A Week in Rural Scotland

[rainne]

Thank you for joining us here in picturesque Glen Macalie, on the shore of Loch Leven in the Grampian Mountains of Scotland. We welcome you to the campus of the Glen Macalie School for Girls and hope that you will enjoy your stay.


This week will largely be unstructured; you are welcome to investigate the castle (which dates back to 1237 CE) and the nearby village of Glen Macalie. Some resources which will be available to you include:

In the castle:
Comprehensive Library
Modern Kitchens
State of the art Training/Exercise Room
Extensively landscaped grounds and gardens
Horseback Riding
Fishing
Hiking

In the village:
Shopping
Pubs and restaurants
Museum
Historical buildings
Golf

We ask only that you take care to observe the following rules:

1) Please do not leave campus near or after dark.
2) Venturing too far outside after dark, even on campus, is not guaranteed to be safe. You do so at your own risk.
3) There will be occasional evening events. Participation in these events should be considered of minor risk; however, anyone taking part should endeavor to follow all directions to ensure his or her safety.

If you have any questions, please feel free to see Mr. Giles or Ms. Summers.

Comments

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

Briefly. I had developed a habit for cocaine and got evicted. Mycroft kept trying to force me into rehab instead of giving me money.

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

Probably the best thing for you. *Fiona points out* So did you do the rehab? Or just quit on your own? Or are you the most functioning addict I've ever seen?

~Fiona

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

I met Lestrade. He realized I could help him solve cases, but I had to get clean before he could get me access to Scotland Yard.

So I got clean. Didn't have a reason before that.

~Sherlock

((Though the people that actually care about him - which is a damn short list - are occasionally afraid of relapse.))

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*she nods, grins, though it hurts some to think about how he could do it for something as simple as solving cases and her parents couldn't do it for them, for their own children*

Good for you. How long have you been clean? That's something to be proud of.

~Fiona

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

Six years or so now. I almost slipped a couple times, but I didn't.

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

Six years. That's impressive. I think five days is the most either of my parents have ever managed clean and sober.

About half of my siblings are the result of the union of one drug or another.

~Fiona

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

*is silent for a minute, trying to figure out what to say*

Your parents sound like horrible people.

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*they were in a lot of ways, but they were still her parents, and they still, even when they were high and drunk managed to do some things that mattered, that were right, especially for the younger kids, where she tried to convince herself it was most important*

Hey, my parents are people. Okay? And they're flawed and fucked up and fall down just like everybody else. Just like me. And you. But they don't always do the wrong thing. And it's not your fucking place to judge them.

*she knew she wasn't being fair, if she had to name her biggest obstacles, they would be Frank and Monica every time*

~Fiona

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

*takes a step back as though she had slapped him*

It's just... you're so wonderful and special and you deserve so much more than you have.

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*is both surprised by his reaction, and proud of herself for making him think twice, back away*

*but his words left her without much to say*

*part of her felt like he was right, she did deserve more, but another part of her, well it felt like, if she thought about that all the time, she'd go crazy thinking of all the things she was "missing"*

*she simply shook her head*

I got everything I need. I've got my family. And a roof over my head. And we all got food and clothes. You don't need to feel fucking sorry for me.

~Fiona

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

*confused* I don't feel sorry for you. You're special. The same way John is special.

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*she's really not sure if she can deal with where this conversation might be going*

I don't think most people need more than one personal blogger.

~Fiona

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

*even more confused* What does John blogging about the cases have to do with anything?

It's just... I would do anything for him because he's special. And you're special in the same way.

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*she shifts a little awkwardly, not sure what to say right now, to that, to being special to him in that way*

*but she doesn't have to figure it out as she sees Ian and Debbie hurrying to her with Liam in Ian's arms*

*she gives them a grin, a little surprised to see them*

Hey guys, what's up?

*Debbie chews on her bottom lip before Ian speaks*

Carl had a little bit of an explosion. More fire than anything.

*fiona's eyes widened* Jesus. *she didn't even wanna think about what that would cost, blowing up part of an ancient castle* Where is he?

*she hurried after her family*

~Fiona

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

*follows after her, interest piqued by the word explosion*

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*she follows them and they lead her to one of the kitchens, full of smoke and ash, she thinks, Carl standing there coughing, containers on the stove on fire, things in disarray, some of the stone work behind the stove broken*

Jesus Christ. *she coughed some as she stepped into the kitchen, from the smoke and the acrid smell on the air*

*the first thing she did was move Carl where she could see him, so that she could make sure he wasn't burned or broken in any way, once she was sure, she starting looking for lids and towels, something to put the remaining fires out with, and Carl just stood there with his mad scientist grin, she was just glad it didn't smell like he'd been making drugs in here*

What the hell were you thinking Carl? People don't invite you to nice places so that you can fucking ruin them.

*all this said as she put the fires out*

What the hell were you trying to make over here anyway? And I swear to God, if you say crystal meth....*she let the threat trail off, now that the fire was contained, she looked at him again* You okay?

*he nodded*

You're gonna clean it up. *she tells him matter-of-fact* Every last bit of it. And you're gonna dispose of *gestures to the stove* whatever that is properly. You're gonna apologize. And you're gonna pay for repairs, and new pots and pans.

*his jaw dropped* Fiona *he whined*

We'll take it out of your squirrel fund money. Remember this the next time you think it might be nice to go around blowing up other people's kitchens.

*Carl mumbles about how he guesses it was a good thing he rented that room to that hooker*

*she looked at Ian and Debs* You can help him. *she was sure that they weren't 100% innocent, just happened to stumble along him*

*she looks to Sherlock* So, umm, the pyrotechnic wonder is Carl, and that's Debbie, and Ian, and Liam. *pointing in turn* The only one missing is Lip. Phillip.

~Fiona

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

*looks at the whole scene in mild shock*

*looks at Carl, surprised that one child caused so much damage*

What exactly were you trying to do?

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*Carl shuffles his feet as he starts cleaning everything up, throwing away broken things*

*he looks up at the guy with Fiona*

Who the fuck are you?

~Carl


Carl! *she admonishes, but doesn't follow it up with anything, he's learned the words for the rest of them and in real life, their life, having that attitude is a good thing*

Answer his question. *she wanted to know too*

~Fiona

*Carl turned his back on both of them, making a show of taking his time to answer the question*

Well I found some room where it looks like they have chemicals. So I was doing an experiment.

*he shies away from his sister's look, as if she's asking for more*

I don't really know what I was doing. I was just mixing some things up. You think I know what the fuck any of that shit is? *though he did know some of it, he grinned a little, looking around the kitchen, like it was handy work he should be proud of, before looking back at Sherlock* Pretty awesome huh?

~Carl

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

I would have been more awesome without the unplanned explosion. Those should only happen when planned for.

I do a fair number of experiments myself, though I haven't done many lately. *leaves out the part where it's because he's hunting down Moriarty's network*

And to answer your question as to who the fuck I am, my name is Sherlock Holmes.

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*Carl shrugs like an explosion is an explosion, whatever bro, his grin still from ear to ear*

*he goes back to cleaning before Fiona can yell at him*

You plan for explosions? I mean I did too once. For a science fair. But most of them have been unplanned.

Why not?

~Carl

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

Sometimes they are required for my work. Not very often though.

I haven't run any experiments lately because there are bad men out there and I need to make sure they don't hurt any more people. *figures that's as sanitized a version of that story that he can come up with*

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

What kind of work you do?

*he grins and looks over at Sherlock, like he's just gained some respect in his book*

Kicking ass and taking names. Nice.

~Carl

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

I'm a Consulting Detective. Solve cases for Scotland Yard and sometimes for private clients as well.

It's a bit more subtle than simply kicking arse and taking names.

~Sherlock

((The British spelling of ass/arse makes me giggle so much.))

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*Ian raises his eyebrow at Fiona, as if to say a cop, really?*

*Carl looks at him*

You work for the cops? Cases like murder? have you seen aanything gruesome? Like bodies with their heads cut off, or people who were gutted?

*Carl's face lights up like Christmas morning at the thought of it*

*when he says it's more subtle he shakes his head*

Sounds lame.

~Carl

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

More like they call me in when they're too stupid to solve the cases themselves. Which happens more often than they'll ever admit.

Mostly murders. And I've seen plenty of gruesome things. *looks at Fiona, not sure if she'd appreciate him sharing explicit details*

*chuckles at Carl finding it lame* Would it be less lame if I told you I had to fake my death to do it?

~Sherlock