Meet The Clan [Stephen/Open to one]

[Niamh Dunlevy]

OOC - I'm allowing one other to join us, because someone's coming to fetch Stephen from the O'Hannagain residence.

Country: England. The setting is a small town, close to a city with a military base in it.
Current Time: 08:16
Weather Conditions: It's...sunny, surprisingly enough. A bit of cloud in the sky, and a bit damp too, but otherwise, it's lovely. Watch out for the wet ground, though!

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Niamh yawned loudly as she stepped out onto the back porch, stretching her arms high into the air. For once in England's history, the day had begun brilliantly, and the air was only slightly cooled. It looked to be the makings of a great day, and the warm weather would most likely help Stephen's nerves - he had stayed at Niamh's Aunt Laura's all night. He had been mostly quiet, save for an inaudible murmur or two, and for this Niamh was glad. It was probably a sign of him getting better from his shell shock...right?

A sudden thump on the rooftop above caught Niamh's attention. "Hmmm?" she said quietly, staring at the overhang above her with a quizzical expression on her face. "T'at's funny...I t'ought I heard somet'ing...."

Shrugging it off as a bird or some other critter on the roof, Niamh walked out into the backyard, humming the tune of "Hello, My Baby!" quietly to herself. Stephen would most likely be in bed for a few more hours, and Rowan as well. Despite having made a quick, mostly-painless recovery from his own injuries, the latter still needed bedrest. By the time dinner was finished, Rowan had limped up to his old room and collapsed on the bed, not bothering to change out of his uniform or even throw the covers over himself. Aunt Laura had snuck in an hour later, and done that for him; she had always been a doting mother -

"DOGPILE ON NIIIIAAAAAMMMMMMMMHHHHHHHH!!"

The Pavee shrieked in surprise as a wave of human beings fell off the overhang, piling onto her like mud into a bucket. They all hit the ground with a squelch, and those who had tackled her laughed loudly. She moaned, although no one could hear in, in irritation and pain.

"Hey Nivvy!" cried a voice from above, followed by several other voices saying the same thing. Niamh immediately recognized it as one of her older cousin's, and then growled under her breath, muttering a few strong exepletives. Him and eleven other men were now crushing her into the mud, and she realized them as her paternal cousins, the ten sons of her Uncle Daragh. But then...who were the two others -

"Hey Nivvykins!"

Scratch that - she recognized them. The last two were the twin boys of her Uncle Riordan, her Aunt Laura's little brother. That meant twelve of her cousins were here to visit while a shell-shocked Stephen was as well - greaaaaaaaat.

[Stephen Colly]

He had slept well alright, a few murmurs at different points in the night but apart from that everything seemed fine. The bed had been really comfortable and he was full with the food so he had had a nice time.

He had awoken at the crack of dawn when the first rays of sunshine had came through the window into the room and had lain dozing for the first time in ages for an hour or two. He had finally dropped off back to sleep at 7:00 and hadn’t woken until he heard noises from outside and had woken with a start thinking he was being attacked but no.

Rubbing his eyes he looked around and up at the clock that was ticking quietly on the wall, it had just gone 15 minutes past 8, gosh it was the longest he had slept in for ages it seemed. He slowly but surely got out of bed and stood up, looking around for his uniform and saw it neatly ironed and dry on the chair by the end of the bed. Walking over to it he began to dress quickly and then looked towards the door where the sounds were coming from. Slowly he went towards it as he put his cap on and opened the wooden door, looking out into the hallway and coming out to the landing.

Outside it seemed was were the voices were coming from, it seemed like a lot of voices not just one of two…he stood not knowing what to do at the top of the stairs and began to make his way down them.

[Niamh Dunlevy]

The thirteen Pavees - the cousins plus a very muddy Niamh - came through the back door in a bout of loud laughing and greeting. Niamh was half-crushed in a half-hug by her oldest cousin, Cillian, while Cillian's fifth-youngest brother, Quinn, was rubbing the top of Niamh's head rather annoyingly. Laura came down to see what was going on, blinking wildly and stopping in her tracks when she saw the source of the ruckus.

"Bless me soul..." said Laura quietly, placing a hand over her mouth when she saw her nephews and niece all huddled together in a muddy crowd. "Oi tart yer boys wouldn't be comin' for de next two days!"

"Believe it, Auntie Laura!" boomed Cillian happily. "Oi managed ter git sum leave, an' so did de other boys, an' Uncle Riordan's twins are visitin' Aunt Allie!"

"So Cillian packed us al' up an' we decided ter surprise yer!" cried Michael, the second-to-last youngest of Uncle Daragh's sons. There was a chorus of agreement from the other boys, and Laura just shook her head, staring at the crowd like the boys had grown themselves a head each.

"Well, yer cud 'av called in, at laest!" cried Laura, hands on her hips. "Oi wud 'av done a grocery run if yer did!"

"T'ath's okay, Aunthie Laura!" cried one of Riordan's twins, the "oldest" of two, a cheerful soul known as Aidan-James. His grubby little hand held up a canvas bag, bulgy and laden down with what Laura presumed to be groceries. "Me an' Aran, we ran tho t'e sthore earlier, we didsth! We gots a loth o' sthuff for ya, 'cause we know you goths loths of boys tho cook for when we're around!"

Laura smiled warmly. Aidan-James Dunlevy and his twin brother, Aran, were always thinking ahead. Out of most of her large family, they had a plan B, C, and even Z for most situations. It was quite refreshing to see such sharp minds, especially since most of the other boys were born with a "jump-in-and-do-whatever" kind of personality.

Footsteps on the stairs caught everybody's attention, and eyebrows were raised and smirks were put on as Stephen made his way down the stairs. A few of Niamh's cousins looked slyly at her, and she glared back, sighed exasperatedly.

"Be nice, boys," the Pavee growled. "He's a friend. Sthephen, don'th be alarmed; t'ese are my cousins. Yes, I know t'ere's a loth, justh be glad not all thwo hundred of t'em are here. Boys, meet Sthephen - he helped me outh of a thighth spoth in t'e past."

"Hi Stephen!" boomed the other Pavees, twelve hands raised up in a simple wave.

[Stephen Colly]

There seemed to be about a hundred people in the small kitchen that lead to the stairs, well obviously there wasn’t a hundred there was actually 14 people but it looked like more to Stephen as he glared at some of the faces that smirked and raised eyebrows but his facial expression relaxed slightly when Nimah spoke.

He raised an eyebrow himself as he looked around at her cousins…she had this many cousins! She had two hundred cousins??!! Wow, Stephen only had one, Ned was his name and he always called Stephen a runt but Ned was off with the Air Force somewhere in Africa that was the last Stephen had heard from the cousin anyway.

A loud booming of voices and calls of his name now proceeded to fill the room and hands raised in a wave. Stephen’s lips turned into a small smile as he proceeded down the stairs, glancing out of the window once or twice to check if there was no other lot of cousins lurking in the bushes, oh and also if the man would come to take him back to that hospital…great…

He glanced around at the faces, all had traces of Niamh and Rowan and their Auntie in them, ”Niamh.” Stephen made his way over to the Irish lass, ”Thanks for the supper last night, it was real nice…I don’t need breakfast today, don’t feel up to it.” he muttered as he glanced back at the upturned faces.

[Niamh Dunlevy]

"T'at's - URK! - okay...Cillian, leth go o' me!" snapped an annoyed Niamh, who was now rather sick of being manhandled by her bigger, stronger cousins. She kicked Cillian in the ankle, causing him to yelp, and managed to pull herself free of his grasp. With a sharp, harsh sigh, she shook her head roughly, then looked up at Stephen, Cillian rubbing his ankle with one foot behind her. "You don'th have tho eath if you're noth hungry, I won'th hold it against ya."

Aidan-James and Aran, meanwhile, were intrigued by the soldier standing by Niamh. Being only fourteen, it would be a couple more years before they could enlist in the military, and their older brothers were all away at war. Thus, they rarely got to talk to their siblings, spending of their time with their cousins and asking them all the questions about the military. However, they always liked hearing a different perspective, instead of the same stories over and over again. So, they decided to walk up to him, Aidan-James being the first to speak (as always).

"Excuse me, sir," said the little boy, "buth are ye a soldier, thoo?"

"Why, yes he is, Aidy-Jamie," Niamh replied, using the common name amongst the family for the oldest of the twins. Aidan-James was unfazed, but Aran, finding the name too "cute", piped up.

"Oi, 'is name is Aidan-James, noth 'Aidy-Jamie'! Don'th embarrass m'brot'er, Nivvy!"

Niamh only laughed. "Relaaaaax, Aran," the woman said calmly. "I'd never do such a mean t'ing! I ain'th a beasth, unlike yer cousin Cillian over t'ere!"

"Now now, children, be nice," said Aidan-James sarcastically, rolling his eyes. In that moment, he sounded more like a parent then a mere teenager. "Buth yes, Misther Soldier, you are in t'e army? Whath's yer rank? General? Corporal? Private?"

[Stephen Colly]

Stephen gave Niamh a small smile, she seemed to be getting annoyed by her older cousins, she did look suddenly very muddy, she must have fallen over or they must have pushed her. ”Thanks.” he said, he didn’t know what to do now, he was standing in a room that wasn’t his own, with people in who he wasn’t related to in anyway and only knew one of them, if you counted Laura that would be two…Stephen felt a pang of guilt now, he was intruding into someone’s home.

A little voice at his side interrupted Stephen from his thoughts and he looked down to see a small boy, one of Niamh’s many cousins asking him a question. ”Yes, I am.” Stephen gave a small smile to this young man as he sat down on a stool slowly and watched the small argument that was going on between the cousins. He laughed slightly, god he had forgotten how children as young as these could behave, he had been around so many much older men and women than himself that he had got used to being the young one amongst the troops.

After the small argument had subsided the boy turned his attention back to Stephen whose own eyes went towards him, ”I’m a private.” he muttered, ”Just a private, your other cousin Rowan is a Corporal, I know a lot of people who are right up high in the ranks, Ed was…” he trailed off as he began to speak about Edward and his eyes averted down to the ground, he didn’t want to talk about his lost friend McMillan.

[Niamh Dunlevy]

"Misther Sthephen...?" began Aidan-James and Aran, blinking slowly with wide, hazel eyes. They did not know why he had trailed off when he mentioned the name "Ed"; it was a short form of any name starting with "Ed", including "Edmond", which was Cillian's sixth-youngest brother. Said brother was now standing by Cillian, poking Niamh innocently in the shoulder to annoy her, but quickly turning his attention to the sulking Stephen.

"'Ey, what's wrong witcha, lad?" Edmond asked. All eyes turned upon Stephen, and concerned frowns were on everyone's faces. Niamh walked forward, shoving a couple of her cousins aside and standing protectively over Stephen when she reached him.

"Leave 'im be, boys," the young woman said sternly. "He's 'ad a rough nighth. Breakfasth will be soon, rugby ball's in t'e closet."

"GRAND!!" boomed the other Pavees (except for the twins), loud enough to cause Niamh to jump. She glared at them as they rushed down the hall, bumping into and nearly trampling each other like a pack of wildebeest. Only Aran and Aidan-James remained, blinking wildly at the commotion down the hall. Aunt Laura looked on with indifference, having been silent until now, her frying pan tapping against her other hand...dangerously?

"Hmph. Jist whaen oi tart oi wus gonna 'av a quiet mornin'," Laura said with slight disgust. "At laest yer four don't try an' ravage de lan' every chance yer 'av."

"T'ank you Aunth Laura," Niamh, Aran and Aidan-James replied with a smile. Niamh then looked down at the twins.

"So, can ye thwoo keep Misther Sthephen busy? Aunthie Laura needs help wit' breakfasth. Sthephen, you thell 'em off if t'ey are bad, buth don'th worry - t'ey're t'e mild-mannered ones o' t'e bunch, and speakin' o' t'e bunch, don'th go intho t'e yard when t'ey're playin' rugby. T'ey're like animals when t'ey're wound enough. Anyhow...anyt'ing ye all wanth fer breakfasth?"

"Thoast an' peanuth-buthther," the twins said almost off the bat with a grin.

[Stephen Colly]

Stephen glanced down at the boy who had spoken to him, then both had spoken, blinking up at him. This made him feel embarrassed and even more when another boy called over what was wrong and now all the faces were on him, frowns on everyone’s faces. Stephen looked away, wishing they would all stop staring.

Finally, for it seemed like a long time, Niamh stepped in front of him and began to stick up for him, god he felt even more like an idiot as a woman had to stand up for him and he couldn’t himself.

The attention now turned to the rugby ball, and all the boys made such a noise that Stephen had to put his hands over his ears and hum to himself to drown out the noise that could terrify him. Only the two twins, Niamh, himself and Laura remained and the place was deathly silent until Laura spoke with a hint of disgust in her voice.

Stephen smiled over at her, letting his hands hand to his side now that the noise of the shouting and thumping of boys had disappeared into the distance or rather to the yard.
Stephen gave a small nod and glanced over at the two boys, he wasn’t too good with children…ah well. ”I won’t.” he muttered as she spoke about the yard, Stephen sat on the stool and waited for the boys to finish their breakfast…

”Look, um…Nimah…or Laura, you have any horses here?” he suddenly said, staring at his hands and then up at the two women, ”It’s just…I’d like to see them if you do.” horses made him calmer and he hadn’t been near one for a couple of weeks.

[Niamh Dunlevy]

Within minutes, breakfast was served, the twins munching away hungrily on their toast and peanut butter. Niamh was sipping a glass of orange juice, nibbling on some sausages left over from the night before, as well as a freshly-toasted peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich. The boys could just barely be heard whooping and hollering in the yard, and any minute then, Niamh figured that the game would descend into nothing more then "tackle-the-person-who-has-the-ball". What could she say? They had a love for dogpiling on each other - and her, sadly enough.

Stephen then quietly spoke, catching Laura and Niamh's attention as he addressed them. He asked if they had any horses nearby; Laura shook her head with a quiet, "Naw, sorry me fella." Niamh, however, smiled and nodded vigourously.

"Drum's in a sthable noth thoo far from 'ere," the Pavee said. "Ith's only a five-minuthe walk ath a fast walk, an' Aunth Laura knows t'e sthable owner personally. He's doin' fine, if you're wondering; his leg and hoof are all 'ealed up, justh a bith o' scarrin'. I can thake ya t'ere, if ya like; 'twould geth us away from t'e boys, ith would!"

Aidan-James and Aran suddenly gave their cousin a dirty look in mid-chew. Niamh looked back at them with a sheepish grin.

"Eh...sorry, thwins. I don'th mean no offense tho you."

"None thaken," the boys replied with a smile, and went back to eating their breakfast. Laura quickly poured a glass of milk for them, and slid the glasses across the table with practiced ease. The twins gratefully took the glasses, drinking half their milk in one go. Laura fished around in her ice box, looking for something or another.

"Yer shud also maybe stop by de shops before Stephen leaves," said Laura. "Thar's sum nice things de general store jist got in. Yer might fend somethin' yer loike, Stephen, for yisser travels. Me nephews alwus stop dare whaen they cum through."

[Stephen Colly]

Those boys differently ate fast! Stephen watched them munch hungrily, he wished he had an appetite like that now-a-days but eating didn’t seem to be on the agenda for Stephen at the moment.

Stephen’s hopes dropped slightly as Laura said they didn’t have any horses at the house but they rose again when Nimah spoke about Drummer being just down the road. ”I would love to see him Niamh, really I would.” Stephen said, standing up and nodding, suddenly feeling quiet refreshed and happy.
”Yes, I’d love to go to the shop, haven’t been to one for ages, thank you Laura.” Stephen gave a tip of his cap to Laura and smiled at her, ”Once again, thank you ever so much for letting me stay here…it was real kind of you…I don’t know what I would have done…probably still be in that churchyard screaming myself to death…” he trailed off, realizing that the boys were in the room and didn’t really want to talk about last night anyway.

He sat back down on the chair and became silent once more, waiting for Niamh’s answer.

[Niamh Dunlevy]

Niamh smiled sympathetically and nodded, deciding to ignore Aran and Aidan-James's curious looks towards Stephen's words. Finishing her bowl of cereal and orange juice as quickly as she could, she stood and wiped her mouth off with a sleeve, which earned her a small look from Laura. Giving a content sigh, Niamh said, "Well, mighth as well gith t'e errands done b'fore ya have ta go back. Anyt'ing you wanth me tho gith, Aunthie?"

"Yisser cousins were nice enoof ter git me sum supplies for de boys' visit," Laura replied, "but oi'm runnin' low on laudanum an' peroxide, as well as shampoo. If yer cud go ter de chemist an' git me sum av dohs, it wud be much obliged."

"Sure I can sthop by t'e chemisth's," Niamh said. "I need tho gith some sthuff for me own thravels, too. I'm runnin' low on a few t'ings in m'firsth-aid kith."

"Oi 'av sum quid yer can take, dear; naw nade ter spend yisser own on me things," Laura said, nodding assuredly. Niamh herself nodded, and brought her glass and bowl over to rinse in the sink, then placed it in for washing. The twins finished their meals not long after, and did the same thing with their plates and glasses. Laura turned the hot water on to fill the sink, and began fishing around in her wallet for some pounds. She finally gathered a wad that totalled thirty pounds, and handed it to Niamh, who placed it in her own wallet. Aran and Aidan-James had scurried out to the backyard by then, eager to burn off energy by playing rugby with their cousins.

"Nigh, things are a wee pricey at de chemist's roi nigh, but oi tink t'airty quid shud cover it," Laura explained to her niece. "If de laudanum is too dear, den yer can cleave it oyt, an' jist git me de peroxide an' shampoo. Dare shud also be enoof so dat yer an' Stephen can buy somethin' from de general, al' roi?"

"Yes, Aunthie," Niamh replied. "Shampoo, opthional laudanum, peroxide, and somet'ing for us. T'at lasth one is really nice o' ya, t'ank you."

"Anytime, lass," her aunt replied with a smile. Niamh then nodded, and headed towards the door, motioning for Stephen to follow.

[Stephen Colly]

Stephen stood up once more as the two relatives spoke to one another about what they needed to get from the chemist and the shops, Stephen just stood, drumming his fingers lightly on the table until Nimah had got her money from her aunt and was heading for the door, beckoning Stephen to follow.

Stephen did, he walked out of the door and into the clear, blue morning sky. It was going to be a lovely day, there was a slight hint of dampness in the air and it was pretty wet under foot from last night’s downpour of rain and sleet but apart from that, the English weather was being kind for once. It seemed when ever Stephen went out, the weather was always fowl…what was it with English weather being so miserable? Was it to do with the war? No, of course not…the whole of Britain had always had bad weather because of where it was placed in the world, far away from Africa and the equator to get any decent weather apart from in the summer months. The winter was always cold but Stephen liked the cold, but only when it snowed or when there was a heavy fall of frost, not in months like January or February or March even, those months were very boring, Christmas was over and the snow was melting and everyone seemed in bad moods, or in more bad moods then they normally were.

Stephen took the path down to the road, he walked carefully so not to slip. Stephen could see that water had settled on the fields, Poor farmer. Stephen thought to himself as he stared out, Won’t get a decent crop on there for some time. Somewhere not too far away, he heard a clock chime the half hour, was it only just 8:30? It felt much later than that, more like 9:00…

He stopped for a second to wait for Nimah to catch up. ”It’s a nice day.” he prompted at her, looking down at her if she came up, if she didn’t then he would carry on staring in the direction of the fields, it was a pretty village, spoilt by the military base that had just been put up to help the war effort, and the town could be heard from where they were standing.

He looked back at the house, now in the daylight, Stephen could see that it was rather pretty, red bricked with ivey climbing up the walls…like Stephen’s house back at the Colly’s farm…a thought struck him, he wondered how is mother and father was doing, he hadn’t spoken to them for quiet some time, he had been meaning to but hadn’t got around to it…

[Niamh Dunlevy]

"Yeah, ith is. England's bein' kind tho us, ith is," said Niamh, who had now caught up to Stephen. He seemed quite eager to get away from the house; his step was rather quick, his stride wide, one meant to cover ground in a short amount of time. Perhaps it was a soldier thing - Niamh had noticed that many of her soldier-cousins had learned to walk more...efficiently...after finishing their training. It wouldn't surprise her if this was the case.

Noticing Stephen's eyes flickering back to the O'Hannagain household, Niamh laughed softly. "Admirin' m'Aunthie's coththage, eh? Yeah, ith's a preththy place. I like comin' pasth ith whenever I'm here. Ith's one o' t'e preththiesth I've ever seen."

With that, Niamh would motion for Stephen to keep walking. The boarding stable was just ahead, a small dot amongst the sprawling, wet fields, little dots moving across those fields the horses kept there. Drummer would most likely be out for a morning romp, and would probably be rolling around in the mud, too.

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Ten minutes later, the pair was at the edge of the farm, coming up to a paddock beside the road. A small distance from the fence, a dozen horses were grazing, ranging from a small, squat pony to Drummer, the biggest and hairiest of all the horses. Her mouth forming a small "o", Niamh whistled sharply, catching the attention of all twelve beasts.

"Druuuuuuummmmmer!" the Pavee called out. "Here boy! Here Drum!"

A few more, shorter whistles came after, and the draft horse came trotting over, whinnying in greeting. A few of his pasture-mates, curious, also came walking over, tails swishing back and forth like great, thin banners. All of them were coated in a great deal of mud from the shoulders down, and Drummer was absolutely filthy, clumps of wet mud falling from his mane and tail. His lowered head pushed playfully against Niamh's cheek, the horse nickering warmly, and Niamh laughed as he smeared a bit of dirt across her face.

"Oi...you dirthy lil' horse," Niamh growled playfully, rubbing the side of her horse's head. The other horses sniffed her cautiously, taking in her scent with flared nostrils, then looking over at the nearby Stephen with a wondering stare.

[Daniel Brennan]

Mod-Post

CP:
Niamh: 8CP

Stephen: 8CP


~Dan