A Heart O' Glass
Title: A Heart O' Glass
Rating: PG
Characters: Northern Ireland (Conchobhar/Connor Finn O'Donnell-Kirkland), Republic of Ireland (Brigid Erin Aien O'Donnell), England (Arthur Kirkland), Scotland (Douglas Allaway), and Wales (Llewellyn Ashe).
Summary: Brigid and her brothers celebrate the Irish Free State a year after its creation, but Conchobhar has a bombshell of his to drop. The countries' perspective on the break of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland.
Warnings: If you haven’t noticed a pattern… suddenly OCs, EVERYWHERE. Uh… alcoholic mentions/references, hinted sexual activity (blink and you’ll miss it), and… you might want a box of tissues.
~*~
It was a clear day at sunset as the siblings all got together on December 7th, 1922. On Brigid’s invitation, they had all gathered at Dublin Castle for the purpose of celebrating her status as the Irish Free State. A reluctant Arthur had been dragged along by both Douglas and Llewellyn to at least wish his sister well. (Both reminded him that this meant his forced marriage to her was finally over with… Vatican’s opinion not holding any ground with him, anyway.) Still, he spent most of the evening sitting in a corner, the fire light casting a faint glow over him and glinting off his glasses as he drank cup after cup of tea. Brigid, meanwhile, was chatting gaily with her twin and older brother and offering them more whiskey with each glass they finished.
She jokingly scolded Douglas for bringing his bagpipes and told him they produced no proper music, as Conchobhar sat off in a back corner of the room. Young as he looked, he still held his own bottle of whiskey, the fourth he had that day, in one hand as he kept his ears alert on Brigid’s conversation… waiting for her, or anyone else, to make the right comment at the right time. He had crept off to Belfast and sat in on a meeting of his Parliament earlier that day, one of the first times he had gone alone, and the results of it had been a driving force for him not hiding away as he had been thinking of doing a fortnight past, when Brigid had told him of their brothers’ visit. The thought of it was oddly liberating. The past one hundred years had been hard, but his whole life hadn’t been easy either.
His rare bout of patience for the past hour or so paid off as Douglas made an offhand remark about him.
“So, the wee babby, Conchobhar, is staying with you here again, eh?”
“Aye, ‘tis the way-”
“No.”
All eyes immediately turned on him. His older siblings all wore similar expressions of shock, Brigid looked hurt, which shot a guilty pang through his heart, but he had already made up his mind and there was no turning back now. She stood up and took a few cautious steps toward where he sat in the shadows.
“Conchobhar, am I to be understanding ye correctly? That yer not wanting to call this place home? ‘Tis good care I’ve been taking o’ ye for so long, and now...”
“‘Tis like a baby you’ve treated me always!” he blurted out, then paused, struggling to fight off what of his sister’s speech pattern still clung to his brain. “I’m not little anymore.”
“But…,” her voice trailed off, tears visible in her eyes.
“You keep treating me like a baby, but it ends tonight,” he said, his tone getting as stony as his face.
An uncomfortable silence hung in the room.
“My mind’s been made up, while I was out today,” he continued. “My boss knows my feelings on the matter, told him before Parliament met, I did. It’s final now. My people and I, we’re staying with Arthur, Douglas, and Llewellyn to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”
A choked spluttering came from Arthur’s direction. Brigid turned toward him, stubbornly attempting to hold back her tears. When she spoke, there was a sharpness in her voice that slashed through the room like one of her knives.
“Were ye knowing o’ this, Sasana?”
“Of course I didn’t!” he said indignantly after wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
“Dubhghlas? Deartháir mór?” she asked, rounding on them now.
They both shook their heads, still too stunned to speak. Brigid finally looked back to her youngest brother, tears threatening to spill over.
“Why? A good sister I was to ye, never raised a hand against ye, ‘twas good to ye, I thought. To do better by ye, ye think I could have done, Conchobhar? ‘Tis that why?”
There were other reasons… his jealousy toward Matthew, who she visited every chance she got, every trip she took to see that old friend she called Preuben. He never understood why she always came back looking so happy, yet sad at the same time, often leading him to believe it meant she hadn’t missed him a single whit. It didn’t help that what few times he had met the man when she had taken him to play with Ludwig, Conchobhar had seen him as so smug and self-centered. But he wasn’t going to list off all her “crimes” against him. She would just give excuses and he wasn’t in a mood to hear them.
“I already told ye why!” he snapped.
He got to his feet and stormed out of the room. Brigid let out a choked sob before standing as well and running after him. She didn’t seem to care that her glass fell from her hand, shattering on impact with the floor. The other three brothers weren’t sure what to do and remained seated, avoiding each others’ eyes as their siblings’ voices echoed back through the corridors to them.
“Conchobhar! Please, sit with me and talk this over we can!”
“No, Brigid, I’m done and I’m leaving!”
“Don’t ye go leaving me too, I be begging o’ ye… please!”
“I already said no! Nothing ye- you say can change my mind!”
Hurried footsteps grew louder as the two Ireland siblings reentered the room. Conchobhar had a bag that had probably been packed ahead of time and had now donned a long, hooded cloak. Brigid was hot on his heels even as he got near the door.
“Please, don’t… leanbh móin.”
That got him to freeze in his tracks. He turned around to face her, the look in his eyes pushing cold fury to hide any sadness he might have been feeling.
“Don’t you ever call me that again,” he ordered. “And my proper name is Connor.”
“Conchobhar-” she began quietly.
“Is a dead name to me,” he said bitterly. “Goodbye, Brigid.”
He turned on his heel and shut the door with a snap, leaving his sister and brothers in a stunned silence. It was only broken moments later by Brigid falling to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably as her heart shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces.
~*~
Brief footnotes:
- On December 6th, 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, establishing Ireland as the Irish Free State, which would be self-governed but still a part of the British Empire. It had a section that gave Northern Ireland (created officially by the Government of Ireland Act in 1920) an option to opt out of the Irish Free State and stay a part of the United Kingdom. On the same day in 1922, Northern Ireland became an autonomous part of the Irish Free State and then opted out the very next day. (However, he’s technically been around since the Elizabethan era.)
- Dublin Castle is where the Ireland siblings have lived (as per Stars’ headcanon), not including the times covered by the Act of Union 1801, where they stayed with Arthur for a little over a century.
- Said century messed up little Conchobhar. Everything between what abuse his sister took (Tower of London imprisonment for her… sob), the Great Famine, knowing the Act of Union had essentially married his siblings, both parties unwillingly so… he came out of it as an alcoholic.
- Connor's boss of the time was the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, appointed to office from the Northern Ireland House of Commons by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on June 7th 1921.
- Sasana, Dubhghlas, Deartháir mór: Brigid’s Irish names for England, Douglas, and “Big brother” (Llewellyn) respectively.
- The split of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland even surprised England, as they had thought Northern Ireland might stay with the Irish Free State. Oops.
- leanbh móin: Irish for “peat child”, Brigid used to call him that when he was very small. She later called him leanbh chroí, which means “heart child”, as he got older. The reason she called him leanbh móin was for more impact to, but obviously, she failed.
-wee babby: Scottish slang for “little baby”. Compared to his other siblings, he really is a baby.
- Connor is the Anglicanised form of Conchobhar. He figured since he was breaking away from his sister and joining his brothers, he’d ditch his Irish name and take the English version, especially as a way to try and show his family that he was dead serious and not going back any time soon.
- Connor = Northern Ireland (as played by me), Brigid = Ireland (as played by starsandauras), Douglas= Scotland (as played by eats_typos), Llewellyn = Wales (as played by kyahryorin). All of these characters have been used on levels of permission, but mostly with none at all. So… thanks guys. 8D
- For those not in the loop, Preuben is what Brigid calls Gilbert/Prussia. Obviously, Matthew is Canada and Ludwig is Germany.
-Thanks to starsandauras for the extra beta help. :>
-Source materials for the history part drawn from Wikipedia.
Rating: PG
Characters: Northern Ireland (Conchobhar/Connor Finn O'Donnell-Kirkland), Republic of Ireland (Brigid Erin Aien O'Donnell), England (Arthur Kirkland), Scotland (Douglas Allaway), and Wales (Llewellyn Ashe).
Summary: Brigid and her brothers celebrate the Irish Free State a year after its creation, but Conchobhar has a bombshell of his to drop. The countries' perspective on the break of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland.
Warnings: If you haven’t noticed a pattern… suddenly OCs, EVERYWHERE. Uh… alcoholic mentions/references, hinted sexual activity (blink and you’ll miss it), and… you might want a box of tissues.
~*~
It was a clear day at sunset as the siblings all got together on December 7th, 1922. On Brigid’s invitation, they had all gathered at Dublin Castle for the purpose of celebrating her status as the Irish Free State. A reluctant Arthur had been dragged along by both Douglas and Llewellyn to at least wish his sister well. (Both reminded him that this meant his forced marriage to her was finally over with… Vatican’s opinion not holding any ground with him, anyway.) Still, he spent most of the evening sitting in a corner, the fire light casting a faint glow over him and glinting off his glasses as he drank cup after cup of tea. Brigid, meanwhile, was chatting gaily with her twin and older brother and offering them more whiskey with each glass they finished.
She jokingly scolded Douglas for bringing his bagpipes and told him they produced no proper music, as Conchobhar sat off in a back corner of the room. Young as he looked, he still held his own bottle of whiskey, the fourth he had that day, in one hand as he kept his ears alert on Brigid’s conversation… waiting for her, or anyone else, to make the right comment at the right time. He had crept off to Belfast and sat in on a meeting of his Parliament earlier that day, one of the first times he had gone alone, and the results of it had been a driving force for him not hiding away as he had been thinking of doing a fortnight past, when Brigid had told him of their brothers’ visit. The thought of it was oddly liberating. The past one hundred years had been hard, but his whole life hadn’t been easy either.
His rare bout of patience for the past hour or so paid off as Douglas made an offhand remark about him.
“So, the wee babby, Conchobhar, is staying with you here again, eh?”
“Aye, ‘tis the way-”
“No.”
All eyes immediately turned on him. His older siblings all wore similar expressions of shock, Brigid looked hurt, which shot a guilty pang through his heart, but he had already made up his mind and there was no turning back now. She stood up and took a few cautious steps toward where he sat in the shadows.
“Conchobhar, am I to be understanding ye correctly? That yer not wanting to call this place home? ‘Tis good care I’ve been taking o’ ye for so long, and now...”
“‘Tis like a baby you’ve treated me always!” he blurted out, then paused, struggling to fight off what of his sister’s speech pattern still clung to his brain. “I’m not little anymore.”
“But…,” her voice trailed off, tears visible in her eyes.
“You keep treating me like a baby, but it ends tonight,” he said, his tone getting as stony as his face.
An uncomfortable silence hung in the room.
“My mind’s been made up, while I was out today,” he continued. “My boss knows my feelings on the matter, told him before Parliament met, I did. It’s final now. My people and I, we’re staying with Arthur, Douglas, and Llewellyn to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.”
A choked spluttering came from Arthur’s direction. Brigid turned toward him, stubbornly attempting to hold back her tears. When she spoke, there was a sharpness in her voice that slashed through the room like one of her knives.
“Were ye knowing o’ this, Sasana?”
“Of course I didn’t!” he said indignantly after wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
“Dubhghlas? Deartháir mór?” she asked, rounding on them now.
They both shook their heads, still too stunned to speak. Brigid finally looked back to her youngest brother, tears threatening to spill over.
“Why? A good sister I was to ye, never raised a hand against ye, ‘twas good to ye, I thought. To do better by ye, ye think I could have done, Conchobhar? ‘Tis that why?”
There were other reasons… his jealousy toward Matthew, who she visited every chance she got, every trip she took to see that old friend she called Preuben. He never understood why she always came back looking so happy, yet sad at the same time, often leading him to believe it meant she hadn’t missed him a single whit. It didn’t help that what few times he had met the man when she had taken him to play with Ludwig, Conchobhar had seen him as so smug and self-centered. But he wasn’t going to list off all her “crimes” against him. She would just give excuses and he wasn’t in a mood to hear them.
“I already told ye why!” he snapped.
He got to his feet and stormed out of the room. Brigid let out a choked sob before standing as well and running after him. She didn’t seem to care that her glass fell from her hand, shattering on impact with the floor. The other three brothers weren’t sure what to do and remained seated, avoiding each others’ eyes as their siblings’ voices echoed back through the corridors to them.
“Conchobhar! Please, sit with me and talk this over we can!”
“No, Brigid, I’m done and I’m leaving!”
“Don’t ye go leaving me too, I be begging o’ ye… please!”
“I already said no! Nothing ye- you say can change my mind!”
Hurried footsteps grew louder as the two Ireland siblings reentered the room. Conchobhar had a bag that had probably been packed ahead of time and had now donned a long, hooded cloak. Brigid was hot on his heels even as he got near the door.
“Please, don’t… leanbh móin.”
That got him to freeze in his tracks. He turned around to face her, the look in his eyes pushing cold fury to hide any sadness he might have been feeling.
“Don’t you ever call me that again,” he ordered. “And my proper name is Connor.”
“Conchobhar-” she began quietly.
“Is a dead name to me,” he said bitterly. “Goodbye, Brigid.”
He turned on his heel and shut the door with a snap, leaving his sister and brothers in a stunned silence. It was only broken moments later by Brigid falling to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably as her heart shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces.
~*~
Brief footnotes:
- On December 6th, 1921, the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, establishing Ireland as the Irish Free State, which would be self-governed but still a part of the British Empire. It had a section that gave Northern Ireland (created officially by the Government of Ireland Act in 1920) an option to opt out of the Irish Free State and stay a part of the United Kingdom. On the same day in 1922, Northern Ireland became an autonomous part of the Irish Free State and then opted out the very next day. (However, he’s technically been around since the Elizabethan era.)
- Dublin Castle is where the Ireland siblings have lived (as per Stars’ headcanon), not including the times covered by the Act of Union 1801, where they stayed with Arthur for a little over a century.
- Said century messed up little Conchobhar. Everything between what abuse his sister took (Tower of London imprisonment for her… sob), the Great Famine, knowing the Act of Union had essentially married his siblings, both parties unwillingly so… he came out of it as an alcoholic.
- Connor's boss of the time was the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, appointed to office from the Northern Ireland House of Commons by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland on June 7th 1921.
- Sasana, Dubhghlas, Deartháir mór: Brigid’s Irish names for England, Douglas, and “Big brother” (Llewellyn) respectively.
- The split of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland even surprised England, as they had thought Northern Ireland might stay with the Irish Free State. Oops.
- leanbh móin: Irish for “peat child”, Brigid used to call him that when he was very small. She later called him leanbh chroí, which means “heart child”, as he got older. The reason she called him leanbh móin was for more impact to, but obviously, she failed.
-wee babby: Scottish slang for “little baby”. Compared to his other siblings, he really is a baby.
- Connor is the Anglicanised form of Conchobhar. He figured since he was breaking away from his sister and joining his brothers, he’d ditch his Irish name and take the English version, especially as a way to try and show his family that he was dead serious and not going back any time soon.
- Connor = Northern Ireland (as played by me), Brigid = Ireland (as played by starsandauras), Douglas= Scotland (as played by eats_typos), Llewellyn = Wales (as played by kyahryorin). All of these characters have been used on levels of permission, but mostly with none at all. So… thanks guys. 8D
- For those not in the loop, Preuben is what Brigid calls Gilbert/Prussia. Obviously, Matthew is Canada and Ludwig is Germany.
-Thanks to starsandauras for the extra beta help. :>
-Source materials for the history part drawn from Wikipedia.