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Tori looked skeptically at the blue gift bag in front of her, filled with yellow tissue and tied with curled blue ribbons. "I thought I said no presents."
"I know, but when I found it, I just couldn't resist," said Nick.
She looked at Charlie. Nick was always a happy golden retriever, but usually Charlie could be relied upon to balance some of his more ridiculously exuberant ideas. "And you approved?"
Charlie giggled. She wasn't sure if that was a good sign. "Open it up! I think it's a perfect Tori present."
She carefully removed the layers of tissues, and skeptically eyed the package full of colorful fluff and a picture of a unicorn. "Ah, yes. Because fluffy unicorns are an obvious choice."
Michael, on the other hand, squealed and clapped his hands. "Oh, it's so cute! Is it a craft kit?"
Nick grinned. "It is! It's a needle felting kit! And they didn't have any bats."
"Well, needles sound promising," said Tori drily.
"Here, let me show you a video of needle felting," said Charlie, pulling up Instagram on his phone. They watched as a delicate set of hands repeatedly stabbed the wool until a shape began to emerge.
"Stabbing things into existence seemed like a very Tori hobby," said Nick with a shrug.
"And besides, a unicorn is just a horse with a stabby thing on its head!" said Michael.
Tori looked between the three men skeptically. "Since when do I need hobbies?"
"They're contagious," said Charlie. "After Nick picked up knitting and spinning and I've got embroidery, I just feel like everyone needs a good productive fidget while you watch TV."
"But I don't have a hobby yet!" said Michael.
"It's not your birthday right now," said Nick with a smile. "You'll have to wait and see."
Michael pretended to pout. "But I hate waiting."
"And that's why knitting or needle felting are not the hobby for you," said Nick. The two grown men started making faces at each other like children before dissolving into giggles.
Tori, in the meantime, had opened the kit and was admiring the long barbed needle. It was delightfully stabby, and the wool was pleasingly soft to pet. She probably wouldn't have picked a rainbow unicorn, though. Maybe a bat or a black cat, or something weird like an axolotl.
"We also got you a bottle of gin in case you hate that," said Charlie.
"Now who wants cake?" asked Nick.
Several days later, Tori and Michael were watching telly, debating how they would have attempted to solve the problem on Taskmaster and laughing when the contestants inevitably panicked and picked particularly ridiculous methods. Remembering her present, Tori pulled out the unicorn kit. Following her instructions, she rolled a blob and started stabbing. She frowned as her wool failed to form an even, round torso, instead just being a lobby mess.
She picked it up, rotating and stabbing and stabbing and turning, adding fluff until it finally started to take shape.
"Having fun?" asked Michael.
Tori just grumbled and kept stabbing.
"I'll take that as yes."
Over the next few evenings, the unicorn began to take shape, fabulous pink and purple and yellow mane and tail, slightly uneven legs, and of course the pointiest horn she could manage to shape. Finally content, she took her tiny unicorn and pretended to stab Michael with it.
"It's so cute! What are you going to call it?" asked Michael.
"Stabby, obviously," said Tori.