It seemed like just another ordinary Saturday in the neighborhood of Antonio Bezerra, Fortaleza, but everything had to change with an unexpected announcement spread in all homes that had young customers of Strike Lan Games: World of Warcraft had just been installed on ALL machines.
The game was no longer a novelty, after all, three of the twenty machines in the lan house already had this great success of Blizzard, but these machines were disputed until the physical and mental exhaustion of all who wanted to venture into the distant lands of Azeroth, and not counting, of course, with a presence that randomly inhabited our beloved Strike, the son of Mr. Paulo, owner of the space.
Seu Paulo’s son (FSP), whose name I never knew despite practically living in this environment for about 4 years, was much younger than the other regulars at Strike, we had from Nélio, also known as Cacimbão, who was over 25 years old, to me who was 14 at the time, and FSP was more or less 9 years old at the time.
Age was an irrelevant factor in environments such as Lan Houses, at Strike for example, we focused on the gameplay factor, if you were a very good player you could use the machines 1,2 and 3, average players from 4 to 12, and those who ventured into very different games such as PangYa and those who played badly went to the back of the Lan House, in the dark room of computers 13 to 20. I was part of the group 4 to 12, with great pride, I did not reach the feet of Paulo (whose nickname was vulgar so it will not be disclosed), Rafael “@nAkYsTa”, Nélio “XxxTozcoxxX”, because they were the most experienced, but I could easily compete with Luiz “Setuit”, Chuchu and the twins Cara Fina and Cara Grossa (great names to rise to the tier 1,2 and 3), The big problem of this almost perfect organization was when FSP went to Lan, he would get the machine 3 (the best of Lan), regardless if it was busy or not, and the most annoying of all was that he played Grand Chase, he could go to any other machine, and if he was contradicted, FSP had the abominable habit of turning off the machine of those who annoyed him.
At the time of the WoW explosion in my neighborhood, some guilds were created and ours was quite damaged, after all with only 3 machines it was impossible for us to participate in raids, develop strategies and build strong teams for the arenas, and the most humiliating of all this was that our rivals from the Ipanema condo were every day more prepared to defend the so hateful Alliance (We at Strike Lan Games could not allow the creation of characters that were not from the Horde, FOR THE HORDE! ), so the announcement that echoed through the gasping lungs of the messenger Chuchu in the homes of the so-called “azilados” was so important, we glimpsed a promising future for the Strike Lan Games guild.
For many weeks we prepared ourselves to become the best guild in all of Antonio Bezerra, we formed amazing builds, dropped the necessary items and had a complete raiding team, with healers, tanks, dps and supports, we were ready! But as life is a little box of surprises, on a Sunday after the holidays, we were going to duel with our nemesis, the Ipanema condo, we knew it wouldn’t be easy, even having Paulo by our side, who was a great Hunter, our enemies had Trusyren, a druid feared by all corners of the city, but it was done, it was time for the truth to know if our neighborhood would be painted Blue or Red, and that’s when FSP arrives at the Lan House:
– I’m staying at 3! – Said FSP as soon as he opened the door of the Lan House
– Hold on man, you’re coming! – exclaimed Paulo preparing his bag
I don’t care, get out! – And in an act of cowardice, FSP turned off Paulo’s machine… We were distressed, what would become of us without our hunter? And even more quickly, Paulo called FSP to the corner of the Lan House and came back alone…
– Where is the boy? – I asked
– Quiet there, it worked.
And soon our gameplay went through the threat, it was 2 hours of duel that culminated in a 1-1 between Paulo and Trusyren, we were victorious and our glory spread throughout the neighborhood, but something still bothered me, during the whole gameplay FSP did not appear, which was quite unusual because he loved to scare the concentrated players and keep giving “tips” on how to play:
– Paulo, where is Mr. Paulo’s son?
– MY GOD IN HEAVEN! – shouted Paulo in despair – He is in the bathroom!
None of us understood what had just happened, Paulo ran to the Lan House bathroom and rescued FSP, who he had left there until the duel was over and forgot about the time, angry and threatening all of us, FSP demanded an apology from all of us, who were afraid of being eternally banned from our sacred space, not only we apologized but we gave him chocolates, ice cream and even a coxinha and since then, every weekend FSP appeared at Strike Lan Games and the machine 3 was already prepared for his arrival, it was never used by any other player, only him, Mr. Paulo’s son.
