Flynn, Marian Cora

[Marian Cora Flynn]

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Marian Cora Flynn

* tell us a little about yourself.

"About me? Can't imagine why but alright. I'll tell you. I'm warning you, though, I'm not terrible dear. My name's Marian Cora Flynn, a right irish title if ever you heard one. Just call me Mari, though, if you don't mind. If you couldn't tell from my accent and my name, Walten's not my hometown. I was born in Belfast, in Northern Ireland. Don't get any romantic ideas in your head, Belfast is probably not like you're thinking of it. I left there when I was seventeen, just after I graduated secondary school. I didn't want to go to Uni in Ireland - back then Belfast wasn't the safest place to be for someone like me. But I'll get to that later. So I left Ireland and I came here to Walten. I've been back to Ireland since but you don't want to know my whole life story, now. I can't believe how long it's been since I came to Walten the first time. I was seventeen then, so, almost ten years ago. I'll be twenty seven next April. April twelfth. In Uni, I majored in art history. I never really knew what I wanted to do so I just majored in something interesting. I fell into my profession back in Ireland. I'm a child and family life social worker. In Ireland I started it to help children and families affected by the aftermath of The Troubles. My fiancé at the time was sort of how I fell into that work. He used to tell me that I look a lot like Isla Fisher but I really think it's just the hair. I can't see anything else."

* what are some of your positive traits?

"Something about myself that I am very proud of is that I'm very down to earth. At least, I think so. I thank my father for that. I was raised into some money, I never really wanted for much. The only hardship in my personal life was losing my mother so young. So it would have been easy for me to turn into a spoiled naive princess who doesn't really count herself among the real world. But I'm not like that, neither was my father. I never wanted for anything but my father made sure I understood the value of what I had. I worked for it, maybe not as extensively as some but I did. It taught me the lesson all the same. I appreciate the things I have, I make a conscious effort not to take anything for granted. I'm not materialistic or shallow, either. I can - and have - get by on very little and still enjoy my life. It's enough for me simply to be happy and have fun. And I love to have fun."

"I have a sense of humor, definitely. At least, I love to laugh and it's easy to make me. I may not be sarcastic or droll but I am light hearted and I can be pretty goofy if I'm in the mood. But the main point is that I absolutely love to laugh. I try not to take life too seriously, I know as well as anyone that life is too short to worry about the little things. Of course, when it comes to the big things, I know when the jokes need to stop. I was raised to stand up for what I believe in and I do that. I do the best I can to fight for what I believe in but more than that, to help people that can't fight for themselves. Especially kids. I have a major soft spot for kids. That's something I really learned from my father and from my fiancé. They were both men who put themselves on the line for others and it's something I do as well."

"My father always told me that I was the most hopeless romantic and he was right. I'm a sucker for all things romantic. I love Valentine's day, even if I'm single. I love classic romance literature and anything written by Nicholas Sparks. I was the girl who was planning her wedding when she was seven and who has always dreamed of her Prince Charming. I'm also really focused on family. Even if mine is more or less gone now. It's another reason why I went into family and child social work. I'd love to have kids of my own someday. A bunch of them. I don't know when but sometime. I'd even like to adopt if I can never have any of my own."

* what are some things that you can improve on?

"I think the worst thing about me is that, while I don't seem to have a problem standing up for other people, I'm not always good at standing up for myself. Especially not if the person I have to stand up to is someone important in my life. I spent so many years living under my uncle because he was family and I didn't know how to stand up to him. I forget sometimes that my father, exceptional as he was, wasn't like most people. And that not everyone in the world is as trustworthy and reliable as he was. Sometimes I do trust people too easily, which just leads to me being hurt or used."

"Sometimes, especially at work, I have a habit of seeing things in black and white. I don't leave much room for shades of grey. Which, as far as I'm concerned, isn't necessarily a bad thing. But I can see where the people who disagree with me are coming from. Combine this with how stubborn I can be and it can cause some real problems. I can act rashly sometimes, before I know all the facts to something, and come to the wrong conclusion. I act before thinking if I think I'm doing the right thing and sometimes it turns out that even though my intentions are good, I've gone about something the wrong way. I'm not usually impulsive but when it comes to my work and the people I care for, I am."

"I've always been a little bit of a daydreamer and so there are times when I can be easily distracted. People who don't know me well might see that as being empty headed and dreamy but it's not as bad as it seems. But it is true, I let my head drift off into the clouds sometimes. More than most. There are just so many things I want to see and do and so many ideas floating around in my head that sometimes it's nice to just let reality go and get lost in my fantasies. That's even more true lately. Things have been rather bleak lately and I need the escape. I try to keep a smile on my face no matter what and I don't always let people into my feelings. The only way I stay sane, then, is to indulge my daydreams every once in a while."

* what's your biggest secret? we won't tell.

"I'm not really the kind of person who keeps secrets. Mostly because I'm not ashamed of anything in my life. I figure, that's the only reason to keep something secret. I've never done anything I don't mind sharing with others. There are plenty things about my world that you wouldn't know unless you knew me well but do those really count as secrets? After all, if a stranger on the street flat out asked me what was up with the engagement ring on my necklace, I would tell him. It's not a secret. Just because I don't talk about what happened with me and my fiancé often doesn't mean I wouldn't."

* what does your heart want?

"Well, my heart really wants something it can't have. I already found my perfect guy. I found him a long time ago but I'll tell you all about that later. I'm just not really looking for love right now. It's hard to imagine loving someone who isn't my fiancé. When I was a girl I had my idea of Prince Charming but now my ideal is the man I used to love. He was kind and had a contagious smile. He loved to laugh and he loved even more making other people laugh. He had strong beliefs that he was willing to fight for and he did. He did whatever he could to help the people around him and he put everyone else first. He looked on the bright side of life no matter the obstacles because that was how he got through. He was unflinchingly honest, even when it got him into trouble. And boy did it get him into trouble sometimes. I used to think that I would have liked for him to think about himself a little more. I know that sounds odd but he spent so much time thinking about everyone else that he put himself at risk and in the end it's what got him killed. I selfishly wished he would be more careful but I know he wouldn't be the man I was in love with if he had thought about saving his own skin."

* what do you do in your spare time?

"I don't have nearly as much spare time any more as I'd like but when I do, I like to just have fun. I've played tennis since I was a little girl so that is something I love to do whenever I get a chance to get out to the courts. Tennis, racquet ball, badminton, anything like that is fun for me. As far as going out for fun, I love to go dancing. I'm a big sucker for swing music especially but really anything I can dance too is fine by me. Let's see, what else. I try to read when I can but usually the only time I have for that is before I go to bed at night. I think that's really it, I spend most of the rest of my time with work. If I'm not actually at the office or out with my charges, I'm going over case files and doing research. I enjoy all that though so I'm not really bothered by having a lot to do all the time."

* so what does your family life look like?

"Not as good as it once did. I know that sounds bad but - it's not what you're thinking. I just don't have much family left. That's why I'm in Walten now in the first place. My mum died when I was a baby, just a few months after I was born in 1983. You see, my family lived in a part of Northern Ireland where there was a lot of political troubles going on. In 1983, a lot of Catholics were killed by Irish loyalists who wanted Northern Ireland to stay part of the U.K. 1983 was the first year that the loyalists killed more Catholic civilians than actual Republicans. My mother was one of them. After she was killed, it set my father off on sort of a crusade. He came from old Irish money but he managed to keep a low profile by not voicing too loudly his Catholic ties. He took advantage of that to be a silent and invisible thorn in loyalists' sides ever since. I loved my father, he was a great man. But when I was a senior in University here in Walten, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. I went home after I graduated to look after him but he died two years after I came home. I was twenty three. After that I lived with my uncle, John. He was my father's brother but he was nothing like my father. He and I never got along, I would have left him and come back to Walten right away if it wasn't for Rian Trystan."

"I knew Rian all my life, we were kids together. He didn't live far from my families home and he would come to my gardens every afternoon and we would play for hours. His family was lower class than mine, though he wasn't poor. Just in the middle, I guess. He was my best friend and when we were older we fell in love. But as a teenager, Rian was always so headstrong and revolutionary. He wanted to be a part of what was going on in Ireland so badly. Back then, in the late 90's, things were calmer but they were still scary. I wanted to get away from them and so after secondary school I left Rian and my home to go to Uni in America. When I went back to Ireland to look after my father, I saw Rian again almost right away. He was finally getting his wish, being part of the tensions present in the country. He tried to keep that life seperate from mine as best he could, though. Just before my father died in 2005, he asked me to marry him. But because of his work with the government and my wariness of him being an outspoken Catholic in a governement like ours, we dragged the engagement out. For just over four years we were engaged, until just before last Christmas. He was killed by some loyalists in Belfast in a pub one night. He was the last person left of my family and after he died I came back here to Walten."

* what are the memorable moments in your life?

"There are a lot that are important, though not all of them are memorable. Like when my mother died. I was only a few months old when it happened so I don't remember it but it's had an affect on my life ever since. It was what set my father on his crusades against the Irish loyalists, and it was why I was raised the way I was. But anyone raised without a mum knows how that could affect your life. You wanted to know what I remember."

"I think the earliest and most important thing I can remember is when I met Rian. He and his group of friends were playing in the streets as were another group of boys - ones Rian didn't get on well with. I was walking down the street on the way to my house when I saw some of the other boys picking on the smallest of their group. I went over to try and make them stop and when Rian saw the boys actions, he came over to help too. Or, he at least tried to. I say tried because just as he came over I had given the meanest of the boys, his friends called him Sheriff, a bloody nose. You see, I don't like seeing people get picked on and this particular boy did it a lot. Rian was impressed and he asked me to come play with him and his friends and that was that. We were friends ever since."

"Most of my life was pretty normal. I went to school, I spent all my time with Rian. It wasn't until secondary school that Rian and I became more than friends. Everyone said it was inevitable, and we didn't much mind proving them right. It isn't our getting together that I remember like it was yesterday. Going from best friends to sweethearts just seemed to happen. It was the last time we talked before I left Ireland that I remember so starkly. I remember it because we fought. The worst fight we ever had. He was supposed to meet me at my house to take me to the airport. He never showed, not in time, so my father drove me over. When we were there, Rian showed up with a black eye and blood on his face. He'd gotten into a fight at a pub; something he did a lot and something we always argued over. But this time was the last straw. I was fed up with the way he was always putting himself in situations like these for his ideals. I loved that he had them but I always wished he would draw a line. He was angry at me, saying that I couldn't think for myself and that I'd rather sit home at night where it was safe than stand up for what I believed in. I couldn't stand to talk to him after that and I left angry. We didn't talk at all in the four years I was in Walten for Uni and if my father hadn't gotten sick, I'm sure we never would have spoken again."

"My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer the summer after I graduated with Uni. He'd smoked a pipe, cigarettes, and cigars every day of his life since he was eighteen so neither of us was very surprised. It was a blow, though. He was all I had left. I went back to Belfast that summer to take care of him. His brother, John, came to Belfast then too. He came to 'take care of his brother' but Uncle John has always been more concerned with the money my father has and he doesn't. When I got back home, I found out that Rian had been taking care of my father while I'd been away. My father had always liked him and even though he and I weren't together anymore, that didn't seem to change. In the four years we'd been apart, the tensions between us all but disappeared and we were together again almost right away."

"A year after I got back to Ireland, Rian asked me to marry him. Again, not really a surprise, especially not to my father. My father died a year after that. That was in 2005. Rian and I weren't ready to get married yet, though. Rian was working more and more and so was I. Rian had a lot of friends who had been affected by the fighting in Belfast and he introduced me to a lot of them. I did everything I could to help them out, I had more money that I ever needed thanks to my father and I hated seeing what the fighting had done to them. That's how I got started in social work. I loved what I was doing and I was already spending all my time doing it so I decided to make a life out of it. Rian had gone into a career in politics, working to keep peace in Northern Ireland between the loyalists and republicans. It was a quieter way to work for the cause then he would have liked but he knew that in the end it would do more good, not to mention it made me feel a lot less worried."

"He still had trouble keeping a civil tongue in his head sometimes, though. Especially around people who were as stubborn as he was. One of those people was my Uncle John. Uncle John was a loyalist and not one that was satisfied with the leadership of compromise. No, he wanted to see the Republicans brought down completely. He didn't bother doing anything about it, though. Unless it suited him. He and Rian never got on and since I couldn't cut John out of my life, it made things difficult sometimes. During the last year Rian and I were together, things with John and Rian were worse than ever. They fought often, things getting so heated that they almost came to blows. Finally John seemed to have had enough and he gave Rian's name over to some radical friends of his. He told them the places Rian and I frequented and told them the work Rian did for the government. And then one night when Rian was out with some of his mates, those men killed him. In cold blood. He was shot in the alley outside a pub he'd been at."

"I wasn't with him that night, I was at home with a dear friend of mine and her daughter. When one of Rian's mates came to the house, I knew something horrible had happened. The man's face was scratched up and bruised, some cuts on his arms still bleeding. I didn't hear what he was telling me, though. I couldn't make myself understand. It was Clara, my friend, who told me later what happened. I still can't remember it. Apparently I just stood there when he told me, not saying anything or acknowledging I'd heard anything. Rian's friend, James, led me back inside and sat with Clara and I. When it finally sank in, apparently, I started sobbing so hard that Clara thought I would make myself sick. She said I cried myself to sleep and James had to carry my room. The first thing I remember after that is waking up in there three days later with Clara's daughter sitting on the foot of my bed reading a book. A few minutes later Clara came in and told me everything again."

"That was two months ago. As soon as Rian was buried I started getting ready to come here. I couldn't bare to stay in that city any longer. The only place I knew in America was Walten so that's why I chose it. I didn't want new and exciting, I wanted as close to home as I could get and that was Walten."

* so we've heard that you're a lot like disney character goes here

name: Marian obviously comes from the name of the character and her nickname Mari is just a shortened form of that name. Cora means maiden, I chose that for the first part of the Disney character's name. Flynn is an Irish name meaning red-haired. Mari is born and raised in Ireland and has red hair, Maid Marian was a fox and so she had reddish fur.
play by: Mostly its the hair and the eyes but her smile reminds me of Maid Marian's soft sweet smile. Plus I just look at her and think - hey, Maid Marian.
positive traits: down to earth - In the movie, Maid Marian didn't really let her higher class effect how she treated others. She was happy to play games with the village kids when they slipped into her gardens and she fell in love with Robin Hood even though she was out of his league. sense of humor/lighthearted - It was easy for Robin and others to make Maid Marian laugh in the movie, she seemed very light hearted. She may not be the one cracking the jokes but both Maid Marian and Mari appreciate good fun and good humor. strong ideals - Maid Marian didn't have many means to fight for the underdog like Robin did because of her status. But she did what she could and when it came down to choosing Robin and the cause over her status and family - she did it. Mari has a similar devotion to standing up for her beliefs and helping those in need. romantic/family oriented - In the movie, there was more than one scene where Marian got swooney for Robin. She seemed a bit dreamy when she was thinking of him and she was taken with the idea of their forbidden love. Mari is the same way, always going for the romance. Both Marian and Mari are big into family too. Marian told Robin in the movie she wanted to have a dozen kids and Mari also wants to have kids of her own someday.
negative traits: can't stand up for herself - In the movie, Maid Marian was able to beg Prince John to spare Robin's life and to help as much as she could to protect the people of Nottingham but when it came to freeing herself from Prince John, she couldn't do it. She didn't stand up to him until it was about someone else. Most of her other flaws were made up just for Mari since in the movie, Maid Marian was a bit of a Mary Sue.
orientation: Marian fell in love with Robin. Robin was a boy. Mari fell in love with Rian. Rian was a boy.
turn ons: First off, like Marian, Mari can't really think of a perfect guy who isn't Rian. Marian couldn't think of anyone but Robin. humor Robin joked around a lot and enjoyed being able to make others happy. beliefs Robin not only disagreed with the way that the country was run, but he made it know in any way he could. helpful Robin was all about helping people who couldn't help themselves. optimistic Even when things were bad, Robin was looking at the good side and then working to get rid of the bad. honest Robin didn't lie unless it was in pursuit of defeating Prince John.
turn offs: selfless/impulsive It isn't that Mari wants someone selfish she just didn't like that Rian was always getting himself hurt and in danger because of his temper and his righteousness. Robin was the same way, getting himself into a lot of trouble and almost getting killed. I'm sure it made Marian worry her head off.
spare time: The only thing in the movie to really suggest a hobby of Marian's was when she was playing badminton with Lady Cluck. Mari plays tennis, racquet ball, and badminton. I took Mari's love of dancing from the scene in the movie where they were all partying down in Sherwood Forest.
family life: In the movie, Marian's parents were never mentioned but it was said that Prince John and King Richard were her uncles. Mari's father was based off of King Richard. While Richard went off to lead the Crusades, Mari's father had a crusade of his own against the people who killed his wife. Mari's Uncle John was based off of Prince John. In the movie and for Mari, John was jealous of his brother and always wanted what his brother had. He also had an enmity with Robin. In the movie he signed a warrant for his arrest and execution, for Mari he turned Rian over to the men who killed him. Rian is obviously based off of Robin. He and Mari were childhood sweethearts like Robin and Marian. He had the same personality as Robin down to fighting for the oppressed and getting himself in trouble. She also has a best friend Clara, based off of Lady Cluck.
memorable moments: losing mother Marian's parents were never in the movie and Mari's losing her mother connected King Richard's crusade to the crusade of Mari's father. meeting Rian In the movie they say that Robin and Marian were childhood sweethearts so this explains how Mari and Rian met as children even though they weren't from the same social world. leaving home for Uni In the movie, Marian mentions going away to London. Mari goes away to Walten for University. death of father This is meant to parallel King Richard going off on the crusades, leaving Prince John in charge of the ream. long engagement Though Robin and Marian got engaged right away, they couldn't be married until Robin was pardoned by King Richard. Rian and Mari were waiting for things in the government to calm down. Rian's death Robin came close to death many times in the movie. And I happen to enjoy giving a little angst to my charries so there is her angst. Well, some more of it.

[MARV !!]

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