Family Relations (Part Eleven)
Monday, March 24th, 2014 05:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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mindcracklovelink to part ten- http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/607086.html
Pyro sighed as he rolled out of bed. Once it had started to get light out, he had woken up. Given that he had already showered last night, he figured the best thing to do, since he couldn’t go get food, was to start on his homework again.
He sat at the desk, contemplating his work. Mostly what he was doing, however, was trying to work through what had happened and figure out why everything had gone so badly wrong.
Thinking it through, he wondered if he would be in quite this problem if that peace treaty had actually gone through. He knew that, in the early 90’s, there had been a slow building towards a treaty, but that had fallen through. He wasn’t quite certain as to why, something about the Conservative Party and a backlash against reconciliation with those fighting in Northern Ireland.
It was a pointless thing to think about, it wasn’t like he could know what a treaty would actually do. And if he remembered right, the treaty wasn’t to join the Republic, but to stop the fighting. He wondered if that meant, in an alternate timeline, if Ireland wouldn’t be so closed allied with the USA and if the UK would be more closely allied with them, instead…now, currently, the UK and USA were…very…cool…towards each other, after the treaty fell through. It made him surprised, sometimes, thinking about how strange it was that his cousin, MC, he meant, chosen to come on exchange first and then to college second, in what amounted to a warzone, particularly since his homeland didn’t much care for those who controlled the province.
He sighed softly to himself. He knew, really he did, that his uncle was a good guy. There was still…something…that made him so uneasy. This might be, he thought, because despite everything, he was still afraid of England and her people. It was an irrational fear, he knew, but…even when he noted that logically, the ones he knew to fear were the military and politicians, and his uncle was neither of those, well he thought he might have once been military, but his da hadn’t been too clear about that…still, he couldn’t help but be wary, always concerned about some ulterior motive, that his uncle would turn against him, and this, he knew, was silly, but he couldn’t help but fear it.
Pyro blinked suddenly when he realized that someone was staring at him from the doorway. He turned around to see that Baj was looking at him, holding something he thought might be a bagel and a glass of water.
He noted that it was probably around 8:30 now, he thought he had gotten about around 6:30 or so.
“Yes sir?”
Baj sighed at him again. He was starting to think that it might be because he didn’t like being called sir, but what did he want him to say, then?
“Paul, here, breakfast.” With that, he handed the bagel and water to Pyro, who noted that the bagel had cream cheese and lox on it.
“Thank you, sir.”
Baj looked at him before saying , “Oh, for the love of…stop calling me sir, I’m your uncle, damn it!”
Pyro blinked at him in surprise.
“Yes s…yes uncle.”
Baj made a very vexed sound before leaving once again.
-----
Dinnerbone flopped into his seat for his first class, looking annoyed. He knew that Millbee would get Pyro’s homework today, and take it home, and all he had to do was survive school, but still, he was annoyed.
“Hey, Dinnerbone!”
Dinnerbone blinked and looked over at his friend. Well, new friend, he’d only started here this year.
“Oh, hey Shree. How you doing?”
“Fine, but you look pissed off. Something happen with that cousin of yours you mentioned last week?”
Ah, yeah, he’d forgotten about that. They’d gone to school on Friday, but dad had taken them out early to go get Pyro.
“Something like that. I’ve gotten myself grounded.”
Shree looked at him very confused.
“He’s been there, what, three days? How’d things go that badly?”
“What, no, I wasn’t fighting with him, if that’s what you mean.”
“Well then, what do you mean?”
“Well, ummm. It’s still kinda confusing, but um. He went down to the church, but didn’t tell anyone, and I kinda…covered for him…”
Shree laughed at that.
“Really? Wow. Why didn’t your dad take him to the church?”
“Uh, they had some kind of argument on Saturday, and he was supposed to be in his room. But he decided to walk to church instead.”
“That’s…strange…”
“There’s a lot strange about him, Shree. I think most of it is cause he’s from the province.”
Shree looked like he was going to respond to that but their teacher had arrived and was setting up for the class, so he simply shrugged at Dinnerbone and went back to his own seat.
-----
Baj sighed. At some point, Paul was going to run out of work to do. And then get bored. And probably antsy, as well. None of which were good things when you’ve been grounded.
He grabbed some lunch for Paul and sighed to himself. Now, he knew that he could just…be very quiet and go see how Paul was doing without being heard, but he wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. Oh, whatever, it’s better than any other idea thus far!
Slowly he made his way toward the guest bedroom, still holding the plate. Paul still had the glass from this morning, so that was fine. He was being as quiet as he could be; now…Nathan, he knew, was far quieter than he could ever hope to be, but still, he’d learned it from him, well enough!
Stopping near the door, he stood so he could hear into the room and partly see Paul, but be seen that well. And it wasn’t like he could smell him; he’d brought a sandwich, not something very easily smelt.
Baj blinked in mild surprise. Paul sounded like he was praying softly, some in English and some not, interspersed with a kind of rambling commentary about wanting to go home and what home was like. He could, of course, stay here and listen to him talking about how pretty Belfast was in the spring and how he hated how damaged things got, from riots and bombs, but that didn’t seem like it would offer much in the way of help.
Shrugging, he moved and entered the doorway and stood inside of the doorway, waiting for Paul to notice him. Which, surprisingly took a few more moment of him talking about wearing green and being interned, which was something useful to Baj to know.
Paul blinked and swung around once he realized that Baj was standing there watching him.
“AAhh, s…uncle! I didn’t realize you were there, I’m sorry.”
Baj just shook his head slightly.
“It’s fine. Here, have some lunch.”
He handed the plate over to Paul and went and sat on the bed.
Paul looked at the plate, over to Baj and back to the plate. He shrugged slightly, prayed, and then ate the sandwich, fairly quickly. Once he finished eating, he turned around to look at Baj again.
“How is your homework coming along?”
“Pretty well, I think. I’ve got the Irish language stuff and some of the math stuff left.”
“How long do you think until you’re done with that?”
Paul sucked on his teeth thoughtfully for a moment.
“Probably another hour, maybe one and a half?”
“Okay. When you’re done, go wait in the living room, okay?”
Paul looked at him with some trepidation.
“Ah, no, wanted to talk about school.”
He visibly relaxed at that.
“Okay s…uncle, I’ll do that when I’ve finished this.”
“Mhm.”
With that, Baj got up and grabbed the plate as he left the room.
-----
Pyro sighed and made his way into the living room, closing the door behind him. Baj wasn’t in there, which surprised him, but maybe he was working and waiting to hear him close the door.
He shrugged and sat down on the couch, the same place he had yesterday, and murmured softly himself. School here should, theoretically, work the same as back home, right? So why the need to talk to him about it?
Pyro shrugged and curled up into the couch, waiting for Baj to appear.
After a short while, the door opened and Baj walked into the room, closing the door behind him.
He moseyed on over to the chair he had sat in yesterday and sat down.
“When you finish your homework, what will you do, mail it back to your school?”
“Um. Yes, actually, I was given envelopes for that.”
“Good, good.”
Baj looked at Pyro for a long while, seeming to be trying to think of how to word something.
“Paul.”
“Yes, uncle?”
“Could you tell me what your home was like? Tom…doesn’t talk to any of us very much, to be honest, and it’s only ever about the base he’s on at any given time.”
Pyro blinked at Baj. Well, maybe so, that would explain why he seems so…oblivious…to certain things, things Pyro thinks doesn’t really happen here. Or at least, in this particular area, da talked about how the IRA had bombed Manchester before, after all.
“I…like what? I mean, I grew up on the Falls Road…went to a state school, though, since ma and da couldn’t agree on any other school. It’s mixed, I mean.”
Pyro sucked on his teeth.
“I suppose you mean the things like the bombs and the riots and the shootings, at least, those which actually get on the news here, yeah?” He knew that the news on the ‘mainland’1 rarely covered what happened at home, unless it was major or if the IRA was attacking the ‘mainland’.
“Is that a common thing, then?”
“Well, there is always something, every day. Something, somewhere in Northern Ireland. Bombs or shootings…protests. Always something.”
Pyro shrugs slightly, unfazed.
“But, like, it’s not something I see often. Well, the school gets bomb threats every so often, of course, but still. We go to the park, eat out, have fun, you know, normal stuff.”
He shrugged again, thinking about his home.
“I, hm. I live on the Falls Road, yeah. So, like, everyone knows I’m Irish, and that my family is nationalist, well, save for da, but he’s not really counted for this. So, yeah. I’ll get stopped, of course. And searched. And that becomes…mind-numbing after a while, you know? And it’s just like…they do this…because I might become a volunteer, or what have you. But that’s just…I mean, I protest, I already have, and they fire on protesters. There comes a point when you just get so…tired of it, and want to fight back. I don’t know, I mean, I know I’m too young for that, I just want to…live…for a while longer, before I even think about that, but the constant searching and accusations, just…they keep pushing and pulling me in that direction, and it’s maddening!”
He shrugged and curled up farther in to the couch.
“But, I mean. It’s a pretty place, once you get outside the parts that are bombed. So, the cities, I suppose! But yeah, it’s a nice place, and it’s my home, and I want to make my home better. I want it to be Irish, it is, but like…the island would be whole. It’s all broken and that’s…it would be like you losing Lancashire or Yorkshire, or something! They’d be there, you could get to them, but other people are holding them, claiming that they’ll never be English again. And I want my home whole and clean and pretty again, with its forests and rivers and whole buildings, not bombed, and and and you know?”
Baj blinked at him, softly.
“I, hm. That’s very…interesting, actually.”
Pyro blinked at him slowly.
“Not something you think about often? I’ve been told most people outside Northern Ireland, save for those in the Republic, don’t think about my home all that much.”
Baj grimaced at him.
“That’s true, I suppose. It’s quite unfortunate, really.”
Pyro shrugged and was going to answer, when he heard the front door opening.
“I do believe your cousins are home now, heh. Why don’t you go get the homework from Max and go do that?”
“Okay, I’ll go do that right away.”
With that, Pyro got up and left the room, closing the door behind him.
-----
Baj pondered for a moment. He had a lot to think about, not least of which was that, at least, Paul had managed to not call him either sir or uncle as he left.
-----
Notes!
1 There are two islands. Ireland, which has the Republic of Ireland on it, as well as the UK controlled Province of Northern Ireland on it. There is also the island of Great Britain. It has England, Wales, and Scotland on it. The United Kingdom is made up of the island of Great Britain and the Province of Northern Ireland, as well as an assorted lot of other smaller islands in the surrounding area. Calling Great Britain the mainland is something someone in Northern Ireland might call it, since the bulk of the UK is on that island.
link to part twelve- http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/610946.html#cutid1
Pyro sighed as he rolled out of bed. Once it had started to get light out, he had woken up. Given that he had already showered last night, he figured the best thing to do, since he couldn’t go get food, was to start on his homework again.
He sat at the desk, contemplating his work. Mostly what he was doing, however, was trying to work through what had happened and figure out why everything had gone so badly wrong.
Thinking it through, he wondered if he would be in quite this problem if that peace treaty had actually gone through. He knew that, in the early 90’s, there had been a slow building towards a treaty, but that had fallen through. He wasn’t quite certain as to why, something about the Conservative Party and a backlash against reconciliation with those fighting in Northern Ireland.
It was a pointless thing to think about, it wasn’t like he could know what a treaty would actually do. And if he remembered right, the treaty wasn’t to join the Republic, but to stop the fighting. He wondered if that meant, in an alternate timeline, if Ireland wouldn’t be so closed allied with the USA and if the UK would be more closely allied with them, instead…now, currently, the UK and USA were…very…cool…towards each other, after the treaty fell through. It made him surprised, sometimes, thinking about how strange it was that his cousin, MC, he meant, chosen to come on exchange first and then to college second, in what amounted to a warzone, particularly since his homeland didn’t much care for those who controlled the province.
He sighed softly to himself. He knew, really he did, that his uncle was a good guy. There was still…something…that made him so uneasy. This might be, he thought, because despite everything, he was still afraid of England and her people. It was an irrational fear, he knew, but…even when he noted that logically, the ones he knew to fear were the military and politicians, and his uncle was neither of those, well he thought he might have once been military, but his da hadn’t been too clear about that…still, he couldn’t help but be wary, always concerned about some ulterior motive, that his uncle would turn against him, and this, he knew, was silly, but he couldn’t help but fear it.
Pyro blinked suddenly when he realized that someone was staring at him from the doorway. He turned around to see that Baj was looking at him, holding something he thought might be a bagel and a glass of water.
He noted that it was probably around 8:30 now, he thought he had gotten about around 6:30 or so.
“Yes sir?”
Baj sighed at him again. He was starting to think that it might be because he didn’t like being called sir, but what did he want him to say, then?
“Paul, here, breakfast.” With that, he handed the bagel and water to Pyro, who noted that the bagel had cream cheese and lox on it.
“Thank you, sir.”
Baj looked at him before saying , “Oh, for the love of…stop calling me sir, I’m your uncle, damn it!”
Pyro blinked at him in surprise.
“Yes s…yes uncle.”
Baj made a very vexed sound before leaving once again.
-----
Dinnerbone flopped into his seat for his first class, looking annoyed. He knew that Millbee would get Pyro’s homework today, and take it home, and all he had to do was survive school, but still, he was annoyed.
“Hey, Dinnerbone!”
Dinnerbone blinked and looked over at his friend. Well, new friend, he’d only started here this year.
“Oh, hey Shree. How you doing?”
“Fine, but you look pissed off. Something happen with that cousin of yours you mentioned last week?”
Ah, yeah, he’d forgotten about that. They’d gone to school on Friday, but dad had taken them out early to go get Pyro.
“Something like that. I’ve gotten myself grounded.”
Shree looked at him very confused.
“He’s been there, what, three days? How’d things go that badly?”
“What, no, I wasn’t fighting with him, if that’s what you mean.”
“Well then, what do you mean?”
“Well, ummm. It’s still kinda confusing, but um. He went down to the church, but didn’t tell anyone, and I kinda…covered for him…”
Shree laughed at that.
“Really? Wow. Why didn’t your dad take him to the church?”
“Uh, they had some kind of argument on Saturday, and he was supposed to be in his room. But he decided to walk to church instead.”
“That’s…strange…”
“There’s a lot strange about him, Shree. I think most of it is cause he’s from the province.”
Shree looked like he was going to respond to that but their teacher had arrived and was setting up for the class, so he simply shrugged at Dinnerbone and went back to his own seat.
-----
Baj sighed. At some point, Paul was going to run out of work to do. And then get bored. And probably antsy, as well. None of which were good things when you’ve been grounded.
He grabbed some lunch for Paul and sighed to himself. Now, he knew that he could just…be very quiet and go see how Paul was doing without being heard, but he wasn’t sure if that was a good idea. Oh, whatever, it’s better than any other idea thus far!
Slowly he made his way toward the guest bedroom, still holding the plate. Paul still had the glass from this morning, so that was fine. He was being as quiet as he could be; now…Nathan, he knew, was far quieter than he could ever hope to be, but still, he’d learned it from him, well enough!
Stopping near the door, he stood so he could hear into the room and partly see Paul, but be seen that well. And it wasn’t like he could smell him; he’d brought a sandwich, not something very easily smelt.
Baj blinked in mild surprise. Paul sounded like he was praying softly, some in English and some not, interspersed with a kind of rambling commentary about wanting to go home and what home was like. He could, of course, stay here and listen to him talking about how pretty Belfast was in the spring and how he hated how damaged things got, from riots and bombs, but that didn’t seem like it would offer much in the way of help.
Shrugging, he moved and entered the doorway and stood inside of the doorway, waiting for Paul to notice him. Which, surprisingly took a few more moment of him talking about wearing green and being interned, which was something useful to Baj to know.
Paul blinked and swung around once he realized that Baj was standing there watching him.
“AAhh, s…uncle! I didn’t realize you were there, I’m sorry.”
Baj just shook his head slightly.
“It’s fine. Here, have some lunch.”
He handed the plate over to Paul and went and sat on the bed.
Paul looked at the plate, over to Baj and back to the plate. He shrugged slightly, prayed, and then ate the sandwich, fairly quickly. Once he finished eating, he turned around to look at Baj again.
“How is your homework coming along?”
“Pretty well, I think. I’ve got the Irish language stuff and some of the math stuff left.”
“How long do you think until you’re done with that?”
Paul sucked on his teeth thoughtfully for a moment.
“Probably another hour, maybe one and a half?”
“Okay. When you’re done, go wait in the living room, okay?”
Paul looked at him with some trepidation.
“Ah, no, wanted to talk about school.”
He visibly relaxed at that.
“Okay s…uncle, I’ll do that when I’ve finished this.”
“Mhm.”
With that, Baj got up and grabbed the plate as he left the room.
-----
Pyro sighed and made his way into the living room, closing the door behind him. Baj wasn’t in there, which surprised him, but maybe he was working and waiting to hear him close the door.
He shrugged and sat down on the couch, the same place he had yesterday, and murmured softly himself. School here should, theoretically, work the same as back home, right? So why the need to talk to him about it?
Pyro shrugged and curled up into the couch, waiting for Baj to appear.
After a short while, the door opened and Baj walked into the room, closing the door behind him.
He moseyed on over to the chair he had sat in yesterday and sat down.
“When you finish your homework, what will you do, mail it back to your school?”
“Um. Yes, actually, I was given envelopes for that.”
“Good, good.”
Baj looked at Pyro for a long while, seeming to be trying to think of how to word something.
“Paul.”
“Yes, uncle?”
“Could you tell me what your home was like? Tom…doesn’t talk to any of us very much, to be honest, and it’s only ever about the base he’s on at any given time.”
Pyro blinked at Baj. Well, maybe so, that would explain why he seems so…oblivious…to certain things, things Pyro thinks doesn’t really happen here. Or at least, in this particular area, da talked about how the IRA had bombed Manchester before, after all.
“I…like what? I mean, I grew up on the Falls Road…went to a state school, though, since ma and da couldn’t agree on any other school. It’s mixed, I mean.”
Pyro sucked on his teeth.
“I suppose you mean the things like the bombs and the riots and the shootings, at least, those which actually get on the news here, yeah?” He knew that the news on the ‘mainland’1 rarely covered what happened at home, unless it was major or if the IRA was attacking the ‘mainland’.
“Is that a common thing, then?”
“Well, there is always something, every day. Something, somewhere in Northern Ireland. Bombs or shootings…protests. Always something.”
Pyro shrugs slightly, unfazed.
“But, like, it’s not something I see often. Well, the school gets bomb threats every so often, of course, but still. We go to the park, eat out, have fun, you know, normal stuff.”
He shrugged again, thinking about his home.
“I, hm. I live on the Falls Road, yeah. So, like, everyone knows I’m Irish, and that my family is nationalist, well, save for da, but he’s not really counted for this. So, yeah. I’ll get stopped, of course. And searched. And that becomes…mind-numbing after a while, you know? And it’s just like…they do this…because I might become a volunteer, or what have you. But that’s just…I mean, I protest, I already have, and they fire on protesters. There comes a point when you just get so…tired of it, and want to fight back. I don’t know, I mean, I know I’m too young for that, I just want to…live…for a while longer, before I even think about that, but the constant searching and accusations, just…they keep pushing and pulling me in that direction, and it’s maddening!”
He shrugged and curled up farther in to the couch.
“But, I mean. It’s a pretty place, once you get outside the parts that are bombed. So, the cities, I suppose! But yeah, it’s a nice place, and it’s my home, and I want to make my home better. I want it to be Irish, it is, but like…the island would be whole. It’s all broken and that’s…it would be like you losing Lancashire or Yorkshire, or something! They’d be there, you could get to them, but other people are holding them, claiming that they’ll never be English again. And I want my home whole and clean and pretty again, with its forests and rivers and whole buildings, not bombed, and and and you know?”
Baj blinked at him, softly.
“I, hm. That’s very…interesting, actually.”
Pyro blinked at him slowly.
“Not something you think about often? I’ve been told most people outside Northern Ireland, save for those in the Republic, don’t think about my home all that much.”
Baj grimaced at him.
“That’s true, I suppose. It’s quite unfortunate, really.”
Pyro shrugged and was going to answer, when he heard the front door opening.
“I do believe your cousins are home now, heh. Why don’t you go get the homework from Max and go do that?”
“Okay, I’ll go do that right away.”
With that, Pyro got up and left the room, closing the door behind him.
-----
Baj pondered for a moment. He had a lot to think about, not least of which was that, at least, Paul had managed to not call him either sir or uncle as he left.
-----
Notes!
1 There are two islands. Ireland, which has the Republic of Ireland on it, as well as the UK controlled Province of Northern Ireland on it. There is also the island of Great Britain. It has England, Wales, and Scotland on it. The United Kingdom is made up of the island of Great Britain and the Province of Northern Ireland, as well as an assorted lot of other smaller islands in the surrounding area. Calling Great Britain the mainland is something someone in Northern Ireland might call it, since the bulk of the UK is on that island.
link to part twelve- http://mindcracklove.dreamwidth.org/610946.html#cutid1
