Bear of the Back Alley SOLO Finished

December 24th 2025
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
@Colin McCoire
_{Small CW: A trio of blokes very briefly make untoward advances to our girls. Nothing major or graphic! But I know that can still make people uncomfortable so that's just a wee heads up. Also, a bit of language in this one!}

"Six thirty tomorrow?"

"Of course. See you both then."

Matthew kissed the back of "Auntie's" and Emily's hands before turning to leave in the opposite direction. Emily never expected herself to be excited for not only Colin coming over for Christmas, but for Matthew as well. Well-- Obviously for Colin. He was an integral part of Emily's life now. A brother in spirit from across the waters. It was Matthew that made an equally profound effect on Emily. He had won her over so easily, completely obliterating Emily's chances of feeling jealous over how much attention he was giving "Auntie". But that wasn't the case at all. After all the time they had spent together, Emily was looking forward to having two of the best boys in all the males of the human species to join them for Christmas.

Matthew would've walked them home had "Auntie" not insisted that she and the Huffie could walk home alone. He was already walking a fair enough distance back to the hotel as it was, she argued. Emily would add that "Auntie" was often stubborn when it came to stuff like this. She was a tough, independent cookie. As much as she suspected the two of them to harbour mutual feelings for each other, "Auntie" was still heavily independent for the most part. Something she strived for despite the former.

The two ladies proceeded to walk through the back end of the city centre, where a small sprinkling of bars and nightclubs occupied the area. A blur of blinding neon lights permeated the streets, dominating the already-barely functioning streetlights. Alcohol, vape smoke and clouds of exhaust fumes were a staple of this end of town, though that didn't make neither Emily nor "Auntie" immune to it after years of living with it. Emily had long been practicing holding her breath until they were able to reach the main street out of town... 27 seconds still wasn't long enough to outrun Belfast's notorious pollution problem. Emily felt this part of town comparable to Soho, perhaps a more hyperbolic version of it. Certainly a lot more drunkards in Belfast as far as observations went.

"Auntie" suddenly seized Emily by the shoulder, hurrying her along as they furthered down the street, hastily turning right when a man stumbled a little too close to them when he emerged from one of the bars.

"I'll never understand how people can enjoy - let alone manage - three shots of Jack Daniels on top of a few rounds of beer," she heard "Auntie" mutter disapprovingly to herself.

Emily chuckled. "I'd rather have that than whatever they sell in Hog's Head..."

"No underage drinking, pet," "Auntie" reminded her.

"I never said I tried anything...!"

Raucous cackling suddenly stung from the top of the street and looking ahead, the ladies saw a group of youngish men, swaying on top of each other. Two of them were bent over like they were ready to kiss the pavement. Another one struggled to keep his pint balanced in his hand, alcohol spilling out until there was nothing but foam left in the cup. "Auntie" rolled her eyes at their behaviour, her hand on Emily's shoulder tightening as she tried to usher the two of them along.

"I didn't think people could be this strange on Wednesday nights..." "Auntie" commented.

Emily squeezed her hand. "We'll be home soon. Just let them get on with... Whatever they're doing."

The ladies passed them in haste... But just when they thought they were in the clear, they heard the frantic stumbling of footsteps behind them.

"Ey mate!" A ginger haired man called out to them.

"That's a woman, Trev! You twat!" Another black haired man spat with a snigger.

"Ah sh-- Sorry luv!"

"Auntie" huffed as she and Emily pressed on ahead of them, though that proved futile when Ginger decided to follow them in his drunken stupor, catching up to them with whatever little sober energy he had left.

"Ah c'mon luv, lemme treat ye to a drink. Leas' thing I can do for a vision like yerself," he said.

"Auntie" shook her head, clearly recognising he had as much smoothness as a cobblestone path. "No thank you," she responded coolly. "But go ahead and enjoy yourselves."

"Nah, wait--!"

Ginger seized "Auntie" by her arm and she flinched, involuntarily strengthening her hold on the Huffie's shoulder which in turn made her jump. A less-than-sober smile curved along the man's mouth. The two other men behind them continued laughing at whatever was so funny to them, which could've been the cringe behind the man's advances or the terrible implications of them.

"Fuck me... Yer gorgeous."

"Let go--!" "Auntie" threw his arm off and pulled Emily along. Ginger, swaying from the pushback that wasn't at all helped by the buzz he was feeling from the booze, just about balanced himself as another man - blonde this time - came up and stopped the ladies.

"Don't mind him, he's a nonce," he slurred. "I can get ye a drink if ye want though...!"

"She already said no thank you," Emily answered, her hand balling into a fist as she tried to remain courageous in the face of drunken idiocy. Blondie narrowed an eye as he leaned in a little too close to the Huffie to get a look at her.

"You fookin' sisters or somethin'?"

"I'm her legal guardian," "Auntie" stepped in, all patience missing in her cadence. "Now, if you'll excuse us--"

The boys didn't relent, with Blondie establishing a firm grip to "Auntie's" forearm no matter how hard she tried to shake it off him. Enough was enough. Emily went for the guy's hand and tried to pry it off her.

"Just leave us alone, you weirdo--!"

She felt something catch her hair and she yelped when she was suddenly pulled away, swung around until she was let go and fell to the curb when she slipped and lost balanced. She looked up and saw the perpetrator - Raven haired man. Emily heard "Auntie" call out fearfully as the men crowded her like vultures.

Emily reached for a discarded beer bottle she found a few metres away from her. Any weapon was better than none at all. She armed herself. These men were in for the bapping of their lives!

No one messes with the Shephard fam--!

*PUNCH!*

Emily just about registered a gust of wind blowing past her when something large and towering swung a left hook to Ginger's face, sending him flying across the road to the other path, his body hitting the tarmac like a dead weight.

That stilled everyone in the moment, eyes trained in shock on the intervener. Emily slowly rose to her feet and caught a glimpse of the face of an older man under the streetlight, hair short and white while lines drew over his forehead. Despite the features of his age, he was lean and built, the sleeves of a white shirt rolled back to showcase some pretty stiff guns on his arms.

"Shit-- It's the old man from Annie's!" Raven said, the worry in his inebriated voice gone unnoticed from everyone else. Ginger, contrarily, seemed unbothered, instead sizing up to the mysterious man that stood in front of Emily like a protective wall.

"Ah fuck off, ye old shite!" Ginger spewed, still fighting gravity to keep upright as he pulled his hands into fist formations. "What are ye, the bloody security guard of Annie's now? Yer always fucking up our nights out, bloody fuck!"

He went for a right hook to the much taller and equilibrium-intact man. The latter performed a smooth dodge and forcibly pushed him from behind, sending Ginger face down on the pavement. When he turned to Blondie, the man released "Auntie" and sped in the other direction, the other two making haste as soon as they could muster whatever secret sober power they had left and peel their faces off the ground, rushing away in frantic sways.

The man turned and Emily saw every detail of his face. His blue eyes were as cold as his expression, his body still taut from the moment he landed his punch. He bent over and held out a calloused hand to her.

"Y'alright?"

Emily took it and jittered at the contact, feeling every strength in the muscles of his hand as he hoisted her back onto her feet. "Yes... Thank you..."

He nodded once before turning to "Auntie". "And you? They didn't get their hands on somewhere they shouldn't?"

"I'm fine..." "Auntie" swallowed before quickly reaching Emily's side to hold her. The Huffie could tell she was shaken just from how tense she felt in her embrace. The man looked away like he was suddenly out of place in the environment.

"Wankers, the three of them... Nothing excites them more than belittling and harassing women... 'Course, the damn police don't do shit about it. Probably offended that they're forced to work..." He mumbled something that Emily couldn't hear, though the way he fired a disgusted look to the ground and scratched irritably at the stubble along his chin told her that it wasn't anything nice.

"Unfortunately, they're but three examples of some of the dodgy activity this city has become plagued with," "Auntie" said, laughing nervously as she attempted to make conversation.

"Belfast ain't the way it used to be, you're right there... Say, where are you ladies headed?"

"Malone Road," "Auntie" answered.

"Jesus, that's a fair bit away from here..."The man then dug into his pocket until he pulled out a tenner bill. "Here. Last bus is in twenty minutes. I'll walk you and your kid to the bus stop. You can catch it on Adelaide Street."

"We couldn't possibly--"

"No arguments please, luv. You just got surrounded by the tiniest fraction of nutjobs on this side of town. Hang around any longer and they'll come back. And if they don't, then others like them will. You're getting the bus and I'm going to walk you to the bus stop. End of story."

The man left no room for argument, offering "Auntie" and Emily to walk ahead while he hung back as if expecting other weirdos to spring out from behind. "Auntie" fell quiet while they walked. Emily kept peeking glances behind her shoulder. Never did she see a man with age to him fight against some thirty-something-year-olds without batting an eyelid. Even in the way he walked, he looked stiff and stubborn as a board. He was like a bear.

"See something kid?"

Emily thrust her eyes forward now that she was caught staring at him, cheeks reddening. "No. I just thought it was impressive seeing someone teach someone a lesson to people like that..." Had it not been for the ridiculous Statute of Secrecy nonsense imposed on the minors in Muggle Land, Emily could've taken care of it herself. Maybe play with their drunken minds and transfigure their hair colours or make them dance uncontrollably for thirty seconds. "Do you run into them often?" Emily asked.

"More than I wish I did," the man responded gruffly. "They come down this end for the weekly shots discounts in Points'. Owners like them for the wad of cash they spend in their joint. They couldn't care less if they were sexist. They make a ruckus at Annie's all the time. I started taking care of them when I ran out of patience for them."

They eventually reached the bus stop at the top of Adelaide Street. "Auntie", though showing a kind and brave face to the man, was still feeling timid to talk. Emily carried on in her stead, thanking him for the walk and the bus fare.

"It's nothing," he said in his low, gravelly voice. Emily smiled. He liked how modest he was. She could definitely picture him helping others like her and "Auntie" before them.

"You're sweet for taking care of your mother there."

"She's... Not my mother."

"Hmm. Babysitter or something?"

"Or something."

The conversation fizzled out and all three of them were standing awkwardly at the bus stop. The man stood six feet away from the ladies, with "Auntie" staring absentmindedly at the ground. Emily paced up and down between the bus stop and the shutters of an office building that had closed down for the holidays.

"You don't need to stay at our expense," "Auntie" said finally, shattering the silence between everyone. Although she said it out of politeness, she was met with a vehement shake of the man's head.

"Another few minutes before the bus gets here and then you're free to go," he said. "I've got nothing else to do other than drink to another solo Christmas this year, so let me play the Good Knight for you a bit more."

"Auntie" smiled a little at that. Emily did the same, although hers was a bit more sadden-laced. "You're alone this year?"

"I won't be seeing friends until New Year," he said. "I'm always alone at Christmas. Not that it bothers me. Never really into the whole thing. Just another excuse to enjoy good wine for me, if anything."

"A bit like us then," "Auntie" chuckled. "Although in a surprising twist, we'll be having guests over this year."

"Extended family?"

"Friends," Emily corrected, already getting giddy as soon as she pictured Colin and Matthew. It'd a right laugh, seeing Colin at the dinner table amongst a trio of 'normies'. She sent him a ring binder of Muggle terminology at the beginning of the holidays to help him prepare ahead of time, hoping it would make for an easy transition from Wizarding World to a Muggle environment for him.

The bus finally pulled up and the man ushered the two ladies on. They thanked him again, which was met with another modest dismissal.

"Thanks again, mister. And happy Christmas...!"

Yeah... Likewise, kid."

Emily waved out to him kindly as the bus pulled away, eventually leaving the man behind as it turned onto the main junction.

"Interesting guy," Emily said to "Auntie".

The latter nodded. "Yes... Quite so."

_{Word Count: 2348}

Stats: Stamina: 8 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 7 | Wisdom: 9 | Arcane Power: 8 | Accuracy: 8
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace |Calming Presence