"Hey, Azura?"
Azura turned around and let out a tiny gasp of surprise upon seeing what the currently sheepish Ananias was carrying. "Ananias? What's all that?"
Ananias hung his head and gently placed what he was carrying onto the ground. "They're... instruments."
"Instruments? What for?"
Ananias rubbed the back of his neck and answered, "For you... and kind of for me too, if I'm being honest."
Azura's eyes widened in surprise. "I don't understand."
Ananias sighed. "They're a peace offering, from me to you."
"A peace offering?"
Ananias nodded. "Yeah. I wanted to apologize to you for being such a jerk, and I didn't really know what to buy for a singer like yourself so I just ordered a bunch of instruments and hoped for the best."
"Wait, wait, slow down," Azura gently instructed. "What do you mean by saying that you were being, 'such a big jerk'? I'll admit, Ananias, you are many things, but a 'jerk' is certainly not one of them."
"How? By being so suspicious about you for such trivial reasons! Like, who doesn't hang out with someone because their personality is too complicated for them to understand? Or because their personality now doesn't seem to match up with what happens to them in the past? I've been avoiding you for such silly reasons! Buying you a few instruments and apologizing to you was the least I could do! Especially with how lonely you used to be! How could I possibly give you the cold shoulder after knowing that?"
"Ananias, calm down! You're not obligated to trust or like me just because of what happened to me in the past! No one is!"
"Yeah, but... -"
"No 'buts' about it! And besides, if anyone should be apologizing, it's me."
Ananias' eyes widened in surprise. "You? Why you? What did you do?"
Azura shook her head. "It's not what I've done, it's what I've been doing."
Ananias gave her a mildly confused look. "Um, what?"
Azura sighed. "The memories of being constantly put under suspicion by others and the memories of being mistreated throughout my childhood, they've influenced me far more than I care to admit. I've been leaning too much on them to excuse my own behavior, when nowadays I have no one but myself to blame for my own misfortunes. What right do I have now to complain about others finding me suspicious when I do actually act a bit too suspiciously for my own good? What right do I have now to complain about others not knowing who I am and what I've been through if I never go out of my way to share those things with others?" She smiled reassuringly at him. "If anything, I should be thanking you. You've shown me that even though others may be willing to be friends with me, I ultimately have to be willing to put myself out there and let myself be vulnerable around them. Otherwise, how else will they know that I trust them?"
Ananias lightly blushed and folded his arms as he averted his eyes to the side. "Y-Yeah, well, as long as we're apologizing and talking about what we're thankful for, I guess I should thank you for teaching me that people are... complicated. Which is pretty ironic considering the fact that I'm pretty complicated myself so... I guess I should be a little bit more forgiving when others are being a little bit too complicated themselves."
Azura giggled. "Let's just agree that we've both learned a bit from each other and just be friends again, okay? I've missed the little 'lonely meetings' that we had with one another."
Ananias gave her a small smile and nodded. "Yeah. It's not the same, being lonely by yourself all the time."
Azura smiled. "Of course. After all, how can someone possibly enjoy being lonely all by themselves?"
"Yeah, being lonely is too lonely."
"..."
"..."
"Heh heh..."
"Pfft..."
"Ha ha ha!"
"Ha ha ha!"
The two of them continued to laugh for a bit before recomposing themselves and Azura saying, "I've missed this."
Ananias nodded. "Me too."
"So, what should we do on our next outing? Another picnic?"
"Well, I mean," Ananias sheepishly looked down at the instruments that he had brought with him, "we could take time to learn how to play with one of these instruments, if you want."
Azura looked uncertainly at them. "I don't know. Singing has always been my one true passion."
"Yeah, but it's almost the same song over and over, right?"
"Hey!" She punched him playfully on the arm. "It's a good song!"
"Yeah, but you could spice it up a bit by actually playing an instrument every once and a while while singing it, you know?"
"No, I don't know. Would I even be any good?"
"Why not try the flute then? After all, we already know that you've got the pipes for it."
Azura gave him an amused look. "And how would I be able to sing and play at the same time with a flute?"
"Ah, so you want to play and sing at the same time, do you? Well, what about that lute then? Or maybe that guitar?"
Azura feigned serious consideration of the two before shaking her head and saying, "Hmm, one is too big, one is too small, and both would look ridiculous with me playing them..." She gave Ananias a mocking and incredulous look. "You really are bad at selling things."
"You didn't believe me?"
"It's hard to believe it when I've never actually seen it."
"Ah, now who's the untrusting one?"
Azura giggled. "Still you."
Ananias rolled his eyes. "Fine. How about those castanets then? You wouldn't look too silly playing those while singing, would you?"
"Yes, because castanets are so famous for being the only instrument for accompanying a singer's voice."
Ananias sighed. "You're so picky."
Azura laughed. "And you really are terrible at this."
Author's Note #1: The next supports after Azura will be Flora, followed by Odin, Laslow, Rinkah, Arthur, Silas, Leo, Keaton, and Subaki. Kanna's supports will be like Ophelia's and Soleil's, with Kanna being Odin, Laslow, or Selena's kid and Ananias being an honorary uncle to them. The supports will also be written as if Kanna is a boy, but will be generic enough to fit both genders. Got someone else you want to support with Ananias that isn't on this list yet? 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.
Author's Note #2: The Fire Emblem Warriors poll is now officially up on my profile! Vote for which five characters you want for Ananias to support with from that game the most and, in the end, ten characters will be selected for Ananias to support with, so make your voices heard. Happy voting!
