That's A Wrap [Rhys]

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

14 December 2025

“…then you take the last corner and fold it here, and you have a wrapped present!” Si finished explaining cheerfully as she set down her newly wrapped gift for Nixie on the table. She’d chosen a bright and festive wrapping paper with adorable little reindeer, and the gift looked cute as a button as Si carefully placed a bow on top. It was now the third or fourth time she’d walked Rhys through the process since inviting him over to her place. Earlier in the month, when they’d met for their usual debriefing session on Aware Wolf, it had become very quickly and painfully obvious that the cursebreaker was no good at the task, thanks to some revealing questions. And Si couldn’t just leave the poor guy to his own devices, so she’d instructed him to bring all his gifts over to her place so they could do it together. It was always more fun to wrap gifts together anyway, although Sienna had been careful to finish her gift for Rhys before his arrival so he wouldn’t see it and go into full cursebreaker investigative mode.

Now that she thought about it, this was probably the first real social thing they’d done together since their first meeting almost a year ago. They’d talked about personal things to be sure, but always at the apothecary and always in the context of first discussing Aware Wolf. So it was a different atmosphere than normal, more casual and relaxed, as they sat in the middle of Si’s heavily decorated flat in London. Setting aside Nixie’s gift, Sienna turned to look at Rhys’s latest attempt, then tried (and failed) to hold in a laugh. “This one actually looks very good,” she said encouragingly, although the use of the word ‘actually’ was very telling. But he must be getting the hang of it, or was super invested in this particular gift for whatever reason, because the final product was his best so far. The pile of gifts left to wrap was still larger than the ones they’d done, but it was a good start (and maybe they’d revisit his first attempt at a gift later).

Si smiled at Rhys. "Ready to try another one?"

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

template by punki of adoxography

You see, I want the world to believe

That there's a light inside of me

December 14, 2025
Sienna Aurélie Linslee

Since he had been home for the holidays this year Rhys decided to not rush getting presents for his friends and family. He thought it would be something simple in terms of an overall process, he’d never really gotten gifts until he had gone to school and his friends with give him little trinkets or books and he never really had understood what it was all about until then. The idea that you found something that made you think of a particular person—it was a good idea to him, especially if it was something useful. He’d briefly talked to Sienna about it in terms of what he might get for Jamie and then she had the most shocked expression on her face when he said he was just going to hand his friends their presents and not wrap them or anything ceremonious. Rhys had simple blinked at her when she insisted that it couldn’t be like that and offered to help him, plus he’d needed her help for a few presents that were more muggle items he wasn’t familiar with.

He scratched his head and carried a look of half concentration with a bit of frustration as he looked at his own latest attempt. She made it look very easy but honestly, he’d raided heavily trapped tombs that seemed easier than this. ”I still don’t understand why you can’t just hand them a gift.” Rhys commented, the last of what he had set out to acquire had come in through Owl post that morning and then he’d brought it all over here. It was nice though. The stress of his own personal life had been making it hard to concentrate on whatever was good about the Holidays so any chance he got that didn’t focus on that he found he was taking. On that note, he hoped he still had time later to drop by the pub for a drink. He sighed, even if he did seem a tad frustrated—he was still having fun. ”Sure, this one is just a book so shouldn’t be that bad.” He picked up the book he had gotten for his brother.

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

It was impossible for Sienna to feel down during the holiday season. There were some times of the year where she was under a lot of pressure, and it could be exhausting just to stick to a normal routine. During certain holidays, working at the apothecary was more of a chore than anything else – Valentine’s Day lost a lot of its appeal when you saw the sorts of things people ordered for it. And Si had spent most of April and May this year in an exhausted, stressed state after the mishap with Jamie and Aware Wolf. But ever since she’d started to notice Christmas carols on the radio and people putting up decorations, Si had cheered up exponentially. Christmas was coming!

She rolled her eyes playfully at Rhys as he grumbled about not being able to just hand people gifts. “The gift is only half the equation!” Si responded immediately, vaguely waving a hand in the air as she explained. “There’s a whole process. Finding a gift, wrapping it nicely, then writing out a thoughtful card. It shows how much work you put into it and makes people feel all…you know, warm and fuzzy.” She gave him a pointed look. “And theoretically you too.” As much as Rhys protested out-loud, he clearly understood something about the holiday spirit and wanting to make people smile – or he wouldn’t be here at all.

“Besides,” Si continued with a satisfied smile, “the wrapping paper matches my sweater.” She gestured at the present then at herself – and the Christmas sweater she’d chosen with a large cartoon-ish reindeer on the front. Si had an impeccable sense of style, and wouldn’t be caught dead in something so garish outside – but now she was at home, with a friend, and trying to emphasize the importance of holiday traditions. So she was willing to make the sacrifice to get her point across. Sienna’s gaze dropped to study the book he’d apparently just wrapped, then nodded and slid Nixie’s gift aside so she could pull Jamie’s gifts towards her. They were a little bulkier, so Si set aside the reindeer and chose a new roll with little Christmas trees. “So what did you do last year, then? Unwrapped gifts via owl post from Egypt?” she joked.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

template by punki of adoxography

you see, i want the world to believe

that there's a light inside of me

December 14, 2025
Sienna Aurélie Linslee

The holidays were never something that had been emphasized as important for Rhys and he never grew expectations for them. His siblings had been surprisingly understanding and didn’t bother him much about when he was working through them since he did make time to come visit them. During his school year’s he would stay at the castle with a handful of other children and some of the staff and while it had been a bit lonely it had given those staff members a chance to get to know him a bit better and rid themselves of whatever assumptions they had of Fenrir’s son. Sienna, however, was incredibly cheery and clearly it was a time of the year she enjoyed, and Rhys was in a decent enough mood to try his best not to ruin that for her at least—not with all she had been helping him with this year and especially lately with Maria. He still hadn’t told her, but she also hadn’t asked. His faced showed a bit of an unamused expression, ‘warm and fuzzy’ were not emotions he was familiar with and typically tended to give him anxiety.

”I don’t know about warm and fuzzy…” He commented, though she had a point. The stuff he managed to find were things that he figured ‘oh, they might like that.’ Though the older he got the easier it became since, again, it wasn’t something he had grown up with. Sienna had also attempted, in vain, to get him into the holiday spirit by wearing one of those ridiculous sweaters but he’d adamantly refused. Rhys would walk home shirtless in this winter weather than be caught wearing that, there were limits to what he would do to encourage holiday cheer. ”Not really. You have to wrap them in something to put them in the post, so I just did that.” And he’d written some short notes, he wasn’t a man of many words when it came to note and letters and if he was it was pretty rare. His closest friends and siblings knew that about him.

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna figured there were probably spells out there that could wrap a gift nicely and with minimal effort. But there were still some things that should be done by hand, she thought, and part of the gift-giving process was the effort that went into it. There was nothing that said ‘I like you!’ more than taking a couple hours to wrap everything nicely. Si hadn’t mentioned any spells to Rhys when he had first come over – and growing up in the magical world, he probably knew better than her anyway – since she’d resolved to teach him how to do it the ‘Muggle way.’

The sleeves of her Christmas sweater were starting to slip over her hands again, so Sienna stopped to roll them back up. Then she got to work wrapping Jamie’s first gift, a framed copy of the first article that had been published about Aware Wolf in the Prophet. “Shhh, don’t ruin the mood,” Si scolded Rhys in a mock serious tone as he responded with skepticism about the ‘warm and fuzzy’ feelings. “As far as I’m concerned, this is like an elf workshop in the North Pole. We’re wrapping gifts, and we’re happy, and imagining what the perfect Christmas will look like. And you like it. Even if you won’t wear the elf sweater.” Si had brought out a sweater for Rhys too when she’d first shown him her reindeer one – his reaction had been a perfect imitation of the Grinch, but Si still had hope it could happen in the right circumstances. Until then it was hanging sadly off the couch.

It probably wasn’t much of a stretch to say that Rhys was less of a grouch than he seemed at first. He’d shown some inclination towards being sensitive and kind more than once, but he had a lot of trauma in his past. It was a shame, if only because Sienna had seen who he could be when he wasn’t so guarded. It didn’t sound like he had many happy holiday memories so she was trying extra hard to set the mood for a fun day. In that spirit, Sienna put out a leading question. “So, since you’re actually staying local this year, what kind of plans have you arranged…?”

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

template by punki of adoxography

you see, i want the world to believe

that there's a light inside of me

December 14, 2025
Sienna Aurélie Linslee

She was intent on making this a happy event, or in the holiday spirit as it was said. Rhys wasn’t nearly as bad as he had been when he was younger and really had people to celebrate the holidays with and didn’t look so awkward and out of place at least. He was familiar with the stories behind Christmas, and it was a distraction from everything else in his mind and better than sitting at home trying to drink through the whiskey he’d gained from Maria’s place. He glanced at the sweater that was sitting by itself on the couch, he put his foot down on that one. It wasn’t something he normally partook in and wasn’t going to start anytime soon. Besides, he didn’t want to look ridiculous.

”Sweaters aren’t my thing.” He spoke simply, taking the roll of wrapping paper and unrolling a portion of it. Not too much, as it was only a book. Rhys placed it in the center of the paper trying to visually gage where to cut it. The thing with activities like this is that even with magic it would have looked as messy as when he’d first tried it himself. Magic didn’t always provide the most accurate solution but only faster. He paused and looked up when she asked him about his plans, ”Max and her family invited me to join them for Christmas.” He spoke. He’d become acquainted with them when he met Max as a first year and so had Adrian and Jamie. ”Its been a couple years since I’ve been home for Christmas, I’m usually in a cave somewhere.”

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna stopped wrapping her gift so she could glance at Rhys as he selected another roll of wrapping paper. Despite his terrible technique at the beginning, he was a quick learner. So, satisfied with his progress, Si turned back to Jamie’s second present and quickly wrapped it as well, tying a ribbon around the tube to finish it off. But she rolled her eyes as Rhys said sweaters weren’t his thing. “What, you don’t want to just be your elf?” Si shot back with a smile, quoting the text on the sweater Rhys had flat-out rejected.

Whatever he said, that sweater was one of the cutest things she’d ever seen and Sienna considered switching out her reindeer sweater. But she did like how the cartoon reindeer looked, and the pattern wasn’t really too bad – even if she’d never wear it outside. So she just rolled up the sleeves again and pushed Jamie’s wrapped presents off to the side. Sienna was tempted to keep pestering Rhys about the sweater, but he brought up joining one of his sisters for Christmas so Si decided to move on – for now. “I’ve never met Max or Adrian,” Si said thoughtfully before smiling slightly, “but I feel like I know them from Jamie’s stories. They sound fun.”

And she gave a scandalized gasp as Rhys explained he was usually in a cave for Christmas. “I can’t imagine not going home for Christmas. This’ll be the first one in…forever, and only because I’ll be in France instead.” Si had decided to spend Christmas with Gus, and his home in France was only a short hop to Brussels anyway – not that the British really made that much distinction between Francophone countries. They mostly just heard her French accent and made their assumptions. Si shook her head at the thought that other cursebreakers must also spend their holidays abroad, before switching her attention to picking up stray cuts of ribbon. “By the way, I made some eggnog if you want. In the kitchen.” Her flat was small enough that the kitchen was in easy view of where they were sitting, and Sienna made a motion with her hand so Rhys knew he could go pour himself a cup.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

template by punki of adoxography

you see, i want the world to believe

that there's a light inside of me

December 14, 2025
Sienna Aurélie Linslee

Rhys could feel Sienna watch him as he wrapped the book for his brother, there something tedious about gift wrapping that had Rhys preferring to check for traps in a tomb entrance but he learned quickly as he did with most things. It was recurring theme in his life that he tended to do well when he was patient but his short temper or other things typically became the distraction. He gave her another look, he would cave for certain people such as his sisters but he wasn’t even sure Jamie’s trademark look with those big brown eyes would have gotten him in that sweater—nothing would have perhaps. He did always wonder or have the curiosity how his feelings toward the holidays might have differed if his childhood experiences had been different—so much might have been different.

Satisfied with how much paper he had rolled out cut the paper and put the scissors aside, folding over the paper and putting a piece of tape there. The tape had been the most frustrating part for him, it tended to fold over and stick to itself or would stick on his shirt and he’d have to get another piece, or the piece wasn’t the right size and he’d need a new one regardless. Each time an expression appeared on his face as he resisted the urge to just badly wrap everything using magic instead. Rhys was surprised but at the same time wasn’t when she spoke about his other siblings. He would have assumed she might have met Max at least. ”Or Dahlia, I assume.” The newest addition, Rhys had met her by pure chance the previous year and since they had been in London it had given her a chance to meet the rest of them.

”They are.” Rhys smiled and paused. ”I think we’re all so different that it makes when we're all together.” They really all were. Max or Dahlia might have had the closest attitude to Rhys’ though far from it actually but it was interesting to watch them all together. Her gasp grabbed his attention again as he had folded up the other sides of the paper nicely and trimmed it, folder the edges so it would present well and he carefully added more tape to secure it. So far, this might have been his best one and he felt a bit proud of it. ”What’s in France?” He asked, curious what her plans were now that she knew his. He put Adrian’s present aside and picked up the contents for the next present, though this would be a greater challenge. It was an assortment of goods from various parts of Latin America but with a common theme—Chocolate. ”You’re going to have to help me with this one.” He admitted, looking a bit lost with all the random assortment of items. While he pondered on that one he nodded and glanced at the kitchen, ”Only if you have Brandy.” It was the holidays after all.

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna gave a hum of agreement as Rhys mentioned Dahlia, the newest discovered Greyback sibling. She’d only heard about her in passing from Jamie, as opposed to the lengthy stories she’d gotten about Max and Adrian. But it was good to hear that they were close – with their family history, there was a huge potential for drama and tension – so Si always listened intently whenever Jamie had new details to share. And now Rhys. When he asked what was in France, Sienna shot him a mischievous smile. “Not much, I hear. Beauxbatons, the Eiffel Tower, astonishingly good food…” she trailed off as she laughed at her own joke. “And my boyfriend,” Si added after a beat when she’d recovered. “I usually go home, but my father will be traveling for work and Gus invited me.” She smiled softly down at the gift she was wrapping as she thought about Gus and their plans together – Sienna could hardly wait to go.

Although she looked up and raised an eyebrow as Rhys admitted he’d need help with the next gift. He’d been doing better on wrapping the gifts, although this one wasn’t a simple square. And the contents – mostly chocolate – had her skeptical. “Chocolate? I thought it wasn’t your thing,” Si said sarcastically, borrowing his earlier use of the words to describe the elf sweater he’d flat-out rejected. “So who managed to change your mind?” She’d offered him chocolate once after he’d come into the apothecary looking beaten up by Aware Wolf’s effects, and had filed the information away when he said he didn’t much like it. It was obvious to state that Rhys was stubborn, so choosing a gift he wouldn’t approve of seemed unusual.

“I’ll help you with it after the eggnog,” Si confirmed as she stood from the table to pour herself and Rhys two cups. She tucked a bottle of brandy under her arm as she returned to the table and set one cup down in front of Rhys while keeping the other for herself and taking a small sip. The brandy she set on her side of the table outside of his reach. “But the brandy is only for happy elves. And I see no sign that you are one. If only you were wearing something to prove it.” Her smile was smug as she brushed aside some wrapping paper and ribbons to make room to help Rhys wrap his gift.

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

template by punki of adoxography

you see, i want the world to believe

that there's a light inside of me

December 14, 2025
Sienna Aurélie Linslee

Rhys shot Sienna a look, she was responding to his question literally though she had to know what he meant. Besides, he’d visited France himself on occasional—usually for work. ”I might have to disagree with you on the food…” He commented, it wasn’t that it was bad but it wasn’t his favorite by any means. Then again, maybe he just hadn’t tried enough. He nodded, she’d mentioned her boyfriend before but he didn’t know that much about him. ”That’ll be nice, have you visited him there before?” It seemed polite to ask, though Rhys still had a different idea of the holidays that most people did. He didn’t mind spending them alone, it had bothered him when he was younger but now that he was older he was content in certain things.

When he brought over the various small packages he had collected from a very recent few day trip for work he realized what it might look like. His general dislike of chocolate seemed to greatly offend people. He didn’t hate it and it wasn’t as if he wouldn’t eat it, but he just didn’t automatically choose it when craving something sweet. Not that he had much of a sweet tooth overall. ”Its not.” He said, his tone slightly grumpy. ”It’s a gift.” Surely that must have been obvious, its what they were doing here right? Still, he sighed as he looked at the pile and tried to think through a way to arrange them so it made it easy to wrap. ”She also seemed insulted that I don’t like chocolate and she’s studying cooking, and I travel a lot for work.” Rhys spoke as he rearranged the items in a few configurations. ”So figured she would like this.” Finally he found a configuration that was mostly square, minus the small bag of Reese’s Pieces on top. He’d been just speaking without really thinking about it.

Rhys immediately eyed the brandy and his glass of eggnog but then frowned when she didn’t hand it to him. It was a combination of her insistence on the ridiculous Christmas sweater but also she wasn’t one to encourage his day drinking either, Jamie most likely might have mentioned something about it just as most people in his life except for Dahlia did. ”Guess no brandy for me today.” He challenged back and drank some of the eggnog.

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna rolled her eyes – of course Rhys had to be one of the few Brits in existence who didn’t believe in the godliness of French cooking. There was always a funny sort of rivalry between Britain and France, one she hadn’t participated in much before moving to London. But she only shook her head – some people just didn’t have good taste. Instead Sienna played with a ribbon as she weighed how much to share about Gus. She liked to gush about her boyfriend to anybody who would listen, but she had never gone into specifics about her personal life with Rhys. “I visit a lot,” Si confirmed. “We were friends before we started dating, and with our busy work schedules…” she shrugged lightly, even if the issue bothered her more than she wanted to admit. “…we don’t see each other much. But it’s so easy to travel between Britain and France. The wonders of magic, right?” It was the sort of relationship problem that Muggles always struggled with, although it was hardly on the radar of most wizards. And she’d been dreaming for so long about being with Gus that she would hardly let a small issue like distance stop her now.

“Oh, she?” Si asked in a teasing tone as Rhys elaborated on his gift. She raised an eyebrow at him as he seemed to absent-mindedly gush about this girl as he analyzed the gift in question. And it wasn’t lost on her that when she protested about his candy tastes, he had only shrugged – and when this mystery girl did the same, he went so far as to prepare a cornucopia of chocolate for her. Her smile turned mischievous. “How intriguing. Where do you know her from?” He seemed more inclined to share details when he was distracted, and Sienna wanted to take advantage to get some details. The wizarding world hadn’t quite gotten to where the Muggles were with finding people on social media, so Sienna needed a little more if she wanted to confirm whether this was an isolated miracle or a pattern.

At any rate, she gave a light scoff as Rhys shrugged off the brandy. “Oh, how terrible. No day drinking today.” She certainly wasn’t going to add anything to her eggnog, and she took a long sip of the creamy drink which was perfect exactly as it was (maybe a little self-congratulatory considering Si had made it, but it was well-deserved). “How about a candy cane to celebrate this good behavior?” Sienna offered him a little tin of candy canes, taking one for herself before he could react. They were small, and Si munched on one absentmindedly as she also began to look over Rhys’s gift. “Alright, how are we going to tackle this one…?”

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

template by punki of adoxography

you see, i want the world to believe

that there's a light inside of me

December 14, 2025
Sienna Aurélie Linslee

She hadn’t shared too much of her personal life with him aside from their similar experiences losing a mother or if it pertained to Jamie or anything with the Aware Wolf potion. He nodded, magic did in fact make traveling much less of a hassle. Taking two or three portkeys to a distant location was far easier than how he’d learned muggles had to travel. Spending hours on some kind of transport seemed awful to him and boring, then again, he supposed he could catch up on reading. ”True, but I’m sure that’s difficult both being so busy.” Rhys often got questions about settling down from others, if not someone like Deva herself, but his work was an easy excuse not to. He traveled quite often, when there wasn’t a quarantine, and something settled down just seemed more difficult with that.

Rhys looked up, a slightly confused expression on his face. But then he realized what she was getting at, and now she was starting to sound like one of his sisters or at least one of his other platonic female friends. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t used to reactions and questions such as this, though his male friends seemed to care less. ”Relax, its not like that.” He quickly responded. ”She owns the pub I usually go to, and we became friends. That’s all.” He added. They were just friends and he liked talking to her, she was just easy to talk to. Though this seemed to fascinate Sienna, he didn’t think too much of it.

Rhys gave her a look as he drank the eggnog, it was delicious and something he definitely missed while spending Christmas in those caves. Then again it would have been better with the brandy. ”I think I can survive one day.” He hoped anyway, this past month had been rather stressful and it was only half way done and day drinking was becoming more of a reality than most people in his circle realized. He took the tin and grabbed a few of the small candy canes, he may not have had a sweet tooth, but peppermint had always been a favorite of his. He chewed on one of them while they both concentrated on the stack of items in front of them. ”Maybe if we just make it as square as possible?”

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

Sienna just gave a light shrug as Rhys responded that being busy could still put strain on a relationship. In truth, that wasn’t really the root of any difficulties she might have. She and Gus had been balancing opposite schedules for years, usually in different cities, and they’d found a compromise that seemed to work for them. Rather, Sienna struggled with all the attention Gus received as a celebrity, if only because she tended to place a high value on her privacy. It had been a difficult transition, and she hadn’t really shared some of the worst encounters with Gus, but he was worth all that. Still, she didn’t really want to get into all that with Rhys.

So instead she just snorted and shot Rhys a teasing smile. “She owns a pub? Sounds like your perfect woman.” It was only half-joke – one of the first things she’d learned about Rhys was his preference for whiskey and his tendency to end the day with it. She’d warned him Aware Wolf wasn’t ready to be taken with anything, so there was at least one night a month where she could be sure he was sober as a stone…but she could only guess how much he indulged the rest of the time. So really, should she be surprised that Rhys would find and befriend someone with steady access to alcohol? “Well, if you’re sure that’s all…” Si responded, although the doubt was clear in her tone.

Grabbing another mini candy cane, Sienna examined the gift of chocolates. “Yeah, that should work. You mind if I…?” Si trailed off as she motioned towards the gift, then leaned forward and began to rearrange a few of the packets to try and save space. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do across the table, but Sienna hadn’t forgotten about all the other gifts that needed to be done, and didn’t much feel like getting up twice in the span of a few minutes. Finally she leaned back in her chair and nodded at the consolidated chocolates. The wrapped present might still look a little bulky, but it would be easier to try now. Changing the subject, Si asked casually in a bid to gain a little more information, “So should I be worried you’re visiting a bar often enough to become friends with the owner?”

rhys alexander greyback

[rhys alexander greyback]

template by punki of adoxography

you see, i want the world to believe

that there's a light inside of me

December 14, 2025
Sienna Aurélie Linslee

Rhys noticed she hadn't answered but didn't push it. As a private person himself, he didn't tend to pry when someone didn't want to talk--at least not that often. But he wished had when Sienna hardly relented on the topic of the recipient of this current gift. His expression was unamused, and he wasn't going to indulge her on that comment. Rhys was very aware of what people, mainly his friends, thought of his drinking. He'd never thought much of it, or at least he tried not to because then it would force him to examine things he didn't want to. "Yes..." He quickly responded. "That's all." He wasn't annoyed, but he didn't see why she was making such a fuss over it. "I have friends that are girls. I don't see the big deal."

Again, his friends gave him a hard time over women in his life, such as Deva though that was a unique situation altogether. But he was friends with Sienna, that was platonic. Renfri, a long-time platonic friend, and a few others. He had gifts for them as well. Rhys took a step back and out of the way as Sienna stepped in. He chewed on another one of the small candy canes he had grabbed earlier while she moved a few things around. It worked better than how he'd done it. Thankfully she'd been willing to help overall. Rhys nodded as he looked at the items, satisfied that would work, but his gaze went up when he brought up the bar again. "Not when they have food. I need to eat, don't I?" Again, it wasn't a lie, and he had a small smirk. Her menu had also brought him back time and time again, and it wasn't as if he drank to get drunk when he stopped by.

[Sienna Aurélie Linslee]

She could see Rhys getting a little grumpy with his responses, so Sienna let the topic go for now. She was still intensely curious about this supposed friend that Rhys was going all out in his Christmas present for, but she didn’t want to push him to a point where he refused to talk altogether. Sometimes he was like a skittish animal when it came to emotionally vulnerable topics, so it was better to approach with caution and back off if they looked ready to bolt. In the meantime, she just smiled slightly as Rhys pointed out he had friends who were girls. “That’s true,” she responded simply, and avoided the temptation to say anything more about it. Since, of course, the topic wasn't whether Rhys could have platonic female friends (since she was a living example he could), but rather whether he made a habit of buying elaborate, personalized gifts for them. But Sienna could wait until after Christmas before she made that judgment or brought it up again.

Taking another mini candy cane from the tin, Sienna let herself chew on it absentmindedly as she returned to her own gifts and made quick work out of a small one. Over the years, wrapping presents had become more and more instinctual to Sienna, to the point where she could focus on the task without putting much brainpower into it. That was why she preferred not to do it alone anymore, since it was easy to get bored – and besides, Sienna didn’t like the sound of silence much. She preferred to fill the air with conversation or music. She rolled her eyes at the ribbon in her hands at Rhys’s sarcastic comment, but she shot him a full smile as he continued his sarcasm by commenting that he still needed to eat. “Alright, don’t get snippy with me,” she shot back in a teasing tone. “I experiment on my partner’s brother every month, so sue me for being worried about you. Next time I’ll wait until you lose 20 pounds and start going bald before asking how you feel.”

rhys alexander greyback