"Boss?" A meek voice interrupted Ghostbear's train of thought. A hard and pretty ... interesting week left the bear hybrid sleepless and musing over a lot of things. With a stifled yawn he took a sip of his coffee before he put the mug away and focused on the newest additions to his team, a young lynx, who served as the Specters' tech expert.
"Hey, you're up early, Drifter. Anything wrong? Do you want some coffee?"
"Eww..." Ryan, nicknamed Drifter, grimaced "...gross. No, actually i .. wanted to talk to you."
The ursine nodded once, gesturing for the lynx to sit the floor next to him him "Alright, I'm listening. What's up, lil one?"
"I .. I wanted to thank you."
"Thank me? Why is that?"
"For taking me with you, giving me a place to stay, food, a chance in your team to build a new life away from my past. Stopping me from doing something stupid and ... " Ryan sputtered out, then stopping mid sentence. "Just thank you. For being there, for being friends. You and Cobalt and Cayman. Nobody was ever that nice to me, not even my parents. I never properly thanked you for that"
'Such serious words from such a young guy' Ghostbear mused 'What the fuck is wrong with this world?'
"You're welcome" was everything he said, tho.
"So .. I.. got you a present."
"A present? For me?"
"Yes. I noticed you have a certain affinity for plushies. I like them too, I mean you have seen the ones I carried around in my backpack and they are now sitting on the bed and ..." Ryan stopped again, ear flicking nervously, realizing from the grin on Sascha's face that the bear already knew the young feline needed them at night to fall asleep and tended to cuddle with them during daytime as well. Blushing he opened his oversized, brightly colored backpack, taking out a big, arm-long grey equine. . Oh great... he did not really like equines. A pony. A pretty derpy looking pony from a 21th century cartoon series. One that Ghosty never exactly cared for. He liked plushies and even cartoon series, but certainly not this one.
But looking at Ryan, who was beaming broadly with childlike naivete (even if he was already a teenager) and joy, he cradled the pony in his paws. His smile however was a bit forced as he looked up, but the lynx did not notice.
"Thank you, Ryan. That's .. really cute of you." Seizing his chance he to get rid of the well meant but unwanted present for a moment he hugged the kitten. "How about breafast? I'll make you some cacao... With cream if you like."

I got lucky and got a slot for one of the free sketces offered by the talented   tuka.
And I got this extremly cute picture. from her. As the Ghostbear in the story I don't really care for MLP and I'm pretty scared of equines ever I since I got hurt pretty badly when I got thrown off a horse.
But still this picture is sooooo adorable and sweet. I really like the look of my bear, his grin and generally how she interpreted my chardesign.
So .. thank you very much! ^^

(Uhm, and just to make sure ... the title "a well-meant present" is just for the lil story between Ghostbear and Drifter and not mean as an insult to the artist o.o'' )