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

[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

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

Cops are all idiots. You should see Tony--

~Carl

Alright, Carl, that's enough. *she looks to Sherlock* You can tell him whatever you want about it.

~Fiona

*Carl shrugs*

Depends on how you did it. *looks up at him* How did you do it?

It just seems like it'd be way more fun to I don't know, blow shit up, torture them with blowtorches, cut off their heads.

~Carl

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

*gives Carl a scrutinizing look - he's fairly certain the only thing keeping him from being a pint sized serial killer is Fiona*

I find my approach to still be quite effective - and these men still believe I'm dead, which makes it safer for the people they want to hurt.

I made it appear that I jumped to my death from the roof of a hospital.

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*carl grins a little*

I bet there were tons of broken bones and blood all over.

~Carl

yeah, I bet there was. But I think we've talked about death enough for one day, huh? *Fiona interjects*

~Fiona

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

I agree. *doesn't want to have to get into details, like how John had to watch the faked suicide*

~Sherlock

((And there's the whole "we know he faked it, but we don't know how" thing because they haven't told us yet.))

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*she can tell that there's some sort of pain lying under the surface of that one, so she looks at Carl*

Bring it up again. And we'll be doing homework. Working on your reading.

*Carl groans*

*she looks over to Sherlock as Debbie puts Liam in her arms and starts helping the others, she coos to the baby for a moment, kissing the top of his head*

Sorry about him. He's a little...intense.

~Fiona

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

I was a bit intense at his age as well. Just less destructive. Most of the time.

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*she laughs*

I don't think Carl knows how to not be destructive. *but her tone is still gentle and caring, like in a it's okay because it's Carl, and he's mostly good*

Good to know. Since you turned out okay.

~Fiona

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

That's debatable.

*looks at Liam curiously, as though he's only just noticed he looks different*

He doesn't look like the rest of you.

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*she shrugged a little*

You're not so bad. If Carl is a fraction as normal as you are, I'll be lucky.

*is sure he hasn't just noticed, but teases about it anyway*

You just now gettin' to noticing that?

Yeah, he doesn't look the same, but believe it or not, he's got the same parents as the rest of us. Freak of genetics or something I guess. We all kinda thought he was Mom's AA sponsor's kid. But Frank got tested last year. He is the father.

*Ian shifts uncomfortably and Fiona reaches out and puts a comforting hand on his back, he was theirs, even if he wasn't Frank's, if anything it was a shame he was stuck in this boat with them, since he could have better*

~Fiona

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

*snorts* I'm far from normal, Fiona.

*about Liam* That is an... interesting genetic quirk.

*looks at Ian and deduces his reasons for being uncomfortable*

Normal, traditional families are overrated anyways.

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

*she smirks*

So are we.

*she shrugs*

I don't pretend to understand it. I just know it's true.

*she engages Liam in a bit of baby conversation before looking over at Sherlock, knowing he figured it out, and didn't make a bit deal about it, which she's pretty sure isn't his style, she gives him a small grin as if to say thank you*

~Fiona

*Ian laughed*

Well we never have to worry about being one of those.

~Ian

[csichick-2.livejournal.com]

My father wanted our family to be traditional and conventional, but Mycroft and I weren't nearly normal enough for him.

Yet, Mummy still can't understand why I made a scene at the funeral and told everyone how horrible he was.

~Sherlock

[ondragonflywing.livejournal.com]

He's still your dad though. *Ian said, like that should mean something*

~Ian

Yeah, Frank told me once that I better be grateful that the splooge that made me went up inside my mother instead of on the bed or her tits or something. And I should have some respect for them giving me life.

*pauses and mumbles*

Then he said he was kidding, but i don't think he was.

~Carl

When did Frank say that to you? *Fiona demands, if Frank were here, she'd kill him right now, what, he thought he deserved a medal for knocking someone up?*

~Fiona

*shrugged*

The last time mom was around. I called her a crazy bitch or something.

~Carl