Having Shadow around has even been good for Noelle, who for those of you who haven't met her, is my sweet-as-southern-tea unicorn aspect, a proto-MLP who's been with me since I was like 14.

Noelle took some serious damage in the explosion of Transliminal Station and my exile from Seattle, and had effectively been comatose for the most part.

But having someone to care for (aside from Peggy who is largely self-maintaining and has SO MANY MORE HIT DICE AND ARMOR LEVELS than me) has awakened what is basically my Inner Fluttershy and she's been coming to the forefront for the first time in several years.

Please, please Shadow, don't break our hearts. Heal fast and have a wonderful long life.

also i can now join the chorus of catlovers saying everyone in human history who has ever said cats only think of themselves and don't really love their human friends is full of shit and can go soak their heads in a bucket of kitten drool

she just says it in cat is all, a language i of course am a natural at from living with a grouchy tigress, and 200 noseboops later i am one of the faithful

@zebratron2084 Great, and I'm glad you've been able to find someone you can help.

@zebratron2084 When people say 'they don't REALLY love you' what they're actually saying is 'cats either don't like me because they can smell my indifference,' or 'I'm not actually interested in understanding the perspective of a non-human lifeform.' Dogs are easy mode for that; I love dogs, but dogs are effectively just precocious preteens in wolf costumes.

@zebratron2084 The accusations cats get always strike me as a bit nonsensical, anyway. I mean, speaking as a fucking -werewolf- of all things I definitely prefer them over dogs; they've just got the same kind of independence I try to pursue myself, for lack of better words? A lot of people who complain about cats being loveless (something I can tell you from years of experience is -complete- bullshit) seem to just want unconditional devotion from everyone else in their lives as well instead of realizing that any form of relationship, even with an animal, is going to be a two-way street no matter what it is.

@Thaminga Yeah, honestly, all Team Cat and Team Raccoon jokes aside, I love dogs too. Dogs are sweet and helpful and wonderful friends, and I am always super-kind to them but I would never want to "own" one. As Peg and I keep putting it to each other, having a dog is like raising a child, but having a cat is like having a roommate.

I really _like_ that Shadow, Sugarfoot, and Shemp's lives don't revolve around us. I _like_ that they've got their own agendas and their own secrets and sometimes they deign to involve us in them. I _like_ that they totally ignore us when we call for them. They remind me of me. :D

Did I ever tell y'all the story of my first time in a cat cafe? It was like a minor religious awakening, the moment I realized, "Yeah. I picked the right furry team. THESE ARE MY PEOPLE."

Peg and I were there to just study and chill. Everyone else seemed to be there hoping for a CAT EXPERIENCE. They were very disappointed when getting right up in the residents' faces with feathers and toys got _zero_ reaction from them. And every time I saw it happen, I made a point of whispering to that cat: "I... I love you. You are perfect. Never, ever change for us."

I learned a very important lesson that day about not giving a shit what other people demand from me unless they meet me on my terms. I have been so grateful to the cats of Meowtropolitan ever since.

@zebratron2084 Same! Dogs themselves are fine and I'll pet pretty much any one of them that'll let me (and in turn, they seem to be super attracted to me too for whatever reason), but actually owning one? That just feels... wrong. It's probably just me and my Weird Kin Shit but there's something profoundly unsettling to me about the idea of *owning* what's essentially a wolf that's been bred over the millennia to be nigh-unconditionally loyal to you that likely wouldn't make it in the wild should they decide to run off after all.

@zebratron2084 I kinda feel; dogs, being basically paedomorphic wolves, are very accessible to humans as group dwellers. Cats think less like us; bigger social groups are relatively new to them, but cat colonies definitely exist. Even without how some cats understand humans better than others, I think they definitely feel love, it’s just on cat terms which have a bit more place associations built in than dogs get. We can’t fully understand, but we don’t have to.

@zebratron2084 the domestic guys who are really out there are horses. They go all the way from “pretty much a very large strong human with some bad anxiety” to “this person definitely has their own agenda and it doesn’t include me unless I have food or want to sit on them.”

@zebratron2084

that cat likely has a far better con score and hit die than you give her credit for.

a basic cat is easily a match for a level 1 human commoner.

@zebratron2084 hi Shadow!