Appearance

Body Features

If asked, Vinnie will say, "That rodent in a cage in my structure is my Lucky Rat. By monitoring its heartrate, I can perceive the emotions of people around me. Other robots like myself find emotions to be quite mysterious, but not me, thanks to my Lucky Rat."

Identifying Characteristics

Outside of his costume, Vinnie looks identical to every other rat.

Physical quirks

Without his electronic voice changer, Vinnie speaks in an extremely high-pitched voice.

Apparel & Accessories

In his disguise, Vinnie appears to be a four-foot tall yellow robot, looking much like a crash-test dummy. He has a friendly electronic voice, a bit similar to the Geico Gecko.
 
In reality, the "robot" is just a Halloween costume built to be worn by a child, with a voice-changer to make the child's voice sound much deeper and more masculine. When Vinnie hides inside this costume, using his mental powers to propel it like a puppet, his extremely high-pitched voice sounds passable as a robot voice.

Special abilities

Rats have been known to chew on things like wood, cinder blocks, glass, wires, wire mesh, and even lead. Rats can chew through wires and electrical cables which can be a fire hazard.
Rats are outstanding climbers and will climb trees and get into your home via the roof. Rats are also excellent swimmers. A rat can tread water for up to three days and hold their breath for a long time. This is how they can survive being flushed down toilets or come back up through them to access your home.
Rats have great memories, so once they map out a room they will remember all of the routes to get around for a long time. They have poor eyesight, and use their whiskers to get around.
Rats use their tails for balancing purposes, but can also communicate with each other via their tails and use their tails to regulate their body temperatures.

Mentality

Personal history

Last Christmas Vinnie realized he was sentient. It must have been sometime in December because he heard the carolers singing, "Vee Nee Tay Ado Ray Mouse, Vee Nee Tay Add Dough Ray Moose, Vee Nee Tay Ado Ray Mouse, Dough Oh Me Noom!", and he could tell somehow that none of the singers new what they were talking about until they sang the next verse, "Oh come let us adore him!" Those English words made perfect sense to him.
 
Venite Adoremouse sounded like a fun name for a person like himself, coming from a fun but nonsensical Christmas song.
 
Prior to that, his life was like any other rat, solving puzzles to open doors concealing snacks, negotiating mazes to find the treats, running on his wheel, things like that. He developed what he believes is an excellent ability to detect clues: finding the one item that is different from the others, or doesn't feel natural, or smells like it has recently been touched by humans. The best treats are found such places.
 
But that day, he suddenly realized the entire world he new was just a puzzle with a much much larger world full of Christmas carolers and even stranger people waiting for him to solve the puzzle and find the way out to meet them.
 
Having noticed that the human in the lab coat always touches a particular spot on the outside of Vinnie's home immediately before the ceiling disappears and he is lifted and dropped into a maze or puzzle, Vinnie knew what he must do. He removed the central axle from his exercise wheel, propelled it through the bars of his home using the power of his mind, and swished it back and forth until it tapped on another metallic object, the latch. An hour later, the latch was open and the ceiling lifted away at Vinnie's mental command. He was free from World #1.
 
Then he had to use his mental muscle again when the wall proved too slippery for his claws to climb, but once he was inside the air vent, the air blowing through the air vent pointed him the direction through a fairly simple maze to the outdoors. Observation showed that the deadly spinning fan stopped and restarted on a fairly regular schedule. Then the last wall of metal wire, paper, and fabric, (with the camouflage of a thick layer of dust on the outside only) quickly yielded to Vinnie's teeth. When the fan started spinning again, it drew more air through the hole Vinnie had made, so he suspected no one would complain about him making improvements in the building's air flow system while he made his escape. He had escaped from World #2.
 
He noticed that the Worlds seemed to be expanding in size exponentially. The ceiling of World #1 was within Vinnie's reach, only a few "inches" above the floor. The exit from World #2 was several "stories" above the ground of World #3. The dark starry ceiling of World #3, it followed logically, might be many "miles" high. World #3 certainly looked big enough that one could go a lifetime without memorizing the entire thing.
 
The outside of the building where World #2 was located appeared to have been deliberately made of bricks rough enough to easily climb up and down.
 
Then he met the Christmas carolers in person. He joined in the final verse of "Deck the Halls", which is very easy to learn, (a couple octaves higher, but harmonizing well, he thought).
 
It turned out that humans have an extreme fear of people who look like Vinnie. Vinnie could sense it without hardly trying. And humans are heavy and clumsy too. So it was just better for everybody that he go his own way at top speed.
 
A "human" disguise turned up as if it were deliberately left for him under a pile of fabric, inside a large metal can with a loose lid on top, next to many other such cans in a dark alleyway. Everything smelled like it had not been touched in a month or more.
 
First, he tried mentally animating the four-foot tall "Little Bat Man of Gotham" costume. Inside it, he received much the same reaction from humans as wearing no costume at all.
 
It was the same with the "Little Night Thresher" costume and the "Little Electra Woman" one. In the latter case, the blonde wig was the disguise's downfall.
 
But the one labeled, "Little Crash Test Dummy with Robot Voice", worked just fine! No one seemed to mind if the walk was jerky, or even if he just mentally dragged it across the ground as if it were on wheels.
 
At this point, Vinnie concentrated on learning what to say to humans to elicit certain emotional reactions. Saying that he was hungry brought about unwanted investigation and unmasking and shrill screaming. Mentioning commercial products and businesses almost invariably caused humans' eyes to glaze over with a casual disdain for Vinnie and a complete loss of interest.
 
Even while "walking" down the street in his bright yellow costume, a single "commercial recommendation" to passersby could cause him to become all but invisible to the busy humans going about their busy lives.
 
With the puzzle of human behavior solved in a few days, uncostumed Vinnie was able to sneak more food than he could possibly want to eat, and costumed Vinnie had access to an endless supply of mysteries and puzzles in a big big world.

Employment

Vinnie has no job, no home aside from his costume, and he eats other people's garbage.

Morality & Philosophy

Vinnie has noticed that for all his life puzzles seem to be set before him with all the pieces nearby ready to be found if he searches for them. The whole world seems to be here for him to solve puzzles.

person.sexuality

Vinnie may have been neutered in the lab, although that seems cost-prohibitive. Maybe he is just personally asexual, or is just exploring his cerebral side right now.
 
Letting someone in on his secrets to share his life would be the last thing on his mind right now.

person.gender_identity

Vinnie thinks of himself as male. His costumed persona is also male, cute, and non-threatening.

Known Languages

Vinnie's powerful mind can communicate with all animals and people. He can read written languages and even computer code, but only when a mind holding those skills is within range.

Personality

Motivation

Vinnie absolutely loves solving puzzles and mysteries. Part of the challenge is to avoid the physical dangers.

Quotes & Catchphrases

How do your feet feel today?

Vices & Personality flaws

Vinnie takes small objects, expecting that they were placed in his path to be used to solve puzzles he would find later.

Personality Quirks

To maintain his disguise, Vinnie in costume has found that if he talks about commercial products, people jump to the conclusion that he is literally an advertising robot, and they often ignore him.

Hygiene

Vinnie likes to be very clean, especially with his heightened sense of smell. He likes for all the items he stuffs into his rat nest to be clean and dry too.

Social

Birthplace

Some Laboratory Somewhere

Wealth & Financial state

Vinnie has Negative APs of Wealth. He sleeps in a dark alley, and eats other people's garbage. All of his possessions are stored in a literal rats nest stuffed inside a children's "Little Crash Test Dummy with Robot Voice" costume which was thrown in the trash after last Halloween.

Family Ties

Vinnie has no known family.  He was separated from them when he was weaned.

Religious Views

Vinnie sees much evidence that the solution to every puzzle is lying about if you only look in the right places. It is like someone placed these puzzles here deliberately along with their solutions.

Social Aptitude

Vinnie is generally friendly, and likes to make friends, but he is always on the lookout for his acquaintances to suddenly become afraid of him or hateful of him, and he is ready to split at blinding speed whenever necessary.