Shadow wrote:Thanks Xyon, it was not a case about privacy so much as I don't want to know what you know about the situation - if things go well they go well, if not I'll just drive myself mad knowing about them.
You, er, know... MOST of it. Anyhoo, that's not actually why I'm posting back here.
I remember that, Shadow. He comes in to the living room with this cheesy grin on his face and a charity sash round him, proffering a scrap of paper to me... Oh how we laughed.
Hell, if any man deserves a
good girl, it's shadow. The pair of us used to work together at the Banardos shop in the town we live in. I believe he still works there, and I will too once I get my head straight a little bit.
You've probably all noticed our wonderful banter - it has more place here than the shop floor in a professional working environment... but we weren't in a professional working environment, so that's ok. He does annoy me at times but he's got a wonderful way of making a four-hour shift disappear.
And there's a few more things besides.
We both follow a code of nine virtues now, a few of which are Honour, Courage, Truth, and Hospitality, and nine "charges", which expand on the virtues and cover things like protection of those unable to protect themselves. These principles are what we build our lives around, and what we strive to achieve with our everyday actions. (Don't ever forget that, Shadow, (or you, Xyon... remember that.)) Before either of us knew about this code, we'd be forced to uphold it without realising it.
December, 2005, and Shadow and I were sat in my room at the hostel I used to live in, just chatting, as we always do, when there was a knock on Shadow's door.
In that hostel, my door and Shadow's door were next to each other, behind a fire door, so from either room we could hear the other door. Opening my door reveals a girl called Shirley.
Put bluntly - the girl is a bitch. We both knew this at the time, and neither of us liked her. However, what she said caused me to leap from my seat, as did it Shadow.
Just prior to this Sunday, two lads had moved into the hostel, one called Dean, the other Paul. The Saturday, they'd been caught by a staff member, who happened to be a friend of mine, trying to break the alcohol rules of the hostel and bring a 24-can crate in.
Shit kicked off and Paul got himself arrested and a cell for the night. Dean ran off when he was told to leave. (Tells you a little bit about both of them before the story really starts).
Ok. So Shirley was stood outside our doors, clearly in distress and I believe with a red mark on her face, Shadow can confirm or deny that, and asked to borrow Shadow's phone to call her boyfriend because Dean had just punched her.
Whatever our feelings toward this girl, the pair of us leapt up, and were as hospitable as possible, trying to calm her down, cheer her up, and whatnot. Dean, by this point, was locked in his room, the door to which is past Shadow's and mine, up a flight of stairs.
Inevitably, the police arrived, and removed the little whelp. Not before they've had to use the battering ram technique to get him out of the property, and had to put up with the arrogant little shit taking potshots at them as they dragged him from the hostel in chains. (well, handcuffs, but I reserve the right for a little embelishment. Nothing else here is exaggerated in any way.)
Shirley had by this point gone downstairs, to the communal lounge. Shadow and I decided to make sure she was alright, and after locking both our doors we proceeded to do so.
Sat in the lounge, chatting to a few of the other people who lived there at the time, we began to relax slightly, unil Paul arrived and began to spout some rubbish about Dean's arrest being "out of order" and the like.
Shadow, being his usual sarcastic self, piped up with a hearty "well what did you expect?"
This didn't go down well, and Paul decided to try to pick a fight with him.
Shadow and I were perhaps the quietest people in that place. And perhaps the two most dangerous as well. Whilst I was in no doubt as to Shadow's capability in defending himself, I wasn't about to leave him to have to.
This is the point where the shocked expressions reign in on everyone's faces but mine and Shadows, both of which were set in grim determination as I confronted Paul and told him to back off, that he wasn't going to get away with that kind of behaviour, and that he
really didn't want to fight either of us.
He didn't listen. More fool him.
Him kicking off some more resulted in the three of us - Paul, Shadow and myself - waiting for the police to leave so he could "jab a knife into both our heads". He filled this time with various egotistical comments ranging from how easy the fight was going to be to how he used to spit of Shadow in school - a fabrication, of course.
So just before the police left, Paul went upstairs to "get his jacket", at which point I turned to Shadow and whispered in his ear "what's the betting he comes back down with a knife or something". Shadow nodded, the pair of us waiting in anticipation as the police left, Paul came downstairs and we all left, Paul first, us following a little way behind.
We got to the end of our road, a busy crossroads, and at this point I said something along the lines of "we won't be lead anywhere, it happens here or not at all", playing to his apparent desire to have this fight.
So we stand, as Paul starts off on something about "not joking about the knife" and produces one. My penknife, which I'd always carried for it's tool purposes, was out and in my hand ready at a speed which impressed me.
Paul decided to charge me, whilst Shadow circled to the left. I'll be honest - I froze slightly, and let him get too close. The knife was up by my neck and I grabbed it, trying to get it off him as I turned my knife around and punched him in the belly a few times, and shoved him backwards.
Realising I could defend myself, he then tries a similar tactic on Shadow.
A beautifully timed side-kick was his reward. As he stumbled, I complimented Shadow on the quality of the strike, and remained in an anticipary stance, aware that the fight might not be over.
He regained his feet, and seemed to suddenly realise neither of us were the pushovers he'd expected. We devolved into talking. He tried to convince us that he'd dropped his knife down the drain - a statement that if true, would have lead to his immediate hospitalisation - and when this failed he walked off.
We went home, satisfied in a good (k)night's work.
That evening we spent chatting to the staff member I mentioned earlier, and got him evicted from the hostel. Oh, sweet justice...
That be just one reason Shadow and I are good friends. Shadow, if you're not reading this at the computer I'm writing it on, GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE!! IT'S BEEN DAYS!!!!
Entertained yet, Jenica?
I have to jump.
For even if I fall, for a moment, I will fly.
)
) - you are VERY right. That code of honour can bite you in the backside sometimes. But you know, when it comes down to it, that you're doing the right thing.