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Description
Absolute silence, a darkened room, and I'm in the center of it all. All eyes are on me, gazing at my face, astonished I dared utter those words.
"Wha... What did you say?", he stumbled, his mouth open in awe. I tried to be brave, repeat myself, stay calm and just tell him how I felt. But I knew I couldn't. Not with all these people looking at me. So I panicked
"No... nothing, I guess." I didn't know what to do, fumbling my hands away in my pockets, slamming my eyes to the floor, feeling all the blood in my body rush itself up to my head.
"Nothing, hmm? Yes, I thought so. No you just turn around, walk right back to that chair of yours, and sit yourself down, number 324." Ah, horrific, that patronizing tone of his. But what could I do, right? After all, he was number 2 now, and there's not much you can do about that. He has all the power, he's the leader of the gang. The thing is, I just can't stand it when he does that. Like I'm 'only number 324'. Hey, I was his predecessor's right hand, the crème de la crème of the old days. I've done things for this place he could only dream of. I used to be somewhat in charge, people respected me. Until he came.

Fury woke up inside me, and I grasped my confidence.
"Just wait a second, I still have something to say."
"Well, what's that then, number 324." Again that tone. He had really pissed me off now.
"You, my friend, my dear dear number 2, you are nothing. A puny little spot on the face of the earth, and I  suggest you step down, and hand your throne to anyone in this here room, because I just know even the one-thousand-plus number could do everything, yes everything, a lot better than you could." I had snapped, and now, so had he. This would become a mano-a-mano combat room right here. I heard the lower numbers shuffle behind me, the higher numbers still silent and confused, but everyone had chosen a side, that I knew for sure.

We were in a conference room, with the lights dimmed. I know the first ones, like the one I was battling right now, had tried to find something 'olde English', with maybe some secret passageways or a Batcave-like room, which could be used like in the tales of the fairies. But at the end of their search, they had settled for anything, and this old ministry building was taken over to run their operations.
They settled in here, made themselves comfortable, and started accepting members. I was in the third horde of new members, number 24 allowed on their terrain. He was one of the originals, and was now in charge, since number one had gone.
"We are all in this clan together, remember?" I practically shouted, totally outraged now, "And you are not number one, and will never even manage to earn that much respect, be such a great leader, be such a great friend to us all. Because that's what I always learned this clan was all about, friendship, being one, even though there are over a thousand of us. And I was also taught that when a leader has not the capabilities to shush arguments and stop fights, he is not the leader he may claim to be. And I have seen first hand, in fact, I am experiencing even now, that you are not the great one you claim to be. You are not one for friendship, or we would not be arguing right now. You are not the one to lead us all in this world. And I know this because I see a disturbed community all around me. You do know what came of this in the first world, do you not? And you know just as well that we do not want war in this world. This is our time and place, and we will fight to keep it safe."
"Gandhi would've been proud." he replied, with a smirk on his face. I knew I was fighting a fight I couldn't ever win without full support of every number in this place.
"And what if you are right, what if I am not the one to lead us all? Do you suppose you could do any better? Since you are the one who started shouting at me, which is not exactly a friendly tone, is it now?"
He had me right where he wanted me, driven in a corner because of my own stupidity. I should've taken this up to his room, where the view of the orchard and the brown leaves twirling downwards would've kept me calm, or at least calm enough to be diplomatic and subtle about all of this.
"I know I am not number one, and I know I am a totally different person. But I do not want war anymore than number one did, I do not want anything of the kind, and I am trying my best to keep this whole community from breaking down into a unorganized pile of people, who will probably all hate each other’s guts. I am trying, 324, but it is not all too easy, you know. It is not exactly a walk in the park to keep over a thousand people happy and satisfied. And it is practically impossible to stop every starting fight. Look, number one had a gift, there is no doubt about that. He had some great form of charisma, which is rare. The only thing I possess is the time I have been here, and experience gathered in that time. I know almost every name of every boy that walks in these hallways, I celebrate every birthday, I sing when something calls for singing, and I mourn when anything calls for such an emotion. It is not like I just enjoy power and sit back in the great leather seats of my office. I thank the last of our secretaries of state for those chairs, but it is not like that is all that matters to me. And I know we could never get along, when number one was still with us. And I must admit I was somewhat jealous of your band with number one. But as you said, this community is all about friendship, so shall we not try to get along too, from now on?"
At that moment, I felt three things. I didn't trust him, I expected the whole section to stand up and applaud, and I knew he was right.
"Jonathan", he spoke with a warm voice, as if he were trying to convert me to his evil scheme.
"Vincent", I hissed back at him, trying to sound like the snake he was. "Jonathan, let's just stop  this discussion right now, move on to the points of business, and finish this in the office later on."
"Vincent, I think you didn't quite catch the purpose of my whole rant. I do not wish to finish this 'later on', I wish to put my foot down and fight my fight, for the good of the clan." There, I had said it. "And everyone who is with me, is invited to join me in battle", I added, not knowing if I chose the correct words, because I did not want to fight, nor start some kind of battle or war.

Description
Absolute silence, a darkened room, and I'm in the center of it all. All eyes are on me, gazing at my face, astonished I dared utter those words.
"Wha... What did you say?", he stumbled, his mouth open in awe. I tried to be brave, repeat myself, stay calm and just tell him how I felt. But I knew I couldn't. Not with all these people looking at me. So I panicked
"No... nothing, I guess." I didn't know what to do, fumbling my hands away in my pockets, slamming my eyes to the floor, feeling all the blood in my body rush itself up to my head.
"Nothing, hmm? Yes, I thought so. No you just turn around, walk right back to that chair of yours, and sit yourself down, number 324." Ah, horrific, that patronizing tone of his. But what could I do, right? After all, he was number 2 now, and there's not much you can do about that. He has all the power, he's the leader of the gang. The thing is, I just can't stand it when he does that. Like I'm 'only number 324'. Hey, I was his predecessor's right hand, the crème de la crème of the old days. I've done things for this place he could only dream of. I used to be somewhat in charge, people respected me. Until he came.

Fury woke up inside me, and I grasped my confidence.
"Just wait a second, I still have something to say."
"Well, what's that then, number 324." Again that tone. He had really pissed me off now.
"You, my friend, my dear dear number 2, you are nothing. A puny little spot on the face of the earth, and I  suggest you step down, and hand your throne to anyone in this here room, because I just know even the one-thousand-plus number could do everything, yes everything, a lot better than you could." I had snapped, and now, so had he. This would become a mano-a-mano combat room right here. I heard the lower numbers shuffle behind me, the higher numbers still silent and confused, but everyone had chosen a side, that I knew for sure.

We were in a conference room, with the lights dimmed. I know the first ones, like the one I was battling right now, had tried to find something 'olde English', with maybe some secret passageways or a Batcave-like room, which could be used like in the tales of the fairies. But at the end of their search, they had settled for anything, and this old ministry building was taken over to run their operations.
They settled in here, made themselves comfortable, and started accepting members. I was in the third horde of new members, number 24 allowed on their terrain. He was one of the originals, and was now in charge, since number one had gone.
"We are all in this clan together, remember?" I practically shouted, totally outraged now, "And you are not number one, and will never even manage to earn that much respect, be such a great leader, be such a great friend to us all. Because that's what I always learned this clan was all about, friendship, being one, even though there are over a thousand of us. And I was also taught that when a leader has not the capabilities to shush arguments and stop fights, he is not the leader he may claim to be. And I have seen first hand, in fact, I am experiencing even now, that you are not the great one you claim to be. You are not one for friendship, or we would not be arguing right now. You are not the one to lead us all in this world. And I know this because I see a disturbed community all around me. You do know what came of this in the first world, do you not? And you know just as well that we do not want war in this world. This is our time and place, and we will fight to keep it safe."
"Gandhi would've been proud." he replied, with a smirk on his face. I knew I was fighting a fight I couldn't ever win without full support of every number in this place.
"And what if you are right, what if I am not the one to lead us all? Do you suppose you could do any better? Since you are the one who started shouting at me, which is not exactly a friendly tone, is it now?"
He had me right where he wanted me, driven in a corner because of my own stupidity. I should've taken this up to his room, where the view of the orchard and the brown leaves twirling downwards would've kept me calm, or at least calm enough to be diplomatic and subtle about all of this.
"I know I am not number one, and I know I am a totally different person. But I do not want war anymore than number one did, I do not want anything of the kind, and I am trying my best to keep this whole community from breaking down into a unorganized pile of people, who will probably all hate each other’s guts. I am trying, 324, but it is not all too easy, you know. It is not exactly a walk in the park to keep over a thousand people happy and satisfied. And it is practically impossible to stop every starting fight. Look, number one had a gift, there is no doubt about that. He had some great form of charisma, which is rare. The only thing I possess is the time I have been here, and experience gathered in that time. I know almost every name of every boy that walks in these hallways, I celebrate every birthday, I sing when something calls for singing, and I mourn when anything calls for such an emotion. It is not like I just enjoy power and sit back in the great leather seats of my office. I thank the last of our secretaries of state for those chairs, but it is not like that is all that matters to me. And I know we could never get along, when number one was still with us. And I must admit I was somewhat jealous of your band with number one. But as you said, this community is all about friendship, so shall we not try to get along too, from now on?"
At that moment, I felt three things. I didn't trust him, I expected the whole section to stand up and applaud, and I knew he was right.
"Jonathan", he spoke with a warm voice, as if he were trying to convert me to his evil scheme.
"Vincent", I hissed back at him, trying to sound like the snake he was. "Jonathan, let's just stop  this discussion right now, move on to the points of business, and finish this in the office later on."
"Vincent, I think you didn't quite catch the purpose of my whole rant. I do not wish to finish this 'later on', I wish to put my foot down and fight my fight, for the good of the clan." There, I had said it. "And everyone who is with me, is invited to join me in battle", I added, not knowing if I chose the correct words, because I did not want to fight, nor start some kind of battle or war.