Chapter Twelve

Disclaimer

I don't own Mabinogi nor any NPC's connected. Either Devcat or Nexon does.

A/N

I hope that in coming chapters we will see Nao trust Jack more so she can accept her feelings so the fun can begin hehe. However, for now just some good old gaming fun. In this chapter Jack is learning how to ride his pets.

It has been twelve long days being trapped on this forsaken hell called my homestead. Funny I used to like coming here to get away from the crowd but now I prefer it. Dan has visited me whenever possible but being trapped there recuperating was maddening. One thing I missed however was visits from Nao. It seems she is avoiding me ever since telling me she was scared of me not being able to cleanse her from the glitch of when she finally admit to loving me.

Today I finally got the all clear from Agnes that I could finally rejoin the rest of my militants. I had asked her what if I RB'd. She was familiar with the procedure. However, there was one flaw in my plan, I would have to in front of Nao. When I tried it, Nao booted me back to my homestead and told me to stay there until Agnes gave me the okay.

The first thing I did when I got the ok was go to Iria. Now you might think this is strange but I need to go there for one thing. I need to talk to Airohk, my black dragon. I still wished I had taken my time when making him for with a name like that red should have been his color. However, I failed to notice the color selection portion of his creation screen. Oh well, cannot cry over missed opportunities.

When I got to Iria, I ran to a secluded portion of the prairie and called him. When he appeared I spoke to him, "Airohk, I know you can speak to me but you have not uttered a word wince the spider incident. I need your help. Please talk to me."

He gazed down upon me, "What do you need?"

"I still do not know how to ride you here now as I am. Can you teach me?"

"I do not understand. Militants such as you instinctively know how to ride us. Why are you suddenly unknowledgeable on the subject?"

"Have you ever heard of a militant that can hear their pets speaking to them before, Airohk? I have changed a while back and have to relearn some of the most basic skills. Riding my ride-able pets is one of those things. Will you teach me Airohk?"

Airohk looked like he was thinking it over, "I can teach you how to ride a flying pet but for a land based pet you have another talking pet that is better at teaching you how to ride them."

"Oh which one, Airohk."

"Your black unicorn, Blackchaser. Since you hardly ever call him, you may have a difficulty convincing him. Once we are through, I will try to talk to him for you if you like."

I thought better of that, "No, Airohk. That is my responsibility. Now what is the first lesson?"

"The first lesson is in mounting me. Stardestiny told me how you fumbled in mounting him in a very unorthodox way," stated Airohk.

"Well in my old world that is the way we mounted our horses."

"Wait you are actually here aren't you. You aren't looking at this from a computer screen but actually physically here?"

"Yes Airohk, I am actually here physically," I answered sourly.

"Ok! Now everything is making sense. Well first, you need to forget what you may think you know about mounting animals back in the world you came from. It is different here in Erinn." For the next two hours, I did no riding as Airohk explained the different ways of riding from this end of the spectrum. He listed all my flying pets and told me how to mount each one of them for each is different. When we did get to actual flying, I was more than prepared for how to handle flying with him. I will admit it was very different and more fun on this side of the screen. We even started to do aerobatic maneuvers. It was so cool. Then he showed me how he could shoot fireballs and breathe fire while in flight which was also very cool.

I was a disappointed when it was all over. "Thanks Airohk. I wee our time is almost up. Hehe I knew I should have done it when we could have four hours together instead of just the two."

He did disappear on me but I was prepared for that. A short five minutes later, we were back together for another two hour. Now I have to wait a whole day before I could use him again. Oh well that is why I got more than one flying pet.

Next, I called Blackchaser. When he came out, he took one look at me and turned his butt to me. He then started to walk off. Hmm what to do? I got it. If he won't help me ride him there are wild horse here that are very friendly.

I walked over to where I notice they stop to eat some grass and rest before continuing again. Once a pony got there I tried some of the things Airohk taught me on how to mount one of these beast all the while Blackchaser looking at me with interest. I on purposely tried the mounting I knew would fail. When that pony ran off I saw Blackchaser snickering. When another got there I did the same stuff again and then acted frustrated. I looked at Blackchaser who looked as if he wanted to say something but remained quiet, "Yes Blackchaser, you wish to say something."

He turned his head away. Stubborn creature! I then mounted the pony correctly and then rode him away. I knew Blackchaser would have to give chase for he could not stray too far away from his master, me. "Come on pony teach me how to ride."

I knew that would get Blackchaser's goat and it did the trick big time, "That beast could not teach you anything, Jack."

I hoped off it and faced Blackchaser who had to come to a screeching halt, "I know that, but you remained quiet and prideful. At least that creature is friend unlike you who is supposed to be my own mount."

He bowed his head, "Point taken, Jack. I know of your difficulties in riding us all of a sudden and I know why. Let's begin your lessons on riding ground base mounts. By the time our time is up you should be able to ride any of us without too much difficulty … only …"

"Only what, Blackchaser?"

"Would you please call on us ever so often to ride? That is the reason you got us after all. The invenpets understand the only reason you bought them is for their huge inventory slots but the rest of us are not your damn pack mules. Ride us at least once a month is all we ask."

"Point taken as well, Blackchaser. I will from now on, promise," I said somberly to my magnificent black unicorn. I swear I could see him smile.

"Alright I see you got the knack of mounting correctly down so mount me and we will begin your lessons," declared Blackchaser.

True to his word, Blackchaser had me riding like a pro in no time at all. Like Airohk before him, he gave me tips on how to ride each of my different land based rides. I wanted to give him a reward.

"Blackchaser, what is your favorite path for a ride?"

"Well Jack, I have always been partial to the path between Taillteann and Tara."

"But I usually fly that path."

"YOU ASK MY FAVORITE PATH AND I GAVE IT TO, GEEZ."

"Ok, my friend. When our time rolls back tomorrow why don't we do that ride?"

"No, I have a better idea. Call up Goldanner, you chestnut pony, and from Tir Chonaill, thru Dunbarton, thru Gairech, Sen Mag, walk on horseback thru Emain Macha, and then back to Dunbarton. You did that with Goldanner one time and he loved it. Since then you only used that poor pony for his level 8 healing ability and it's just plain wrong. That pony is meant for riding not just healing you. Do that and it will be plenty reward for me."

As he faded away I said, "OK I will. Thanks." Time was up on Blackchaser.

I then continental warped to Dunbarton and walked to the Moongate. I used it to teleport myself to the Alby Moongate in Tir Chonaill. I then called out Goldanner. "I hear you want to go for a ride, boy."

I swear his ears perked up immediately. The first thing I did though was check to see if he was hungry though. Like many, I got in the bad habit of not feeding my game pets. Well that is in the past. I live in Erinn now and my pets here need to be properly cared for, as any in the other world would be. Sure enough, he was starving so a quick stop at the grocery store took care of that problem.

Then we both enjoyed the nice ride Blackchaser had recommended. I still am going to go riding with him tomorrow though. He now deserves a reward for recommending this ride to me.

Since I found out my pets have emotions now I experimented to find out what each liked and disliked. What I found astounded me. Some of my pets dislike helping me fight, they rather spend our time together being normal pets. My sheep really disliked being harvested for wool. It's a good thing I had it for a very long time were it was not worth harvesting anymore. My herb pig is the same way however it realizes there certain herbs it can only provide. I have to offset that with what it enjoys, Listening to the 'Harvest' song. Good thing that is a skill most anyone can now train to do well it they put effort into it.

My Siberian husky loves being transed with me. He also loves to fight with me. We can be seen from time to time hunting bears in Sen Mag. I have found that Sen Mag will start overflowing with bears if one person should start hunting bears there unlike the areas around Dumbarton.

I have a couple of pets that misses my female alts unfortunately. They had told Airohk that if they can spend time with Nao is she ever should visit that it would be enough for them. Apparently, they had inherited my fondness for her as well.

One pet rejects that idea. It's one of my ferrets. I can understand why. When I was going around being Alexia, a female alt with red hair with the punk rock pony tail style, I called that particular pet up all the time as a pet purely. We created a bond that way similar to the bond Jack has with Staton. Now that I cannot ever be Alexia again, that bond is permanently broken. I do not know what to do about it.

There a similar instances with my Juni alt. Luckily, Juni feels the same way so whenever I call any of those pets up Juni always appear in astral form and spend time with them. I am beginning to feel lucky for having Juni as the spirit to my spirit weapon.

I just wish I could do something for Stagquodo, the Ferret that likes being Alexia's pet.

A/N

As I said before all of the names I have for my pets in this story is the actual names of my pets in Mabinogi. I have also included how I used those pets most of the time. Since my internet connection been down for the past few months I have been having a difficult time remembering the names of my pets. Luckily I have a host of screenshots to aid me before I discovered Mabi's cache memory on my computer have several of the names as well. As for Alexia, that alt is real. However, there is more to her name than just Alexia but that would be saying too much as I want this to be a guessing game as to whom I am in the game but I will say this – I only exist on the Tarlach server. Ok, I said too much.

Please review/comment. Thanks!