"A present?" she echoed emotionlessly, cocking an eyebrow slightly as she peered up curiously from the thick novel in her lap.
"Y-yeah…" came a shy response as a shabbily wrapped package was placed in front of the girl with bubble-gum-pink hair. "… I… I thought you might like it…"
A clap of noise was created as her small hands pushed the leather-bound halves of the tome together, a small cloud of dust rising from the yellowed, handwritten pages. Quietly, gracefully, she cautiously took it from his hands, as if afraid that something would jump out from the package and surprise her.
The woman trapped in a girl's body stared at the package critically for several extended seconds, noticing small sweat marks left behind from the boy's hands, but politely failed to bring them up. Her blank gaze then returned to the small boy in front of her.
The right half of the half-elf's pale face was brightened by the glowing fire from the fireplace next to him, while the other was obscured in the darkness of her dilapidated shack in the remains of Ozette.
He smiled nervously before looking down at the floor. His blue-gray eyes were bright with child-like innocence, but dulled slightly as they swept across the worn wooden floor to where Presea Combatir was perched on a dusty, cranberry-colored velveteen chair. The shadows of her home had somehow managed to consume her, keeping her from the warmth and light of the small inferno.
Peering down at the package that she had earlier placed on top of the closed book in her lap, she brought her calloused fingers to the string hurriedly tied into a messy bow to bind together the white paper the gift was wrapped with. Without a word, Presea pulled the strings apart before separating the paper from the contents.
"…"
Genis's nerves were practically ripping him apart.
"… You like chocolates, don't you, Presea?"
At first, she did not speak, only blinked. "… I do recall eating chocolates before… I do believe that I enjoyed their taste…" Genis visibly relaxed.
Presea lifted one of the sweet morsels from the box, rolling it with a watchful eye between her thumb and index finger. "… Martel Morsels," she began as she inspected the chocolate. "Sweets popular in Tethe'alla. Filled with caramel and made with sixty-seven percent crushed cocoa beans…" After several agonizing seconds, she popped it into her mouth. Her companion looked on expectantly, praying to Martel that she liked the gift.
Chewing slightly, Presea soon gulped it down before slowly placing her hand back down. "… It is…" She paused to find a word, causing Genis to nearly rip out his hair from the roots due to the large amount of tension. "… Delectable… I really like them…" Genis visibly relaxed again.
"Good!" he exclaimed rather loudly, his heart fluttering as he nearly burst from joy. Presea cocked her head to the side cutely, frowning in confusion.
"What is it that is good?" The boy stopped leaping up and down in happiness long enough to speak.
"What?"
"I believe that I said 'What is it that is good?'…"
"Oh... Well…" The boy blushed slightly, staring down at his feet as he shuffled them nervously. "… I really like to make you happy…"
"… Happy?" she asked innocently. "You enjoy giving me chocolates because you take pleasure in making me happy?"
"Um…" Never before had the child prodigy felt so clueless. "… Yeah…"
"…"
The fire crackled between them, creating a distraction for the embarrassed half-elf.
Without a word, the pink-haired girl lifted herself from her velveteen perch, grabbing one of the small chocolates. Taking a few steps toward her companion, she gently placed it into his palm, confusing the poor boy to no end.
"W-why-?"
"- You claim that chocolates make people happy, correct?" she interrupted. Perplexed, the boy nodded slowly. "Well… I want the chocolate to make you happy too…"