He gave her a sheepish look and took another spoonful of icecream as he continued to listen.
But Wash grinned all out for a moment when she mentioned him chasing after balls. He held in an outright laugh barely and screwed his lips back together when Jo was serious again.
"She wouldn't do that," Wash insisted, having a little more faith in his charge's common sense and empathy. His face screwed up. "Would she?"
He put his icecream down and licked his fingers of stray sticky chocolate.
"I mean. What would we even say to her? What do you say to a 5 year old who can change people into animals? Uh, I know you want a pet, Maxine, but maybe don't turn Susan from the coffee house into a Shih Tzu? And what if Susan made a really cute Shih Tzu? I dunno. Those dogs are very cute. Ooh! And! What if the dog could still make coffee? Bonus! Coffee making Shih Tzu! Susan would be the best pet ever!" he said with an assertive nod.
Then he shook his head with a frown.
"Wait...we don't want her to do that, right? Sorry," he back pedalled shaking his hand beside his head in illustration of his current mental situation. "It's...not all there up there...yet.--Maybe we should just talk to her. I mean, she's a pretty smart girl. I think she could grasp that metamorphosis of people into animals is unacceptable."