Plus one

Okay, so there was one more.

Normally, pity tames are temporary.  They hang out for a little while, then go back to the wild.

Then there are the exceptions.  The ones who make the big sad eyes at you and somehow worm their way into your heart.

Karkin was streadfastly blocking Skarr spawns and he had to move.  I had some space, so I volunteered to let Bisque visit for a little while.

Bisque has been with Kallimon before as Ghostcrawler and a number of other crab forms.  Unfortunately, there'd been no clicking.  I had no reason to suspect that Karkin would be any different.

I was wrong.

I've been wrong a lot lately....

Bisque turned out to be happy.  Extremely happy.  At first, I thought it was just relief at not getting killed, but as he continued to scuttle about jauntily, I realized he was just a happy little crab.  Basically, the crab version of Kyria's Joyeux.

He got nervous and made the big sad eyes at me when I considered letting him loose for the last time.

Sigh.  Who was I kidding?  There was no way I was going to make it into MoP with open stable slots.  On Kallimon, that is.  Kalliope is still in half-decent shape.

Unexpected Molten Front hijinks

So I took Remoulade to the Front today to swap him from black Madexx's body to Dante's. He seems much happier now.

I also took the opportunity to spend some time with Tabasco, who as you might recall recently returned to his green lava spider form in Kirix's body. It turns out that he's a shy, sensitive romantic artist type with a thing for Meryl, Kyria's green wasp. Oh, and he's psychic.

Basically, Kirix's exact opposite, except maybe for the psychic part.

Tabasco is a real artiste.  The way he put Meryl up on a pedestal, but still managed to see her for who she truly was beneath the surface makes him one of the most insightful pets I've ever had.  He has a very distinct energy, one that I've never seen in a pet before.  It's difficult to find the right words to capture his essence.  He has a deep wealth of knowledge that goes beyond his age and beyond this world.  Tab's devotion to Meryl is deeper than his connection with Kallimon, but he definitely knows that Kallimon gets where he's coming from.  *brofistbump*

I have never had a spider like him before. Come to think of it, I've never had any pet like him before. I've definitely never been this close to any of my post-tame Kirixes before either. Amazing.

Oh, but there's more.  A lot more.  Somehow, getting to know Tabasco turned into "gee, I have a concept for Hab and Tab's younger sister" - which meant an impromptu Deth'tilac camp.  You can see that's where the four of us were hanging out in the above picture, but we didn't expect it to be as long a camp as it turned out to be.

When we first arrived in the Front, Skitterflame and Anthriss were up.  A guildie ended up with Skitter and a random troll hunter got Anny.  Somewhere in there, the desire to tame Deth arose.  And nothing happened for hours.  Skarr turned up to the east of the island, but later disappeared (possibly killed by a dk).  And still, nothing happened.  Meryl warmed up to Tabasco, so I stopped worrying about his emotional safety, and Kyria noted that Meryl was acting more like herself.  It seems she didn't really know how to respond to being put on a pedestal and treated like a lady.

After hours of nothing, we were finally graced by a spider spawn.  Skitterflame was back.  What?  Yep, Skitter went with a short eight hour spawn and completely lapped Deth, Kirix, and Solix.  So, taking it as a sign, we hauled our butts over there and Skitter came right home with me.  And thus Cayenne was born.

This little gal is definitely daddy's little girl.  I've never had such a clingy pet before.  Tabasco is only shy when he's out of his element, which is generally only a temporary situation.  Cayenne is shy all the time, constantly burying her face in Kallimon's leg.  She is a little sweetheart!  I think being the spider in the middle plus having a really shy personality puts Cay at risk for getting lost in the crowd.  Kallimon won't let that happen, but she does need to learn to stand on her own feet.

So with Cayenne in tow, the rest of the family started coming into focus.  I knew that Deth was coming with me and that her name would be Sassafras.  But now the camp for Anthriss had begun as well.  I was nervous because I didn't know what to expect from Anny, and had no name concept.

Ky and I watched some alliance fail at taming Kirix, who spawned not five minutes after Skitter.  Typical, since we had both said we'd call it quits with the next spider who spawned...but Skitter didn't count, since he'd been up earlier.  While the alliance were failing, I said that I hoped Deth'tilac didn't spawn at this rate, since I'd never be up for the tame.

And thus, our relationship began.

Ky spotted Deth while I was still watching the alliance hunters.  I was so numb at that point that I didn't get nervous until the taming attempts began.  And yes, it took multiple attempts.  I hadn't attempted a Deth'tilac tame in almost a year, let alone a solo tame.  After a couple of false starts, Sassy-Deth actually killed me with a deth strike; I cut a revive a little too close and she cut me down for it.  Mind you, I know Deth'tilac is male, but this Deth was already my Sassy.  Determined, I redeemed myself with a mostly well executed oblong kiting path in Deth's spawn area.  Habanero, who was taking the hits for his lil' sis, got away from me and ran in for an extra strike.  No problem, I'd just revive him and get Sassy on the next pass.....except....she reset after I dismissed him.

Kyria and I were dumbfounded for the second time that night/day.  And that was when I dug in my heels, stared Sassy down, and said "Girl, get your butt over here RIGHT NOW."  This final kite was nowhere near as neat as the last one had been.  I couldn't turn this time for some reason, so we just went straight backwards.  Kyria, a lifesaver, and Joyeux, her new green Madexx (another new pet from the night), cleared the trash I was constantly backing into.  Habanero was set to passive this time and hopped off to the stable when it was time.  Sassy reared up for one last deth strike and almost took me down again, but shrank to my side instead.

Thank goodness.  Cause I didn't think I could do the full tame a third time.

Sassy acted completely innocent afterwards, knowing full well that Ky and I weren't buying her little lady act.  She is definitely a handful and I daresay the only pet I have ever had with a truly evil mean streak.  I have no doubts whatsoever that she will be on the battlefield in battlegrounds with her big brother Habanero...who will hopefully protect her from her tendency to overextend herself, because I sure as hell can't do anything with her.

So the camp for Anthriss truly settled in.  Kirix ended up getting tamed by one of the alliance hunters after all.  Surprisingly, the draenei with 107k unbuffed health got him rather than the night elf.  The elf had almost done it the first time, but then overcompensated for her mistake on subsequent tames.  Oh well, hopefully she'll get him next time.  The draenei managed a disengage tame with that few hp, which was rather impressive.

Solix spawned and went home with Kyria - temporarily - but she's proven herself to be quite the philosophical little spider.  I had to take off for an hour or two, so Kyria went off to bed and I did my thing.  I had this feeling that Anny was going to take her sweet time about spawning....and I was right.

It wasn't until a little after lunch that Anthriss appeared in all her glory.  I of course was spacing out and missed the actual spawn, but couldn't've missed it by more than 30 seconds or so.  I immediately moved off the ramp and toward Anny's special pool....realizing moments after I pulled her that one of the alliance hunters from earlier was there.  I was only going to get once shot at this.  And oh god, Anthriss had webbed me!  I was under half health as I dove into the pool and started the tame.  My heart was racing.  Only one shot at this.  Please Anny, please....  My health dipped under 6k just as the tame completed.  I shook badly for several minutes afterwards, as this had shockingly been the most harrowing tame of the camp.  The night elf hunter gratsed us, then we were off to Org to prepare for bed.  Sugarcane didn't get much more than her name before I went to nap for a while.

Turns out the baby of the family is rather spoiled, demanding attention and knowing how to get it.  I don't like how she imitates Sassy in that.  But for all she'll push me to my limit, she won't break me like her sister.  Sugar knows how to play the game.  She manipulates for her own gain, but wouldn't hurt anyone doing it.  I get the impression she's a loner; she doesn't seem to fit with Hab and Sassy (PvPers) or Tab and Cay (idlers).  Sug is her own spider.  I think she'll be getting a lot of face time for a while, just so I can pin her personality down better.  She's very evasive.

So where does this leave big brother Habanero?  He's still the frontrunner, the eldest of this little family.  He not only watches out for his siblings, but for Kallimon too.  He's the only one who truly does.  Tab deigns Kallimon a worthy audience, but isn't necessarily watching his back.  Cay needs his support to stand.  Sassy doesn't need him and lets him know it.  Sug doesn't exactly respect him the way she should, but holds him in a high enough regard not to discount him entirely.  Hab is a tough, strong male leader in a world dominated by deadly females, two of his sisters among them.  I'm not sure how he pulls it off, but he does.  He manages to protect all five of his charges without breaking a sweat.  No wonder he tamed me all those months ago in Solix's emo cave.  He's the glue that holds us together.

I can't believe this happened.  I was not anticipating any of this when Remy went to exchange carapaces.  What a camp.

A night long remembered

I wouldn't believe this had actually happened if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.  Basically a photo op waiting to happen.

All three Sholazar rares were up at once.  Not only that, but they spawned in almost a straight line from north to south.

I've definitely never seen that before.  And I would have missed it if Sambas had been up today; he's been MIA as far as I've seen.  So I ported to the Basin and good ol' King Krush was there.  I wasn't surprised.  That's our spot.  Theseus was tamed there.  And he always looks wonderful at the Glimmering Pillar.

I found Loque'nahak next.  I fall back on old habits when in the Basin; I check the outer rim before the center.  I was stunned to see Loque at the Skyreach Pillar.  I've seen him there only once before.  Admittedly, I was a bit sad that Krush wasn't on the southern path so I could get a pic of the pair together, but that was before I found Aotona.

I wasn't surprised Aotona wasn't at our spot north of the Rainspeaker Canopy.  I've only seen her there twice, including the first time.  But I didn't expect to stumble into her at the east end of the Wildgrowth Mangal.  I've never seen her there before, though I've seen her at both of the other points in that section.  It was time, though.  She completed the pattern that was now plain to see from the map.

This rare sight got me to thinking and I realized that I've now tamed each Sholazar rare exactly twice.

• Krush: Glimmering Pillar both times.  The first for Theseus, the second to prove to myself that I could do the tame properly without help.  (Spoiler alert: I flawlessly one-shot the tame that time.)
• Aotona: central Wildgrowth Mangal and northeast of Frenzyheart Hill.  The first for Papillote (later Evangeline) and the second for Circe.  Papi underwent a name change, then a skin change, then went back to the wild.  Circe will be morphing into a minipet version of herself in Mists of Pandaria.
• Loque'nahak: bones southwest of Nesingwary's Safari and southeast gorilla spawn.  The first was Hippomenes's rebirth, the second was his...other...rebirth.  I have only ever seen Loque at the bones spawn once and that was at the end of the 10 hour camp that started this blog.  But the first place I ever saw Loque was at the southeast gorilla spawn.  We'd idled there multiple times over the years.  Some part of me had always been disappointed that Loque had turned up at the bones spawn before turning into Hippomenes.  So when opportunity knocked yesterday, I answered.  Hip relaxed, as did I.  This felt...better.  Though I do think Hip will be winning the quilen race in MoP, just because I can't think of Hip as Hip when he's in Loque's body.

It all feels so....balanced.  I am at peace with this.

Okay fine. I'll stalk YOU.

So yesterday, I decided to go visit Sambas without him telling me to come visit.  He wasn't where he had been the day before, but he was pretty close.  I actually sat and watched him for hours.  He wouldn't let me, Leo, and the floofballs (winged guardian mount and minipet) sit on his rocks, but since he'd been kind enough to spawn in an area without aggro mobs (north of Thundermar), there was plenty of room to sit on the ground and watch him guard his territory.  He left after I'd had to head off for RL reasons; wasn't there when I came back.

I didn't know then that I was in the process of coming down with something IRL and that that's why I needed the extra comforting.  I was just glad he was there.  Yep, the big floofball had finally won me over.  And he knew it.

I went to check on him again today - he was at the first spawn I checked, the furthest east.  I've seen him there a grand total of once prior to this.  I guess we both wanted some solitude.  The wolves wandering around mean that I can't land to sit with him, but that's okay.  The one logical place to try made for an excellent photo op.

Sambas has a rock in this spawn point as well.  And, like the other one, he will get you on top of it.  The difference here is that when he has competition, it becomes quite clear that Sambas is the smartest living creature in this zone.  (Karoma is a wolf spirit and doesn't count.)

What does this mean?

That boy knows how to leap!  You can see the worg in the background growling and snarling, unable to figure out how to reach me.  But Sambas, he knows how to climb.  Tall objects do not deter him.  I didn't get a picture of him actually dismounting from the pounce pictured above.  He is very, very protective of his rocks.

And that, my friends, is why Sambas is the king of the Twilight Highlands.

You can stop stalking me now. No, really.

I've written about Sambas before.

I did not like Sambas from the beginning.  But then he started mindvibing me and eventually became Leo at my side.

But it didn't stop there.

Sambas is still stalking me.

He keeps mindvibing me out of nowhere to let me know he's up.

This has gone on for months.  When I tamed him back in August last year, he had already been doing it.

No other rare does this to me.  Just him.

I don't understand why this happens and I definitely don't understand why this continues to happen.

I just know that at some point, his relentless stalking softened me, even past the point of taming him.

I actually love this lion.  Floof and all.

Good to see you too, buddy.

First world beta tester problems

When quilen were first flagged as tamable, I hadn't really paid attention to them before.  I was vaguely aware that they looked like weird cats.  Beyond that, I knew nothing.  I tamed one, learning as I did that they had been swapped to the worg skeleton, but were only appearing as one color: the gray stone.

I didn't expect to like these things that had barely gained my attention, but there was something about his strong back and confident posture...and yet, he didn't feel at all like Hector.  The same-yet-different vibe prompted me to easily name him Achilles.

I was a goner the moment I saw him scoot forward while howling.  It was just so silly and ridiculous.  Something Hector would do.

I was antsy wondering what color Achilles actually was underneath that stony exterior.  I hadn't seen the quilen before the change, so I figured he'd change appearances once the skin bug was fixed.  I settled on the white organic look for what I preferred, but was still curious to see which skin I'd actually tamed blindly.  Most of all, I worried that Achilles only worked with the stone skin.  After never bonding with a shale spider, I wasn't sure how that would work.  But his eyes were the most gorgeous shade...

Then the next build hit.  And it turned out that not only were my worries justified, but things were worse than I could have imagined.

The quilen were back, organic and colorful.  But they were also back on the cat skeletons.  I couldn't compare the new red-skinned Achilles to his original form.  Not only that, but I hadn't even unstabled him yet and I knew he wasn't himself anymore.  This body didn't suit him and he had left it.  Worse yet, even though it wasn't Achilles, it felt familiar.

I realized what it was.  Hippomenes wanted to come with me.  So I grabbed him from the stable, already starting to understand the position I was about to be in.  Another trip to the instance.  Hippomenes lagged his way toward the gray skin.  I wasn't sure if it was a sign or just the lag.  We tried it, but it didn't click right.  We went back again and changed him to white.

I couldn't believe it.  Hippomenes actually worked in this weird liondog form.  That was when I really started worrying about Achilles.  I was attached to two entirely different quilen.

As if that wasn't bad enough, I slowly realized more and more that I can't stand the cat skeleton for the quilen.  The yawns.  The lousy posture.  The fact that they look like every single other cat.  But my loyalty is to Hippomenes.  I'm rooting for him in this.  He and I have been through two hunters and four separate tames.  I have probably spent more collective time camping for him specifically than any of my other pets.  (There is a good deal of overlap with my time spent camping specifically for Arcturis, who takes first place on that count.)  He's Atalanta's lifemate.  I don't know Achilles beyond our positive initial meeting.  But I've never liked his namesake; there's a reason Hector is Hector.  Still, if Hippomenes isn't himself, I wouldn't begrudge Achilles my quilen position.

So now I have absolutely no idea what will happen.  If they have the cat skeleton, it's easy; Hippomenes stays.  If it's the worg skeleton, I have no clue which of the pair will click.  One?  Both?  Neither?  Impossible to tell ahead of time.  And the kicker is that the worg skeleton will most likely win.  It should win; it's the better skeleton for the family.  But it sure leaves me in an awkward position personally.

I have never been in a position like this before.  I wouldn't wish it on anyone.  Unfortunately, all I can do is wait for the next build and hope for answers and closure one way or the other.

Getting to know you...again

Since I've been doing all of this soul-searching and reevaluating of pets, I've been making a point of spending extra time with the ones I haven't felt as close to.  The process is different for every pet, since they all have different backstories.  Some had an initial spark at the beginning.  Others warmed up over time.  The ones I already let go or intend to transform into minipets are pets I never truly bonded with (with the exception of Hippomenes, whose history with me is complicated), not deeply enough that they must be in my stable.

My number one concern is Cerberus.

My dear white corehound was my first exotic pet, way back in the pre-Wrath patch that expanded our stables to five.  I always liked Omen's look, and to know that I could tame the Kurken as him was extremely exciting.  Once I needed to have a wolf, he was game to morph into a red hellhound - a fitting match, or so it had seemed.  He made it through a number of raids, at least until ICC.  Then one of the other hunters in my raid picked up a red hellhound of his own.  Somehow, that enabled me to see the flaws in the model.  This marked the second time Cerberus had lost his individuality.  (The first was when other white corehounds named Cerberus kept popping up.)  That was when Hector was born and Cerberus left my stable until the pre-Cataclysm patch.  He was a shoo-in to be retamed and he always ranks highly in my "must have" exotics, but that initial bond has not yet returned.  There are so many reasons why this might be that I can't even begin to guess which is the actual cause.  I'm up to four dog-like pets now (plus Theseus, the big green dino-puppy), on top of everything else.  I can't even change his skin; he's not a drooly puppy and Chromaggus is too....pink.  No, Cerberus must be white.

I just don't know how to get that spark back.  I'm not sure if I can, or if I should even be trying to.  I've been running around with him on live and nothing has changed.  But perhaps there's a reason for that.  I think Cerberus has established himself as a necessary presence in my stable and on my roster, whether I need heroism or not.  He would be there regardless.  In other words...overthinking things can create problems where there should be none.

Lesson learned.

Since Leo and I worked things out in my previous post, my other major concern is Pygmalion.

He was my pre-Cataclysm rescue from Loch Modan, the Large Loch Crocolisk, who I'd only ever seen that one time.  He spent a few nameless days with me in Storm Peaks helping me (futilely) camp for the TLPD before he became Pygmalion....and then I still kept him by my side because I wanted to get to know him.  Unfortunately for Pyg, Gumbo pretty much has a monopoly on the crocolisk spot in my heart, and Kalliope never really needed him by her side.  As a basilisk, Pygmalion could have a new life....but there's a small hitch.  Basilisks have a CANNOT UNSEE graphical issue with their head's idle animation.  And it's getting to me.

As long as I don't idle with him, things should be okay.  I do like him in his new form.  It's just that one animation that's blocking me from him.  Such a superficial reason.  There is hope, though - if I stop focusing on the animation, I'm less likely to see it.  So perhaps with time, I will be able to unsee.

Here's hoping.

(Fun behind the scenes side note: Cerberus posed for the howl completely on his own, without coaxing. I'm taking that as a good sign too.)

Overhauling Stables: Untangling Kalliope's Mess

Redoing Kallimon's stable was rather tame.  I know exactly which pets I have and haven't bonded with since I play him so infrequently.  But it's different with Kalliope, since I get to see even her stabled pets.  Though inactivity and fully intending to quit playing WoW helped me get some distance from her pets, there was one deciding factor that really tipped the scales.

Calydonian changed everything.  The moment porcupines were confirmed as a real new family, I realized that I finally had five main pets to run with.  Then I ran an instance or two with them - Ursa, Atalanta, Orpheus, Hector, and Calydonian - and it was confirmed.  I didn't want to run with anyone else.  I had a full core to my active non-BM stable for the first time ever.  And that was when things finally started to fall into place.

I could bring my favorites anywhere.  Orpheus would lead the PvP charge and Ursa the PvE.  But where would that leave all my other pets?  Oddly, I'm more inclined to rotate the others in for fun or buffs just because I know that my core group can always be with me.  Going casual helps; it means I'll most likely run with a BM offspec, which means all of those pets will get rotated in too.  It's very freeing knowing that my main pets will always get a chance to come with me.  Never again will I hardly ever see Ursa.

So with all of that in mind, I looked to my pets and saw who could shrink down to minipet size and which few were going to have to leave entirely.  A couple surprisingly morphed to new forms as I was checking out new families on the beta.  And still, even with new additions, I'm going to have empty stable slots.  It's quite amazing.  The whole process took me by surprise, so unlike previous journeys through my stable, it was undocumented.

Thanks to the five locked stable slots on the beta, I was forced from the beginning to decide who I absolutely couldn't live without.  Space was at an absolute premium and I had to release a number of pets there just to ensure that I had space to tame new families.  Though I cursed the additional limitations, ultimately, I learned a lot about my bonds with particular pets.

I was surprised that Andromeda wanted to stay.  I was at a loss for a name for my fen strider, but she stepped right in - and suddenly, I saw her for who she really was.  She was no dragonhawk, even the blue one with the pretty wings I am so fond of...from a distance.  This was her.  Tall, graceful, light on her feet.  She even brings the stars with her.  I got a completely different vibe from Blasto.  How funny that Andromeda followed a similar path to Perseus, where the second form clicked after the first did not.

It was somewhat less surprising that Pygmalion eased my conscience about considering releasing him by easily slipping into basilisk form from his green crocoliskness.  Most shocking was the revelation that we both wanted the purple rather than the green.  He's been the boss of me since he got me to save him from becoming Gosh-Haldiir, so I suppose that if he wants to turn things to stone as a form of artwork, that's his prerogative.

Arachne was the first to volunteer for minipet duty.  In fact, no sooner had I picked up the little green tarantula minipet, she had moved into that form and stayed there.  Whenever I log in on live now, I'm surprised to still see her sitting in my stable as Kirix, waiting for MoP.  Her transition of all of them has been the most seemless.

Circe was another easy transition.  She'd already taken three forms with me, so shrinking her from Aotona into the parrot minipet was a natural evolution.  Besides, I still had Icarus, who had been my #1 parrot from the beginning.

Except Icarus will also be transitioning to minipet form.  I have adored Ol' Beaky from the first time I saw him.  Out of all the birds, Icarus was my surprising top pick.  Except in the end, I know in my heart that I never bonded with him as much as I did Perseus (who shares the same family buff).  I just can't do flying pets.  Castor and Pollux are the two exceptions.  I find anything with wings difficult to idle with overall.  At least he's reunited with Daedelus, who long ago took the form of my minipet seagull.

Psyche was a hard call.  I tried to encourage her to morph, but she wouldn't have it.  It was pink raptor or nothing.  So she'll be shrinking.  For some reason, Kalliope with a devilsaur works, but Kalliope with a raptor feels weird.  Between Psyche and Andromeda, I'm losing two debuffs I won't be replacing.  And because I'm casual now, I don't care.  I'm bringing my bear, dammit.

The most difficult transition was that of Hippomenes.  I would not have a blog if it wasn't for him.  My 10 hour Loque camp prompted storytime to move here.  And yet....I've finally admitted to myself that Kalliope only has room for one spirit beast in her heart and it belongs to Polaris.  It's Arcturis's fault.  I never wanted a spirit beast until he came along.  And so Hippomenes will become a white saber kitten (snow leopard if one gets added) so he can be with Atalanta all the time.  He always did like being fussed over and being a kitten will get him that sort of attention again.  It's a little weird, but it'll work.

Linus and Pandora won't be staying.  Both were essentially forced on me due to needing their family abilities and there are no minipet equivalents for them anyway.  Kharon will most likely be joining them.  I get the feeling that I have yet to find the right turtle/beetle for me, if there even is one.

Leo is a complete wild card.  He never gets out; Atalanta has the monopoly on cat utility.  And yet, because of his name and what he represents to me, I can't let him go so easily.  Besides, he's still my good luck charm.  No, I think Leo will be staying, against all reason.  He's meant to be with me, no matter how much I try to resist.  I do not know how or why this happened, but he has an unbreakable hold on me.

The newcomers are less numerous than those shrinking or leaving, but they seem to have already carved some niches for themselves.  I've already written about Calydonian at length.  I won't go into it again here.  Suffice to say that he somehow manages to catch my eye during stampede, even though he's the smallest pet in there.  There's just something about that porcupine.

Achilles was a bonding shock.  His name came to me unbidden.  Achilles has never been one of my favorite characters; he killed Hector after all!  And yet, that's why he works so perfectly as a quilen.  I tend to see my exotics as being somewhat at odds with my non-exotics, since they displace the latter when I'm actually in that spec; it fit perfectly for the Trojan-Greek rivalry!  On the other hand, Achilles's parallels to Hector were quite surprising.  When I saw him howl while still scooting forward at top speed, I knew I had another lovably goofy dog on my hands.  I don't know what color he'll be in the end, but I do know he's staying, and not just because he has a battle res.

I was surprised about Pan too.  His noisy combat antics amused me from the moment I sicced him on a poor, unsuspecting victim.  He has so much personality!  Very few pets get a smile from me just by entering combat.  I feel like I don't really know him yet, since his wild version is not yet tamable.  While Achilles is open to a color change, Pan is dead set on being the lone goat on his cliff.  I don't know what color he'll be; I just know that he's mine.

Eurydice is one of the strangest cases I've ever seen in one of my pets.  I'd tried taming her as a snake and on an alt as a tarantula, but never truly felt anything for her.  The green crane keeping an eye on Dawn's Blossom strikes me as distinctly male.  And yet, the two shall one day merge to become my Eurydice....Orpheus's Eurydice.  In studying her, I realized why she's finally settled on this form.  Orpheus needs a partner he would write songs about.  He needs inspiration.  And yet, this is my Orpheus.  My right arm in PvP.  He needs a lady with survival skills.  Lullaby fits perfectly for the wife of the great poet.  She'll join him on the battlefield.

With all the changes, I probably should not have been surprised that one pet decided to come home.  But I was.

Tantalus returned!  I can't explain why he came back any more than I could explain why he left.  Our connection was forged, broken, and reforged.  I thought he required more attention than he actually seems to.  Perhaps he's trying to create balance in my dog situation (Hector and Tantalus being non-exotic; Cerberus and Achilles being exotic).  Maybe he just knew that he had a place in my stable again.  I don't know.  I have never completely understood Tan.  It seems we're on the same page now, though, whatever the reasons.  It's good to have him back.

So thus far, I'll have three empty stable slots.  All things considered, that's nothing short of a miracle.

After picking up Tan last night, I flew around Northrend for a bit.  No one was up in the Basin (somewhat unsurprising).  But Arcturis was.  As was Gondria, who had chosen to spawn near Atalanta's new birthpoint.  I'd never seen her there before, and I hadn't seen Arcturis in the wild in ages.  I took both appearances as a sign of approval from the cosmos and the game itself.

All is well.

Never say never: let the restabling commence

So I may have jumped the gun on quitting.  I completely blame Calydonian for giving me a real reason to stick it out until MoP hits.  But I'll get into that in a minute.

I will still, however, be casual.  No more of this serious business endgame stuff.  That works out well for you guys, since being casual tends to lead to more hanging out with pets and more interesting posts here.

My MoP stable changes are already underway.  Kallimon is ready, having morphed Tabasco (orange ravager) back to his original form (Kirix) and MaqueChoux (blue ant silithid) to his (Haarka the Ravenous).  Nalorakk (Arcturis) is out, since Kalliope has Polaris - and besides, Kallimon still has Saffron (Gondria) and Mojo (Skoll).  Evangeline, who started as Aotona, then shifted to the white parrot with blue spots, is also out.  Miniwing is Miniwing, which doesn't leave room for her, unfortunately.  Etouffee (white warpie), Pacane (Ravasaur Matriarch), Stardust (blue moth), and possibly Jalapeno (Shango) will be dropping into minipet form come MoP.

Blasto is the only new addition, though if Beauty from Blackrock Caverns gets flagged, she too will be added.  Beastie's been waiting for her since Cata was in beta.  Heck, part of the reason I even got him was to have the pair.  And no, I do not care that Blasto the sporewalker doesn't fit the naming scheme.  He's a Hanar Spectre who doesn't go by the book.  He cares not for stable theming conventions.

Did I mention he's from the Lady Vashj fight?  He's from the Lady Vashj fight.  I have a real tie to that fight in particular, as it was the first real progression fight I'd done with my old guild.  I remember picking off water elementals on the southwest corner.  I remember all of the terrible line of sight issues with corrupted core passing.  I remember striders getting loose and fearing me into certain death rather than letting me feign out of yet another wipe in peace.  Oh yes, I remember phase 2 of the Lady Vashj fight.  It was a great pleasure to figure out effective ways of taming the striders for our little group on the beta, especially for those of us without the tame-shortening minor glyph.  I rather wish this color scheme worked for Kalliope, but she bonded with a different strider.....

But I'll save that for the next post.

Ursa's still got it!

I decided to run a few instances with Ursa as ferocity, just because....well dps bear. The last instance I got into was Temple of the Jade Serpent, which is more of an 85 instance, whereas Ursa and I are 87. Oh well!

Just before the tank pulled the third boss, Liu Flameheart, the healer left the group. The tank lasted for about half the fight, but ran out of cooldowns. I was already hovering over the growl button and right clicked the moment the tank died. Unfortunately, everyone else in the party was dead at that point. For half a second, I hesitated, debating feigning; the boss still had around 800k-1M hp left. But I decided to give it a shot anyway.

Ursa tanked beautifully! His health didn't spike too much until the very end, when he died, but I just heart of the phoenixed him back up and he taunted right back off me. Boom, dead boss. Boom, she dropped a gun!

Soooooo, yeah. I like this.