The Secret Life of an Irish-American Nerd [Open]

[somnioergosum]

who: Ronan Lynch and Open
what: The Butterfly Effect strikes Ronan. He sprouts hair and loses his tattoo and PTSD. Now he can no longer hide the fact that he’s a nerd. Reading Virgil and playing bagpipes by a river happens. Ronan has no clear memories of his stay in Riverview but will remember how he feels about people he’s met here.
when: June 15th-24th
where: Communal floor one, Buttercup Farms, by a river like the magical creature he is, the library, and with his boyfriend
warnings: He’s rattled from almost being killed by a demon but nothing other than that.
Also as always, can switch to brackets


a. Library
No longer oozing black goo, Ronan needed a day to calm down. After a night spent listening to Gaelic music and struggling against nightmares, Ronan headed to the library. His predecessor-- him-- God, that was confusing, hadn’t left behind any books.

He grabbed some works by his favorites, Virgil and Seneca, adding Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations later. His last addition came as a surprise to him. Books on demons didn’t belong in the Lynch family household and certainly not at Aglionby. Ronan hesitated, running his fingers over the spine of one book before taking it. Just in case.

When he finally found a place to sit, he went back and forth between books, but the one on demons remained untouched for a good while.

If anyone who’d previously met him ran into Ronan, they could be forgiven for not recognizing him what with the curly dark hair, lack of tattoos, and the books.

b. Communal housing floor one

Ronan had lived with his parents and two brothers. He had also, basically lived with his best friend Gansey and a ghost, when he and either his father or Declan (or worse, both) kept butting heads. But this did not prepare him for sharing a whole floor with other people, even if one of them was Adam.

He moved as quietly as possible, worked even harder to keep control of his dreams, and did everything he could not to attract attention. Unfortunately, he was still Ronan Lynch, which meant that aside from being a messy eater, he radiated magical energy without even trying. But even if one didn’t notice that, the fact was that the angry eighteen year old with a shaved head and a tattoo was replaced by a amiable if anxious eighteen year old with dark curly hair without a tattoo in sight. Whatever his roommates thought of it, it unnerved his raven Chainsaw, who’d taken to flying away from Ronan and screeching at random intervals.


c. In a van Down by the River
Even without the trauma of his father’s death, Ronan was still different and, some would say, difficult. For instance, his hobbies could be considered incredibly annoying. In the case of bagpipes, Ronan had learned that the sound was something of an acquired taste. Back at Aglionby, he’d used that to his own advantage several times just to piss people off late at night. Here, he wasn’t keen on having his embarrassing hobby discovered.

Sitting by the river, tempting fate like all the heroes in the fairy tales his parents told him, Ronan serenaded anyone who came close with the unmistakable sound of the uilleann bagpipes. Even out of practice, he wasn’t bad. But not many people appreciated the music of his people, especially when he played “Mary Had a Little Lamb” just for kicks.

d. Wild Card!

[OOC: Ronan’s all over the place. Your character can find him checking out Riverview and also working at Buttercup Farm with a very distressed raven watching from a distance.]

Comments

Closed to Adam Parrish

[somnioergosum]

Ronan had heard of odd things taking place. Something about a cup messing with time and reality. But he didn't think it had anything to do with him. In this case, forewarned was far from forearmed.

As usual, he was with Adam. There wasn't any point in Adam having a job if Ronan couldn't bug him during it. Chainsaw seemed to agree, having moved off of Ronan's shoulder so she could stand next to Adam and watch him.

Ronan leaned against the wall. He wasn't currently staring at Adam, which meant that he was working something over in his mind.

"Are you really set on this apartment cause--" Ronan didn't get the chance to finish.

The change wasn't slow but instantaneous. One moment, he was Ronan Lynch the orphan, the high school drop out, the collector of speeding tickets. Then, he was Ronan Lynch, stripped of all of that. This was the future he'd been robbed of. Ronan had a full head of black, curly hair that made him look like most other Aglionby students: dashing with a hefty dose of immature that showed in his actions and smile. His tattoo and scars were all gone. He would have been beautiful, were he not seconds away from being unmade.

Ronan crashed onto the floor. His lips were blue and his face paler than ever before. Black flowed from his ears and nose. He choked on it as he gasped desperately for air. The moment he could move his hand, he clawed at the floor in an attempt to bring himself up.

He couldn't be dead. This wasn't hell, was it? He couldn't be. No, no, he wasn't.

After the Event (Also for Adam)

[somnioergosum]

Again, the change was immediate. The pain that followed took a few moments longer but struck full force as soon as the shock faded into nothingness.

Fortunately for everyone, Ronan was on his own. He wasn't with Adam or at work. A good boxer in either universe, Ronan had set off on his own. He hadn't encountered any monsters but he wished the other him had now. Without anything to fight, Ronan's lashed out at anyting within two foot radius. Crushing and breaking foliage everywhere as he let out a short guttural scream. The outburst was brief but intense. When it was over, he sat for a long time, sorting through his knowledge of all that could have been.

When he hated himself this time, it was unlike any other instance. Envy enveloped him and he wasn't sure if even a priest could absolve the intensity of it.

Eventually, he stood. A slightly younger Ronan would have immediately grabbed some alcohol and locked himself away. Instead, he went to find Adam.

Chainsaw somehow knew he was coming before he set foot in their communal housing. Ronan didn't think his footsteps were that different, or his smell, but it pleased him to have Chainsaw fly over to him as soon as he opened the door.

He gave her one short, hushed coo to comfort her, the way he would when she was a baby. Then he went for Adam. He would have gone with the silent approach but his cover was likely blown.

"Miss me?" Ronan's voice was a little hoarse from screaming but that wasn't unusual. Nothing about him was at the moment.

Back again was that edge in his tone, even if he sounded drained. All the tension in his body had returned full force, perpetually braced for an invisible onslaught. To the well trained eye, those differences were as noticeable as the lack of hair and presence of his tattoos and scars.

C

[ragnarsson]

.....What was that sound? No seriously, was there a cat that has gotten its tail stuck in a doorway somewhere? Ivar could hear the bagpipes from quite a ways off, but having never invaded past England, he was unfamiliar with the instrument. So Ronan would have a curious Viking, who looked like himself but had a lot less of the unstable nature and anger issues that his other self possessed, wheeling up to watch him perform.

Ivar's former memories of his time here have been more like a feeling of deja vu. They'd happened, but not necessarily the way his new self remembered them. He recognized people, but not always how things perfectly fit together. However, no matter what form Ronan's taken, Ivar's feeling towards him remained fairly consistent.

He waited for the dreadful noise to dissipate before he spoke. "I'd be careful. You keep playing like that and the nøkk in that river is going to drag you down into it." He would have been joking had he not actually encountered the creature a few days past.