"So, you wanted to see me?" Ananias asked upon entering into Laurent's tent.

Laurent turned to his friend and nodded. "Indeed, I did," he answered. He briefly indicated towards the many notes and books scattered around his tent. "You see, after examining the stiffness of your facial features and the normalcy of your mouth and throats despite the complete lack of normalcy behind the way you speak, I have concluded that this is, in fact, not a health issue, but possibly an emotional and social issue."

Ananias cocked an eyebrow in dull surprise. "Really?" he asked.

Laurent nodded solemnly. "Yes." He then began to eyeball Ananias while holding his chin and rubbing it thoughtfully. "Tell me, have you perchance been feeling excessively down or sad we made the leap into this timeline? It would certainly explain why you lack the general amount of vivacity a normal person would usually display in areas of normalcy such as your ability to speak and one's ability to express oneself through their facial expressions."

Ananias scratched the back of his ear disinterestedly as he thought over Laurent's question before proceeding to nonchalantly shrug his shoulders. "Well, no, not really."

"Really?" Laurent asked. "Nothing at all?"

"Well," Ananias began, "I mean, I guess I'm just not any more depressed than I usually am, you know?"

Laurent's eyes widened at the sudden and brutally honest response. "O-Oh, I see. Well, as... unfortunate as that is to hear, we are at least getting closer to the root of them problem, yes?"

Ananias simply shrugged. "I guess."

"Now," Laurent said, attempting to continue being professional despite having to recompose himself after hearing such a blunt and disturbing answer come from his fellow stoic companion, "do you think you can describe to me exactly what has caused you to be so depressed at such a constant rate as you have described?"

Ananias nonchalantly scratched the side of his head. "What's there to explain? I mean, I'm literally the only male born of an all female born lineage. I've practically been signaled out since the day I was born, you know?"

Laurent gulped uncomfortably at the crimson trickster's answer. "Y-Yes, I can certainly relate. From the moment I realized what family I was born into, I too, felt the same feelings of being ostracized and out of place as you did. Luckily for the two of us, we both strived to change that, did we not?"

"Well, yeah," Ananias admitted. "But, no offense, you kind of succeeded a bit more than I did in that regard. I suck at everything, remember?"

Laurent grimaced. "W-Well, that is a bit of an exaggeration, but yes, I can certainly understand what you mean by that. But didn't you, your mother, and your multitude of aunts, cousins, and nieces eventually come to some sort of understanding of sorts? Surely that must have alleviated some of the weight of being the person you were, didn't it?"

Ananias nodded. "Well, yeah, but then all of them died. Or, at least, most of them did, yeah?"

Laurent let out a small and horrified gasp, not over the fact that Ananias was mentioning dead relatives, but because he was mentioning them so casually. "W-Well, to be talking so casually about such things... you've certainly gotten over those particularly tragedies, haven't you?"

Ananias shook his head. "No, not really," he muttered.

Laurent's eyes widened in surprise. "Hmm?"

Ananias rubbed the back of his neck. "It's more like I've just accepted the fact that they happened, you know?"

Laurent nodded. "Yes, but even that takes a commendable amount of mental maturity and fortitude, my friend." He smiled encouragingly at him. "You should be proud to have mastered such an endeavor."

Ananias let out a wry chuckle. "Yeah, well, I've had a lot of time to think it over since we made the journey here. Had to spend the time in between looking for my mother somehow, right?"

Laurent frowned as his eyes narrowed shamefully. "Er... right. Of course."

Ananias' eyes widened in surprise before taking a moment to examine Laurent's expression, and say, "That doesn't sound like an 'of course'. Is there something wrong? You look a bit uncomfortable all of a sudden."

Laurent gasped upon realizing what his friend was implying and quickly shook his head to recompose himself. "N-Nothing! Nothing is wrong! Why ever would it not be?" He then cleared his throat and said, "Well, thank you, Ananias. This was a very informative talk that we had. I hope that maybe we can do it again someday."

Ananias studied Laurent's face for a bit before letting himself nod in agreement. "Yeah... same here." He then turned to exit the tent. "See you around."

After Ananias had left his presence, Laurent let out a heavy sigh and muttered, "Now that I think about it... in terms of thinking it over... I don't think I've ever really had!" He then took a moment to think the entire situation over. "Well, as of now, that all changes!"