Merry Lightning

him. but a furry.

### Sisters

Trail in the Woods (Trail), Melting Snow (Snow), Fragile Bird (Bird), Sand at the Beach (Sand), Rain in Summer (Rain)

### Brothers

Thunder in the Morning (Thunder), Windy Shore (Shore), Sweet Bat (Bat)

His grandmother's name is Mist in the Morning (Mist).

## Personality

Merry is, most definitely, an odd soul.  He's sociable and cheery, often greeting others with a bright grin and welcoming demeanor.  He also tends to treat those around him like old friends, even if they've just met - in general, he's a friendly person, and doesn't even seem to completely comprehend the concept of enemies.  He thrives in crowds and loves attention, but that doesn't mean that's always the environment that he wants - sometimes, he'd just like to be by himself, or maybe take a nap.  And he does like his naps.  And his dozes.  He can fall asleep almost anywhere, really, but he prefers high-up places, or places just off the ground, or places warmed by the sun or by another body.  Other than that, he's rarely one for settling down in one place and staying there - he hates reading, and even books in all their forms (if he had his way, he'd tear them all apart with his claws and get no consequences for it, but alas).  In general, he can't stand to stay in one place for too long - even when he sleeps, he tends to twitch and shift around.  When he's actually awake, he's got *so.  much.  energy*.  When he "stands", he can't stay in one place, often pacing instead or fidgeting with large, gestures.  He talks with large, sweeping gestures, too.  When he sits he tends to fidget, as well, and when he walks he can't just walk in a straight line from point A to point B if the distance is too long for him; he'll derail to go investigate a tree, or go talk to so-and-so, or walk circles around this fun traveling group he found, or go play in a river, or... whatever else catches his attention.  For all his hyperactivity, though, he doesn't really have trouble with *focus* (despite how it appears) - he's simply a curious soul who likes to investigate anything that catches his attention.  And a lot of things do end up catching his attention.  He's just... very easily entertained.  He can, at times, be jumpy, though - he's known to be easily startled, especially when his attention is caught up in something else already.  Merry places a deep value in his social connections, caring about his friends deeply and showering them with physical affection.  He also tends to get close to others a bit too quick (though, that's all subjective as far as he's concerned), and will often consider someone his friend after only a few minutes of talking to them.  For all that he's an extrovert, though, he can occasionally get fed-up with talking to others.  They sometimes get on his nerves (but only if they *do something* to get on his nerves), and he doesn't have very much patience, and will easily snap at anyone that angers him - which is both hard and easy to do.  He has a short fuse, but there aren't very many things that actually make him angry.  There are very few people in this world that he doesn't like, as he tends to like strangers from the get-go and it takes quite a bit to get on his bad side.  Merry does what he wants when he wants, no matter what the law is or who's around to (at least try) to stop him or whatever else.  He is a willful creature, not pausing to ask why he *shouldn't* do something that he wants to do - because he *can* do it, so why *shouldn't* he?

## History

Merry was born in a small, mountain-side village close to a large lake.  His village was home to only tabaxi, and his family was one of the larger ones that lived there - he still had three living grandparents, both of his parents, and eight siblings.  His days were spent doing chores, listening to stories from his only living grandmother's adventuring days (his favorite story of hers was when she made friends how she made friends with a high elf named Uladi - through sheer luck and determination, according to his grandmother), and playing with his siblings and the other children his age - and his life never really changed until his family's only object of value was stolen.  Along with some treasure from almost every other family in the village.

The village was poor, and they never really used money for... anything, really.  Mostly, they relied on trading with each other, making their own economy, rather than going anywhere else and having to use actual coin.  Most families still had something (or some*things*, in some cases) that was actually valuable, though - usually it was something that had been collected in some family member's adventures, and it was guarded jealously by the family in question.  In Merry's family's case, it was a decadent necklace gifted to his grandmother when she helped rescue some lady's wife from a Mummy Lord.  While the rest of his family panicked and mourned over the loss, Merry wasn't willing to sit still and just let them lose something his grandmother had earned - instead, he set out to take it back from whoever took it from them.  When he revealed his intentions to his family, they were... less than pleased, with him.  Most of his siblings were unhappy that he was leaving, his father was angry with him, and his mother even begged him to stay - but his grandmother had wished him luck and told him to enjoy himself along the way (and she'd always been his favorite anyways, so she was the only one who's opinion really mattered).

However, Merry found it hard to adjust to the rest of the world after living in his small village all his life.  Finding money was hard, and he went hungry more nights than not, and he couldn't find a job, either - at the time, he was only fifteen, and much smaller than he is now, so not many people wanted to hire him when there were larger and more able-bodied people around to work.  He ended up resorting to stealing to make his way, and has been doing so ever since: he considers it practice for whenever he gets to steal back his family's necklace.  Along his travels, he met and befriended a halfling named Yoola, and she now acts as his contact into the rest of the criminal underground.