"Um, what's all this?" Ananias asked, looking down at the pile of garbage Keaton had just laid down onto the ground with his eyes slowly moving from one item to the next.
Keaton placed his hands onto his hips, stuck out his chest, and grinned widely. "My treasures!" he simply answered. "Well, at least some of them anyway. Don't want to blow your mind too much. Gotta practice some moderation when it comes to showing off these beauties!"
"Right… beauties." Ananias glanced one last time at the pile of junk in front of him before shaking his head and letting out an exasperated sigh. "Alright, let's get this over with." He took out a pen and some parchment paper. "So how do you want to do this?"
"Well, considering that I've never written a book like this before, I figured I'd just show you each and every one of my treasures and then just explain to you why they're just so great! Then you can write all of it down and if we can figure out how to make it better, then we will!"
Ananias disinterestedly shrugged. "Well, it's a good a place to start as any."
Keaton smiled. "Good!" He then picked up one of his so-called treasures. "Now, this… is a tree branch, but it's not just any tree branch. THIS is a branch that fell off its tree and laid around in the mud during a storm! See how the mud that's accumulated onto the branch became one with the branch itself? See how unique and beautiful the splinters are? How much moss is still growing on it?" When Ananias didn't immediately answer, Keaton added, "Well? Well?"
Ananias stopped writing for a moment to observe what Keaton was asking him to observe before giving said wolfskin a small shrug. "I mean… I guess."
Keaton's jaw dropped. "You 'guess'?! Come on, Ananias! This has got to be one of the greatest branches that has ever branched in the history of all branching!"
"It's unique, I'll give it that, but couldn't you make the same arguments about any other branch?"
Keaton gasped. "'Any other branch'?! This branch is one of a kind!"
"Aren't all branches one of a kind?"
"Do they have the same level of moss and mud as this one? Hmm? Hmmmmm?!"
Ananias sighed. "No."
"Exactly!" Keaton cried.
"So let me get this straight. You're not interested, at all, about the story behind the branch. You're only interested in how it looks."
"Well duuuhh!"
"Then why bother mentioning that it fell off its tree during a storm?"
"Because I was there to see it happen, Ananias!" Keaton passionately stated, as if it were obvious. "And when I went to look at it after the storm passed, I couldn't believe how unbelievably blessed I was to have borne witness to such a beautiful treasure-making process!"
"Are you sure your appreciation of it doesn't stem from some form of… sentimentality or something?"
Keaton's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What is this 'sentimentality' you speak of?"
"…Do you not know what sentimentality is?"
"Pshh! Of course I know what sentimentality is! I just want to make sure that YOU know what it means. You know, to see if we're on the same page and all."
Ananias sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are you sure that you don't love this particular tree branch just because you're the one who found it and saw it getting the way it did?"
Keaton's eyes widened in surprise. "What? No! Of course not! How shallow do you think I am?"
"You really don't want me to answer that," Ananias muttered. "Look, we're getting sidetracked. How about we go back to why you love this tree branch so much?"
Keaton's eyes innocently widened as he tilted his head to the side in confusion. "But… I already did."
"Um, okay, but… what else do you love about it?"
Keaton glanced down at the tree branch still in his hands for a moment before looking back at him. "What else is there?"
Ananias raised his head, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Okay, moving on," he muttered. He looked back at Keaton. "What else you got?"
Keaton noticeably perked up at the opportunity to show another one of his treasures. He gently put down his tree branch before picking up a rock from the pile. "This rock!" he proudly declared. Ananias stared at the rock in Keaton's hand for a good long while as Keaton waited expectantly for Ananias to be impressed by it. When no such reaction came, Keaton figured he had been rendered speechless due to the rock's obvious beauty. "Well? Well?!"
Ananias slowly raised his head to meet Keaton's eager gaze, a look of hopeless resignation on his face. "I'm trying, man. I really am, but…," he shook his head, "I just don't get it. I really don't."
"B-but what's not to get?" Keaton asked. He then pointed to a crack on the rock. "Just look at that beautiful crack that it's got! Have you ever seen a rock with a crack as beautiful as this one before?"
Ananias sighed and shook his head. "No," he dejectedly murmured. "Can't say that I have."
Keaton gleefully laughed. "I know, right?!" He then rubbed his face against it. "And it's mine! All mine!"
Ananias looked on as Keaton continued to cuddle with his rock. "We seriously need to rethink our entire strategy about this book," he muttered.
Author's Note #1: The next supports after Keaton will be Subaki and then Mozu. Then, I'll finally be able to get to the Warriors supports.
Author's Note #2: The Fire Emblem Warriors poll is 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!
Author's Note #3: I've been asked about Three Houses supports a lot, and recently I was asked about potential Heroes supports, so I might as well address future plans for the story after I've completed the Warriors supports. Basically, I plan to do ten short stories/chapters with Ananias as the focus after the Warriors supports as a way to send off the character and this particular story, since this story has been around for quite a while now. These short stories can range from actual backstory stuff to just plain fun, but I will definitely only limit myself to ten, regardless of what types of stories they end up being. As many have asked for Three Houses and Heroes, I will definitely devote one chapter/story to each, but obviously they won't be full on supports with specific characters like the rest of this story has been. That means that'll leave eight stories left for me to do with this character besides those two, which will then officially close the book on his (and this) story. I hope that that works for all of you.
