Horatio

HUMAN APPEARANCE

FELINE APPEARANCE

Family: Brother: Styles (Whereabouts unknown, presumed dead). Half-Brother: Keiiji (doesn't know).

Personality:

Intellectual: Horatio taught himself to read as a youngster. As such, his strongest point is his mind. He is fascinated by the human stories he has read, and loves to discuss almost any idea or topic just for the sake of discussion.

Meek: He is often quiet and contemplative. Even in conversation, he keeps his speaking volume at a neutral level or lower. This is chiefly because he hates conflict of any kind. He would rather give into the other person, or have a calm discussion, than fight out a disagreement. 

Defensive: Though he hates fighting as a rule, there are one or two things that can guarantee an almost immediate response. Namely, any rude or derisive speaking about his family or anyone he cares about. One thing he has learnt both from reading and from his difficult experiences is the importance of "defending one's honor." Unfortunately, he has not yet learnt to "just walk away" from such a situation; once anyone has made a remark or he believes a loved one has been harmed in any way, he's ready to challenge the offender whether they meant it or no. This has more than once gotten him into trouble, as he makes no distinction between a jest and a pointed insult. He does try to avoid these situations before they arise. Conscious that getting his hackles raised is very easy to do, he works that much harder to keep aware of his emotional levels and judge when it is time for him to leave a situation. He genuinely cares about others and does not want to hurt anyone; but it is taking him a long time to "unlearn" the fight-over-everything mindset he was taught on his boating ventures.

History: Horatio was born in a human's attic, though his time there was very short-lived. As soon as they were weaned, he and his littermates were sent away to the streets by their mother. She told them this was best, because if they didn't leave on their own, the humans would be sure to cart them off to an animal shelter; they were better off running away now, so they could do what they pleased. Looking back, Horatio suspects his mother was more worried that she would get sent away if her humans found out she had kittens. He remembers little about her, however, and has more or less put her out of his mind. He has occasionally wondered who his father is, but has been too busy surviving to worry much about it.

Once out on the streets, he and his siblings went off in different directions to eke out whatever sorts of existence they could - some going it alone, some sticking together. Horatio and his brother Styles traveled the city together for some time, until they found a good area to more or less "settle" or at least use as a sort of base: a little sandwich shop that generally had plentiful scraps in its rubbish bins, near a library that closed early in the day and made a good sleeping-spot - once they mastered getting in and out just in the nick of time before the doors were locked. During his nighttime hours spent in the library, he even taught himself to read, and became fascinated with the exciting lives humans led (he had not learned to distinguish between truth and fiction, and more or less assumed every human story had actually occurred at some point). Horatio was happy to keep up this relatively simple life: keeping indoors and reading or sleeping while the humans were gone, slipping outside when they arrived and eating or taking walks until they left again. There were various street gangs about, but he had little interest in them and did his best to avoid them, dreading any confrontations. His brother Styles, on the other hand, became bored with such an inactive existence. He wanted to do things, not just hear about them from human stories. He wanted to go off adventuring, maybe meet a gang, get in a fight, cause trouble, anything. Horatio began to worry, as his brother would be gone days at a time without a word of explanation. There was no official agreement between the two that they would stick together indefinitely, but Horatio had become so used to it that he didn't quite know what to do on his own.

One day Styles returned after a week-long absence, going on and on about his adventures on a "barge," insisting that Horatio accompany him and at least see what it was like. Horatio had only read about sailing in a positive light so far - brave naval heroes going off to protect King and Country and the like. That didn't sound like a bad adventure to get involved with. So he went along to investigate, as well as to humor his brother: perhaps sharing in boating adventures together would help them stay friends and get Styles to appreciate going back to a quieter life. 

Unbeknownst to Horatio, his brother had signed him onto the crew of Growltiger, the "Terror of the Thames." Styles had long been noticing that Horatio was a bit of a "softy" and needed toughening up - what better opportunity than a few weeks or months with a bunch of guffawing sailor-cats? While Horatio was occupied with exploring the boat, his brother sneaked away and the boat set out traveling up and down the river. By the time Horatio realised he was stuck on the boat - and on his own - he found himself surrounded by the roughest bunch he'd ever set eyes on. In truth, most of them weren't terribly awful sorts, but Horatio's soft-spoken manner and less-than-intimidating appearance tended towards inviting ridicule, bullying, and general derisive treatment. To one who had spent his life on the streets, this should have been nothing new; but Horatio, accustomed to having a safe haven to flee to in such situations, never really learned to stand up for himself. First, he tried hiding in various spots belowdecks; but the crew knew this boat like the backs of their paws - besides which, Horatio was informed, in no uncertain terms, that he was expected to pull his weight whilst aboard this craft or be tossed overboard. He then tried attending to his chores quietly, keeping himself unnoticed; but this did no good - everyone's chief amusement seemed to be poking at him in any way they could. Horatio tried reasoning with them, employing many big words he had learnt from his reading; but they only laughed at this.

Finally, whether from pity or because it was no fun picking on such a pathetic person, one of the crew took it upon himself to explain "what was what" to Horatio. To survive here, he explained, one must attend to one's duties, never look afraid, and - most importantly - must be able to hold one's own in a fight. He took it upon himself to teach Horatio, and Horatio complied - though he could not understand the point of fighting amongst themselves. Wasn't fighting for War and Enemies, and weren't they all Allies here? Even allies had disagreements, he was informed, and the way these were settled was by the two cats fighting it out until one of them proved his point. This made no sense to Horatio, until someone made a foul remark about his mother, sending him into a rage. He fought them and lost, but he did fight. Nursing his wounds in the cabin, it dawned on him that, much as he hated confrontation, any impugnation of his honor or that of his family would drive him to fight. After that, Horatio's life on the barge improved significantly: he was still shoved and bullied, but was no longer the constant brunt of everyone's mistreatment now that he would stand up and defend himself. He became - not exactly comrades with anyone, but he could exist alongside them without too much trouble.

After several months of this existence, the barge came back into port, and Horatio gladly left it. The life of a sailor was not all it was made out to be, after all. He went to the library in search of his brother, assuming Styles would be satisfied after playing such an elaborate trick. When Horatio arrived, however, the building was locked, its windows boarded up; apparently it had moved someplace. Horatio wandered the streets aimlessly for a time, having a vague idea of searching for his brother but also just generally craving companionship, never mind who. Eventually, he joined up with a gang of street cats and gave up on Styles. It was the same rough life Horatio had just left, only on land instead of water; but it was better than being alone, and he knew of no better groups to take up with. One day, however, when it was his turn to go digging for food, Horatio accidentally stumbled upon the Junkyard and the Jellicles. Knowing nothing of them, he continued with his own gang for quite some time longer, though frequently kept a lookout on the 'yard to see what sort of a life those cats led. At last satisfied that it was a place he could live with other cats without having to fight for survival, he left the street gang to join the Jellicles.

Powers: Horatio can read and comprehend human writing. Though he does not realize it, literacy is not a common trait among cats. His ability to do so is the result of an unexplained power of the mind. He is not more intelligent than other cats, per se; but he is capable of thinking on a different level. He is unaware of it and has scarcely used it except in catering to his own enjoyment, though he has begun noticing that he is hard-pressed to find other cats who read or want to hold hours-long deep, philosophical discussions. But he generally shrugs it off as lack of interest and firmly believes anycat could read if they tried.

Weaknesses: His strength of mind leaves him weak in other areas. For example, he has little bodily strength - even less than might be expected for his size. Even after the little training and experience he had under the barge crew, he only performs tolerably well at best in a physical fight. Also, he has inexplicable - and inconsistent - lapses of memory. It is not a constant thing, but he clearly can't retain everything: he may remember something from long ago but forget what happened yesterday; remember what he reads, but forget a conversation, etc.