It was midnight. An inn was on fire. The inn was built upon a rock in the middle of a river, yet the cold water did little to deter the flames. From the shore a group of onlookers, silhouettes against the blazing flame, watched in silence. Then one of them, the smallest amongst them, spoke.
"Da-Ming?" he asked, his hairless tail flicked impatiently, yet his voice was eerily calm.
"…yes sir?" Da-Ming was a very large rat, he stood a whole head above the others.
"Da-Ming would you be so kind as to inform me as to what happened?"
"uhhhh what happened, sir?"
"Seeing as it is, undoubtedly, your fault" his voice was misleadingly calm.
"It couldn't be my fault sir, I made sure to put the candle down carefully sir"
"Where did you put it down Da-Ming?"
"In the workroom, like you said boss"
"Where in the workroom, to be specific?"
"Uh… near those barrels"
"…those barrels? The ones storing chemicals?"
"Yeah…but you said those wouldn't catch fire, so it can't be tha-"
"Da-Ming come over here"
"I don't want to"
"Come here Da-Ming"
"No, you're going to hit me!"
"Da-Ming, I promise I will not strike you, I just want to talk, come here please"
The large rat moved forward cautiously.
"You stupid bloody idiot!" the small rat yelled, suddenly turning around and swatting Da-Ming repeatedly with his rice hat "I said those barrels were INflammable not UNflammable!"
"Ow! You promised you wouldn't hit me! Ouch! Ow!"
The smaller rat was chasing Da-Ming around in a circle, mercilessly beating him with his hat.
"You could've killed us all you brain dead dolt! That's what you were trying to do wasn't it!? Sabotage! Traitor! Scallywag! Turn-Coat! Assassin!"
"Ouch! Ow ow ow!"
"Betrayal! Betrayal!"
"Mr. Chin? Sir?" came a timid voice.
"What is it Bai-Ling!?" Chin, the smaller rat, turned around, his one eye glowing evilly in the dark. Standing in front of him was a bat, her pale fur standing out in the darkness around them.
"What about Mrs. Li and her family? They're all still in there"
"Who cares"
"But-"
Bai-Ling was interrupted by a screaming rabbit as she threw herself out a window into the river, followed by multiple other rabbits.
"Well that takes care of that" Chin said, still furious "Now they can make us tea! Because that's what we need! Tea! Who cares about Mrs. Li and her bloody family!? All they ever do is make us tea! All our equipment! All our loot! All my weapons! All gone!"
"Yes but-"
"All gone! Because this treacherous cur! This loutish nincompoop here" Chin said gesturing to Da-Ming "Doesn't know what inflammable means!" Chin gave Da-Ming another swat with his hat.
"What do we do now sir?"
"I don't know! I…guess we wait until the fire dies down, then go in and see what we can salvage"
"Then what?"
"Then what!? We find a new hideout idiot!"
"Oh…" Bai-Ling looked down at her feet "I'll miss this one"
"Stop moping Bai-Ling! We're bandits! Bandits don't mope!"
"Sorry sir"
"Now everyone shut up and let me think, I have to plan our course of actions"
Chin sat down on a rock to think, while the others stood there, watching as the flames consume the inn.