Alastar

PERSONALITY.

Alastar Ó Buachalla is a kind and caring young man who leans heavily toward justice for the more oppressed groups in society. He’s very political and is frequently up-to-date with politics, especially with politics on The Isles. Although Alastar often appears cheerful and laid-back, behind his tooth-gapped smile, he’s insecure in himself (especially in his looks) and anxious about his relationships with his friends and family; it doesn’t help that he’s quite secretive about his issues. On the contrary, Alastar wants those close to him to be open about their problems to help them as much as he can. He’s very protective of those he loves and will even go as far as to blame himself if anything were to happen to them even if he had no involvement in their troubles.

BACKGROUND.

Alastar was born to a low-class family in Lucan, co. Dublin, and of five sons, he is the second oldest. He didn’t get along with his parents who put pressure and responsibility on him to be an obedient child and a caring older brother, pretty much parenting his younger brothers; despite Alastar always respecting and listening to his parents, they rarely showed him any love, especially his father. But Alastar still had his brothers to be there for him, especially his older brother Seán and younger brother Ciarán. Alastar’s dream was to one day be a “badass” politician who’ll fight for Ireland’s independence and he studied very hard to make it come true; unfortunately, his dream was crushed when, at sixteen, his mother got ill and passed away shortly after, forcing him to leave school and care for his younger brothers and his alcoholic father who often abused him, both physically and verbally. With the help of his older brother, Alastar managed to leave Lucan for Dublin in 1909 and open his little bookshop, and met his best friends Patrick and Michael. Things seemed to be getting better, but they quickly got worse when his father committed suicide a few months later, devastating him. In 1910, he met Bridget his first love, and the two dated for three months until they “broke up” and she went on to marry Patrick. Around 1912/1913, when Alastar came home, to his surprise, he found a stray calico kitten sleeping on his couch; he decided to adopt the kitten and named her Tommy. Everything seemed to be going nicely again until Ciarán ran off to join the army to fight in the Great War in the autumn of 1914, which horrified everyone, especially Alastar who thought he might’ve been able to stop him if he knew, but luckily, the two exchange letters and Alastar is relieved every time he gets one and worries until next one. Two years later, on a random late January night, Alastar would meet Saoirse (and, unfortunately for him, Cathleen as well), not knowing what kind of future he’ll have with her.