How Did I Go To the Beast World in My Pajamas?

Chapter 40: Showoff

Benjamin was getting sick of Samantha's surprises, and to say that he was surprised by a fully-grown bear beastman sitting in his kitchen was an understatement. The first thing he noticed were the three green stripes on the beastman's shoulders, two of which nearly covered an entry wound from some kind of round laceration. The scorpion could tell that it wouldn't be long until a fourth stripe evened out the pattern on his right side. It was obvious that this male wasn't the type to back down from a fight, no matter the odds – the entry wound on his back was probably earned protecting somebody rather than from running away. "Typical," he thought out loud, and was surprised when the two figures gathered around the fire heard him and turned around to face him. "What's typical?" Samantha asked, a challenge in her voice. Benjamin sighed, replying, "It's typical that you ignored my request and brought a stranger back into our home instead of staying put like I asked." He rolled his eyes at Samantha's indignant "Hey!" and rustled her hair with his clean hand instead. "Timothy isn't a stranger," the female continued to protest, "He's Bub's uncle and Jewel's brother-in-law. Timothy," she said, turning to the other male, "This is Benjamin, my guardian beast. I apologize for his rudeness," she paused to send a glare Benjamin's way, "but we've both had a pretty rough time lately and I hope you'll forgive him."

"No hard feelings," Timothy said, rising to greet Samantha's only current male. "Let me give you a hand with all that," he said, his green eyes making contact with Benjamin's black ones without a trace of fear in them. Benjamin had been gone for a while, but he came back with a bundle of small prey tied together with a vine. There was also an animal skin pouch attached to the bottom that had various fruits and a few vegetables that Benjamin hoped Samantha might like. "Oh, Benjamin, thank you so much!" Samantha cried, "You brought back so much food, even though there's just the two of us now. Did you eat anything while you were out?" His pitch-black hair moved as he shook his head; Benjamin was afraid that if he spoke, he wouldn't be able keep his feelings out of his voice and he didn't want Samantha to know her words had any effect on him. "You must be starving, then; let's hurry and cook!" she said as she got up and scanned the kitchen. There wasn't a single cooking utensil in sight, though they did have a small stove with a wok over it in addition to the fireplace they were already using. "Do you mind if Timothy stays for dinner?" Samantha asked Benjamin as she got ready to leave the room. "If it weren't for him, Jewel would have sent even more males over," she joked. "It's fine," Benjamin replied, his eyes narrowed into slits as he imagined just how many beastmen Jewel would have seen fit to send to their house.

"You do need more protection, you know," he said to Samantha's back as she went looking for her set of bone knives. "There's only so much I can do to keep you safe, especially since I can't transform in the city," he added mysteriously, not wanting to give Timothy too much information. "I know, I know," Samantha's voice echoed from another room. "I'm working on it, but I can't exactly get myself a hired guard. It's not like I was expecting Spencer to.. to..." her voice trailed off. Benjamin, having guessed what Samantha was looking for, fanned out the bone knives to show Timothy, and silently indicated that the bear beastman should go into the other room while he took care of dinner. He couldn't lie and say he missed that idiot fox, but he hated the consequences his disappearance had had for Samantha. Keeping her busy was the best thing he could do for her; dealing with emotions properly wasn't exactly in his skill set, but when Benjamin wasn't nearby, he could hear her crying quietly and harshly blaming herself as she relived the events of the day. He had left to use the sandpit all of one time and come back to find her curled up lifeless on the floor. If this bear could help with any of that, Benjamin wouldn't turn that down. He knew nobody could replace Spencer in Samantha's heart, but he also knew that the kind, loving female had more room in her heart than she knew; his face heated up as Benjamin admitted that she had even been able to make a space for him when nobody else in the world had ever done so.