>>5343283"Bear, what have you done?" You ask. Your voice has been hollowed out by horror.
"I've saved us!" Bear, ignoring Claudia's terrifying glee, gives a shout of triumph.
Your gaze darts from Claudia to Bear in dizzyingly rapid succession. As a holy maiden, diligent and pure, you are well trained in spotting the signs of someone who has fallen into the depravity of sin. Certainly the terrifying expression of joy on Claudia's face is the face of a sinner through and through. Nothing about that expression suggests that Bear's words have done anything but doom you all.
"His name will be Sir Rockmoore, of course, as befitting of his station as the Princess's pet..." Claudia mumbles to herself. A gleeful smile is on her face, as she scribbles things down into a notepad that she retrieved from the purse attached to her belt. "The Isle of Caer Strava is reserved for the royal gardens, so we can make his home there one he gets too large. But until then, he will of course ferry Bella and I to our getaways..."
"No, Bear, you've doomed us all..." you deadpan. A gesture to Claudia's manic scribbling is the only evidence you need present.
"What are you- <span class="mu-i">no</span>!" Bear almost shouts that last word. He sees your gesture and waves it off, wildly pointing towards a branch in the cavern that's about half-way up the stomach's rocky walls. "Well, I mean, yes, okay - <span class="mu-i">your highness if you may please foc-</span>"
Claudia snaps the notepad closed, giving bear a smile sweet as venom. With a voice dripping with poisoned honey, she asks, "Bear, did you just call me 'Your Highness' again?"
"W-W-Well, I th-th-thought it w-w-would get your at-ta-ta-ta-tension again," Bear says. He throws up his arms like a shield in front of his face. "And it w-w-w-worked!"
You step in between Bear and Claudia, using your mighty beanstalk-like tallness to your advantage to cast a shadow between them. Claudia won't do anything to Bear, but the two of them getting into their back-and-forth about appropriate use of titles and honorifics will just end up eating through time that you don't necessarily have.
"Bear, you said that you had a way out of here?" You ask.
"I don't see why we can't just work our way up and out the way we came," Claudia says. She makes a good point, but you gesture to Bear, as he clearly knows something.
"Mom and Dad got swallowed by a Rock Wyrm more than once when they were procuring eggs," Bear says. For some reason, his ears pinken a little before he continues. "Well, that and other things from Rock Wyrms. They're quite convenient creatures, really. They can fly through the aether unaided, their eggshells make for really good magic tools, some of their secretions have, uh... healing effects..."
Bear's ears turn <span class="mu-i">extra</span> pink there, and you have to wonder why. You only see them go so red when he catches you praying whilst Clad in Light.
You always try to invite him to join your prayer session when he stumbles upon you, but sadly he never does...
