[13+] Taezan & the Mice [Kim Taehyung] Christmas 2022

December 20th

Mosu walked back and forth by his nest. He was troubled. Not only was his town in a pressing crisis, but he had also just learned some quite disturbing pieces of information.

Normally, there weren't many things that could throw the authoritarian mice off guard, but this December seemed to give him grief and trouble at every opportunity. First the strangers had appeared and disturbed the balance of his home, then the unforeseen snow crises, and the lack of food.

And now this...

Letting out a sigh, he looked down at his paws. He still had a hard time believing that he had woken up this morning - not in his nest, but in the corner holding their emergency rations and all the cheese. Not only that, but that what had woken him was the sharp taste of cheddar on his tongue.

Surprised, he had looked down to find a piece of cheese in his paws, and crumples of different shades of yellow surrounding him.

He had been eating cheese - and seemingly a lot of it. In the dead of the night, and he hadn't even been aware of it.

Panicked, he had dropped the evidence, before making sure nobody saw him as he scurried back to his nest.

It was a catastrophe! If anyone was to find out - to spread the word - it would be the end of him. He would be ruined, shunned by the others and no doubt be thrown out in the cold.

"No." A shudder went down his back. "This can't be happening!"

He would have to fix this - make it right - or at least cover his tracks, but-

"Boss! Boss!" A loud voice called out.

Mosu's head snapped up, annoyed at the sudden disturbance. "What?"

Running towards him, Alex was carrying something in his paws. "You have to see this!"

"What?" Mosu repeated, not the least interested in what the gatherer had brought. "What is it this time?"

"Food." Alex beamed. "I was looking around the place to see if there was anything that could have been overlooked - you know how the sweepers aren't that good at-"

"Food?!" Cutting him off, Mosu waved him away. "You came here because you found a crumb?"

"Crumb? No, no. Not a crumb, but this." Finally beside his leader, Alex let the other mouse look at what he had brought. "And there's tons of it! Like, more than enough for years to come!"

"Years!?"

The gatherer nodded.

"That's..." Lost for words, Mosu couldn't believe his luck. He was saved - they were saved! They would have enough food - so they would have no reason for anyone to question the missing cheese. ".. that's wonderful, Alex! Good job!"

"Thanks a lot, boss!" The mouse grinned, but then something changed in his eyes. "Well. only, there is this one thing..."

"Oh? What thing?" Mosu felt unease in his stomach. This had been all too good to be true. "Come on now. Out with it."

"We can't get the food out... It's trapped inside the cans."

"Then how did you get that?" Pointing at brown, goopy food in front of him, he felt annoyance grow in him. "You have to have opened one at least."

"It was already open when I found it."

"By who?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but..." Scratching his chin, Alex seemed in thought. "Probably Kaya and Taezan - they were the ones looking for food in that section."

The new stranger and the human.

Mosu should have known. It was just his luck.

"It's too bad we can't ask them about it." Alex said, looking down at his feet. "Maybe they could have taught us how..."

"Yes..." Mosu agreed. It was unfortunate. Still, it was not all lost... Frowning, he closed his eyes, thinking hard. It wasn't impossible, but it would be hard. He would need to step carefully, but if he played his cards right... "I think I have an idea of how to solve all our problems."