A Pavee, a Boy, and a Soldier [Stephen/Lief]

[Niamh Dunlevy]

Country: England, UK - the town of Tiverton's outskirts, Devon.
Current Time: 16:00
Weather Conditions: Wet. Very rainy. Muddy. The English usual. The month is mid-late March.

OOC - I apologize for the briefness of the introductory post. Also, the posting order was switched for the convenience of the other RPers.

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Niamh paced back and forth across her hotel room, hands behind her back, her face a mask of thought. Drummer was in a local stable, and as nervous as the Pavee was leaving him alone, she had to. There was nowhere else to put him at the simple place she had rented a room in, some half-ritzy bed-and-breakfast called "Tiverton Rooms". Hopefully, Stephen had gotten her telegram that she paid a soldier to help her send.

To Stephen Colly, stop. I ask you to meet me urgently in Tiverton, stop. I have a favour to ask you, stop. Please please please reply soon, stop.

It had been a week or so since Niamh had come across little Lief. In that time, she had bought him some new toys and clothes - a pair of sturdy trousers and a couple of shirts, not to mention some other things she wouldn't name. The boy had also been bought a tin of tin soldiers, since he seemed to like playing "Army" so much. Adding that and the telegram fees to the rugged, military-quality backpack Niamh had bought a few days earlier, she ended up with less then a hundred pounds left over. One more night at the hotel, and then, she might as well be broke.

"C'mon...c'mon!" the young woman growled, glancing over at the annoyingly-ticking alarm clock. Stephen was coming close to running late for the arranged meeting...

"LIEF!" yelled Niamh to the second bedroom in her hotel room, seperated by a thin door from the main room the Pavee used. "Geth ready for t'e nice soldier! He'll be here soon!"

[lief]

A cavalryman moved out, skewering a flag bearer, then shot by crouching infantryman. Lief moved them slowly with his tiny, pale fingers across the small wooden bedside stand, mouthing minute gunshots as the little tin soldiers waged an imaginary war.

Miss Niamh was so nice, she bought him these soldiers, not to mention the new clothes. She had rented a nice little hotel room and put Drummer in a little shack with a bunch of other horses, and arranged a meeting with one of the nice Nazi-Fighters. Herr Colly? No, the proper English term is "Mister". Silly language this English is.

"LIEF! Geth ready for t'e nice soldier! He'll be here soon!"

With those words, Lief leaped off the comfy bed and ran to the pair of drawers. He flew open the drawers, pulling out a nice gray shirt. He had not put it on, for fear that he would drop something onto it.

Slowly pushing the buttons through the holes, he yelled back to Niamh.

"I VILL BE ZERE IN A ZECOND!"

Pushing the shirt into his pants and tightening his old leather belt, he ran over to the small mirror hanging opposite of the bed, fixing his white-blond hair to lay somewhat straight on his head. He rolled across the bed, swiping the tin combatants on the bedside table into the little box.

He lept up and shoved his feet into his boots, lacing them up his calves. Finally done with the preparations, he slid through the door to meet Niamh.

"Alvighty Niamh! I am vedy vore ze nize zoldier!"

[Stephen Colly]

The rain poured down, stupid English weather. Stephen had been on leave once again for the first time in a few weeks, he had arrived home a day before, and had got the telegram that morning, his mother had given it to him. Nice of her to do that, she still looked pale as ever. He had rode over to the train station and had taken the train to Tiverton, taken a car to the hotel in where Niamh the woman she had helped out with a horse, was.

He arrived at the hotel and asked for Niamh Dunlevy, the hotel ushers had told him where their room was, Stephen was running a bit late, the car driver had noticed his uniform and had made him stay to talk to him about the war for Stephen was wearing his army uniform, a helmet on his head, making him look quite good-looking.

He walked along the corridor and heard a shout from a room, ah, this was the room in where the woman was, he heard a boy’s voice as well and gave a little smile, he had no idea what Niamh wanted, she had wanted to see him urgently…

He knocked on the door and took hold of the handle, turning it so he could enter the room, he smiled as he saw Niamh, she looked well, ”Hello, sorry I’m late.” his face was tired to be honest, the bruise was still there on his right eye but it was mending slowly but surely. He closed the door, ”You wanted to see me?” he looked around and his eyes rested on the boy, smiling at him slightly and then his eyes turned back to Niamh.

[Niamh Dunlevy]

"Sthephen!" the Pavee said merrily, odd-eyes twinkling. She immediately stepped over and gave the soldier a bear hug, patting him on the back. Quickly releasing him and stepping away, Niamh sighed in relief, then went straight to business.

"Righth t'en. Sthephen Colly, t'is is my liththle friend, Lief," Niamh began, motioning towards the pale German with one hand. "He's sthayin' up here unthil t'e war's over in Germany, and wit' me for a while. Lief, say hello tho Misther Colly."

Once the introductions were over, Niamh would continue speaking.

"Now, abouth t'at favour...y'see, Lief's mot'er is missin'. T'e Nazis did somet'ing wit' her, and Lief needs a mot'er. I need you tho see if you can find her down in France or somet'ing; lasth I heard, you guys are comin' 'long nicely."

The Pavee then lowered her voice, and leaned in. A smile tugged at the edges of her lips.

"An' Joey is alive. I goth a listh of bases where he's bein' used t'haul t'ings back an' fort'; ye can t'ank m'fat'er lather."

She leaned back, voice raised to a normal level.

"Buth for now, we goth a person tho find. Lief, I know ith mighth be a lil' difficulth for ya tho speak o' such, buth could ya thell us your full name, and whath your mama looked like?"

[Stephen Colly]

Stephen smiled at the woman as she hugged him, giving him a bar hug, he hugged her back tightly and then let go. His eyes going back to look at the boy who was still standing. Niamh introduced the two to each other, ”Hello Lief.” Stephen said to the boy, smiling slightly and turned back to Niamh as she started talking about why Stephen was here.

Stephen listened and nodded, ”I thought you were going to ask me to be his mother!” Stephen said jokily and then became serious, ”I could try for you Niamh, I really could but it’s not as easy as it sounds, there are so many children out in France with no mothers and so many mothers with out children but I’ll do my best…” he trailed off and his eyes widened as he heard what she then said about his horse.
”Joey? He’s alive!” his eyes sparkled with joy, ”Oh Niamh, thank you ever so much, that is such good news!” he was going to kiss her on the cheek but then thought not to, maybe that was a bit too far…he now had a permanent grin on his face.

Stephen made his way towards a chair and sat down, taking out a notepad and pen, scribbling the name of the boy, Lief he stopped and looked over at Lief, waiting to get the boy’s whole name and the description of his mother.

[lief]

"Hallo, Mizter Colly. My name iz Lief Bielski."

Lief's thin, heavily accented voice ehoed through the small hotel room. The young soldier leaned twords Niamh and they talked in a quite tone. His bright blue eyes looked the soldier up and down.

He was younger, with a nice uniform and helmet on. He looked quite good. The boy longed to join the army, wear a uniform, have a gun, shoot the Nazis.

Then the soldier sat down in a chair and pulled a little pad of paper out. Lief supposed he was going to write down details about his lost mother.

"Vell, my mozer's name iz Olga Bielski, ze haz long blond hairz, she iz pretty young, and ze iz zkinny."

[Niamh Dunlevy]

"Bielski, blond, young, skinny. Anyt'ing else, Lief?" Niamh asked, smiling as she patted the boy affectionately on the head. From the way she was hearing things, Lief was the spitting image of his mother. If Niamh ever had to head to France to help find Joey, then she'd probably recognize the boy's mother right off the bat.

However, she knew that the chances were slim. It would take a miracle for Stephen to find the needle in the haystack that was Olga Bielski. The Pavee wouldn't give up, though; she had made her promise to Stephen in December, and it only took her four months to find his horse. Still, it was only because her father had ties in the horse market, and the horse was amongst Allied troops...

Niamh walked over to her charge, putting a hand on his head and patting him affectionately. Her father had done such a thing in the past, and for some reason, she felt it was appropriate. Lief was the very example of a little brother - cute, young, loving and maybe just a wee bit mischievious. Unlike the other Pavees, who usually had raised up to nearly twenty children, Niamh's parents had opted to have only one daughter. While her cousins had all had a sibling to look up to or take care of, the closest thing Niamh had had to a brother was Drummer. Now, that wasn't the case - she had Lief to look after now.

[Stephen Colly]

Stephen nodded, ”Lief Bielski.” he said out loud and scribbled down the information on the pad.



Olga Bielski, mother of Lief Bielski, young, blonde and skinny woman.



He looked up at the boy as he put a full stop at the end of the sentence, ”How old would she be Lief? And where did you last see her?” he asked as he started to doodle on the pad, making star shapes as he waited for an answer. He would try and find this woman but with the information that he had been given, the chances were pretty slim indeed, she was one in a million basically of women in France.

”Out of interest Lief…are you Jewish?” he suddenly asked, leaning towards the boy and studying his face, the boy did look like he could be Jewish…from what Stephen had heard the Nazis weren’t being too kind to Jews lately.

[lief]

"Vell, ze muzt be umz...umz...umz...twenty? Zirty? Zome vhere around zere."

The soldier was still scribbling in his notebook. Lief could not see what he was jotting down. Niamh gave the boy a comforting pat on the head. It was nice, reassuring, like a piece of candy when all you get to eat is bread and water.

Then the soldier leaned in closer to to Lief and looked at his face for a moment. Then he spoke.

”Out of interest Lief…are you Jewish?”

The words rung out in his mind. Yes, he was Jewish. And he was proud to be.

"Ja, ja I amz."

Lief said in a confident tone.

[Niamh Dunlevy]

Jewish. The boy was Jewish. It explained so many things, and yet, it was something she didn't want to hear. There was no racist reason for her feelings - the Pavee had always respected one's ethnicity or religion, especially since her people were often despised - but rather, a great sadness. For simply being Jewish, this boy had been driven out of his country. It wasn't just, or even fair.

Niamh's mental gears suddenly found themselves turning. If worse came to worse, and she had to go to France to get Joey, she could help Lief. The military was full of volunteer jobs...maybe she could get one with Drummer, pulling things around and what-not? It would be dangerous, and the Nazis were supposed to be brutal...

But if Olga couldn't be found through military means, then maybe - just maybe - Niamh could find the woman by herself. Lief, however, might be a problem, since he was only a minor and not at all fit for a war zone. Besides, what about school?

"Ah, Sthephen," Niamh cut in, "if I may ask, do you know where a good school is 'round here? Or anywhere else? Lief's going tho need an educathion, and I don'th wanth tho see him noth learn. I also meanth tho ask you t'at."

[Stephen Colly]

Stephen scribbled down – Twenty or Thirty year old woman.

Stephen’s head snapped up and a worried expression came over his face when the boy declared he was Jewish. The soldier bit his lip and scribbled down – Jew. He underlined it a few times, this might not go well at all, for rumours had it that the Nazis were killing Jews in Germany and Poland, places were the Allies could not get at, his mother could be already dead, oh god…in a way it made the search easier but then it made it harder, easier because there could be records of Jewish people in a certain area and harder because that woman called Olga could be dead.

Niamh now spoke to him and Stephen glanced around at her, she asked if there was a school around here and Stephen nodded, ”Yeah, in Tiverton, it’s a nice local school, has about…I dunno…120 kids, it’s pretty small but I don’t suppose they would mind another child to take on, I take you there tomorrow if you want, I’m on leave for another week or so, not going back to the front until the beginning of April.” he smiled at her and looked back at Lief, ”Lief, would you like to see something? Would you like to see a gun?” he asked, his gun was at home in his bedroom but he could bring it to Lief tomorrow if the boy wanted. ”It’s not here at the moment, but maybe I could bring it tomorrow, only if you promise me you won’t go firing it!” he laughed and ran a hand through his hair as it had become a bit flat what with having the helmet on.

[Daniel Brennan]

Mod Post

Remember, lads: 15 lines minimum.

CP:
Niamh: 5CP

Lief: 5CP

Stephen:5CP


~Dan