Rose McDunn's Story

There was much to be done. It was the morning of the first guests arrival to McDunn B&B and Rose was having a small break down. She was rushing from room to room dusting in spots no one would look and straightening creases on sheet that no one would notice. She wanted everything to be perfect, this was a world renowned place after all. The winners of this contest were going to get the best.

Rose spent most of the morning cleaning and tidying. She made sure every little picture hanging on the walls was straight and that there wasn't a dust bunny in sight. The beautiful12 bedroom manor stood proud in the rolling Scottish hills, its windows shone with the rising sun and its gardens begged to be explored. Rose had prepared a small welcoming gift on each of the beds, leaving them with a basket of small snack foods and water bottles as well at bubble baths and other small bottles to be used in the bathroom. There was a large fluffy housecoat folded on the bed next to the basket and she had left fresh flowers from the garden in each room.

It was around one in the afternoon when she deemed the house acceptable to receive guests and so she went and took a quick shower and Rose began the long task of making herself look the part of successful owner. Her hair was curled, sprayed, brushed and then done all over again, her end result was a sexy yet what she hoped was professional windswept look. She stood in front of her closet for a long while and then finally settled on a nice striped sweater dress.

She went back out to the front lobby of the house, here she had set up a front desk and book shelves lined the walls and were filled with old books which she liked to leaf through when she had a spare moment. Her brown eyes scanned the room and landed on the large map that she had framed and hung behind the desk. She read over the familiar riddle and her mouth turned up a little in a soft smile. The mystery of what treasure lie in the house was a great selling point. She would have to remember to tell her guests about it. For now she settled in the chair behind the desk and turned on her computer. While she waited for guests she might as well work on some finances.

Benjamin Simpkin
Scotland. Ben had lived here for a few months a couple years back, and it was coming back to him why he had left. It was cold, the weather was miserable and he hated all the green scenery. At least the plane ride hadn’t been too bad; no crying babies or overly active children. Dismissing his negative thoughts - he wasn’t one to throw away a free trip because he hated the destination - he got out of the car and grabbed his two bags. Ben shrank into his jacket as soon as the cold air hit him, the car drove off and he was left standing in front of the large place with his bags stacked up next to him. “Well, better check out where I’m going to be staying for the next little while.” Ben mumbled to himself and he picked up his bags and walked towards the lobby.

He wasn’t really concerned about the state of the place; it looked quite fancy and the pictures online looked almost extravagant. Besides even if it was a dump, he was sure he’s stayed in worse. Entering the lobby Ben excited to be out of the cold. He walked in leisurely taking his time to observe his surroundings. The main features of the room were the overload of bookshelves, though he never read, so any sort of bookshelf was overkill for him, and a desk. Ben never really noticed anything other than the basics. He did notice the cute brunette sitting at the desk though, but he quickly dismissed her, she seemed way too uptight from the way she was working on the computer and how she held herself. He had already determined that they would never get along.

“I’m Ben Simpkin,” He said abruptly, to the brunette after he had crossed the room and was standing in front of the desk. His voice was void of any friendly intonations as he didn’t really do pleasantries, according to him they were a waste of time and effort and he really didn’t care what the brunette thought of him. “I don’t remember what room I’m in.” He tacked on the end, when he remembered that he had been told what room he was staying in.

He hoped this wouldn't take too long, waiting was not his specialty.

Rose couldn't help but look up and observe the man walking into the house, she had to admit he was handsome in the sort of rugged way. He seemed wild to her. She offered him a smile and felt a cold brush of indifference in return. She forced the smile on her face and found herself taking back her handsome thought. "Hello Ben" she said softly after he had introduced himself, "My name is Rose McDunn, Welcome. I hope your trip wasn't too difficult." He seemed more and more like a robot to her and she couldn't help the small little twitch of annoyance in eye. "Let me see... Just a moment." She bent and went to go through her papers and she found the one with his name on it. "Ah yes... John and Yoko room." she went and got his key and pointed him up to the direction of the stairs "To the left and a little down the hallway. The room will be on your right. I hope you enjoy your stay here Mr. Simpkin"

There was the ring of the door bell that sounded through the house and Rose looked up from her computer and stood. She took a moment to straighten her clothes and fluff her hair and then she smiled at Ben and said a soft "Excuse me." And she walked towards the door. She opened it and saw a woman standing there in a gorgeous dress. she put on her brightest smile and said "Welcome." She ushered the woman in the door and then closed the door behind them. "

The entrance hall was big with two story high ceilings with crown mouldings. She Gazed around proudly and then looked to her guest. She stepped around her and offered her hand in greeting "My name is Rose McDunn, pleased to meet you, and that man over there is Mr. Ben Simpkin, he is a guest here as well." she let go of the womans hand and said "Lets get you checked in and to your room shall we?" She slipped behind the desk and opened her computer to register the woman. She went about getting some papers for her to sign and began to input the information. "Ah, staying in the Benny and Joon room, it is a lovely room. One of my favourites really." she smiled brightly and went about checking Ben and Diana in.

Diana was exited. This mansion was the most gorgeous place she had ever been to, even bigher then her condo, and old design organizations place combined. "Its an honor to meet you. I herd this is a family home." Diana took her key and headed to her room. She saw the bulky man on the way. Diana wasn't really the love type. She treated men just like any girl. Diana unlocked the door.

She was amazed, her jaw dropped. She almost screamed in exitment. Diana unpacked her suitcase, fist unpacking her makeup. Makeup filled the shelves. Then she loaded all her dresses in bins, that were also placed inside shelves. She then took out her hairbrush and started doing her hair, making it look curly. She put on mascara and other make up. She wanted to look sharp when all the guests arrived. Diana never wanted to look messy. Every morning after she woke up, she brushed her hair and threw on an outfit. After Diana unpacked everything and finished her do, she headed to the lobby and sat down on a leather couch. She wanted to impress them. After all, she was a fasion Deva.

Benjamin Simpkin
The brunette, or Rose as she introduced herself, or McDunn as he had chosen to call her, put on a good hostess act, smiled when she was supposed to and said all the right things. She might as well have been talking to a deaf though; all Ben really cared about was the key to his room that she handed him. When the doorbell rang he couldn't help a smile as McDunn straightened out her clothes and hair before answering the door. Someone seemed to care way too much about looking professional.

The woman who had rug the doorbell was actually rather attractive, she introduced herself as Diana and McDunn introduced him. "Nice dress" he said simply to Diana, before dismissing her and turning back to McDunn. "I guess I'll be seeing you around then, Mcdunn." He gave her a light nod before heading off in the direction she had told him, though he hadn't listened very well and so it took him a few goes to get to his room.

Ben was impressed with his room, he liked the colours and everything looked clean and well it was pretty amazing after he had dropped is bags in the middle of the floor he tried the bed and discovered it was what he imagined lying on a cloud to look like. He then rummaged through the basket of goodies that he found lying on the end of his bed, he didn’t care very much about the bottle of thing to use in the bathroom, and left them scattered across the floor, same with the water bottles and housecoat; he might get around to using them eventually. However he shoved some of the snacks into his pocket while already munching down on one.

Not one to hang around alone in his room all day, Ben, after dropping off his bags and stocking up on snacks headed out to check out the entirety of the B&B.

Sally Hopkins
It was the first time Sally had ever left England, even though it was only Scotland, she was completely enchanted. It wasn’t all that different from England but Sally still kept her face staring firmly out the window taking in all the surrounding greenery. She was even more amazed as she got closer to the B&B, the drive way was stunning with the canopy of trees over the top, Sally was almost disappointed when the driveway came to end and revealed the actual place. It was massive, and there was a gorgeous fountain, she couldn’t wait to find out what was waiting for her inside, including the other guests.

Before entering the B&B though, she made sure to flatten out any creases in her clothes that were caused by the journey. She was wearing a cute light pink dress with a floral pattern and a tan jacket. She also made sure her hair and make up still looked nice and fresh, touching it up where she could. First impressions were always deadly important and she wasn’t going to let the other guests’ first impression of her be bad. She took a deep breath, preparing herself to be charming and friendly and she moved towards the entrance.

Entering the lobby Sally’s attention was drawn to the number of books on the bookshelves that lined the walls. She moved over the desk that was across the room when she saw a woman sitting there. “This place is absolutely amazing,” Sally said sincerely as she looked around the room, her usual sweet smile plastered on her face. She was sure the woman in front of her would love her. “I mean I’ve never really been out of England before, so I don’t exactly have any standards, but I think I’ve fallen in love.”

Sally laughed lightly as she lent against the edge of the desk looking after at another girl who was sitting on a leather couch opposite her. The girl's hair was dressed to perfection, it was really quite impressive, almost intimidating. Sally suddenly felt very plain and like she hadn't made much of an effort. She smiled in a friendly manner and gave the girl a small wave.

Rose saw her next guest enter the house and she smiled a real smile, the girl seemed to be radiating happiness and she stood and offered her hand. "thank you." she shook the woman's hand and said "I've got a lot of pride in this house. It is a great honor you do me by falling in love with it." she chuckled lightly and then took down Sally's information. "I'm hoping you'll enjoy your stay even more." Rose handed her the key to her bed room and said "the woman over the is Diana, she's a guest here as well. There is another man upstairs named Benjamin as well. You three are the first to arrive. Feel free to go where ever you like and if you need anything like transportation or want to know where the best spots are around I am more than happy to point you in the right direction."

Rose felt she was doing well so far, 2/3 of her guest so far seemed tolerable, save for that Benjamin who just seemed like a bit of an airhead and an arse to her but she pushed the thought away and stood. Just as she was standing the door opened again and a man came stumbling through. He had tripped on the step up and in his misstep one of his bags dropped to the floor. He was a handsome man with dark hair and tanned skin from being out in the sun. "blast it." he muttered to himself as he picked up his bag and walked in. He gazed around and his frown from tripping was immediately replaced with a charming smile when he noticed the three women. "well hello." he tipped his baseball cap at the woman sitting and walked up to the front desk.

"good day." he spoke his Australian accent come through loud and clear. "I'm Garret checking in." he looked over at Sally and he leaned towards her a little "suppose you won this nice little trip as well? I didn't think I had a chance in a million years of winning but low and behold here I am. The flight was a bit of a new experience of course but I made it just the same." he didn't realize he was talking so much but rather was quite comfortable with himself. He looked back at Rose and the two grinned at each other and she introduced herself and the other two to him and then handed him his key. "thanks darling." he took the key in a calloused hand and looked over at Sally "can I walk you to your room? Since we're going to be here together might as well be friends eh?"

Sally Hopkins
"Well I'm certainly planning on enjoying my stay," Sally replied taking her key off of Rose, giving her a short word of thanks. She made a mental note that the woman across the room was Diana and that there was another guy somewhere named Benjamin that she would make a point to meet. Sally wanted to make sure to make nice with everyone else staying at the house, she didn't want anyone having a negative view about her. She also didn't want to be caught in an awkward situation where she forgot someone's name; it always ended bad for everyone involved when a name was forgotten.

Rose explained a few more things, but before Sally could respond a guy cut her off by literally stumbling into into the Lobby. He talked with Rose about checking in, in a strong Australian accent before turning to Sally and talking to her. Sally smiled along as he talked to her, she would have done so to anyone out of politeness, but when he was talking she smiled sincerely as she found how comfortable he was to be endearing. He received his key and then asked to walk Sally to her room.

"As if I can say on to an offer like that," Sally flashed Garret her polite friendly smile as she started leading them away from the lobby. "Though I heard chivalry's dead, I'm guessing you didn't get the message." She joked grinning widely, quite proud of her little joke. Light humor was always good when meeting new people, and she was never the most quick witted person.
"About what you said before though, it was actually my sister who signed me up for this competition, she got a little excited and signed up all of our siblings." Sally said laughing lightly at the memory, her sister had acted like they were all going to win, she was surprised that her sister hadn't started packing. "-and it was no surprise that I won, I'm just lucky like that I guess, I mean every since I was little I was always winning raffles and things. Must be a talent." She paused to give him a sarcastically smug look before continuing. "I tried to give the trip to her, claiming I really didn't need it but she wouldn't hear of it. She packed me up and sent me here whether i wanted to go or not."

Rose glanced up as a man burst into the room and announced to no one in particular that his name was Adam and that he was staying. She stood and brushed her hair behind her ear and gave Adam a smile "Hello, and welcome." She said calmly, she spoke slowly as she felt maybe he needed to calm down. "I think you mean the Forest and Jenny room." She gestured to the desk and said "Come on up and we'll get you signed in and you can head to your room and explore."

He seemed like a nice enough fellow, for some reason she got the impression he had only one speed and that was fast. Somehow that amused her and she laughed softly to herself as he signed the papers. She got him his key and said "Up the stairs and to the right. It's the last door in the hallway. I really do hope you enjoy your stay with us. If you ever need anything let me know." these were lines she said often and she had gotten quite used to them slipping out quite naturally. She had even said it enough to the point where she didn't even notice what she was saying. Such was the life of a hostess, she supposed. In the end it was worth it to her.

Adam bounded up the stairs, tripping over just twice, which was somewhat of an achievement for him. He had already forgotten everything Rose had said, having taken nothing in except for the words 'Forest' and 'explore'. Standing on the landing, he looked around at all the doors with mild confusion. He decided to drop his luggage and take a walk up and down the hall and almost immediately tripped over a man who was walking down the hallway. Murmering apologies, he looked up at the man above him.

Adam frowned slightly; the man above him seemed to radiate impatience and energy, but who was he to judge? Smiling brightly, he nodded at the man above him, feeling that he was not one for idle chatter.