"Wasn't friendship its own miracle, the finding of another person who made the entire lonely world seem somehow less lonely?"
IMOGEN BYRNE — SAOIRSE RONAN
"Good journalism is about the truth, so I won't be taking anything you say into consideration."
IMOGEN BYRNE KNOWS what she wants, and she knows how to get it. At twelve, her most trusty sidekicks have been her quill (that is hanging on by a thread) and mustard-yellow, muggle leaflet. Small, scraggly quotes she gets from her neighbours to the famous Gerry Adams fill the pieces of parchment—a book worthy of being an artifact, she thinks.
Imogen, by all accounts, is a journalist. Not like the mad woman, Rita Skeeter, but more like...well... she's not really sure! (She'll get back to you on that.) Anyway, Imogen Byrne is going to make a name for herself, and if her breakthrough has to begin in the Hogwarts library with her ragtag group of disorganized, rowdy, and conspicuous friends, then so be it.
(Spoiler: maybe next time, Imogen, don't get your hopes up too soon...)
MAEVE BUCKLEY — OLIVIA COOKE
"Sorry, I don't have a stick up my arse?"
FIVE WORDS: DON'T fuck with Maeve Buckley.
It's as simple as that. She is a... angered soul. Her heart is just as bruised as the knuckles in both her hands. Her mind leans into ATTACK. It never settles. Not for her, at least.
The softness in her left a long time ago, and she just can't justify a reason in her to go searching for it. Soft, she no longer is. Blame whatever you want—the war, her parent's divorce, her being a young girl—for who she is. There are valid enough things to excuse her behaviour. There are reasons as to why she acts so unfathomably foul and evil.
This evil foulness can't go wasted, Maeve Buckley decided very early in life. So, she uses it. She uses it against those that threaten her, her friends, her family—especially her siblings. Maeve decided that she would do what she could to protect her people from those that attempt to take their raw, jagged softness from them.
Maeve Buckley may be incorrigible, but her friends are not. And if their safety and happiness comes at the expense of her self-made, reclusive nature, then so be it.
EILEEN BUCKLEY — MAUDE APATOW
"Kill me if I'm still lonely and single after these eight years here."
WHAT'S LOVE GOT to do with Eileen Buckley?
Unfortunately for her, quite a lot.
For this, she's not going to blame her parents (they got divorced three years ago) or her neighbours next door (she found the husband cheating on his lovely wife with his sister-in-law) or how one her best friends, Tallulah Dunne, goes absolutely dopey whenever a pretty person walks in their vicinity. No, Eileen is going to blame this on the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet. In a perfect world, she'd be Juliet, waltzing around in a ball while her true Romeo worked up the courage to approach her. In that perfect world, she would be willing to die for that person because at the end of the day, love is all that matters.
Eileen Buckley does not live in a perfect world. She lives in Derry and is going to attend Hogwarts. There are no Romeo's out there for her. That is not the world she was born into. So, Eileen Buckley will continue to be Eileen Buckley, who writes in her red journals and longingly looks at the boys in her year that give her the time of day. That is the world Eileen will have to live in today.
MAC BUCKLEY — TOM HOLLAND
"I'm glad you're here. Now, it's not just me getting bullied by the girls."
HERE'S THE TRUTH no one else will tell you: death is inevitable. Everyone will die. It doesn't matter if you've got the magic, the strength, or if you're named Harry Potter — death will come.
Mac Buckley knows death all too well. 1972, Sunday—he was there. He heard the terrorizing fleet of Britains invade Derry. His grandpa, Gerry, took him. He wanted his only grandson to see history be made. Mac saw it, just how he saw the bullet hit his grandad straight through the chest. In exchange of the sight only those who were there that day would see, Mac lost his grandfather.
History is bullshite. The war is bullshite. It's all utter shite.
So, Mac Buckley is going to make it right. That's what he promises.
IOLANI DUNNE — AULI'I CRAVALHO
"I'm a walking cack attack! What more do you want from me!?"
IOLANI DUNNE HAS seen the bombs. She's seen the muggle weapons and the smear campaigns. Her parents were obliterated. They brought them back in pieces. Iolani imagines they put them on their own metal tables with all their tools beside them, and like a puzzle, put whatever they had of them back in place. Then, they gave them back and Iolani's uncle—her only family—had to top it all off, ribbons and flowers and shared secrets and confessions carved into the wood of the casket. Into the ground they went, along with everything they ever shared. The war in Ireland started this journey of grief.
Would it be bad if Iolani Dunne admits that the war isn't what's got her duodenum and jejunum up in knots? That the war isn't what got her mouth going dry, hands clammy, and heart feeling like it's just performed in a marathon? Is it wrong to feel so nervous when you walk into a shop and see a pretty...girl?
They have named the war back home, The Troubles.
Quite fitting, Iolani Dunne believes.
CARA MCMAHON — LOVIE SIMONE
"Here's the thing, you bloke: I'm still smarter and better than you."
CARA MCMAHON HAS something to say: Oliver Wood is not the only Quidditch-obsessed person Hogwarts has! Cara breathes Quidditch. Cara lives for it. When she soars into the sky, it's the most alive she ever feels. When she catches the quaffle from her teammate and soars towards the opposing team's hoops, she feels invincible.
If Cara thinks about it too much, the unfathomable realization that the only reason she enjoys playing Quidditch so much is because it lets her run away from the atrocities on the ground invade her mind. That maybe in the air, Cara is much safer than below. At least from here, she'd be able to see the bombs that drop onto her home. At least from here, she'd have time to run away. From there, up in the air, Cara Mcmahon would survive.
That's a little too much, yeah?
Yeah.
ALEC MOORE — KEDDAR WILLIAMS-STIRLING
"Just because I'm British, doesn't mean I'm any less deserving of respect."
TO KEEP IT brief, Alec Moore doesn't belong here. Not here in Derry, Ireland, where his mother left him behind to chase after some guy that promised her the world. (Didn't she realize that by following after her boyfriend, she'd ruin his?) Not here in his cousin, Cara's, home. Not here, hanging out with the friends his cousin has. Derry, Ireland is not home.
Of course, there is not a single courageous bone in his body that will tell anyone of his feelings. No, Alec Moore 'rolls with the flow,' as his ex-stepfather used to say. Maybe if he had been raised by a unselfish mother that taught him how to have confidence in himself, he'd know how to voice his feelings. Maybe then, he wouldn't allow the mistreatment that comes his way from the people of Derry.
That's not Alec Moore, though. He allows people to kick him around like a hurt dog. Once he finds the confidence in himself, he'll do it. Until then, Alex Moore, the abandoned British child, will continue to live in Derry, Ireland—like a hurt dog.
ADDITIONAL CAST
COLIN BYRNE — CILLIAN MURPHY
KERRY WALSH-BYRNE — SHARON HORGAN
SAOIRSE BYRNE — EVE HEWSON
DEIRDRE MAGUIRE — SARAH GREENE
EAMON BUCKLEY — COLIN FARRELL
MANU MAHI'AI — JASON MOMOA
SHANE MCMAHON — MAHERSHALA ALI
NEVE MOORE-MCMAHON — ANGELA BASSETT
TALLULAH MOORE — VIOLA DAVIS
DECLAN THOMPSON — PAUL MESCAL
SEAMUS FINNIGAN — BARRY KEOGHAN
THOMAS HEWSON—ANDREW SCOTT
FINN DOYLE—DARYL MCCORMACK
WARNINGS: strong language, violence, drug/alcohol use, death, graphic description of grief, self-harm, war, blood, racism, sexism. i will add more if need be. still, if ur uncomfortable with the topics listed, this story may not be for you.
authors note:
last book publishing on impulse, i swear.
finished derry girls, watched the banshees of inisherin, and have fallen in love with paul mescal. all i can say is that i luv the irish. pls give me more irish media recommendations.
but fr, welcome to RIBS! still a bit unsure about the title, but if it changes i'll let y'all know. anyways this is probs the biggest fic i have planned after my twd one just because of the amount of characters i have to write for. you'll see a lot of inspo from derry girls and stuff, so be on the lookout for that.
anyways, if ur reading this, thank u so much! hope u enjoy 💛