"Are you finished yet?" Soleil whined, attempting to look behind her shoulder as best she could despite the current position she was in.
Ananias sighed and shook his head. "No," he droned as he continued to very obviously fumble with what he was doing.
Soleil leaned her head back and let out a long, petulant groan. "Why not?"
Ananias' furrowed his brow and clenched his teeth in frustration as he continued to try and complete the task that he knew shouldn't be taking nearly this long as he was unfortunately making it out to be. "I'm not a girl, alright? I wouldn't know how to tighten a dress if it hit me on the head."
"Yeah, but didn't you grow up with a bunch of nieces and aunts and all that? Are you seriously telling me that not one of them asked you to tighten their dress up for them, like, ever?"
"I was the only boy in a sea of women and girls," Ananias nonchalantly and monotonously explained. "They had each other to do that kind of stuff. There was no reason for them to get the only male sibling in the room to learn it, you know?" It was then that he finally did the last of the dress' laces and tightened it a bit before removing his hands from them, giving them one last look around to check if there were any possible ways he could've messed it up, and standing up, dusting his hands as he unsurely looked upon his handiwork. "Alright," he said, "that should do it." Soleil began to take a few careful steps forward. "How does it feel?"
Soleil slowly turned herself around, testing the general feel of the newly obtained dress while also testing the quality of Ananias' lacing work. When both seemed to be sufficient, she grabbed parts of the dress and raised them up to get a better look at it on her body. Soleil tilted her head and let out an uncertain grunt. "Well... it IS a really nice dress."
Immediately noting the hesitation in her voice, Ananias folded his arms and gave Soleil a concerned frown. "...But?"
Soleil sighed and gave her honorary uncle a pleadingly sad look. "But it isn't me."
"Huh?" Ananias asked, cocking his eyebrows slightly in surprise. "But my aunt said that she made absolutely sure that this dress would've been perfect for you. We sent her a drawing of you and everything."
"And it is!" Soleil insisted reassuringly. "It is perfect for me, honest! It's just that," Soleil fidgeted anxiously, "I've realized that not acting like myself and wearing pretty dresses for no good reason other than to attract boys just so that they'd be more likely to ask me out on a date... well, none of that is really for me, you know?"
"No, no," Ananias gently said, shaking his head, "of course I do. How couldn't I? I spent practically my entire childhood trying to be something I wasn't." It was then that his eyes widened upon realizing what all of this possibly meant. "Wait a minute, does that mean that you've realized that you DO like girls romantically, or...?"
Soleil gave him a funny look. "What? No. Why would you think that?"
Ananias blushed lightly and averted his eyes to the side. "Well, I mean... if you figured that you weren't that committed to attracting boys, then maybe... I thought that you realized that..."
Soleil laughed. "Uncle Annie!" She playfully punched him on the shoulder. "You dunce! All I was saying was that I realized that I'd be better off and happier attracting boys my way and at my own pace! That's it! No subliminal messages whatsoever!"
Ananias looked at her incredulously. "Are you sure about that?"
Soleil rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Uncle Annie, believe me. If I ever find out that I'm like that, you'll be THE first person to find out." She winked good-naturedly at him. "You're good at keeping things secret, remember?"
Ananias let out a small chuckle and smiled at her. "I'll try to keep that in mind. You're a good girl, Soleil. Any man would be lucky to have you."
Soleil blushed as she let out a shy giggle. "Aw, thanks." She then gave him a warm hug and added, "And thanks for putting so much effort in playing along with me like you did. It really means a lot to me."
Ananias smiled and hugged her back. "Anytime." They stayed like that for quite a while, before Ananias nonchalantly asked, "So should we send the dress back, or...?"
"What?" Soleil quickly pulled herself away from the hug and gave Ananias a look of surprise. "Why?"
Ananias simply shrugged. "Well, I mean, if you're not going to be using it any time soon..."
"I still really like it though!" Soleil argued, giving him a playful twirl before looking down at her dress with a smile. "It really is perfect for me! I'll just save it for special occasions."
Ananias sighed. "Well, if that's what you want."
Soleil frowned. "Why wouldn't it be what I want?" Her eyes then widened upon having a sudden epiphany. "You... you didn't pay for it yet, did you?"
Ananias shook his head slowly. "It'd be bad P.R. if we had made you pay for the dress before we knew one hundred percent that it was the dress you wanted."
Soleil eyed him suspiciously before asking, "Were you, expecting me to send it back?"
"I prefer the term: hoping for your sake that you would send the dress back."
Soleil's eyes widened fearfully before she crossed her arms and asked, "S-So... how much is it, really?"
Ananias sighed before reaching into one of his pockets and showing it off to Soleil. "Nothing justifiable. At least, for you or your family, that is."
Soleil looked at the contents of the piece of paper and gulped. "We gotta send it back."
Ananias nodded. "Good choice."
Author's Note: Whelp, that's the end of Soleil's supports. Hope you all liked those. Next supports will be Peri, followed by Felicia, Jakob, Lana, Kaze, Nyx, Charlotte, Niles, Effie, Female Corrin, Benny, Anna, Ophelia, Camilla, Gunther, Setsuna, Kanna, Selena, Beruka, Xander, and Azura. Got someone you want to support with Ananias? Request it. Remember, all Nohr first generation characters, Soliel, Ophelia, Anna, Kanna, Rinkah, Subaki, and Setsuna are allowed to support with him as well and it is a first come, first serve system.
