“Once again, salutations, travelers. I am the so called Ratman, the monster that habit the sewers, or so say the legends. But you can adress me the name “Rato”, and I shall accept it contentedly.”

“Oh, I see you are an apreciator of syntaxia, as well. So am I, my sinister fellow! Would you perhaps be also fond of teas and pumpkins?”

To which Mr. Rato responded with interested amuse:

“Hmm, I do not know what “pumpkins” are, but I sure appreciate a good tea. In fact, I shall prepare some, soon. Would you like it?”

“we DON’T want your tea, thank you. can we please move on??”

“Indeed, Meryl the Mole, I fear you shall not be here by the time the tea is ready, which is unfortunate. Well, the playings of Time. Now, where was I?”

Meryl the Mole responded impatiently:

“dude, you literally just presented yourself.”

“Well adressed, this is true. As I was saying, I am Rato, the guardian of the place you have fallen into.”

“Actually, we did not fall into this place. It was a deliberated decision, sugested by my good friend Meryl, so we could cut the time and get faster to the place of our destination.”

“Ah, so this was their suggestion, you say?”

And he gave Meryl the Mole a pointed look. It was filled with cold sarcasm, a cruel amuse. He seemed to be enjoying every single particle imaginable of that moment.

But Meryl couldn’t see it. They were staring at the nothing, and with nothing to say.

Mr. Rato continued:

“And may I ask, Mr. Rabbit, where do you pretend to go?”

Ordinarily, Mr. Rabbit would’ve acted all cautious regarding the deliver of such crucial information, but then he remembered he was talking with a seemingly omniscient rat-person-thing being, inside their house, so there wasn’t that much to hide, I guess.

“Oh, you see, we have setted our destination to The Great Castle of Liminalia! We’ve traveled for a long time already, on a very important journey.”

“Oh, I see. You have traveled for quite a while, indeed. Maybe more than you imagine, fellow. Wouldn’t you like to rest a bit? What a indelicate host would I be, if I couldn’t make the room for my guests? Of course, I only hope you do not mind my other companions.”

Max looked arounded, in visible confusion. There wasn’t room already for the four of them, how could there be any more people?

“Huhhh, what companions??”

And suddenly, almost as in response to his question, a noise made itself heard from the nearest corner. A noise that resonated within the deep of their spine - ALL of them.

A squik.

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