| Details for Carrots and Potatoes |
| Summary: | Keenan and Sorcha chat over fixing Christmas Feast |
| Date: | 24 December, 1937 |
| Location: | O'Shea Residence (Cornwall) |
| Related: | none |
| Characters |
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So, breakfast went by, and it's almost lunch time before the floo flares up, and Keenan steps out. Immediately the tallest O'Shea is pounced on by nephews, and he scoops them up good naturedly, somehow being able to listen to and respond appropriately to the two different stories being related to him at once. He carries them through into the kitchen where the womenfolk are working, leaning over first to give Mum a kiss and a wink in answer to the question of where he's been. Niamh's look is chuckled at, and then he's standing the two nephews in chairs to free his arms. "Where's Da?" he asks Sorcha quietly as he hugs her.
Sorcha has been given potato duty. And in a house such as this that's no small one, to be sure. She's siting at the table, peeling and slicing and puting the chunks into a large cookpot so that they can get boiled for mashing. As Nia and Mum work away, she's been humming with her slices, mixing up various carols. When the floo does its *woosh* she looks over, smiling when Keenan comes out of the ashes and is attacked by nephews. Leaning up to kiss his cheek when he comes to hug her she says, "Are we being tardy, then?" She nods to the back door at the question about their father, "He and the boys are out looking for all the contraptions we need to go out and find a tree. How he moves them around every year I'll never know." She narrows her eyes thoughtfully a little, "Unless they aren't really looking for them and they just don't want to be in here where they'll get put to work."
Keenan lays a finger aside his nose when she mentions the menfolk finding a way to get out of work, and gives her a wink. "Ye're gettin' smart in yer old age, lass," he tells her. "An' Mum would never spoil their fun by lettin' on that she knows good an' proper what's goin' on. It's part o tha whole Christmas ritual." He reaches across the table for a carrot and lifts it up to munch. "I had some things to take care of before I left, aye?"
"The rest of us had to get our things taken care of well before Nia woke us up." Sorcha says with an overly innocent look up to her brother. "Speaking of, so no go?" She doesn't say on the what, assuming that he'll know exactly what she's talking about. Sorcha looks around behind him to check and make sure that there isn't anybody there that she didn't hear the first time, "And fine, I won't blow the whistle. But I want in. As soon as the these are done before they find me something else."
Glancing around, Keenan decides to sit across from Sorcha for a bit, randomly stealing veggies that have been cut up to munch on. "Miss Max isn't ready for anything like this, yet. Just runnin' inta Niamh tha other mornin' an' yer 'droppin' in' this mornin' have been… enough for her tae digest." He snaps off a bit of celery and chews. "She's from one of those large families who nae give a damn about each other, an' nae talk. It's more like a business lunch than a meetin' o' family. This…" he waves a hand around the bustling kitchen, the nephews that are now finding new mischief to get into and the closed door that he'll soon go through. "Would be a bit overwhelmin'. We'll ease her in a bit at a time. I'll bring her over tae meet Mum an' Da when it'll be just tha four o'us."
Wrinkling her nose, Sorcha says, "Sorry about that. I mean, it really was your fault and all, but I didn't mean to scare the business out of her." She listens as he describes Veruca's family and shakes her head, "That seems like it'd be ever so boring. At least as much as it makes me crazy we do all have a lovely time together. Especially when we share stories. And tell eachother things. So that everybody feels like they know what's going on in the others' lives." She reaches over and swats his hand when he goes for another carrot, "Those are for the cooking and you know it. If you eat any more you get to peel the replacements."
Keenan snorts and gives Sorcha an indulgent smile. "Yes, I'm sure that it's /all/ my fault. Ye didnae think tae tell me ye were goin' tae be in town before comin' tae Cornwall so I could let ye know… which is alllll my fault," he teases her. He gives her a puppy dog look when she cuts him off, but folds his hands on the table. "Scare? Nae. Startle, aye. I'm thinkin' she might have second thoughts before comin' tae my place again… besides ye an' Niamh walkin' in while we're in various states of undress, an' Sloan nearly poundin' down tha door tae tell me about Niamh… she might wonder what's goin' tae happen tha next time she comes over." At her assessment, he nods. "Aye. This whole… " he waves around again, "carin' about each other is a new thing fer her. But, I do believe she's catchin' on quickly."
"You should know I'm going to be about, I'm moving in with Nia. I couldn't stay out in the country another month, it's lovely but really. And I already know all the boys in the village, it took barely a week." Sorcha says, shaking her head as she dices another potato with the kinfe in one hand and the potato in the other. "But fine, I'll stop treating it like it's your room down the hall or something. Even if it is your room and it's up a flight of stairs." She smiles, "I hope so. If you like her she must be nice, right?"
Keenan raises his eyebrows. "Ye are? I didnae know that." An odd look crosses Keenan's face, but then he shrugs, and takes another carrot without thinking. "Surprisingly, aye. I didnae think, when I met her, that she was goin' tae be kind… I thought she was another pure blood that… well. Never ye mind. Just say I've been pleasantly surprised." He crunches down with a smile. "I should probably make ma appearance tae 'help' find tha stuff fer tha tree."
"See? Not so lovely a feeling is it." Sorcha says when he makes the face about not knowing something. She points at him with a potato, "Joey says that it's important to know things about your family. Says a lot about where you come from." She nods, "I had her figured for a Slytherin, but not all of them are bad by any means. Just some are a bit stodgy." She adds, "Peel one of those carrots before you go out, boyo, or I'm telling Mum."
"An' who is Joey, aye? How come I haven't had an owl tellin' me all about him?" Keenan wants to know, his tone facetious as he crunches away, not answering her command. "Aye, she's Slytherin. An' she was 'stodgy'," he grins. "Until ye get tae know her."
"Well, you never seem very interested in any of the blokes that I fancy. So I certainly didn't want to bother you." Sorcha says with an another innocent expression, "That and I just met him…" She counts looking up at the ceiling, "Three days ago. Just before I met your Veruca." She glances over at Nia working next to their mother, "Speaking of… how do we feel about the Scot then?"
Keenan raises his eyebrows. "Three days. With you, I'd say that's worth an owl," he replies with a grin. "I've nae even met half o' them in order tae be interested. An' /that/ lass is tha difference between ye wakin' up with someone next tae ye, an' me wakin up with someone next tae me." He glances to Niamh as well, then shrugs. "How do ye feel about tha Scot? Ye're lookin' tae me tae tell ye?"
"Ohhh, I see. So all the girls that you've been with have been true true love? Like in a ballad? For all and ever?" Sorcha asks, eyebrows up, "And you've never ever even for a moment considered spending time with someone in a… romantic setting when you hadn't truly gotten to know them deeply in their soul?" She throws another handful of potato chunks in the pot, "I've never had a full conversation with the man, I was guessing that you have at least?"
Considering for a moment, Keenan looks at Sorcha. But, truth to her words earlier that day, she's not a kid, so he gives a shake of his head. "Nae. Not a single one of 'em," he tells her bluntly. "I didnae think I was goin' tae find 'for all an' ever ballad like' love. An' ye've no idea what it's like, yet either, lass." His words are a little more stern, perhaps, than he means them to be at the last. "The other women… all they wanted an' all I wanted was a moment o'satisfaction, an' that sort o' thing ye don't spend tha night with an' ye don't bring home. Miss Max.. has been somethin' different altogether. I may not know her deep in ma soul, yet. But I'm nae adverse tae tha idea."
Frowning at his explanation a little, Sorcha continues to chop chop chop. And peel some, too. "Well… good. I'm glad it isn't that she's the first girl that you've thought about." She flips a curl back over her shoulder and says, "And I suppose that means that I'm not the girl blokes feel like taking home either." She gives the next potato a good chopping and tosses it into the pot before standing up, "But it's nice that you've found one who is, I'm glad for you." She picks up the handles and turns to take it over to the stove next to her sister.
Keenan shrugs. "Oh, I dunno know about that lass… maybe if ye gave one enough of a chance tae take ye home…" he pops the last bit of carrot into his mouth, and plants his palms on the table. "Gideon an' I worked tagether tae help Niamh. An' we've discussed the merits o' whiskey, an' tha stuff that Scots like tae call whiskey." He pushes to his feet, and wraps an arm around her shoulders/neck to plant a kiss on top of her head. "Ye'll find a bloke, lass. Once ye stop lookin' fer one." Then he's off towards the closed door, and he didn't peel another carrot.
Pouting just a little, Sorcha lets him hug her before she puts down the pan, "Maybe eventually I will." She raises her eyebrows, "He thinks that they make whiskey in Scotland? It's so sad to find someone delusional when Nia likes him so much." She smiles a little, "Fine." She calls after him as he goes out the door, "You owe Mum a carrot!"