Rat

This page describes a story I'm actually trying to write. Any information past the first section counts as spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Rattus "Rat" Rattus
Pronouns:	he/him, they/them
Species:	Demon (pestilence)
Birthday:	none :(
Age:	old

Rat is a pestilence demon brought into LEDDlabs as a test subject. He is part of the Lab Rats testing group, along with Ollie and Moe.

Profile

Appearance

Rat is a humanoid with curly brown shoulder-length hair in something like a mullet. He has some animal features: a pair of small round ears on the top of his head, a thick green rodent tail, black curled ram horns, black claws on his hands and feet, and jagged black teeth. Additionally, Rat has small black spines running down his back, typically hidden by the loose fabric of his sweater. Rat's eyes have large pupils, looking solid black from most angles, but he does have thin hazel irises. His skin is pale with a sickly complection. On his extremities and in other patches, like under his eyes, his skin is black and scarred, looking similar to acral necrosis^↗. Rat is 6'3" tall, but rarely stands at his full height, and is very thin. He looks like he's in his late thirties or older just from how weary he is.

Rat typically wears an oversized sweater with a wide neck that hangs off of his shoulders and partially covers his hands. His usual sweater is green with an image of a brown rat wearing sunglasses and skateboarding labeled "RATICAL". He also wears loose brown pants that are slightly too short for him. Rat's long feet and claws prevent him from comfortably wearing shoes, so he's almost always barefoot. When outdoors, Rat wears sunglasses to protect his eyes. They also make him look cool.

Rat's voice is deep, but could still be interpreted as feminine. They speak slowly and smoothly, fitting their sleepy attitude. When Rat laughs, it's higher pitched and squeaky in quality, y'know like a rat. Also he has a British accent.

Personality

Rat's most definiting quality is his persistent sleepiness. They tend to come off as apathetic and uncooperative, refusing to do any activities that require effort. Rat's experiences as an immortal being also lend to their laidback attitude, as Rat has absolutely no reason to rush; they have infinite time. He also just finds pleasure in being annoying. Despite being a demon, Rat's other notable quality is his kindness, though he tries his best to obfiscate this fact. Rat holds genuine concern for his mortal companions, and will put in effort if it's for their sake, with some overdramatic complaining along the way. Rat's behavior could even be seen as parental, especially towards the younger Moe. Unlike the archetypal immortal, Rat puts a lot of effort into keeping up with current times, and is far more knowledgeable about pop culture than his groupmates. In fact, Rat's extensive real-world experience is his most important contribution to the group, as he's the only one not raised in a lab.

Abilities

As a demon, Rat is immortal. They are impossible to kill by mortal means, but can still be injured and temporarily incapacitated. Rat in particular needs an extended amount of time to regenerate, though sleep speeds up the process. Some extreme injuries in the past have led to Rat taking multiple-years-long "naps". Other demon abilities Rat has are heightened senses and minor shapeshifting. Rat rarely displays their shapeshifting ability, as it costs energy Rat does not have. While demons have the capacity to be far stronger than humans both physically and magically, Rat is extremely weak.

As a demon of pestilence, Rat is intended to spread disease. Luckily, Rat seems to have good control over this, so he's not getting the whole lab sick. If he has other powers related to this, he doesn't display them.

History

"Rat" is a recent nickname for them, first used in the 1910s. Before that, they went by many different names through the years. Most are lost to time, and any Rat does remember, he refuses to share. Because of this, I will continue to refer to them as "Rat" even for time periods where that would not have been their name. Rat also presented as feminine before the 1900s, so I may switch between pronouns. I mostly use "they" though.

Rat came into existence sometime before 500 AD. They spent very little time with mortals, so few records of them exist until the 14th century. Rat did some very important stuff in England in the mid-1300s. Rat had a brief phase in the late 1400s where they ran around as a skeleton. Starting in the 16th century, Rat became very interested in art. They pop up in a number of paintings around this time though many have been lost or damaged. Somewhere in this century is also the last time Rat checked in with Hell. Records of Rat dip out again in the 18th century, and don't resurface until the 1900s. Before this time period, Rat rarely showed their horns, hiding them either with magic or by wearing veils, hats, and other head coverings. They dropped this as they started wearing men's fashion. By the 1920s, Rat was known to be suffering from fatigue, an issue that continues to present time. Rat spent most of their time between the 1930s and 2000s sleeping in a crypt, completely missing WWII. At some point around the turn of the 21st century, Rat gets top surgery, but they go back in the crypt afterward. It's from this crypt that Rat was retrieved and brought to LEDDlabs.

Relationships

Ollie

Rat's opinion of Ollie is that she's stuck-up and boring. He's used to mortals rushing to get things done in their short lifetimes, but this is ridiculous. Ollie's pride is easy to poke at, and Rat is always pleased to get a rise out of her.

Moe

Moe is the funniest and weirdest little guy Rat has ever seen, and he is always happy to watch what Moe gets into. Not that Rat is planning on actively adding to Moe's misfortune, but they don't have any plans to help just yet either.

Astaroth

Rat is suggested to have a history with Astaroth, another demon held within LEDDlabs. The two haven't been in contact for at least 500 years.

Trivia

• Rat as a character was inspired by the Black Death "Hollaback Girl" parody^↗

• Rat used to have two pairs of tits. Now he has four top surgery scars.

• Rat has awful pollen allergies. Also, his eyes are highly sensitive to light, making direct sunlight painful. He hates being outdoors.

• Rat is the only member of the lab rats who knows how to swim.

• Rat has an official character playlist^↗

• Rat loves to lie about what his name is short for. These lies include Ratthew, Ratrick, and Ratatouille. It's short for "Rattus", which he decided was his full name after being nicknamed "Rat" for being a liar and general nuisance. All of Rat's known previous names follow a similar trend.

Gallery

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