Rats, they go Eek, EEK! (Solo)

by **Bob Barton** on October 2nd, 2011, 11:05 pm

2nd day of Fall 511 AV

Sunberth, rain, flood, bad, boring. Bob just can't do anything but work. But since he learned the tricks of how to push the really tough ones to his other co-workers, Bob was left with the relatively easy ones and after that? He can't even go out to do what he normally does thanks to the flood keeping him in. Sad. He was going to have to find something else to do but before he could do anything he needed to at least give everyone else the impression that he was actually working. Lucky his job gives him the choice between outdoors and indoors away from the rain. The choice was obvious.

The stables was the first destination. Taking handful's of hay, Bob got to feeding the horses. For most of the horses he just dumped the hay at a pile where the horses was supposed to eat from. For the more beautiful ones like pure white one he always saw given the best treatment he fed from his hand. Taking small handful's of hay, Bob put it invitingly in front of the horse's mouth and waited for it to start eating when he started to stroke it. It was so sad that he was not allowed to ride them. Then again, he was so hopeless in riding that he might actually fall and break something if he tried. Maybe the restriction was not so bad after all.

After giving the horses their food and some water after he was done, Bob had to take care of the dogs. This one he was more comfortable with since he now had his own dog. Maybe Hannah or Killroy was just that smart by giving their employees a test subject to improve on. Still, it worked out for the best and now that the dogs are more used to Bob it was a whole lot easier. Bob took the food by the bowls and put them into the cage. Even if the dogs were used to him, they still had the instincts to exert their power over their territory. Bob had to try his best to show he only had the best intentions for them. "Here is your food, and its not my hand" he would tell some of them as he slowly pushed the bowl into their cages. Then he would do the same thing when he gave them their water.

There was still a lot of time to kill so it was time for Bob to move over to his prizes. His rats! Moving around some of the heavy things around like the barrels and crates which who knows what Killroy keeps in them he made a small barrier around an area. Stupid heavy crates. Bob had to push them around and it was very heavy. How he wished he was bigger then he could carry them around instead. More than once the stuff obscured his vision and caused him to smash some together. Fortunately none was broken and if it was this hard for Bob to move around, it would be a lot harder for the rats to do anything.

The remaining step was to get the rats in there. For this, Bob planned ahead and left two gaps at each end. He did the same to the rat cages that he did with the crates and barrels. The danger was worse this time. The rats would try to claw at him as he pushed them. One even nicked his leg. This caused Bob to get a little pissed and go off to take the whip. "Didn't I teach you earlier that I am your master?" he asked as he raised it up. Bob swung it around in a few circles before cracking it in the air loudly "Now obey me you stupid rodent!" he cried out which was ignored while the rat wildly scratched more. "Fine then!" Bob swung the whip in the air again a few times before shooting it forward and hitting at the cage. It did not hit the rat then thanks to the bar but at least it knew he meant business.

Bob did the same with the second rat, just whipping straight at the cage to show it that Bob had the power here. Then both cages were pushed right at the openings. Bob accidentally nudged one of the barrels at the side of the opening with a "Petch" and him running over to the barrel to keep it up. Turning past the cage, Bob skidded and kneeled down just in time to throw his hands forward at the side of the barrel which the rat took advantage of a scratched him again. He yelped in pain and just to get away from the pain he pushed his whole body harder to lift the barrel back into position.

The rat will taste Bob's petty revenge next. Bob opened the cages and let the rats meet each other. "Now fight you shykes, Fight!" These rats were able to cannibalize on one another, he knew but why are they not doing anything now? Bob waved his whip in the air and started snapping it at the rats again to stimulate them. "Fight, fight, fight!" he roared out. Each snapping sound the whip gave out could be heard in between each word as he randomly hit around. The blows were concentrated at the rat's vicinity but only one or two hit. He laughed when one hit the face and one hit the ass but the rats still did not fight. "Whyyyyyyyy" he cried while he started to whip to his side just to give off the whipping sound. Flicking his wrists he, the cracking sound just kept coming. He looked to the sides to see the dogs whimpering and cowering but not the rats. Stupid rats are just plain unnatural.

His little spectacle was interrupted with laughter from behind him. Bob quickly spun around to see another of his co-workers laughing at him happily. "Whats so funny?" he asked with an annoyed look on his face. Still laughing the man was able to give a reply "Nothing can motivate them other than food" Look at that smug look on his face. Bob could still remember him as one of the cowards during the rat infestation. He will get his...soon...

But Bob took the man's advice. Quickly he ran to get some food and held it out to the rats. Once they saw it they scrambled to him and smashed into the barrier in the process. He tried to persuade them the same way he persuaded the dogs "Fight, and you will get some food." Why do these animals need rewards? But it did not work. Driven by hunger, the rats kept slamming into the barrier until Bob got scared that they will actually breach it.

Quickly, he threw a chunk right to the middle which the rats chased after. "You win. You can eat first and then you fight." By mistake Bob somehow stumbled on their motivation. His co-worker was right. Food was the answer. There was only one chunk and two rats and it looked like they were not prepared to share as they started to fight over it. Good, very good. Now Bob had to stop them before they killed each other. Rewards were one thing and punishment the other. Hannah taught him not to punish the dogs but these were rats so it shouldn't be a problem. Bob raised his whip again shouting "Stop!" to get their attention before flicking his wrist and extending his whip forward to the rats with a "Crack!" but they just won't stop. Fine if they can't share, "Here is more for you you greedy shykes!" he said as he threw another chunk into the cage. One rat stayed to nibble on its chunk while the other which Bob guessed was the weaker ran to the cage. Bob closed the cage while it was eating and threw another chunk at the other cage to repeat the process trapping the two rats yet again.

by **Bob Barton** on October 3rd, 2011, 1:12 am

That was stressful, not to mention risky. Bob nearly lost the rats which were so hard to capture. Not too hard after you knocked them unconscious but hard all the same since no one would buy them which was why he was training them. Trained rats would be more marketable compared to run of the mill rats even if they were as big as dogs. While the rats were still distracted with eating, Bob quickly went and pushed the cages back to their original places. He had enough with animals for one day. Then he started to keep away the crates and barrels he used for the barriers too. No sense in getting into trouble for that.

At the first time, Bob completely forgot that the crate was heavy after all the problems with the rats. He tried to lift the crate up with a few grunts in between. Why can't he move it now? His fingers at the bottom of the crate is getting red and the crate was still not going up. Then he heard laughter again along with "I didn't know midgets are strong." That jerk, he is really going to be in for it now. Bob would thank him for the reminder if it wasn't so insulting. Then he shifted his hands from the bottom to the top and started pushing the crate. Continuing until he was all tired out from putting the things back in their original places. There was the barrel there and the crate there...wait was it the other way around? Oh well, it won't be that big a deal. Since when was the order of these things so important anyway?

The more important thing was respect and someone was not giving Bob the proper ones he required today. He though he was the one smarter than Bob when it came to rats even when he cowered during the last assault? Bob tried to hold back his laughter trying to remember the face he made but couldn't. He just had to see it again and he knew just how. Quickly leaving the kennel he ran back into his room to retrieve something.

Bob was going to have to act fast. He knew that the man always came to work at the stables at the same time and it was only a bell away. Bob hunted around for the whip that was used to train animals. Looking into cages, stalls and cupboards until he finally found it. Then he looked up. How far was it to the beam? Pretty far and the whip might not reach it. For the next few chimes Bob tried in vain to get the whip over it. Bob threw his whole arm in his attempts to get the whip over. First try it did not even reach. Second time it fell backwards. Third try it flew right in front of him into a stall with a horse. It did not hit the horse but the horse did not like that one bit. It bit on the whip with its strong teeth and pulled Bob forward causing him to fall down face first and started neighing like it was laughing.

"Ha, Ha, Ha" Bob said mockingly and unhappily at the horse as he pulled back the whip. He had to go higher and he climbed up the ladder with his things. Only a few chimes left, there was no more time for mistakes. Bob flopped his hand forward to try and see if the whip would even reach before he made a proper attempt. It did look like the whip went pretty close so Bob pulled back his arm and flicked it until the whip passed the beam. Then the walked forward and let the whip went down. Damn, it was not long enough.

Then the man was here and there was no more time for Bob to spare. He would have to take the direct approach. Bob went down the ladder and snuck up behind the man. He was so busy with his work that he did not even see or hear Bob sneaking around. Bob stepped on some dry hay but why would he notice? All the horses stomped on hay as well so it was just a normal sound here. Bob walked closer and closer taking a deep breath. This would all be wasted if the turned back too soon. Bob could not afford any mistakes which would give him away.

So many rustling sounds which made Bob more and more worried as he went closer until he was right behind his target. Bob tapped on his shoulder until he turned back then he held out the item he retrieved from his room at his head. The same rat's head he severed and shook it wildly saying "Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!" until he started laughing loudly when he saw the man jumping backwards on his bottom in shock. Then he took it down as he wiped the tears from his eyes "You should have seen yourself, didn't you know all about rats?" he asked mockingly among all the curses.

"Damn you Bob, why are you still playing with that thing?" he asked angrily. That was a stupid question. It was a trophy and Bob needed it to show off like now. not to mention it provided a lot of laughs when he sees everyone's reaction when he plays his pranks. "What else would I do with it? There is nothing else I can use a head for." Yes, Bob was pretty unimaginative in this instance until the man said "Then don't go changing it with your head then!" Thats it! Bob could use it for a head. A rat cap would mean that Bob could take it everywhere without having a heavy head to carry around. But how was he going to make one?

It was perfect timing. He remembered that the man in front of him was some sort of hunter before he joined Killroy's. "I think I have a better use for it, and you can help me." The man replied coldly "Why should I help you?" A good question which Bob had the perfect answer for. Throwing the rat head straight at him without warning with a chuckle Bob replied "Then I can't use this to prank you anymore!" A very good answer which the man realized as well when he mellowed down and offered "What do you need me to do then?"

When he heard about Bob wanting to make it into a hat he protested like crazy about it being too much work until Bob reminded him again "Do you really want to live for the rest of the season not knowing when a rat might pop out on you?" Not listening to Bob would only make you someone he'd want to target "Its even more dangerous once you can't tell what was a real and a fake rat anymore" then you would now know until you are being eaten. A frightening though which even scared Bob was he said it.

"Fine, I'll help you Bob. But its a lot of work and you need to help. Just get me somethings and meet me back here in a bell." and writing up a list, he dismissed Bob to get what he needed for Bob's little prize. Bob expected something more for difficult things like this but a bag he hid under his bed in his room? A bowl and a spoon? What was this and why would Bob need a whole bell to gather all this?

by **Bob Barton** on October 3rd, 2011, 3:04 am

He soon found out why. That bag was huge! Not as huge as the crates and barrels he was moving earlier but still it was bigger than any bag Bob has ever seen. Bob got very curious about why the bag was so bag and was tempted to open it up and have a look. Almost. He remembered that he only had a bell to get it back to the stable and now the timeframe was not looking too good after all. Grabbing the bag by the handle Bob gave it a tug and began to drag it out of the room.

Bob pulled and pulled until he reached a stairs and then he cursed. He can't drag the bag down the stairs or it might get torn and broken. Then from a helper to make a hat he will get turned into the hat when whatever was in the bag gets spread around. Bob pushed the bag until it stood upright. Curses, it was almost half as tall as he was. Still he had to get it down. Bob held on the handle and began carrying it down, one step at a time. He would stand on the higher step and then give a short heave to bring the bag down at the step below him. Then he would go down a step repeating the process again and again until he reached the bottom.

That was tough and he was not done yet. He still needed to carry the bag to the stable and...he still needed to get the other things! This was not enough time. Bob started to run to the stables with the bag in tow until it pulled him back from being too heavy. Then he tried again and he thought he did it when he went one step further before getting pulled back again. How frustrating that was.

So Bob had to take it slow and steady. He got behind and started pushing on the bag. At first it was slow...very slow...until the bag started to pick up speed and became easier. Nice, Bob started to move his feet faster and faster following the bag and started pushing it all the way to the stables where he found his helper. The man saw Bob and said "You're here fast..." before shouting "What did you do to my bag?!?" Bob completely forgot about not damaging the bag and spreading things all over. He smiled and slowly said "I-I-I think I'll just get the other things now?" and took off from the route he just came from before anything else can be said.

A spoon and a bowl, that was easy. Bob ran straight to the kitchen and got them before running back to the stables where he stopped at the entrance and peeked through the doorway trying to remain unseen. The man and his bag disappeared. That was strange and Bob went to the middle of the building. Did he just run an errand for free or did he piss off the man when he nearly ruined his bag? Before Bob could think of anything else, he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked behind. "Its messy work and you'd be mad if you think I'll do it here. Come with me" and the man led him to a secluded spot near the kennels.

Bob followed him outside. Didn't he not want to go into the rain today? But still, he remained quiet. After having to carry the bag he did not want to waste his time with getting nothing. A few chimes and Bob found himself in a dry spot with the rat's head on the side and his tools all arranged at the middle between the head and the bag. Bob gave the spoon and bowl to add to the collection when the man shouted coldly "Where is the water? I need water for this. Hurry up and get it!" What water? Bob doesn't remember being asked for water "But..." before he could ask his question the man interrupted "No buts! I need water in the bowl for the brains."

Ewwww, was he making brain juice? Bob did not need that and another question was how is he going to get out the brains? Like an answer the man said "Don't worry, I won't break your toy too much." before pushing Bob away to get the water while he got to work. With all the running and lifting today Bob would swear this was the hardest work he has done in Killroy's and it was not even real work. It was just him doing something just because he wanted to just for fun.

It took another few chimes for Bob to run back and forth with the spot and the Kennel's to fill some water and the rain did not help much. Halfway back, Bob slipped on the muddy ground and spilled the water on the ground. That would teach him to run in the rain but now he had to refill the bowl. Bob started to run back and the stupid rain was still not stopping as he got wetter and wetter then the realization hit him like a downpour. He should have just filled the bowl with rainwater instead of running back to the building. Before he returned back, he filled the bowl full or water.

"What took you so long?" the man asked while Bob pushed the bowl into his hands. He was not too happy and wanted to see the results of what he was working towards. On the ground he saw a row of the rat's remains. The white skull followed by the brains which was disgusting and the skin. "How..." a question which got interrupted yet again when the man answered "I took it from the bottom" while he showed the bottom of the hollowed out skull.

Bob was about to leave when the man shouted "Where do you think you're going? Its time for your part of the job" but didn't Bob already play the errand boy? "I already got the skin out for you but there is still chunks of meat there. Put the brain into the water and stir it around with your spoon, or use your spoon to dig out the meat from the skin. Your choice and then you spread the brain water on the skin but I am going to pack up now" he said while he proceeded to do just that.

by **Bob Barton** on October 3rd, 2011, 3:29 am

Of all the dirty jobs Bob had to do at Killroy's by far this was the dirtiest. It was all disgusting, digging out raw, rotten meat and stirring up some brain juice. He chose the brain juice because it looked a lot more easier even if it was just as disgusting. Bob stirred the brains into the water while chanting "Eww, eww, eww, eww" each time he made a full round for a few chimes until he could not take the smell anymore and proceeded to the next step which was digging out the meat. Bob looked back at the man hoping for some help but all he got was a "What are you waiting for? I don't have all day and the rain is making it so cold."

He didn't have to remind Bob about that because as soon as he heard it he forgot about how disgusting all this was and that his wet clothes were only making him colder. Before he proceeded on to digging out the meat, he took out his clothes. This was going to be hard...How was he going to dig from the inside? The man walked up to him with a knife and asked in surprise "I thought you wanted a hat?" Or course Bob wanted a hat, he could try and find someone to sew the skin later. "You know unless you are really good as sewing that if you cut the skin now you'll never get your hat?"

Disappointed that he won't be able to get a break from this disgusting work, Bob got to work. Holding the skin from the outside while digging into the meat at the inside with the spoon. "There has to be a better way to do this" he asked aloud but had no answer. He was forced to continued this. This was probably revenge, that jerk. It took a lot of chimes until it looked like he was done and handed it over to the man who looked over it. "Not good enough, there are some chunks here, here and here" he pointed out.

How did he even miss this? Bob blames the colour of the skin and meat as well as the brightness of the place they were in. Bob squinted as he tried to look for whatever meat he left out and took the spoon to dig again until that neat little pile in the ground got bigger before handing it again. "Thats good enough, now you have to lather the brain water all over the insides"

Hasn't Bob done enough? It was someone elses turn but he just did not want to do it. "Just...get this over with..." he thought to himself when he collected the brain water in a cloth and started rubbing it in the insides of the skin. The scrubbed it all over until his helper came again "Its going to be hard if you do it like this. Divide it into pieces and rub it piece by piece." Was this going to be all the help Bob was going to get? He still took the advice and started rubbing ut by parts. Each time switching when it looked likt eh colour changed.

It was almost late in the evening when Bob was finally done. Tired, he handed over the skin to the man who appraised it. "Good, very good. We are done for the day." and picked up his bag before walking back to the Kennels. Bob did the same and just at the entrance he saw a figure trotting about happily. It made him angry especially after all he had to do today. He needed some closure. Who did he hate the most in the Kennels? Right, it was Darik. before returning to his room, he wrote on the bowl "Darik's Bowl" along with all the brain juice and left it in the dining hall, hoping that his intended victim will get it.

by **Bob Barton** on October 3rd, 2011, 10:57 pm

Bob still had some time to kill before he had to sleep and while he took back his things to his room he remembered something he learned the day before. He had a skull. An awesome rat skull for a trophy. Koffurn said something about the part corresponding with what Bob wanted but there was nothing he wanted except to show off his awesomeness to everyone. Head was for brains, but rats were not known for that. Oh well, its just telling a story. What's the worst that could happen?

After that, Bob was supposed to...make circles. Koffurn told him that it was supposed to be somewhere large and flat. Hard to choose. This was a rat's skull and it was mostly curvy and long. Forget what Koffurn said. He didn't even explain what the circle was for, just that Bob had to write the story in it. Whatever, he will just start with the circle first and figure out the rest. Bob needed something sharp and strong enough to put the circle on the skull.

He had no idea where to get something like that in the kennels, unless... He went back to the room of his helper. The one which helped him with the rat hat and knocked on the door. Harder when there was no answer until he finally opened it with a yawn. Bob needed the tools and it probably would be tough to get it. He was keeping it very well, hidden in Killroy's even. It was probably the man's own treasure but that still won't stop Bob.

The man's expression changed each time Bob said what he wanted to. Suspicious when "I need to borrow your tools..." and even more suspicious when "because there is another rat which needs skinning" Bob was just watching out until the danger sign where should stop talking while he continued with "you know how it is, I don't want to bother you so soon" and then he stopped after saying "I am pretty sure I can do a good job on my own" where the man's face started to get red. Bob probably just insulted him by saying that he could do a better job on his own.

"Stop lying to me Bob and tell me what you want" he asked frustrated. So Bob would just tell him that "I need something to do some carving. I am sure you have that too right?" With a huff the man returned into his room and came out soon with the sharpish thing Bob needed. "You better take good care of it or I will stab it into you later" he said slamming the door leaving a scared Bob who returned to his own room quickly and locked the door before the threat was followed through. Now to get to work.

Circle, circle. Who was making a circle? Thats right, Bob and he was making it as big as can be so he can write as much as possible and scare or impress everyone else with his awesomeness. He started to try his best with making the best circle he could. Even from outside his room people can hear Bob chipping into the skull each time he tried to dig his mark into it and a screeching sound which stopped every so often when he dragged the tool until finally on the top of the rat's head, there was a large circle. Thats the spot where everyone was going to be looking at.

This circle and whatever Bob was going to write on it would be permanent. There was no room for error and no Koffurn to teach him so Bob was on his own. He needed a test subject first. Putting a paper on the top of the skull, Bob traced the new circle on it until there was a circle of the same size on the paper. What he was going to do is write his story on the paper and if it was all good and fits the space, he will copy it over into the skull when he starts etching. But what was he going to write?

Ok what did he know about the rats? They attacked the Kennel's while he was in it. They are hungry and cannibalism is not beyond them even if they showed some form of intelligence in their rat pack techniques. Still, with the collective awesomeness and might from Bob and Antar (mostly Bob), the rats lost their overwhelming advantage and ended up dead except the two that Bob was training now. Bob still felt proud with his victory and disgusted remembering what he saw and that was what he was going to write on the skull, after putting the first attempt to paper first.

"Rats, they were everywhere and they were hungry! Using their numbers to their advantage they attacked, eating everyone including their own dead. That was until the awesome hero known as Bob and his sidekick Antarny came and beat them all. The rats lost their advantage even if they fought back until they all ended up dead. Dead but full wherever they may be" Not the best thing Bob has thought up but with the space limitation, the story would have to do.

Done, Bob went and started to scrape the story on the skull. Digging uneven depths of letters into the skull as the words started to form. It started off well until Bob finished writing the first word which was "Rat" Direrat skull or not, Bob found that a skull was still too small to try and etch all of this in.

by **Bob Barton** on October 4th, 2011, 8:52 am

You know what? It just means that Bob has to make it all less. A whole lot less. The next word he scraped on the skull next to "Rat" was "attack" Yes well, that was actually the whole thing which happened and it was by a "Rat swarm" which in the ended up with "Doomed people" right until the unthinkable happened. "Bob saved the day" Too bad for Antar because there was just not enough space to put something with him in it.

That was only for the circle. People who saw this would read it but will they know just how awesome Bob was? No they would not. Having to shorten the story made the whole thing too obscure. There was still some space around the circle on the skull. Maybe Bob could fit something in there? Thinking through he remembered a saying that a picture was worth a thousand words. Even living in Zeltiva, Bob's favourite books were the ones full or pictures and adventure stories. He could try something like that.

There was neat little pile of shavings which got just a little bit bigger when Bob started scraping a little pointed 'V' at the bottom of the circle like a speech bubble. Then below it he drew a little stickman. Very little. More little than the normal stickmen because this one had to represent Bob. The stickman was holding two long things in his hands. On one hand it was his cane sword and the other was the cane, not like anyone would be able to tell the difference.

But what people could tell especially after reading the words in the speech bubble above it was that below stickman Bob was a mountain. A mountain pile of dead rats. They were just actually tiny little lumps of circles with the exception of two tiny lines sticking out there the head should be just like all the other rat's eats. When he was done, Bob's arms were incredible tired but there was still one last bit. He had to draw whoever's attention on to the drawing with the only way he currently knew how. Another circle. Bob stabbed right into the point of the 'V' in the speech bubble and started to go around the drawings until it reached the other end.

Now truly finished, he admired his work...which was absolutely Horrible! Whoever saw this was going to laugh themselves silly instead of being intimidated like Bob wanted but he worked too hard on it to get it scrapped. Maybe no one would see it when he puts it on his cane. That should be alright. Tomorrow, the thingy on top of his cane would be replaced by a freaky looking but hilarious rat skull.

OOCYes, I just did that

I won't detail how the skull gets replaced but if you think Bob would need someone else to do the job for him just list the price down as if he got someone else to do it

by **Archelon** on October 7th, 2011, 11:04 pm

Thread Award

"Well, I reckon those rat's won't be going anywhere. But just in case I'ma parking this unit here to make sure."

And the Results!!!!:

Bob Barton :

Would you like some extra turtle sauce ? :