OOC: APP O' DA IRISH
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name:Stitchez
experience: North Italy, Ireland, Mama Egypt and Somalia of LOLocracy
e-mail: AIM: hatterismadder
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nation: Republic of Ireland
name: Conner Kirkland-O'Connor
nickname(s):Con, Connie if you want to die
age: 25
date of birth: December 6, 1984
hometown: Dublin, Ireland
occupation: Bartender at the Winchester Pub
residence: None ATM
family: Father: Deceased, Mother: Shannon O'Connor, Half-Siblings: Arthur (younger), Peter (younger), Rory (older), Dewi (older) and John Paul (older), Remy (younger) and Johanna (older). Sibling(Twin?) :[Northern Ireland]
first impression: "Hey look it's an Irish dude! I wonder if he's a drun- *punched*"
TEN TRUE FACTS AND A SECRET
Numba One - Typical Irish Man
Conner can be your typical Irish asshole, and he is, most of the time. Manly, ginger hair, green eyes, snarky, drunk, crude and a bar room, bare knuckled brawler at its finest. You won’t find him plucking daisies or baking a cake - he’ll be drinking, avoiding his problems or beating the shit out of someone he doesn’t like.
However, a little known fact about our big-bad-ass-bartender here: he’s actually a softie a heart. Not many but the family (and some of them are even unaware) and the few close friends know it, but he can’t say no to the people he loves and cares about. Crying little brother? “Take my bed while I got fuck up my back on the old couch.” Sibling in need? “What can I do to help you?” Sometimes the help will be delivered in less than kind words but hey, it’d not being turned away now, is it?
Numba Two - Drinks, Drunks and Cigarettes
Just because he is shit-faced tipsy some of the time doesn't mean he is always. Conner knows his limits and when the best time to stop it, though that doesn't mean he will take the bottle from his lips. Some events just call for getting so drunk you can't see straight and slur worse than a old man lisping on a cold. Unlike drunks wallowing in 5 cent watered down alcohol though he only drinks the good stuff. Something Irish is always at the top of the list though he will settle for a good German or other foreign beer if whiskey isn't offered. Then again it's not like he's ever without his flask - you know, just in case. Or his pack of cigarettes. He doesn't think he's lame enough to die of liver failure or lung cancer apparently.
Numba Three- The Family Ties
Conner admits he was a bit of an ass to Arthur the few times they saw each other as kids. But, hey, what kid didn't have a rough time if he had older brother? His cousins gave him hell enough at home so he felt it as a brotherly duty to pass the abuse along (sort of a viscous cycle actually). He likes to think him and Rory are on okay terms, drinking contests and sometimes a quiet night just smoking together counting as their brand of sibling bonding. His relationship with Peter is probably one of the best out of the bunch - he‘s helped the lad on more than one occasional and is thrilled the boy trusts him enough to come to him when he needs help. Dewi? The man probably hates him for always threatening joking about stealing his sheep for haggis but the guy is okay in Conner‘s eyes. John Paul is a crazy and wild as he is so he finds him the perfect mate to throw back a few with. Johanna is a nice lass and a rather angry mother hen, and he appreciates her nosing about the same as he appreciated Remy's gentle chiding for fights with her boyfriend - which is to say with a scowl like pout.
Numba Four - The Fae
What Kirkland is complete without their crazy paranoia about mythical beasts and creatures? The Otherworld and Tuatha de Danann are not simply fairy tales and Conner warns anyone who will believe to stay away from the Fae Folk that wear reds and grays, never good luck those are. He's terrified stiff of banshees too, all the more worried because his mother's father was an O'Connor (making him one of course) and his grandfather's mother was an O'Neil. Not good news if you want to avoid a screeching woman who foretells death. Anything that sounds like singing or wailing in the night provokes a panic in him, that includes but isn't limited to barricading the door and hiding with all his lucky charms safely on his person like he leaves the house without them anyways. Cluricauns are tricky bastards too and he locks up all his valuables in a safe hidden in his closet just in case.
Numba Five - Luck O' the Irish
Lucky charms - they will save your life, they will. Conner never goes anywhere without at least three on his person. Rabbit's foot? Check. Horseshoe? Sometimes a bit too heavy to carry sadly. Just to see if it would work he also got a St. Brigid cross and a four leafed clover tattooed onto his upper right arm he got it a little before his 16th birthday and Mum nearly killed him when she found out on his trip home for winter break. He hasn't had the chance to see if they do work though, since he carries a real cross safely tucked into his shirt to leave nothing to chance, a four leaf clover preserved in amber on the same chain.
Numba Six - Addictions Come in Threes
If anyone ever told you you can only get one tattoo they're a damn liar. Conner felt the itch a few years after he got to Liberty and for his 17th he bought himself another tattoo. Nothing real grand like what some crazy bastards get like those colorful dragons. A simple Éire in Olde English font across his shoulders on his back. He got more at 20, this time "Deirfiúr" (sister) in flowing script under a small silhouette of a kelpie on his calf. After staving off the urge for another 5 years he broke down and got a Celtic shield knot on his left upper arm. He plans on going in once he has enough money to get touch ups on all of his, and maybe another.
Numba Seven - Equinophobia
Not so much of a secret as a well guarded fact - Conner is terrified of horses. It might spawn from his deep rooted belief in fairies (the Pooka and the Dullahan were his bogeymen after all) or it might be from the time when he was about 13. He'd decided to try riding his mother's stallion and the experiment didn't end very well. His cousins had spooked the animal with a fake snake and it took off. He managed to hold on for a bit before he was bucked off and broke his arm due to the fall. There must have been bad luck afoot because it got infected and he was dead sick for over a month. On his right forearm where the bone had broken through skin now rests a nasty, puckered and raised scar.
Numba Eight - Bare Knuckled Brawler
Simply put Conner loves to fight. He finds it fun and stress relieving, boasting a collection of old scars from Ireland and here in America from the scuffles he's gotten into. He will fight for fun, if threatened or provoked too much... or if his siblings are being harassed. He's also a member of a certain Club that shall not be named - the first rule is to not talk about it after all.
There is one scar he is ashamed of, and it's obvious as the day is long. He got into a bar fight at 18 on a trip back home for a reason he isn't too sure of anymore. Far as he remembers though, something was said and then one thing led to another and somehow a broken bottle got slashed across his right eye, leaving a big scar and the eye blind. He had more than a bit of trouble after that but he's adjusted enough over the years to live semi-normally and do his job right.
Numba Nine - Ireland to the States and Everywhere Between
Conner lived with his mother in Ireland until he turned 15, when he moved to the states with an uncle of his. Before settling in Liberty though he was more than okay with planes and other methods of transport. When his father was alive there were plenty of family gatherings and such, mostly around the holidays, until those were canceled once the many different kids obviously couldn't get along - mostly with Arthur. The family dinners started up a few years after, their mothers being on relatively good terms most of the time and they continued, for the most part, until the Kirkland kids started leaving home or just plain not going. After moving to America Conner only went to Christmas dinners when he came back home for winter break.
Numba Ten - Gangs and Grudges
Conner sort of, actually not sort of, really hates anyone from the Vikings. He got in a bit of trouble with the high school gang after he decked the leader for making fun of his name. Really he was tired of being called Connie and "The boy with dumb ass parents who couldn't think of a name". It wasn't a good idea, one against a handful of guys never is really, and even if the gang broke up after high school he still holds grudges against the ones who did the most damage.
Numba Eleven - Musical Prowess
Something else lesser known about the man unless you’ve been to the pub on certain celebratory nights or are family - Conner’s musical talents. At his mother's threats to flay him alive insistence he was forced to take lessons learned to play some more traditional instruments. He knows a few songs by heart and all the fingerings for the fiddle and is okay, according to mother, on the harp. He would die if anyone found he played either but is more worried about keeping the latter a secret. The harp had always seemed such a girly, pansy assed-instrument to him. He'd get his ass kicked for sure, assuming the guys at the bar even knew what a fucking harp was.
Numba Twelve - Dirt Ass Poor
When Conner finally managed to get his stuff together and sneak away from home to move back to Liberty he was sort of lacking in funds having used what he had for the ticket out of Ireland and back to the states. Though he's the Ol' Man will take him back he also technically doesn't have a job at the moment... Or a place to stay. The flat had been rented out in his absence leaving Conner stranded outside the pub with a disconnected cell phone, some Euro and about 13 bucks in cash on him after the cab ride to the Winchester. Hopefully Peter's couch is open.
SHHHHHHH ITS A SECRET! DON'T LET THE FAE HEAR, THEY MAY LAUGH AT ME!
Up until moving to Liberty at 15 Conner was raised in a very Catholic household. Of course his mother screwed up a bit when she had kids out of wedlock and she seemed rather determined to fix her mistakes using her children. Which as many people know now a days isn't the best idea. Forcing him into a Catholic school and forcing him to be the perfect Catholic boy didn't have the best effect and when he rebelled he rebelled hard. Before he did rebel though he... well Conner actually liked the school for the most part. The uniforms, the lessons, the hymns sung by the talented upper class chorus, hell he liked everything except the teachers and their punishments. When he broke away from home though he started to ignore his religion and looking back on it he regrets it. Trying to make up for the past he started to attend early Sunday Mass at the local Catholic church. It won't atone for his long break from his religion or his continued sinning but it puts him back in touch with his roots, something he won't admit but enjoys.
writing sample ((355))
When Conner stumbles out of the airport terminal, passport stuck between his teeth as he tries to hail a taxi and count his money at the same time, it is three in the morning. An ungodly hour for most as the rest of his flight mates trail out looking for loved ones, but an hour he is used to - whether its from the time difference or simply this being his usual work hours he's not quite sure.
He barely has enough to cover the cab if he's calculated right. He hopes to God he has.
Taxi hailed and two duffel bags full of his things in the trunk he directs the man, “ Ta the Winchester, downtown.”. The address and cross streets are quickly rattled off just in case. Once he assured that the man knew where the pub was located he leaned back, pulling the seat belt on and subconsciously patting his pockets for a pack of cigarettes. Which, of course, are not. He curses when he remembers he had the last before he got on the plane and he probably won't be able to get any for a while. Conner settles for chewing on his lip and glaring at the rain, heaving a sigh of relief when they arrive at the pub.
“Thank ye. How much dae I owe ye?” The man rattles off some number after looking at the meter and money is quickly exchange. He waits until the taxi is gone before shouldering his bags and trying the back door that leads to the studio... only to find that the locks are changed. His cousins had probably said he wouldn't be coming back.
“The little shites!” The pub is, of course, open but his pride won't let him go in and risk any of his old co-workers making fun of him. Instead he digs out what change he has left - $5. 87 - and heads over to the payphone, raking his mind for numbers. He ends up only remembering Peter's off the top of his head and, with very little hope, punches in the younger Kirkland's number.
((Thread Planning)) ((Events; Present and Past)) (( CHaracter Homework #1)) (( Character Homework #2)) (( How's my Driving?))