Event Finished Christmas Dud

This was to be Belladonna's first gift exchange since her creation. She was, or at least she believe she was, excited about the whole thing. Emotions were hard to understand, but the logic circuit her mother had blessed her with was proficient at determining the emotions of others. Belladonna had to learn this. But excitement was indeed what she was feeling. She was eager and kept an eye out for someone named after a canine. It's a bit curious, but she guessed it was because of a different culture.

On a bench in the school's courtyard, Belladonna waited with a small box about twice the size of a ring box on her lap. It was wrapped neatly with festive paper and a miniature bow.

Finally she saw someone who she didn't recognize as a student or a staff member in the school. The android cupped her hands around the bottom of the box and stood up, keeping it at waist level. "Are you Jackal?" she asked with a simple friendly smile.

Jackal seemed to be a nice enough man. His outer design was a bit strange, but from what she saw, it was normal here. Of course, Belladonna didn't have a lot to go on when it came to judging people, so any red flags this person might have given off to others simply flew past the naive android.

She did detect pointed teeth however, either filed down or he simply possessed genes that made it so. Possibly has an affinity with were-creatures? Her eyes focused on the box as he raised it and it made a clink that got her curious. What could it have been? But after wondering that, she focused back to Jackal, and offered her gift to him on both her hands.

"This is for you, mister Jackal." Now at the point where they would be exchanging their gifts, the android wondered how the transaction would go. With both of her hands under her box, should she reposition the box to one palm so she could accept Jackal's gift with the other hand? Or perhaps should she wait for Jackal to take hers and then she could accept his?

Her confusion showing, she looked up to Jackal. "Should the exchange happen simultaneously?"

She must have taken a bit too long, given that Jackal had just did the exchange. But he did answer a question she had yet to ask. She would be given the first dibs on opening her present, and she would do so swiftly. She smiled as she took a moment to analyze the twisting pieces of metal inside the box. If she hadn't known any better, she would possibly think these were decorative pieces, or caltrops, but she had seen these things before in one of the books about puzzles in her mother's study. "I have always been curious about these!" she'd say appreciatively, then looked to Jackal and say, "Now it's your turn."

Inside the box, he would find a golden ball that has been decorated in a way that it would look like it had wings with very fine feathers, which were also gold. But if Jackal would take the ball out, those wings would part from the body and begin to flutter, quickly becoming airborne and flutter in place like a humming bird.

Anyone familiar with the series would recognize that it was a Golden Snitch from Harry Potter.

"It will follow the ring that it was settled on," she'd say in order to prompt Jackal to take a second look in the box, where a simple gold band was sitting inside.

Belladonna watched as Jackal inspected her gift. At first he seemed confused, which likely meant that he didn't know about Harry Potter, which was fine since she hardly knew that series of movies before she started looking for gift ideas, but he seemed delighted to see that it wasn't a simple item just for decoration.

She was happy to have delighted the stranger. While his expression was strange, even stranger was his correction, she knew what he meant. Although vulgar and frowned upon by her mother, meaning she'd never use that kind of language, she was glad her work was praised.

"I am happy you enjoy your gift," she'd say to him with a smile.

"I do. I have heard about these interlocking puzzles, and I have wanted to try them for the longest time. My curiosity will be sated now, thank you, Mr. Jackal." She bowed with a smile, both to accentuate her appreciation for the gift, and to acknowledge their parting.

"I have no more classes today. I will just await for my mother to pick me up." She was going to invite him to stay to meet her, since she was already on her way, but she realized that Jackal might be busy, as most adults were, and didn't want to make him feel obliged to stay.