Okay, so question for everyone, based on events in a game where I was a player last night:
You've come to (what I'm pretty sure is) the end of a significant story arc. You've had a big exciting climax, a bit of recovery downtime, an informative denoument, and it's almost time to move your players on. One last thing before they go, however, (probably) because they did their damndest to make friends and resolve big-picture problems rather than focus on short-term gains. You decide to give them a bit of a reward.
For reasons that make perfect sense in context (trust me), four adorable creatures choose to bond with each of your four players, and with them comes some mechanical advantages. No downsides. Pure advantage, of a variety they can't pick up after character creation, giving each player the option to further pursue more diversity of ability than they had before ... or not, and just have a cute thing with a small bonus they never need to improve.
Two characters are into it. One character is super into it. One character is chill and eager to toy with the cute critter until the bond and its mechanical advantages manifest, and then immediately and vehemently rejects it, turning to more knowledgeable characters desperately seeking a way to get rid of the thing.
How do you react? Is this a problem? If it is, how would you ultimately seek to resolve it?
Now, off to cross-post this to every other RPG board and Discord I'm in, because I'm really curious how people will respond, and how much it'll vary by community.