"Only if you're trying to mold me into someone polite and obedient." Rat phrases it as if such traits would be a curse. In reality, he thinks Marius is too savvy for that. Sweet and optimistic though he might be, he understands cynicism and why some people wear it so proudly. It's more than he would expect of many.

When Marius continues to blithely make up suggestions, Rat pokes him hard in the shoulder. "Stop thinking of things for it to use!" he says, somewhere between laughing and scowling.

"But I don't think Poe could have come up with that girl, Agatha. She's a real live wire."