"Because I can't get angry at you," Nick said honestly. "Oh, I can be annoyed. Annoyance is easy and you excel at being annoying." He held a paw to his chest. "And I say that as someone who's annoyed other people on a near-professional level before. It's legitimately impressive."
Nick shook his head at him.
"But I can't get angry at you. I can't get outraged. That's why Judy had to do it for me. Whatever part it is that mammals have that lets them be upset on their own behalf? Mine broke a long, long time ago. See, because I wasn't allowed to be angry. Ever. That's what everyone was expecting me to be. All the time. Because of what I am."
He rolled his eyes skyward.
"That and untrustworthy. 'Shifty.' Everyone loves that word."
Words were what failed him right now, when they rarely ever did. But he also was rarely ever this honest. If it'd just been him Grif had been pushing the buttons of, maybe he never would have. He probably would've just stopped talking to him and done nothing else about it, but he couldn't do nothing when Judy and Rocket were getting disrespected, too. And he couldn't do nothing if Judy was wanting to sympathy maul on his behalf.
And that meant for once -- just for once -- he felt like he was actually allowed to be honest and speak up for himself, too. Directly.
In the end, he decided to rip everything Grif had told him about talking animals in his culture to shreds.
"Grif, we're not cute, little, fuzzy talking animals in some cartoon. We're not at the beck and call of lost human girls singing soprano in the woods. And we're not here to put on a little show to teach human children valuable lessons about honesty and sharing. We're people."
He gestured with both paws to Judy. "Judy is a person who gets called 'cute' to make her feel small and weak."
He gestured to himself. "And I get called 'shifty' because my entire world thinks that's all I can ever be, someone who steals and cheats and lies."
He gestured to Rocket. "And I'm assuming from what Rocket's told me that he gets disrespected in general because otherwise he wouldn't be this pissed at you, and because he's apparently the only one of his species in a universe full of humans --" He gestured to Grif with a flick of his paw and a raise of his eyebrows "--and hey, look at what some humans apparently think is a-okay."
He held out both paws in a beseeching gesture. "So stop. Just stop. Because this isn't stupid, harmless jokes about how ugly we find each other. This is you finding buttons we've had pushed our whole lives and pushing them on purpose even after we've told you not to -- and yes, that means we're at the point where we're ready to start snapping off fingers and hooves. Are we clear?"
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Nick shook his head at him.
"But I can't get angry at you. I can't get outraged. That's why Judy had to do it for me. Whatever part it is that mammals have that lets them be upset on their own behalf? Mine broke a long, long time ago. See, because I wasn't allowed to be angry. Ever. That's what everyone was expecting me to be. All the time. Because of what I am."
He rolled his eyes skyward.
"That and untrustworthy. 'Shifty.' Everyone loves that word."
Words were what failed him right now, when they rarely ever did. But he also was rarely ever this honest. If it'd just been him Grif had been pushing the buttons of, maybe he never would have. He probably would've just stopped talking to him and done nothing else about it, but he couldn't do nothing when Judy and Rocket were getting disrespected, too. And he couldn't do nothing if Judy was wanting to sympathy maul on his behalf.
And that meant for once -- just for once -- he felt like he was actually allowed to be honest and speak up for himself, too. Directly.
In the end, he decided to rip everything Grif had told him about talking animals in his culture to shreds.
"Grif, we're not cute, little, fuzzy talking animals in some cartoon. We're not at the beck and call of lost human girls singing soprano in the woods. And we're not here to put on a little show to teach human children valuable lessons about honesty and sharing. We're people."
He gestured with both paws to Judy. "Judy is a person who gets called 'cute' to make her feel small and weak."
He gestured to himself. "And I get called 'shifty' because my entire world thinks that's all I can ever be, someone who steals and cheats and lies."
He gestured to Rocket. "And I'm assuming from what Rocket's told me that he gets disrespected in general because otherwise he wouldn't be this pissed at you, and because he's apparently the only one of his species in a universe full of humans --" He gestured to Grif with a flick of his paw and a raise of his eyebrows "--and hey, look at what some humans apparently think is a-okay."
He held out both paws in a beseeching gesture. "So stop. Just stop. Because this isn't stupid, harmless jokes about how ugly we find each other. This is you finding buttons we've had pushed our whole lives and pushing them on purpose even after we've told you not to -- and yes, that means we're at the point where we're ready to start snapping off fingers and hooves. Are we clear?"