"Come on, Agatha… Do I have to get this done?"
Leroux groans softly, looking down at his veterinarian with an uncomfortable, almost uneasy expression.
The white-furred, red-haired wolfess nods without looking up from her clipboard. "Yes, you've been putting this off for weeks now."
The giant green-maned lion shakes his head, cringing at the thought. "But… It'll feel so weird getting my ear examined… Feeling you crawling around in there…"
With a sigh, Agatha takes a moment to adjust the lab coat she's wearing over her tank top and beige sweatpants, then taps a button on the wristwatch-like device around her left wrist, before she replies to his words in the flat tone she uses while on the job. "Look, it's either this, or I shrink you down and stick my otoscope in there. Do you want to be tiny like me?"
"Me… T-Tiny? Like you?" Leroux's heterochromic eyes go wide as he firmly shudders, sounding almost fearful. "But… But I don't want to be tiny – Tinies like you get eaten!"
This gets Agatha to pause, finally looking up at her patient with a thoroughly unamused glare. "I'm well aware, Leroux – Considering how often you do the eating."
Full of pique, the lion sputters "H-Hey, I said I was sorry last time I swallowed you! It was an accident!"
"Mmhm, and I'm sure it was an accident the other thirty-seven times it happened before that too, right?"
An exasperated huff escapes Leroux as he mutters "You act so ungrateful that I got you out every time – And you never once took the long route through me like you did with Orion…"
This time, Agatha shudders as she remembers unintentionally being given the full tour, as it were, through a different giant lion's insides. She shakes her head and says "Alright, can we drop the subject, please? At least you won't be able to eat me if I'm in your ear."
"Fine," the lion sighs, "let's get this over with."
He lowers his head down to ground level, and the wolf puts on a head-strapped flashlight before climbing up his mane to the entrance to his left ear. Once there, she catches her breath, then takes a peek into the dark tunnel.
"Right, now-"
"Ah!" Leroux yelps, startled. "Not so loud!"
Quickly, Agatha quiets her voice to a whisper. "Sorry, big guy…"
She turns on her light and aims it into the lion's ear canal. "At least Aspen did a good job cleaning it out…"
Slowly, she steps into the tunnel, making a note of the dense green fluff fading into very light hairs, mainly meant to keep debris from entering the lion's ear. At her scale, she's able to stand up fully inside the canal, and she does her best to keep steady as she looks around while slowly making her way deeper.
Agatha feels subtle tremors from the lion, and she's able to tell that, despite her best efforts, he's still feeling that sense of discomfort he was worried about. Still, she continues, shining her light all around the walls of the canal and marking down her notes on her clipboard.
This, though, makes Leroux whine. "Nnnh… Do you have to write so loudly? The scraping, along with you moving around… It makes it feel like there's a giant bug or something in my ear…"
Struggling not to let out a sharp exhale, Agatha focuses on keeping her voice barely above a whisper. "I need to do my job, Leroux. I'm staying as quiet as I can, but there's going to be noise. It can't be helped."
"Ugh… Fine… Just watch your tail. It's making me itch."
The wolfess rolls her eyes, not bothering to reply as she resumes her descent, carefully navigating the slight turn of the tunnel as she draws closer to the end of the lion's ear canal.
Sure enough, Agatha soon arrives at the massive membrane of the lion's eardrum, as tall as she is. The wolfess takes a moment to look it over, partly to check for anything concerning, but also to simply admire the anatomy of the lion's auditory system from this perspective. There's only so much that textbook illustrations can convey, and though she's used her otoscope before, it doesn't compare to actually being on a scale where she can appreciate the structures for herself.
"Wow…" she whispers in awe.
The entire tunnel shakes as Leroux yelps, startled. "Ah! L-Loud!"
Agatha blinks, reflexively responding "Sorry, sorr-"
"Gah! Please! No talking! Too loud!"
A subtle whoosh of air reaches the wolf as the faint ambient light cuts out, and she realizes he's instinctively covered his ear with his paw – Seeming to forget where the source of the sound bothering him happens to currently be.
She rolls her eyes, then gives two gentle pats to the wall of the lion's ear canal, showing her acknowledgment of his request.
A momentary thought crosses her mind, wondering how her tiny voice is able to cause enough vibration in the air to shake his massive eardrum at the level he's complaining about – But she soon shakes her head, opting to ignore this question of logic. She's presently deep within the ear canal of a giant white-furred talking lion, after all; the sensitivity of his hearing is far from the most implausible and nonsensical part of her current situation.
Agatha finishes her inspection of Leroux's eardrum, writing down her notes as lightly as she can (though the uncomfortable whinging that reaches her shows these efforts still aren't enough to placate the lion). Once done, she turns around, ready to exit as she's finished her examination – But when she reaches the halfway point of the ear canal, she pauses as a thought comes to her.
She's seen diagrams and models of the internal anatomy of the auditory system; she's aware there's more going on behind the eardrum that an otoscope can't show her.
And she has a way to explore it for herself.
"Hey, Leroux?"
The wolf keeps her voice as soft as she can, barely able to hear herself, though the lion responds without any apparent trouble making out her words.
"Yeah? Everything okay in there?"
"Yes, " Agatha replies. "I've completed your exam; everything looks good from here. But there's something I'd like to ask you…"
She thinks for a moment about how best to phrase her request, unsure of how willing Leroux will be to entertain her curiosity. "Basically… I'd really like to explore your middle ear, beyond your eardrum. And if you let me, I'd use a new piece of equipment I got to make sure I'd be able to go in there without hurting you."
After a moment, he asks "Is that the thing you've got on your wrist? I meant to ask you about that."
"Yeah, Smoky built it for me. Nifty little multi-tool. Lots of different interesting functions."
Leroux inquires further. "How does it work, exactly?"
But Agatha chuckles. "I've learned not to bother questioning anything from that lot – Honestly, the few times she or Bandit even offer an answer to my question without stonewalling me, it more often than not just makes my head hurt. She said something about a fourth wall and 'plot convenience'; whatever that's supposed to mean."
"I see…"
There's a pause, and though she can't see his expression, she's imagining the lion is mulling his thoughts, considering the wolf's proposal. She knows he's aware that she'd never cause him deliberate harm, but it's still a big thing to ask of him.
Finally, he responds to her request with a wary "Are you sure it would be safe?"
Agatha chooses her words carefully. "Yes – I've tested the concept on a small scale with no trouble at all. And Smoky wouldn't have offered it to me without thoroughly trying it out for herself first. I'm inclined to take her word on this."
The tunnel shifts slightly as Leroux nods. "Yeah… I suppose you're right. Okay, I trust you. Just be careful, please."
The wolf softly caresses the tunnel around her. "I will, big guy, I promise. I just need you to remain perfectly still for me."
Agatha quietly steps back to the eardrum while scrolling through the settings on her device, soon finding the one she wants – Osmosis.
She activates it, and her body glows in a faint red aura, making her body tingle – But she focuses on the membrane ahead, gingerly placing her hands on it. As she adds pressure, she feels her hands gingerly pressing through the eardrum, almost like reaching through a bubble film!
"Nhh!" Leroux exclaims, evidently fighting not to twitch.
Agatha remains steady, reaching through little by little, keeping her pace slow to ensure the lion's safety. She works her arms through, then ducks her head in, carefully climbing through the eardrum into the tympanic cavity beyond. After pulling her legs beyond the membrane, she shuts off her device and takes a look around the chamber she's now inside of.
Far unlike the rather empty ear canal, the lion's middle ear has a lot more going on!
Directly overhead, she spots the three (comparatively) tiny bones – The malleus, the incus, and the stapes – That transmit vibrations from the eardrum to the inner ear, allowing Leroux to hear. They're secured by several stabilizing ligaments, ensuring they remain in place to do their job.
Ahead, she spots the edge of the lion's inner ear, and in particular, she sees the small membrane to which the stapes is attached, known as the oval window; just below is another membrane known as the round window. These transmit the vibration of the bone to the fluid within the vestibule and cochlea, and balance the pressure of the fluid, respectively. It's quite a fascinating function!
Agatha decides she wants a better look, and she carefully steps closer – Only to yelp after two steps as she falls into a hole in the bottom of the chamber!
She's slipped into Leroux's Eustachian tube!
Before she can react to pull herself up, she hears the lion make a noise of discomfort, and the momentary increase in her weight lets the wolf know he's sitting up fully!
"Leroux, don't-!"
Unfortunately for her, the increase in elevation raises the ambient air pressure behind her, forcing her deeper into the tube – Even more so when the lion suddenly inhales sharply and lets out a slow yawn as an involuntary reflex to rebalance the pressure within his middle ear!
Sinking further along, Agatha can do little more than gently wiggle, letting herself slide down the tube. She knows where she'll end up, but if she's careful, she'll still be able to escape the lion's body.
The pressure at her paws disappears, and using her quick reflexes, she pushes herself forward, dropping from the end of the tube onto the back of the lion's nasopharynx, at the far end of his sinus from his nose!
"Leroux," Agatha says in a low voice, "I need-"
"Agatha?"
She sighs softly. "Yes, I'm here; I need you to-"
"You don't sound like you're in my ear anymore."
"No, I'm-"
"Hang on – Ooh!" The lion's voice perks, evidently distracted. "Is that Radar's helicopter?"
Before she can react, the ground she's on suddenly tilts backward, and Agatha loses her footing, slipping from the sinus and falling into the top of Leroux's throat! She desperately tries to grab onto the uvula as it passes by, but it's too slick for her to grip, and she falls right into the lion's esophagus!
Caught by surprise with the sudden stimulation to his uvula and then the intrusion in his throat, Leroux swallows on reflex, sending the wolf down!
"Ugh, what was that?"
He looks around, confused for a moment, until his ears perk up upon hearing a faint shout from his belly after a few seconds.
"Leroux!"
The lion blinks, looking down at his midsection. "Agatha? How did you get in there?"
Indignantly, the wolf yells "You swallowed me!"
"But… How?"
Groaning, Agatha pulls herself out of the stomach fluids to a spot of relative safety. "Remind me to give you a lesson in anatomy sometime."
Muttering to herself, she adds "Thirty-nine…"
After a moment, Leroux chuckles, commenting "I mean… I suppose it isn't all bad."
"What?" Agatha asks incredulously. "How is it not all bad?!"
The lion smiles sheepishly. "Well, it saves you from having to do that endoscopy, eh?"
