First (alliance) rare tame!

[Arkiss]

I decided to pay more attention to my oft-forgotten draenei alt a few days ago, and something pretty cool happened.

I was out leveling my wolf Blanca in the Arathi Highlands while hunting mountain lions for a quest. Pretty straight-forward, aim, shoot, loot, skin. Rinse, repeat. Maybe fifteen minutes of this passes uneventfully as I chat with my boyfriend. I have enough gold to buy another stable slot, but I'm not sure what pet I want. I already have a red lynx, a white wolf and a newly-tamed crow from Northrend. I'm only level 35 so all of the really cool rares are beyond my reach, as are a number of pet families, limiting my options somewhat.

As we bat the idea of either a bear or a hyena back and forth and I briefly entertain the idea of going back to Azuremyst for a moth, I find a new group of mountain lions to pew-pew into oblivion. I squint in disbelief as I survey the seemingly unremarkable group; there is one with a slightly darker shoulder nape than the others. I must be a trick of the light, it couldn't possibly be...

I click on the engimatic cat, the silver dragon around her border leaves no room for doubt, even before I register the nameplate. It is Araga, Queen of the Steppes.

I shush my boyfriend and dismiss my wolf. Blanca can be replaced, Ghostpaw Alphas respawn quickly, but I have never seen the she-lion live before, not on my main nor on any alt. I must have her, I must tame her.

The trap goes down even as I see the blood elf crest the ridge. I've been skinning his kills this entire time as we work at each other's borders. He is a rogue, he does not understand the significance of this find, he only sees a target with better-than-average loot. I start the tame and he draws closer.

She springs and dives for the trap, trapped but not for long enough. Does she have a knockback? A fear attack? I had no time to find out, and I fear I may only have one opportunity to find out, if that. The blood elf is distracted by another lion but if he takes it into his head to interrupt the tame, it won't be enough. The counter ticks down and the trap expires. One hit, two hits...

She shrinks down ever so slightly, renames herself "Cat" and slinks to my side. I let out a whoop of triumph! Araga is mine!

I take a moment to feed her some fish from my bag and giver her back her name (how could I do otherwise?) and notice an emote message. The blood elf has come closer and cheers for Araga and I. With a bow, he mounts up and leaves us to the rest of our quest. I feel a little foolish to have been so paranoid.

But now we head back to Southshore, I need to put her in the stables and buy another slot. Blanca will need to be retamed, and it seems I have filled that fourth slot after all.

[Teigan]

That's great! Congrats on getting that very elusive cat.

[Rhyela]

What a great story!!! Congrats on your pretty new lioness!

[Zanidar]

Congrats!