Rowan's Family Arrives

[Kat]

Princess looked at her uncle and grinned. This one was definitely cute in so many ways, from his looks to his kilt, his polite manner, and his accent.

"Well then we should leave uncle Rollie to start cooking then. Come, I'll take you for a tour." Princess grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the kitchen to the staircase. The house was two stories with a finished basement, so three, really. Her bedroom was on the top floor and that's where she was taking Rowan. She wondered if he would revert back to his shy and blushing ways.

"Well Rowan I figured we'd start the tour in the room that you'll be seeing the most of, my bedroom." She looked at him and grinned, a devilish gleam in her eye. She opened the door and pulled him in. Her bedroom was very nice. Quite large, with a queen sized bed in the middle on a raised platform, gauzy curtains hanging off the frame at the top. The room painted a pale blue, with material in white and light purple. There was a flat screen tv mounted to the wall across from her bed, a desk with a laptop on it by her Juliet-style balcony. Everything in the room looked expensive, since her uncle adored spoiling her. There were pictures mounted on the wall by her bed, of she and friends. On her bedside table were a few frames- in one was an old picture of she and her father, in another was one of she and Ace, and in the last was one of she and her best friend Maple, who had recently moved two hours away with her fiance. She sat on the bed and motioned for Rowan to join her.

[Cres]

Rowan got instantly nervous and confused, when Princess dragged him with her upstairs. He blinked and blushed a little when she spoke of her bedroom as the room he'd be seeing most. What on earth did she mean by that? Suddenly he started to wish he would have offered to go ask his mother about the dinner and left his sister to talk with Princess.

As she sat on her bed, urging him to join her, he swallowed and glanced around the room, rather intimidated by the luxurious outlook of it. He tried to smile as he put his hands behind his back and looked at her a little insecurely.

"Uhh... I dinnae if I shald, ye know," he said, looking rather like someone who had just been offered a hot potatoe to hold. To be a rather well-grown young man, he looked amusingly much like a deer about to dash off. He was beginning to realise his dog hadn't followed him.

[Kat]

Princess watched him with intense interest, her mind whirling over her change in attitude once more. He seemed very nervous and insecure, uncomfortable even, in her room. As she looked at him it suddenly occured to. What if he was a virgin? Too caught up in his Scottish pride and heritage, being a proper and polite young man, looking out for his family? This was certainly more than she had hoped for.

Bringing a more innocent look to her face she looked up at him with a questioning glance. "Why not? I just wanted to talk to you for a bit about school, you are going to be starting at Meadowbrook High, right? I just brought you up here to show you some pictures and tell you about people at school, that's all. I hope I didn't give you any other sort of impression." Scrunching up her lips a bit to look worried and ever so slightly offended, she hoped she was right and that this would work. The last thing she needed was to scare him off before getting anywhere.

[Cres]

Rowan, being the gullible little darling as he was, was instantly embarrassed. His cheeks went very red and he hurried to her, sitting next to her, looking very concerned.

"Och, nae, I dinnae mean tae offend ye," he said quickly, horrified how he might even suggest anything like that. Goodness, the girl was probably too innocent to even realise what she was doing with her hips.

[[*cough cough*]]

[Kat]

Princess smiled, barely able to keep it from turning into a devious grin. She would definitely have to be very careful with him. How to keep her reputation from him long enough to get him, though? That would be tricky.

"Oh don't worry, I mean we did just meet, after all. Well then, let me show you some pictures!" The first picture she grabbed was of Ace, figuring that she would definitely introduce him to Ace before anyone else, since the blond would undoubtedly help her in her conquest. "This is Acce, one of my best friends. He's like, top of the social ladder at school. Really smart, super cute, star soccer player. I'll introduce you to him tomorrow, he's actually technically a foreigner too, he moved here from Sweden about ten years ago." She smiled innocently, trying her best not to imply how close they actually were.

Next she showed him pictures of the volleyball team, the choir, and various other friends of hers. She hoped he'd be in some of her classes so she could keep an eye on him during the day, make sure no one said anything about her in warning. She was sure though, that with some prior warning, her friends would be able to help her in her quest to bed the Scottish virgin. She was so excited at the prospect of this conquest that it wasn't all that hard to slip into a slightly ditzier, cuter, more innocent-sounding version of herself. Keeping up the persona around him though would prove harder.

[Cres]

Rowan was happy to see that the girl wasn't upset about what he had said. He smiled to her, still shyly as usually, but just a little more comfortably. He had to admit there was something cute about her self-assured behaviour. Rowan, when it came to girls, liked to let his partner take the lead.

He looked at Ace's picture with interest. The blond seemed exactly the way she was describing him. He felt a little overwhelmed at the thought that she would be friends with the likely most popular guy in school. Did that mean he would get to hang out with the in-crowd? That had never happened before. That thought flushed him so bad for a while that he lost track of what Princess was telling him for a few moments. He tried to keep up, however, and nodded and smiled politely at every new picture. Names went mostly past him. He wasn't so good at remembering faces unless he'd met them in person. Instead, his eyes were wandering on Princess herself. She was really pretty, he thought. He was hoping his mother would invite them to dinner the next day. Rowan could help her cook. He didn't even notice he had stopped listening to her and was just looking at her beautiful lips move as she talked.

[Kat]

After talking for a little while longer, Princess decided that they might as well go back downstairs. If she stayed alone with Rowan any longer, she didn't quite trust herself to keep up her current persona.

"Hey, we should go back down, maybe you can take me over to meet your mom. Maybe I could help unpacking while we wait for supper." She smiled sweetly at him, very interested in meeting his mother. If she could manage to trick her, then she had a feeling Rowan wouldn't be a problem.

[Cres]

Rowan was startled from watching her when she spoke. He blushed a little and tore his eyes up to her face. Her suggestion made him feel relieved. He was beginning to feel a little too hot there, sitting next to her.

"Aye!" he said and got up. "Of course! Me mum'd luv tae meet ye, 'm sure."

He started to take her by the hand, but then blushed and changed his mind, going to the door.

"Me mum's sure tae like all the help she can get," he said as they went downstairs. He grimaced a little as he remembered he'd promised to look after the kids while her mother took care of the moving men. He hoped she wouldn't be terribly angry.

Rowan stopped for a moment when they got downstairs. He suddenly recalled he'd lost his dog.

"Brúideil!" he shouted, a bit afraid that the dog might have chosen to cause some havoc in the house. He was large and tended to forget to look after his tail. "'ere lad!"

Brute, who had been comfortably sleeping on the couch, raised his head, looking rather annoyed by the wake-up. He didn't get up until the third call, and even then he trotted to his master lazily, yawning. Rowan stared at him hard.

"Ye know, ye're makin' me look bad," he hissed at the dog. Brúideil only stared right back, his tongue lolling out. Rowan rolled his eyes and let it be. He smiled to Princess, a little nervous, and then started out the door, assuming she was following along. The dog came with him placidly, his tail wagging lazily from one side to another.

They went to the other house, only to see the moving truck drive away. Rowan's mother was nowhere to be seen, but his younger brothers were on the lawn, kicking around a soccer ball.

"Brúideil," Rowan said harshly to his dog, pointing to his brothers, "watch."

The dog yawned, but trotted over to the two boys, sitting down near them. Rowan was satisfied and then went to the door of the house, peaking inside. Their furniture and the many boxes were scattered about the living room, and their mother was in the process of unpacking pots and other kitchen ware. Muriel was helping her. Rowan whipped up a smile and straightened his back, trying to appear less nervous as he held the door open for Princess to come in.

"Mum," he said as they stepped into the living room, "I'd like tae introduce ye tae our new neighbour."

His mother looked up from the glass she was unwrapping from bubble wrapper. Her tired eyes met Princess with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh," she said, putting the glass away and stepping closer, her hand extended. "Pleased tae meet ye. I'm Daisy."

[Kat]

Following Rowan into his house, Princess took the few moments before his mother turned to acknowledge her to study the woman, trying to get a sense of her. She put a polite smile on her face and shook Daisy's hand. "I'm Princess, I just live right next door. Did Muriel mention to you that my uncle and I would love to have you all over for dinner? And don't even think about saying no, because he's already cooking." She continued to smile, casting a quick glance and grin at Muriel. "Until it's ready though I thought I should come over and offer some help, if you need it."

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Muriel flashed a grin back to Princess and then looked at Rowan. Rowan frowned at her, and she giggled, turning back to unwrapping things.

Rowan's mother smiled, appearing rather friendly as she shook her hand and then turned back to unwrapping. She seemed too tired to have noticed anything odd going on around her.

"Oh, that's sae sweet o' ye, dear," she said. "And aye, she did tell me 'bout the dinner. I can't thank ye enough - it's been a lang day, and I should've been too tired tae cook anymore." She turned and took a box, then shoved it into Princess's hands rather matter-of-factly. "If ye want tae help, there's a box ye can unwrap. It has more kitchen stuff." She winked. "I'll still have to cook tomorrow morning tae these huns."

Rowan grinned a bit.

"Nae, mum, ye're on the wrong continent now. It's the Celts ye're talkin' 'bout." He winked and her mother gave another laugh.

"Aye, barbarians, the lot o' ye," she said and pointed at a box. "Ye make yerself useful."

Rowan smiled sheepishly.

"Aye, aye, ma'am," he said and went to the box, to unwrap some more dishes.

Meanwhile, his mother turned to smile and look at Princess.

"Sae, Princess, how old are ye? Maybe ye'll be goin' the same class with Rowie 'ere."

[Kat]

Princess smiled and took the offered box, beginning to slowly unwrap it. She grinned as she listened to the interacion between Rowan and his mother. Carefully placing the items she pulled from the box on the counter, she turned to look at Rowan's mother when she addressed her.

"Seventeen, just started my last year today. At least he has't missed out on too much yet." She glanced at Rowan and winked. She has assumed he was her age and since he hadn't made any mention of being younger or older, she guessed she must have assumed correctly.

[Cres]

Rowan smiled back to Princess, but blushed a little at her wink, he wasn't sure why. Muriel's grin widened. Their mother simply smiled at Princess while putting away her box and taking up a new one.

"That's nice," she said. Her mind was obviously distracted.

Rowan glanced at her and a look of worry passed his face. He knew his mother tended to strain herself too much, with the work and the four children, without a husband to help her. Still, there wasn't overly much he could do, especially when his mother was determined that he should live a little while he still was young; he'd have time to get all dutiful and bored when he'd have his own family, she'd say.

"I suppose ye can walk tae school t'gether tamorrow, then," Daisy suggested, smiling to Princess. "Ye seem tae be getting along sae well. Oh, ye know, Rowan's a wee shy, sae I wald really appreciate it if ye cald show 'im 'round the school, dear, take him under yer wing a little. I shald hate tae see 'im get into trouble like he did back hame."

"Mom!" Rowan objected, horrified that she should talk about him like that, as if he was a little boy. But Daisy remained adamant.

"Ye do get into trouble, dearie," she said, looking at him. "God forbid I shald know why, but I don't want it tae happen again.'

Rowan bit his lip. He knew exactly why it kept happening. He was of flammable material, and tended to flare up - and get into fights. He'd done that especially much with the MacDougall kids. The MacDougalls and MacDamons had always been sworn enemies, so to Rowan it was only natural - his mother seemed to think differently. But then, she was a Campbell, wasn't she, so she wouldn't understand.

[[we can cut this off at any point you like - I like playing Rowie's family, but I don't have anything relevant to say ]]

[Kat]

Princess smirked as she listened to Rowan's mother talk about him, trying hard not to laugh. This kid was going to be all kinds of entertainment, she could tell. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to take good care of him at school." She winked at his mother and looked briefly at Muriel, winking at her too.


(You wanna just cut off there maybe, say they had an awesome dinner and got along well? Then we can skip forward a few days to where Row is in the coffee shop? We can say that Princess did indeed show him around and introduce him to everyone, meanwhile plotting behind his back, hehe)

[Cres]

[[Yeap, I think we can call this thread off about here. And I shall love to see what Princess'll have in store for him ]]