Second Floor Common Room, Saturday Afternoon

[chirpchirpchirp]

Two girls had wandered into the attic this morning, one after the other.

It was also two girls who came storming back out again, bickering and arguing their way down several flights of stairs in loud, angry Scottish accents. Did they even actually know what it was they were arguing about? It was entirely possible they didn't! Did that matter? Not at all.

Also, they thought they were ducks.

"-- And that time you tried to use my own nephew against me! Do you figure that was my fault too?"

They could go on like this for a while, folks.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[thishouseishaunted]

"He was your nephew!"

Really, Scrooge. That completely illogical logic was right there.

"All you have to do is admit that I am better than you, and I won't have to have any more schemes!"

That wasn't true at all.

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Until the next time you decide you're going to try to steal my fortune, hmm?"

Come on, Glomgold. Scrooge was on to you. Not that there was anything even vaguely resembling a stretch where this was concerned.

"You might as well give it up, you know. You've never had any luck where your crazy schemes are concerned, and you're hardly about to start now."

It was funny how he could almost sound utterly congenial when he said things like that.

Because he was confident it was true.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

In his quest to discover something going on around the dorms that day that might be a bit more engaging than heading out to the salle for some training with his weapons, Sidon was surprised to hear what sounded like bickering coming from the second floor common room as he approached. What was even more surprising, he felt, was who the bickering appeared to be coming from once he poked his head through the door and then ventured in with a frown of concern.

"Vette?" he asked. "Mae? Is everything alright?"

[thishouseishaunted]

"I don't need luck!" Glomgold insisted. "I am the greatest, richest, and most Scottish duck in the world!"

[chirpchirpchirp]

"You," Scrooge stressed, "are the second-richest duck in the world! And far from being either of the other two!"

Honestly, Flintheart. You were taking this grudge over a single dime just a little far here, weren't you?

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Oh," Scrooge said, rolling his eyes toward the ceiling, Scottish accent as actually, naturally Scottish as it had ever been, Glomgold. "Nothing here I can't handle. Just an old blowhard with delusions of grandeur."

[thishouseishaunted]

Look, this was just what toxic capitalism did to people, okay?

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!"

[thishouseishaunted]

Glomgold stopped bickering mid-sentence and took a good look at Sidon.

"Well hello there, lad," he said. "Have you ever considered a career in the lucrative field of hench-personing?"

Oh the schemes he could hatch with someone like that!

[chirpchirpchirp]

"CAN'T TAKE IT BACK IF IT'S TRUE, CAN I?"

Well, you could, Scrooge, but that would be lying.

[thishouseishaunted]

"You may be richer right now, Scroogie," Glomgold growled. "But you won't be for long!"

He would. He would be forever. Glomgold was terrible at this.

[chirpchirpchirp]

"I sincerely doubt that's the case," Scrooge replied, his own hackles going up courtesy of that nickname.

And... of everything else going on here, too.

"Just face it, the harder you try, the more it's true. I'll always be the greatest, richest, and most Scottish," really, how was that even a question, "duck in the world."

[thishouseishaunted]

"YOU DON'T EVEN WEAR A KILT!"

What kind of Scotsduck didn't even wear a kilt?!

[in_sidon_we_trust]

That accent was certainly giving Sidon pause as he eyed Vette very speculatively before his eyes darted momentarily to Mae and then back again.

"Oh?" he asked, not entirely sure what else to say at that point. "Do tell."

[chirpchirpchirp]

"I DON'T NEED TO WEAR A KILT."

In fact, he didn't wear much of anything over that ducky, ducky butt.

(Fortunately, Vette was.)

[in_sidon_we_trust]

And Sidon did not know Mae nearly well enough to determine how out of the ordinary this all might be for her, but he did have a bit of a feeling in his stomach. Curiosity, very much of the rather morbid variety, however, seemed the order for the day.

"I can't say I ever have," he admitted. "I've rather already got a career plan in mind, and I don't believe I'd make a terribly good hench-person, anyway."

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Really, it ought to go without saying by now," Scrooge complained, pacing the floor as he spoke. "Whatever this one tells you, it's either a lie or a plot, lad. Don't fall for it. He's up to no good!"

On the regular, really.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Lad? Well, that, the accent, the pacing, and pretty much everything else about this situation had Sidon pretty convinced that either something strange was going on in the dorms as a whole, or Vette was the victim of a hungry, chompy gremlin. Naturally, he felt a bit of a surge of empathy for her current state of affairs, while at the same time, thinking that she at least didn't seem to have it as bad as...ahem...some had gotten in the past.

Still, he grinned a little before adopting a very serious face and he nodded. "I shall most certainly keep that in mind," he promised. "My gratitude for the words of warning. I shouldn't want to find myself wrapped up unexpectedly in any trouble or plot..."

[thishouseishaunted]

"I bet you don't even listen to bagpipe music!"

It was almost as though Glomgold's idea of what made a duck Scottish was based entirely on stereotypes.

[thishouseishaunted]

"Ach, but look at the size of you!" He was so big! "Are you sure you don't want to go to work for the richest, most Scottish duck in all of Duckburg?"

[chirpchirpchirp]

"I don't have time for bagpipe music!"

It took a lot of work maintaining one's position as the richest duck in the world when your rival was absolutely insane, Glomgold.

[chirpchirpchirp]

"Ah, see, finally somebody with some sense."

Not 'cents,' though that seemed like the sort of half-baked joke that Glomgold over there would be all over.

"There's a good lad, then. Keep vigilant! Keep keen! And most important of all, keep an eye on him."

Scrooge came by his paranoia honestly, at least.

[thishouseishaunted]

"If you were really Scottish you'd make time!"

[chirpchirpchirp]

"If you really wanted to be the richest duck, you wouldn't!"

A beat.

"Or else you'd use the time you spend plotting against me to listen to bagpipe music, and put the rest of that time into building your company."

This was actually solid advice that Scrooge figured you weren't going to listen to anyway, Glomgold. You're welcome.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

...duck? Duckberg?

Well, while the prince of Zora's Domain was no one to criticize on a lack of originality in place names, that certainly did seem to help him confirm a few sneaking suspicions about what might going on here, and, in a way, he almost admired the fact that Mae could go and get herself gremlin bit not even three weeks in!

So perhaps it was mostly because it was harmless and at least her bite didn't seem to have her wanting to go around marrying the first person she kissed, it was all fairly harmless. Or perhaps it was just the fish in him that made him want to take the bait, but grinning faintly, he supposed he could go along with it. It wasn't like he was doing anything else more productive that day.

"Richest, you say?" Sidon tilted his head with the utmost intrigue. "And most Scottish?"

He didn't know what that had to do with anything; he wasn't entirely sure what that meant, ifhe was honest, but it was clearly important.

[in_sidon_we_trust]

And Sidon, even when faced with his gremlin-bit girlfriend, was always a bit of a sucker for a rallying cry, and he nodded his head, trying not to grin too much. "Constant vigilance!" he agreed, pumping his fist. "Keeping keen! I shall try my best, of course! But, ahhh, and, truly, pardon my ignorance, but who might you be? From whom do I have the honor of taking such sage advice and wise words?"