So in labyrinth of the ancients in ffxiv, theres a part where when you're running to the next boss, theres a set of stairs that curve left and right instead of straight onwards to the boss. Most people jump over the railing rather than taking the stairs. Years ago, when in a Labyrinth run, me and my fiance encountered a guy who was FUMING in alliance chat about the fact people didn't take the stairs, because people crafted those from scratch and NOBODY ever uses them.
This was all hilarious, and a lot of us chatted with him some, winding him up and having a laugh. The next time we did labyrinth, I went "hey, remember stairs guy?" as we jumped over the railing. I then said it. Every. Time. We jumped over the railing together. It became a friend group meme, it was all good.
I was in Labyrinth with my friend Panda (and I think maybe Evil?) when I quoted the meme and they were both confused, so I explained it, and we had a chuckle about it. But then we noticed HIM.
His name was Slab Squatthrust. A Legend in the making.
Me and Panda were dying over the name, and incorporated it into the stairs guy meme. So now it goes;
"Hey, remember Stairs Guy?" "Hey, remember Slab Squatthrust?"
or
"Hey, remember Stairs Guy?" "No, but I remember Slab Squatthrust!"
This lasted Years. If i'm doing Labyrinth now I still say it!
Today, I was going about my business, crafting to make money, when I entered Solution nine and saw him.
I FOUND HIM ONCE MORE.
I was typing out a message to him but he pokeballed and disconnected while I was typing, I was so sad.
I waited HOURS. I was gathering and crafting still, but I waited all night until. He came back...
I spotted him, ran him down, spamming emotes at him as I copy pasted my message I couldnt send before he dc'd last time into a /tell.
We bonded. I was so pleased, I was spamming my friends dm's with updates, we were all yelling and so pleased. The Man. The Myth. The Legend. Slab Squatthrust...
I didn't want to bother him over something so weird so I didn't add him or anything, kept it short and sweet in the /tells above, and went back to crafting. But he was stood there for a long time, and then added me as a friend. I feel truly blessed. I love this dumb ass game.