Wapun Meadow it isn't about the stuff

Again, Brou was rocked back on her metaphorical heels by Charles's sudden stubborn change in demeanor. Where was all this sudden backbone coming from?! Certainly Brou hadn't been prepared for it—and heck, all she'd been telling him to do was wash himself off thoroughly! Well, okay, and laughing about his fear of fish and all that other crap and nonsense, but— close enough. Except apparently, it wasn't.

For a moment Brou just stared at him with her mouth slightly agape and her blue eyes wide with the shock of his tone as well as his words. It took a moment for the words themselves to really sink in, as her brain and eyeballs first struggled to absorb his quietly forthright stance and assertive gaze and tone. Who the hell are you, kid, and what ever did you do with that wimpy boy Charles?!  Then as the import of his words began to sink in, Brou started to incoherently splutter in indignation.

Wh— well I— what the— what the heck?! You— you take that back! She actually went so far as to stomp her singular white foot as she bristled and stepped forward to glare self-righteously at him, suddenly a considerable slice more serious herself. These were fightin' words, they were. How dare Charles point out what a jerk she'd been being to him all along! Suddenly all of this wasn't nearly so funny or fun. And that, too, offended Brouhaha, probably more than any other aspect of any of this: how dare Charles dare to stand up to her and ruin what had in her mind been a perfectly acceptably entertaining and fun day. Boys! Wasn't that just like them! Ugh.

I think you're still just trying to cover up how scared you are of those slimy scaly little fishies, you wimp, she added with a sneering upcurl of her lip to most prominently display one bright white fang. So there. ...Brou didn't really even believe her own words, here, but she did think maybe if she prodded him about it enough it might still prove to be a sore spot for his pride and have him collpasing back into agreeable malleability once more, any moment now. Maybe? Who knew. She wasn't certain what she was doing; not so much acting as simply reacting in the moment. Despite Brou's continued and ever-more-prickly assertiveness of her own Charles really had the upper paw here at the moment, if he only wished to sieze it.