Bear!
Up close, the bear was surprising, in a bunch of ways. First off, it didn’t smell particularly worse than everybody else from the scouting party. Sure, they all reeked of tidal pools, mud, sweat, and dried blood — but those were fresh smells. Jack had been expecting a rank odor or musk; instead, if he didn’t know better, he’d think this bear washed regularly.
Then he had to accept that he didn’t know better, because damned if the bear didn’t grab one of the sopping towels the other privateers were using to wipe themselves off, and do the exact same thing. Oh, it wasn’t doing as good a job as the others, thanks to clumsy-looking paws, but you could tell that it understood the idea, and that it didn’t like being dirty.
Plus, besides the hat the bear also wore a crude bag, slung over one shoulder. “I wonder if… he… made that, or traded for it,” Jack mused.
The bear is my favorite character so far.