The Mutant Meetup

     (Unless you moved to Neovia — but who could afford that these days?)

     The break room behind Marvin's thrift store was one of these unlucky places. The Mutant Chomby had done his best to brighten it up and make it seem a little more inviting, of course — there were candles everywhere, and the little folding table in the corner had a generous selection of snacks and sodas, with a note to "help yourself!".

     But it was a still a moderately dark room, filled with creepy candles, in a quiet part of the Haunted Woods.

     In short, it wasn't really the ideal atmosphere for a support group.

     (They all kept showing up anyway.)

     Niki the Mutant Usul filled up a paper plate with some chocolate chip cookies (her favourite!), and grabbed a Neocola (not so much, but it seemed a waste to pick a water). After a moment's hesitation, she picked up a gummy rat too. It made her feel like such a stereotype to like spooky food as much as she did; but sue her, she did!

     She nibbled on a cookie as she made her way to the circle of chairs in the middle of the room. It was still early — other than Marvin, Jakey the Yurble was the only other one there. He blinked his eye and waved his tentacles in greeting. Niki blinked all three of hers back in response, with a grin.

     "Thanks for doing this every week, Marvy," Niki said, sitting down. "It's nice."

     Jakey nodded. "Yeah, it's nice to not be the freak in every room once in a while."

     Moving to the Haunted Woods was something that Niki thought every Mutant must have considered at least once in their life. A land of ghosts and zombies, surely they would fit in there! And while it was definitely easier than living somewhere like Meridell (where pets still threw tomatoes at Mutants, horrible!); at the end of the day, you were still a Mutant, and different.

     You were left alone, but no one went out of their way to be your friend either.

     It was hard — having to gradually let go of this idea of the Haunted Woods she had had in her head when she first came here; of it being this place for pets like her. Where she would belong.

     She wouldn't put it quite like Jakey did; it really was nice to be in this room where she wasn't different.

     The whole thing had been Marvin's idea, about a year ago. He'd nervously handed her a flyer for the meeting, right after she'd finished her shift at the carnival, and asked her to tell her Mutant friends about it too.

     She didn't have any Mutant friends — or friends in general — so of course, she'd shown up to the first meeting three nights later. There was just her, Marvin, and a couple of others back then. Jakey had started coming two months later.

     And now, there were about a dozen attendees every week. Not always the same pets — there were about five or six Niki would think of as regulars — but enough familiar faces that she looked forward to it every week.

     A while later, most of the chairs were filled, and Niki had grazed through her entire plate (and was considering helping herself to some more cookies); when Marvin cleared his throat and started the meeting.

     "As a reminder, we're just here to share. We're not going to judge, and we're not going to offer advice unless it's asked for. Who would like to begin?"

     Elsa — a Mutant Vandagyre — raised her clawed hand. "I'd like to start. Hi everyone, I don't know if you remember me, but I was here last week too. I've been trying to put myself out there like you all told me to."

     "That's wonderful, Elsa!" Marvin said. "How has that been for you?"

     "Okay, I guess. But something happened yesterday. I signed up for this Ghostkerchief watching session near Edna's Tower. They said I didn't have to bring anything." She frowned. "But when I got there, they didn't have any trinoculars. Only binoculars. They always forget that not everyone has two eyes."

     "That is so true." Niki winced in sympathy.

     Jaey sighed, rolling his one eye. "Don't I know it."

     "And the worst part," Elsa continued, "is that they weren't even a little bit sorry about it. They don't account for me and pets like me at all, and they don't care that they don't. Sometimes I wonder why I'm trying so hard." She dropped her gaze down to her lap. "Sometimes… I think I should just start saving for a normal paint brush."

     Everyone gasped.

     Marvin waved his arms, hushing the room. "Remember, we don't judge. Elsa, if that's what you choose to do, there's nothing wrong with that. But colour choices must be made to express who we are, not to run away from it. Otherwise it just turns into an endless hunt for the right colour, one that doesn't exist."

     Elsa took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right." She leaned back into her chair. "That's all from me."

     Marvin smiled. "Thank you, Elsa. Who would like to go next? How about our new face?"

     The entire circle turned to look at the newcomer, a Mutant Acara. This startled him, and his glowing blue eyes blazed brighter for a second.

     "Oh, uh—" he began. "I'm, uh, Milo. I'm new. But you knew that."

     "Hi, Milo!" the circle chorused.

     His eyes blazed once again. "Hi. I moved here last month. Uh, I thought I would fit in here. I guess."

     Niki giggled. "That's what we all thought! But they still thought you were a weirdo, huh?"

     The Acara looked embarrassed. "Well, I sort of expected it. But the thing is, another Mutant said something. It was… I don't know, it made me kind of…" he trailed off.

     "Just say what comes to mind, Milo," Marvin said encouragingly.

     Milo sighed. "It made me kind of sad," he finished. "I work with this Mutant Gnorbu down at the Spooky Petpets Shop, and he said that because I look—" he hesistated, but continued— "because I look cool, people were just scared of me, not disgusted. So I didn't get what it was like for real Mutants. What does that even mean, a real Mutant?"

     Marvin was sympathetic. "That sounds difficult."

     "Like, I'm still being avoided, you know? It doesn't feel great either way. I wasn't even sure I wanted to come here. But I saw the flier. So uh, yeah, that's me."

     "We don't discriminate here, Milo." Marvin said. "Thank you for sharing. And you're right, it doesn't hurt any less because the reason may be different. But if I may, to me it seems the reason isn't different at all. We're all excluded because we don't look like other pets."

     Milo shrugged.

     The Mutant Kau next to Milo, Mimi, nudged him with her shoulder, and held up a writing pad with her tentacles. "Some people even say they think I'm cute," she had scrawled on one page. She flipped it over. "But they don't want to be alone in a room with me!"

     "Exactly!" Milo said.

     Mimi flipped to the next page. "Hi, everyone! I've been working on something."

     "And what's that, Mimi?" Marvin asked.

     Flip. "It bothered me how people always have to wait." Flip. "For me to finish writing." Flip. "The conversation never goes smoothly."

     Mimi's next page was blank. As the circle watched, she held up her writing pad to face them with some of her tentacles, while another held her pen. She began to write, without looking. "I've been practising so people don't have to wait." She turned the page. "I ordered food at a bakery like this today!"

     One of Mimi's 'E's was turned the wrong way around, but everyone clapped anyway. Marvin joined in too.

     "I'm glad you found something that works for you, Mimi!"

     The next page was already filled in. "I need to get faster. But practising is fun too." She closed her writing pad and placed it on her lap.

     Marvin nodded. "I'm sure you can find someone to help you here, if you need that, Mimi! Who's next?"

     Zax the Mutant Grundo cleared his throat. Niki inched forward in her seat with interest. Zax was usually very quiet. He would chime in sometimes, here and there, but Niki had never heard him speak at length before.

     "I am not smart," he began. Then held up a stocky hand to silence all the cries of protest. "No, it is the truth. I am not smart, but it is okay because I am strong. Grundos are not strong, but I am strong because I am a Mutant." He frowned. "I am saying this because today it is all complaints, complaints."

     Marvin laughed. "I believe Zax wants us to end on a positive note."

     "Indeed," Zax said. "Today, I lifted a tree off of the road. Everyone said thank you. It made me happy. What I am saying is… being a Mutant makes me happy."

     Marvin nodded enthusiastically. "You're absolutely right! Being a Mutant isn't something we have to cope with. It can be something that makes us happy! I quite enjoy giving the neighbourhood kids rides, myself. No regular Chomby could take all of them on at once!"

     A Mutant Jetsam cackled. "I can walk around on land because of all my tentacles!"

     "And I am pretty cool," Milo said, shyly.

     Niki bounced in her seat. "I'm good at juggling because I can see all the balls at once! I couldn't work at the Fairground otherwise!"

     And so the hour passed — all too soon, Marvin was looking at the clock, and saying it was getting quite late. But Niki was having so much fun, she didn't want to go home just yet.

     "How about we all go get ice cream at the Fairground? I have an employee discount!"

     Mimi scribbled in her writing pad. "Isn't it late? This is the Haunted Woods. Ghouls and ghosts will be about on the way."

     Niki looked around, at the room filled with claws and tentacles, and the gentle blue glow cast by Milo. Maybe it was unsettling to some, but to her it was so Mutant.

     "Well," she said, grinning, "who's going to mess with us?"

     The End.