He barely hears the voice over the din, but the thwap of something warm and furry and very much alive on his face? That's a little harder to ignore.

The rat was stunned, too--Dennett might be a soft man, but his head's still pretty hard--so there's a few seconds where he looks down, and the rat looks up, shaking the daze from its eyes, and then there's a moment of recognition.

And then the highly unmanly scream and flailing.

"RATS!"