Coming here had been a mistake. Signing up for this thing had been a mistake. Conrad felt a tinge of nervousness strike him, which was odd, especially since he was known to be cool and calm and honestly rather boring at heart. Normally it would take a lot to fluster him.
But today his heart couldn't calm down.
Looking at everything objectively, this meeting meant nothing. He was just going to exchange a present with someone he had been matched with. Someone who liked jewelry, music and flamboyant clothing. And, he reminded himself, someone who could be far from human. (Perhaps that was why he was nervous.)
As he clutched a small tote bag, he silently prayed (yes, prayed) that whoever he was giving the gift to wouldn't be aware that his gift was secondhand. And if they did end up being aware, that they wouldn't mind. Honestly, Conrad didn't have that much money. Every spare penny that wasn't spent on rent, food and utilities usually went into buying new books for The Library. He wasn't sure how many copies of books unique to this alternate he'd been able to acquire at this point, but it had definitely been substantial. Well, substantial enough to pretty much cripple his spending money and his ability to save up.
"Hey," he said, spotting someone who matched his gift partner's general description sat on a park bench. "Bee? I'm Conrad. Nice to meet you." He flashed the person a friendly smile, really leaning into the goofy hipster vibe as much as he could.
Bee had finally figured out what gift to get her secret santa partner. It had honestly took her a bit to figure out what to get, and then even more actually finding the gift itself. But now it sat in a nondescript bag held in her hand.