Oh Solix, the strange and tangled webs you weave....

We Petopians are fond of our wild and crazy tames.  Yesterday, Korii and I cooked up a doozy.

We were joking about his final stable slot and what he might fill it with.  The 4.2 rares held no interest until I suggested taming one of them naked.  Not one of the cats, who already require nakedness, but one of the others.  Solix flashed in my mind, but I dismissed it...though I did still mention him to Korii.

Sure enough, Solix spawned a bit later, the first of any of the rares.  That spider has a sadistic streak a mile wide.  All of the lava spiders can be tamed in the nude (even Kirix, via the rock method), but Solix is the only spider guaranteed to hit you in the face multiple times.  We never do things the easy way!

Attempts went well; Korii was merely a second or two away on some goes.  Unfortunately, Solix died when I got caught between feigns.  (Even with misdirection, Korii's threat while naked was low.  Read that how you will!)  We resolved to try again the next morning.

My alarm woke me from a bizarre dream, involving a real life crab named Bologna that was cruelly killed.  I clung to the dream long enough to promise the distraught girl that I would avenge him.  How I intended to do this, fully aware that this was a dream and I was waking up, I have no idea.  I logged in, groggily getting a mental flash of a blue crab as I did so.  Seeing neither Korii nor Solix, dashed off to Sandwiches.  She had originally had a red mastiff lined up for Bologna, but since she's only level 20, I shifted my focus to Bayne, the pink demon dog.  He was exactly the right color and his hair matches Sandwiches's.  Besides, Sandwiches already had Salami for a crab; how could she ever have a second?  I did, however, note that TaterTot (Lo'Shall) was still in her stable - meaning that she has two boars.

I sensed Bayne's presence moments before Silverdragon picked him up.  He had chosen to spawn far away from the guards, which was a relief....and not entirely unexpected.  The moment he shrank at my side, I felt a sense of calmness pass through me.  Despite not being a crab, this was the right thing for him.  All this time, my brain had been mulling over another possibility - Abalone.  Karkin would match perfectly, not that Sandwiches will ever see 85.  And what of Salami, Sandwiches's favorite pet?

I was saved from this decision by Caelan, who let me know that Korii had logged in (his alarm hadn't gone off).  I hopped back over to Kallimon, who was parked in front of Solix's spawn....and the spider himself, as it turned out.  Solix didn't hold yesterday against us, thankfully.

We were much better prepared this time.  Korii had more haste on him, and I had DaBeast with me - plus the conc shot glyph in my BM spec.  Korii kited beautifully and I timed my aggro pull/feign better (as well as hitting hysteria at the right time).  The tame succeeded on the second try!  And here I thought I'd seen everything in the Front...

DaBeast got himself onto that rock somehow.  That's where he ended up popping hysteria from.

The happy pair seconds after the tame

Dance party in Nordrassil

Korii's RP outfit; the first time his new spider had seen him clothed

Scholar and Caelan look on, bemused

Triple Solixes!

Sandwiches and Bologna

I did later end up picking up a blue crab for Abalone.  I figured his fate was as linked to Solix's as Bologna's.

The magic of late night tames

It amazes me how the smallest choices can impact everything around us.

I had insomnia last night, so I was awake for the daily reset.  I decided to knock them off and go to bed, so I flew out there.  Ban'thalos was up - I hadn't seen him in weeks.  I let my friend who'd been looking for him know and offered to help pull him down for her.  After one false start (the glyph of conc shot is not good for this), I got him down and she tamed him beautifully.  This had been a long time in coming.  I had the vague certainty that one of the cats was up (and in my heart of hearts, I knew it was Magria, because it always is for me) and went to check.  Sure enough, there she was.

Sigh.

Magria has been making a point of appearing to me ever since the PTR.  I was there when Caelan discovered her the first time, she appeared to me as I ran around getting into the Front the first time on live - I hardly ever see Ankha.  I facepalmed and vowed that if I could respec, find the bag space, drop off a pet, and return to find her still up, I would tame her.

I had no idea what a chain reaction this would cause.

Armorless pieces found their way onto my person, cutting down the number of needed bag slots significantly. Somehow, I found enough room, respecced, and flew back.  I took a different route than usual, flying a bit more south before heading west.  This meant that Dante and I ran smack into Blazewing, who had spawned moments before.  I of course had no gear on, so that was mostly him, which is to be expected.

Dante and I returned to the Front together for the last time.  I had already realized in the wake of all the Remoulade skin changes that Dante was just visiting to make the transition easier on me.  He doesn't belong to any one hunter; he is a teacher.  The true Dante is in the Front, always.  That knowledge didn't make the actual physical admission any easier.  I realized how long it had been since I'd last visited.  The future would have to remedy that.

I flew back to Magria, who was still circling around outside.  I twitched briefly, seeing a Horde hunter, but it turned out to be Rox!  Knowing she had Magria already, I dropped down and tamed away, grateful that Magria, like Blazewing, had just reached an empty patch of ground as I arrived.  As Magria and I stared at each other in a bit of a daze, Rox reported that there was a full house in the Molten Front, including Skarr.  It was just like the first night in the Front!

This was when the fun truly began.

My friend, who has been dying to tame Skarr for months, went to go sort out her stable situation while I went to help Rox tame Solix.  That tame went without a hitch, so I met my friend back at the Breach to give her a lift.  It bears mentioning that this hunter is my friend's alt, so she still hasn't unlocked the druids in the Front.  It also bears mentioning that she is absolutely terrible at the jumping rocks (which I suspect is a lag issue, having seen her try and fail so many times).  Skarr was absolutely finicky as well; he would only spawn on the far point when my friend was around.  First things first.  We rode without incident past the flames, skirting the edge of Kirix's path to cut across the Furnace.

And then, the hard part.  Getting my friend across.

We tried every possible method - passenger mount, my priest's lifegrip, Rox's dk's deathgrip....summons don't work in the Front.  Then something strange happened.  My friend tried stripping off her gear....and miraculously, that worked.  She hit every jump solidly and never fell.  Overjoyed, I relogged back to Kalli and we tamed Skarr without incident; I silenced the barrage easily for her.  Thank goodness!

Rox took off for work, so it was just my friend and I who rode around to the other side of the island to visit Skitterflame.  It was love at first sight!  So after a few hilarious outtakes with the nearby elemental respawns, my friend walked away with the little darling as well.  It was beautiful; he ended up in a trap, not losing energy, with exactly 20 energy left.

Between the three of us, we tamed half of the 4.2 rares.  Not bad for one crazy night of taming!  Today, I finally figured out a name for my impulse Magria - Circe.  No wonder it hadn't worked on Pandora - this was who the name was meant to go with.  She is absolutely definitely not staying, but at least I know who Circe is now.  She can be part of my extended stable with other retired pets.  I'm just glad to know her now.

Dante seemed pleased with everything.

Fun with illusion potions, double Magrias, and Jeeves

Glowbear finally home!

Arcturis finally turned up again for my friend, so I can stop driving by Grizzly Hills.  Again. ;)

I hid him with my mount!

A terrible screenie of the tame itself.

*glee*

I love rare sense sometimes

It's not often that rehoming a pet brings me to tears.

One of the Basin rares tripped my rare sense while I was doing archaeology, so I made a point of wormholing out to the Basin to take the port out to Un'Goro, just so I could check on the rares on the way.  I flew straight to the roc area and there was Loque.  Finally, I had seen him spawn in every point - and I knew he would be there!

Finding a hunter to tame Loque proved more difficult than finding him.  After a few dead ends, I found a dwarf hunter who had Skoll and a lot of open stable slots.  I wasn't sure if he'd be interested, since he did already have one spirit beast, and that's enough for some people.  But I got an incredulous "O.O" reply asking if I was serious.  He was so grateful!  I got misty-eyed because I could sense it, even beyond his words.

Rehoming a pet is always rewarding, but especially so when the tamer really wanted the pet.  <3