Boss Battle 3 - Cheesemonger Mascots: The Wheel and the String

“Well this is just great,” Riddle said, the most sour scowl drawn across his face as he stood outside the cheesemonger’s shop while wearing the world’s worst-fitting cheese wheel mascot outfit. The owner of the shop, the person who posted the quest listing for that lousy sword made out of cheddar, wasn’t too thrilled with receiving their bounty with two very noticeable bites taken out of the blade. Riddle had assumed they would just take a penalty with the reward but hadn’t actually considered the possibility of that penalty being so humiliating. And boring, for that matter! He and Rhyme had been stood outside this dinky little hole in the wall all morning and had yet to see a single patron in any direction.

 

“I can’t believe this!” Riddle said as he threw his arms up in the air dramatically, or at least as far up as they would go in the awful cheese outfit. “We could be out there finding unimaginable treasures or saving innocent lives, and here we are wearing musty old costumes for a discount cheese outlet!”

 

“Beep!” Rhyme beeped.

 

“I haven’t seen a single soul this entire time, and I’m willing to bet we probably aren’t going to, either!”

 

“Beep!” Rhyme beeped.

 

“Why do they even HAVE these outfits? Who needs to advertise their cheese store with costumes like this anyway?”

 

“Beep!” Rhyme beeped.

 

Riddle furrowed his brow before glancing over at his partner, who had donned an oddly appropriate string cheese costume, to try and get a better read on how he was feeling about the situation, as his responses weren’t really doing the job. This proved futile, however, as Rhyme was wearing his usual inscrutable smile, standing stock still in the exact same spot he chose when they got here a few hours ago. Could it be that Rhyme was actually enjoying himself? Getting to wear a silly costume while his boyfriend threw a prolonged cheese-based tantrum? That didn’t seem likely as Rhyme wasn’t the type to revel in Riddle’s misery, but usually the avian had some way of letting on when he wasn’t having a good time. Their whole experience at the cheese lake was a testament to that.

 

“Hey Rhyme?”

 

“Beep?” Rhyme bent his neck down and tilted his head to look squarely at his boyfriend’s face.

 

“Are you enjoying this?”

 

“No!” Rhyme said in a cheerful tone.

 

“Oh okay,” Riddle said. He sighed and folded his arms, leaning back against the wall of the cheesemonger’s shop while Rhyme resumed standing completely motionless while staring straight ahead. So long as he wasn’t alone in this torment Riddle could shoulder this burden for a little while longer.