#bjalla

Is Bjalla a cat in the way a stray lured into a loving home via raw shrimp?

Like yeah these are my new pride but ugh I want some space. I'm happy just to know we exist in the same house. No do not touch me. OK, one oetm and I'm off to go yell at birds

I did not expect this ask!

Mercuriel is a cat in the sense he is can feel quite judgmental when he looks at you, and when he fucks up he definitely pretends he meant to do that and if you can't see the brilliance in what he just did that is YOUR problem. He's also a lot like my cat Lizzie: loves affection, but only if it was HIS idea, dammit.

Bjalla is indeed a lured stray, who likes to be near people but there's no need to be all ... touchy about it. And yes, sometimes he needs to go be In the Wild for a little bit. It's nothing personal, and he will definitely be back for more shrimp.

I answered this for Dusk already here, but I can answer for another one of my boys!

Bjalla's social battery runs out pretty frequently, as being social was not at all a skill he honed as an apprentice wood warder, and he did not get much better at it in his role of master. It's been over sixty years since he left his home, and he's gotten the hang of it enough that, aside from other viera who also broke the Green Word, most people just think he's 'friendly, but quiet.'

His favorite place to go when he needs to stop being near so many people is basically anywhere in Coerthas where people aren't. The climate and mountains remind him somewhat of home (as he's a veena), close enough where it feels comfortable and somewhere he belongs, and it keeps his survival skills sharp.

He never leaves for longer than a month, and he keeps his linkpearl with him if he's expecting to be pestered to do something 'soon,' and he always feels much better and ready to people again after these trips.