Sunday, May 27, 2012

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.

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