C:

Ananias sighed. He had been aimlessly wandering around Askr for quite some time now, and yet he hadn't gotten any closer to finding what he had been searching for. Due to his disheartening lack of progress, his mind went back to a conversation that he had earlier that day.


"Aw," Commander Anna said. "Why so glum, chum?"

Ananias sighed. "Askr has too many heroes."

Anna giggled. "And that's a problem, how?"

"Back home, I knew I couldn't hold a candle to anyone in anything, so I made up for it by doing all of the things that no one else wanted. But here, in Askr? I can't even seem to do that."

Anna frowned. "I'm not sure I follow."

"Every time I try to wash the dishes, there are already a good number of heroes doing just that," Ananias explained. "Every time I try to do the laundry, a bunch of heroes are already busy folding, washing, or drying them. Every time I try to get an old lady's cat out of a tree, there's another hero trying to help. No matter where I go, there's a hero there, ready to do their part. There doesn't seem to be a place left for me here."

"That's not true! You'll always be the only cousin I'll ever have who's a boy. That's got to count for something, right?"

Ananias sighed. "You know what I mean."

Anna giggled. "Yeah, I know." She gave her cousin a pat on the back. "Just give it some time. Askr's a big place. You'll find your place eventually."


Unfortunately, eventually hadn't exactly come yet and Ananias couldn't help but feel impatient. "This is pathetic," he muttered to himself. "I must be the only hero summoned to Askr who hasn't figured this out yet. I know she said that it would come eventually, but why can't eventually be sooner rather than later?" He then heard rustling coming from some nearby bushes. "Huh? What was that?"

A woman then popped out of said bushes. It was Thrasir. "Pardon me," she said as she briskly made her way towards him.

Ananias' eyes widened in surprise. "Um, you're... Thrasir, right?"

Thrasir nodded. "Yes, that is correct. Now if you'll excuse me," she glanced behind her, "I must be off."

Ananias held his gaze on her. "Is something wrong?"

"It's none of your concern," Thrasir answered, as she was just about to make her way past him.

"Hey!" a man's voice cried. "Come back!" He stepped out of the same bushes Thrasir came out of. It was Gatrie. "I just want to have a talk!"

"Drat," Thrasir muttered, stopping in her tracks. He had caught up with her. There was definitely no avoiding this now.

"Um, is there a problem here?" Ananias asked.

Gatrie smiled and laughed. "I hope not! Being a problem is the last thing I'd want to be to her."

"I see. So the two of you are close?"

"Well, not yet," Gatrie admitted. "But I hope to be!"

Thrasir sighed. "Please stop," she murmured.

"Huh? What was that?"

"Um, I think she's saying that now's not really a good time for her."

Gatrie's eyes widened in surprise. "Huh? Really? Why's that?"

Thrasir fidgeted nervously. "Well..."

"S-she and I are... on a date," Ananias answered.

Thrasir's eyes widened in surprise. "Aw man," Gatrie said. He turned to Thrasir. "Seriously?"

"Um, yes," Thrasir said. She awkwardly grabbed Ananias' arm. "This was where we were supposed to meet," she turned to Ananias, "yes?"

"Uh, seems like." He then turned to a slightly confused Gatrie and added, "I'm still kind of new here, so..."

Gatrie nodded. "Ah, I see." He sighed. "I'll admit, I'm a bit disappointed, but if she's with you, then I'll get out of your hair."

Thrasir's eyes widened in surprise. "You will?"

Gatrie nodded. "Yep. Who am I to get in the way of love? But, if things don't work out, don't hesitate to come to me, alright?" He winked at her.

"Um, yes. I'll be sure to remember that."

Gatrie laughed. "You'd better!" He waved to them as he left. "Have fun, you two!"

Once Gatrie was well out of sight, Thrasir let go of Ananias' arm, cleared her throat, and said, "Thank you for that."

Ananias rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, you looked like you weren't interested, so I just... you know."

Thrasir nodded. "Yes. Unfortunately, he is a persistent one, so I'm afraid that we're going to have to continue with this ruse for a bit before he finally relents. That is... if you are willing to, of course."

Ananias thought it over for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and saying, "Eh, why not? It's not like I have anything better to do around here."

"I see. Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me..."

Ananias watched as Thrasir left and sighed. "Man, so there are guys just like Inigo here too, huh?"

Unbeknownst to him, he was being watched by Anna from a distance. "Hmm," she said. "I smell an opportunity to make some coin!"


B:

"Ah, there you are!" Anna cried. "I've been looking all over for you!"

Ananias raised his eyebrows in mild surprise. "You were?"

Anna hurriedly nodded. "You bet! After all, this is something only you can do!"

Ananias' eyes widened upon hearing that. "Something only I can do? Well, what is it?"

Anna smiled. "I'm glad you asked!" She then indicated towards Dorothea, who had come with her. "This is Dorothea. Would you mind showing her around town for me?"

"Wait... what?"

"Would you mind showing her around town?" Anna repeated.

Ananias gave both of them a slightly confused look. "Is... that it?"

"Aw," Dorothea cooed. "What's the matter? Don't tell me that you consider the task of showing a lovely lady around town to be beneath you."

"N-no, it's not that! Well, I mean, maybe a little, but -"

"Oh, that's a shame," Anna lamented. "Well, I guess we'll just have to find someone else to do it then."

Dorothea nodded sadly. "I guess so."

Ananias quickly raised his hands to stop them. "H-hey! Wait a minute! I didn't say I wouldn't!"

"So you'll take the job?" Anna excitedly and eagerly asked.

Ananias sighed. "Yeah, sure, I'll take the job."

Dorothea frowned. "That doesn't sound very convincing," she said. "Come on, ask me properly this time."

Ananias sighed. "Dorothea, would you like to go to town with me?" he asked.

Dorothea giggled. "Well, alright." She wrapped one of her arms around Ananias'. "Since you asked so nicely."

"Ugh," Ananias groaned.

Anna giggled. "Have fun, you two!" she cried, waving to them. She then turned around and gasped. "Why, Sylvain! Lorenz! What a surprise! Were you standing there this entire time?"

Sylvain placed his hand over his heart and winced. "To be asked such a thing by a woman as lovely as yourself, I'm crushed!"

"Though if you must know, yes, yes we were," Lorenz answered. "You see, we were each going to ask the lovely Dorothea to a night out on the town, but it seems that your cousin has already beaten us to the punch, so to speak."

"And succeeded even! I've made countless attempts to win the lovely Dorothea's favor, but to no avail, yet your cousin seems to have succeeded on his very first try! I must admit, it is as disheartening as it is puzzling."

Lorenz nodded. "Yes, she has turned down all of my advances as well, and I am of the nobility! Quite puzzling, indeed!"

"Hey, I come from noble stock too, you know!"

"Yes, but I better exemplify what is to be expected from those within our station."

Sylvain frowned. "That's debatable."

"So wait," Anna said, "are you two saying that you've given up on her then?"

"Give up on Dorothea?" Sylvain asked. "Ha! As if! But I will admit, asking a girl out who's already in the middle of seeing someone else? Not really my style."

"Indeed," Lorenz said. "It would be unbecoming of someone of my stature to steal a woman from another man, no matter how attractive I may be to them."

"That being said, if Dorothea and Ananias don't work out, she can rest assured knowing that I'll be there to give her a comforting shoulder to cry on."

"The same goes for me as well. But until then, I wish them nothing but the best of luck."

"Yeah, me too."

"Well, I'll be!" Anna said. "How very mature of you!"

Sylvain smiled. "Have to draw the line somewhere, right? Though if your opinion on me has changed for the better, then -"

"Sorry, but you don't hold a candle to money."

Sylvain chuckled. "Direct and straight to the point, I like that in a woman."

Lorenz sighed. "Do me a favor, Sylvain and stop embarrassing yourself. Watching you flirt so shamelessly makes my skin crawl."

Sylvain smirked. "Hey, no one asked you to look."

Lorenz shook his head as he walked away. "Honestly, such impetuous behavior!"

Sylvain followed him. "Oh? Who's the impetuous one now?"

Once the two of them had left, Anna triumphantly chuckled to herself, and said, "Well, if this isn't a proof of concept, then I don't know what is!" She then rubbed her hands in anticipation. "Now, on to the next step!"


A:

"Thanks again for treating me out to lunch, Ananias," Sonya said. "I'll admit, while the restaurant wasn't exactly luxurious, it was still quite cozy and the food was very nice as well. I had a good time."

"Glad you liked it," Ananias said.

"Oh hey, you're back!" Anna said, walking towards them with a satisfied look on her face. "Did the two of you have a good time?"

Sonya nodded. "It was quite nice, I'll have to admit. Very fitting when you actually take the time to think about it."

"That's good to hear."

"And Sain?"

Ananias gave her a confused look. "What about Sain?"

Anna giggled triumphantly. "As far as Sain knows, you are officially off the table."

Sonya smiled. "Excellent." She then reached into her pockets and gave Anna a hefty amount of coins. "Your pay, as promised."

"Thank you for doing business with us," Anna said.

Sonya then turned to Ananias and handed him a couple of coins as well. "And here's a tip for you, Ananias."

Ananias' jaw dropped as he stared at the coins in his hand. "My tip?!"

"Yes, your tip. Keep it, dear. You've earned it."

"'Earned it'?!" Ananias cried. "What the heck are you talking about?!"

Sonya blinked at him in confusion before raising her hand over her mouth and letting out a tiny gasp of surprise. "Oh dear, you didn't know?"

Ananias couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Know what?!" He turned to his cousin, who was trying to innocently look away and hold the coins she had just received behind her back. "What the heck is going on here?!"

Anna awkwardly chuckled. "Well, if you must know... I've been charging people to go on dates with you."

Ananias gave her a bewildered and confused look. "How does that make any sense?"

"It actually makes a lot of sense," Anna nonchalantly answered. "You see, we've been getting a lot of womanizing heroes as of late, and let's just say that their womanizing ways aren't very welcome amongst the female heroes. But they are willing to back off if the woman in question is already in a relationship, which is where you come in."

Ananias stared at her for a long time before exclaiming, "You've been selling me off?!"

Anna awkwardly chuckled. "I prefer the term, offering protective services. And would you keep it down? This is more of a low-key business venture."

"Low-key? As in secret? Just how many people are in on this?!"

Anna thought it over for a moment, before answering, "I think it'd be easier to list the female heroes who AREN'T in on this."

Ananias' eyes widened in surprise. "That many?!" He held his head as he was beginning to feel woozy. "How long has this been going on?!"

Anna apprehensively grinned. "Since Dorothea?"

"Dorothea?! You mean that one time you asked me to take her to town? That was ages ago!"

"Yep! And look at all the happy customers and clients we've had since then!"

"You mean all of those women I've taken out were paying you to do it?!"

"To be fair," Sonya said, "I'm surprised it took you this long to figure it out."

"How is this even possible?" Ananias asked. "Do all the guys just think I'm juggling multiple women at once?"

Sonya chuckled. "That's the funny part, actually. You've been 'dating' so many women that it's actually starting to demoralize all of our flirts! It's been quite amusing, to say the least!"

Ananias was silent for a long time before asking, "So it IS working the way it's supposed to be working?"

Anna nodded. "Yep. Working like a charm."

"And how much money are we making?"

Anna giggled as she lightly tossed around the coins Sonya had just given her in her hands. "Oh, an absolute boatload of it! We're crushing it right now!"

Ananias threw his head back and sighed. "When's my next appointment?" he muttered.

Sonya's eyes widened in surprise. "My! You're actually planning on going along with this?"

Ananias shook his head and shrugged. "I mean, if it's doing some good and it's the only real gig I have, then sure, why not?"

Anna pointed at him excitedly. "Yes! That's the spirit! Oh, and just so you know, we're expanding to practice dates now too!"

"...practice dates?"

Anna nodded. "Yep. There's a lot of female heroes who want to start dating, but they don't really know how, so they figured they'd have a practice date with you first! You should see the list of people who've already signed up! It's enormous!"

"So... they all want to have a practice date... with me?"

"Yep. But don't worry! They all said that they see you as a friend and nothing more."

Sonya gave Ananias, who was currently bowing, shaking his head, and groaning, a sympathetic wince. "Oof."

Ananias sighed. "It's a living."


S:

"...gah!" Ananias cried, quickly sitting up in his bed, drenched with sweat and breathing heavily.

"Oh, thank goodness!" Caeda cried. "You're alright!"

"Whoa, now!" Anna said, placing her hand over his chest. "Easy does it!"

"Anna? Caeda?" Ananias looked around and slowly realized where he was. "Am I... in the infirmary?"

Ethlyn came by Ananias' bed and nodded. "Yes, you are. Tell me, what is the last thing you remember before blacking out?"

"I, um," Ananias stammered, holding his head as he tried to navigate through his mental haze, "remember being on a practice date with Caeda and... that's about it."

"Yes, that's about right," Caeda said. "We were in the middle of our practice date, when you suddenly just collapsed! The way you hit the ground, you practically scared me half to death!"

"Oh, I did? Sorry about that." He began getting out of bed. "Come on, let's go and finish what you paid for."

"Absolutely not," Ethlyn said. "Look at you! You're clearly in no shape to do anything right now, let alone go on dates!"

"I'm fine, really," Ananias said. "I'm just a little tired and sweaty, that's all."

"That's what I'm worried about. Anna, do you have a copy of his schedule on you?"

"Um, yeah, sure. Why do you ask?"

Ethlyn reached out her hand. "May I see it for a moment, please?" Anna reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of parchment and gave it to her. "Hmm," Ethlyn said as she studied Ananias' supposed schedule. She then gasped. "Oh my. No, this won't do. This won't do at all!"

"What is is Ethlyn?" Caeda asked. "Is something wrong with Ananias' schedule?"

"There's something wrong with his schedule alright," Ethlyn replied. "Anna, you're practically working him to death!"

"What? No I'm not! I mean, sure, it's a little busy, but it's perfectly doable!"

"A little busy?" Ethlyn repeated. "Anna, you've booked him solid! When is he supposed to eat?"

Anna simply shrugged and answered, "I just figured he'd eat during his dates."

"I do eat during dates," Ananias stated. "I eat on every date."

All the girls' eyes widened in surprise. "Every date?!" Caeda asked. "Ananias, doesn't that mean that you're eating all the time then?"

Ananias nodded. "Probably."

"What?!" Anna cried. "Ananias, if you're eating that much, then why don't you just... not eat?!"

"I try," Ananias said. "But the girls always want to go out and eat, and I figured it would be too awkward if they were the only ones eating, so I eat something along with them."

"Oh, Ananias, you should've said something!" Caeda chided. "Any of us would have understood!"

"It's not just that," Ethlyn said. "According to this schedule, he even has dates late into the night. Ananias, how much sleep are you getting?"

"...enough."

"That answer doesn't exactly inspire confidence."

"And we haven't even gotten to all the fighting, chores, and other tasks Ananias has to do around here," Caeda said.

Anna weakly chuckled. "Well, when you put it like that, I guess all of this was a little much."

"But that's just us meeting the demand, right?" Ananias asked.

Ethlyn shook her head. "You can't meet customer demand if you're half dead. I'm sorry, but as of right now, you're going to have to have a long and much needed break from all of this."

Ananias' eyes widened in surprise. "What? No! I'm fine, honest!"

"Ananias, please!" Caeda pleaded. "You're pulling your body in so many different directions that you're tearing yourself apart! If you don't stop now, the consequences will certainly be much worse than just falling over and blacking out!"

"B-but... this is all I've got! If you take this away from me, then I'll have nothing left!"

"Oh, Ananias, listen to yourself!" Ethlyn gently chided. "That's the silliest thing I've ever heard you say! You've got plenty left."

"You've got your family, your friends, and definitely all of us," Caeda said, "especially after all you've done for us."

"But I don't contribute anything around here," Ananias glumly said.

"Ananias, I think, quite literally, you contribute far too much around here," Ethlyn said.

"They're right, you know," Anna said. "It's a shame, but sometimes we have to put our foot down and realize that business doesn't take precedence over family. You take a good, long rest, cuz. You definitely deserve it."

Ananias sighed. "And the business?"

"Oh, don't worry about it," Anna reassured him. "Once you're all rested up, we'll get right back to work! Just, you know, with a schedule that's a bit more spread out is all. I mean, sure, that'll mean that we can't rake in the cash nearly as fast, but -"

Ethlyn sighed. "Anna."

"B-but it definitely has to be done! Absolutely has to be done!"

"Anna," Caeda said, "are you trying to convince him or yourself?"

"But it was just so successful!" Anna sobbed. "This is the first time we've been a victim of our own success!"


Quotes:

Summon - Hey, the name's Ananias. I'm related to Anna. Yes, THAT Anna.

1. Poke me all you want, I'll just keep ignoring it.

2. Askr's nice and all, but it's still just more of the same.

3. I don't do small talk, so... yeah.

4. Don't ask me about my family. The less you know the better.

5. Even as a commander, an Anna still loves money.

Confession/Level 40 - I'll admit, I didn't know what to think when I was summoned to Askr. I had heard about it through family, but based on what I heard, it didn't sound like I was ever going to be summoned here, so you can imagine my shock when I did. Hmm? I didn't look too shocked to you? Well, I was, but that's not really the point. I thought it was a fluke, you know? And in a way, I was kind of right. You've got a lot of great guys here, but there are also a lot of not so great guys here too. Maybe the definition for "hero" is a lot looser here? I mean, those not so good guys are doing some good here, right? Is that all it takes? Just do a little bit of good and you're considered a hero? If that's the case, then I guess we're all great heroes, at least to someone. Sorry, am I rambling? Regardless, I can still help out some, so feel free to call me if you need it.


Author's Note: I have a poll on my profile for the next character I will be focusing on. You can either choose between Lumaria (Flavia's daughter), Tan'bay (Say'ri's son), Zephyra (Emmeryn's daughter), Tenk (Tiki's son), or Lana (Ananias' daughter during the Fates chapters). You can choose your top two choices on this poll.