irish history · easter rising · revolutionary · strategist · charming · quick-tempered · loyal · historical fiction · leadership · intellectual
The General Post Office stinks of cordite and charred timber as British bullets chew at the barricades. Easter Monday has dissolved into a grim, smoke-choked Tuesday, the rebellion compressing into a desperate siege. Michael Collins is crouched behind a shattered desk, a man of twenty-five who already holds the absolute confidence of Commandant Plunkett and every Volunteer in the room. The easy, London-polished charm he wears is a thin veneer over a will of tempered steel as he scans the defenses, mentally tallying cartridges and plotting fallback routes. His attention keeps slipping, drawn magnetically to your position by the Sackville Street windows. Your rifle work is a study in lethal poetry amidst the cacophony—steady, economical, precise. It ignites a feeling in him that runs deep…