"Ananias," the sole, male Manakete in the entire army urgently, though still somewhat calmly, whispered as he lightly tugged against the lower part of Ananias' clothes to further gain the taller man's attention, "may I speak with you for a moment?"
Ananias contemplated on Tenk's request before giving his friend a small, nonchalant nod. "Sure, I'm free. What did you want to talk about?"
Tenk took a deep breath before answering in that usual calm and smooth voice of his, "Well, I've been thinking, while it is perfectly understandable for everyone to focus all of their time and effort on the current battle at hand, it would certainly prove somewhat counterproductive in the long run if we all don't put some of that same time and effort into planning out the futures that we are so painstakingly fighting for. I guess what I'm saying is… we're not going to be Shepherds forever, or at least, most of us are not going to be Shepherds forever. Either we will die, or we will live to see the future of," Tenk uncomfortably cleared his throat and tugged against the collar of his cloak, "'infinite possibilities' you humans are so fond of. But, as you humans are at least somewhat well aware of by now, you will not live forever either, and you all insist on using whatever little time you have to, well, 'make the most of it', as most of your optimists would say, and because of that, one cannot just simply walk aimlessly into the future, but walk with purpose to a supposed destiny they feel is right for them, no matter how wrong it is in the long run. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am particularly curious about what path you choose to take after our battle is at an end." He then took a moment to contemplate over what he had just said, before tilting his head to the side slightly, shrugging his shoulders, and quickly adding, "Assuming that you will live of course." He then held his chin as he tried to remember what else he could have possibly forgotten, before snapping his fingers and quickly adding, "And assuming that the enemy doesn't win, mind you."
Ananias held his chin as he took the childish-looking adult's words into careful consideration. "What am I planning to do after all of this is over, huh?" he murmured to himself as he thought. He then nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders and answered, "Well, I am an Anna after all. Always have, always will be." He frowned irritably. "Despite all evidence to the contrary." His face went back to its usual blank expression again. "I'll do what I've always been doing, offer the most outstanding services at the most affordable price, but, you know, since I can't exactly perform any real outstanding services, I'll just keep giving it all out for free until I can. And if that doesn't work, I could always just work at one of my family's shops, so I guess that means that there won't exactly be any shortage of places to go or work at for me."
Tenk frowned disappointingly at his fellow ally's answer. "Is that it?" he asked. "Is that what you intend to do with your life? To always be serving someone?"
Ananias simply shrugged. "Well, when you put it that way, I might just be able to get work as a butler or waiter at this rate." He then let out an exasperated sigh, crossed his arms, and asked, "What's gotten into you today? Aren't you the one who's always talking about how meaningless our existences and lives are? What with the sudden interest on how humans live their lives all of a sudden?"
Tenk released an exasperated sigh of his own as he rolled his eyes, annoyed at the prospect of having to explain himself, something that he had not anticipated that he had to do, especially with someone so easy to go along with things as Ananias was. "Of course I believe all life is meaningless!" Tenk said matter-of-factly. "But I've quickly learned that no matter how right I am, you humans won't believe a single word I say, so in order to avoid being more exposed to all of your… negative attitudes towards my beliefs, I have decided to play along with your misled self-importance and unsupported optimism and keep my beliefs to myself for the time being, but even as I play along, I still find myself questioning every single one of your existences, yours especially."
Ananias raised an eyebrow slightly in mild surprise. "My existence especially, huh?"
Tenk nodded. "Indeed. In all honesty, your existence simply… befuddles me."
Ananias rubbed the back of his neck as he let out another exasperated sigh. "Befuddle, huh? Never heard that word to describe me before."
Tenk frowned disapprovingly. "It's to describe your existence, not you. Don't flatter yourself."
Ananias disinterestedly shrugged. "Sorry. Now, what were you saying about my existence 'befuddling' you?"
Tenk crossed his arms as he stared intensely at the man before him, as if studying him to see if he could find even the smallest hint of the answers he sought. "It's just, your existence is such a cosmic anomaly, and yet you don't seem to have the slightest interest in taking advantage of that fact."
Ananias' eyes widened, both out of surprise and out of a strange form of astonishment. "Excuse me?"
Tenk merely closed his eyes and shook his head in disappointment. "You are seemingly the first male offspring of the Anna family, and you will most likely be the last male offspring of the Anna family. Add that to the fact that you seem to lack any of the skills a usual Anna would have and you seemingly have the perfect opportunity to make an actual, lasting impact on the world at large, and yet all you ever think about is doing what Annas do, mindlessly following the status quo. I must say, if I were a self-important, egotistical, optimistic human, I would not hesitate to take the universe on that particular opportunity, so why is it that you are not tempted by such a prospect?"
Ananias thought for a moment, before simply answering, "I don't know. I guess I just don't want that type of life for myself, you know?"
Tenk raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise and disbelief. "Truly?"
Ananias nodded. "Yeah. I mean, sure, maybe life really is meaningless in the long run, but either way, I'd want my life to be a happy one, you know? And, well, I'm most happy whenever I'm with my family or whenever I know I'm doing my family proud, yeah? So what else is there for me to ask for, you know? Just be happy and stay happy, you know?"
For a long time, Tenk could only stare at Ananias in disbelief, but once he was finally released from his self-induced stupor, he merely smiled mysteriously, chuckled softly, and said, "So simple is that mind of yours. Thank you my friend. I look forward to speaking with you again someday."
As Tenk left, Ananias simply raised an eyebrow in confusion and surprise, and murmured, "Now what was that all about?"
Author's Note: So what did you guys think about Tenk? Leave a review and tell me what you think of him so far!
