OOC
GAME: Audeamus
DESCRIPTION:
DATE: July 2007
PB: Thomas Lalonde
JOURNAL: dubhaigh & dubhaigh
IC
name Cian Friel
age Twenty-four.
birthday 21st of January, 1983
zodiac Aquarius
location New York.
profession Bicycle courier.
fairy-tale character The Seventh Brother, from The Seven Ravens.
ability Birds in the immediate area are affected by his emotions. Naturally, the stronger the emotion, the stronger the effect. Anger causes them to become agitated and aggressive and flock around; depression makes them mopey and not move much; happiness makes birds in the neighbourhood play and frolic… and so on.
first impression There's a lot of distance there.
personality Cian's personality treads the fine balance between prickly and playful. It might seem like he gets irritated by things quite often, but there's always a thin surface of cheekiness and impishness above it — despite the fuss he puts up, he's not usually that bothered by the everyday annoyances he experiences. (He's been through worse, after all.) And while he might seem like an abrasive jackass to most, the man isn't genuinely angry with most of the people he argues with and drives away. It's simply a long-lasting habit of being incredibly distrustful towards people who aren't family. Cian would jump through fire for his siblings, but as far as he's concerned, most others just aren't worth the trouble.
He's had a lifetime of being the youngest of seven brothers, all with very strong personalities; Cian never developed a grudge over this, however, since he got more than enough attention as the youngest. But he's tired of being coddled and babied. Having always looked younger than his actual age, he's constantly tried to appear older — even if that meant smoking, drinking, dirtbiking, unconsciously mimicking his older brothers and doing stupid stunts. (There's a lot that can be said for the logic of teenage boys.) Nevermind the fact that he's still afraid of the dark, wouldn't know a food pyramid if it bit him in the ass, and he's terrified of finding out he's put his trust in the wrong person: Cian ploughs through life by stirring up arguments and leaping from place to place, never staying long enough to settle. He doesn't even have a place of his own, and spends all his time mooching off his siblings and their homes.
Picture the boy as an amalgamation of all his brothers. He wants so desperately to be professional and capable like Patrick and Vincent (the latter being his hero, his idol and role model above all others); he wants to be daring and impulsive like James and Donovan. And he wants to be himself. Cian's natural state is, for the record, distinctly cheeky. The young man jokes and plays, but there's a certain bite there, an edge, that borders on impudent and mischievous.
status Seeing Abbie Clarke.
sexuality Heterosexual.
history Right, so. Cian was the youngest of seven and grew up in a poor household in Athlone, Ireland, where all the clothes on his back were hand-me-downs from his endless string of siblings, and their food came from men working themselves to the bone. He remembers next to nothing of his mother, since her patience for raising children ran out while he was still a toddler — never having known her, a very large part of Cian still blames himself for Morgan not being there, since he was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Nevertheless, he still grew up with an extremely close and loving family. He picked up habits and mannerisms from his favourite brothers, and had a lot of freedom as a child: everyone's softer on the youngest, after all. Cian wasn't forced to pick up a job until he was in his late teens and preparing for university.
One of the most formative experiences of his life was — unfortunately — a fateful party when he was fifteen. Drunk out of his mind, Cian was accosted and then raped by an older boy at the party named Danny. He stumbled home to brothers who patched him up and made it right: Danny disappeared that night, which Cian stubbornly assumed meant he had fled town, and Cian soon went into therapy to mend the repercussions of the assault. He became more closed-off, harder to approach, and especially difficult with romantic relationships — here lies the reason he falls back on his family more often than not. But he continued with his life. Cian picked up the pieces and moved on, as it were. He studied business at the Athlone Institute of Technology for a year, living at home and biking down bumpy roads to get to his classes; but after discovering the Organisational Behaviour and Communications class, he realised that psychology was much, much more interesting. Cian packed up and headed off to the National University of Ireland.
University was good for him. Unshackled from his high school and hometown, where the troubled memory of Danny seemed to wander the halls, Cian could finally unwind and branch out when it came to inter-personal relationships. These years are when he became fully normal — he loved studying psych, had a large group of friends, and even several girlfriends over the years. As he neared the end of his degree, Cian went on one semester of exchange at NYU — several of his brothers had already migrated over to New York, so he felt like testing the waters, seeing what the city was like, and to assess if he could imagine living there. This is around the time he met Nina at a party, and the two became fast friends.
After he did his last year back in Ireland, Cian did indeed move to New York. That was about two years ago, and Nina was one of the first people he called up, right after he contacted the bicycle messenger union for a job. His permanent legal address is with one of his brothers, but he actually hops between each of them every month or so, having some sort of inexplicable aversion towards settling down. Marcus lives next to one of the brothers, and Cian found himself befriending the neighbour.
He also met Carl while delivering packages one day, and that's an odd friendship he'll never regret.
Cian participates in the in-city alleycat races on a frequent basis. It means he's had more than a few sprains and broken limbs due to crashes, but he's rapidly becoming one of NY's most talented racing newcomers.
family Father Kieran Friel, mother Morgan O'Shea (later Morgan Friel, then Morgan McLeigh).
Brothers ebonybird, nevermores, quoththe, raucous_caw, vangoeth, wingtips. Sister seeingstars.
appearance The quintessential black Irish, like the rest of his brothers: scruffy dark hair and light eyes. Skinny whippet-like frame, all the better for speed when bicycling. Looks younger than his age. Distracted demeanour, constantly glancing around.
SOUNDTRACK
"a quiet mind" ; blue october
"set the fire to the third bar" ; snow patrol
"the childcatcher" ; patrick wolf
"for my brother" ; blue october
"wires" ; athlete
"the bolder thing to do" ; gregory and the hawk
"dark come soon" ; tegan and sara
"you will. you? will. you? will. you? will" ; bright eyes
"calling you" ; blue october
"the point sometimes" ; gregory and the hawk
"the atheist christmas carol" ; vienna teng
"ripchord" ; rilo kiley
"the answer" ; blue october
LOGS
February 1, 2008: Getting things right with Abbie
