Quinn is the sweetest, kindest, most precious lad there ever was. His biggest goal is just making other people happy, meaning that he is just a beacon of affection and infectious happiness. Quinn wears his heart on his sleeve and is always very eager to share his heart with others whenever he can. Sickeningly optimistic and overwhelmingly positive in nature, Quinn always looks for the best in every person and situation, despite the cruelty they may display. He many a time ends up rather heartbroken when a person he truly believed was good turns out to be inconsiderate or rude. 

Quinn is a dreamer. He always dreams of what the world could be, and how, somehow, he could improve it and just make everyone happy. This is, of course, impossible, but Quinn's kind, naïve heart refuses to give up hope. He doesn't want fame or fortune, just the impact of changing people's lives for the better, no matter how big or small. All he wants to do is make people smile, be that by holding the door or giving someone a compliment. He is constantly finding ways to do things for others, even though many people don't seem to care and can even find his constant barrage of kindness very annoying. 

Quinn is remarkably gentle to every single creature and person he encounters, despite his giant stature. He has an unwavering love for animals and absolutely adores any creature he comes across. He will patiently work to gain the trust of animals, and any time he is at the park, he is followed by the many animals he shares his compassion with. These animals include Cup, a wild mallard duckling that somewhat imprinted on Quinn. Even a tiny runt of a wild duckling is safe and comfortable in Quinn's massive gangly hands, and Cup's mother is trusting of the odd human. No creature is too small to show kindness to. Even though he's rather afraid of spiders, Quinn refuses to harm them and will spend hours working up the courage to carry the spider back outside if one is found inside. He's remarkably patient with gaining the trust of people and animals alike, and his empathetic heart is always available to anyone that needs a friend.

 Controlling his emotions is a thing Quinn struggles with, and the lad often ends up getting flustered and crying over things that someone his age really shouldn't. Much like a young child, he'd more than likely start crying if you stepped on a bug in front of him. Despite how much something may compromise his morals, Quinn's a complete pushover, as he doesn't want to ever hurt anyone's feelings. Quinn is always trying to make everyone around him happy, so he makes it a point to never say or do anything that would upset someone. This means that a lot of people take advantage of his good intentions and his kind-hearted, meek nature. Quinn is often stepped on by others and used for personal gain, and though he sometimes becomes aware of this fact, he never speaks up and fights the realization,  convincing himself that he's just glad that he could "help" another. He's also extremely indecisive and has a hard time picking favorite things because he sees the good in everything. To him, having favorites is perceived as "mean to everything else". Louis often reprimands Quinn and tells him to stand up for himself and to be proud of his preferences, but alas, he is not good at been assertive of decisive, even when he makes it a point to do so.  

Quinn is very child-like and naïve and frankly, quite stupid in a lot of ways. He can barely even write his own name and can't read anything more, and he has no common sense whatsoever. To put it lightly, thinking isn't the boy's strong suit. He tries very very hard to problem solve and think with his head, but Quinn is prone to act based of his heart instead. If something FEELS right, Quinn will do it, even if it may not be very logical. He's a very sensitive, emotional person, and is very good at "reading" people. He simply doesn't understand how people can be so cruel in the world, and he turns into an emotional wreck over simple things because he just can't comprehend why.

Quinn is a complete and total sweetheart. He really values small, little things that many people overlook. He is incredibly observant, and if always the first to know when someone is upset or if something is out of place. Quinn's observational skills are usually focused on small things that he finds beautiful. Be it a delicate flower, the shimmer on a butterfly's wings, the pattern on a woman's dress, the handwork of a wooden table, or literally anything he comes across, Quinn ALWAYS notices the details and beauty of everything. Many people don't understand why he cares so much about EVERYTHING, but to him, everything is amazing and has a beautiful aspect to it. This hypersensitivity to beauty makes it really easy for him to compliment people, and he loves doing that at any possible moment. Tiny gestures that make people smile are Quinn's specialty.

    He absolutely adores music and art, and he loves to make people smile with his talents. Playing his fiddle for other people is one of his absolute favorite things to do, though very few people will pay him any mind. He is very humble and shoots down any complements he gets, as he feels selfish to say that he's actually quite proud of what he can do and the work it's taken to get to where he is. He's rather self critical and undermines his OWN achievements and struggles, despite being all about positivity. Quinn's unwavering selflessness means that he is rather terrible at taking care of himself. Quinn is always Quinn's last priority. 

Backstory

CHILDHOOD

Quinn was raised in an extremely poor farmer's family (that raised sheep and grew potatoes and oats) with his 11 siblings, him being the second youngest. The family lived in county Cork, Ireland. His siblings (ages pertain to 1849 when they're eventually filled in)) are Isíbeal, Pádraig, Agnes, Cian, John, Connor, Maggie, Elizabeth, Aidan, Fiona, and Ciara. The family was always tight on money and struggled with adequately feeding themselves even before the famine. Ever since he was born, Quinn was always full of childlike wonder with a kind-hearted, blundering nature, leading him to be the annoying little brother that the older kids dreaded looking after. He would often get lost chasing after butterflies or spent hours at a time building "houses" for the crabs on the beach and couldn't find a way back up the steep cliffs before dinner. Though not intentional, Quinn was usually a very big inconvenience for the family. 

At the age of four, Quinn was in town with a couple of his sisters to sell some wool and wandered off, as he usually did. His curiosity and wandering led him to an he elderly man in the village playing a jig on a beat up old fiddle. Quinn was completely and totally mesmerized by the fiddler, and the kind man took notice and let him try. Within a couple of months of running to meet the man every evening for lesson, he had fallen completely and totally love. His lessons were less than formal, as he learned to play only by ear and observation. No note names, no music- just watching and listening. His passion was now sparked, and he used his music to avoid the emotional trauma of having to slaughter the animals on the farm for food.

ADOLESCENCE

Though all of his other siblings worked to try to make a living with his parents by helping with the work on the farm, Quinn ended up being quite "useless". No matter how hard he tried, he was always too klutzy and scrawny to do anything useful. His brothers constantly picked on him for being "girly" because of his sensitivity, fondness for flowers, and physical and emotional weakness, so Quinn was pushed away and sent to help his mother and sisters with the "women's work". Despite the bullying from both his brothers and sisters, Quinn was much happier helping his female family members. 

Quinn was closest with his younger sister, Ciara, and the two were inseparable. They always volunteered to tend the sheep together, and could often be found playing with the lambs and picking flowers in the pastures. Quinn's passion for drawing manifested itself as he grew close with Ciara, as she would constantly asked her big brother to draw the fantastical places and creatures she dreamed of. It both honed Quinn's talent and skills for art and brought the siblings closer together.

After four years of learning from the kind old man, the fiddle fell into Quinn's hands for good when the man died. Though Quinn's parents and siblings were less than thrilled to find that an old violin was what was distracting him from his work, they allowed him to keep the fiddle on the condition that it could only be played in the barn (so it couldn't be heard) after all work for the day was completed. Quinn's father wanted to smash that "squealin' piece o' shite" the second his son came home with it, but Quinn's mother convinced him otherwise, knowing it was a source of both happiness and motivation for the boy. Despite being rather sad that no one besides Ciara would listen to his playing, he came to find that the sheep enjoyed the gentle music in the evenings and it soothed them.

TEEN YEARS

Quinn kept playing every single day as he grew up, meaning that his skills- though informal - were nothing to scoff at. Years of dedication had shaped the lad into a very proficient musician and his dream of playing professionally took root after Ciara suggested he actually pursue it rather than let it be just a dream. However, the rest of the Byrnes were much less supportive. They mocked their "stupid brother/son's stupid dreams" constantly and told him every day that music was not a viable option for a career. Despite these constant reminders, Quinn's fierce optimism and passion kept him dreaming and improving. He began to realize that Ireland was not the place that his aspirations could ever take root. Though there were many discussions about the whole family moving to America as times grew increasingly difficult, Mr. Byrne was adamant on staying in Ireland and refused to let the family betray their heritage. The only way Quinn was chasing this dream was with his own money, so he began fighting to raise the funds for a ferry over to America. He planned to offer charcoal portraits, song requests, and knitted clothing (made with the help of Ciara) for money to slowly but surely acquire enough for the expensive trip. It was very rare that people could actually afford what Quinn could offer, so the monthly trips to the "city" were usually the only times close to "lucrative" for him.

When Quinn hit the age of 14, the potato famine hit the family and the rest of Ireland hard. Their large flock of sheep quickly dwindled as food grew scarce. These sheep were the only thing that made every Byrne child miraculously survive the brutal four year famine and were the only thing that kept the family from fading away. Quinn did his best to help the family in any way he could and often sacrificed his own wellbeing and immigration funds for his family and skipped meals so the others could have an extra bite. Though very underappreciated and most often ignored in his many gestures of kindness and help, Quinn remained caring and gentle, slowly and silently fighting towards his goal through starvation and crippling poverty. 

After many years of playing on the streets and sketching passerbys for almost nothing at a time, Quinn saved up barely enough money to board a ferry to America. Quinn's father was appalled that his son had made this decision to chase a hopeless dream, so he turned his back and pushed Quinn away, now waiting for the day that Quinn would admit that his father had been right all along. Connor, one of his older brothers, suddenly decided to join him in hopes of doing something more interesting than hoeing dirt and planting crops. Him and his brother then immigrated from Ireland to America in hopes of a better life. After some misfortune and misadventures, the boys find themselves in Cumberland, Pennsylvania, and become part of Lou's engine crew on the Cumberland Railroad. Quinn works as the conductor, seeing as he is thin, weak, and way too accident prone to actually do anything too physical. Quinn- despite years and years of his family telling him that music and art is not a viable career path- ultimately wants to be a musician and an artist and is only using his job as a conductor as a touchstone. However, he has a long ways to go, as his violin skills are anything but formal. Quinn doesn't know how to read music or any musical terms, but rather, has learned to play completely by ear. (and is impressively good at it. He's been playing by ear for 14 years and most definitely knows his way around the instrument, don't be fooled.) Though he most often plays his fiddle in the "proper position" under his chin, Quinn is also accustomed to playing on his chest for songs where he'll sing or jigs with particularly difficult fingerings, as many fiddlers are taught. He knows how to fiddle, not how to be a classical violinist.

Role in the grand story

Quinn takes the role of a minor/supporting character. He is Louis' conductor on the engine crew of the Cumberland Railroad, and grows to be part of Lou's little found family. His kindness and genuine nature tends to be contagious, and Louis comes to find that Quinn is one of the most important people to him and one that he is desperate to keep safe.