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lettheladylead · 2 years ago

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running in circles

chapter forty-eight: i love that you can’t help but be yourself around me summary: Goldie and Scrooge have a difficult conversation. warnings: references to sex, nothing explicit wordcount: 7518 playlist (will be updated as chapters are posted): shorturl.at/bfBCQ ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/33776632/chapters/103846536 site link: https://sites.google.com/view/running-in-circles/chapters/chapter48

here’s chapter forty-eight!! text will also be included in this post for those of you that don’t use ao3:

2019; Duckburg:

She was learning so much new information second-hand.

No one had specifically told her anything, but everyone was talking very loudly. Talking about how Scrooge’s family (particularly Sharpie and the one with the hat) had defeated Bradford and F.O.W.L. by tearing apart his stupid anti-adventuring contract. Talking about how Webby was actually Scrooge’s biological child (what?) created without his knowledge or consent (how?) and intended to be used to defeat him.

It was a lot to take in.

Goldie was trying her best not to feel any certain ways about Scrooge technically being a father. He wanted to be a father, she’d realized over the years, so he was probably enjoying that. She didn’t want to react to it badly - they’d made so much progress recently and she didn’t need to push herself further away from his family. With this added complication, she knew the best course of action would be to simply be there for him and show her support.

(It was really, really hard, though. She was never good at being supportive.)

The Ducks and McDucks had taken off in Scrooge’s plane, leaving everyone else to find their own ways back to America. Goldie hitched a ride with some bears she’d gotten to know while they were all held captive, and they dropped her off in Duckburg as requested.

“See ya round, Miss O’Gilt!” Kit said with a wave.

“Thanks again. And I’m sure things will work out with your parents, try not to overthink it,” Goldie answered with a wave of her own, finishing up the long conversation they’d had during the flight.

Kit and Molly smiled and took off, leaving Goldie by herself on the edge of town. It was where she’d wanted to land, since she needed to take a shower and get some new clothes before announcing herself to Scrooge once again. Good thing she could always get a free room at the Duckburg Blackjack.

Goldie decided to stay the night in her hotel, not wanting to immediately interrupt what was probably a very complicated family situation. She could wait until the next day. Surely Scrooge wouldn’t head back to work just yet, and even if he did she could just hang around and talk to Sharpie or Pink or…whoever. Della or Donald, even.

She really wanted to know exactly what happened in Egypt and what was going on with his family and…well, honestly, she just wanted to spend some time with Scrooge. Maybe it wasn’t the best time for him, but Goldie didn’t care. She’d just spent weeks stuck in a box next to a man she couldn’t stand, so she didn’t see a problem with trying to have some fun before going back to her old schedule.

Goldie laid down on the hotel bed and her phone beeped, letting her know it had finally charged. She’d had no reception while trapped in Alexandria and then her battery died and her service had been temporarily disconnected and it was a whole thing, but now she was back online and she could see all the messages she’d missed.

There were a lot of messages from Dickie. A lot. Though Goldie didn’t visit her often, she almost always responded to texts and emails within a week. Probably scared the crap out of that kid.

Under those were a few text messages from Sharpie.

And a million missed calls, of course. Many of those were from Scrooge, a handful from Sharpie and Dickie, and then another handful from unknown numbers.

Goldie decided to spend a bit of time scrolling through the messages. It was nice to know that people missed her. Or at least that they were trying to get a hold of her.

Can you send me $100? I need a new electric guitar 😝!!!

Goldie sighed at the first of the dozen messages Dickie sent her. Of course it was about money.

Also I miss you!

Classic.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Goldie kept scrolling to find that there were several messages composed entirely of emoticons. There was truly nothing more confusing and humbling than trying to communicate with a young person over text. Dickie’s emoticon usage got more and more confusing until she sent a final message.

Ok ok. Let me know when you’re back from whatever trip you’re on. I really do miss you!

Assuming her phone was accurate, Dickie had sent that message four days ago. If Goldie didn’t tend to disappear and go off the grid every couple of months, her grandkid would probably be worried sick. Good thing she was so bad at staying in touch already so no one would notice the difference.

The texts she had from Sharpie were more to the point.

Do you wanna help us fight a bunch of evil villains?

After two days of no response, he followed that up with:

Yeah, I figured. It’s fine. We’ll take care of it.

Another day after that he sent his final text.

Uncle Scrooge hasn’t heard from you in a while. I hope you’re ok.

She stared at that one for a few minutes. When was the last time someone besides Scrooge or Dickie showed any care for her wellbeing? She and Scrooge had history and she paid for Dickie’s entire life, so of course they cared.

But Louie? Louie didn’t have to care. He didn’t have to worry about her. But he did.

Goldie kept staring at that text, ignoring the heat growing in her chest. She wanted to respond and…and apologize for worrying him! She hadn’t genuinely apologized to anyone in decades. She’d almost forgotten what it felt like.

Embarrassed, she threw the phone to the side without even listening to the voicemails or seeing what Scrooge sent her. She couldn’t deal with anymore feelings-y crap and just needed to go to sleep.

God damnit. She really did get too close.

—

Scrooge McDuck had had a wild week. Besides all the drama that'd been unfolding over the past few months, he hadn't expected to find out he had a daughter.

And it was Webby.

Webby was his daughter.

Terrible circumstances aside, he was pretty excited. When he was young, he didn't want kids. One thing that made him and Goldie work so well was the fact that neither of them wanted kids or a traditional family. But when Donald and Della came into his life, Scrooge knew his feelings had changed. He didn't care so much about raising his own feathers and blood, but the feeling of raising a child and teaching them the things he'd learned throughout his life…there was nothing else quite like it.

Webby was only twelve years old, but she was already so capable and strong and intelligent. He always knew she had the McDuck spirit in her heart, he just never imagined she also had McDuck blood.

But there were obviously some problems with their situation, too. Webbigail was a child that Scrooge hadn't known about, hadn't consented to, and hadn't necessarily wanted. He was happy about her and happy about the new developments in their relationship, but…they had a complicated origin story.

He wanted to make sure she didn't feel unwanted. But he also wanted to make sure she was comfortable. Still, it was hard to contain his excitement. He wanted to share all the private family things with her that she seemed so eager to know about. He wanted to teach her about business so maybe she could take over one day (if she wanted).

Scrooge also needed to talk to Beakley, obviously. He wanted to know how much she knew and why she hid such important information from him. She obviously knew that Webby was created by F.O.W.L. and she, for whatever reason, didn't trust Scrooge enough to tell him that. Meanwhile, he only hired Bradford on her recommendation. It was a huge mess and a big part of it was her fault.

She was already hurting quite a bit, though. Webby was still calling her "Grandma" on the ride home, so she hadn't rejected her, but all of her lies coming out at once and in such a dramatic way was going to need at least a few days of rest to recover.

The morning after returning home, Scrooge was sitting on the end of his bed and trying to plan out his day. He needed to talk to Webby, but he also needed to talk to the press, and he needed to reach out to some of his kidnapped allies and make sure they were alright and that they understood what happened…and he also needed to work. Without a trio of business managers, he had a lot more work to do than usual.

He stood up and stretched, loudly cracking his back.

"That sounded painful."

Scrooge quacked in shock and turned around to find Goldie sitting on his window ledge.

"Goldie?! What're you doin' here?"

She smiled, finding it funny that he was repeating something he'd said to her last time she was in his home. "Just checking on you, sourdough.'

He calmed down and his feathers visibly unruffled. "Is…is that so? That's suspiciously nice of ye."

Goldie stood and walked closer to Scrooge, brushing some dust off her pants. "It doesn't have to be suspicious, y'know. I wanted to make sure you're alright."

Scrooge continued to look at her like there was a sinister angle to her words, and Goldie tried not to take it personally. She really wanted to be there for him and she was going to do it the best way she could.

Which probably meant they'd have a lot of sex. But she could also listen to him whine or give advice or whatever. Whatever he needed, she supposed. "Don't give me that look, Scroogey. I'm trying to be nice."

He smiled despite his urge to frown deeper, and Goldie knew she'd got him.

"Thank ye, Goldie. I'm -"

He was interrupted by a loud knock on his door.

"Uncle Scrooge! Are you up yet? We're gonna have a big family breakfast!"

Scrooge gulped and looked over at Goldie. "I, um…this isnae…maybe ye could-"

"I'll wait here, hon. I've already eaten."

Scrooge gave her a nod and turned to the door. "I'll be down in a moment!" Then he looked at Goldie again. "I might be a while, Goldie. There's…a lot to be discussed."

She shrugged. "It's fine. I'll wait."

Her words hung in the air. Neither of them wanted to acknowledge the fact that Goldie hated waiting. She almost never waited for Scrooge - she'd leave him behind or she'd disappear without a trace. But she'd waited for him in Florida. She'd wait for him now.

Scrooge gave her a curt nod and then left the room, knowing full well he should be more anxious about a thief being in his home. But he had other priorities at the moment and she knew that.

Goldie watched him leave and sat on his bed, picking at the low thread count sheets. All that money and he still refused small luxuries. She felt an urge to go look through Scrooge’s Goldie Drawer again, but…there was nothing new in there. Despite all the changes in their relationship lately, she couldn’t think of anything that he would’ve added.

Though she told herself not to bother, Goldie found herself opening up the drawer as usual. Inside she saw all the familiar trinkets and clothes that she saw last time. She reached over and grabbed the box that contained his original gold nugget and the deed to his claim in White Agony Creek. It was nostalgic and she wanted to take another look.

She opened it up and was shocked to see something new in the box.

It was the Mayan artifact she’d left for him two years ago.

Goldie was certainly surprised to see it. So not only had Scrooge seen it and not mentioned it to her, but he saved it away like one of the many things she left at his place. He didn’t seem to give it any significance or treat it like the invitation it was. Did he even see the letter that came with it?

She sighed and put the box away again. She was probably overthinking, but it was hard not to. Scrooge always made her overthink.

After another ten minutes of idly sitting around, Goldie decided to shower and walk around the manor for a bit. Why not, right? Scrooge didn’t tell her to leave, so that was basically an invitation to stay.

When she opened his bedroom door to step out into the hallway, Goldie was immediately greeted by the sight of a green-hoodie-wearing child walking down the hall and staring at his phone. She smiled.

“If you don’t look where you’re going, you’ll trip and smash that cute little face of yours.”

Louie stopped in his steps and slowly looked up, a confused and concerned expression on his face. “Aunt Goldie? Why are you here?”

Goldie shrugged and leaned against the doorframe. “Thought I’d take a little vacation after being kidnapped.”

“Oh.” Louie nodded, accepting that answer. “Is that why you never texted me back?”

“It sure is,” Goldie said, then glanced over the balcony to see some of Scrooge’s family walking around. “I appreciate all the messages, Sharpie. It’s always nice to know you care.”

Louie rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue at her. “Don’t make it weird! I just thought something might be wrong. And I was right! Uncle Scrooge should listen to me more.”

“Scroogey never listens to anyone but himself.” Goldie walked over and patted Louie on the head.

He shook away her hand. “Are you coming down for breakfast?”

“Your uncle went down for breakfast almost twenty minutes ago. Your pancakes might be cold.”

“What?!” Louie frowned and rushed towards the stairs without even saying goodbye.

She supposed it didn’t matter, since she was going to be around for a while. Still, she wished she’d said something about how worried she was and how proud she was to hear that Louie had been such a big help in taking down F.O.W.L.

Goldie wasn’t very good with words. She knew that about herself. So maybe she could tell him she was proud in some other way.

A lightbulb flashed above her head as she remembered the golden idol she’d stolen from Sharpie out of his bedroom over a year ago. She decided that putting it back where she found it would be her way of saying that he earned it back. Or something like that. Maybe she just felt bad about taking it and didn’t want it anymore. Who could say?

Goldie decided she’d do that after taking a shower and a nap. She’d had a weird last few weeks and her body was still adjusting to life outside the time stasis she’d been stuck in.

—

“You’re still here?”

Goldie woke up groggily, opening one eye slowly to find Scrooge staring down at her. She’d fallen asleep in his bed and apparently slept more heavily than she had in decades. Usually no one could open a door or walk in the same room as her without waking her up.

“Yeah,” she said quietly as she stretched. “I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh.” Scrooge squeezed his cane awkwardly. “Goldie, I didnae realize…I would’ve woken ye sooner if I’d known!”

Confused, Goldie opened her eyes. “Sooner than what? What time is it?” She glanced towards the window and frowned deeply.

It was dark out.

“How the hell long was I asleep?!”

He grimaced. “Ah…all day, I think?”

“I didn’t…I didn’t realize I was so tired,” Goldie grumbled, staring down at her hands. She was also starving and that didn’t help how woozy she felt from sleeping so long. “I was in F.O.W.L.’s stupid stasis cage thing for so long, it must’ve messed me up more than I realized.”

Scrooge put his cane down and stepped closer to the bed. He sat down on the edge and reached out one hand to lay it against Goldie’s forehead. “Are ye sick?”

Goldie blushed under his attention and shook it off as soon as she came to her senses. “No, no. I just feel like all my nerve endings are coming back to life.”

“Ah.”

“I’m also hungry as hell.”

“I could ask Beakley to make somethin’ for ye.”

Goldie laughed. “No thanks, I’d rather not get poisoned. I’ll just make something for myself.”

“W-well, how about…I make you something?” Scrooge asked cautiously.

She tilted her head curiously. “When’s the last time you so much as put together a sandwich?”

He let out an offended peh! and stood up. “I’m perfectly capable of gettin’ you food. Just sit right here and wait.”

Goldie didn’t have time to respond before he was back out the door, and honestly…she was very curious what monstrosity he would bring her. As far as she was aware, when his housekeepers were gone he’d just order pizza.

But part of her wondered if he was doing this because he didn’t want to talk to her. He knew what she meant by talk, obviously. Things were going to get serious and weird and intense. They would have to talk about this daughter situation and where they stood and where Goldie stood in regards to the daughter situation. And if they talked about daughters and kids and family and their history and it all mixed together, well…she might end up telling him about the kids they’d almost had.

She didn’t know how he’d react to that sort of news. It wasn’t like she'd hid a living child from him - she was pregnant and then she wasn’t. At least twice. That was it. But as much as she tried to convince herself that it wasn’t a big deal, the fact that she hadn’t been able to tell him about it was telling.

Goldie sighed and laid back down. Would she be able to fall asleep again? If she slept too long she’d look depressed and even though a psychologist might point out some significant flaws in her mental state, depression wouldn’t be one of them. She was fine. Just physically exhausted.

Scrooge was back within a few minutes - a sad looking sandwich and a little bag of potato chips in one hand, a seltzer in the other. She couldn’t say he didn’t try.

She scooted over to the other side of his bed as he handed her the food. Goldie quickly scarfed it down while he got into his pajamas - which told her it was even later than she’d imagined. She was genuinely scared to check the clock and find out how long she’d been asleep.

When he got back to bed all dressed and ready, Goldie was sipping her seltzer happily and thinking about how to get back to the topic of…having a conversation. But she didn’t have to.

“I know ye said ye wanted to talk, but, um…” Scrooge mumbled as he got under the covers.

“No, yeah, you’re probably tired.” Goldie shrugged. “We can talk tomorrow.”

Scrooge hesitated for a moment. “...no, we should talk now. About…uh, well. About Webby, at least.”

Goldie didn’t respond. She just continued drinking.

“I, uh…I dinnae know how much you’ve heard, but…well…Webbigail is my…daughter, apparently.”

“I’ve heard.”

“Right. Well. Black Heron got her hands on my DNA and used that to make Webby. I wasnae a part of it and I certainly didn’t, um…impregnate someone…”

Goldie frowned at his wording. Not this time, he didn’t.

“I dinnae expect ye to come around and act like a…well, like anythin’ other than usual, really. I just hope this doesnae come between us, Goldie.” Scrooge fully turned to her, the expression on his face a combination of worry and hope. “You know I still want ye in my life. But if Webby’s a dealbreaker for you, then…then you know what’ll happen.”

She blinked slowly. She hadn’t expected his little rant to end like that. “What makes you think I’d consider her a dealbreaker?” Goldie asked, putting her seltzer down on the nightstand. “You really think I’m that shallow, huh?”

“I-...no, I…” Scrooge stumbled over his words. “I honestly dinnae know, Goldie! This is new territory for us. Even after everything we talked about in Florida, it’s, um…it’s a big change.”

“And I’m not great with change, I know,” Goldie muttered. “Neither are you, most of the time. But you seem to be adjusting alright to this.”

“Webbigail’s been around this manor for her whole life,” Scrooge said with a shrug. “I wish I’d been there for her when she was younger, but over the past few years we’ve gotten close. I already saw her as part of my family, so though it feels different, it’s not much of a change.”

Goldie hummed softly at his response. “Isn’t that sweet.”

“I…suppose.” Scrooge was clearly trying not to sound awkward, but everything was coming out wrong. How could he be anything other than awkward in his situation? Who else but him would even find themself in such a ridiculous conversation? Telling his lover of over one-hundred years that he had a child out of wedlock that he didn’t know anything about, and then asking her to accept his daughter without hesitation. It was weird, to say the least.

After a few moments of silence, Goldie sighed. “I like her, Scroogey. I do. She’s feisty, she’s cute. I’m not going to get in the way of you being a father.”

“Oh.” He frowned, still unsatisfied with that answer. “Well, it’s not…I dinnae want ye to stay away.”

“You couldn’t keep me away if you tried, sourdough.”

Scrooge chuckled and a smile came back to his face. “So you’re, um…we’re alright, then?”

“We’re alright, Scrooge,” she answered softly. For a moment, she was tempted to turn this conversation around, but the light note they’d ended on made her want to keep it that way. She didn’t need to ruin the mood before bed.

Well, bed for him. She had no idea if she’d be able to get back to sleep.

She leaned over to grab her seltzer again when Goldie felt Scrooge’s hand gently flicking her tail. She turned around, surprised to see him looking - dare she say it? - sultry.

“And here I thought you were tired,” Goldie said with a smirk.

Scrooge had quite a deep blush on his feathers, but he didn’t break eye contact. “Not that tired.”

—

( sex summary: https://sites.google.com/view/running-in-circles/summaries/nsfw48 )

—

Goldie laid on his chest while he idly played with her hair. He was obviously getting pretty tired, but she still wanted to tell him. She usually never wanted to tell him secrets. Maybe it’d be best if she told him while he could barely register it and then he’d be the one who had to bring it up later.

“...Scrooge?”

“Mm?”

“How asleep are you?”

He snorted, but Goldie could feel his hand relax on top of her hair. “Hey.”

Scrooge didn’t respond that time. Goldie glanced up and by the moonlight coming through the window, she could see his eyes were completely closed. She poked him once and he didn’t react, so she knew he’d fallen asleep. He was always fast with that.

She sighed and laid her head on his chest again. Maybe she’d try again tomorrow. Maybe she wouldn’t tell him about it at all and they could just talk about other things. She didn’t have to tell him, after all. This urge to share her sad secrets would certainly go away if she waited it out. It wasn’t Scrooge’s business before, and even though he had a kid now, it still wasn’t his business.

Goldie’s brain kept replaying the phrase ‘Scrooge has a kid’ and she rolled over to stuff her head into a pillow. This should not have been agitating her the way it was. She didn’t have a problem with Scrooge being a…father, of sorts. She didn’t! She’d never wanted to be a mother and that was fine. But the more she thought about it, the more it felt like she should tell him and she didn’t want to tell him, but she…she wanted him to know. She wanted to ruin his good mood with some unhappy knowledge that might make him angry at her for keeping it a secret all this time. Why did she want that? That was stupid.

Disturbingly, sleepiness started to come back to Goldie. She didn’t usually get jetlagged, since she traveled so much and slept whenever she wanted, but this certainly felt similar. Worse, actually. She hoped that if she fell asleep now, she might wake up at a normal time and just stay awake this time around.

—

The next day was very similar for Goldie.

Scrooge left early to get a headstart on work (claiming he wanted to come home early to spend some time with Webby and then, hopefully, with Goldie) and Goldie relaxed and let the day wash over her. She wasn’t ridiculously tired anymore, but she was definitely bored.

She thought about going into Duckburg and visiting Dickie, but she didn’t want to risk cross-contamination. What if Scrooge happened to be walking around town and saw her? Or what if Dickie asked to stay at the hotel with her and it would be a whole big mess. She wanted to talk to Scrooge, so it’d be best to just stick around ‘til they finished talking.

Whenever that was going to be. She wanted Scrooge to fully understand that she wasn’t abandoning him just because he had a kid. But she also wanted to fully understand his expectations for her regarding said kid. Did he expect her to be, like…a mom? Because that sure as hell wasn’t going to happen. But she could be a fun aunt, she supposed. Like she was for Sharpie.

Goldie got up and took another long shower, thinking about how to spend her day.

—

She’d been fending for herself all day when it came to food. Goldie knew that if she stayed around for another day or two, she’d finally just have to confront Bentina and eat lunch with the rest of the McDuck Gang…but she was really hoping to leave that until the last possible second.

On Day Two of camping out in McDuck Manor, Goldie had an awkwardly long conversation with Dewey, the bluest of the triplets. He wanted to interview her for what seemed to be a fake talk show. She didn’t really want to talk about her history or her present with this very talkative child, though she had to admit that he was cute. In an annoying, campy kind of way.

Scrooge entered his bedroom like he did the night before, but Goldie was wide awake this time - reading a book while sitting at his desk chair.

“Hey there, moneybags.”

“Goldie.”

He stepped closer as she swiveled around in her chair, revealing that the book she was reading was his autobiography. Scrooge gulped, unsure if she’d ever read it before. She’d certainly never mentioned it to him before.

“Y’know, Scroogey…this book was first brought to my attention in, hmm…’87, I think?” Goldie flipped through the pages casually while she spoke. “There were a million copies of it at the Dawson Public Library.”

He looked nervous. “I…I see.”

“No one told me about it,” she said dryly. “You’d think a book that I’m mentioned in so many times would be brought up to me, but no. Not even once. So of course I had to read it myself.”

Scrooge squeezed his cane. “Goldie, are you-”

“Only to find that I’m barely mentioned at all! Even when you do talk about me, it’s just my old stage name. Otherwise you say ‘my old friend’ or say you did things by yourself. And I’d forgotten about this, Scrooge, until a few hours ago. So what’s up? You didn’t want to mention me? Did you think if I was brought up, I’d be more likely to point out all your lies?” She closed the book and poked the cover aggressively. “Today your kid Dewey tried to interview me, and he had all these jumbled up facts.”

“Ack!” Scrooge shook his head and pinched the bridge of his beak. “They’re not-! Look, Goldie, listen. I didnae bring ye up in the book because I knew - I know, you’re a very private person. You’d just stepped down from your hotels and it seemed like ye were tryin’ to get away from the spotlight. I didnae want to bother ye.”

“...oh.”

“And they’re not lies! I…embellished some stories to make them more excitin’. But that’s what my publisher told me to do! The first draft of this book was drastically different from the one you’re readin’.”

“Ah.”

Scrooge stood there and stared as Goldie awkwardly tapped her fingers on the book’s cover. She had to admit, those were some good answers. She’d sat here for an hour after finding the autobiography and spent that whole time preparing to stir up unnecessary conflict, but he just shut her down instantly instead of getting mad and yelling in return.

He really wasn’t the same man he used to be.

“Well…thank you, then,” Goldie finally said. “You’re right. I would’ve been pissed if you’d used my real name.”

“I know ye dinnae think I pay attention, but I do value your privacy, dear.” Scrooge walked over to his dresser and started to change. “Is that what ye wanted to talk about this whole time?”

Goldie frowned and stared down at the floor. Of course that wasn’t what she wanted to talk about. But she didn’t want to talk about what she wanted to talk about. “Not exactly.”

He walked over and held out a hand to help her out of the chair. “Well, you’re welcome to stay here as long as ye need. But please stop stealin’ food from the cupboard, Beakley is gettin’ ready to throw ye out.”

“She knows I’m here, then?”

Scrooge laughed, and Goldie hated how infectious his laugh was. She ended up chuckling along with him.

“Ye havenae been the most subtle! She’s known since breakfast yesterday.”

Goldie rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the arm, walking over to the dresser to find herself some pajamas. After a second, she decided to just steal one of Scrooge’s nightgowns instead. They were surprisingly comfortable.

—

Several more days passed without Goldie having the specific talk with Scrooge that kept weighing on her mind. He didn’t complain about her prolonged stay - in fact, he repeatedly told her how much he enjoyed having her around. The nightly sex was probably a big part of his joy, but she chose to think of it as more than that.

She’d had awkward conversations with the other members of the house - mostly the kids, who she kept running into at the worst moments. Scrooge’s daughter, for instance, bumped into her as she was getting out of the shower. And then she ended up finding the girl curled up with some old photo albums and having an identity crisis.

Family certainly was an adventure. Scrooge’s family was, at least.

And then suddenly it had been one week since the Duck family returned from Egypt - she’d been staying in Scrooge’s room for six straight days. The miscarriages were far from her mind, almost completely forgotten, as Goldie tried to blend into Scrooge’s family’s daily routines without bringing much attention to herself. She didn’t know how long this would last and didn’t want any of the kids getting too used to her presence. There was always a chance she would disappear without a moment’s notice.

She had no immediate plans to disappear, but, well…sometimes Scrooge said the wrong thing and she would take it the wrong way. She didn’t deny being overly sensitive when it came to him.

“I dinnae know if you’ve talked to Donald, but he’s leavin’ tomorrow mornin’,” Scrooge said that morning as he got dressed. “Ye might want to say goodbye or good luck.”

Goldie was brushing her hair and staring at herself in the mirror, trying not to focus on the little grays that were sticking up from her part. “I really doubt he cares if he gets a goodbye from dear ol’ Aunt Goldie,” she said sarcastically.

There was an unexpected silence after that, uncomfortable enough that Goldie stopped brushing and turned around to see Scrooge glaring at her. Great, she’d finally messed it up.

“Goldie, you cannae be serious,” he said with a harsh frown.

“What?”

“Of course he’d want to talk to ye,” Scrooge said, buttoning up his robe. “He’s always cared about your opinion of him, even as a lad.”

Goldie shook her head and spun the chair around so she was fully facing Scrooge, sitting there all dressed for the day ahead. “What are you talking about, you old geezer? I barely talked to him back then.”

“Yes, well,” Scrooge grumbled and made some awkward hand movements. “He still liked havin’ you around. And Della did, too, though she never wanted to admit it.”

“She takes after you that way, huh?” Goldie said with a smirk, but she was reeling a bit from this confession. She’d always thought of herself as a nuisance that interfered with Scrooge’s life and pissed his family off. They hated her, or if they didn’t hate her…they wished she’d go away. But liking her? Caring about her opinion of them? It wasn’t anything she’d noticed over the years.

“All the kids like ye, Goldie. It’s not just Louie.” Scrooge kept on talking, almost rambling at that point, not really sure how Goldie would react to what he was saying. He knew she had a tendency to run off when things got emotional and he really, really didn’t want her to do that again. “Webby asked me if it was alright to call ye Aunt Goldie or if she should lean towards mom and I’ll tell ye, that gave me a heart attack!”

His words triggered the memory that Goldie thought she’d completely put out of her mind. But now it was back and she didn’t know what to do. She tied her hair into a ponytail to keep herself from looking at him.

“Of course I know ye never wanted to be a mother,” he said, still rambling. “So I told her to stick with Aunt Goldie, but even that’s a wee bit odd for me to hear, all things considered. I mean…of course, I’d thought about what it would’ve been like to raise a family with ye once upon a time. But I was younger then and just thinkin’ about the future, I knew it wasnae in the cards for us. Ack, this is…I didnae mean to go on like this, just…pretend ye didnae hear any of that, alright?”

Goldie stared at him and exhaled loudly, trying to decide how to respond. “Scrooge.”

“Ah? Yes?” He seemed happy that she’d finally cut him off.

She stood up and walked over to his bed, sitting on the edge and playing with her hair. “I’d…thought about it, too. When we were younger. About what it would’ve been like to have a family.”

“Oh. Well. I guess ye talked yourself out of it, then, eh?” Scrooge asked lightheartedly, following her to the bed.

Goldie heaved a small sigh and picked at the fabric of her pants. She wondered if telling him would be like a weight off her chest or if it would just add more weights on top. There was no way to know unless she just said it, though, was there?

“It wasn’t…I mean. I didn’t…” Goldie stumbled over her words, staring down at her legs. She needed to do this, but she didn’t want to. But she did. But it was very, very hard. She had a strong feeling that she’d split as soon as she was done. “Scrooge, there’s…something I…I want to tell you.”

More curious than he’d been in a long time, Scrooge quickly sat down next to her. “What?”

“It’s, um…it’s not really important at all, it’s just…” She played with her hands while she tried to speak. “It’s relevant to all this stuff and I…ugh!”

Scrooge frowned. She wanted to tell him something related to what they’d been talking about? Was she going to tell him that she had a secret family she’d never told him about? If she didn’t finish soon, he was going to start spiraling into thinking a lot of strange possibilities.

“Webby isn’t your…well she is, but she almost wasn’t…ergh…”

He couldn’t have been more confused. “Webby isn’t what?”

“She wasn’t the first! I mean she is. She is! But she almost…there was almost…”

Scrooge shook his head and stood up. “Goldie, you’re confusin’ the hell out of me. What are ye tryin’ to say about Webby?”

“Ugh!” Goldie groaned loudly, steadying herself by running her hands through her hair. “It’s not about her! It’s not. It’s about us. It’s…”

She let out a deep sigh.

“I was pregnant. Twice. At least twice.”

Scrooge stayed silent and Goldie didn’t look up to see his expression. She didn’t know how she wanted him to react and she didn’t know if she could handle however he was reacting.

“They were yours. Both of them or all of them, I don’t know how many there might’ve been.”

He still didn’t say anything and she felt beads of sweat on the back of her neck. Was it getting hot in here?

“Before you start screaming at me, just-! Just know there…I was never pregnant for more than a few weeks. There was never anything to tell you. So don’t call me a lecherous liar or deviant deceiver or something! I just didn’t want to bring it up. But. I don’t know. Felt different now.”

“...”

She shrugged. “I felt like you should know, I guess.”

The room was filled with such tense silence that Goldie could swear she felt it making her shoulders heavier and heavier. The urge to rush out the window was growing stronger by the millisecond, but she was also frozen in place.

Scrooge sat down next to her again and grabbed one of her hands, the one that had been picking at pills on the comforter. Goldie’s heart started to race faster.

“...when?”

Goldie shrugged again. “The worst one was around 1950. I was pretty sick for a few weeks, and then nothing. I didn’t really understand what happened until later. Then I saw a doctor in ‘60 and he all but confirmed it.”

Scrooge didn’t speak for another minute, processing everything she said. He remembered her mentioning a brief sickness in the early 50’s - it stood out to him because she was so rarely under the weather. And he definitely remembered their time together in 1960… He suddenly felt like an ass for what he’d said to her back then. But how could he have known? She never told him. She never told him anything.

Until right now, that is.

“Would you have told me?” he asked quietly. “If…if the pregnancy had worked out?”

Goldie finally looked up at him and it broke her heart to see the depressed look on his face. He was genuinely so sad, and she didn’t know how to take that. She’d been sad about it for a little while, but then she’d accepted it. He was sure to react similarly, if he was telling the truth about fantasies of a family life with her. “Of course,” she said with a sad smirk. “Like I would have your kid without making you pay for it?”

After a moment of shock at her response, Scrooge laughed. A big, boisterous laugh that seemed inappropriate for the conversation, but made complete sense all the same. Goldie laughed along with him and shoved her elbow into his chest.

“Either you would’ve been paying child support or raising the little tyke on your own.”

Scrooge shook his head. “Maybe I would’ve asked ye to marry me and move to Duckburg. That not an option?”

Goldie hummed softly and tapped the fingers of her free hand against her knee, the other hand squeezing his. “...I suppose it was always an option. Just not one I thought about much.” She leaned her head onto his shoulder and sighed, closing her eyes. However she hadn't wanted him to react…this was pretty good. Her urge to leave was squashed and she even felt like…staying for a bit longer.

“I’m sorry, Goldie.”

She turned her head to stare at him. “For what?”

“Not bein’ there for ye when ye needed me.”

Goldie moved around so she was facing him fully. “For all the things over the years I’d want an apology for, this is not one of them. How were you supposed to know?”

“I still should’ve! I…I dinnae know. I should’ve figured it out!” he said louder than he meant to. “I’m Scrooge McDuck! I’m sharper than the sharpies!”

“It’s not like I’ve ever been there for you in your times of need,” Goldie said with a shrug. She paused for a second, deciding on her next choice of words. “I’m…sorry, too. For that.”

“Ye dinnae need to-”

“I should’ve said something when Della disappeared. Or when Duckworth died. But I didn’t. I didn’t know what to say.”

Scrooge shrugged. “It’s alright, Goldie. I had my family, after all. But you…I dinnae know who ye have. Family or friends or anyone to talk to about things like this. Have I ever even asked?”

She sighed and leaned against him again. “I don’t know if you’ve asked. I’m sure it came up at least once over the last hundred and twenty years. But no. I didn’t have anyone. So I dealt with it, like I dealt with all the shit in my adult life. It’s not that big a deal.”

She thought about telling him that she had someone now. Sort of. She’d never burden Dickie with things like that - the kid deserved to think of her grandmother as strong and intelligent and resourceful and flawless. Well, maybe a little emotionally stunted. But other than that!

Scrooge grumbled under his breath, something Goldie couldn’t quite make out, and then rubbed at his eyes.

He wanted to argue with her and tell her that it was a big deal. But they were the same, he and Goldie. They both grew up independent, knowing they could only really rely on themselves. It wasn’t until Scrooge’s family grew that he learned to trust other people with his life and heart and money (to an extent). Goldie might’ve trusted him with her life, sure, but that wasn’t everything. He wanted her to have a family to fall back on like he did.

A thought struck him suddenly and Scrooge chuckled.

“What’s so funny?”

“I…I dinnae think we’ve ever apologized to each other before. Not once in all these years.”

Goldie tried to think back throughout their lives and came up empty. She chuckled too, still leaning on his back. “That is pretty funny.”

They grew silent again, though it wasn’t awkward at all. Still, Goldie was tired of it. “Since we’re being all apologetic, I do have one more.”

“Oh?”

“Sorry for dumping this on you right now. I know you’ve got all this other crap going on and the last thing you need is…this.”

Scrooge suddenly pivoted his body to the side, making Goldie fall over so her head landed on his lap. “Goldie, of all the apologies I could possibly want from you, that is absolutely not one of them.”

She smirked and rolled her eyes at him repeating her words from earlier.

“Let’s just agree to stop apologizin' and move forward, alright?” he said simply, staring down at her like she was the only other person in the world.

Goldie stared back, unable to will herself to break eye contact. “Yeah, alright. We didn’t get a fresh start, but we can take another new step, right?”

He smiled and leaned down to kiss her, ignoring the screaming from his spine. This was not a great angle for him, but God did he want to kiss that beak more than ever in that moment.

She kissed back and reached her hands up to hold him in place, not wanting him to pull away.

Eventually, Scrooge wrapped his hands around her back and lifted her up a bit so she was sitting up and his back wasn’t cringing in pain anymore. They kissed like that on the bed for a minute, enjoying the moment of just being together.

When they pulled apart, both old ducks had bright smiles on their faces.

“I…think I should leave today.”

“Wait, what?” Scrooge looked shocked. “But we just…you…huh?”

“Not forever,” Goldie corrected with an eyeroll. “I’ve just really overstayed my welcome, alright? I need to go check on some things. I’ve been away from Dawson for way too long.”

“You’ll be back, though?” he asked. “Soon?”

Goldie smiled, a bit of pink on her cheeks. “Yeah, we’ll see.”

---

DUCK FRANCHISE REFERENCES: - Obviously this chapter takes place after the series finale, The Last Adventure! - Goldie meeting Kit and Molly references my summaries for DuckTales S4 which you can check out here: https://lettheladylead.tumblr.com/post/672841151197396992/if-ducktales-was-still-on-going-what-would-you - The golden idol Goldie returns to Louie was stolen in Happy Birthday, Doofus Drake! Scrooge gave it to Louie at the beginning of S2. - There's some references to my fic "Not Your Aunt" in this chapter, which you can read here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30381390

#ducktales #scroldie #goldie o'gilt #scrooge mcduck #louie duck #running in circles #fic #fics

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therealjordan23 · 4 years ago

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So, a recent question people have been asking me is whether Scrooge deserves to be called dad.

Fuck no.

Scrooge McDuck doesn't deserve an ounce of title "dad", especially when he's competing against characters like Drake, and more importantly, Donald. These 2 characters have proved to be more of a dad than Scrooge will ever be.

In the beginning of the series, we see Donald already taking on more responsibility as a parent than Della and Scrooge combined. Donald actively believed that their adventuring days have come to an end, as there is a brand new adventure waiting for them, which are Huey, Dewey, and Louie. When he caught wind of Della’s desire to go up into space, while 3 boys were on the way, he told her not to.

Scrooge clearly didn't understand how severe the situation was, he didn't have that parental instinct. He played the, 'fun uncle' role, and it never went beyond that, even though he was the guardian of Donald and Della from a young age, along with HDL. This is what tempted him to build the rocket in the first place.

You can be someone's "biological parent", but it doesn't necessarily mean that you're their "parent". Personally speaking, my dad wasn't around when I was a kid, and I never considered him to be my parent, until he stepped up and actively took on that role. And even in the show, that's Della’s whole arc! In Season 2, Louie doesn't consider her to be his "mom", until she stepped up to become a proper parent. More on this later, though.

Scrooge didn't actively do anything to earn the title, "dad", he truly didn't. And that's the difference between him and Della, she actually put in the effort.

This is why Beakley has earned the title of a parent.

This is why Donald has earned the title of a parent.

This is why Della herself, (even though I have made it clear multiple times that she's not my favourite, sorry Delly) has earned the title of a parent.

This is why Drake has earned the title of a parent.

Frank himself has made it clear several times that Donald is considered to be Huey, Dewey, and Louie's dad, even though he's not their biological father, but that's the point. It's through Donald's actions that we see that, "Okay, he's a dad, he's earned it."

Donald sacrificed so much to become a parent: he sacrificed a lavish life at a mansion so he could get away from the man who effectively took away their mother, he gave up what would've been his prime time to get his life going: if Donald and Della are canonically 36 in the series, and Della has been gone for 10 years by the time the pilot aired, it would mean Donald was at least 26 years old when he took the boys. Please note that it was confirmed that Donald's been living in the manor since he was at least 12-13 (I'm basing this off of seeing him in Last Christmas, I could be wrong).

So we have a fresh 26 year old, who has left his place of comfort and financial stability since he was 12 or 13. He has given up the lifestyle he was used to. And as if that doesn't sound bad on its own, he had 3 kids to raise, because he believes that their mother is dead.

26 shouldn't be when you scramble to find a home, find a job, and on top of that, raise 3 kids! 26 should be a time where you're just starting to figure things out, slowly easing into ideas like marriage, a full time job, and then maybe having kids. (These aren't my personal beliefs, I literally Googled what 26 year olds should be doing, and this came up)

**obviously I don't speak for everyone, there are certain factors that affect these 'common beliefs' at what you should be doing at a certain age**

Anyway. I have barely listed what Donald has done for these boys who haven't even been born yet. Donald has done so much more at the age of 26, than Scrooge has done in his 153 years. So, I can say with full confidence, he has earned the title Dad.

And then there's Scrooge.

It's truly insulting: when you see what truly makes a parent a parent, compared with the 30 seconds of Webby calling Scrooge dad? It completely brushes aside Donald's efforts of being a parent.

He didn't earn it. He never did anything to earn that title. @moonstoneflowers, @l-thefriendlyghost, and @dellyduck said it best: the overprotectiveness we see once it's revealed that he was Webby's 'father'? It's disgusting that he acted like that after he knew that Webby was his 'daughter'. He didn't care about Huey, Dewey, and Louie, or Della and Donald. He only did that because he felt obligated to be Webby's 'dad'.

"When you look at someone through rose-coloured glasses, all the red flags just look like flags."

—Wanda Pierce to BoJack Horseman

This quote totally applies to Scrooge. I mean, his name is literally Scrooge, he's designed to be a generally unlikable character and person. We see traits and toxic behavior that we brushed aside until now: when the show has ended, and we're forced to analyze it.

A great example of this is in Timephoon, where we can actively see where Scrooge and Della finally show their true colours. It's at the end, where the family is reunited, and Louie gives his half-ass apology.

Scrooge is completely okay with the fact that Louie almost destroyed space.

"I'm sure you've learned… something."

—Scrooge McDuck to Louie Duck in Timephoon!

You are the adult in the situation sir. I'm not even counting Launchpad as an adult here, he is a literal manchild. And even though Beakley is just as much to be blamed here, she spent the episode convincing Della to be a little stricter and discipline her kids better. She knew where to cross the line, and the only reason that Beakley agreed to forgive Louie was because she assumed Della wasn't taking it seriously.

"No… not this time."

—Della Duck to Louie Duck in Timephoon

I’ve had my problems with this, but even I can confidentally tell you that this marked the moment where Della Duck earned the title of a parent, while Scrooge was clearly about to forgive Louie for a literal crime he committed, and was really about to let Louie go off scot free.

And I personally find that alarming. If us adults didn't catch these red flags the second we watched the show itself, what about the kids? You know, the actual demographic it's aimed towards?

Another issue that I'm happy @moonstoneflowers brought up was the fact that Frank said Webby had to "earn" her place in the family?

She is a child, sir. She shouldn't have that mindset at the age of 10-12. A person who should have to earn their place in the family is an adult like Della. She went out for a joyride in space, but she actively regretted that decision, and immediately sought out to fix things with her family and kids. She changed for the better.

Scrooge? He makes things so that they revolve around him, and makes it so that he doesn't have to change for anyone. He makes things work in his favour.

The sad part that @dellyduck brought up is that Donald, and let's be real, 99% of his problems exist because of Scrooge, is the one who has to deal with them! He isn't a fucking mop! He isn't here to clean up your shit! This man is the only functional parent, and Scrooge uses that to his advantage by shoving all of his problems onto Donald.

He didn't deserve his ending, goddammit. Scrooge McDuck will never be considered a father. He can be biologically related to Webby, sure, but please don't strip away what truly makes a parent a parent, and apply it to someone who has never made an effort to change to become a proper guardian.

#ducktales #scrooge mcduck #webby vanderquack #timephoon #bentina beakley #della duck #donald duck #drake mallard #frank angones #huey duck #dewey duck #louie duck #the last adventure #spoilers?#it's been a good 3 weeks #i think we're good

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popculturebuffet · 3 years ago

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Of Moons, Millionares and Mothers Part 3: Storkules in Duckburg! aka THE INCREDIBLE STORKULES TERRIBLE BUT WELL MEANING ROOMATE OUT OF MYTH

Hello all you happy people! And welcome and welcome back to Of Moons, Millionares and Mothers, my look at the season 2 arcs of Ducktales! This arc was paid for by WeirdKev27 and I truly enjoy his support. if you want to know how to commission your own reviews or to get a guarnateed review of me of your choice from me a month, stick around to the end. I realized that shoving all my plugs in up top may be driving people away and while I DO make them because I want to make a living off this, i’ts not fair to those of you who simply can’t afford to buy a lot of extra shit like myself to keep shoving it in your face.

Previously on the Louie Inc Arc, Louie, after believing he had no skills and it was a matter of when not if he ws going to die, found his talent: seeing all the angles and thus being Sharper than the Sharpies. With newfound confidence and a chip on his shoulder from Scrooge saying he could one day be a bigger success than Scrooge himself, founding Louie Inc as a result. But what is Louie Inc? Does he actually have a plan or a bunch of buzzwords. And what does STORKULES, MANLY GAY OUT OF MYTH have to do with any of this? Join me under the cut to find out.

We open with Louie giving Scrooge his sales pitch that is essentially...

Naturally Scrooge buys none of it. I mean he’s somewhere in his hundreds, he’s probably seen about 80 thousand pitches that amount to “I have no plan but give me money anyway”. There’s a reason there’s a Butch Hartman shaped crater on the lawn from where he threw his ass out.

Scrooge does mentor the lad, or at least attempt to pointing out he needs an actual product or service (Louie rejects the idea of a lemonade stand as too easy), or as he puts it “Find a problem and create a solution”.

While the basic PRINCIPAL isn’t bad, find something people want or need and provide it, phrasing it that way sounds like “find a problem people are having and exploit the shit out of that problem for fun and profit.” Granted that IS a guiding principal of business, it’s just not something an uncle should be teaching his kids. They should be teaching them about the anime and cartoons they grew up with as I do with my niece and nibling.

He does show him a valid example of this in action in the form of Donald. Turns out Donald has found a good way to make money while he looks for a job, can relate: since Duckburg is facing a housing shortage, likely because several square blocks probably get destroyed by Scrooge’s Adventures, Glomgold’s Schemes, Superhero Battles, whatever creation went horribly wrong for Gyro, etc at least once a week. So he’s taken it upon himself to offer up the spare room to whoever can rent it.. and to steal Scrooge’s chandelier which even when caught he still takes anyway. Scrooge.. you called the guy a god-damn moocher in the season premiere, despite the fact he lives there soley because YOU offered and because he’s you know, being responsible and staying by his boys so they have their father figure around. So yeah I feel he’s doing this partly out of spite as is the McDuck way. I mean if your going to call him a freeloader just for being a responsible parent, then he’s going to take it up a damn notch.

Scrooge proceeds to laugh off Louie wanting a million dollars and gives him a dime instead because of course he was. Seriously Louie there are two other billionaires in town who are FAR dumber and far more easily swindled. Just go get star up capital from them. Hell with Glomgold all you’d have to do is tell him it’d upset scrooge and he’d literally throw money at you. Or give you a shark full of money. He needs the shark back though. He’s family.

Meanwhile Donald prepares for his new tenant and finds.. THE INCREDIBLE STORKULES! Who to his mounting horror as he realizes it, IS the new tenant. And who throws him into the sun. Cue credits.

So after Donald somehow survives being thrown into the sun, Storkules explains why he’s here: Zeus responded to his son playing the lute a lot like any rational reasonable

No of course he responded to the “crime” of “playing his instrument a lot” with sending a swarm of harpies on the town then blaming Storkules for it and casting him out. What’s most shocking is not the action, this is honestly him staying the course of being a fucking disgrace, but that Zeus somehow ISN’T the biggest asshole i’ve dealt with this week. No that honor is reserved as always for this bitch:

Keep in mind she manages to be this obnoxious in only TWO scenes. Also keep in mind I had to put up with Julie for a MUCH larger chunk of the previous two volumes I covered before volume 5 yesterday for my Scott Pilgrim Retrospective and she is ALWAYS like this and you now feel my pain.

This does create a problem though: Zeus casts Storkules out until he’s a responsible adult.. and thus paints Storkules as the bad guy... in a situation where the only other person in the story sent a swarm of HARPIES down at him for simply playing his music too loud. It just dosen’t work as a catalyst: Storkules objectively did nothing wrong. The only person he annoyed was a person who clearly dosen’t love, respect or like his son in any way shape or form anyway and essentially assaulted him and a bunch of innocent people via harpie and then cast him out. Zeus is an abusive asshole and i’ts weird the narrative sides with HIM and not our well meaning doofus. Zeus being an asshole with harpies is not a bad catalyst for the episode, and the harpies being unleashed is used well.. it’s just not a good catalyst for THIS story to try and portray an abuser as in the right. And make no mistake Zeus is a domestic abuser: he had his son mind controlled to try and MURDER innocent people, something Storkules begged him not to do, sent a swarm of creatures after him for the crime of playing his music too loud and in his next episode manipulatives Storkules sad emotional state for personal gain. Why would you try and paint THIS jackass as in the right?

Speaking of painting this jackass in the right sadly.. this episode does not do my boy donald justice. In most episodes he’s pretty nuanced and i’ts fair enough he’d be frustrated by Storkules as a roomate. Storkules has little sense of personal space, breaks his stove thinking theirs hydra in it, makes a mess of the kitchen making them a meal, and in general clearly dosen’t know how to live with a roomate much less in modern society. He has valid concerns and the episode COULD have used it that way.. but he’s also horribly impatient with Storkules. He refuses to get the guy just hasn’t had to live in a modern society and dosen’t know HOW to function in it and instead of helping him just gets mad again and again and gets really pissed when it’s clear Storkules dosen’t have a job and didn’t consider paying rent. He’s not WRONG to want him to pay Rent, despite what ironically the musical Rent would try and have you believe, but he dosen’t have any patience with the guy. And stork isn’t nearly coming on as strong as he normally does. The worst he does is cook the guy lunch and bring his donald fan art with him. Which we don’t see but I am assuming is mostly naked. What i’m saying is for once that while still bombastic, Storkules isn’t trying to force a relationship/friendship on him and simply wants to learn t be an adult from his best friend.. and Donald isn’t bothering teaching him.

Asking for rent or for him not to destroy the stove is fine, but not explaining WHY he needs either of those things or why he needs boundaries, he makes a roomate list, isn’t helping the guy. And this would be fine... but the episode dosen’t call Donald out on it for no real reason. It feels like it’s setting up for a “you should learn to wokrk with someone instead of just screaming at them aseop” that never comes and like with Zeus takes his side because shutup. I’d also LIKE to say this is the only time the writers reduced one of the cast to a caracture of themselves.. but I can’t. Several episodes in season 3 forgot Louie’s character development and another episode in season 2, The Duck Knight Returns!, somehow reduced both Scrooge and Dewey to parodies of themselves with Scrooge SOMEHOW, despite Della as stubborn as she is being in his care and by his side for decades and Movies bein ga huge business, not having seen a movie since the 1920′s and not knowing how they work and Dewey being reduced to just hyperactive moron. It isn’t as common as other shows like say Regular Show, The Loud House or, for the exact reason I lost intrest, Rick and Morty, but I still expect better, especially since they went into this season KNOWING Donald would be gone for half of it and this would likely be one of his only spotlight episodes.

Back at the good part of the plot, Louie is having a company meeting aka already treating Huey and Webby like his employees. Webby of course is glad to sign on, if little help in actually coming up with a product while Huey just wants to nope out. And if your wondering why Dewey isn’t involved Louie outright says he’d make a bad employee and while Dewey rises from his bed to object.. he stops halfway to opening his mouth and concludes he has a point. Best gag of the episode. Louie being louie easily cons Huey into staying by making Webby his charts officer.

So the three have a corporate retreat at Funso’s... granted they don’t have a product but Louie figures this might help. Huey.. still wants out of this and suggest since they already spent what they had on ski ball “Company over?”. It’s clear that Huey just sees this as another one of Louie’s short sighted schemes... and while he’s not ENITRELY wrong, Louie has genuine ambition.. he just has no earthly idea what he’s doing and is shooting way too high.. but for understandable reasons. 1) He’s 11 at this point. 11 year olds aren’t great at business strategy or reinging it in. 2) he wants to live up to what Scrooge said to prove he can be successful and really be worth something like his mom was.

But sometimes fate throws you one and the harpies bust in. And while Louie wants to do nothing and hope they go away Huey and Webby spring into action.. as does Storkules, who had to leave but warns donald there’s Orzo in the slowcooker and to not open it “LEST THE PASTA FAIL TO ABSORB THE BROTH!” Which is just.... Chris’ best line dleivery the episode. He says it like he’s saying the title of an old Stan Lee and Jack Kirby comic, i’ts wonderful.

So our heroes defeat them and Louie steps in to charge for the service and quickly comes up with a company idea and name “Harp-B-Gone” (A Subsidary of Louie Inc). Louie hires Storkules on the spot. Storkules proudly tells Donald he has a job the next day and goes off to it. What follows is our heroes hilarously shooting a commerical with Storkules playing a baby to promote themselves so they can help who needs it. They just need to find out what they want.. and thanks to the JWG and the harpies stealing it find out they go after people’s most treasured posessions Cue Ghostbusters-Style Montage

And this isn’t just me saying thing. The Rewriting History Entry (Which as a series weirdly stops around mid-season 2 and I don’t get why frank hasn’t gone back and finished it since) states they specifically based this whole operation on ghostbusters and the entire sequence of our heroes cleanin up the town reminds me of it. The highlight of it is a glomgold cameo where he’s kidnapped.. and refuses to pay so Louie just lets him go. And were this an innocent person who couldn’t afford it, i’d call him a monster.. but it’s glomgold. he brought this on himself.. and also sues himself for it. Wonder if he won.

So with their stars rising, our heroes get booked on the hottest show in town: Dewey Dew-Night! I had honestly forgotten there was a Dewey Dew-Night segment in there, and delighted I get to talk about this recurring bit. It’s one of the shows funniest runners and just perfectly FITS Dewey: of course the most egotistical and energetic of the kids would not only want to be a late hnight host but make up his own show. I also love the slow evolution of it: it started as something everyone clearly knew about but he stlill tried to keep hidden, slowly escalated to him allowing the rest of his siblings (Webby very much included) and the giant man who stalks his uncle in, and by later this season he’s putting the show online in the web shorts and gladly shooting it into space, with Season 3 having him spend the first half of let’s get dangerous making a documentary that includes an episode of the show featuring Darkwing. It’s a small thing sure, but it’s the little things like this that make the show special.

The show does reveal a problem though as it turns out they’ve GOT all the harpies and while Storkules merely wanted to help, Louie points out they need more to keep a buisness going and naturally never bothered to ask Storkules just how many there were. They need SOME plan to get going. Webby submits a legitamte and great idea, training the harpies as she’s been trying to do in the background of the episode and aside from a hole in the floor they are starting to listen. But Huey is an ass about it and not only shoots it down saying let’s keep the dangerous creatures contained, even though A) he has no idea WHERE they’ve been kept so he can’t verify it’s safe, and since i’ts Donald’s Closet no no it’s not. and B)There’s no where he knows of to keep them. He isn’t aware of the other bin till next season. and C) it’s not ehtical to keep creatures locked up forever epsecially since while the harpies are dangerous they arent’ MALEVOLENT and are clearly acting on instinct. oh and for D) at least she has a plan to keep the company going instead of just wanting to end this and cash out.

Which Huey tries to.. but naturally Louie spent all their money on...

So their broke.. and Storkules has no rent money and feels like a failure despite having done NOTHING wrong. We do get a clever little nod to Disney’s hercules though “I”m not a hero, i’m a zero”. Webby rightfully glares at Louie who decides to fix it... by sneaking into Donald’s house that night to free the harpies.

Though to the shows credit it’s a VERY bad idea, and Storkules coming in mid attempt and congradulating Louie when he lies about checking the door gets the kid to come clean. And it’s a nice character moment: He could still go through with it.. but it’s clear he realizes just HOW low he was about to sink to save his own skin and that as much as Storkules WANTS a paycheck and deserves one, it’s not worth hurting people to get it. Louie tries to justify after this.. but can’t.

Unforutnately Donald took a lot of stupid pills this episode, yells about his no pets rule and frees them instead of you know, THINKING for five minutes.

So yeah NATURALLY Donald is an angry shit about it , refusing to actually TALK to Storkules about this or maybe admit this is partly HIS OWN FAULT. Yes their both at fault, Storkules shoudln’t of shoved a bunch of harpies in a closet. That’s a classic blunder. But Donald still opened it and isn’t called out on taking zero responsibility. Huey sees the fracas and just takes down their days without an accident placard, good stuff and he and webby arrive to help. Donald fights with Storkules and Storkules worries about loosing his friend.. lead to them going after the thing he values most aka donlad and hyjacking the house boat, though the kids manage to get aboard.

As Storkules saves Donald, Louie realizes the most precious thing he has is his merch and willingly gives it, and his buisness up to save everyone. It’s good character stuff and shows that despite his problems with greed, Louie IS a good kid and will do the right thing. It’s what seperates him from the Rouges Gallery the family faces: He has FLEXIBLE morals but he has morals when it comes down to it. So everyone tosses the stoff to help direct the hapries and make it home tying them up. Donald has a heart to heart with Storkules and agrees to help him find another place, but still considers him a friend and they hug. Awww. One intresting thing I DID find out from rewriting history is they originally fully intended to have Storkules STAY on the houseboat. He was going to be a permenant member of the household, at least as far as Season 2 was concenred and plans were made for several episodes down the road: the whole bit with him in “The Golden Spear” was simply because he lived there, he was going to be the one Della met in the houseboat, obliviously guilting her about what she’d missed, and he was going to set off the kids subplot in “Whatever Happened to Donald Duck?”

This ended up not happneing for logistical reasons: Frank, and I swear this was the term he used, felt they already had the perfect Himbo in Launchpad and it was just too much HImbo energy for the two to coexist without one taking the others screen time or neither getting a lot.

The next reason was having a god around simply broke the story: He cited the gilded man from “Nothing Can Stop Della Duck!” as a specific example. There were just too many hoops to jump to have him not break any story he should be around for. Finally with Della being added to the cast soon there simply wasn’t room in the main cast. Della brought it up to 9, Storkules would make it 10, and as i’ve gone on about the show already had trouble ballancing it’s cast, something Frank admitted to. Adding him would both be too big a stiatus quo change and be one on top of the massive one of Della joining the cast. So he was dropped back to recurring and only showed up one more time. And while it was the right call I am dismayed he didn’t show up for the whatever happened to donald duck subplot and it does feel very weird he never adresses Donald being gone despite, at least for season 2, apparently living in Duckburg. Otherwise though as funny as this wouldv’e been.. yeah it was the right call.

Scrooge returns... having been absent all episode because otherwise it wouldn’t work and easily saw Louie loosing it all coming.. but gives him a can of lemonade for his troubles and comforts the boy. The heart of htis arc and what makes it work at it’s best.. is these two. Scrooge GENUINELY wants to help Louie see his potetial successor in buisness: oh sure adventure wise he’s throughly covered.. but Webby, Dewey and Della all are more focused on the addventure part and that’s where their passion and talent lies, Huey’s better at science and given his close frinedship with fenton and how much that part of things seems to truly inspire him, i’ts what he was born for, and Donald just wants a regualar life and can’t manage his own life much less a company.

Louie is the only one in his family whose the right fit to inhereit that part of his legacy and I feel that’s why he takes a special intrest in him and webby over the other two: While he loves all of them and will clearly again leave a piece of his fortune and empire to all of them, Webby is the most like him, as we later find out not coincidentally in the slightest, when it comes to adventuring and curosity and a love of exploration. But Louie is the most like him in other ways; He’s cynical, money driven and passionate. Scrooge simply wants him to be as good a person and buisnessperson as he can be and is trying to push him in the right direction. And does so here by pointing out that failure isn’t a huge problem..it happens, comes with the terriotiry and as we’ve seen with life and times, even with portions of it clearly not happening in this universe, he failed a LOT to get here. What matters is that he tries and tries to do it the right way.

Scrooge also sympathizes as he was buying a lemonade company in cape suzette, giving Louie the can as a present... but laments there’s no cheap effective way to deliver the lemons. Louie notices the harpies going after the can after he throws it and Webby controlling them with it and muses that theyd idn’t think about what THEY wanted.. nad rightfully gets punched across the lawn by Webby, whose had to spend an entire episode having her surrogate brothers talk down to her and ignore her valid ideas. She dosen’t even open her eyes she just bops him one.

So we end with Scrooge having enlisted the hapries, Louie trying to take credit again and both realizing they might just steal the lemons instead of work for them. Ha ha ha their going to get so sued.

Final Thoughts: This one was mediocre. It has some good points, Louies arc continues to fascenate me, Huey’s done with this shit attitude is hilarous, and Storkules is at his best in this episode: his crush on Donald is toned down from this..

To this

To the point I could see shipping them off this one if Storkules episode didn’t have him do eveyrthing short of .. well see above. So it’s not WITHOUT merit: I love me a ghost busters style plot, there are great jokes and Chris Dimatopolis is a gem as always. Glad he’s getting work after this show on Invincible and hope he gets to play Darkwing again some day. But the Donald stuff and the fairly predictable plot drag this one down. I’ts fairly obvious they’ll run out of harpies, Louie will have spent the money and they’ll somehow get free. It’s not a terrible episode but it’s it’s sandwiched story wise between two straight up classics on both sides: the previous two episodes were even better than I remembered and the next two are incredibly good: Whateve Happened to Della Duck?! is one of their finest hours and The Outlaw Scrooge McDuck, while not making my best of list for the series as a whole is still one of my favorites for the season. It’s just disapointing this one wasn’t nearly as good as I remmebered and it’s understandable why I forgot almost all of it, unlike the previous two episodes. Thankfully as I said better’s over the horizon.

NEXT TIME ON OF MOONS, MILLIONARES AND MOTHERS: I’m taking a break for a week. One of two weeklong breaks for the arc, the other being the first week of July where i’m on vacation anyway (Though i’ll be doing the episode I would’ve done for that week the week before to keep the pace up, so no worries),

As for why, it’s my utmost honor to announce GOOF WEEK! Goof Week is a weeklong celebration of Goofy’s birthday. The idea came about because as I do for the big three, I intended to just do a shorts special. But Kev , the guy who made this very review possible, suggested doing the two part Goof Troop pilot. And since kev pays for a house of mouth episode a month anyway and thaks to you lovely people I hit my patreon stretch goal to review the goofy movie, I figured “why not make a week out of it. Hence Goof week. So next week we’ll have a review of the two part pilot for Goof Troop, the special Sports Goof, the House of Mouse episode Super Goof, your regularly schedule shorts spectacular, with The Goofy Movie for the grand finale! yaaahoooooieeee!

When we come back i’ll be shuffling episodes around slightly so I can do the Della comics from the Ducktales Tie-In Comic before her debut and in time for Donald’s own theme week in June, i’ll be saving “Whatever Happened to Della Duck?” for the week after Donald Week. Instead next we get a fun wild west adventure as Scrooge tells a story of his outlaw days, his tension with goldie and his encounter with a certain robber baron as John D Rockerduck FINALLY makes his screen debut. Yee-Haw!

If you liked this review, subscribe and follow for more and consider joining my patroen, patreon.com/popculturebuffet. I have exclusive reviews, my most recent duck based one being an obscure carl barks story about wigs and the boys attempting to murder a guy with a blow gun, and your contribution helps me reach my goals and thus gets everyone, patreon or not, a bunch of neat new reviews. If you get me to 20 dollars a month, i’m currently at 15, EVERYONE will get a monthly darkwing duck reviews, reviews of the two remaning ducktales 87 mini series including the origin of GIZMOOOODDUUUUUCCCKKKK, and a review of the Danny Phantom movie The Ultimate Enemy. And with the month running out NOW’S the time to join. YOu’ll also get to pick one of the shorts for my Donald Duck birthday specail next month, so if you want to join in NOWS the time. But wether you can or you can’t, thank you for reading, i’ts been a pleasure.

#ducktales #louie duck #storkules in duckburg #dorkules #donald duck #storkules #scrooge mcduck #webby vanderquack #huey duck #flintheart glomgold #dewey duck #funzos #disney #disney+#disney plus #disney xd #harpies

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annasobsessions · 3 years ago

Text

I posted 110 times in 2021

85 posts created (77%)

25 posts reblogged (23%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 0.3 posts.

I added 503 tags in 2021

#ducktales - 75 posts

#ducktales fandom - 71 posts

#disney - 66 posts

#duckburg - 66 posts

#dt 2017 - 61 posts

#junior woodchuck - 41 posts

#huey duck - 39 posts

#the duck nephews - 32 posts

#louie duck - 26 posts

#dewey duck - 26 posts

Longest Tag: 37 characters

#abba night! get the karaoke machine!!

My Top Posts in 2021

Bird Nerds!

58 notes • Posted 2021-07-06 03:33:47 GMT

Today’s masterpiece is the duck nephews as Webkinz!

Drawing clothes has proven to be incredibly difficult. Especially on a tiny screen.

What should I draw next? Maybe I could make a Webby Webkinz!

61 notes • Posted 2021-01-14 19:57:22 GMT

To all the duckverse fans, where can I read the comics?

I love the Disney ducks because there are so many different mediums and works. It’s a world that will take me years to fully venture through, and I love the break from reality.

Should I read physical copies or online ones? If you have any links or advice you can comment or PM me ❤️

61 notes • Posted 2021-01-29 23:26:36 GMT

Okay, if you like ducktales, you should really play this game! Witty dialogue, fun attacks, you can even play as any of the nephews + Webby!

https://games.corusent.com/games/duckburg-quest/?channel_id=814

62 notes • Posted 2021-01-11 07:39:58 GMT

(SPOILERS!! For Ducktales 2017, season 2 episode 17: What Ever Happened to Donald Duck?!)

Can we talk about how SAD Donald’s story is?

When we first hear about his past, we learn that his speech impediment causes him a lot of social and emotional problems. He feels like no one understands him, and most of the time the majority of people don’t.

He could also be upset that since his peers don’t understand his words, they won’t understand his feelings either. The few people that do understand him, his sister Della and cousin Fethry and Gladstone, have moved on in their lives.

But Donald can’t forget about them and move on with his life. Why? Because there are tiny versions of them that he has to take care of!

In the show they compare Huey to Fethry, Louie to Gladstone, and Della to both Webby and Dewey.

(Sometimes Dewey is shown as being the Donald out of his siblings, at least as far as I’ve seen. I’m only on season 2 episode 19.)

And oh boy, is Donald protective of these kids. Perhaps he’s afraid that soon enough they’ll leave the nest and start their own lives too?

So not only is Donald grieving his missing sister, he’s taking care of her kids... and every now and then he sees hints of her in each of their personalities.

We don’t know much about Donald’s past in DT17 yet, and nothing about his time in the navy has been mentioned either. Hopefully we get to dive deeper into the waters of Donald Duck’s past in newer episodes.

63 notes • Posted 2021-01-29 08:37:40 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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imagine-pleasantnonsense · 4 years ago

Text

Three Sons

Summary:

Della Duck is home and she's ready to meet her children, but one of them might not be ready to meet her. Or at least, not let her meet the real him.

Ao3: [link]

Pairing: none

Words: 1272

A/N: stan trans huey duck <3

The kids stood just inside the maner as they watched Scrooge’s teary-eyed display of affection with the duck who had appeared on their doorstep.

It was easy to recognize her from the pictures he had seen, she was wearing the same clothes, even if her hair was longer and one of her legs were metal now. That had to be their mother, Della.

It was only seconds before the heartfelt reunion between the two adults had transformed into a screaming match, and the three brothers inched further behind Webby. They stared on with uncertainty as the screaming match once again turned back into a hug.

Huey could already feel his lungs start to restrict and his hands shake at his sides as Della stepped into the mansion. A brief look to the side and he could see Dewey’s awkward fidgeting and Louie’s fingers already tangled in the drawstrings of his hoodie. His own shaking hands twitched to reach out for his brothers but his attention was brought back in front of him by an unfamiliar voice.

“Where are my…” She started, her eyes finding them as she took a few more steps towards them, Scrooge following behind her. Both of them already had tears lining their eyes.

“Who’s the cyborg?” He heard Dewey ask, and if he wasn’t so anxious, he might have rolled his eyes.

“Is that..?” He instead heard his own voice ask, needing conformation for what he already assumed.

“It’s can’t be…” Louie added in afterwards and Webby looked back at the three boys.

“Guys, I think that’s your mom...” Webby said, just quietly enough for the three kids to hear her.

Huey looked from Della to Webby and back, expression filled with trepidation as Scrooge gestured out towards her.

“Kids, meet Della Duck.”

And that’s when Huey saw it. The confusion on Della’s face as her eyes went between four ducklings, taking the time to look at Webby as well.

“I-” Della started, her eyes landed on him next as she spoke, “I’m sorry, I don’t know which three of you are mine…” She told them, her eyes going from Huey, Dewey and Louie specifically this time. “You three look identical,” Her eyes land on Webby once more. “But I was supposed to have a girl.”

Huey could feel four sets of eyes glancing at him all at once, and it was too much. Tears burn at the back of his eyes as takes a step away from the rest of the group, then another, before he’s turning on his heal and rushing up the stairs.

“No, Huey wait!” He hears his brother’s call out for him, but he’s already reached the top and turns down the hallway towards their room.

Once he’s made it to the bedroom, he throws open the door and is quick to swing it shut behind him. He takes a moment to look around before his eyes land on the closet and he goes to it, dropping to his knees in front of the mess of things that had gotten shoved in there.

He hears the door open behind him as he’s searching through piles of blue and green clothing.

“What are you doing?” He hears Louie ask, and Huey shakes his head.

“I know I have some old clothes in here somewhere.” Huey’s voice is frantic and panicked, not answering their question but instead speaking to himself. He pulls out another green hoodie and tosses it to the side.

“What? Why do you need your old clothes?” Dewey asks but Huey ignores him, still pulling things out from the back of their closet.

One hand reaches up and brushes through his hair, and his brothers can’t help but notice that the hand is shaking as he does.

“Stupid, stupid stupid...” He says to himself, and the younger brothers exchange a look before they walk further into the room.

“Really, what are you doing?” Louie asks as they do, but their brother continues to ignore any direct questions.

After a brief moment of pause, and one more exchanged look, Dewey and Louie sit down next to Huey as he continues to search through their things. Dewey takes a deep breath before he reaches out and grabs each of Huey’s hands in his. The action stops Huey short in his search and Dewey pulls his arms towards him so that he has no choice but to look at them.

Huey keeps his head turned towards the closet for a second, his breathing still erratic, before he turns his head to meet eyes with his immediate younger brother.

His eyes are glassy, with unshed tears lining the bottom lids, and he has a faraway look to them before he makes the conscious decision to focus on Dewey. His expression is desperate, and his breath comes out in panicked little gasps. Dewey realizes as he holds his arms that it’s not just his hands that are shaking. His entire body is almost vibrating in his panic, shuddering with each breath.

“Huey, please…” Dewey says in a voice softer than Huey had ever heard him speak in.

It still takes him a moment to get enough air into his lungs to speak, but when he does his voice is small and shaky and full of fear as the first tears roll down his cheeks. “She’s not going to like me.”

He stays still for a moment while the words settle before he’s pulling out of Dewey’s grip. His head shakes as he returns back to his search.

“What? Why wouldn’t she like you?”

Huey reaches back into the closet and finally pulls out a red dress from the very back corner, leftover from when they had donated all of his old clothes. “You heard what she said. She was supposed to have a girl…”

He holds the item of clothing in his lap, one hand gripped the fabric tight as he stares down at it while the other reaches up to brush through his hair again. His hands continues, pulling phantom hair over his shoulder like he once had before they had cut it all off. “I just want her to like me.”

Louie reaches out to rest a hand over the one of Huey’s that still rested on his shoulder. “C’mon, Huey-” Louie starts, only to be cut off.

“Don’t call me that.” Huey tells him in a small voice.

“Well, we’re not calling you by your deadname.” Dewey tells him and Huey looks up with surprise at the determination in Dewey’s voice. “Your name is Huey, you’re our brother, and if she has a problem with that? Well, we got by for eleven years without her, we don’t need her now!”

Huey is silent for a moment staring at Dewey with uncertainty. “But… But she’s our mom…”

“Yeah, sure, but you’re our brother, Huey, and we’re not about to let anyone, not even our long-lost mother, tell us, or you, otherwise.” Louie tells him, reaching out to set one of his hands over Huey’s.

Tears continue falling down Huey’s face, but his look of uncertainty turns into a hesitant smile and he reaches up to brush them away.

“Now give me this,” Dewey starts, and he pulls the dress away from Huey’s hands before it’s tossed back into the closet. He grabs Huey’s other hand, Louie and Dewey both helping their older brother back to his feet. “And let’s go meet our mom, okay?”

Huey’s legs shake as he stands, holding onto his brother’s hands for support, but he nods, slow at first but then with more confidence. “Yeah, okay. Let’s go meet our mom.”

#ducktales #ducktales 2017 #ducktales fanfiction #dt17 #ducktales 2017 fanfiction #ducktales fanfic #ducktales 2017 fanfic #trans huey duck #ftm huey duck #huey duck #my writing #mine #posted this to the wrong blog #AGAIN

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hyperpsychomaniac · 3 years ago

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Bonding Exercise - Chapter 2

DT 17 Fanfiction

Summary: Scrooge is sick of Della and Launchpad fighting over the Sunchaser, which is costing him money, so he sends them on a 40 hour flight and orders them to sort out their differences.

Chapter 1

***

Scrooge was right. The flight was too long. Having someone to help share the flying sounded like a good idea, but by the time they arrived in Sydney, Della would have happily risked falling asleep at the controls. She finished the power-down checks and then glared across at Launchpad, where he sat in the copilot's seat. "You going to fuel her up, or do I have to do it?"

Launchpad glanced up from his phone and blinked. "Huh?"

"Never mind. I'll do it." Della could just see them taking off and trailing an entire fuel truck behind them.

Launchpad didn't even offer to do it himself, argue or apologise; he just shrugged and went back to playing with his phone. Seriously?

Della stomped off to arrange for the fuel and left Launchpad hunched over in the copilot's seat.

"Complain about never getting to fly. Then spend half the time playing on your phone… what is your deal this week?" Della waited, tapping her foot, as the mechanic chugged fuel into the Cloudslasher. The metal ring of her fake leg on the concrete seemed to unsettle him; he kept glancing her way warily.

By now, she was sure a few hours together, no matter how much they dragged on, would not fix her and LP's issues. And Launchpad didn't seem keen on cooperating. He'd been more interested in his phone. If it had just been Scrooge complaining about a few cents here and there, it wouldn't have irritated her so much. But they'd upset Dewey as well, and she knew Launchpad cared about her son. He could at least try to have a conversation with her. As frustrating as that sometimes was, it would at least mean he was trying too. They'd never patch things up if it was just her doing all the work.

Della's gaze fell on the gauge on the side of the mechanic's truck, and in her flustered state, it took her a few seconds to comprehend the reading and connect it to Scrooge's words earlier. "Hey, slow down, don't overfill her." She jabbed a finger at the rapidly climbing gauge. She could at least get one of Scrooge's instructions right and not get ripped off buying more fuel than they needed to make it home.

The mechanic raised an eyebrow as he looked between Della and the fuel truck. "You sure…"

"Um, yeah. I know how much fuel my aeroplane takes."

The mechanic shrugged his shaggy shoulders and got back into the truck. Well, at least some idiots wouldn't waste their time arguing with her.

Della climbed back into the Cloudslasher's belly and shut the bay door. "Right, we're refuelled, and… are you still playing on that thing? Better send whatever the heck you've been spending so long on. Once we start heading out towards Scrooge's sheep station, you're not going to have any reception."

"Um, yeah, okay."

Della prepared the Cloudslasher for takeoff. Then slammed the throttle full on. They were both thrown back into their seats, and Della couldn't help but smirk as Launchpad yelped and his phone skittered across the floor.

***

As they approached Scrooge's sheep station, Launchpad was at the controls. Della shuffled over to stand behind his chair and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"We're nearly there," Launchpad muttered. By this point, he sounded more tired than irritated.

Della was pretty sure they were both over it. If anything, whether they worked their issues out or not, they'd plain just be sick of bickering. "Good."

"You'd better land her. You don't want me screwing it up."

Della rolled her eyes. Then she squinted out the windshield. "Wait, what the heck is that?" Ahead of them, a red wall of cloud reared up. Its edges churned, and faint flickers of lightning played at its interior.

"Sunchaser, come in," the radio squawked.

Della's eyes narrowed. Launchpad reached for the radio, but Della leaned over his shoulder and snatched up the handset before he could get to it. "This is the CLOUDSLASHER. We read you…

The radio crackled. "Wait, who? We're trying to contact the McDuck plane…"

"Yes, this is the McDuck plane which is, and always will be, called the Cloudslasher. We… what the heck is going on down there?"

"Dust storm, mate. You won't be able to land. You can go into a holding pattern; she should clear soon. Or you could head back…"

Della groaned. "We can't circle up here for hours!"

"Hey, up to you."

"It'll take twice as long to fly all the way out here again if we go back," said Launchpad.

He had a point, and it was the first helpful thing he'd said all trip. Here for a couple hours. Or adding on a whole pile more, including another landing to try fumble their way through together. "We just refuelled; we'll be fine. We'll hold up here. Let us know when it's safe to land? Please."

"Roger. Sheep station out."

Della slumped into the copilot's seat. "Great. More bonding."

Launchpad glanced across at her. "I don't like fighting with you, you know. Even if it wasn't upsetting Mr McDee. And Dewey, but…. I guess that's kind of important."

Dewey. Della sagged back in the seat and let out a tired sigh. Something, someone, they could agree on. Finally, it seemed Launchpad was ready to talk to her. "Yeah. I suppose we could just pretend, right?" she said. "For Dewey's sake? We don't have to be best buds. Just not fight like we did in front of him in the hanger."

They sat quietly for a moment. And then, or all the things Launchpad could've done, he once again pulled out his phone and started tapping away at the screen. Della's eyes narrowed. They'd actually been talking sensibly about Dewey. It was an important topic for both of them and the stupid phone… "There is no reception out here, Launchpad. But you know that, don't you? I get the message, alright? You're not interested in making this work. And I understand if you've got a problem with me; I know I've been harassing you about the plane, and I'm sorry, alright. But what about Dewey? You're supposed to be his best friend."

That brought Launchpad's gaze snapping up to meet hers. "I am his best friend!"

"So what, you've not been trying to ignore me for the entire trip? What's so important on that stupid phone; you got a new girlfriend or something?"

"Mind your own business." Launchpad hefted himself out of the chair and moved over to lean on the railing. The glow of his phone illuminated his creased brow and the darkened cargo bay behind them.

Della took over the controls. "You know," she said through gritted teeth. "You pretend like you’re everybody's friend, but you really don't seem like you want to put in the effort when things get a little tough."

Launchpad ignored her.

***

Three hours later, and Launchpad was still ignoring her. At this point, it was probably for the best. Della couldn't imagine anything he could've said to her that wouldn't result in an argument. He'd ditched the phone, maybe he'd run out of things to do on it without reception, but that hadn't stopped him making it clear he did not want to talk. Now, he had his notebook out on his lap. He sat in the copilot's chair, scribbling and crossing out what he'd written again and again.

Della called the station. Their reply was garbled and crackling, and the storm still showed no signs of clearing. They were probably getting sick of hearing her voice. She hung up the handset and flopped back into her seat. "Maybe we should have just flown back."

Launchpad looked up, pencil hovering over his paper. "Huh? What, you're blaming me?"

Della sighed. "No." She'd call him on ignoring her, but there was no point snapping at him for something she was as much to blame for. "We both made that decision. At least we have plenty of fuel."

Launchpad scowled at his notebook, then flipped it shut and tossed it up onto the console.

It wasn't just her he seemed irritated at, Della realised. Maybe she'd been wrong. Maybe his distraction wasn't intentionally directed at her. "What are you writing anyway?" she asked tentatively. She'd try, just one more time. Both to give Launchpad another chance, but primarily for her son. "Darkwing fanfiction?" It was the only thing Della could think of off the top of her head. But why hadn't she thought of this before? Even if Launchpad was trying to ignore her, she was sure he couldn't resist talking about Darkwing Duck. And Della didn't care squat about it, so she'd have no reason to fight with him over it.

"No, I… never mind." Launchpad got up and looked over her shoulder at the console.

Not the reaction she'd expected. At least he hadn't walked away from her, but Della did not appreciate him hovering. "You know what, this is getting boring. It's your turn. "She grabbed Launchpad's sleeve as she stood up and wrested him in the direction of the seat.

Launchpad gave in and sat down, taking the control yoke in his big hands. Then he closed his eyes and frowned.

"What are you doing now? Don't fly with your eyes closed!"

Launchpad's eyes shot open, and he got up and pushed past her. "I'm going to check the fuel."

"The gauge is is right there! It's…" Della frowned "… still full?"

"She feels a bit light."

Della sat down and tapped the gauge. "Launchpad, did you glue the needle in here?" Out of all the annoying things he'd done today, somehow, this wasn't so bad. She just didn't understand why he did some of the things he did. At least she'd put in the fuel herself. If she'd let Launchpad do it, she'd be real worried right now.

"Felt a bit light…" Launchpad climbed down the ladder to the cargo bay and paused above the fuel tank. He opened a panel in the floor, which shouldn't have opened, but he'd probably modified it so he could easily access the fuel tank. Instead of, you know, simply using the gauge which was right there on the console.

Della punched the gauge, not hard enough to break it, but just give it a really good whack. The needle jerked itself free and dropped. She waited for it to settle. They were probably still above three quarters, at a guess. The needle stayed almost smack down on empty. Maybe that's why he'd glued it; it was broken. Unless she'd just broken it, but Launchpad couldn't really blame her after he'd glued the thing. She leaned over the railing. "Launchpad, why did you put glue in the gauges?"

Launchpad popped his head out of the hatch. "How much fuel did you put in?"

"Why'd you glue the stupid needle in the fuel gauge? Now it's broken! At least I know how much I put in, and she should still be nearly full…"

"The tank's nearly empty. I mean, we've still got a bit, but if that storm doesn't clear like now we'll have to go back, and…"

"Good lord, no, we are not going back. And we don't need to…"

"We're nearly empty!"

Della's hands balled to fists at her side. "I know what I put in! We'd both know if you hadn't screwed with the gauge, why, why do you even…"

"Because it reads low!" Launchpad exploded. "And everyone always leans over my shoulder and says Launchpad we need fuel now, and I tell them she still feels right, and they just tell me Launchpad you don't know how to fly the plane! But I know what it feels like! I glued it so everyone would stop telling me how to fly my plane!"

"The Cloudslasher is mine! I know how much fuel I put in her; she's nearly full!"

Launchpad flung his hands at the hatch. "I know how a fuel tank works. That's how I can tell she's nearly empty."

"Urgh! You're as bad as the mechanic. I know how many gallons my own damn plane takes!"

"Liters."

"We're American, LP. I know how many gallons…" Della slowly lowered her arms. Back at the airport, she'd been in such a fluster. "Oh no."

"Nuh, but I think in Australia they use metric. It's weird. So the numbers on their stuff are different… or the fuel fills up a different space in the tank or something. So I normally just tell them to fill it up. It's less confusing."

Della put a hand to her forehead. "The fuel truck was reading litres. The mechanic put in way less fuel than I thought."

Launchpad's shoulders slumped. "Guess we got to go back."

"Yeah. So I'm stuck with you for even longer."

"Hey, I'm trying to be nice. You were the one who screwed up fueling the plane."

"I would've known if you hadn't messed with my gauges! Seriously? People wouldn't keep telling you you don't know how to read them or tell you you forgot fuel… if you weren't… if you weren't such a bad pilot. Why does Scrooge even employ you!?"

The aeroplane lurched. Della's eyes widened. "Who's flying the plane?"

"You're supposed to be! You're just as bad a pilot as I am, you know that, right? But at least no one's going to fire you because… at least you're actually part of the family!"

"Can we raincheck this?" Della ran back to the console, and Launchpad followed. Della slid into the pilot's seat, grabbed the yoke and steadied the plane. Outside was nothing but red. They were practically on the edge of the storm now, far closer than they'd been when Della had left the controls, and she wasn't sure how either they or the storm had moved so much. The engines whined, louder than usual. The dust couldn't be good for them.

Launchpad gripped the back of the pilot's chair. "I think we gotta put her down! She's getting sandblasted up here."

Della squinted through the windshield. "I know… I know… but I don't know where the ground is."

"You gotta feel it…"

"I would use the gauges, but someone put stickers all over them!"

"Decals! You don't need them."

The Cloudslasher bucked again. "Aw, fooey, we're going to crash." The ground could be inches below them, and they wouldn't know. Or centimetres. Because, you know, bloody metric.

Launchpad huffed. "Yeah, we're going to crash. Big deal. So we may as well do it properly. Now, move." He grabbed Della's shoulders, picked her right up out of the seat like she weighed nothing, and placed her to the side.

"Hey, don't you dare pick me up!"

Launchpad sat down and grabbed the yoke. And then he closed his eyes.

"What are you…"

"Shh."

Launchpad's chest heaved as he took in a deep breath, and then he stilled. Della wasn't sure, but maybe the aeroplane was a little steadier. Relatively speaking. Outside the windshield, red dust ebbed and flowed. And, Della thought she saw a shape. A serpentine form; a snake in the sky. Between the red dust, it seemed to glisten with a rainbow hue.

Della grabbed Launchpad's shoulder. "Um, LP? Maybe you should open your eyes."

"It's too distracting."

"But there's a…"

The impossible flying creature was suddenly upon them, a giant rainbow-coloured snake that slammed into the front of the plane. It dwarfed them. The storm roared, the snake hissed and bucked as it tried to tear itself free of the metal beast that had rammed it. It was like they'd collected an angry fluorescent anaconda on their jeep's windshield. But this completely engulfed the nose of an aeroplane with loops of muscle, scales, and sharp spines.

Launchpad's eyes shot open. "Wha…"

The snake hissed and whipped its body free. The harsh motion triggered the prominent spines along its back, and they shot free and pelted like a hailstorm of arrows towards the windshield.

"Launchpad, duck!" Della hit the deck. A dozen spines punched straight through the glass and slammed into the back of the cargo bay. "What the crap…" Della shot back to her feet. The giant airborne snake was gone. The windshield was punctured by a dozen holes like someone had peppered it with bullets, but thankfully, it had not shattered.

"Hey, Della? You're going to need to crash this for me. I… can't reach the yoke." Launchpad clutched his shoulder. One of the spines stuck out near his hand, and the other end had punctured straight through both him and the back of the pilot's chair.

"Oh shit, LP." Della shot to her feet and put her hand on his arm. "Are you okay?"

Launchpad winced, then took his hand away from the spine and swiped at the yoke. His shoulder seeped red around the spine and into his jacket. "It's okay… I can't really feel it. I just… can't reach. We're losing control again."

Heart pounding, Della moved in front of him and grasped the yoke. Just don't look. She had to concentrate on flying the plane. Landing in one piece was the first priority. But she couldn't read the instruments, and she couldn't see anything… and then she was going to have to deal with that spine in Launchpad's shoulder, and she wasn't even sure how bad it was, and…

Launchpad reached out and squeezed her arm. "Close your eyes. You don't have to keep 'em closed. It'll just give you a chance to feel what the... the Cloudslasher's doing. You can't see outside anyway."

"Okay…" Della closed her eyes. It was certainly less distracting. She tugged the yoke slightly up, lifting the nose of the plane.

"There you go…"

"What about the ground?"

"Hopefully, it's not red too."

Della squinted as she cautiously cracked open her eyes. She wasn't sure, but maybe the hue outside and below them looked darker. She tugged the nose up slightly. The plane let out a crunch of tortured metal, and the impact flung Della into the console.

***

Chapter 3

#ducktales #dt17 #ducktales 2017 #ducktales fanfiction #dt17 fanfic #launchpad #launchpad mcquack #dt17 launchpad #della duck #disney ducks #sorry Launchpad

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araminakilla · 4 years ago

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Huey and D'jinn possible parallels

As we know, Huey is the center of this season and even if he wasn't present in all the episodes, the ones in which he appears are excelent and contribute for some character development. I bet we are going to see paralels between him and other characters. Dewey has Della, Jormungandr in the neutral side and Don Karnage in the villain side, Louie has Goldie and Gladstone. Huey has Fenton, maybe Gyro, Donald and definetly Fethry Duck, Boyd and Violet Sabrewing. But what if he had parallels with someone who isn't science-related? Someone who has more common grounds in terms of liking history other than Violet (who is now a recurring character)? I have a feeling that it's a side character who is going to return not that soon but in the last episodes.

I'm talking about Faris D'jinn and in this (long) post I'm going to explain why.

First of all, their (brief) interactions. Huey was the first member of the Duck family to meet D'jinn and he was the one who asked if him and Amunet were ok in Moonvasion!

Now this may be very brief but I theorise Huey is going to have more conversations with Faris the next time he appears. They have many things in common after all.

What are those things you may ask? Apart of wearing red in their clothes.

Well, that is the second point. Both like order and things going their way because it makes them easy and in Huey's case, secure.

D'jinn had one thing in mind in all the Treasure of the Found Lamp! episode: To find the lamp of his ancestors in his birthday or devastating consequences would happen aka he's going to be sad. This could count as hyperfocusing on something, that would be the lamp and the story behind it.

He was so concentrated on that matter that he involved the duck family in a quest that some of them (Scrooge and Louie) didn't want to be part of, but felt they have no choice.

This reminds me of the episode where it was Scrooge's birthday and Huey wanted to prove that he could be a better party planner than Duckworth (the already deceased buttler) to the point of only for one second to transform into "the Duke", you know, that facet of Huey that cames to life when a great injustice was made like when Mark Beaks made Dewey the superior of Huey despite the fact that the Blue One didn't put as much effort as the Red One or when a boss character ruins his carefully cultivated farm plot in Legends of Legendquest and the older sibling went mad.

Well, D'jinn had moments that from his point of view count as injustices too. First the lamp was stolen centuries ago, then he finds where it is and goes to Scrooge to have it back, then the old duck tells him the lamp was misplaced. Since Faris had a schedule that he must complete before it's too late, he proposes to find the lamp in a rather...intense way that ends up scaring the ducks. Then he goes to Itaquack and spends maybe hours solving riddles and he knows they are stalling him and gets more impatient. THEN he discovers the lamp was stolen AGAIN under his nose by Ma Beagle and that he was SO close to obtain it right there. These last things of course couldn't happen as the quest was fake but Faris didn't know that.

While I don't think D'jinn has a whole "Duke" persona, he has little moments of intensity that instead of helping him only makes things worse.

It's because these moments of intensity and misunderstandings that the ducks had to make a false quest to obtain more time and stop D'jinn for...wanting to kill them.

No, seriously, the family thought they were death duck meat if they didn't find the lamp which again it's a big misunderstanding, as we found out Faris isn't the kind of guy who is violent just because and he wouldn't kill enemies.

Look, D'jinn is my favorite side character in all Ducktales and I even made a big analysis of why he is a great character a year ago. But... guy has poor communication skills. Let's admit it, many of you wouldn't stay in the same room as someone who not only is very (very) dramatic but also has weapons at their disposition.

Anyway going back to Huey...the Red Bean also has problems with communication. For example, as @pholux-twg pointed out, many things could have been resolved if only Huey had the time to explain his insecurities and point of view in The Trickening!, something he didn't do well in Scrooge's birthday.

And talking about that episode again, he was pushing his siblings to do the perfect birthday for Scrooge, something that Scrooge himself didn't want to. Huey had good intentions when trying to organize the party but his actions and considerations of other people's feelings were not productive, just like D'jinn had good intentions at getting the lamp back but the way he tried to obtain it just scared everybody.

Also to me it is very amusing that D'jinn is a warrior who trusts everybody so much (I mean, he didn't stop to consider if Ma Beagle was lying about the lamp, he believed her inmediatly) and falls for simple jokes as the "got your nose" joke. It is possible that he's not that naive but simply he doesn't really know when somebody is lying or not even if it's very obvious. Just like Huey is Mister "I'm not good at imagination stuff" D'jinn could be "I'm not good at detecting lies and metaphorical jokes"

Then we have the scroll that D'jinn owns and it has the story of his family, his quest for the perfect birthday gift and maybe more information, he writes on it what he has accomplished and that reminds me of the Junior Woodchuck Guidebook that Huey has for guidance. We don't know what could happen if Faris lost the scroll because it seems that he also uses it for guidance in his quests (or in the quest of his life)

Gif belong to @pholux-twg , @stevenfallsvs and @greatgamedota

Also I would like to point out that Huey had moments of stimming in Season 3 and I think D'jinn had moments of this in his debut episode...if spinning his sword many times counts as stimming, because maybe is a cool thing that he does when trying to impresionte those around him but maybe...just maybe he spins his sword when experiencing strong emotions like:

Anger

Determination

Hapiness

But wait you would say, that doesn't make sense as he has the same stoic face in the three gifs.

Yeah, but the thing is, and this is one of the theories that I have...he's masking.

During all the journey he's excited but mostly reserved and it's only when he understood that everyone thought there was a genie in the lamp and said object was now at his disposition that he broke his stoic and serious presence and began to show more than just one emotion.

But from a brief moment before the battle with the Beagle Boys we see the moment he discovers all his quest was a charade to stop him from getting angry, we get this:

He's confused, sad, hurt and angry again when facing the ducks. Then as he questions if everything was fake he seems sad again.

This is of course justified in that he's a tough warrior. Heavens forbid if he shows emotions that could be perceived as weak in front of his allies and enemies.

But we have to consider this: D'jinn lives for epic and little quests. It's his hobbie, his favorite activity, he sees life as a big quest and him as just another player and he takes that very seriously.

The thing is... the others don't. They only pay attention to him for fear of their lives. This is just a guy who you can't ignore. Like I said before Scrooge and Louie only want to escape the problem they got into and even Huey is amazed at how much dedication the warrior puts on the lamp and the quest.

Huey (to Louie): D'jinn monologued about this lamp and the Ifrit's Dawn for ten minutes without blinking!

Taking into account that, let's go back to Faris realizing the ducks lied to him. They used his favorite hobby and interest as a joke. Without saying it, the ducks practicaly said: "You know, we don't care about being part of your quest or your lamp or listening to your dramatic stories. We just don't want to get destroyed. We want you to leave us alone as soon as possible"

And all I have to say is...ouch. OUCH

I mean, of course that supposition is not true because Dewey enjoyed the adventure and Webby was living the dream! But D'jinn didn't know that.

I also have to wonder if him not getting into drama over the lie was because he was very focused in obtaining the lamp or maybe he's just used to it. And for "it" I mean having to deal with many lies made to get rid of him and his dramatic actitude, and that actitude is not wrong or bad but some persons just don't have time or patience for that and we don't know how many people encountered the warrior in the past.

We don't know if his family is as interested and passionate about their history as D'jinn, or if he still has a brother or more siblings but (theory) if he turns out to be the only member of his family to have that passion for history and adventures then he would have another thing in common with Huey. Both love their families deeply but they feel they don't understand them.

At least we have one thing clear for sure and it is that in his last birthday, D'jinn wasn't alone.

I hope he continues to make more friends or how he puts it "allies" and please let him interact with Huey! It's the Red One's season after all.

Also as a sidenote it is interesting that in the last picture Webby, Beakly and Huey (who are confirmed to have more presence and lore in this season) were in one group together. Foreshadowing?

#ducktales #ducktales 2017 #ducktales theory #huey duck #faris djinn #the red colored boys #neurodivergent huey #look #with all the comparisons I did between those two #i headcanon this #Neurodivergent D'jinn #maybe it's unlikely #but possible #time will tell

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95jezzica · 4 years ago

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Reviewing Ducktales

Now when the last episode of Ducktales 2017 (also sometimes called the reboot in the review) has been out for a few weeks I think it’s fair game to write a longer review of what I thought about it.

[ Fair warning! ] - Everything above the ‘Read Me’ is what I would call Spoiler Free. - Everything AFTER the ‘Read Me’ contain spoilers up to the Big Finale of season 3 and the show. - This... Accidentally became fairly long review. x)

Now, let’s begin!

Like its’ predecessor from 87 the show Ducktales 2017 is a show mainly focusing on family and adventures, and it’s a fun reboot with daily adventures which can usually be watched by themselves without too much trouble, at the same time as they stay connected over the season(s).

I enjoyed it, and I love that they got to use some characters that hasn’t been used a lot in earlier animated works about the Duck families. Since it’s a show aimed towards (assumingly) younger children it’s also understandable the focus mainly lay on the Duck-kids, but it’s also a great show for us older folks and adults. (Hey, I’m Swedish. Frankly put, me NOT watching something Donald Duck related would be a bigger cause for worry than me as an adult watching it.) This is simply a show you can watch with the whole family.

However, as someone who watched the show as it aired, it was definitely hit by Disney’s weird airing schedules, and I honestly think that’s what might have hurt Ducktales the most. The changing of channels it aired on and WHEN it aired would have had a major negative impact on it and on people trying to follow, especially when Disney also decided to mess with the airing ORDER of the episodes. It doesn’t take much logic to say it made it much more difficult for Ducktales to keep their audience in the long run - especially when Disney sometimes dropped parts of a season at once and then gave no updates for months.

This isn’t as much of a problem now when all the episodes are already out, but I would still highly recommend looking up the correct watching order from one of the crew members, such as Frank. ( @suspendersofdisbelief on Tumblr.) Because to be honest I’m still not sure Disney has fixed the episode order.

Now,

Three (3) short things I didn’t enjoy as much in Ducktales 2017: - The implications some of the info within the Ducktales universe gave us. I recognize most of this info were just meant for a gag/laugh and that we were likely not meant to think too deeply about it, but at the same time I dislike some of the implications this info left.

- Major changes to some of our well-beloved characters, which sometimes almost made them feel like completely new characters rather than different takes on them.

- At times misleading trailers, promos and/or previews, making some characters seem like they would play a bigger role in the show than what’s planned. *(cough - Donald Duck - cough.) Please note this would be on Disney’s marketing team, though, and not on the writers or the crew.

Seven (7) short favorite things in Ducktales 2017:

- Huey, Dewey & Louie being given more distinct personalities. They’re not major differences/changes in the sense that the changes overrides their already established characters in other works, but rather adds to them.

- Webby. ♥ She’s very different from the old Ducktales, but while I still think she might have worked better as a new/her own character rather than ‘Webby’, I also really adore her as a character. ♥

- Creative use of existing characters in the Duck-universe which hasn’t been used as much before.

- Fun adventures with plot hints sometimes hidden in plain view and other times exploding straight in your face.

- LGBTQA+ representation. I don’t doubt Disney made it difficult for the crew to add it, so I’m happy the crew was still able to get through some.

- Clever references to comics, previous Ducktales and other Disney work.

- The animation. Simply BEAUTIFUL. The art-style took a little while to get used to, but the animation look absolutely amazing.

All together Ducktales 2017 is a fun show and is absolutely worth a watch if you want a fun show focused on adventures on family! Just keep in mind that Ducktales, despite being enjoyable for all ages, is still ultimately aimed towards children.

. Now:

> [Click on ‘Read More’ if you want to read the part with Spoilers! ] <

The following part include spoilers up to the big Finale of Ducktales. Read at your own risk.

As briefly touched on earlier a few of the characters had some major changes to their personalites and/or appearances compared to the comics and/or the previous Ducktales. Some work better (like Fenton & Darkwing) than others (Gyro & Glomgold). The majority of the time I personally I didn’t have any issues with their personalities and appearance - I love them - but ultimately I also think some would have worked better as new and original characters rather than very different takes on well-beloved characters.

Let’s take Gyro as an example. I love him as a character - but he isn’t read as Gyro to me in the rebooted Ducktales. He feels like a completely different person, vaguely looking like Gyro. A great character, but not Gyro. Another example would be the reboot’s Webby. I adore her, and I think she was a great addition, but she doesn’t read as Webby to me. In the end it’s not something deal-breaking to me though, and if you stick around you eventually get used to it. I had more issues with the implications of some of the gags we got, such as:

- No one - not even Huey, Dewey and Louie - understanding what Donald says (later with the exception of Daisy), which in-universe at best is a cruel joke to make so often and at worst just ridiculous that not even the triplets would understand the one who has raised and taken care of them from when they were eggs. Verbal communication isn’t everything, and eventually you just... learn a person’s language - spoken or otherwise. Della is Donald’s twin and Scrooge supposedly at least partly raised Donald and Della in the Ducktales reboot - so a similar case can be argued about them as well.

- A show focusing on family had Scrooge and Donald leave Fethry all alone down in the ocean for implied 4,5+ years with no visits because he was weird/annoying. You could argue that Fethry technically isn’t related to Scrooge, but that still leaves Donald and Gladstone.

- Donald’s treatment in general, honestly. He does NOT need more episodes, but Donald’s few appearances in the old DT87 worked better since he was placed in the Marine. This explained in-universe why Donald wasn’t with the kids. He left and trusted them with Scrooge, thus making Scrooge their temporary guardian/main caretaker while Donald was gone. The reboot doesn’t really give us an in-universe reason why Donald is left out from so many adventures though - and you would think he would at least have been there more during s01 before he knew the kids could handle themselves. Especially when you consider how overprotective Donald was before their adventure to Atlantis. Things like that doesn’t go away quickly, and thus Donald’s reaction during the Shadow War when the kids “disobeyed” him, while epic, didn’t feel properly built up.

Donald is (or at least was before Della came back) also supposedly still the triplets’ guardian in the reboot - not Scrooge - and yet Scrooge repeatedly went on various adventures with the kids behind Donald’s back and often treated Donald’s many valid concerns as wrong/annoying or even jokes. Hell, in season 01 Scrooge even took the kids on a dangerous adventure to Mount Neverrest during Christmas, and we don’t even get to hear a mention of where Donald is at the time. In-universe the show, intentionally or not, almost always treats Scrooge as being in the right. Donald supposedly has no reason to worry, despite how Donald has learnt from past experience that he HAS plenty of reasons to worry.

In the meantime we are left to assume Donald either just stayed at the houseboat or got something else to do during most of the adventures, as if Scrooge hasn’t learnt anything from Della’s 10+ years disappearance. Scrooge repeatedly going behind Donald’s back both in the past and present, while probably unintentionally, is portrayed as okay - because no real consequenses are shown. Scrooge’s and Donald’s 10+ year old fight is solved(?) somewhere off screen, and everything else seems to be forgiven. Their 10+ years fight isn’t really brought up again after the first episodes either, and based solely on the episodes I’m not sure Della even knows Donald raised the kids by himself, without Scrooge. At the very least it’s not discussed in the episodes.

- Webby being Scrooge’s clone, and only because of that being able to call forth the Papyrus. Honestly? Might be a nitpick, but I feel it would have been more meaningful if Webby wasn’t connected to Scrooge by blood. She could have been his truthful heir in a more spiritful sense, even if she still turned out to be a clone. (Though I have to admit part of me still thinks it’s hilarious Webby techncially being Scrooge’s daughter also makes her Della’s and Donald’s cousin, so at least there’s that.) x)

All together I still greatly enjoyed the rebooted Ducktales, and I also understand hindsight is 20/20. I very much doubt the writers intended most of the mentioned or unmentioned implications anyway, and despite some of the show’s issues it’s still a fun and great show about family and adventures. Ducktales 2017 also has an art-style with it’s own wonderful personality, and the animation is simply amazing.

We got to see plently of characters from the Duck-universe which aren’t used a lot in animated works (such as Gladstone, Fethry, the McDucks and the Caballeros) and cameos from various other shows as well (like as Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck and Tailspin).

The biggest theme is family, and there are many different kinds of families in the reboot. To be honest I’m surprised Beakley, Scrooge or even Donald didn’t adopt Lena, but I’m also happy Lena got two wonderful dads and a sister (two sisters with Webby) after finally breaking free from Magica. There’s all kind of families in the reboot - found, built, befriended, adopted, biological and even lost familiy - and while things can go bad for a while (or even for 10+ years) things are usually solvable as long as you’re not alone and can work together.

Because after all, Family is the Biggest Adventure of All, and with that said I look forward to see whatever shows the crew might work on the future, and/or future shows in general with all of our favorite ducks.

//Jezzica.

#Ducktales #Ducktales 2017 #review #DT2017 #DT 2017 #Ducktales Review #This became very long #but I hope you guys think this was a fair review #I'll likely remember 1000s of things I wanted to say after I post this #but oh well #for now? this is good #Ducktales 2017 is a good show #♥

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cadence-talle · 4 years ago

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Ink Blossoming Across Your Skin

Pairing: Keefe Sencen/Fitz Vacker

Wordcount: 2,295

Summary: “Have we even met the owner? How do we know they don’t, like, beat people up?”

“I think you’re reaching,” Biana says. “Besides, I’ve seen the owners.”

Fitz blinks, reaching up to move one of the soil bags over on the shelf. “You have? When?”

“They’re right behind you.”

Other notes: Based on the amazing au created by @queersofthelostcities and @enbies-and-felonies! It’s not completely like the prompt, but I hope it lives up to your original vision.

Fitz first notices the shop on a Monday morning, bright colors of the We Are Now OPEN! sign in the window catching his eye as he crosses the street. He frowns, unlocking the door of his flower shop and setting his bag down.

“Do you know what that is?” He asks Biana, who’s come in a few minutes after him. She shrugs, leaning out the doorway to glance at the store.

“Looks like a tattoo parlour,” she says. Fitz wrinkles his nose.

“Ugh. That’ll drive away business.”

Biana hums noncommittally and moves into the back to grab ice cubes for the orchids as their first customer of the day comes in. Fitz forces himself to focus and not think about the tattoo shop.

It doesn’t work very well.

“Look, I’m just saying, a lot of our customers are old ladies or moms with kids. Having a tattoo shop next door, with an entirely different vibe and clientele, is going to mess with us.” Fitz angrily stabs the salad he brought for lunch.

His sister raises an eyebrow, taking a bite of her sandwich. “Are you really talking about the ‘vibe’ of our flower shop?”

“Ugh. I just- who wants to get a tattoo anyway?”

Biana looks pointedly at him and then to her arm, which is covered in twisting vines and flowers. Fitz sighs.

“Point taken.”

He leans back against the front desk a few hours later, mentally counting the bags of soil they have stacked on the shelves behind the counter.

“Have we even met the owner? How do we know they don’t, like, beat people up?”

“I think you’re reaching,” Biana says. “Besides, I’ve seen the owners.”

Fitz blinks, reaching up to move one of the soil bags over on the shelf. “You have? When?”

“They’re right behind you.”

Fitz spins around, almost falling over, just in time to see two people enter the shop. One, a short, smiling woman with silver-tipped hair, immediately moves into the shelves of potted plants. Biana taps Fitz on the shoulder.

“I’m gonna go, uh, see if she needs anything.”

Fitz snorts but nods, and Biana disappears. The other owner, a man only a few inches taller than Fitz, leans against the countertop. Fitz gives him a once-over. Blond hair, blue eyes, smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth- he’s hot.

Only if you pay attention to that sort of thing, of course, and Fitz most certainly does not. There is a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why he currently can’t talk that has nothing to do with the man in front of him.

“I’m Keefe,” he says. “You own this store, right?”

Fitz nods hurriedly. “Uh. Yeah. It was my mom’s- that’s where the name came from, her name’s Della- but now she’s retired, so now it’s mine and my sister’s, and- I’m rambling. Sorry.”

Keefe laughs. “It’s fine. I think it’s sweet.”

Face burning, Fitz glances down at the register. “So, what are you here to buy?”

“Nothing,” Keefe shrugs one shoulder. “Linh wanted to see if you guys had lilies, so we closed the shop and came over here.”

“You-” Fitz blinks at him- “You just… closed your store? Randomly?”

“I mean, what’s the point of owning a store if you can’t just close it at any moment?”

“I…”

The shorter woman- Linh, Fitz remembers- appears behind Keefe with a pot of Canada lilies. She sets them on the counter and smiles at Biana.

“Thanks for helping me find these,” she says. Biana flushes slightly.

“No problem. Have a good day.”

“You too!” Linh picks up her flowers and turns toward the door. Keefe shoots Fitz a smile.

“Nice to meet you,” he calls. “See you around.”

Fitz nods slightly before they’re gone. As soon as the door closes, tiny bell at the front chiming merrily, he lets out a long breath. Biana’s still staring at the doorway.

“Uh.” She says.

“Yeah,” Fitz agrees. “Yeah.”

-/-

To be quite honest, Fitz isn’t expecting to see Keefe (or Linh) the next day. He’s not sure he wants to. A nervous, bubbly feeling rises in his gut each time he thinks about it, and he needs to work. He should just focus on the flowers and not think about anything else.

Unfortunately, flowers are incredibly boring. Fitz loves them, but they’re not exactly the best distraction material; he waters the peonies, rearranges the daisies, and moves one vase of tulips over to the counter for better visibility. And then he has nothing to do.

Not to mention that it’s Wednesday, which is always one of the lowest-traffic days in a week. Fitz has seen maybe three different customers by the time lunch rolls around, and he doesn’t even feel like moving into the back to eat. Might as well stay out here and watch people walk past the front window.

His head snaps up as someone opens the door.

“Keefe!”

“Hey,” Keefe says, flopping down onto the stool in front of the counter. “Business slow over here too?”

“Yeah. What’d you need?”

“Well-” Keefe waves a sketchbook in the air- “I have to practice art, for stencils and all that, and I figured, flowers are fun to draw. It’ll be a change of pace, at least.” He grins at Fitz. “So, can I lurk in the corner of your shop and sketch?”

“Uh, sure?” Fitz blinks. “Just don’t interrupt customers.”

Keefe pumps his fist and moves his stool against the wall, leaning his sketchbook on his lap. Fitz does his best to ignore him and moves back up to the register to help the tiny blond woman who’s purchased a huge bouquet of marigolds.

“Thank you,” she says as Fitz hands her back her credit card. “My girlfriend is going to love these.”

“No problem,” Fitz responds, smiling. “Have a nice day.”

He turns to look at Keefe after the woman’s gone, bent over his notebook furiously scribbling. Five minutes later, he slams the page down on the counter.

“Eh?”

Fitz picks it up, marvelling at the accuracy; it’s the marigold buyer, the teasing light in her eyes somehow captured even in a black-and-white sketch.

“Wow,” he says, handing the page back to Keefe. “This is amazing.”

“Psh.” Keefe waves a hand in the air. “It’s not that good.” Still, his cheeks have a definite tint to them as he snaps his sketchpad closed. “I should be getting back to the shop. My lunch break is definitely over.”

“All right,” Fitz says. He’s not sure why he feels so sad. “See you tomorrow?”

Keefe gives him a thumbs-up and ducks out of the store.

-/-

It’s a week after the first time Keefe comes into the shop on his lunch break that Fitz finally says something about it.

“Doesn’t Linh need you?”

Keefe looks up from his latest drawing- this one an inked recreation of the vase sitting in the front window. He’s been running his hand through his hair as he works, so it’s sticking up all over the place. Fitz chooses to ignore the warm feeling in his gut.

“Huh?”

“At the shop,” Fitz elaborates. “Don’t you two need to be doing, like tattoo stuff?”

“Nah. She’s on break right now too. Honestly, it’s just nice to get out of the store and away from her terrible attempts at flirting with Biana.”

“Wait, Biana’s over there?” Fitz blinks. “She usually goes to Starbucks for lunch. If she goes out at all.”

Keefe shrugs. “I don’t know. She’s been coming in to eat lunch with Linh for the past couple days now.” He cocks his head at Fitz. “Why? Are you trying to get rid of me or something?”

The question is teasing, but the underlying edge shows how much Keefe cares about the answer. Fitz hurries to backtrack.

“No! I was just- wondering.”

Shrugging again in a way that says it’s fine and also can we end this conversation, Keefe glances towards the door. “Today’s pretty low-traffic, huh?”

“Yeah,” Fitz says. “Wednesdays usually are.”

“Huh.” Keefe drums his fingers on the table, seemingly bored of sketching, before his eyes light up. “Do you know how to play Spit?”

“Do I know how to play what?”

“Spit! It’s a card game.” Out of nowhere, Keefe produces a deck of cards. Fitz looks around the empty shop and sighs.

“Sure, why not. Let’s play.”

Fifteen minutes later, Fitz slaps his hand down onto the smaller pile of cards, yelling triumphantly as he picks it up. Keefe groans.

“I win,” Fitz grins at him. This is the first game he’s won since they started playing, and he is probably far too excited. He slips off their stool, heading over to one of the tulip displays and picking out a wilting flower that had been bothering him. Behind him, he can hear Keefe get to his feet.

“I should probably be getting back,” he says. Fitz nods and turns around to face him, hand holding the tulip coming out almost automatically. Keefe looks at it quizzically. “Are you… giving me a flower?”

“Uh.” Fitz says, shrugging as nonchalantly as he can. “Yes? I mean, if you don’t want it, that’s okay, I wouldn’t be offended or anything- not that there’s anything to be offended by, it’s just a flower-”

Keefe plucks the tulip out of his hand, staring at it for a minute. “It’s pretty,” he says. “Thanks.”

Then he turns and leaves the shop.

-/-

Fitz is a little worried that the impromptu flower-giving is going to make things awkward, but when Keefe comes back the next day, there’s no sign that anything has changed. He still sets up in the corner, still jokes with Fitz between customers. They’ve settled into a peaceful rhythm; it’s simple, easy in a way things haven’t been in a long time.

And when, a few days later, Fitz hands Keefe another tulip on his way out, the smile he gets is genuine.

They start to hang out outside of work, just little trips; heading up to the Bronx Zoo to see the elephants (Keefe claims he’s not invested in them, but the way he gasps as soon as he sees one says otherwise), walking along the boardwalk at Coney Island with Biana and Linh. Fitz smiles and takes photos and tries to ignore the looks Biana sends his way- they’re friends, this is what friends do. It doesn’t mean anything.

It means so little that, when Keefe suggests they get matching ‘bros’ tattoos, Fitz agrees.

He’s pretty sure he’s drunk. No, scratch that; he’s definitely sure he’s drunk. It’s been a long week, and he’s drunk, and this is not a good idea.

But Keefe- drunker than him, that’s for sure- is holding tight to his hand, pulling him along the street. He turns back, grinning brightly under the soft light of a streetlamp, and Fitz feels warm all over.

So. They get the tattoos, and now Fitz has proof of his totally-platonic feelings inked along his collarbone.

This is fine.

-/-

“What do you think, lilies or asters?” Biana slides the tattoo book over to him, and Fitz examines the carefully-drawn designs.

“Asters,” he answers, thumbing through the pages. “Assuming you’re getting them in color. Purple looks nice on you.”

Biana nods, tracing patterns on her as-of-yet uninked arms. Fitz frowns. “You sure you want to get flowers on your other arm too?”

“Yes,” his sister says confidently. “I didn’t go for both arms the first time because I wasn’t sure how good they’d turn out, but Linh’s doing these, so I know they’ll be beautiful.”

Fitz raises an eyebrow. “Linh’s doing these, huh? So you two will be alone in a room together for hours?”

Biana glares at him and Fitz offers her an innocent smile. “Look, you should just get together already. Ask her out or something.”

Offering him her most you’re being an idiot look, Biana snorts. “Like you’re one to talk. How many not-dates have you been on with Keefe?”

“That-” Fitz sputters. “That’s completely different!”

“Is it? How?” Biana picks her bag up off the counter- it’s almost closing time. Fitz scowls, clenching his hands into fists.

“Because you have a chance!”

The store is silent for a moment before Biana sighs softly, giving him a quick hug. “Oh, hon.” She looks him straight in the eye, smiling a little. “You’ll figure it out.”

Then she shoulders her bag- “Gotta run!”- and leaves Fitz standing in the middle of the shop, completely and utterly confused.

-/-

He’s still confused the next day, trying to focus on customers and work. He completes his to-do list for the next week just in one morning, and is getting a head start on designing flower arrangements for a wedding- a wedding six months away- when Keefe walks in.

“Hey, dude,” he says mildly, dropping down beside Fitz. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Fitz responds, harsher than he means to. Keefe blinks.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes,” Fitz says, and then, “No.” To hell with it, he thinks, turning to face Keefe head-on. “I’m annoyed at myself because I can’t control my feelings.”

Keefe tilts his head, a glimmer of something that might be hope in his eyes. “Control what feelings?”

“All of them,” Fitz laughs hollowly, “but especially the ones for you.”

He looks down at his lap, afraid to look at the other man. “We keep doing all this ‘friend stuff’ that feels like it should be a date, but it’s not, and I’m just- I just. I’m sorry, I’m rambling again-”

“Don’t worry about it.” Fitz chances a glance upward to see Keefe grinning at him. “I think it’s sweet.”

-/-

They can’t, unfortunately, remove the misbegotten ‘bros’ tattoos. Instead, Linh carefully inks two images next to each one; a heart, and a flower.

#lynn rambles #keefitz #keefe sencen #fitz vacker #linh song #biana vacker #my writing #kotlc

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duck-writer · 4 years ago

Text

De-Aged Donald Duck AU Ch.2

Part one can be read here.

Louie paced back and forth frantically while his now de-aged uncle struggled to find his way out of the over-sized clothes. The image would have been adorable and maybe something worthy of slight blackmail material for the future if Louie wasn’t panicking about how badly a turn his plan took!

“Oh man, oh man, oh man...” He muttered to himself as he tried to think of what to do next. It was a horrible sudden reminder that he hadn’t really thought his plan through.

He was completely fine with there no being a fix when it was him who would be de-aged and needed to be taken care of. Now he was sort of realizing that his family would most likely embark on some sort of quest or adventure to find a way to cure him. After that, he’d probably be grounded for a month if not more!

“Halp! I needs halp! Dewwa!”

“Aw man...that would be too cute any other day.” Louie had to admit to himself. Snapping out of his panic slightly, he knelt and helped his uncle out of his adult clothes. “There...better?” He asked gently.

“Thank ‘ou.” Donald muttered but then wrapped his arms around himself. “No weally. Is cold.” Looking around he frowned before staring up at the other duck before him. “What yous name? Me’s Donal! ...have seen Dewwa? She wook lots wike me!” Donald said happily before he shivered a bit.

Louie grabbed his uncle’s blazer and used it to wrap the young duckling in, and then picked him up. “Hi Donald. I’m Louie. Uh...can you tell me how old you are?”

Donald wiggled in Louie’s hold as he tried to get his hands free and then he held up three fingers in one hand and another finger in the other. “Dewwa and Donal fouw!” But then he looked around and frowned at not seeing any trace of his sister. “Where Dewwa?”

“Uh...” Louie hesitated on how to answer. The way Donald was looking around, a slightly scared expression on his face brought back some memories of himself doing that. He used to do it a lot when they each finally got their own beds instead of sharing one. As much as he liked having his own thing, he was very used and very close to his brothers. Not to mention the night seemed scarier when he was on his own.

Even though he was aware of his uncle and mother being twins, he didn’t think too much of it. But he supposed it made sense that they would have the same strong bond as he and his brothers did.

Seeing more fear slip into his uncle’s face, Louie held him closer and rocked him a little. “Hey, it’s okay. Shh...you’re safe, I promise. I...I know this is scary, but it’s gonna be okay.”

He wasn’t sure if it was going to be okay. In fact, he couldn’t even fathom how much trouble he was going to be in if he was caught. That was a thought for later though, his uncle needed to feel secure. Sneaking out of the garage, by some miracle he’s able to make it to the houseboat. He places his uncle Donald on the hammock and starts to look through some of their old belongings that should be in storage.

“Aha!” He cheers when he finds an old suitcase. It was full of their old baby and toddler stuff. It took a bit of digging but he found Dewey’s old pair of PJs and got the younger duck into them. That at least solved the naked and cold problem.

Now to think of what to do next.

The responsible thing to do was to come clean and ask for help on how to fix this.

That was going to have to wait because Louie heard a stomach growl and it wasn’t his. Looking over he saw the toddler look at him with big, pleading eyes and rubbing his tummy. “Hungy...”

“Four-year-olds can eat solid food right?” He asked his uncle as if he knew. Though the toddler nodded, he pulled out his phone and double-checked on the web just in case.

Louie picked up the toddler and brought him into the kitchen area and sat him down on the floor so he could keep an eye on him. Looking around he debated on what was okay for the toddler to eat. His uncertainty made choosing hard, so in the end he grabbed some tangerines. Since they were kids his uncle always had them on the houseboat. They were juicy and fresh and very easy to peel. He peeled two and that was enough for now. Louie could go back to panicking about what to do next.

“Louie?”

Louie’s head snapped towards the entrance when he heard his mom’s voice. “Oh crud!”

Donald giggled at Louie’s choice of word, and even though he was moments away from being in trouble...that was just really cute. He didn’t have time to hide his uncle, so he simply begged for him to stay put while he handled the situation.

“Donald? Did Louie stop by here? I could have sworn I saw him with a-Oh! Louie, there you are.” Della said when she was greeted by Louie at the stairs.

“Hi! Uh...what’s up?”

“It’s almost time for bed. The boys said you were having a talk with your uncle, but I thought I saw you running away from the house. Thought I’d check to see if everything was okay?” Della knew that she and Louie still had work to do before they were 100% on the same page. As much as she wanted to come back to her eggs and be accepted as their mother fully she was learning to accept that their mentalities were different. While she had them on her mind all the time she was on the moon, they and the rest of the world had assumed the worst. She had to be patient...not her best virtue, but at least her best practiced one on while away.

“Sure! Everything is a-okay! Dandy even, ya know?” Louie did his best to sound nonchalant and cool about the situation.

Della’s parental instincts immediately kicked in and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Where’s your Uncle Donald?”

“...he’s in here. Ya know, having a snack.” It wasn’t a lie.

“Well, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if his sister came in and wished him goodnight,” Della said and tried to take a step down.

Louie blocked her from doing so by standing in her way with his arms stretched out, “No! You...you can’t! Uh, see thing is...uh....since Storkules Uncle Donald’s been really strict about who comes in and...and I think that’s just something we should respect, ya know?”

“Louie. What’s going on?” Della asked as she knelt down and tried to get a view inside.

“Nothing!” Louie tried to insist.

“Momma?”

Both Louie and Della stilled. Louie turned around and saw his toddler uncle at the foot of the stairs staring up at them. Louie was already scrambling to explain himself, tears of frustration and guilt as he knew he was in trouble and rightly so.

Whatever form of yelling he expected didn’t come however. Looking up at his mom, he saw a pained and still somehow soft expression as she made her way down the stairs and picked up toddler Donald.

The toddler in turn furrowed his brow as he got a better look at the woman who was holding him. He crossed his arms and huffed, “Twick! No momma!”

“I...no. I...Oh god, Donald.” She breathed and held the toddler close as she tried and failed to fight back tears.

Donald fussed and wiggled until Della had no choice but to set him down. He looked between Louie and Della and his bill began to quiver because he was scared! He didn’t know them! He didn’t know where he was! “I wan’ go home! To momma and daddy! An’ Dewwa! Now!”

“Hey, it’s okay little dude...” Louie tried to calm him down.

It seemed like his uncle’s anger issues stemmed way back. He could see a temper tantrum about to come on and he could guess it wasn’t going to be pretty.

But before he could explode, his mom knelt in front of toddler Donald and grabbed his hand. It confused both Louie and Donald for a second, and then Donald’s face shifted to slightly more confusion and then wonder as his mom traced something in the palm of his uncle’s hand.

Toddler Donald looked up with wonder and confusion as he asked, “Dewwa?”

Della smiled sadly but nodded, “Yeah, Donnie...it’s me.”

Donald’s bill quivered a bit more, then he began to hit and punch at Della but it didn’t have the anger that had been building up before. “You meanie! You’s old! No fair, no fair, no fair!”

“Hey. Ow, okay...hey, look. It’s okay Donnie. It’s okay!” Della tried to soothe him.

Donald jumped back and glared at Della, eyes glistening with tears that streamed down his face. He stomped his feet and had his hands balled into fists at his sides, “It no kay! Dewwa gwow up wiffou’ Donal! Das no how posed go! We posed to go togatha! Das wha’ twins posed do!” Then he fell back on his butt and began to cry, “You’s leave me! Is no fair!”

Though she didn’t know how it came to be, she got the impression that Donald didn’t have the memories passing the age his body was at, at the moment. He didn’t mean to hurt her, he wasn’t aware of the events with the Spear of Selene. She’d been so focused on the pain she caused for leaving and the consequences of not being there for her sons, she hadn’t paid that much attention to the fact that she left Donald behind too.

Her twin.

She pulled him back into her arms, even as he struggled a bit. Eventually, he just clung to her and cried, and she joined him.

Louie felt very awkward, as if he was intruding in a moment he wasn’t invited to.

Before he could make his escape or excuse himself, Dewey alerted them of his presence, Huey and Webby not too far behind.

“Whoa, no way! Was there a fourth brother? And are those my old pjs?!”

~~~~~~~

Chapter two! I hope you guys like it >.> !

#De-Aged Donald Duck AU #Ducktales 2017 #Donald Duck #Louie Duck #Dewey Duck #Huey Duck #Della Duck #Fanfic

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lettheladylead · 4 years ago

Text

avoid the unhappy ending (ch7)

ships/characters: Goldie, Della, Scrooge/Goldie words (ch7): ~2100 summary: Goldie comes to town to see Scrooge. Instead, she somehow manages to run into literally everyone else. ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27108943/

[1 & 2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Chapter 7 under the cut:

Avoiding Beakley was a little more difficult than anticipated when they were on the same floor of the same house. In retrospect, Goldie realized that Bentina probably knew she was there. How could she not? The red triplet knew a lot of things he couldn’t have known unless the kids were texting each other all afternoon and surely she was on some kind of text chain.

Eh. If she knew, Goldie would probably be the hunt of the day. Instead she was able to wander about freely, making her way towards the garage where Scrooge kept a lot of his treasures. Everytime she was there it seemed to be missing things that were there before. But at least there were always new trinkets to look at!

She looked around as she stepped down the hallway, taking in all the photos and paintings lining the walls. Scrooge was so narcissistic. How many times could someone commission their own face before getting tired? And did he pose for all of them? Absolutely ridiculous.

A certain painting caught her eye and Goldie paused in her walk to really take a look at it. She stepped closer and brought a hand up to the image, feeling a nostalgic warmth in her chest as she rubbed her finger along the edge of his face.

It was Scrooge back in the Klondike - probably only a few years after they’d first met. Not too different from the photo she kept in her wallet.

He was very handsome back then. She hated to admit how much it struck her, that underneath all that dirt and grime and sour roughness he had the cutest face she’d ever seen - but Goldie was taken the first moment she saw him. It didn’t stop her from drugging and robbing him, sure, but he was the only sourdough that made her hesitate.

It’d been a few minutes before Goldie realized she was just standing there, staring at this painting and reminiscing like an old fool. She blushed, glad no one was around to see, and continued on her journey down the hall.

This house had so many distractions. No wonder Scrooge just wandered around, lost in his memories all the time. Her place was kept much neater - things she wanted to remember were kept in a box or her wallet so she would have to seek them out if she wanted to reminisce. Just another in a long list of reasons why she didn’t like being here for too long.

The door ahead of her was open wide and Goldie could clearly hear the sound of someone struggling with...something. It didn’t sound like Scrooge, but she wasn’t sure who it was.

A few steps forward, a turn around the corner, and three steps down the stairs and Goldie was inside the cramped little room. There weren’t as many treasures in it as last time - maybe Scrooge moved them somewhere else? - but directly in her line of sight was a duck she hadn’t seen in a long time trying to move a heavy-looking box by pushing it with her back.

Goldie smirked, feeling a sparkle to her eyes that she was very embarrassed about. Before Louie, she’d never gotten attached to any of Scrooge’s kids. He specifically asked her not to, several times, because he didn’t want her hurting them. A painful insinuation, but he was right. She would’ve treated them just the same as him, and kids can’t handle that kind of drama.

That being said, she always liked Donald and Della. They were funny, they were different, and they were very annoying. But in a good way! Donald was whiny and loved to complain about his family. Della was crazy and high-flying and always took her jokes too far. Goldie didn’t imagine they thought very highly of her, considering the way she treated their uncle. But despite their lack of closeness, Della confided in Goldie when she first realized she was pregnant.

“You’ve known Uncle Scrooge longer than anyone,” she’d said quietly. “...do you think he’ll be mad? Disappointed?”

Goldie had barely known what to say to her then, mostly feeling bad that her mother wasn’t around to help in this kind of situation (or any other adult women, really). She knew what she would’ve done herself and what she would’ve said to the girls she used to work with back at the saloon. But this was different. This girl wasn’t her friend and wasn’t scared of motherhood - she was just entering unfamiliar territory.

“He’ll be more excited than you’ve ever seen him, trust me.”

Shaking off another spell of nostalgia, Goldie hurried over to help the younger duck with the big box in her hands, tugging at it while she pushed. Her shoulder stung at the pressure, but she wanted to make a fun entrance.

“Hey, thanks!” Della said, without looking back.

Goldie wondered who she thought was helping her. “No problem, Fly Girl.”

“Heh,” Della stopped for a second. “No one’s called me that since -”

She stopped and finally turned, taking in the smirking face staring right at her. Her fingers gripped at the top of the box tightly and her eyes started to sparkle. And then they stopped sparkling and she glared. And then they sparkled again.

Goldie raised an eyebrow. Internal dilemma?

“Aunt Goldie!” Della yelped, lifting herself over the box and slamming into Goldie - knocking them both to the ground.

Goldie took the brunt of the impact, letting out a loud OOF! as Della squeezed her tight and made her poor shoulder flare up. She didn’t get a chance to hug back before the younger duck pulled away and stood back up, her metal leg clanging on the hard floor.

“Sorry, sorry,” Della said softly, standing back up. “What’s up? What’re you doing here? What are you stealing?”

Goldie sat up straight, taking a moment to stare at Della’s leg. She knew she’d returned, but no one had really shared any details. This seemed like one of those big details that deserved to be shared, but maybe everyone was just used to it already. She started to push herself up when Della leaned over and helped her stand.

“Hey, hey,” Goldie brushed her hands off. “I’m not that old just yet.”

Della laughed and pulled her hands back. “Oh no, of course not! You’re a million years old, but somehow younger looking than you were before I disappeared.”

“Hilarious.” She crossed her arms over her chest, not really offended. “You sound exactly like one of your kids.”

That immediately brought a sparkle to Della’s eyes. “Yeah? That’s what Donald says, too!” She leaned on the box and smiled. “And Uncle Scrooge.”

Goldie smiled despite herself and Della felt a warm nostalgia brush over her. “So are you here to see Scrooge? I’m kind of glad you guys are still doing this whatever-it-is-you’re-doing thing. So many things changed while I was gone, it's nice to have some consistency!”

Ignoring the question, Goldie leaned against the shelf behind her. “I didn’t come around too much while you were away. Scrooge was always so depressed, it wasn’t any fun to tease him.”

Della grimaced and sighed, turning away. “...yeah. So I’ve heard.”

There was an awkward silence for a few moments that Goldie fully acknowledged was her own fault. She bit the inside of her cheek and cleared her throat. “Well, um. Yes, I guess we’re still doing whatever this is.”

“No labels, yet?” Della’s mood did a 180. “But you didn’t object when I called you Aunt Goldie this time! What’s that about?”

Goldie scoffed. “I was a little distracted by you plowing me into the ground.”

Della just smiled bigger. “Still not objecting!”

Goldie didn’t look at her and opted to focus on playing with her hair. She hummed. “...I’ve never really minded it that much. It’s cute.”

“Do the kids call you Aunt?” She lifted herself up, sitting fully on top of the box. “You said I sound like them. You’ve spent time with them, then?”

“Don’t get too excited.” Goldie pushed herself off the shelf, standing up straight and stretching her arms. “I spent a day with Sharp-, er, with...ah, Louie. But not the others.” The name felt foreign on her tongue.

Della excitedly tapped the box lid. “Were you going to call him Sharpie?” She laughed. “You’ve gotten a lot less creative with nicknames over the years.”

“I don’t know if Fly Girl is all that creative, either,” Goldie said with a smirk and walked closer to the box, leaning against the side of it.

There was a light clang as Della swung her legs back and forth. “No one appreciates my great names,” she said proudly. “The boys were supposed to have much cooler names! And they’re calling my Cloudslayer the Sunchaser? Like, what’s up with that?”

“What were those names?”

“Jet, Turbo, and Rebel!”

Goldie silently blinked at her. “Um…yeah. Fantastic names.”

“Thanks!” Della smiled brightly, still not accustomed to sarcasm after being alone for so long. “Donald’s picks are just so old-fashioned.”

“Personally, I’m a fan of old fashioned.”

“Yeah, well, when you live through it, it makes sense to get attached!” Della laughed and swung her legs again.

The metal sound caught Goldie��s eye and she glanced down again, though this time Della took notice.

“You haven’t asked me about my leg yet.”

“I was trying to be polite,” Goldie said with a frown. “What happened?”

“Lost it on the moon,” she responded, looking off at nothing while she spoke. “It was the second most painful experience of my life, and I’m lucky I knew enough about robotics to build myself this sucker in only a few months. I don’t know how well I would’ve done if I wasn’t able to move around, y’know?” Della reached down and twisted off her prosthetic, holding it in front of her to point at different parts while she spoke. “This joint was the worst, took me almost two straight weeks to figure out what I was doing wrong. And now that I’m back, Gyro’s been offering to tweak the design, and he kind of owes me for the stupid licorice gum, but I like how I made it! And, of course, according to Junior Woodchuck Rule #42, something made right doesn’t need any tweaking. Though some upgrades might be cool.”

Goldie stared down at the metal limb and hummed. “I’m impressed. In all my years adventuring, I’ve never lost a limb, but I don’t know if I’d bounce back from that the way you did.”

“Yeah, well, I had to get back to my boys!” She twisted her leg back on and stretched it out. “You know how it is.”

“I really don’t,” Goldie said with an eye roll.

“Hmmm.” Della adjusted herself, moving her legs on top of the box and sitting on them. “Don’t you have anyone in particular you think about during life or death situations? That’s the feeling I had. That I couldn’t die ‘cause I had to get back to them no matter what.”

The blonde stared down, looking at the gray concrete of the floor and thinking. Of course there was a person - one particular person - who her mind drifted to when she thought about survival. But it wasn’t just about seeing him again...she was inspired by him and his ability to make it through anything thrown his way. He survived so much on his own and she struggled to accept when he started needing help. Della’s lovey dovey family monologue was just reminding her of how long it took her to adjust to Scrooge’s family suddenly being a part of his life.

She stood up straight and put a hand on her hips. “I don’t know if everyone can identify with that. But I’m glad it helped you come back in one piece.”

Della smiled, completely aware of the long pause Goldie took before answering. She always liked Goldie - didn’t trust her, would never fully trust her - but she liked her a lot. Even when she showed up just to ruin things or piss Scrooge off, there was always a little spark of warmth at the knowledge that she’d be back eventually.

“So…” Della tapped her hands against her thighs. “You never said why you’re here.”

“Right,” Goldie sighed and brushed some hair out of her face. “Looking for your uncle. Have you seen him?”

“As expected,” the younger duck responded with another bright smile. “Did you check his study?”

“His study?” Goldie frowned and thought about the path of her day. “Of course I...er…” Did she check his study? The most obvious place he could possibly be? “...right. Thanks.”

Della laughed again, patting Goldie on the back. “Don’t sweat it! And hey, let us know if you’re staying for dinner! I’m sure Mrs. Beakley will be happy to make you a plate!”

Goldie grimaced as she headed back out the door. “Oh, sure. She’d love nothing more.”

“Okay, great!” Della waved as the door closed again.

#scroldie #ducktales #goldie o'gilt #della duck #fic #fics #avoid the unhappy ending

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callme--starchild · 5 years ago

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If I Could Begin To Be

"You know you have one more wish, you could have anything."

Gene's words had been very clear in his ears as he held him by the shoulder, being able to witness the broad smile that outlined in his beak as he extended his arm, trying to demonstrate all the possibilities at his disposal with the magic of the lamp. Likewise, Donald was not a fool, he knew the limitations that the magic of geniuses could have.

Honestly, maybe that was what kept him so hesitant.

He could see Goofy in the distance. He was still lying on the ground, somehow the genie kept the scorpions away from him and had kept what looked like his official merchandise, and he couldn't say he would be surprised if he was seeing Maxes; everything seemed to indicate that he would be a good father even before his son was born, a good-natured unlike him, not allowing himself to be guided by selfish desires and driven by the love between his son and he.

On the other side was his family, and when he thought of them, he was immediately aware of the gazes, completely different emotions that keep him grounded. Della and Scrooge wore supportive smiles, and how to blame them after having shamelessly stripped them of all their essence?

His kids, all four, wore smiles that barely reached their eyes, but they looked so warm that they broke Donald because, sincerely, he would rather see those lovely ducklings upset with him for lying to them, for the sole purpose of keeping them in a fantasy of a perfect, normal family.

But Goofy was right, and he knew he should thank him as soon as he woke up. Adventures was what made his family normal. Even his mother and aunt Tillie used to accompany Scrooge, it was basically a family tradition.

He couldn't take all of that away for being the black sheep and wishing to eradicate the family.

Even Mrs. B, still with her severe expression and while checking his old friend, knew that she was waiting for his wish.

Did he feel pressured? Maybe, because an idea had popped into his mind but it had been long gone.

"Okay, Donnie. Whatever you ask for, you'll have our support” wow, he had really missed hearing that. His sister's warm and gentle voice had always had a calming effect in a way that not even he could understand, perhaps it was the nostalgic and reminiscent factor to their mother? The brightness of her gaze was dimly muted, and both twins knew they had a lot to talk about.

Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if Huey, Dewey, Louie, and even Webby were muttering things to each other. He had raised those triplets for eleven years, and the beautiful addition of the female duckling to the family was one more reason to his gray feathers and larger servings of black coffee, so he was already aware of many of their antics, or their vague attempts to maintain communication codes that he had practiced for years with Della; and frankly deserved them.

That they talked about him behind his back couldn't be new to him, but now he couldn't blame them for it.

“Ye deserve it, son; it’s tru’ tha’ this family can be a he’dache” and there was Scrooge; the old man giving him a smile that reminded him of those days of yesteryear when everything was fine and it was only Scrooge McDuck and the Duck Twins against the unimaginable and willingly ignoring the reproachful “hey!”s of his grand-nephews “if ye nid yer space, Ah think we can understand it.”

There was something in his gaze that Donald couldn't decipher, and that didn't stop him from feeling less strong.

He did not deserve this family, he thought listlessly; they were too forgiving for his liking. Maybe he was the problem.

“Are you sure?” The genie was still around his shoulder at that moment, smiling patiently, waiting for the last wish of the lamp master, but he could not risk breaking the contact, no matter how amateur he was not. Maybe it was the second thing that kept him going.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Beakley picking up Goofy. His friend was still not regaining consciousness, but his breathing was steady and he kept a smile on his face, which must mean there was nothing to worry about. As if on cue, the merchandise was gone in an instant, as if it had never been there.

“Of course bro. Back on the moon…” Della stopped abruptly as she remembered the catchphrase of his desire, and at her empty expression he couldn't laugh at the irony because that would be shameless and because he too had been a victim of Lunaris and— “I just thought of see my four boys happy. And I mean all four, Donald.”

Her voice was broken. By the time she had come closer, her metal leg ringing against gold and she had taken one of his hands in hers, he had already begun to feel his eyes burn and his sight blur.

He had really missed his sister. What was he thinking when he thought he could change it?

She had always been that way, ever since they were children, and putting aside her interest in the next adventure. When faced with a new change, especially the change in his voice, his sister had always been like this to take his hands, tell him how much she watched over his happiness, remind him of how much she loved him and allow him to cry on her shoulder. According to his sister and his uncle, until falling asleep.

"Whatever you ask for, however far-fetched it is, you'll always have your family to back you up." Winking at him, she silently thanked when Gene quietly pulled away from her twin to cradle him instantly.

In just an instant, Donald had gone from being the father of her boys to becoming the sensitive and shy duckling she remembered.

In just an instant, the twins had gone from proud adult parents to the wee bairns Scrooge remembered, when the orphan wound was still fresh. How, despite their few minutes apart, Della could take the role of the alpha twin.

"I'm really sorry, Dells." Donald's voice had grown hoarser, even his sister had trouble understanding the message, but when she did, she gently patted his back.

She preferred to ignore how her brother had cringed after hearing his voice again; and though it had been surprising to hear him with another during his desire — that if it was included in his fantasy, she feared for the answer — she preferred that raspy voice with which she had grown up.

"I know you didn't do it maliciously, Donald; I couldn't be mad at you for a long time even if I wanted to. Unless you deserve it.” Della smiled slyly when she heard her brother laugh; it was broken, but it was sincere and apologetic.

Same as him.

Though reluctant he turned away from his sister, rubbing his eyes to withdraw the tears that had had the decency not to flow. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the genie talking to his nephews, with Dewey speaking the most; and while Huey was more timid, Louie analyzed the lamp that he had dropped at some point.

Beakley and Webby kept the scorpions away. It didn't seem like an easy job but they seemed to have the situation under control. Goofy, still in the awkward position he was in by the treasure, had let out a snore.

He was fine.

For his part, Scrooge kept a distance from the twins, keeping a sympathetic smile. He wink at his nephew, saying the same to him.

If they both noticed the discomfort with which he cleared his throat, neither said anything.

But what could he wish for? Ever since he had the use of reason, he had lived typecast to adventures, and though he tried to escape from them, they always found a way to return to his life. He was Donald — Fauntleroy — Duck, and he was Scrooge McDuck's nephew, which could be both a blessing and a curse.

Yes, it had been relaxing not to venture into the unknown, he had never enjoyed a day without magic, archenemies, or near-death experiences, especially since his nephews were not involved in them; but his family was unhappy.

He couldn't bear to see his family unhappy.

At least not now. Because if he saw the adventures in a way that was normal, perhaps he had also been normal?

Maybe a normal voice?

"Don't even think about it Donnie." Donald looked up when he realized he had thought aloud, his hand resting gingerly at the base of his throat. Despite her amused smile, Della was frowning and the brightness in her gaze had dimmed. “Your voice is unique just like you, and I don't want to have a commercial presenter as a brother.”

Even so, the duck managed to smile and exalt a small laugh, though it sounded a bit forced. He hadn't realized how that twisted his sister's smile.

“Come oan lad. Ah know th’re maw be somethin’ else.” Scrooge immediately took a place among the twins to wrap them in his shoulders, watching the triplets chat with Gene as they rummaged through the treasures, how Webby had no problem joining the conversation; which would be normal if it wasn't because they still had scorpions surrounding them.

As if everything that happened was nothing more than his subconscious playing with him.

The warm smile that had invaded his uncle's face and the nostalgic one of his sister, Donald allowed himself to observe again the ducklings who, much to his regret and considering that he still had to apologize to them, did not seem to hold a grudge against him and instead had their beaming smiles of every day.

"There must be something you always wanted to have," Della trailed off, stroking his knuckles in a way that felt too familiar. Perhaps there have been times in his life when his sister could become sweet when she wanted to, despite the multiple tantrums that could have occurred — they were still siblings, after all — but this seemed like a new facet.

Motherhood suited Della very well.

But in one way or another, it was the trigger Donald needed, again looking at the four children, who together had finally chosen to help Beakley with the scorpions while Louie fervently cared for the lamp in the front pocket of his sweater. Dewey and Webby were the most excited about getting their daily dose of adrenaline back, but that didn't stop Huey from hitting some with his book while avoiding stingers as much as possible, or Louie suggesting one thing or another to his siblings. Regardless of the circumstances and the way their personalities collided, the four of them found a way and worked as a team.

A team that held together despite the multiple adversities that arose on its way and found the strength to continue. Even when the issue of the Spear finally came to light, his nephews had remained united, and they had no trouble keeping Webby by their side and reintegrating her even as she made a plan for them to return to Scrooge. When they do not know if they will return from the Shadow War being Magica notoriously more powerful than any enemy they have faced.

Huey, Dewey and Louie (and Webby) had always managed to stay together.

Scrooge and Della (and sometimes he) had accomplished the same, as if the eleven-year absence had never occurred. He didn't care if their ties had grown stronger while he was away — it wasn't the first time this had happened anyway, he was used to it.

He could easily be seen in a team in the company of José and Panchito, since they met in the cabana in their college days. But even if he had no difficulty venturing even with the bombastic but carefree attitudes of his companions reminding him of his sister, he had always detected more chemistry among the Latin birds. And while he loved Xandra and Kay K, for obvious reasons they weren't the friends he could invite over coffee or hang out no matter how much he wanted to see them again.

And he was sure that, even in pairs, his nephews had found a way to work together. Maybe he needed his own team to gradually delve into the dynamics of his family?

Yes, part of him disagreed one hundred percent. He had chosen to completely give up on adventures the instant he knew his sister had taken the Spear of Selene behind his back, but what else could he do when he couldn't even take a relaxing vacation? He missed spending time with the children, even if it was getting involved in one of their shenanigans; and after being ten years estranged from his uncle and eleven from his sister, he doubted he wanted to spend more time away from them — and now that he was holding them like a vice grip he feared they would fade again if he released them.

But he accepted it, he wanted to enter his family's definition of normalcy once again. Perhaps the first step was to get used to this conception, but he knew that he could not alone. He had always been able to count on their help after all, and he doubted that after so long they would stop.

He just hoped that Gene would agree.

"I'm ready to make my last wish," he snapped, making Della and Scrooge jump. Doubting he had stopped hugging them, patting their shoulders gently before approaching the genie, an assertive smile forming on his face as he finished paraphrasing the desire in his mind.

There was something he had always wanted to have.

"At your command, sir." Reverence might have been exaggerated, but being locked up for around two decades might be justification enough. Furthermore, the modest smile on his face demonstrated the patience he had had while he collapsed.

Fortunately Scrooge and his sister had focused on removing the scorpions from Goofy's overnight body, otherwise they would have considered their discretion in making the suspicious wish.

Who might suspect Donald Duck anyway?

“A picture?” Ending to hang the framed photograph, he did not allow his nephew's sarcastic comment to affect him — or at least show that it did not affect him — hearing him wince, along with the already recognized drumming that Dewey's webbed feet cause in the wood. “Did you spend your last wish on a stupid framed photo when I can easily make one on my cell phone?!”

Donald knew that in the blink of an eye he could reproach Louie for the vocabulary, but he knew his nephews well enough to know that his scolding would fall on deaf ears, smiling at the warm homecoming that is listening to the comments bathed in irony of his family. He heard Louie's phone flash in the background as he took the photo.

He didn't know how much he had missed that.

"You could have made infinite wishes, or become a genius yourself!" Louie was growling under his breath, but Donald had watched enough fantasy movies as a child to know that those wishes usually ended badly as tempting as they were, but that didn't fade the smile on his face.

After all, he was satisfied with his wish.

"I like it," and Huey, the sensitive Huey, seemed so happy now that everything was settled, so delighted with his last wish that, well, it made him not have the heart not to object.

Besides that he was also in love with it.

"It’s perfect” how could he not be when it included the whole family doing what they did best, which was to venture? It was amazing how quickly could change a person's mind if they wanted to; even he, who accepted the change weighed on him, was surprised.

It must be that a part of him was anxious about what would happen from now on that he had chosen to go into the unknown with them. Or maybe it was his subconscious playing with him. Again.

"Well Uncle Donald, you know we'd like to stay here, but we have to go; Mom proposed a game afternoon” Dewey sounded apologetic despite the seconds of silence, but still he could hear his sad smile and his body moving.

"Okay, you know the doors will always be open to you." He smiled at them over his shoulder. Maybe they weren't spending as much time in the houseboat as he would like, but that didn't stop him from wanting to remind them that that would always be their home and that they would always be welcome, no matter if they had a bad day or just wanted to hang out — which It was rare, but it didn't make it totally strange.

“Yes!” The triplets chanted happily, catching Donald off guard when they hugged him, the three pairs of arms encircling his waist, but he hadn't managed to reciprocate before webbed feet traversed the wooden floor, exiting the escape hatch before which Donald couldn't help but giggle.

He loved those boys, and as long as he had that perfect framed photo as part of his collection and his family continued to stay together — as it should have been eleven years ago — he would be fine.

He was sure he didn't thank Goofy enough for his prompt service.

But before he could take another step, a soft knock on his door was heard, confusing him. After accompanying Goofy on his long journey back to Spoonerville, the last thing he expected was to receive visitors. Della would spend the rest of the day with the boys, Launchpad had taken his uncle to the Money Bin, and Beakley's visits were rare.

Honestly, now that he was alone, what he needed most was to go to the other side of the city, growling when they knocked again.

“I'm going!” Perhaps he raised his voice more than stipulated, but he couldn't help it. He was in a hurry and was not there to attend to anyone right now.

The strange detail is that he did not usually receive visitors except that it was his sister and his nephews, who never had the decency to knock. Perhaps the only exception were José and Panchito, but they were too indiscreet.

“How can I help you?” He slammed the door open, his expression blank before the white-feathered duck in front of him. Trying not to feel overwhelmed by his tall stature, his groomed jet hair, and his sparkling emerald eyes. He was raising his fist, ready to knock once more.

Especially when they get wide and started scanning him with taut features. Needless to say, his shoulders did not tense. Suddenly he felt threatened.

"Hey! What is the big idea?!” He clenched his fists and grind his teeth. He really didn't have time for this.

He was about to slam the door when the other duck's hand stepped in, opening it with superhuman strength for someone who looked so… puny? Exalting apologies over and over again that did not anything but confused the sailor.

“Sorry, sorry! It's just that…” He inhaled and exhaled, his chest rising and falling apace, his body relaxing as if a burden was suddenly released from his shoulders, laughing sourly with a raspy voice but that revealed self-confidence “it has been years, but seeing you again Donald, it's as if all this time nothing had happened.”

His voice had broken, but that only increased the duck's bewilderment. That had served to partially deflate his anger, but that didn't stop him from feeling his blood boil. He was already wasting a lot of time. That a stranger knew his name was not strange when being the nephew of someone globally recognized as his uncle, but a very different thing is that it was exclaimed with so much trust.

“Excuse me, but do I know you?” And perhaps he sounded so confused that it must explain the incredulous expression of the man in front of him, as if a bucket of ice water had been thrown.

He laughed again, with the sole exception that he now sounded more forced, brushing a lock of hair from his face with a nervous smile at a look that tried not to fade like an old firefly — literally, being overshadowed by the rays of the sun that still hovered over Duckburg.

Perhaps his photographic memory was declining, but he was sure that if he had met someone with an appearance as attractive as the man in front of him, perhaps he would have noticed it. Yes, there was something about his gaze that was vaguely familiar, but he didn't like creating or creating himself hopes when there surely wasn't.

"You can't, you can't be serious Don," he looked so radiant that he would even feel bad about upsetting him, grinning sardonically, clearing his throat as he felt the tension in Donald's body, "it's me, Uno!"

The moment that name had been mentioned, those green irises glowing instantly, Donald felt his legs tremble, holding on to the door frame. He trembled in shock, feeling his eyes burn.

That was not what he had in mind when he made his wish, much less so quickly — at least, until he remembered who was in front of him.

That was not what he expected, but he could not say that he was not satisfied because it would be a vile lie.

"I'm back, Old Cape!" He sounded as impressed as he was, and it was then that he knew it was already perfect .

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popculturebuffet · 4 years ago

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House of Mouse: Max’s Embarrassing Date Review

Hello House Mouses and welcome back to the house of mouse. Another comission by Kev and my second House of Mouse for the valentine’s season. This time we’re not tackling a Valentine’s Episode necesarily, but a romantic one all the same as fan faviorite couple Max and Roxanne finally go on a date. I always liked Max. Even as a kid when I wasn’t the biggest fan of “A Goofy Movie”, didn’t like the darker patches like the principals office scene or the Pete Hot tub scene.. though in hindsight both had legit greviances with Max... it just dosen’t make either less terrible as the principal still told an innocnet man who wasn’t responsible for what his kid did and was trying his best that his son was going to become a crminal because of one stupid but mostly harmless prank, and Pete.. is just an abusive, unlikeable and unlovable ass in both Goof Troop and Goofy Movie, and I hate how he treats his son, don’t blame his wife for leaving him or taking their daughter and dog, and am really sad he got custody of PJ somehow. And for the record this isn’t ALL petes, just this version. The rest are fine and just the right level of asshole.

Point is despite my problems with the first film, I had none with the second and even now I like it due to having some really good ideas and concepts while also being gloirously rediclous due to the loveably dated X-Games element. While I do have a spot in my heart for the Dana Hill and Shaun Fleming versions, especially the latter once upon a christmas is awesome, Jason Marsden’s version is the best by the mile having the right amount of ego mixed with self doubt to make him likeable enough to brook him being an ass to his dad a lot. He’s a good character.. and it baffles me Disney NEVER uses him nowadays. No really, the last time he showed up was in twice upon a christmas and no one liked that because he was dating someone who wasn’t Roxanne just to rehash the same plot they’d already rehashed better in Extremley Goofy Movie. I REALLY need to rewatch that one. Hmm.... gonna see if I can squeeze that one into May or later in April. That’s for another time.

But yeah while he’s at one of the disney parks, that’s it. The character just .. vanished, and hasn’t been brought back in any way shape or form. Though I could see either a Disney Plus reboot of goof troop or a goofy movie with max having his own kids. That could be intresting. Also bring Roxanne back as weirdly this episode i’m reviewing, a goofy movie and now her ducktales cameo are her ONLY apperances.

Seriously I get she’s not the most fleshed out.. but then flesh her out. Like Max she’s crminally underused and while I get her absence as a character in the sequel, the plot really didn’t need her, he still could’ve been dating her off screen. Though clearly the two worked things out and tried again as this episode came out AFTER extremely did. But did this episode work out? Join me under the cut to find out.

As i’ve decided is my standard for House of Mouse Episodes, shorts first, then wraparound, then Mickey Mouse live sex celebration. Though I will say i’ve picked up there are two kinds of formats for the show: They either use two of the longer Mouseworks shorts or just one close to 11 minute short, a medium one, and one of the little two minute segments. There might be a break from this in the future, we shall see but for now those ar ethe two standards. This time we have two longer shorts.

Pluto’s Penthouse Sweet:

I’ve mentioned in the past I dont’ really get why Pluto is part of Disney’s sensational six along with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Daisy. And I stand by that: While he’s had his own cartoons they just aren’t as entertaining and creative as MIckey’s or hilarous and relatable as Donald and Goofy’s. He’s just an average cartoon dog. He works fine in tandem with Mickey, but on his own he’s just nothing and his spot should be taken by pete, who while not a goodie all the time, again the goof troop version needs to step on a rake and fall into a well.. somehow. i didn’t think my insult through. Point is pete is better. And this short isn’t BAD .. but to me it’s what some fans THINK the disney shorts are: Bland, maybe one or two good jokes but almost nothing new or intresting. As I found out last year, that’s far from the case, as a lot of the Donald shorts are still hilarious today and a lot of the mickey shorts are shockingly creative, like Thru The Mirorr where he goes .. well thru the mirror into a wonderland like world where all the inanaimate objects are alive and he can shrink and what not via astral projection, or Mickey’s Mechanical Man, which I sadly didn’t know about when I did the MIckey Birthday Special and for some reason isn’t on disne plus. In it Mickey creates a robot and has it box a monsterous looking gorillia.

How has Mickey piloting this thing but giant sized against various kaiju been a thing yet? And if it has someone tell me. Seriously with all the comics and animated series how. I’d even settle for a Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse episode. Just bring this guy back. Point is there was far more invetnion than it seemed.. at least at first as it slowly died out as they went by the late 50′s. But Pluto just seemed even in their hayday like your standard pet gets into antics thing without the creative slapstick of tom and jerry or the likeablity of sylvester who never could get that asshole Tweety Bird. This is just weak sauce and whiel I could forgive the older shorts, as their from another time and likely lead to say Tom and Jerry... I can’t forgive this which was made probably in 1998 and released in 1999 originally. Comedy had evolved a LOT by that point and unlike the Goofy how to shorts, which are a format that is immortal and still evolved to match the times and felt fresh, these just feel stale and boring and like the last Pluto short I covered this one was a chore to sit through though not nearly AS bad.

Still though the premise is about the same, Pluto’s left to his own devices, and finds a female dog, though in this case she’s VERY intrested in him. I”m also not entirley convinced she’s a dog, but instead one of Jumba’s experiments and that Lilo and Stitch later had to journey to.. wherever these shorts take place to fetch him. Or more likely the house of mouse. I mean Proud Family, Recess, American Dragon Jake Long and Kim Possible all take place int hat universe, why can’t house of mouse? Also tell me you wouldn’t watch an avengers style team consisting of Kim, Ron, Jake, Penny, Probably TJ, Lilo, Stitch and Donald Duck. If you wouldn’t i’d call you a liar because you would be.

Seriously the eyes give her away.... just look at them. Very experimenty. But before Pluto can do it like they do on the discovery channel he has to get past the guard dog.. though how he does produces the one great gag of the short, as he BUILDS A GIANT, TROJAN HORSE ESQUE PLUTO OUT OF JUNK. Just holy shit that’s awesome> It gets him inside, only for him to find his lady friend is a bit TOO affectionate and he has to escape, he does so, and MIckey wonders if he missed him etc lame button. This short was a vacuum of comedy outside of GIANT PLUTO. Seriously where’s my disney giant mecha series. YOu have five main characters, and Pluto among with MANY, MANY side characters, frmo scrooge to the boys to hopefully Della, to even possibly pete and mortimer who could have their own mech against the heroes but maybe join them in the last episode. Maybe max and pj could have some, have a father vs son thing with PJ and Pete. I”m just saying, i’d watch it. I know my nieces would watch it. I know my nephews would watch it. Greenlight it. Or i’ll make it.. somehow.

How to Ride a Bike: Speaking of the How To Shorts, as usual for the House of Mouse era ones.. this was awesome, pretty much what you’d expect, some goofy, pardon the pun, gags about goofy riding a bike and then a fun climax of him in a bike race. Not a ton to add, other than that hamster bike above is genius. Just needs some tweaking. Really funny, really simple, and really good as you’d expect from a good Goofy Short. Easily the best part of the episode.

Max’s Embarrassing Date: So this was a disapointment. Like i’d try to be nice.. but I had high hopes given this brought Roxanne back, and while the premise was stock maybe they’d do something funny with with it.

But no the plot is pretty standard, very predictable and fairly obnoxious. Max has a date with Roxanne, and is playing it cool and what not, but is worried his dad will find out.. which he somehow did offscreen. Probably Clarabelle.. I mean they do go out sometimes in this one, wouldn’t surprise me.

So Max pleads with the rest of the HOM staff to keep him away because he fears his dad will overdo things, which.. is fair and one of the few things I like> He dosen’t want him to overdo it on the mood because this is well.. a first date. He dosen’t want to pressure her or himself and just wants it to be nice and calm. The problem is it’s framed like him once again being embarassed by his dad and having to learn better.

At this point we’d had TWO movies do this already, one of which was only two years old at the time of this episode. This plot is stale as old toast even if it dind’t have goofy in it. And the twist is predictable: the HOM crew end up also overdoing it: Minnie comments on how cute they are and wants candles brought, Daisy gets them a bigger table forgetting how dates work,t hough we do get a great gag of hte 7 dwarves stacked, and Mickey while having .. some.. gopher? I honestly can’t tell who it was, usually i’m better at the cameos. Speaking of which they also have a runner of beast going on a date with Cruella Devile.

I mean is he cheating on his wife? Is she holding his wife hostage? Is this before belle because we see a post transfomratoin beast too so maybe the House of Mouse is an intersection of space and time? That’s.. actually the most resonable answer I can think of honestly and when i’m focusing more on how the hell your gag works than how funny it is, you clearly failed somewhere along the line.

Point is Mickey puts his good friend in a pothole, and not only calls max little max, which while an understnadably close family thing to do is still embarassing, but also takes pictures while their eating the spagetthi.. which i’m 100% sure was Huey’s idea nad had Mickey not interrupted, would’ve been tied up down the middle for a lady and the tramp thing. It’s his signature move. Well that and having a panic attack. That’s also one of mine the others being lettterkenny refrences and sex jokes about disney characters. But yeah this just.. dosen’t work. Them being as embarassing? that’d be fine.. if they weren’t wholly unsympathetic for not only keeping their friend from WELL INTEITONEDLY trying to help his son on his date, something his son shold have no problem with since ROXANNE’S MET HIM. AND IS FINE WITH HIM. AND NEVER CARED ABOUT YOU BEING HIS SON LIKE THE DICKHEADS AT SCHOOL. MINUS BOBBY WHO YOUR FRIENDS WITH FOR SOME REASON. My point is this plot bothers me a lot, and it makes the mickey crew come off like assholes for doing this to thier friend instead of just talking to him like a person. Especially since only ONE of them is a parent and Conviently donald is mostly absent. Likely because he realized this was going to end badly and just agreed to tie the spagetthi like huey taught him to keep his involvment in this shit show and gaslighting his best friend to a minimum.

Eventually Mickey takes things a step too far and has Sebastian almost sing kiss the girl. Max cuts him off though yelling that he just wants them to back off, he just wants them to relax and he TOLD them this, which makes them come off worse as they KNEW he didn’t want this and did it anyway and never apologize becaue apparently the first rule of house of mouse is never apologize for anything, huh huh. Goofy naturally steps in, tells them off and agrees to serve them and Roxanne finds him entertaining and gives him a nose kiss for being a good dad. He’s a good guy that Goof. Roxanne then whispers something in max’s ear at the end of the date... which gives him an audible erection. No really. And given his age is vauge here I’m suddenly super duper uncomfortable so let’s move on.

So max tells them she liked it and wants to come back.. 100% sure that wasn’t what she said but what she said isn’t fit to print and you’ve seen what i’ve said and what I put in the we’ll be right back. Point is he’s happy, though Mickey says we’ll try to make it extra special next time. Mickey.. did you do a space mountain’s worth of pills and cokea nd just forget the entire evening? Did you take some of those hangover roofies/ Why would you do that? Was that pete’s new plan to steal the house of mouse? To drug you guys and make you forget you already paid the rent? Did PJ stop him? Inquiring me wants to know.

Final Thoughts: Yeah this wasn’t a very good episode. Roxanne is wasted despite having a suitable replacment Roxanne voice in Grey Delise, with no real depth just to rehash the plot of the first and second goofy movies. And this one didn’t have an inexpilicable beatnik cafe, PJ getting laid and finally being happy for once, a standard college fraternity plot surgeically infused with an out of nowhere obession with xtreme sports that was nowhere in the first film, Goofy in an afro, Goofy finding love, That disco sequence, and a climax in which Goofy carries Brad Garret out of a fire, then Brad Garret probably kills the villian of the film who certainly deserved it. My points are this episode was an underwhelming rehash only saved by some good shippy moments and a good goofy short. It was weak, not all that funny, and not all that intersting. My other point is that an extremley goofy movie is awesome and also kinda insane and I love it for that. I’m glad I saw this one but i’m really disapointed in how bleh it was. Next time I visit the house of mouse is.. actually in a few days as Pete Does a One Man Show. So yeah already 100% better just by having THAT musical number in it, see you then and if not, there’s always another rainbow.

#house of mouse #max goof #roxanne #the goofy movie #max x roxanne #goofy goof #goofy #donald duck #mickey mouse #minnie mouse #daisy duck #cruella de vil #beast #disney #comissions

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mochuelovelli · 4 years ago

Text

GAAAAHHH OKAY

Let's talk about the Timephoon Episodes

This is such an old topic of discourse but after reading many fanfics, videos, and some posts on the subject I have found little divergent takes on the whole subject.

While commentators are of the mind that, for the most part, the punishment and execution of said punishment for Louie's actions were partially if not fully justified but how she went about it was wrong.

Some fanfic writers and some subsects of the fandom but they are much more critical and often in a more black and white interpretation. Which is valid for vent art. However, I find both these portrayals to be lacking in some nuance.

Specifically when it it comes to who's to blame for the next 3 episodes, and to me, its more than just Della (and Louie but there really isn't much discourse here).

Let's start with Timephoon:

This pretty much solidifies their relationship throughout the episode[Also sorry for no captions]. Multiple times Della is shown to have a very laissez faire style of parenting as she primarily wants her kids to enjoy being kids and having fun. This is probably in part to her personality in general - which is probably what Beakley assumes here - however it is also her want to be loved by her children and even more critically, she doesn't ever want them to suffer like she did. Above all else, she wants them to be happy and feel confident in themselves. We see this in all the previous episode with her and her kids - From Dewey and reassuring him that he doesn't need to prove himself to her [notably in this episode she only shows concern when Dewey himself is in danger, she doesn't give a shit when he almost kills her] to Huey and helping him to have the most fun he possibly can, to even Webby and making sure that she also feels confident in herself regardless in how she goes about things.

Bringing up all these adventures does raise some pretty damning hypocrisy. Della encourage Dewey's reckless behavior in his episode. The lesson at the end wasn't, okay maybe we shouldn't be going on dangerous adventures, it was its okay to be afraid and you don't need to prove to me that you're great I already know you are. Huey's message was similar, albeit more low stakes. Webby's lesson wasn't even that she shouldn't be trying to take such risks to find adventure in the future, it was just a lesson in not being disappointed when things don't work the way you want.

So why wasn't Louie's adventure treated the same? Well... let's look at some more examples of Beakley V Della this episode before we answer that -

This is right before the kids find Bubba, Beakley's reaction is what most people would consider to be parental as she is concerned for the safety of the kids running out in a hurricane. Again we see Della acting casual.

Once Bubba is inside and Huey geeks out about him, Beakley actually smiles bc she knows that something like this means a lot to Huey [keep this in mind for l8r]. She only gets serious after Della says it's neat without much after thought so she gives the lesson of the episode - "Small problems become big problems later if not prevented early."

Next we have Della's faux attempt at being strict with her kids. Letting the irresponsible thing happen as long as they are "safe". While also harkening back to her previous episodes where she also is shown to have this attitude that "the kids can do anything as long as they are safe with ME or Scrooge or another SAFE adult", it is also good to note SCROOGE'S expression here to her patting herself on the back for her parenting. Now he could just be confused as to why Della is taking this "lesson" as a win, but he could be noticing that she really doesn't know what she is doing but unlike Beakley doesn't make any attempts to correct this.

Another scene that people often forget when reviewing this episode, just like with all her other kids she at first takes LOUIE'S side and decides they should just roll with the punches like always. Which honestly is sort if valid because that's kinda Scrooge's whole MO; though he also had others to there to keep him afloat but we all know someone like Scrooge, Della, and the kids hardly see that. I also want to hammer home that, just like with the other boys, she doesn't shy away from displaying that she loves them ALL. A few seconds later, it's subtle but she is shown smiling and patting Louie on the head because like the other kids she just wants him to feel supported. If I was to be critical, I would say this is possibly because she likes the IDEA of her boys more than them but I mean - this is pretty much everyone's attitude towards kids. It might be amplified bc of her trauma but it's not unusual. But even still I would argue that she mainly does love the boys for who they are as she is excited to get to know them.

After Della figures that they are looking for a "master thief", Scrooge and Beakley immediately know it's one of the kids. Shocking her since she later states she is of the belief that her kids are too "good" to do something like this. I also want to bring attention, again, to Beakley smiling (ik im putting a lot of stock into expressions but animation tends to do stuff like this for a reason). She is smiling at whom she expects is Dewey for messing with time and space. Bc even if she planned to scold him, she knows it's just their normal. Scrooge seems to also be of the same mind. Later Beakley gives a really good line about "Even good kids can do dumb things. We got to make sure those dumb things don't turn into bad things like destroying all of existence!".

Mrs. B exists stage right

All jokes aside, this must have been a nightmare for all of them but especially Della. She had just finally admitted that she was out of her depth and made another mistake in parenting. But now it seems like she lost her chance to rectify that. Because for all she knows, Mrs. B will never come back. This is import-ALLRIGHTWEGETIT

Della is then shown explicitly worried about her family. Emotions, insecurities and fear obviously getting the best of her. We don't know exactly what she is thinking but we know she is terrified of the possibility of losing one of her kids. When she asks about Louie, she probably thinks he must have disappeared without her knowing. That she might have already failed more than she could know, because she wasn't there to protect him. She doesn't know - she is "Della Duck" and she doesn't know how to fix this. She didn't expect everything to go so horribly wrong, but that's her theme isn't it?

She is both relieved and understandably PISSED when finding that Louie was responsible for almost destroying the fabric of reality (let me say this again, nearly destroying the fabric of reality). She goes scold both herself and her son about the danger he put them in. Later we see Della, the last one leave and seeing almost everyone she loves vanish. We don't know how long each of the characters who left were in the past but we can assume it was long enough to have to change clothes. Yeah this was probably more of a visual gag but like, the other past characters didn't change their outfits when they came to the present so - (also Launchpad was specific about knowing how the world ends so he had to be there enough for him to understand it). Side note someones gotta write fanfic of these characters time misadventures. I wonder if Dewey and Webby ran into Agent 22.

[Last picture of the infamous scene, side note did anyone notice Launchpad NODDING his head when Della mentioned his time schemes could've cost them their future? He's the only one who knows what happened so maybe Louie's misadventure has more impact than we think-]

Anyways, yeah we know what was said here. But I think it's important to see the reaction the other adults (sorry LP, and Gryo i GUESS) have here BC this is basically why I made this post. What Della decided to do was unquestionably the wrong decision, at least her way of going about it and I will not absolve her of her many MANY mistakes. However, let's remember she wasn't alone in any of this. She was with other parental figures who KNOW more about her kids than she does.

After Louie leaves, why did they think it was good to encourage this course of action? Why did they think giving full parental control to a PTSD, trauma survivor who barely got back less than a month ago was a good idea? Sure it's one thing to not want to overstep your boundaries but are you telling me they wouldn't want to guide her in the right direction at least? We KNOW both Beakley AND Scrooge have their grievences towards Della's parenting strategy or lack there of. Beakley so far doing the most to try and put her in the right direction (which speaks volumes to the problems Scrooge has).

So why wouldn't they explain that, hey, maybe taking away the one thing your kid thinks he is good at ISNT a great idea? Why didn't either say anything about their two day vacation? Something that came up presumingly on a whim and might of prevented (although i doubt it) Louie from trying to steal w/ time? He might have considered pushing back time schemes at least 3 days later. While Mrs. Beakley might be less aware of Louie's insecurities and ambitions, Scrooge definitely isn't. He should have talked to her, and hey we don't see what happens before they leave so maybe MAYBE they did. But again, I doubt it. Seeing as how they all agreed with her at the end, I don't see them trying to meddle with her.

But they should've. They are both experienced guardians and they have nothing to say to her? Plus Donald (goddamn it i almost finished a post w/o him) have THEM responsibility to take care of the kids NOT Della. So they are obligated to help her. Really, the other option other than just well negligence would be not thinking this punishment was a big deal. I wish this aspect was also scrutinized just as much as Della and Louies role in this arc.

Beakley and Scrooge (more so Scrooge) are just as much to blame in what happens as Della if not MORE since they know of her situation in only a way that an experience adult can. There is no excuse for their negligence.

#god this was so long #i just need to rant #i hope im not alone on this feel free to comment or ask me about this crap i dont mind #ducktales #ducktales 2017 #della duck #mrs beakley #scrooge mcduck #dt17 #ducktales timephoon #discourse #i guess #this is misleading this was basically just Timephoon bc u ran out of space so part 2 maybe?

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