Hunter pets and Old Ladies

I had never noticed this window before. It's so adorable!

     One of the things I love about the Old Ladies Raiding Guild (aside from the Old Ladies themselves. Seriously you are all amazing!) Is getting to take the time to notice stuff I hadn't on other runs before and having people who will share my enthusiasm. It is always fun. Even when we wiped a couple times it was really fun figuring it out and laughing about it.
     Oh how I enjoy those runs! Tyl got a bunch of achievements for 10-man Ulduar and a gorgeous new bow which is leading to some more time spent in Mogit. Probably a lot more time because male night elves are much harder to transmog than male blood elves.
     Tyl's Bloodstone also got to come out and get some exercise, though that first battle rez didn't end as well as it could have. And this got me thinking again as I have many times before about my hunters and their pets.

     I have a lot of hunter alts. I love the class almost as much as paladins and monks. I've got two at max level, Aug is survival and Horde and Tyl is Beast Mastery and Alliance. All of my characters have personalities, and the pets add a whole other dimension to that.
     Aug has a stable full of gorgeous pets, especially cats. He sort of collects them, he runs around with all of them from time to time but he does not have a favorite. Seriously, I keep trying to get him to settle on one and he just won't. They're all his friends and he's happy with that.
     Tyl, on the other hand, has Snowthorn. He's also got a stable of pets. He's got a stampede full of special Beast Mastery pets with him, each chosen for some utility or another. (Beast Mastery is the 'There's a pet for that' spec.) I try to get him to switch  them out. 'Let Hellshade out for a while, Tyl. He's got Ancient Hysteria' 'Run with Bloodstone for a while, Tyl, that battle rez will be handy.' 'Let some of the other pets see some love or action.' But unless he has to call out Dreadghost for water walking or switch over specifically for that Bloodlust or a Battle rez he's got Snowthorn. Always. He has other spirit beasts. But Snowthorn is his best friend.
      Snowthorn tanks things for him, she heals him as best she can, and generally eats the faces off of anything he asks. And I suspect that when I've logged off and left them on their own, she probably also sleeps on the foot of the bed and takes up far more room than she should, just like my real cats.
     And because he does, I love that bunch of pixels and AI almost as much as I love my real pets. That seems silly to me, but in a way Tyl's Snowthorn is as much a character to me as any of my others. And mainly for that reason, I think, Tyl's my favorite hunter. I also don't think I will ever tame Loque'nahak again, though most of my alt hunters are beast mastery and could. (Provided they could find it.) Because there's only one Snowthorn and I can't imagine Tyl without her or anybody else with her.