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Ren was digging around in his cage, trying to make the perfect nest with the fresh bedding material he got from his owner just the other day, when he heard the lock turn, which usually meant only one thing: Akira must be home.
Ecstatic at his owner’s return, the rat ran towards the side of his cage that would allow him the most visibility of things. As anticipated, the door opened and in walked Akira, holding his usual bag of groceries and also something else that had Ren tilt his head and push his snout through the bars to get a closer look, sniffing curiously to determine what it was.
It looked a bit like his cage, only smaller, and Akira was more careful with it than with anything else he tried putting down. It resulted in him accidentally dropping his grocery bag, and Ren watched hungrily as a lettuce head rolled away with greater goals in life.
“Dammit,” Akira sighed, not even making an attempt to collect what got lost. Instead, he held the weird box more steadily, then made his way over to Ren’s cage.
“Hey, little guy,” he smiled down at Ren, fingers skillfully reaching out to open the gate. Ren squeaked with enthusiasm and ran a few laps, just as happy to see him as he was at the prospect of playtime.
However, Akira didn’t reach in to take him out as he usually did. Instead, he opened the box he was carrying with him, then reached inside it.
“Remember how I promised to get you a little buddy? Well, this one desperately needed a new home— ouch!”
The following squeals were almost ear-shattering with how frightened and angry they were, and Ren recoiled in shock, unsure what was happening. It sounded like another rat, but it couldn’t be, right? He’s spent months with Akira alone already; why would he suddenly get him a friend? Ren was fine with Akira only. Humans gave good pets, and their hands were wonderfully soft, perfect to cuddle into.
His suspicions were confirmed as Akira’s hand returned carrying a brown bundle of fur that squirmed and thrashed and made more noise than Ren had ever made in his life.
Just to be safe, Ren ran to hide inside his favourite paper roll, watching Akira’s hand reach inside his cage with big, beady eyes. He didn’t expect a new friend so suddenly! What if they bit Ren as well?
Akira gently placed the new rat in Ren’s favourite corner to nest in, then retreated. “Ren, this is Goro. You two be nice, alright? I have to put my groceries away, but I will keep an eye on you so no fights can start.”
The gate closed, and Ren was left alone with a rat that was shakily hiding in the corner, hissing like there was no tomorrow. There were a few nasty scars in his golden-white sprinkled fur, obvious remnants from fights, even if he looked well-groomed otherwise, fur smooth unlike Ren’s messy black one. His eyes were shimmering red, glaring at Ren with such an intensity Ren couldn’t even begin to imagine how scared the other must be.
“Leave me the fuck alone,” the other rat—Goro, Akira had said—snarled.
Ren flinched at the crude words, his ears drooping. “Sorry, not much space to go to… uh, but I won’t bother you, I swear! Goro.”
At that, the other suddenly startled. “You’re not looking for a fight?”
“Do I really give off that impression?” Ren squeaked quietly.
Goro watched him for a moment more, tilting his head and sniffing curiously. Then, he finally relaxed, posture slumping.
“No, you look pathetic, actually,” he said unceremoniously.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Any other rat would defend his territory, yet here you are. Hiding in a tube. Pathetic.”
“It’s a paper roll, and it was a gift from Akira!”
“It won’t matter who you got it from once I rip it to shreds—”
Laughter interrupted them.
“Hey, you two are talking a whole lot. Becoming friends that quickly?”
Akira was back in front of the cage, looking inside curiously, receiving an angry hiss and an excited squeal in return.
“Can we have playtime?” Ren squeaked. “The new guy is mean.”
“Oh, am I scaring you?” Goro scoffed, advancing just the slightest bit closer to Ren, intentionally making himself bigger as if to intimidate him. Completely ignoring Akira.
It worked, but the other rat didn’t need to know that, so Ren kept quiet and in place as he returned his stare, melting more into his paper roll. “Not at all. Uh, do you want paper roll time?”
Goro froze for a second, then deflated with an annoyed sigh. “You’re strange, you know that? Like hell do I wanna sit in the paper roll.”
“It’s nice in here.” Ren shrugged. “You can even roll around in it. Like this.” Leaning his weight on the side of the roll, Ren made it turn over once until he was back on his paws, squeaking in delight.
“What the fuck—”
Akira’s laugh interrupted anything the other might have had to say. “Oh, Ren. Such a showoff, you deserve a treat for it, don’t you?”
“I do!” Ren squeaked, raising his head proudly. He didn’t really believe that showing off was a good enough act to get treats, but he was the last rat to say no to a fresh fruit or vegetable on top of his usual rat pellets. Or even a peanut, if he was lucky.
“Oh, so that’s how you’re playing,” Goro glared at him, taking a few steps back again and watching with sharp awareness as Akira moved around the room, probably fetching something to give to Ren. “Being a good little pet just to get food and survive and shove it in my face.”
“I kinda just do what I feel like and he gives me treats, it’s nothing special,” Ren shifted a bit around, embarrassed. “You can have my pellets, if you want.”
“How generous,” Goro spat.
Then Akira’s hands were back at the gate, opening it and pushing his hand through, and Goro ran to hide behind the nearest piece of cardboard, making loud, angry squeaking noises, shouting profanities that Ren was glad Akira couldn’t understand.
Akira held out a slice of cucumber towards Ren, who happily accepted it by standing up for a moment and taking it with his front paws, immediately munching on it eagerly. He watched attentively how the hand slowly came closer to Goro’s hiding spot, the unholy squeaking only intensifying.
“Goro needs a bit of time to settle in, doesn’t he?” Akira sighed, then put another slice of cucumber in front of where Goro was settled. “Well, at least he’s not biting me anymore.”
Goro hissed, snout poking out from behind the cardboard. “I’m gonna make you eat those words, human.”
“Oh, he’s interested in the cucumber!”
“You can actually shove that cucumber up your—”
“Alright, alright, I’m getting you more later. Ren, don’t be greedy, alright? This one belongs to Goro.”
Ren squeaked in protest. He was not greedy, why would Akira think that? Well, at least not greedy enough to steal another rat’s treat.
Once the gate was closed again, Ren padded over to where Goro was hiding, nudging the piece of cardboard with his snout. “You should try the cucumber, it’s good!”
Silence came from the other side, then a brown head peeked out from behind it.
“No.”
He disappeared again, and Ren squeaked in surprise.
“Wait, do you not want it?”
Silence again.
Ren tilted his head, looking down at the other cucumber piece. “Well, can I have it then?”
Faster than lightning, the other rat shot out from his hiding place, grabbing the slice and disappearing with it into Ren’s favourite box.
“Don’t you dare,” Goro hissed, holding the piece protectively to his body while Ren could only stare at him in surprise.
“Oh. Okay.”
Ren then decided he had more important things to care about and plopped back down, munching on his cucumber slice. He watched Goro look away in anger, before he brought his treat to his snout, sniffing at it.
Experimentally, he nibbled a bit on it, then chomped on it hungrily. Ren flinched back, not expecting the sudden ferocity with which the other rat bit into the vegetable. Was he that hungry?
That led him to another question: where did he even come from? Back at the pet store, Ren had never seen rats with scars like Goro had. It was confusing him.
Slowly, he plodded over to where Goro was sitting, then extended his half-eaten cucumber piece to him. “Do you want mine too?”
Goro stilled, mouth full of cucumber. He glared at Ren. “What are you planning?”
Ren shifted around awkwardly. “Nothing. I mean, you look hungry, maybe you haven’t eaten in a while—”
“Spare me your pity. Why would I want food you drooled all over?”
“It’s not pity! And I didn’t drool.”
“I don’t just trust that you’d readily give up food for nothing in return.”
“Look, I know where to get more treats, so you can have this one.”
That seemed to have convinced the other rat enough to warily reach out and snag the piece, looking at Ren intensely as if assessing him and his intentions. Ren distantly hoped he groomed himself properly this morning, given how much this guy kept staring at him.
“What do you mean by that?” Goro’s tone was hostile as ever, but also tinged with curiosity. It made Ren feel satisfied with himself.
“I know where Akira keeps the best treats for himself!” he declared proudly.
Throwing Ren another careful glance, Goro shuffled out of the box and around the cage, sniffing at the ground and looking around for the supposed treats.
Ren tried hard to hold back his laughing. “You won’t find anything like this.”
“Then where are they?” Goro whipped around to him.
“Akira keeps them in a bigger cage! I can show you, but only once he’s asleep.”
He could see how the other rat didn’t believe a single word he said, but Goro had yet to hiss at him. As mean as he still was, Ren knew he grew less scared by the second. Whatever life he had before this was certainly not as comfortable as this one, and Goro didn’t even know about playtime yet where Akira would freely let them run around the living room, where lots of toys were waiting!
“Deal,” Goro said after a long while and a few more nibbles on the cucumber. “If you disappoint me, there will be consequences,” he added, amused when Ren flinched.
“Okay!” he squeaked. “Sure. Uh, how about I show you around my— I mean, our home in the meantime?”
“I can appreciate the magnificent sights here alone.”
“Yeah, but do you know where the water is?”
Goro squirmed. “I will find a puddle, eventually.”
A puddle? Ren was really concerned for the rat’s former living conditions now. No puddles inside the house, sadly. He would love to bathe in one one day, though.
Ren fluffed his fur up, smug that he knew more than Goro and could show off his knowledge about the magical tube attached to the cage that dripped water when you lick at it and never spills any.
“I can give you a tour and show you the secret of the water?”
“... Yeah, whatever.”
They spent the following time exploring the cage together, Goro gradually thawing up until he was completely relaxed in Ren’s presence, even if he still questioned his motives every once in a while or made a snide remark that Ren never paid much attention to.
Soon enough it was playtime, and after a few more fits of screaming as Akira tried to get Goro out while keeping as many fingers as possible, the two were exploring the living room together while Akira was watching TV. Ren had to keep Goro from sneaking up on their owner and biting his toes, but other than that, he had quite a lot of fun.
Goro wasn’t interested in the parkour until Ren made it a competition. Ren quickly learnt that you could actually get Goro to do many things as long as they were laid out as challenges with which he had to prove himself, which he wasn’t used to, but could certainly work with.
When night fell and Akira gave Ren his customary good night kiss on the head, he could hardly wait to let Goro in on his super secret plans to obtain more treats.
Goro winced at how starstruck Ren looked as Akira scratched him under the chin and then left the room. “Gross. Put a collar on if you’re so eager to be a pet.”
“Why wouldn’t I want to be one?” Ren asked back, genuinely curious. “Akira gives me food and water, and when I slip and land on my stomach, he kisses it better and gives me a peanut. It’s a pretty good deal, if you ask me.”
Goro looked as if he was about to launch into a talk too long to obtain treats as well at the same time, but luckily for Ren, he stopped himself. “Nevermind. Now, I assume you’re going to find a way to get us out of here?”
Ren made a small, affirmative noise, then scurried over to the side of the cage, climbing up and biting down on a bar, then letting himself hang back, trying to put as much of his weight as possible on the bars.
With a small creaking noise, the gate fell open, and Ren squeaked in excitement as he landed on his back with it, jumping up and climbing out from under the bars as Goro came over as well, looking confused.
“Another entrance?”
“Akira didn’t install it properly, so it opens to the inside! And it doesn’t have one of those annoying locks the front one has!”
“Well, colour me impressed.”
Before Ren could say anything to that, Goro was already jumping out of the cage, skilfully climbing over shelves to advance.
“Hey, wait for me! Where are you going, that’s the wrong way!” Ren hurried behind him, and promptly fell on his snout as he took one step out of the cage, squeaking in surprise.
Goro threw a glance over his shoulder. “I’m leaving, obviously.”
“Leaving?!”
Finally steady on his paws, Ren hurried after him, taking a lot more time to pull his weight up the various things Akira kept inside the room. He saw Goro sniffing the air, then change course to the nearest window.
Ren’s heart sank as he realised that Akira left it tilted, the gap wide enough for a rat to fit through.
“Please don’t leave, Goro! Uh, there’s a super scary cat in the neighbour’s yard!”
“I’m gonna take another route then. Thank you for the warning.”
“Do you have to return somewhere, maybe? Why can’t you stay?”
“I’d rather be on my own than stuck under someone else’s thumb for the rest of my days once more.”
Ren was speechless after that, not knowing what to say to that statement that carried so much more weight than expected. In an attempt to at least do something, he continued to climb after Goro, squeaking quietly whenever he misstepped or had to pull his body up. Maybe Akira did have a point and he had gotten too greedy with treats.
The sound of soft paws against the windowsill made him look up with held breath, and he met Goro’s eyes as the other rat stared back down at him. Clearly hesitating in his steps, eyes big and displaying just enough conflict to make Ren gather enough strength to pull his body up onto the next shelf.
Ren could fix this, he knew he could. He admittedly hadn’t known Goro for long, but with how anxious he was when Akira first placed him in his cage, Ren really didn’t want him to flee and live on the streets just because of negative experiences in the past. Ren could be a good ratmate, or however it was called; anything that would help in getting Goro comfortable enough to stay.
“I haven’t even shown you the treat stash yet,” Ren was quiet, ears drooping as he looked up at Goro. “You won’t get good treats like that out there!”
Goro averted his eyes. “I don’t care about my food as long as it helps me survive.”
“Then let me at least give you, uh, provisions!”
Ren blurted out the next best thing without thinking, desperate for Goro to stay just a little longer, to give him more time to come up with something that would get him to stay. He was already regretting the words, fearing they would make things worse, but contrary to his expectations, Goro’s body stilled and he looked back down at Ren.
“That… might be a good idea, actually.”
Ren could have squeaked in relief when Goro jumped down to where Ren was draped over a pile of books, catching his breath, and the only reason he refrained was because Akira could wake up at any time and catch them. Which would probably be good to get Goro back inside, but Ren didn’t trust the rat to not run off as soon as he heard a single footstep.
“Alright, give me just a moment,” Ren gathered his strength and sat back up, ignoring Goro’s judgemental gaze. “Hey, you know you can just stay and see if it’s for you, then leave whenever—”
“Don’t try to stall, or I’ll leave now for real.”
Ren’s ears drooped again, and he tried very hard to put on his cutest face as he held Goro’s stare. Nothing changed except for his fur bristling a little bit more, so Ren gave up on his idea of convincing through cuteness rather quickly.
“Alright, alright. Follow me. Akira leaves the kitchen door open at night.”
Together, they climbed down to the ground, scurrying through the dark like criminals who broke in and were now on the hunt for anything of value. In a way they were, Ren realised with giddiness. The things most of value to him were food, after all. Akira, on the other hand, liked his smartphone a lot, and Ren could never understand why. Why play with that thing when he had the cutest pet in the world? Unbelievable.
Goro’s fur stood on edge as they made their way into the kitchen, and Ren nudged him with his snout, narrowly dodging when he hissed and swiped at him in response. “Come on, you’re way too antsy! Every good pet needs to break out once in a while.”
“I thought it was clear I’m trying to be anything but a good pet,” Goro hissed quietly, staying close to him and looking around himself with unmatched awareness.
Ren squeaked cheerfully, having found an excellent loophole that was sure to convince Goro. “If good pets break out, that means you have to stay inside and stay with us!”
Goro only scoffed at him. “No. Now, where’s the food you promised?”
Oh well, it was worth a try.
“Up there.” Ren nodded up at the giant metallic box in front of them, an insurmountable obstacle, all smooth with nothing offering purchase for a rat trying to climb up.
Goro must have realised the same, because he was once again giving Ren that stare that told him that he didn’t believe him one bit.
“That’s a fridge,” Ren explained patiently, making his way over to the drawers and starting the climb up. “Akira keeps all sorts of treats in there for himself. Way too much for one human! So I think he puts them there on purpose so I can have some at night.”
“You have a very colourful imagination,” Goro sighed, but followed. “So you know that humans store their groceries in the fridge. Last I checked something like that was still too hard to open for a rat, though.”
“Not for me!” Ren exclaimed proudly, climbing up quicker, determined to prove Goro wrong. The snack box might be a bit hard to open and chilly inside, but it was worth it each time with how often Akira swapped out the treats in there.
His quick pace bit him in the tail, though, when he arrived at the top and collapsed in exhaustion while Goro joined him looking relaxed as always, as if he didn’t even break a sweat.
“How do you do that?” Ren wheezed out, his fur heaving with each breath.
“I’m not greedy, for starters,” Goro scoffed.
“Hey, I even gave you my treat!”
“After asking for mine. And you were surprisingly eager earlier when the human had you fetch peanuts he threw at you like a bone to a dog.”
“Well, I don’t wanna disappoint Akira!”
A sigh. “It doesn’t matter. Now, how do you plan on opening this buzzing thing?”
Ren got up on all four paws again and shuffled closer to the fridge, examining their surroundings until he found what he was looking for.
With all his strength, he pushed the spice rack to the edge of the counter, then hopped on and leaned over as far as he could without danger.
One paw reached out to press a button. Once he did, the fridge door slowly opened on its own, a quiet whirring noise accompanying it.
He didn’t expect Goro to look at him with such wide eyes when he turned back around.
“Come on, let’s look for treats already!” Ren squeaked, taking a run up and making a big jump, landing perfectly on a side tray, plopping down on the soft package under him and waiting for Goro.
Shaking his head, the other rat once again demonstrated just how much more agile he was as he shimmied along the side of the counter, then made a few quick jumps to reach a tray even higher than Ren’s.
“Who’s the showoff now?” Ren asked playfully, jumping and climbing up to join him.
Goro huffed and gave him a little shove with his snout, before realising what he was doing and flinching back with surprise in his eyes. Too late, though; Ren was giddy with excitement at the display of affection, and he dodged a mock-bite just to nudge him back.
“Just— let’s just look around,” Goro stammered, scurrying away from Ren, and after a last, wary look, into the coldness of the fridge to explore.
Ren stood there for just a moment longer, still feeling warm from the interaction, before he jumped down to a different tray. Not much had changed since the last time he went treat hunting, so he already knew Goro wouldn’t find any exciting things up there. No, Akira liked to keep his vegetables in the bottom drawer, and his best treats just one tray above that.
It took a bit of climbing to reach his destination, but once Ren did, he was happy to find that the plastic container from last time was still there. He pushed the plastic foil back and squealed in delight as he found there were still some pieces of his favourite treat left. Not many, but enough to have made the trip worth it.
Ren was about to call for Goro, but the other rat was already dropping down beside him, sniffing the air and glancing over Ren’s shoulder at his find.
“Cheese?”
“Yes!”
“That’s the super special treat you were so hyped about?”
“Hey, have you ever tried cheese?”
Goro was silent, looking down into the container at the three small pieces of cheese. Bite-sized for a human, dinner-sized for a rat.
“Why would he just leave three small pieces in there?” Goro questioned, tilting his head and sniffing the inside more.
Ren hummed and reached inside, handing one piece to Goro and keeping another himself. “Told you he must know about me getting treats at night.”
“I’m more inclined to believe he has no concept of what a healthy meal constitutes.” Goro took the piece from Ren warily, sniffing it harder, his expression unchanging. “So this is supposed to be good.”
“Yep! It’s my favourite cheese! I could eat only that for the rest of my life.”
“Greedy,” Goro mumbled, and watched as Ren took a nibble of his piece, eyes closing in bliss as the other rat savoured the taste. “Well, if it’s not good, this was a waste of time.”
Ren squeaked at him through mouthfuls of cheese. “If you don’t try it you won’t know!”
Another critical look, and Goro finally bit into the cheese. His expression lit up immediately, and he froze, teeth still buried in it.
Ren felt amused like never before when Goro nibbled with unexpected intensity on it, decimating the piece of cheese extremely quickly for a rat his size.
It would only be polite to match his pace, right? Make it a little competition again.
They finished roughly at the same time, and Ren had the realisation that sharing comfort food with a friend made it taste twice as good.
“See?” he asked, smug like never before.
“Yes, yes, it was good,” Goro sighed. “So… what about the third piece?”
Oh, right. They were two and only had one left. As if that wasn’t already stressful enough for Ren’s little rat brain, he remembered that Goro was actually about to leave forever instead of simply going on a little adventure with him.
He felt conflicted, and it immediately showed in his body language with how his ears dropped. Goro seemed to interpret it another way, though.
“You can have it. Go on, take it. I’ll grab some grapes from down there as provisions, so it doesn’t matter.”
Just the word “provisions” made an uncomfortable weight settle in Ren’s stomach again that he yearned to squash with more cheese, but he held back. Without saying anything, he took the last piece of cheese out of the container, smoothened the plastic wrap back over it, then held it out to a surprised Goro.
“You should have it,” he said, shy and looking away, unable to meet the other’s eyes.
Goro was quiet for a moment before he spoke up again. “Why?” was the only thing he asked.
“Why what?”
“Why are you… like this?”
Ren tilted his head. “Like what?”
“Pathetic. Stumbling over your paws to do things for someone who couldn’t care less.”
“Hey!” Ren puffed up his fur, raising his snout. “You keep calling me that, but I think it’s actually you who can’t accept that I wanna share my favourite cheese with my favourite friend without wanting anything in return!”
Goro’s eyes went as wide as saucers, and it took Ren a moment to realise his slip-up.
If a rat could blush, Ren would be bright red.
“You must mean I’m your only friend?” Goro choked out, taking the piece of cheese from him and gripping it tightly.
“Uh, yeah?” Ren stuttered, then got ahold of himself. “I mean, no! That’s got nothing to do with it! Look, I just want you to have nice things, and this is the nicest thing I know apart from Akira.”
Goro squinted at the name, then looked down at the cheese again, contemplating. He looked back up and met Ren’s eyes.
“You really want nothing in return?” he asked, quieter now. More serious than Ren had heard him all day.
He shifted a bit around. “Well, actually…”
“I knew it.”
“I would like it if you stayed, but I can’t make you.”
“... Oh.”
They stared at each other for a few long seconds, and Ren was startlingly aware of how chilly the air was in the fridge, shivering a little bit, but still holding eye contact. He wanted—no, needed—Goro to know he wasn’t just welcome here, but wanted.
He had seen it in Akira’s eyes earlier as well. His owner already loved the newest member of their household as much as Ren, even if he gave him his distance so he wouldn’t be frightened. Not to mention that Ren never had a day as exciting as this one before. Despite all his snark, Goro was good company, and something told Ren that he would go on any adventure with him without asking for the when or why.
“Please stay?” he asked, quieter and with hope in his voice.
He could see the conflict in Goro’s eyes, even stronger than before, and for a moment, he thought he had convinced him.
Then Goro broke eye contact, turning his back on him. “I can’t promise anything. I think you should go back already and leave me here to gather food, though. I’ll close the fridge door and get everything back in order, so no need to worry.”
Ren really didn’t like that plan, actually. “So I won’t even know if you left or not until you maybe return.”
“Correct.”
Awkward silence fell over them, until Ren slowly padded towards the exit route.
He probably couldn’t do more than wait it out in the cage for now, wait and hope that he somehow got through to Goro. In the end, the choice was all his and out of Ren’s control, and as much as that scared him, he knew it was better to retreat than pressure Goro into anything he didn’t like.
“Promise you’ll at least leave me a treat in the cage if you leave?” Ren stopped at the edge of the tray, looking back at Goro sadly. “And— and take care if you leave. Maybe come visit and I’ll share my treats with you.”
Goro took a step forward, mouth opening as if to say something, before it closed again and he deflated. “... Alright, I will. Get back now.”
He clearly needed the time alone to think, so Ren left him after giving him a last, hopeful glance, jumping down the trays and getting back to his cage.
Once he was back inside, he tried to distract himself by digging in the bedding and shredding some cardboard so Goro would have a nice bed for the night.
If Goro decided to stay, Ren would build him the best nests, maybe even share his favourite box with him. In fact, they could build nests together! They could even steal more paper from around the room for a nicer nest, or do tricks until Akira couldn’t resist anymore and bought them new toys…
They could do so much together, if Goro only stayed.
With a sigh, Ren curled up in the little nest he had dug, not even daring to hope that the other rat stayed and deciding he should just sleep in it himself.
He fell asleep much later, when he was so tired he couldn’t keep his eyes open and wait anymore.
The next morning, Ren woke up to the sound of Akira laughing softly. He opened his eyes and blinked up at his human’s large face looming over him, chirping quietly in content.
“You two are so cute with each other already, I almost forgot to give you your breakfast,” Akira grinned down at him, and that made Ren shuffle a bit and turn over.
Goro was there, curled up against him, sleeping peacefully. A warm and comforting weight at his back.
He had stayed last night.
Ren felt joy bubble up inside him, and he squealed in delight, then nudged Goro with his snout so he would wake up.
“Goro! You’re here!”
The other rat grumbled in his sleep, cracking one eye open at him, then both. “Not for long if you keep screaming like that.”
“Then I’ll scream quietly.”
Goro nudged him, eyes sparkling with amusement. “Careful, I bite when I feel threatened.”
Ren excitedly nudged him back, dodging when Goro as always swiped at him with his paw. “I’ll just bribe you with more cheese to escape your wrath!”
“Well, it won’t hurt you to try.”