Character development! Kind of. Also: it’s ‘skunkbear’ until I can figure out whether I can get away with ‘owlbear.’ Everybody seems to have an opinion on whether that’d be fair use.
Major Judith Pine was pretty obviously from the Dwarvenwood; Jimmie wasn’t sure where she stood in the dwarves/dwarfs half-feud that the ‘Wood was known for, though. Probably it wouldn’t matter, though. The Grand Alliance military was a real skunkbear for making its troops forget about all that stuff from home when they put on Alliance green. And, besides, she was busy trying to keep the rest of the huddle from burning down.
She still remembered her manners, though. “Thanks for coming to our rescue,” she said readily enough. Hell, Judith even gave Jimmie a sidelong look he thought he recognized; he just didn’t know yet whether she was assessing Jimmie the elf, or Jimmie the business owner in a profession that routinely hired war veterans. Jimmied figured that he had no objections either way.
Just not both at once, you odil idjit, he reminded himself. You don’t diddle the staff. You get them a good job with a decent crew, and then you diddle them. That rule had served Jimmie well for decades, and he intended to have it keep doing so for decades more to come.