SWEENEY, Cirilla Echo

[cirilla echo sweeney]

CIRILLA ECHO SWEENEY

FULL NAME: Cirilla Echo Sweeney.
NICKNAMES: Ciri
AGE: Thirty
GENDER: Female
SEXUALITY: Straight.
STATUS: Single.
GROUP: Citizen.
GRADE: N/A.
MAJOR: N/A.
JOB OCCUPATION: She owns and works in Sweeney’s (a barber shop).

HAIR: She changes up the colour often enough, but the length is almost always around her shoulders. Naturally it’s a dark muted brown when her roots come through.
EYES: Blue.
SCARS/BIRTHMARKS: She has one on her stomach from the surgery.
TATTOOS: She has a diamond on her right wrist, Cyrillic “Ju” behind her left ear. “Live forever” lettering on her legs, along with sanding patterns. “Ne regrette rien” on her ribs, “Omnia vincit amor” on her pelvis, and “Once upon a time” on her shoulder. There’s a keyhole on her neck, a crescent moon on one finger and her lucky number 23 on another. She has an eye on her inner left arm.
PIERCINGS: Her ears once, plus a helix piercing.
PLAY-BY: Masha Sedgwick!

LIKES: Fresh brewed coffee, autumn, industrial furniture and décor, lipstick, styling hair, cardigans, craft markets, breakfast in bed, egg salad, cooking from scratch, hot chocolate and old TV shows, thriller books and movies, foxes, shadow puppets (for her nieces and nephews), popcorn with M&Ms mixed in, pulled pork sandwiches, long hot baths, hibiscus flowers.
DISLIKES: Pinewood scent, politics, packing for holidays, getting the flu, doing laundry, missing socks, petnames from strangers, warm orange juice, losing her keys in her bag, people who use their phones in stores when being served, big sports games (they turn people crazy!), when people can’t handle their booze, guns, washing her hands in cold water, lemon meringue, tasteless chewing gum, being cold in bed.
FEARS: Kidney failure, being lost in a forest/desert, believable end of the world scenarios (like a nuke).
SECRETS: Ciri sends herself postcards when she’s away so that she can save the memories. She keeps them in a wallet in her bedroom for when she wants to reminisce.
PERSONALITY: Ciri is a lively person who chases every opportunity for an adventure. She’s an early bird; the type who loves early mornings and arriving before she needs to be someplace. She’s got a passionate approach to everything she does, and loves sharing that passion with those who are in her life. She’s hardworking and goal driven to keep achieving bigger and better things. On top of that she’s got a business mind which definitely helps. Ciri is appreciative of everything she has in her life and the chances she is given. She can be calm when everyone else is finding a reason to panic, and there have been times when Ciri’s level-headedness has stopped a freak out turning into a crisis. She’s sociable and the kind of person who is first on the dance floor and the last one to get her cab home. As friendly as she can be, Ciri isn’t the type to let her friends get away with bad choices or mean comments. In fact, she’s rather vocal about people being good to each other. That’s not to say she won’t let someone vent their frustrations and annoyances out, but there’s a line between dislike and cruelty and she won’t let people cross it without consequences. She’s strong enough to know better and not to need the applause of someone who thinks it’s okay to be rude and bitchy all the time. She’s the same with strangers too, which can mean she either stops a fight before it happens, or she adds fuel to the fire. Whatever the outcome, Ciri knows that she would have felt worse if she didn’t do anything in the moment. Surprisingly, Ciri has always been a bit of a hopeless romantic. She grew out of watching rom-coms when the plots were all the same, but she still likes the idea of being swept off her feet, surprised with the little things she loves the most. Her past is a parade of lost chances and failed romances, but that doesn’t kill the hopeful nature she’s carried with her since before she can remember.

MOTHER: Cadence Victoria Sweeney, 55.
FATHER: Thomas Harold Sweeney, 57.
SIBLINGS: Suzanne Nicole Scholer, 34.
Diarmuid Stephen Sweeney, 28.
OTHERS: Declan Oliver McNalley, 30, old friend/crush/everything?
Roger David Scholer, 38, brother-in-law.
Declan Thomas Scholer, 8, nephew.
Rosie Evelyn Scholer, 5, niece.
Justin Bryson Sweeney, 3, nephew.
PETS: Suki, a Bengal kitten she rescued!
HOMETOWN: Poughkeepsie, New York.
HISTORY: Cadence and Thomas worked on different floors for the same company. They saw each other almost every day in the elevator, but it took twelve months and a Christmas mixer for them to actually plan a date and talk about things other than the departmental interests of the international banking company that employed them. It took a few years of stolen moments at lunch and cheap weekends away before Thomas actually had the chance to propose to her. Then it took eighteen months to get to the dream wedding day that Cadence had dreamt of since she was a little girl. They already had a down payment on a small house in the small city they had grown up in. It was close to both of their families which was ideal once Cadence had their first child; a daughter named Suzanne. In the happy years that followed, they had two more children; another daughter and a son.

Cirilla was the middle child, but she was close to both of her siblings – at least as close as three siblings could be in a small home! Ciri was bright and enthusiastic, happy to help out her parents or take on a new challenge in school. She was modestly popular in school, able to laugh with her peers as well as help them. It was only her kindness that stopped her being the “Queen Bee”. Ciri wasn’t the type to step on other people to climb her way to the top.

As she grew and started high school, more and more people were changing and old kids moved away to be replaced by new kids. Friendships groups changed and everyone was nothing like their kindergarten class. Ciri found herself floating easily through the hallways. She picked the bullied up when they were knocked down, and once or twice managed to intimidate the bullies into submission. She got along with almost everyone still, and went to the parties with her friends. She wasn’t crowned Queen at a dance, or part of the cheerleading crew, but Ciri didn’t care for that like her older sister had done. She was happy being with her best friends on the weekend, buying new music and grabbing milkshakes and burgers at their favourite haunt.

She had a boyfriend in her junior year. He was a sweet jock, Kevin, who she had known since she was still in flowery dresses and wearing her hair in braids. He was her first love, and when they ultimately broke up over the summer she was heartbroken. One of her closest friends at the time, Liza, was dating a boy named Declan McNalley; he had transferred in during their freshman year. Ciri had always gotten on well with him. He was her partner in science class and they hung out together even before he was “the boyfriend” to her good friend. There had been moments missed between Ciri and Declan, little things where his smile had caught her off guard and she wondered what it would be like to kiss him. Once he was in a relationship though, she tried to block out those thoughts. Instead she put it down to heartache, and the fact that Declan was probably the nicest guy going.

It was hard to ignore the sparks he ignited as time went by. However, Ciri reunited with Kevin just before the Christmas and she thought all was said and done. It wasn’t. She kept feeling like Declan was the one sneaking into her dreams, making her laugh more than Kevin ever did. Ciri realised what she was doing, and broke up with her boyfriend so she could stop fooling everyone. Declan was still with her best friend, so she kept her feelings to herself. It lasted until the night of their senior prom. It was a dramatic night full of people bitching each other out and break-ups amongst the popular crowd. She didn’t even know what was happening most of the time but she left the event to go outside, spending the solitude thinking about the future and about Declan. He and Liza had broken up just a week before. It was too soon for Ciri to confess when the tension between him and Liza was still tight. Besides, she was going to Arizona for college, whereas he would be miles away chasing his own dreams.

But then Declan came outside.

It caught Ciri off guard, but she had worked impossibly hard to keep their friendship alive even if she closed her eyes at night to dream of something more. They got to reflecting on school, on the people and the choices. Slowly, with tiny baby footsteps, they began dancing around themselves. A little hint about a nice perfume, or a certain hairstyle. A comment about his smile, or a jacket she’d borrowed once in a rainstorm. The realisation began to dawn on each of them. Their feelings were reciprocated. Ciri could feel his breath wash over her lips before she pulled away. They were both recently out of relationships. Ciri was still on good terms with Kevin, and Liza had been her friend since they were little kids. She couldn’t do this to them, not when school was so close to being over and everyone had plans for the summer before they all went away to college or to work. She made a comment about “the wrong moment”, and Declan asked if they would ever have a right one now. Ciri had gone quiet for a moment, staring out into nothing, before a smile danced on her face. “We will. February 15th, after twelve more rotations around the sun apart. Then we’ll find the right moment, by the carousel in Central Park, at 11:50pm.” It was the exact time they were at then, on the day she’d turn thirty. Like some friends made a promise to wed if they were alone by a certain age, Ciri suggested the promise of reuniting, of giving them a shot, but only if nothing else came along first. They made a teenage promise – the kind that usually fades when someone makes a mistake or chooses someone else. Then, Liza called for Ciri, and she went back in to the prom, to dance with her friends and say goodbye to her childhood.

Ciri was going to Arizona to study nursing. She had great potential. Her freshman year was a balance of keeping in touch with old friends and making new ones. She lived in dorms and had plenty of fun. It was hard work, and hard play, but she thrived in college. She imagined her life, a rewarding career, and one day a happy family like the one her older sister was starting.
However, Ciri was in a car crash when she was twenty. She was on her way to the restaurant where she worked when a driver, nodding off at the wheel, t-boned her. Her injuries were severe, but not life threatening. She had her right kidney removed due to bleeding, but beyond that it was a dislocated knee, and a broken arm, plus some damage to the muscles in her neck and back. She was thankful it was nothing worse, but her recovery was still a rough one. She couldn’t start the physiotherapy on her back until her broken bones had recovered and her surgeon gave her the all clear from the kidney removal. By that point it had gotten worse, stiffened and spasming all too frequently. The time it took to get her back to full health and to stop relying on pain medication just to get through the day saw Ciri drop out of school and move back home. She hadn’t been able to keep up with her studies and though the college had been understanding, suggesting she come back the following semester instead, Ciri didn’t think she would be able to keep up with the physical demands of nursing if she graduated. It hurt if she spent too long walking, and she could only lift light things.

It was her brother who helped her out the most. He was a gym fanatic, aspiring to be a personal trainer. He knew what machines could help Ciri recover more and how she should challenge herself. It took some time, but soon she barely felt the odd twinge in her back after a day of shopping, and she was able to pick things up again without fear. Of course, by this point, she had looked into alternative careers. She styled her own hair most of the time, and had helped family and friends out once or twice, but becoming a barber sort of happened out of nowhere. The community college that ran those courses had women’s hairdressing all booked up, but there had been a spot for the barber’s course. Ciri thought “fuck it” and signed up. If she wanted to go into the other styling classes she could do that later.

She eventually found work in a barbershop not far from her home. The plan was to get working, move out, and live again. By this point in her life many of her high school friends had fallen out of touch, be it Ciri’s own lack of communication or theirs. Declan was among one of those who she didn’t speak to anymore. Over the years their calls and texts had just become less and less. The last she had spoken to him was when she was twenty-three and it had been a casual “Happy New Year!” text that was sent out en masse. She still had old high school photos in frames and sometimes she wondered what he was doing. Their promise had gone to the back of her mind, almost forgotten. Ciri dated, had a few boyfriends who stuck around for a good while, but ultimately they all ended.

She was growing bored with her chair at the shop, tired of the same old routine that she had known for most of her life. That was why she proposed the move to NYC to her father. She sat down with him and explained that she had savings, that she could perhaps get a business loan to open her own shop. He was happy to see Ciri setting her own challenges again, and he told her there was still a small bit of money from her college fund that she could use if she did choose to open her own shop.

So, she did just that! She found a small space in Queens, renovated it to the industrial style she liked, finding some old fashioned barber chairs to spruce up, and then opened Sweeney’s. Not only was it simply her last name, but she couldn’t help but to remember Sweeney Todd when she saw the name in red and the scissors and razor logo at the end. It amused her endlessly, and even those who came in and became regulars would joke about it with her. She took on two more barbers, one an apprentice like she used to be and everything began running like clockwork.

In the blink of an eye it was February 15th, twelve years on from senior year. Ciri was at an awards ceremony for local businesses. She hadn’t won this time, but it was her first year nominated, so it was all about the nice dress and the free drinks. Soon though, it turned into a small contest of who could boast the most. Ciri wasn’t there for that, so she grabbed another drink and went to the hotel foyer. There she saw a young couple arriving on their honeymoon. They were gushing at the front desk as they got their keys and Ciri suddenly wondered about Declan for the first time in a long while. She wondered if he loved anyone like that couple clearly loved each other. Ciri herself had come out of an eighteen month relationship in the previous October, so she had put dating to the back of her mind – and then this award nomination had happened. Slowly, after someone pointed out (aghast) that the newlyweds had to be married on Valentine’s Day, Ciri remembered the promise.

She had turned thirty that very day, but hadn’t celebrated because of the awards, and because she had weekend plans instead. She had texts and a few cards and presents at her apartment, but she hadn’t given them much attention since she was treating herself to getting spruced up in case Sweeney’s did win. She looked at the clock and saw it was 10pm. She could get to Central Park if she left now. Ciri felt ridiculous thinking Declan might actually show up, but at the same time there was this teenage feeling of love tickling her, pushing her on.

Ciri made it to the carousel by 11:40. With ten minutes to go, she waits nervously, wondering if this was all for naught, or if – by some divine power – Declan might just remember her, and show up…

YOUR ALIAS: Kim.
RULE WORDS: kidnappedbykim.
WHERE YOU FOUND US: In an X-File.
SAMPLE:

No, sleepy time!

[kim]