ᖴI᙭ᗩTIOᑎ

ᕼE ᗯᗩᔕ ᑭᗩᖇᗩᑎOIᗪ

     "Dungeon. All of you. 7 years, no trial," you pointed at a small cage made out of toothpicks, watching as 3 rats marched in like prisoners of war. You felt no remorse over their imprisonment- this had to be done.

     For context, the rat pack had split into two factions after a game of blackjack gone wrong. Now the entire house was a warzone, Ratticus stepping up to lead one side of the battle while Ratricia led her army as his opposer. Unfortunately for both of them, you'd stepped into one too many rat traps and had finally decided to put an end to their feud.

     Julius had made a valiant attempt to save his General but ultimately failed in the wake of your mighty power: opposable thumbs. You threw them all into the toothpick dungeon, giving Rat Reynolds a fork before placing him as their prison guard.

     With that all out of the way, you called out to Maison, hoping to talk to him for a little while.

     " 𝚈𝚎𝚜 ,  𝙼𝚈  𝙳𝙴𝙰𝚁 ? " He replied through the walls, a near sultry tone seeping into his reverberating voice. You blinked in confusion.

     "Maison...are you okay?" You asked, slightly perturbed by his odd demeanor.

     " 𝚈𝚎𝚜 ,  𝚢𝚎𝚜 ,  𝙸'𝚖  𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚢  𝚏𝚘𝚌𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐  𝚘𝚗  𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 . . . 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 . . . 𝚊𝚝  𝚝𝚑𝚎  𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 , " he replied smoothly, voice still brandishing a deep timbre that wasn't usually there.

     "...What?" You weren't sure how to respond to that- he'd never even talked about knowing anyone else in the Valley.

     " 𝚈𝚘𝚞  𝚜𝚎𝚎 ,   𝙼𝚈  𝙳𝙴𝙰𝚁 ,  𝙸  𝚊𝚖  𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢  𝚘𝚗𝚎  𝚘𝚏  𝚖𝚢  𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚜 , " he began slowly, still speaking from the walls, " 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝  𝙸  𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗  𝚒𝚜  𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝  𝚊𝚜  𝚊  𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎  𝚋𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕  𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚖 ,  𝙸  𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝  𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍  𝚖𝚢  𝙲𝙾𝚄𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃  𝚝𝚘  𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚞𝚌𝚎 . . . 𝚊𝚑𝚎𝚖 ,  𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕 ,  𝙸  𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔  𝚢𝚘𝚞  𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍   𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝  𝙸  𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗  𝚝𝚘  𝚜𝚊𝚢 . "

     "..."

     " . . . "

     "OH!" You exclaimed, suddenly understanding his implications. Your face turned beet red.

     "Oh my goodness I am SO sorry for asking, I probably could've lived a happy life without knowing that," you groaned, facepalming. Maison laughed lowly through the walls.

     " 𝚁𝚎𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚢 ,  𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚑  𝚊  𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐  𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚜  𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝  𝚖𝚢  𝚕𝚞𝚛𝚎  𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕  𝚋𝚎  𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝  𝚝𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢 ;  𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚕𝚕  𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎  𝚝𝚘  𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎  𝚍𝚘  𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑  𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐  𝚝𝚘  𝚖𝚢  𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚎  𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖 , " he sounded genuinely apologetic but you were unbothered- Maison was still Maison no matter how you communicated with him.

     "Aye aye cap'n, sounds fine to me. Tell me a story or something, I'm bored," you huffed, leaning against the warm wall and poking your finger into it to annoy your best friend.

     The wall shuddered under your touch, making it all the more entertaining to just keep poking it. You could feel Maison's eyeroll. He eventually gave in, telling you about the first topic that came to mind.