Together, I along with Savix, Hansol and a shirtless Claak approached the chrome doors that slid open on their own as we approached. Hansol began to speak as we took our first step inside, "Welcome to our new home, it isn't much, but at least we're among friends."
The space station was two stories tall. The entryway was a large open space that had several corridors stemming from it, leading to the bedrooms. What was more impressive was that every single PvP streamer imaginable was housed here. I looked around and was shocked to see all the big names, Cdew, Supatease, Maldiva, Snutz, Smexxin, Venruki, the list of streamers was endless, they were all wandering about the space station, each of them giving me their famous catchphrases as I waved to them.
"Hey guys, it's Xaryu here." Xaryu said in his normal dry voice as he passed by.
Stoopzz passed by as well "What's up you guys? Stoopzz back again!"
I began to get curious, I turned to Savix, "Hey, just why all these streamers repeat the same phrases they use in their YouTube videos? Isn't that kind of weird since we're seeing them in real life?"
"The first thing you should know about streamers is that they act exactly the same in real life than they do in their streams and videos." Savix explained, "That's how it is for pretty much everyone."
I nodded, "Ahhh, I didn't know that." I said as a worried Tosan ran towards us with a clipboard in his hand.
"Hansol! Claak! Savix! I am so glad I found you." Tosan sounded like he was in a panic. "Hansol, I followed your schematics to a T but I still can't manage to repair the Pressurant Tank."
Savix raised his right hand into the air and a hush fell over the entire space station. There wasn't a sound to be heard but Savix's voice, "Tosan, I need you to relax." Savix turned towards Hansol, "What is he talking about Hansol?"
Hansol furrowed his brow, "The spaceship that Claak and I came to Mars on wasn't significantly damaged when it collided with Mars' surface. While I was pushing for R1 in the ferocious season, I decided to do a little light reading on monopropellant propulsion systems for NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. I believe I can repair it to operational condition."
It became immediately apparent in the silent space station that Savix was the only one in space station that understood what Hansol meant. Savix stroked his beard in thought, "The sun is going down, I will help you first thing tomorrow morning. We have to get back to earth in order to save WoW PvP."
"What's the point?" chirped Goreki from the second floor of the space station, "It's time everyone on Mars faces the facts: WoW PvP is dead!"
"You're wrong!" Savix snapped, putting his hands on his hips. The once-quiet space station exploded in noise, people began to argue and talk amongst each other. Clearly, people were very conflicted over whether or not it would be worth returning to earth to save PvP. The noise prevented Savix from getting a word in.
Things looked bad. Everyone needed to get alone and unite together in order to fix the space ship and return home to stop Elon Musk from his evil scheme. Things were getting more chaotic than the wow forums. "Is this how it ends?" I wondered to myself, "Trapped in a space station with Savix?"
Author's note: pretty how I snuck the title of the story in there right?
I decided to speak up, loud enough for even the people back on earth to hear me, "Wow PvP might be dead!" I began to command the room, just like Savix did minutes earlier, "WoW PvP might be dead but I don't really care about all of that… I stayed up all night, watching all of you streamers because it wasn't just a game. It was a world that we all got to be a part of." I turned to face the crowd of people that now encircled around me, "There will be more popular games to stream on Twitch, but we all stayed in one place because all of us are a part of a family, a family that was born and raised in Azeroth. Arenas may not be the greatest competitive experience, but suffering through the horrible balance changes, having all PvP being earned through RNG, and not giving ret any mobility." I winked at Savix, "Through all of that, we've grown closer as a community. WoW might be dead but that won't stop us from pulling off the clutch resurrection cast and turning around our terrible situation!" I spread my arms out wide, concluding the end of my speech.
I received thunderous applause from the PvPers. I felt a smile forming on my face. Here I was, a random pleb being able to change the hearts of people who have played this game for five times longer than I have. After everyone was calm, we all agreed to fix Hansol's space ship together, and as all the gladiators began to walk to each of their rooms, I began to get nervous.
"I-Is there enough beds for all of us here?" I asked meekly.
"I am afraid there isn't" Claak told me, "In order to make room for you, you are going to have to sleep in the same bed at Hotted."
My throat began to swell up after hearing Hotted's name, "O-oh, I suppose if that was something that was already decided on…" I said in a defeated voice.
"You shouldn't tease her you know." Stoopzz had wandered his way to our group, "No one has decided anything but you bring up a good point grill. There aren't enough beds for all of us, we'll have to figure something out… I would recommend not sleeping around Savix though, at night he eats drugs."
"He does!?" I jumped up in shock.
Savix made a 'tsk tsk' noise, "You shouldn't go telling people stuff like that Stoopzz, if they don't watch my streams they might end up believing stories like that."
I felt a little bad for doubting Savix but Stoopzz wasn't giving up the joke, "What about the Asian BBQ story? You're going to tell me that wasn't true either?"
"Guys, guys." Hansol said, "Do we really need to do this now? Where is the grill going to sleep?"
Savix stood up straighter than usual, "She can take my bed." Savix said in a mature tone of voice.
Hansol shrugged, "Great, I am going to sleep. I'll see you all in the morning. Don't worry about fixing the space ship, I could fix it in the wrong spec if I wanted to."
On that ominous note, we all found our respective rooms and as I took the bed, Savix laid on the floor beside me. I leaned over the edge of the soft bed so I could talk to Savix, "You don't have to give me your bed you know… I think I should sleep on the floor, after all, you don't want to sleep in the same bed as me because of what I said back down on earth right?"
Savix stroked his beard trying to recollect what I had said, "No, I just wanted to respect your personal space, what did you say that would make you think that?"
I flared up in a bright shade of red, "W-w-what do you mean! Do I really need to spell it out for you?" Savix nodded, pressing me on, "I-I-I said I was your number one fan, I make my own Savix merchandise… and… and…" I was on fire. I felt like my blood was gasoline and Savix lit a match inside of my chest. "I said I loved you. I bet you must think I am some crazy stalker and that's why you're so calm when you're around me. You can't possibly be interested in me because I am just one red flag after another." I was lamenting about my whole life. I had spent so much time following Savix, catching every video, every stream, I even spent most of my waking hours just thinking about Savix. I felt tears running down my face and I reached up to wipe them off with my hands, "It's true what Elon said, I am just a stalker, I am a total weirdo who has had to go to the doctor's office half a dozen times this year because of my yellow fever. I didn't mean to put any pressure on you Savix I-I…" I put the palms of my hands into my eyes. I was openly weeping at this point.
I bet Savix hated me. I bet I was making his mission to return back to earth and saving PvP incredibly difficult. I was probably just a burden on his whole life. If I really did love him, I should just disappear and leave him to his successful streaming and YouTube career. I pressed my hands against my head even more. He gets frustrated even saying "ThatSan'laynGirl" correctly, I bet every minute he's spent with me has been complete torture.
Suddenly, my hands moved away from my eyes, as my tears rolled down my cheeks I saw that Savix had stood up, he had both of my wrists in his hands and moved them away from my eyes. "You haven't put any pressure on me Sarah." He said softly, which ended up making me crying even more. Savix continued talking regardless, "At first, of course I thought it was pretty weird, but it's nice to know that there are people out there that get so inspired from my content that they end up applying for an internship for Elon Musk, I bet it wasn't easy applying, was it?"
I shook my head no, I wanted to speak, to thank him for his kind words, but I was so shocked, it was like a mage kicked me with counter-spell and I wasn't able to talk for at least five seconds.
"I am happy that you're my fan, I am happy that I came to Mars with you, and when I heard you talk to that crowd of streamers tonight? I saw that you're more than just an obsessive person who writes on Fanfiction dot net. You are someone who really cares about World of Warcraft."
"I do" I croaked in a weak voice, "I want soloque more than anything, not because it'll make WoW PvP great again, because I've seen how much you've worked for it. I want all your hard work to finally pay off, you've done so much for everyone, you deserve more than an LFG full of bad players, you deserve more than getting de-monetized on YouTube, you deserve more than being stuck on Mars with me."
Savix ran his fingers through my hair and looked at me in an endearingly, "Sarah… Don't you already know?" He asked rhetorically, "I have everything I need right here." Savix leaned forward and we shared a kiss.
