Character Development: Lalli

[Vafhudr]

As if a lack of in-story shipping has ever stopped the fandom to indulge.

[starfallz]

Harbourmaster Minna has already approved a fairly open shipping lanes policy so, yeah. Report at the quartermaster's office for safety blankets, brain bleach and lifejackets if required.

*applauds*

[wavewright62]

I think i will just smuggle myself in a wooden box back to the troll infested woods to avoid that.

You and me both.

[Noodles]

You and me both.

*gets out crowbar, pillows* (hey, crates *don't* sound comfy)
No, actually, I don't really mind that much if other people ship, I just don't myself.

[Sunflower]

Lalli's refusing Emil's fist bump on p. 306 prompted a lot of speculation about "What is his deal, really?"

anonion
Am I the only one who's starting to be bothered by the fact that Lalli is so damn completely unreadable? Should I go with "he's literally a cat in a human body" and leave it at that? It fits, and I know many find it cute, but to me it's very unsatisfying.

The way he never talks (though he is able to), not even with Tuuri, and the way he doesn't otherwise try to communicate with the rest in any other way (except to express frustration) really make him seem... not really human.

Plus he's so passive, he doesn't seem to be motivated by anything at all. Yes, he liked the cookies enough to steal them that once, but as much as you guys liked that incident, it was minor and didn't go anywhere.

I want to like Lalli so much, and I don't generally mind "mysterious" characters. I bet he had a rough childhood (raised by cats? Nah, he dislikes cats. Raised by trolls??) and that's fine. But I want to see what's going on in his mind, damn it!

AmityM  anonion • 19 hours ago
You already know a lot about what goes on in his mind! Think about it.

He's somewhat immature, shy, and detached, but alert, curious, sensitive, and has an intense psychic focus when he needs it.

So what is he thinking now? Probably something like, "What does this guy want with this fist thing? Whatever it is, I'm not sure I want to give it to him. I'm going to go lie down and sleep, and maybe keep an eye on that new mage pretending not to be a mage. Not necessarily in that order."

anonion  AmityM • 19 hours ago
"You already know a lot about what goes on in his mind" - no, all we know is how he feels about the things he's experiencing at the moment, as you proved. That is not a lot at all, when you want to know what drives a character. It would be really interesting to know *why* he feels the way he does sometimes - like why he was not scared of the troll in the Dalahasten.

We know Tuuri and Reynir want to see the world. We know Sigrun just likes fighting, Emil wants to prove himself and get rich. We don't know much about Mikkel's motivations yet, but I'm confident we'll get there soon, and there have been hints to an interesting backstory with all the firing.

But ask yourself, why is Lalli facing mortal danger nearly every day and the answer is... because his cousin dragged him there, and he's indifferent to it. Does that feel satisfying to you?

kauniiltaunia  anonion • 19 hours ago
I agree that Lalli definitely needs some more character development, but at this point all we can really do is to be patient! I get the feeling that there are a lot of plot points that Minna needs to fit into the story, and this might mean sacrificing some elements that don't immediately contribute.

As to why he wasn't affected by the troll on the Dalahasten, it may be that he has come desensitized to it. Someone who has dreams/nightmares and visions of trolls and beasts on a regular occasion would almost definitely either become 'used' to it - at the cost of some of their normal reactions and emotions - or turn into a gibbering wreck at the mere mention of something lurking in the dark (hint hint: Onni?)

anonion  kauniiltaunia • 19 hours ago
Or... he *knows* he was not in danger in that particular situation, which is my preferred guess. We'll see!

Don't take my commenting as a lack of patience. I love this comic and will follow it to the end. I'll keep making endless guesses about Lalli and all other unclear things, like we all do. I would just like Minna to throw us a little bone of certainty Lalli-wise, that's all.

anonion  Sols • 19 hours ago
Hm. I find Emil extremely relatable for instance, and definitely not a "single-quirk" character. Some of the rest are a bit single-quirk-ish, but they still feel satisfying as characters because of the way they react to stuff. Possibly just because they *talk*. The not talking bothers me most, I think.

Cancvas  Sols • 18 hours ago
Well, at least I think Lallis behavior is perfectly normal. Finns have culture (and language) of minimalistic expression, and added to that for Lalli, he is in company of strangers who he doesn't understand and Tuuri is the cause why he is stuck where he is, so it's just better to keep up watching the situation without giving any away and see what's it's about these punchy squeezy strangers.

jp_otter  anonion • 19 hours ago
My take is that Lalli's understanding of the way the world works is completely at odds with just about everyone else's. His life has always been very internalized, so social niceties don't even factor in. Kind of like how some geniuses can be really brilliant at quantum mechanics yet remain completely inept with fraternization. One might even infer that whatever presumably-recessive gene that causes maginess, might also cause some other brain effects, not unlike mild autism. But then Reynir came and so far seems to be socially "normal", which kind of blows that theory out of the water.

anonion  jp_otter • 19 hours ago
Actually, that is my explanation as well, as much as I have one. While I was re-reading some of Lalli's dream sequences, I realised he seems to be as grounded in the magic/dream world as he is in "reality", if not more so. I can see how that might seriously influence his motivation and attitude towards human interaction, and I'd love to see that explored!

Laufey  anonion • 18 hours ago
This is a really interesting comment, because on the contrary I think I can read Lalli suitably well and that he seems very human to me in his way of acting. I've known several people who actually are to some degree like him and his strikes me as actually quite a realistic portrayal of this type. He prefers solitude and avoids every social interaction that he can, he cannot read other people well (possibly due to never having been around people much) so their actions are either confusing, annoying or perhaps even frightening to him. Being cooped up in a small space with four-five people does probably not go well with him.

Not talking is also a completely normal state of being for a Finn, at least according to jokes and country stereotypes. Besides Lalli does communicate but only when the situation demands it, his communication pattern is strictly informative, not a social function. That said when he wants to communicate something he makes a good effort even when the other one doesn't share any language with him, like his interaction with Emil in the train shows.

In short, he's the type that you invite to your summer cottage party, show him where the fishing rods are and he'll stay somewhere out on the lake for most of the time, returning at some point with fish for everyone. Afterwards he'll think it was a great party.

[Sunflower]

Kathy Megar-Kestner  anonion • 19 hours ago
I think Lalli though "uneducated" in the typical sense may be on genius level. Genetically is a cousin (I am guessing a first cousin) to Tuuri an therefore shares a lot of the same genes. Tuuri is very smart but in a differing area than Lalli. I think that eventually Lalli will be a very powerful mage when he finally gets more experience. I feel that there was a disconnect between Onni and Lalli and Onni didn't do right by him and mentor him properly because of his own fears. "Everybody's a genius. But if you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree it will believe that it is stupid. Albert Einstein.

Róisín  anonion • 16 hours ago
I don't think he 'wasn't afraid' of the Dalahasten troll. More like he's the sort of fatalist who is just going to deal with what life throws at him, and sees no point in extreme and non-productive reactions. He did manage to alert the train guards in time, after all. Screaming and panicking take time and energy that might more usefully go toward surviving.

He'll die when he has no choice, not before. Probably stolidly, and resisting every inch of the way. And long after the 'run in circles, scream and shout' types have gone down.

anonion  Róisín • 16 hours ago
I don't expect him to scream and flail, that would be out of character indeed. But he could've brought his rifle or knife along, especially since he knew *exactly* what was coming. Or just... not warn the others and let them deal with the troll, if he knew it would be dangerous. He just didn't seem to be concerned at all as he went "there's a troll directly above me ripping through the thin sheet of metal that keeps it away from us. Just thought you should know".

LooNEY_DAC  anonion • 11 hours ago
If you look at the Emil-Lalli close-up once Spider-Snake is in the compartment, you'll note Lalli is not unaffected by the sight. We see later that his rifle is in his baggage, which was most likely stowed away in a baggage car, even as it would be today. Probably only train staff are allowed to bear arms on the train, as it has been for quite some time.

DaiJB  anonion • 9 hours ago
What? He was letting them know something was about to happen! No-one knew that a giant was ripping through the roof until Lalli pointed it out! Agnetha had the commonsense to look where he pointed, enabling them to prepare (in the limited capacity they had available) for the attack. He couldn't *tell* them - he didn't speak Swedish - he could only point. A rifle or knife would have been useless against a giant - the firepower of the train staff wasn't enough!
In short, Lalli did everything he could, as quickly as he could.

AmityM  Róisín • an hour ago
Regarding Lalli and the train giant, keep in mind that he is young and not very experienced, especially in combat. I read his reaction as astonished -- he sensed what was there but couldn't quite believe what he was perceiving, and had no idea how to react.

It was the military people, drilled extensively and trained to react fast and vigorously, who knew what to do and did it. They weren't as sensitive as the mage-scout, but they were better prepared.

None of these characters are somehow ideal or perfect. There are no superheroes. The way most people learn to react fast in a fight is by having been in a lot of fights already, and lived. The ones who haven't yet are learning.

To me that's one of the strengths of Minna's characters -- not a weakness.

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AmityM  anonion • an hour ago
"That is not a lot at all, when you want to know what drives a character."

Well, in my experience, most people in real life aren't driven by a short checklist of things -- even, often, the people who think that they are!

I'm glad that Lalli isn't defined as "a character who will do anything for ponies, nothing else matters," so that everyone can say, "Oh I know what Lalli will do in any moment, if it involves ponies he's going to go for it, if it involves peonies or pennies or anything else he won't care." Characters like that are, in my opinion, not so very convincing.
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wavewright62  AmityM • 19 hours ago
Perhaps he's avoiding another "why do these people keep hitting me" moment.
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Róisín  AmityM • 18 hours ago
I find Lalli a very interesting character, partly because I enjoy puzzles, partly because he reminds me of several people I have known. Now the interesting thing about all of those people was that I got on fine with them because when I crossed paths with them and realised how they were I shut up, went on quietly with what I was doing, and waited for them to come to me. Which, eventually, they did. And then, with all of them, the eventual interactions were Very Worthwhile.
These otherwise wildly varied people had several things in common. Firstly, all of them had survived major traumas, often while very young - things like five years of childhood spent in hospital undergoing painful surgeries; wars; major disasters that had taken their homes and families; childhood in a concentration camp; being a forgotten prisoner of war; being a small child through the London Blitz; being an old marngit who had watched most of his tribe die...... I'm sure the general trend is apparent. Secondly, all of them were brilliant at something and had used their focus on that thing to survive suffering that would have broken most people: artist, musician and composer, writer, plant breeder, sculptor, comedian, rememberer of tradition...
Maybe that's why these people lived through their experiences and were not destroyed in spirit?
I wonder whether there is an element of understanding how such people work in Minna's characterisation?

Helenatroy  Róisín • 8 hours ago
It's a good possibility that Minna knows someone like that IRL. I also think that she puts a lot of herself or her personality into Lalli (she being very introverted and making him react to people that way).

Róisín  Helenatroy • 8 hours ago
I thought probably there were aspects of Minna in both Lalli and Tuuri. Both seem to me to be 'speaking' characters, though oddly enough it's the silent one rather than the chattering one who seems to me to communicate more clearly.

Aprillen  Róisín • 6 hours ago
This is very insightful. And there are hints about something rather traumatic happening to Tuuri, Onni and Lalli before they relocated to Keuruu. They are orphans, for one thing.

[princeofdoom]

I read the translation of Lalli's moon runo and combined with what we DO know about him AND Finnish culture as a whole, I do think there's something driving him; we just don't know what yet.

As I understand it, runo is more of a form the spell takes (like a type of poem/song), and one could make up a runo on the fly if they have the talent for it. We know that Lalli's moon runo was at least a modification of a more common one, with the way he includes that he's in a foreign land.

And in the runo, he says he's afraid.

Now I think that is understatement, personally. He also stated he was in a scary, foreign country when Tuuri asked if he even knew where they were. He's probably low level scared for most of their journey so far. On top of that, he's sleep deprived; and yet, he goes out scouting every night, and sometimes during the day with the rest of the crew. And the only thing we have to go on for why he's there is that Tuuri made him come.

I think he probably cares very strongly for his family in his own way. He also worries about people around him in general. Not in the way a lot of people do (chatting with them, comforting them physically, etc), but he knows his job is important to the group, that if he doesn't do it or does it poorly, everyone else is likely to suffer. ESPECIALLY Tuuri.

Personally, if I were to assign a "personality type" to him, it would be INFP or maybe INFJ for the Meyers-Briggs typology, which incidentally makes him very similar to myself (INFP), but with stronger introversion.

RE: Lalli's personality might be affected by being a mage
I do lean toward this and I think that Reynir having some ABILITY as a mage doesn't automatically disprove this. Reynir hasn't been through mage training, as far as I know, and if he had been, it would have been as a Norse mage, wouldn't it? So either due to further realization of abilities itself, or the type of training Finnish mages go through, or some combination, being a mage could still affect Lalli's personality. I think we need to know more to be sure.

RE: Lalli isn't a cat because he dislikes cats
I know plenty of cats that don't like other cats, especially strange cats they haven't met before. Heck I had a cat who liked maybe 2 people and could stand me and one of my dogs, and everyone and everything else was absolutely awful in her views. So liking cats certainly isn't a prerequisite to being one.

[Tjoll]

Given that Lalli had no trouble recognizing Emil's distress on page 172 and responding appropriately (inosfar as he extrapolated that the state of Emil's hair was important to him, from page 127) I would hesitate to place Lalli on the spectrum.

While Lalli's response is certainly funny, it isn't by any means appropriate. An appropriate reaction would be laying a hand on Emil's shoulder, hand or whatever, and/or talking to him in a calming voice (no matter whether Emil can or cannot understand the words being spoken). Thinking Emil would feel better by getting his hair tidied up is rather bizarre, because the hair is NOT the cause of his distress and --test yourself-- it wouldn't have come to YOUR mind as the proper way to ease a person's distress over something horrid that just happened in rl, or am I wrong?
More bizarre behavior: repeatedly ignoring a greeting hand (seemingly not out of intentional rudeness but because he doesn't care or know what's expected of him), stealing food instead of just asking for it (seemingly without thinking about this being a rude thing to do). Not to mention his way of dealing with things he's getting thrown into: he functions, he just deals with them, he doesn't bother with what-if's, he doesn't complain about or discuss his situation (except when getting hit repeatedly for no reason -- but then again, he's letting Emil drag him around like a doll--would you tolerate this? Another example: instead of asking Tuuri to ask Reynir some questions for him in order to investigate why he met Reynir in dream-space, where he comes from, what he wants there and so on, he chooses to frown at him from under a blanket...
I don't read his real-world-passiveness as some sort of post-traumatic state of reatreat from the world, I read it as the way Lalli just IS. Yes, he has a solitary job, and yes, such a thing has the potential to make people socially awkward, but it doesn't seem to me that Lalli NEEDS other people around, as in: he seems to have no urge to spend time with them at all. He doesn't seem to get what they want from him most of the time or care about what they tell him or understand whether they're serious or not (see: Tuuri trying to explain her plans regarding their new job to him).
His distinct lack of basic interest in people (he doesn't even chat with Tuuri, who he knows well and seems to care about him a lot) is a very unusual trait among humans, and combined with the tons of odd behavior he shows, I wouldn't write it off as him being "just" an introvert. Or sleepy. Or due to culture.
His motives are likely very different from those of the rest of the crew, like: he's motivated by things as getting somewhere safe and dry in order to sleep or getting more tasty cookies (instead of being motivated by stuff like getting rich of having an adventure or seeing foreign countries). To me it seems as if he "just" wants to live his life in peace.
I really like him, not only because his behavior causes many funny situations in the comic, but because I enjoy these quiet moments when we get a glimpse at his personal world, like that cookie-stealing scene. I think it's nice to experience things from his unique perspective.

[Solovei]

His distinct lack of basic interest in people (he doesn't even chat with Tuuri, who he knows well and seems to care about him a lot) is a very unusual trait among humans, and combined with the tons of odd behavior he shows, I wouldn't write it off as him being "just" an introvert. Or sleepy. Or due to culture.

But... how do we know that they don't talk? The thing is, comics is a very static medium. You can't depict everything that's going on at any given moment, otherwise the page will get very crowded and hard to follow. And just because we don't see something happening (tuuri and lalli talking somewhere off-panel) doesn't mean it's not actually happening.

[Tjoll]

But... how do we know that they don't talk? The thing is, comics is a very static medium. You can't depict everything that's going on at any given moment, otherwise the page will get very crowded and hard to follow. And just because we don't see something happening (tuuri and lalli talking somewhere off-panel) doesn't mean it's not actually happening.

You are totally right of course--I didn't consider this, just assumed so by the things we DID see.
[But then again, what isn't depicted or hinted at in the comic really doesn't exist, so... ;]

[Laufey]

It's a fact though that some Finns can stay silent for a long time and that silence has nothing negative behind it. I'm a chatty person but I sometimes phase out too, especially in the right surroundings. It's proven that me and my little brother can exist a whole day in almost total silence if we're at the summer cabin, we once went through a day saying only "morning", "caught any fish?" and "yeah", possibly also "night" but I'm not entirely sure of the last one. It's mostly him being the super quiet type but I can be a bit similar f.ex. when having a walk or working on something that I like working with. Talking to me while I'm enameling is pretty useless, I won't even hear half of it and the rest of the time I'll do my all so I would be left alone.

This is naturally not true about every single Finn but it does happen a lot, often enough that most other Finns understand that it's a thing and won't feel upset if they come across a really quiet one, some people just are a bit Lalli like that. My guess is that Tuuri and Lalli probably do exchange a few words while we don't see it but that they're probably not having long talks for the fun of it. Even when we do see them talk they're barely communicating... like when Lalli refuses to board Dalahästen Tuuri doesn't once ask him why, it's as if she knows there won't be an answer anyway. "This is not the time to be throwing a fit about nothing!"  Something tells me Tuuri's quite used to Lalli-silence.

[Solovei]

If we have Tuuri as the sort of... "chatty Finn" and Lalli as the stereotypical "silent Finn", I wonder where Onni falls? We've seen so little of him that it's hard to tell... but something tells me he'd either be somewhere in the middle or closer to Tuuri.

[Vafhudr]

If we have Tuuri as the sort of... "chatty Finn" and Lalli as the stereotypical "silent Finn", I wonder where Onni falls? We've seen so little of him that it's hard to tell... but something tells me he'd either be somewhere in the middle or closer to Tuuri.

Sad Finn?

[Laufey]

Sad Finn?

I actually made a bwHAH sound at that and had to explain myself to the innocent bystanders. Yes, Onni confirmed for Sad Finn.

[RandomTexanReader]

While Lalli's response is certainly funny, it isn't by any means appropriate. An appropriate reaction would be laying a hand on Emil's shoulder, hand or whatever, and/or talking to him in a calming voice (no matter whether Emil can or cannot understand the words being spoken). Thinking Emil would feel better by getting his hair tidied up is rather bizarre, because the hair is NOT the cause of his distress and --test yourself-- it wouldn't have come to YOUR mind as the proper way to ease a person's distress over something horrid that just happened in rl, or am I wrong?
More bizarre behavior: repeatedly ignoring a greeting hand (seemingly not out of intentional rudeness but because he doesn't care or know what's expected of him), stealing food instead of just asking for it (seemingly without thinking about this being a rude thing to do). Not to mention his way of dealing with things he's getting thrown into: he functions, he just deals with them, he doesn't bother with what-if's, he doesn't complain about or discuss his situation (except when getting hit repeatedly for no reason -- but then again, he's letting Emil drag him around like a doll--would you tolerate this? Another example: instead of asking Tuuri to ask Reynir some questions for him in order to investigate why he met Reynir in dream-space, where he comes from, what he wants there and so on, he chooses to frown at him from under a blanket...
I don't read his real-world-passiveness as some sort of post-traumatic state of reatreat from the world, I read it as the way Lalli just IS. Yes, he has a solitary job, and yes, such a thing has the potential to make people socially awkward, but it doesn't seem to me that Lalli NEEDS other people around, as in: he seems to have no urge to spend time with them at all. He doesn't seem to get what they want from him most of the time or care about what they tell him or understand whether they're serious or not (see: Tuuri trying to explain her plans regarding their new job to him).
His distinct lack of basic interest in people (he doesn't even chat with Tuuri, who he knows well and seems to care about him a lot) is a very unusual trait among humans, and combined with the tons of odd behavior he shows, I wouldn't write it off as him being "just" an introvert. Or sleepy. Or due to culture.
His motives are likely very different from those of the rest of the crew, like: he's motivated by things as getting somewhere safe and dry in order to sleep or getting more tasty cookies (instead of being motivated by stuff like getting rich of having an adventure or seeing foreign countries). To me it seems as if he "just" wants to live his life in peace.
I really like him, not only because his behavior causes many funny situations in the comic, but because I enjoy these quiet moments when we get a glimpse at his personal world, like that cookie-stealing scene. I think it's nice to experience things from his unique perspective.

It is not an instinctive reaction, I agree. Which is why it's so interesting that he does it... he extrapolated that Emil cares about the state of hair from way back when Emil smoothed Lalli's hair down. I think he really was doing what he thought was appropriate in the situation, which is indicative of normal empathy levels, given that he wasn't unsettled at all and probably felt like Emil was making a big deal over nothing. Is it normal? No. The important thing is that it indicates Lalli has the capacity to recognize distress, the desire to alleviate it, and the ability to decide upon a course of action given previous interactions. The fact that it was not a typical (appropriate is disputable) response is irrelevant: the processes needed to lead to the response are very typical.
The allowing himself to be manhandled is very much a personality thing too. It's true that I don't allow myself to be dragged around (I'm 5'9" and well over 200 lbs (175.3 cm and 90.7 kilos)  so nobody tries) but my eight-year-old brother doesn't blink when he's tossed about like a rag doll, and my petite 5'2" (157 cm) cousin can't manage to keep her feet on the ground when she's around taller family members, which she's fine with. Also consider that Tuuri's solution to a Lalli tantrum is to have him carried wherever he doesn't want to go, and then you've got learned behavior added into the equation: he's probably been being manhandled by his older cousins since he was born.
As far as the stealing food goes, I think that may be a survival tactic. Consider what happened when we first see him offered food by Emil--Tuuri shuts it down with, "Lalli doesn't like anything." WOW, Tuuri. No wonder your cousin's so skinny. :p I think it probable he is a picky eater, but it can't really help matters when your ONLY INTERPRETER doesn't think you're hungry. Also the fact that he's been on a military base since he was what, thirteen? Not a whole lot of options if you're a picky eater with a funky schedule. If rationing was ever a thing, Lalli (going through his ravenous teenage years) would have totally gotten used to stealing food. Also remember that when people don't get enough sleep they need more food, and simultaneously have less energy to go through the 'proper' method of obtaining more of it. (In Lalli's case, getting his cousin, asking her to translate (risking the possibility that she might scold him for being greedy and refuse) and then relying on Mikkel to give him maybe one more cookie instead of just taking the initiative, so to speak, with a close to 100% chance of ending up with all of the cookies)
And Lalli's not just sleepy: he's sleep-deprived. When my uncle was working both a night job and a day job, he started having full-blown hallucinations, and constantly seemed like he was on drugs. I start having auditory hallucinations after eighteen hours without sleep, as in hearing entire conversations in the distance and magnificent (but imaginary) choirs. The human body was not meant to go without sleep, nor was it meant to be nocturnal: it's hardly any wonder that Lalli's a bit of an oddball, personality aside.
Tuuri's and Lalli's dynamic reminds me a lot of me with my neurotypical, but extremely introverted, cousin. (His older brother is extremely extroverted and has a Social Learning Disorder, which is an interesting combination. And yes, I have slapped them both) The thing is, although I spend a lot of time with him, I don't talk much with my introverted cousin. We've known each other for long enough that we can read each other pretty well, know each other's opinions on pretty much everything, and don't really need to chat with each other other than pointing stuff out or communicating information. Our conversations mainly consist of half-finished sentences, interruptions, vague references, and the odd quotation. I suspect that this is also what's going on when Lalli's doing the debriefing..."This is weird, that felt funny...." familiarity doesn't always mean chattiness, sometimes quite the opposite.
And as for ignoring the greeting hand, I noticed that none of the Fins shook hands with each other in the beginning... it would make sense that, in an area where outbreaks are still a very real threat, the custom of toUCHING STRAngE PeOPLE  as a greeting ritual would be quickly phased out. Which then makes it really cute when Tuuri's excitedly shaking Emil's hand because she's displaying her knowledge of Swedish culture.
Again, as far as the theory of Lalli's being on the spectrum goes, I can only say that somebody who was inclined to sensory overload and/or had trouble prioritizing details would be an extremely poor scout.
It's not just introversion, sleep-deprivation, and cultural differences: it's all three of those put together. If you were to put me on a messed up sleeping schedule and thrust me into a foreign environment where I can only understand one person, I'd probably bite somebody.
I agree that Lalli approaches things differently from the others, arriving at different conclusions for appropriate/inappropriate behavior than he should, and I'm not disputing that, just that there's nothing fundamentally atypical about his processing mechanisms. I agree that he is very much his very own special Lallicat personality, and that's why we love him.

And WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!! get out now while you still can :p