I met Ocelot many years ago, and he is probably the man most
responsible for my continuing as a shadowrunner for as long
as I have.
We started our careers at the same time, and the mere fact
that we've managed to avoid killing each other since then speaks
volumes about my high esteem for him (and, I hope, his for me).
I honestly didn't think at first that we would get on as well as we
did, nor did I think that we would work well together. Our first
meeting was marked by a great deal of distrust, most of it stemming
from our significantly different backgrounds and life-experiences.
I'm the first to admit that I was a bit naive about the kind of
life I was getting myself into; Ocelot had no such illusions. He had
grown up on the streets of Seattle, spent his entire life making the
most of a bad situation, and thus had a far more realistic view of
what we would be up against than I did. He was an angry, no-nonsense
sort of fellow who appeared to have even less tolerance for stupidity
than I did (and anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I
have very nearly none).
Harry must have seen something that we didn't, though, because as
our association continued, I began to see that there was more to
Ocelot than bluster and machismo. Perhaps "bluster" isn't quite the
right word--his was a quiet sort of confidence, backed up by a
rock-solid knowledge of what he did well and what he did not. He learned
to trust my strengths, and I learned to trust his (in addition to
getting familiar with the other team members, of course), and we found
that we each had what the other lacked, both in terms of personality
and in terms of the sorts of abilities that were useful to the team.
For example, I am legendary for being abysmal with firearms.
I can shoot, but a standing team joke is that if I am resorting to
using a gun, we are in severe trouble indeed. Ocelot, on the other
hand, is an excellent shot, though his real talents lie in the use of
various melee-type weapons. He used guns far more often early in our
association; at this point he has almost entirely supplanted them with
his swords, spears, and his trademark monofilament whip. His speed and
agility have on more than one occasion carried the day in a particularly
difficult combat.
It was a couple of years after I met him, though, that I first
got an inkling of what drove this man with whom I had been trusting my
life. I had just acquired my first mageblade, and, lacking even a
rudimentary knowledge of how to use it effectively, I had invited Ocelot
(he was calling himself Viper at the time--he's since come to his senses)
to my home in England and offered to train him in the mental disciplines
in exchange for some instruction in how not to hurt myself with my new
acquisition. You must understand that this was quite a departure for
me, as I had previously made it a point to keep my "shadow" life wholly
separate from my more conventional dealings in England. But I have
always felt that if one is to trust someone, it does one no good to
continually look over one's shoulder. So I invited him, and he agreed
readily to the invitation.
During the course of that visit, various difficulties that had
previously been seething beneath the surface arose, with what could have
been disastrous results. Ocelot (who had finally revealed his real name,
Terry Symonz, to me, as I had revealed mine to him) was highly disturbed
by what he saw as my disregard for the seriousness of the endeavour
to which I had devoted myself. He pointed to my situation in England,
my real identity, and the fact that I did not need the money I made
at shadowrunning as indications that I was not taking the whole
thing seriously enough. I tried to assure him that that was rubbish,
but the whole thing erupted in a fight that resulted in my being
nearly tossed through the wall of my study, and his nearly being
the recipient of one of my nastier spells.
Fortunately, however, we were able to resolve our differences.
I returned with him to Seattle and spent some time with him in his
former world, living the life of a semi-transient street person for a day or
two. It was a thoroughly unpleasant experience, but I did find out
about the fact that he was abandoned as a child, grew up on the streets,
and had none of the niceties of life that I took largely for granted.
I was able to see how this might cause a bit of a mismatched perspective
between the two of us. He also revealed to me that he could have
been a shaman--I get depressed to this day at the horrible loss of
potential that he experienced when he chose to mechanize himself into
a mundane. I don't think he really believed the person who had
originally informed him of his latent magical abilities, but one
close look at his aura convinced me that it was true. I can't
comprehend how someone would allow something like that to occur,
but as he is fond of informing me, we come from different worlds and
have made different choices.
Since that visit, Ocelot has solidified his position as my closest
friend in our shadowrunning team--his friendship has seen me
through some of the more difficult times in my life of late (he alludes
to this in his discussion about me; I prefer not to elaborate).
We still don't see eye to eye on many things, and he frightens Aubrey
whenever he comes over for a visit, but these things are largely
irrelevant. When one has seen as many things and been through as many
strange situations together as we have, all the rest becomes
mere trivia in the greater scheme of life.
Ocelot's player is Dan Nitschke.
Ocelot as portrayed by Shawn Michaels at top of page;
picture used without permission.