for a moment before performing an acknowledging shrug and nod. "True," he admitted, "but man, you should've seen her," his face fell at the mere thought of the said beauty who had rejected his proposal for a cup of tea, this time putting more thought into the actual rejection than the girl herself, "I'm never going to find another merchant girl like that."
Ananias momentarily halted his sword maintenance to look at Inigo. "Merchant girl?" he asked.
Quickly realizing what Ananias was thinking, Inigo leaned away from him, raised his hands up in an attempt to calm Ananias down, shook his head, and cried, "It wasn't an Anna, I swear! When I told her that I wasn't really interested in buying anything from her shop, she immediately kicked me out!"
Ananias took a moment to carefully consider Inigo's words. "That still vaguely sounds like an Anna," Ananias quietly remarked. He nonchalantly returned to what he had been doing. "You remember our agreement, don't you?" Ananias calmly asked. "We agreed that if I ever caught you romantically with an Anna, I would personally make sure you would never dance or smile again." He stopped once again to give Inigo a quick, warning, and disapproving glance.
Inigo gulped nervously, quickly nodding his head as sweat slowly began to run down his brow. "Yes, I remember; and I swear, it wasn't an Anna!"
After a long and uncomfortable silence (or better yet, uncomfortable for Inigo), Ananias nodded his head understandingly. "Sorry about that," Ananias apologized. "I just… had to make sure, you know?"
Relieved to be out of the doghouse, Inigo quickly nodded, and said, "Y-Yeah, sure, I understand."
After an awkward moment of silence, with Ananias busy cleaning his weapon and Inigo taking a moment to regain his composure, Ananias asked, "So what's got you all dejected then? I mean… it still sounds like the usual to me. What makes this rejection any different?"
Realizing that the worst was behind the two of them, and completely sympathizing with Ananias' anxieties (Inigo knew that if one of his friends were dating someone who looked like his mother, he'd probably flip out too), Inigo relaxed, folded his arms, sighed, and answered, "I guess it was just… one rejection too many, you know? I mean, if there really are plenty of fish in the sea, then how come none of them are taking the bait, you know?" He held his chin as he pondered over it for a moment. "Do you think that maybe… there's something wrong with me?"
Ananias stopped tending to his sword as his eyes widened in surprise. Was this the moment that everyone had been waiting for? Was this the moment where Inigo finally realized that his behavior was doing him more harm than good? Ananias quickly finished his task, sheathed his sword, and carefully asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Well," Inigo began, inspecting himself and running his hand through his hair, "what do you think? Do you think I should get my hair cut? Get a new doo? Get a wardrobe change?" Inigo grinned at the thought. "You think I should go Inigo 2.0?"
Ananias folded his arms and released an exasperated sigh. False alarm. "I don't think changing your look is going to improve your chances," he deadpanned.
After taking a moment to let Ananias' words sink in, Inigo cheerfully laughed, and said, "Yeah, you're right, what was I thinking? Inigo 1.0 is fine just the way he is!" He frowned. "But the problem still stands though."
Ananias shook his head and nonchalantly shooed Inigo's statement away. "Apples and oranges," he stated matter-of-factly.
Inigo frowned. "Excuse me?"
Ananias shrugged. "Apples and oranges," he repeated.
Inigo crossed his arms and gave Ananias a funny look. "I'm not sure how I feel about you comparing my love life to fruit," he said with an amused smirk on his face.
Ananias sighed. "It's a marketing perspective," he monotonously explained. "Say that you went to the marketplace and saw some perfectly good apples and oranges being sold side-by-side from each other, and say you're in the mood for apples. What do you spend your money on?"
Inigo raised an eyebrow in surprise, but decided to play along with Ananias' allegory. "Apples?" he answered.
Ananias nodded. "Okay, but what was wrong with the oranges?"
Inigo shrugged. "Nothing was wrong with the oranges. I just happened to be in the mood for apples."
Ananias nodded. "Same principle. You're the orange in that situation. There's nothing wrong with you, it's just that everyone you've asked out was in the mood for apples."
Inigo held his chin as he let Ananias' words sink in. "So what you're saying… is that there's nothing wrong with me."
Ananias nodded. "Pretty much."
Inigo grinned. "And what you're also saying," he continued, "is that up until now, I've just been unlucky."
Ananias nonchalantly shrugged. "If that's how you want to put it."
"So if I just keep on trying," Inigo continued, "I might just find that one girl who's in the mood for an orange like me, right?"
Ananias frowned as he crossed his arms. "If you insist on continuing to call yourself an orange," he deadpanned.
Inigo laughed and merrily wrapped his arm around Ananias' shoulders and gave him a good shake. "Ha! I never thought about it like that! Thanks man! You really know how to cheer a guy up, you know that?"
Ananias shrugged. "I guess I do now."
Inigo winked at him and gave him the thumbs up. "You bet you do!" He gave Ananias' back a firm pat before walking away, and crying, "Look out ladies! Inigo is back!"
As Ananias watched him walk away, he let out an exasperated sigh, and murmured, "Now if only I can manage to convince him to change his marketing strategy."
Author's Note #1: With all this talk about love, I probably should've tried to get this out on Valentine's Day, but eh, one day after Valentine's Day isn't bad. Consider this my late Valentine's Day gift to all of you.
Author's Note #2: I think everyone's finally been requested (I hope I'm not forgetting anybody). The order is as follows:
Severa
Anna
Female Robin
Male Robin
Father
Tan'bay
Lucina
Gerome
Nah
Cynthia
Noire
Kjelle
Zephyra
Lumaria
Yarne
Laurent
Brady
Sorry guys, but you snooze you lose. As of this chapter, the order of supports has officially been set. Thanks to everyone who requested!
