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“Papa!”
A chirp emanates from the depths of the covered bed, full of vigor and excitement. Teobaldo can’t help but to glance over in her direction, quirking an eyebrow in confusion.
“Hm?”
Teobaldo replies lamely, eyebrows soon furrowing at the dragon girl popping out from beneath the covers, hands stuck underneath and a sheepish grin on her face.
“Uhm! On second thought, nevermind! Just give me a few seconds, alright?” She replies cheerfully, letting her blonde hair sway in momentum. Teobaldo nods, turning back to his smartphone with much disinterest in what the lie-eating dragon had to do now, of course, much to Efina’s chagrin.
“Aren’t you gonna ask me what I’m doing?”
Efina finally asks after intently staring at her parent’s arm. He turns around, a scowl on his face. The girl laughs awkwardly. “Forget I asked!”
“Well, you aren’t done with whatever you’re doing yet, right? I’m being courteous.”
“That’s the first time I’ve seen you being courteous!” Efina joked, chortling at her own joke. Teobaldo’s scowl deepened further.
“What does that mean, you brat?”
“Nothing much, papa!~” Efina simply replied, her grin widening before she looks down beneath the covers, her hands fiddling with something long and thin and sharp.
Teobaldo breathed out a sigh before turning back to his phone, whizzing through a game that Efina suggested to him on a whim upon being unable to beat the seventh level. It’s simple to play, really, he long past that and reached the twentieth, but now he’s starting to get the idea on why Efina is so addicted (and so frustrated, but he wouldn’t admit that.)
Tap, tap, clink! Zoop, shazam – The sound effects of the application inside the phone resounded in the rather barren hotel room as the two continued to get preoccupied by their own things, Efina with… whatever she’s doing, and Teobaldo with Efina’s favourite game. It isn’t before long before Efina finally lifts her head up, a satisfied grin adorning her lips.
“I dunnit!”
“Huh?”
Teobaldo pauses the game again and turns to look at Efina, now setting the phone beside him before he crossed his arms. Efina delved into the underside of the blanket… and pulled out a woolen sweater… thing. Well, it looked like a woolen sweater when you squinted your eyes, so perhaps that was so.
“I did it!”
Efina reiterates her previous sentence, grin widening before she hopped off the bed and dashed towards Teobaldo’s side of the bed, shoving the wool into his face. He sputters and gasps before pushing the woolen object away. Soon enough, she’d be going in for murder, he thought, but then again, that was exaggeration. Although he was really going to run out of breath with the amount of cloth objects he had shoved in his nasal and mouth area.
“Uh.. A sweater?”
Efina nods vigorously, her entire body bouncing along to match her emotions.
“Yeah! I made it! For you?”
Teobaldo couldn’t help but to snicker at that.
“Isn’t it a /bit/ too small for me to wear, runt?” He replied matter-of-factly, causing Efina’s smile to turn upside down. It looked more of a pout than a scowl, to be frank.
“Hey! It’s the thought that counts!” Efina cried indignantly, pushing the sweater towards Teobaldo… again. Hark to the gods, he needs to be saved stat.
“Cut it out!!”
He growled, trying to shove the sweater away from his face, even though it seemed to increase Efina’s determination. Efina’s pout deepened as she plopped the sweater into his hands, seemingly giving up on forcing it on his face.
“Wear it! Wear it!!”
Instead, she wears another bright (yet dim, of course, since she’s a dummy) smile, crossing her arms with pride. Teobaldo slowly stares down at his hands that held the crinkled, woolen sweater, and then he stretched it out.
…Yeah, definitely too small, he noted as he lifted it over his head, struggling to force it on himself. Efina cocked her head to the side, staring at the scene with much interest (she might be even cheering for him to beat that sweater). When Teobaldo finally managed to put it on, Efina immediately broke out into a cheer, fist pumping and flailing around excitedly.
“Yippee!”
“Damn it all to hell,” Teobaldo groaned, tugging onto the clinging fabric to stretch it further. Of course, it snaps back to fit his body immediately, causing a dull pain to soar through his body. It hurts, damn it!
“Dammit alta hell?” Efina immediately snaps back to attention, lips parted into an o shape. Teobaldo immediately shies away from the question, forcing a small smile on his face.
“Uh. This is a… “nice” attempt for a first one,” Teobaldo coughed out. It seemed to be believable lie, gladly, seeing Efina brighten up after the lie. Immediately, Efina grasped the large hands of her ‘papa’, eyes widened in glee.
“Really?!”
“Uhm… Yeah, why not?”
A squee soon escapes the dragon’s mouth before she envelopes Teobaldo in a tight hug.
“Oogh…”
Teobaldo grunts in pain, trying to push Efina away from him. Naturally, she refused, only clinging to him tighter.
“Then! I’ll make a lot of sweaters for you, papa! One for every day of the week of the year of the century!”
“Just one is enough,” Teobaldo deadpanned, finally managing to push Efina away during the short time she was distracted by his answer. Once she realized what happened, she tried to rush at him again, but he stuck his hand out, preventing Efina from getting any closer.
“Just one?! You can never have too many of one thing!” Efina retorted, stubbornly running into his hand over and over again. A small smirk graced the elder’s face.
“I’m surprised you still remembered what I said a few months ago, honestly—“
“Are you implying I’m forgetful?!”
“Well, since you’re a dummy, it’s reasonable.”
“Oh! Well, okay then!”
Efina then gives up, stopping herself from walking into the hand and plops onto her own bed, heaving a relieved sigh.
“I’m really glad you enjoyed it though, papa.”
Teobaldo blinked at the sudden comment. …Maybe he had been a bit too harsh on her the past couple of days, he reasoned in his head.
“…Yeah, I do.”
The conman lamely replies, before he continued.
“…Thanks, Efina.”