Into The Light • •

[Caoimhe Siobhan Monroe]

Caoimhe was pretty certain that she wasn’t supposed to enjoy work as much as she did. Even back in Louisiana at her dad’s bar she didn’t laugh as much as she in Planet Hollywood. Although she did suspect that most of the laughter that came from her friends and colleagues there would earn most of them a hasty slap back in the family run bar; she was the only girl in the family after all and from her uncles to her brothers, they were all far too protective over the gangly redhead.

Once the doors were closed and the lights dimmed for the end of the shift, Caoimhe helped with the routine clean-up they always did, teasing and laughing as usual while they wiped down tables and brushed the dirt from the polished floors. Only once most of it was done did she slip into the bathroom and change from her uniform to her casual clothes that had been neatly folded in her bag. Her preferred mode of transportation was hardly ideal when she had to then spend a shift in the same outfit, so she always arrived and changed and then changed back before she left again. It seemed much easier than having to tell Penny every week that she needed something replaced or to have to find a way to work a needle and thread to fix the holes worn in the trousers if she did fall from her board; which did happen often enough for the young biologist to know it was a risk.

Grabbing her longboard from the locker, Caoimhe poked her head into the kitchens to wave her goodbyes before strapped the kneepads and elbow pads into the correct positions before snatching up her helmet from the top of her backpack where it always rested when she wasn’t wearing it on her head. Most people she knew preferred their cars to get from point A to B, but Caoimhe had always lived this tomboy lifestyle and without the old quiet roads of Columbia, down by her house, she felt like this was sometimes the only way she could keep that old hobby alive. She had a car, just like most people these days, but she kept it for whenever she drove back to Louisiana, or used it for the days when she needed to go grocery shopping. Besides, it came in handy for when the winter began to set in and longboarding down to the campus was just asking to be maimed by ice and rain. The winters reminded her of her other home though, and as Christmas approached and the semester turned into exams and study sessions, Caoimhe found herself dreaming of Portumna and Ireland.

As the thought crept into her mind, her dark blue eyes fell on the person not too far ahead of her on the quiet sidewalk. As if coincidence was trying to prove itself to her, Caoimhe pushed harder from the ground and let the board coast along until she was close enough to speak to her Irish friend without shouting at him down the street like it was some sort of domestic argument or heckler. “Fancy meeting you out here.”

[/color] She joked with a wide smile, keeping her speed slow enough to chat to Finn. If he was parked close by then she could quickly be back on her way alone, but if not then it was someone to chat to while they headed back towards their respective apartments.
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• • •

TAGGED! Finn <3
WORDS! 615
OUTFIT! Casual Mess!
LYRICS! Touch The Sky - - - Julie Fowlis
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Finnegan Oliver Healy]

Finn would never lie and say he didn’t miss home. He missed Ireland more and more every day. But he moved for the experience, for the taste of adventure and for one of the best Genetics programmes around. And he didn’t want to go home for anything more than a visit. The best labs in the long run weren’t anywhere near Galway and though he missed his hometown, he only ever wanted to go back for visits. New York was his home now and the group at Planet Hollywood were his family. He loved going into work each shift, there was always laughter and good fun and Finn wouldn’t change that for anything when he was alone in the big, bad city.

And now that summer had rolled around, he was picking up more hours at the restaurant, spending more and more time in what he lovingly referred to as crazy town and of course, the pitch. He was on a four year scholarship with the football team, when he wasn’t in practice through the year, he was studying and working. Summers meant no classes, which gave him more time to pretend like he had a life going for him other than work, school and play. He had plans of going home for a couple weeks in August, hitting the beach a couple weekends here and there until then and working like a madman to save for that trip home.

His shift tonight ended an hour before lock up but after he helped a bit with the cleanup, changed out of the uniform he wore and into street clothes he felt comfortable in, he ran up to Penny’s office for an impromptu meeting. He wanted to make sure he told her about visiting home while he was thinking about it because he knew if he didn’t do it now, he would forget that he’d never done it. With that noted, he said goodbye to Penny before calling out to the kitchen staff as he passed and called his goodbyes to the bar staff cleaning up their area. He didn’t think he was that far ahead of the rest of the staff, a thought proved right when another member of the wait staff rolled up next to him on her longboard. “Hey Caoimhe,” he said, not all that surprised to see her on the street, riding home. They both lived in the same general direction, though normally Finn drove to work because he seemed to be perpetually late though he clocked in on time. Unfortunately for him, his car was in the shop. He wasn’t afraid to admit he didn’t know a thing more than the basics about cars. So, unless it was a flat tire that needed changing he was a very hopeless case.

Tag || Caoimhe!
Words || 464
Clothes || Cutie Pie
Music || If You Want Fire - - - Terri Clark
Notes || <3

[Caoimhe Siobhan Monroe]

It had been a little odd growing up with two homes. Caoimhe had been so young when her parents divorced that she didn’t even have memories of them as a “normal” family and only a vague few of Roisin in Columbia, which her brothers told her she had wrong every time she reminisced them out loud. So, ever since she was four, Caoimhe’s life had been split between Ireland and Louisiana; two very different places. It sort of reflected in her personality from time to time and she could switch from one strong accent to the other without even thinking about it, much like her brothers could, too. For many people it seemed bizarre, but Caoimhe had known nothing different than the unique life she had been raised with. She wouldn’t change it for anything in the world either. She loved both of her homes equally, even if she didn’t get along with her step-sister so much back in Portumna, but that was simply down to a polar opposite personality and the inability to understand a lot of the things the other loved.

The summer months usually meant Columbia for Caoimhe. She had already booked the two weeks off in July to keep her dad from driving to the city and kidnapping her, though she wouldn’t be surprised if he or one of her uncles accompanied her back for a few days disguised as a long weekend break. She didn’t need them to check up on her, but she had never been one of those brats who kicked and screamed; she knew her family trusted her, but she was the baby and she was a long way from either of her homes. In the meantime, Caoimhe would fill her time with extra shifts, adventures with her New York friends and probably complete some of the video games that were stacked knee high in her apartment. Even if she didn’t have the time to play them, she bought them on the day they were released just so they were in ready to celebrate the end of an assignment or pass the time whenever the hour was late and sleep hadn’t come for her.

New York at this hour made it a hell of a lot easier to ride home. On her way to work she had to take a longer route to avoid pedestrians and even then there was a lot of weaving through the crowds. It probably would’ve been safer and made a hell of a lot more sense for her to take the truck she usually left parked in her building’s garage unless she needed a big grocery shop or the weather was abysmal. Caoimhe had the rest of her life to take the truck, but the day would come when longboarding would be out of the picture due to all kinds of possible circumstances…she didn’t want to waste a moment. “Most people when they finish early tend to leave long before close.”

[/color] She teased lightly, grabbing the tip of her board as she kicked the heel and hopped onto the sidewalk. Caoimhe slipped her longboard through the straps of her backpack and opted to walk alongside her friend for the time being; it was less strain on her legs to keep up the slower pace without the wheels and she was in no real rush to get back inside her apartment.
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• • •

TAGGED! Finn <3
WORDS! 598
OUTFIT! Casual Mess!
LYRICS! Touch The Sky - - - Julie Fowlis
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Finnegan Oliver Healy]

Finn should have had a life outside work and school, but there wasn’t much that really interested the Irish boy. He had what his mother would consider too many video games stacked about, only half of them even opened. And the only people that even made it to the front door of his apartment were his teammates or co-workers. He had no discernible social life to speak of and only had one when he went home because he friends there wouldn’t let him remember the colour of his bedroom walls. Growing up, he’d been the kid that was hardly ever home. Usually just long enough to eat a meal or sleep and then he was gone again; sometimes it was just the sleep.

And then he moved to the other side of the planet, things changed and yet they didn’t all that much. He was still hardly ever home but now nights and days out with friends were replaced with nonstop classes, practice, work and if he was lucky library time. He tried to get out for a drink at least one weekend a month, but since most of his friends weren’t old enough, like him, they opted out. His licence confused the hell out of the bouncer’s in New York, so he usually took his original one around, just so the bouncers would shake their heads and just let him through so they wouldn’t have to deal with it. He’d switched over his licence when he got to New York so he could drive, despite not having a car for the first three months of living in the country. His parents had wired him money to buy a cheap little thing to get him from point A to point B but he’d waited for as long as he could before giving in a buying a Honda Civic.

Finn shrugged, running his fingers through his hair. “Yeah, well, most people don’t have to remind their boss eighteen times about a trip home for their own benefit, do they?” he asked, chuckling at himself. It wasn’t that his memory was bad, it was pretty good considering. But from time to time he thought about doing something then got to doing other things and then later it was like his mind believed he’d done what he hadn’t so he didn’t do it at all. At least, not until he did finally remember that he hadn’t said or done exactly what he’d thought. He knew how confusing it was, and he’d done this to Penny twice already that they had gotten to the point where Finn would walk into the office, intent on telling her something that she already knew, or reminding her about something he hadn’t told her because he thought he already had. They always had a good laugh at it and both blamed all the reading he did. Penny joked that all the science was melting his brain and he returned with too many footballs to the head had his brain backwards. “So, hot plans for the night?” he asked, taking the conversation away from himself.

Tag || Caoimhe!
Words || 516
Clothes || Cutie Pie
Music || If You Want Fire - - - Terri Clark
Notes || <3

[Caoimhe Siobhan Monroe]

Caoimhe wasn’t like some of the freshman in her class and around the NYU campus. She didn’t have a fake ID or spend her weekends looking for a hotspot or party to wrangle an invite to. She had grown up in a Louisiana bar and waitressed there since she was old enough to do so; the fuss and the big deal was lost on her. She didn’t want to get drunk every weekend and lose memories of the best years of her life. Most of the time, when she wasn’t working or bugging friends into trying something new and active with her, she was camped on her couch with video games, nachos and tying herself in pretzel like knots just because she often sat like that whenever she was fidgeting over a boss battle or trying to beat a timer.

She had a pretty decent balance of being in her apartment and outside socialising with the rest of the world. It was hard to break a habit she had ever since she was a kid. Even when she was cramming for exams or slogging away in the library she made sure to take a good break to board across the campus with her headphones blasting the music she loved so much from both parental influences. She’d grown used to the confusion people had when she switched one country for the other, but Caoimhe was just as used to that as she was to people mispronouncing and misspelling her name. Her last name they had no problems with, but the first and middle seemed to bode quite a few issues and her driving licence, student ID and name tag for work had been amended at least once after someone hadn’t checked the spelling. It had been a problem her whole life, so luckily Caoimhe didn’t even get annoyed by it anymore and just laughed the matter away.

Nodding her head in understanding, Caoimhe stretched her arms high above her head, wincing as her shoulder cracked. “I gave Penny mine the second my dad started to ask. It’s back to Louisiana this time round.”

[/color] Even at eighteen and with her older brothers getting their own lives in order they never broke that pattern; Louisiana in the summer and Ireland in the winter, just like it had been since they were kids. “I’m only switching Planet Hollywood for a rusty bar though.”[/color] She’d be handed a serving tray and apron the second she arrived and told to ‘make herself useful’. Caoimhe didn’t mind that since it was the quickest way to get through the common pleasantries with the Columbia locals. Her father might have to pry her away from the river at the back of their house first since the slender redhead was already wishing about being back in that water, lazing the afternoons away. “It’s either slaughterin’ zombies or survivin’ the nuclear apocalypse for me, I think.”[/color] She had an abundance of video games to choose from and often switched between two or three before calling it a night and taking the four steps from her couch to her bed. “You got anythin’ exctin’ planned.”[/color]
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• • •

TAGGED! Finn <3
WORDS! 561
OUTFIT! Casual Mess!
LYRICS! Touch The Sky - - - Julie Fowlis
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Finnegan Oliver Healy]

Finn was in New York on scholarship. He couldn’t afford to be out at all hours of the night drinking and partying and generally throwing his life away. He had to be in his place, studying or on the pitch practicing his skills. He was gifted, and worked damn hard to be that gifted. Finn wanted nothing more than to play football but to do that, he needed to graduate; his parents only wish. And since he was getting a mostly free ride from NYU, he wanted to give his parents something. Didn’t hurt that he was a very smart man, either. The genetics programme at the university was a tough course, the graduation rate was low, and the teachers, tutors and classes were hard.

All in all, it was a miracle Finn had even gotten this far in the programme with his football regime, work and the small bit of socialising he did partake in! “Summer in the bayou,” he said imagining it. “Must be nice around there,” he thought out loud, shaking his head to bring his attention back to his friend and co-worker. Finn only had Ireland to go back to but he loved every trip home. They didn’t last nearly long enough for his liking but while he was home, he made the best of it and tried to fit in everything he could before he was boarding that plane and flying back to New York once again. He knew how difficult it was to do all these trips home and back which was why when he went this time, he was going to sit down with his parents and work out a plan to visit only over Christmas until school was through. It was only a couple more years. And with all that extra time in the summer to work and save up, Christmas in Galway could be his gift. “I just end up running around with this sibling or that parent when I’m home.” Finn admitted, chuckling.

It wasn’t a bad way to spend a few weeks at home all things considered, but by the time he had to leave, Finn was usually happy to be going back to work and his regular schedule. “Sounds exciting.” Finn said, grinning because he was probably going to end up doing the same just as soon as he refreshed Pandas food and water dishes. “Maybe the same, or maybe I’ll be racing through the street gaining street cred. I haven’t decided yet.” Finn said grinning. His Need for Speed games saw more action than most of his games but he took the time to show love to the others on the games shelf. With any luck he would end up wasting away a couple hours on a video game but more than likely he would stretch out on the couch or even in bed, read a couple pages from a textbook and wake up the next morning with no recollection of ever falling asleep.

Tag || Caoimhe!
Words || 497
Clothes || Cutie Pie
Music || If You Want Fire - - - Terri Clark
Notes || <3

[Caoimhe Siobhan Monroe]

With older brothers, her father and her uncles, Caoimhe had been watched like a hawk for most of her life. A part of her thought that they all expected her to hit New York and sprout some wild child persona to make up for those teenage years where she hadn’t partied or dressed up in sequins and mini-skirts. That hadn’t happened so far and she doubted that it ever would. She just wasn’t that kind of girl. She valued her classes above everything aside from family and she could be found at comic conventions or midnight launches in costume or with a biology textbook. She was lucky that she could choose to do anything with her life and her family would probably be supportive of her. They were just like that. There was no pressure to be this perfect little thing going out to change the world and she didn’t have to live up to expectations or ideals like she heard some kids talk about over the years. Her parents, despite their own problems, only ever wanted their kids to be happy. Right now Caoimhe was! She had no complaints beside the usual things any eighteen year old might complain about; assignments, cancelled plans and deadlines.

Smiling softly, Caoimhe tilted her head from side to side. For her, summers were the same old thing. There would be some repairs around the old home, usually to the boating deck that only ever served as a spot to dive into the river from and sunbathe on. She’d be back in the family bar with her apron and probably tormenting her brothers as though they were all under the age of twelve again. “It’ll be busy.”

[/color] She laughed, not quite sure how else to phrase it or even begin explaining her family and their madness. Her life with her father had been chaotic to say the least. Her mother had been the organised one and after the divorce and with Caoimhe being the only girl, things always seemed to turn out crazy, rushed and more confusing than they ought to be. It had been aunts and cousins in the end who had dealt with the more feminine things and even they only stepped in after her father and uncles botched their attempts to help the young redhead. Christmas was smoother and on practically the other side of the globe in Ireland. She would never be able to choose between summer or Christmas; Caoimhe just couldn’t pick between family like that, not after the lengths they had gone through to try and keep some balance. “I’m sure family try to work us harder than school does.”[/color] She joked, reaching up to fiddle with the pendant around her neck.

“I lead a thrillin’ life by the light of the moon.”[/color] Caoimhe said as though she was Batman, or some other superhero. She knew enough about them to pull a joke off, but the day had been long enough for her. Grinning again, Caoimhe reached back to tap her longboard with her slender fingers. “I do that on a regular basis! Only it’s usually folk hollerin’ at me to slow down like they don’t trust me.”[/color] She said, shaking her head. New York was a very different place to where she had grown up and speeding through the streets on wheels here was frowned upon a lot more than it was back in Louisiana.
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• • •

TAGGED! Finn <3
WORDS! 572!
OUTFIT! Casual Mess!
LYRICS! Touch The Sky - - - Julie Fowlis
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Finnegan Oliver Healy]

Finn wasn’t the oldest on the Healy brood but he was the first of them to move so far away. He knew his athletic skills were the only way he was getting a half decent education. He was smart, crazy smart sometimes but he knew there were smarter people out there. He wouldn’t cure cancer or win the Nobel prize for anything but he wanted to make a difference with his love of science. And though football was a huge part of his life, it wouldn’t satisfy him for the long haul. Being a professional footballer would only give him so much and by the time he was ready to retire, he would already be dubbed with some nickname that had people believing he was some sort of idiot. A genius he wasn’t, but his IQ was damn close to it. In the end of it all though, his knew his parents and siblings would stand behind any decision he made. And all he wanted was to make them proud of him.

Finn only ever had one place, Galway. And there had never really been money to take family trips anywhere, so it was almost always Galway. But his family was close and they cared about each other, even when the screaming and yelling didn’t sound like it. Moving to New York had been a huge step for Finn. It was his first major trip anywhere and he was really moving there. He wasn’t just going for a couple weeks and then going home again. He was staying for months, hopping a plane for a handful of days for Christmas and New Year’s and then getting back on a plane to go back to New York, school and football. He wasn’t ungrateful for what he’d been given, he knew better than that. There would have been no way he’d been able to go to New York for school if his parents had to pay for it. He might have been able to go to a school across the country, but that might have been pushing it. There were a lot of them in the Healy brood. There were six kids and so far only one had finished schooling. His older sister, Amelia still had this last year of schooling while he had three and after this year, the twins would be starting the next step in their schooling as well. It was a mess to have so many kids grouped so close together, money wise, but that also meant they were a close knit group; always taking care of each other. Finn nodded, not quite understanding if she meant she would be busy visiting everyone or if there were things planned, but either way he knew what it was like. “Oh, I know they do! Six kids, two parents, if I’m sitting for more than five minutes when I’m home, it must be because everyone’s sleeping!” He said with a laugh. Even though two of them weren’t living at home anymore, and one only visited on weekends to do laundry and all the holidays, whenever he was in, it seemed like they all came back.

“Glad one of us does.” Finn joked, shaking his head. If he didn’t have a textbook within arm’s reach and he was sitting at home, something was up. He even had textbooks scattered all over his bed. He could just imagine what he would say if he ever had a girlfriend! “You play the live action version. I play the sit on my ass and yell at the TV surrounded by crisps, Cola and textbooks version.” He said, laughing. Finn tried to get at least a half hour of play time in a day to unwind but it either didn’t happen or it was a few hours and not just a few minutes. Though, who was he kidding really, it was never a couple minutes. He habitually lost himself in video games and snapped out of it only when his stomach protested the lack of food and then realised how much time really passed.

Tag || Caoimhe!
Words || 679
Clothes || Cutie Pie
Music || If You Want Fire - - - Terri Clark
Notes || <3

[Caoimhe Siobhan Monroe]

Despite coming from a broken home, Caoimhe had been raised to value family above most things. There wasn’t a time in her life when her relations had let her down and whenever she needed them they were always there in a heartbeat and willing to do whatever was necessary. She reciprocated the sentiment when the roles were reversed, too. Without her family and there support she would never have made it to New York City and there would probably be an entirely different eighteen year old somewhere if she hadn’t had her brothers by her side when she was growing up. They had been the ones to step in when the bullies were getting rough and remind Caoimhe that there was nothing wrong with dressing the way she did or being so passionate about Biology. No matter where life took her she knew that Cian and Rowan would always be the two to offer reassurance when she needed it most.

She had been raised by a family of hard-workers and there was never a day when everyone was at home lazing about. There was always someone at the bar, someone else doing chores and then school and activities on top of that. It was why she rarely slacked off now and only refused extra shifts if she really didn’t have the time to fit them in. Caoimhe always put in her full effort even into the smallest of jobs or assignments. She wasn’t going to look back on her life when her red hair had turned silver and regret slacking off, that was for certain. With the family bar back in Columbia she had seen just how much hard work could bring a person and how proud it could make someone feel. Her brothers already had stepped up and said that when the time came they would take over the management and upkeep of the family business while Caoimhe chased her dreams down a road laden with science and intelligence. They had always joked that the girls got the brains in their family and with Caoimhe being the only girl they liked to make more teasing remarks about it. Even if she did eventually find a job in a lab in some big city, she knew her roots would never be forgotten and she would be waiting on tables or serving drinks back at Monroe’s whenever she visited her family for holidays or birthdays or any other reason that she could think of. Laughing, Caoimhe nodded her head. “See, there might only be three of us and then crazy uncles, but I know that feelin’! Although, if I’m honest, I’d probably miss it if things were different.”

[/color] Her whole life had been a chaotic blur of madness and non-stop to-do lists. She didn’t know what she would do if that ever changed.

“I’ll let you be my sidekick.”[/color] Caoimhe grinned, bumping into Finn playfully. In reality her life was school, work, video games, sleep and repeat. She liked it though, loved her classes, enjoyed her job and there would never be too many video games in her life. “That’s the second best version.”[/color] She laughed lightly, hopping over the cracks in the pavement. Caoimhe was thankful she had her board and her rollerblades back in her apartment. They were about as far as she got in terms of sports since her hand-eye coordination was not all that promising. But, without them, she would probably be permanently stuck on a couch in a mess of energy drinks, cheap snacks and screaming at a TV screen while her hair transformed itself into a nest fit for a family of pigeons! “Ooh, I got that new Batman game last Friday. Pretty awesome!”[/color] She said, suddenly remembering that she had meant to tell Finn.
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• • •

TAGGED! Finn <3
WORDS! 668!
OUTFIT! Casual Mess!
LYRICS! Touch The Sky - - - Julie Fowlis
NOTES! <3 <3 <3