#putting THAT aside Ami have this: MWAH

[mythvoiced]

"Merry Christmas." She hands Patrick a stick. Tied with a bow. A cheeky grin across her lips. "Want me to throw it?"

@astremourante | Amelia ma'am--

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It's a joke, obviously.

Well, even if she did mean it, she couldn't be serious about it. There's no seriousness one could apply to gifting someone a stick as a continued not-so-elaborate joke at his expense.

She couldn't possibly, genuinely be asking him if he wanted her to throw the stick just so he could, what, fetch it for her?

Fenrir nearly a thousand years ago might have mauled her for the suggestion or entertained her for a far too costly price.

Patrick barely has the energy left sigh at her. She can't possibly expect him to muster up what it takes to play with her, as adorable as the idea sounds if you regard it from very, very far away.

Truth is, he likes her. He's quick to grow fond of someone, no matter how aggressively he combats any and all attempt at emotion in this context. He likes her wit and the guts she has to pull through with things like these. Maybe he simply and genuinely thinks she's cute, the way one might call a puppy cute or a particularly mischievous kitten, which he assumes suits her better.

Otherwise, he would have put an end to this ages ago.

Not to mention that, even though it's a joke and the gift is awful, the idea he was thought of at least at one point in relation to her Christmas does smooth any frown lines he might have felt intent on showing.

He takes the stick.

"No, thank you," he can't help the disbelieving smile this time. Why does he keep getting himself... "Merry Christmas," he plucks something out of the pocket of his coat: a cute key-chain with the face of a comically angry dog on it, holding a stick between its cartoonish jaws.

"If you ever miss getting to throw me a stick, here, imagine you did in spirit," and it's a jest on his part too, how else should he approach this otherwise. Only with the touch of gentleness in his smile? No, better to add something silly.