“I forgot that worm exists. Time to make that shitty worm juice. Ugh.”

❝ 𝘖𝘩, 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦.ᐟ 𝘐 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴. ❞

He even held up both his hands to prove he didn't have his fingers secretly crossed.

❝ 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 '𝘦𝘮 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧𝘧. ❞

and had decided it would be 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦 to attach himself to her, that way should they encounter anything particulary monstrous down in the depths --

well, he'd have a hell of a lot more chance than if he were alone.

"Stuff that'll burn the facial hair off.

But it will kill you if ingested, so don't do that."

Slaps a bottle down.

"try this."

Ah, but that’s right, the task at hand .ᐟ

❝ “𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘶𝘺, 𝑳𝒆’𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘕𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘮, 𝘩𝘶𝘩? 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦…
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴, 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰𝘰… ❞

❝ 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘥𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘚𝘶𝘯, 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵? 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺’𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. ❞

❝ — 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘑𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘢𝘩, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘏𝘰𝘭𝘺 𝘚𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘩… ❞

Talking to fill the silence was really just a veiled tactic for him to be nosey. Since she did not spurn him off, he took it as invitation.

❝ — 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘺, 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯’. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦? ❞

Cue the hair flick and hurt puppy look.