"You wanted to see me?" Ananias asked as he slowly entered Laurent's tent, the owner of said tent having been completely engrossed in the book he had been reading before the trickster had made his presence known.

Laurent nodded. "Indeed, I did," he answered, giving his friend a small and friendly smile before indicating towards the empty chair in front of him. "Please, sit down." Ananias gave Laurent a questionable look before he dutifully obeyed, taking a seat and making himself as comfortable as he possibly could. Laurent smiled professionally. "Thank you." He then, surprisingly, began to thoroughly examine Ananias' face, lifting and stretching parts of it this way and that as he did and mentally noting certain aspects of it that Ananias, for the life of him, couldn't understand what was so noteworthy about in the first place.

Ananias allowed this to go on unopposed for a while before asking, in a distorted voice due to Laurent's playing with his face, "So, um... do you think there's something wrong with my face, or... what?"

Laurent took a moment to consider Ananias' question before tilting his head to the side admittedly and answering, "Well, yes, I suppose that IS technically what I am doing, but that is not exactly the full intent behind it either."

"Well then, what is it?" Ananias monotonously pressed.

Laurent inspected a part of Ananias' face for a moment before explaining, "Well, I've noticed that your face is a bit... unique amongst everyone else's."

Ananias cocked an eyebrow inquisitively. "Unique... how?"

"Well," Laurent began, "to be frank, your face is unusually stiff for a human being's."

"... Oh."

"Hmm," Laurent said, holding his chin as he gave Ananias a solemn look after having finally let go of his face. "Fascinating. Your face muscles do indeed seem stiffer than a face normally would. Have you ever tried exercising your face muscles a bit every now and again?"

"No offense, but I don't think anyone has ever consciously tried doing that," Ananias deadpanned.

Laurent nodded understandably. "Yes, I suppose you're right. Still, I would advise that you start. We can't afford to leave any stone unturned when it comes to our bodies."

Ananias nodded. "Yeah, sure, I'll keep that in mind."

"That's good," Laurent said. He then picked up a clean spoon from his desk. "Now, may I ask that you open your mouth and say, 'Ah' for me, please?"

Ananias looked curiously at the spoon for a moment before giving Laurent a nonchalant shrug and did what he had been asked to do. "Ah," he said, opening up his mouth wide as Laurent used the spoon to keep his tongue down as he inspected the inside of Ananias' mouth.

"Hmm... interesting," Laurent muttered as he held and rubbed his chin as he continued his observation.

"Whatch's interestching?" Ananias asked, his mouth still open and with a spoon inside of it.

Laurent retracted his spoon before answering, "For a man who doesn't display a hint of emotion for the majority of when he speaks, the inside of your mouth looks relatively normal."

Ananias let out an exasperated sigh. "No offense, but is all of this centered around how weird and abnormal I am? Because at this point, I just sort of thought that we had all just accepted the fact that that's just the way I am."

"And in a way, I still do," Laurent gently reassured. "But please understand. It would be an outright betrayal to the intellectual and scholarly world if I didn't even at least try and attempt to find the answer behind your strange behavior otherwise."

Ananias wearily sighed. "Alright. Fine. So do you know what's wrong with me then?"

Laurent shook his head. "Unfortunately, I have not, but with everything that I have just found out, I'm sure that I'll eventually be able to narrow it down." He then smiled. "And do not worry, my friend. If I find anything out, you shall be the first person I report my findings to."

Ananias nodded. "Sure."


Author's Note: And with that, Laurent's supports officially begin! A bit tough, since Laurent and Ananias seem to be the types who would both get along with each other pretty well, but I think (and hope) that the way these supports will go will be something worthwhile in the end. Until next time!