All About The Irish Girl

Imogene O’Meadhra was born into a household in Ireland, the middle child and the oldest girl. She had two siblings: an older brother named Cormac, and a younger sister named Ailis. Their mother was a housewife, while their father was very involved in the IRA. Once Cormac turned sixteen, he began his involvement, as well. He taught Imogene a lot of what he learned, from fighting and self-defense with guns and knives to her bare hands. Even Cormac and his teaching though, couldn’t protect him or either of his sisters from their father’s violence. He brought it home with him, took out his frustrations on his family. Little Ailis, as the youngest, was the most protected. She rarely, if ever, felt the strength in their father’s fists. Imogene and Cormac always kept her safe, innocent. She was the good little girl, said her prayers every night before bed. So did Imogene, for the most part, until their father was killed on assignment. She wouldn’t admit it at the time, but a part of her was glad when he was gone.

Their mother couldn’t take staying in Ireland, being checked up on by her husband’s old friends and colleagues, so she packed up the family and moved them all to America. Imogene was thirteen years old. In New York City their mother struggled to pick up multiple jobs to provide for her three children. Cormac got a job, as well, and both he and Imogene took to the streets. They turned into very skilled little street rats, pickpocketing and scavenging to keep their family afloat.

Imogene and her family lived like that for two years. She moved away from their Catholic faith and into a more Pagan path, though it was always kept a secret from her mother. Cormac started thinking about going back to Ireland. Imogene’s mother, and by extension Imogene and Ailis (as the only underage children after Cormac turned eighteen) became American citizens. Barely three months later, Cormac and their mother were dead. Imogene and Ailis were sent into the American foster system at fifteen and eleven. Imogene managed to keep Ailis with her, and they moved through homes together. Being in the system didn’t stop Imogene from her extracurricular activities, though. She always had a little extra cash, and she found ways to keep her other skills sharp, too. It was fun, the training, and it let her forget about the missing members of her family.

Imogene got out of the system at eighteen. She spent a year carving out a life for herself, setting up as a waitress at a small restaurant, picking up a cozy little apartment. She gained custody of her baby sister, pulled her out of the system, too. They were happy for almost two years, until Ailis was killed much the same way that Cormac and their mother had been. That case went unsolved too, and only served to remind Imogene of how much she disliked authority.

After the death of her little sister, Imogene was devastated. She moved houses, cities, lives. And she kept moving. She never could stay put, and instead spent a few months, up to a year, in each city. Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Wichita, Tulsa, among others. And finally Dallas. She picked up a little apartment, bringing only herself and whatever fit into the pull-behind hooked up to her motorcycle. Now in Texas, the Irish accent she still hasn’t lost makes her a bit more distinctive than the local southern drawl, but she doesn’t mind most of the time. The accent gets her more free drinks, anyway.

___________________

Random Facts:

• She is rather short; she’s only 5’3”, without the monster heels she usually wears.
• She drinks more than she probably should, but she won’t listen if you tell her that.
• Imogene has, since arriving in Dallas, gotten a job as a teacher’s aide in the local high school, though she does still take part in occasional thievery.
• Her life has been touched by the supernatural in the deaths of her mother, brother, and sister, but she doesn’t know it, yet. She doesn’t even realize that the brief ‘hallucinations’ she occasionally has are actually manifestations of her little sister’s ghost.