Plans of a Feather

Plans of a Feather
Date of Scene:	08 February 2013
Location:	Traverse Town - District 1
Synopsis:	Scrooge McDuck is out to make money and acquire some ice cream. Fenton Crackshell happens.
Cast of Characters:	Emi Dennou, Gizmoduck, Scrooge McDuck

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Emi Dennou has posed:
Legion is a hive mind which is pretty weird in of itself but in terms of work ethic, Emi has the strongest. She frequently takes part time jobs despite also, in a sense, having a full time job already as a 'detective'. Detectiving doesn't really pay a lot, especially when there are no cases and your coworkers sometimes forget to ask for money for their services, so Legion's members tend to take part time jobs. They all work hard, but Emi tends to work the longest hours. It's not out of a sense of responsibility, she is one of those strange people who actually enjoys working.

Well, part of it is responsibility, but if she didn't enjoy working she'd find another way.

One of the jobs Emi has taken is the job of selling ice cream. Sea salt ice cream, to be precise. She rolls a cart around filled with sea salt ice cream and offers to sell it to them. Ice cream doesn't require a lot of pushing. It's ice cream, but she does do good bookkeeping and doesn't steal a bit off the top either. Some part time workers crib a little, to Emi--it is as if the idea never occured to her.

She pushes the cart around the street and waits at a common throughfare for the moment. "Ice cream, ice cream, The Network is here to sell ice cream. Ten munny cents off if you buy two. It is the season for love, share an ice cream with a loved one, The Network uses base manipulation."

Scrooge McDuck has posed:
To Scrooge McDuck, an employee like Emi is almost ideal. She enjoys working, he doesn't have to keep an eye on her to make sure she's honest, and she keeps the books nice and square.

This doesn't mean that he's not a paranoid old soul who's going to keep an eye on her. The last McDuck comes walking down the street, leaning on his cane as he weaves through the generally taller crowds - learning to adapt to a world where everyone seems to be twice your height is actually easier than it looks, apparently.

Every so often he stops, leaning down to pick up a coin off the street, wiping it off with a handkerchief and putting it in his coat. He eventually wanders in Emi's direction, tapping the ground with his cane to try and draw attention - though he's got a smile on his face. "Hard at work, lassie?" He pulls out a few of his own coins - they look very much like they've all been picked up off the street - to purchase one of his own ice creams.

Gizmoduck has posed:
"Mr. McDuck! Mr. McDuck!"

The slender suited accountant of the richest duck in the world is coming up short on keeping up with Scrooge. Fenton Crackshell is practically in a full out run, as he's got his arms full of a specially designed suitcase, another briefcase, host of overflowing paperwork and a pile of pens, because he's likely trying to get Scrooge to sign off on a bunch of stuff.

Fenton's actions seem frantic and wild, as if he were trying to catch Scrooge for a specific reason. From the speed at which he's getting close to the Scrooge and the ice cream, which makes his tripping over whatever was on the street, his crash and his tumbling roll, which leads to paperwork flying everywhere and brief and suit cases smashing him across the body, followed by a pained grooooaaaan. One arm lifts.

"... Rocky Road, please." Ugh. Thud.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi is totally not paranoid. She might not be naive but her instinct is towards trusting others rather than distrusting them. She probably, in fact, errs on the side of trust a bit too much for a detective but she's working on that. In either case she's happy to see Scrooge (TALKING DUCK) as he's one of many fine examples of how strange and wonderful Traverse Town is. She does not seem bothered by Scrooge picking up coins from the street. Seems legit to her. Emi, secretly also kind of greedy.

But so far, at least, she seems intent to do things square. So square, in fact, she even--once she notices Scrooge has brought a friend along--offers, "Would you like to take advantage of our couples deal for Valentines' season? Ten cents off if you buy two, The Network explains (even if you probably already know about it)."

The art of offering a small discount to massage the throat of commercialism!

She does not recognize the accountant as Roboduck obviously. Roboduck is way too cool to be Fenton, please. She does not have an extra Dennou around and ducks down to help Fenton collect his papers while payment is being considered. "And what flavor would you like, sir?" She asks of Scrooge as she tries to help poor Fenton.

Even if part of her is wondering--does Scrooge really need accountants? He probably looks over everything himself anyway.

Scrooge McDuck has posed:
Scrooge McDuck doesn't /really/ need an accountant, especially not right now, but Fenton works cheap and he only occasionally causes utter disaster. He puts a hand over his face as Crackshell goes spelling out everywhere. "Ach, Crackshell, you're making a right mess." He sighs, knowing that some things - like Fenton - never change.

He's distracted quickly by Emi, and his face beams as she offers a deal. "Aye, there's a good bargain for us. I'll just take my usual plain ice-cream, lass. Go on and pay your have, Crackshell," he says, drawing half of the discounted price back from what he was about to pay for the ice cream. He's certainly not going to pass up on a deal, even if it's a Valentine's Day offer.

He stoops down to scoop up a few papers too, shaking his head. "What is all this mess, anyway? Not /more/ paperwork?"

Gizmoduck has posed:
"It's This Year's Estimated Earnings, Last Year's Earnings, Damages from Heartless Battles, Field Trip Permission Slips for Hewey, Dewey, and Louie, there's a permission slip for a different field trip for Webby, a couple of Traverse District Housing Real Estate Forms somewhere in there and I think a letter from Donald!"

Fenton doesn't even take a breath, making sure to scoop up everything and accept the assistance back onto the pile. He almost buckles under the weight of things, though, he does start to balance the huge pile on one arm, while carefully and slowly reaching for his own pocket to dig out some money. It's a quarter. And it get flipped in the direction of Emi with what has been the best coordination that Fenton has had all day.

"We should probably look into perhaps expanding here in the Traverse Town. Who knows when we'll be able to go back home or if it will ever really be an option! I've taken the liberty of drawing up some sketches of how a few buildings here and there will give us the chance to really spruce this place up!" He shuffles around the stuff in his arms, until he yanks out a roll of blueprints which falls and opens up, perhaps to the splattering of ice cream. It looks like Traverse Town and all of its districts, with a big title written on top of everything: "McDuckburg"

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi hands papers off to Fenton, once he seems to have it...handled? Poor guy, if he was an accountant for anybody but Scrooge, he probably wouldn't be so overwhelmed. Emi catches the quarter--or did it...fly into her hand? Hard to say. She puts it in the cash register, along with Scrooge's payment, puts it through the register, prints out two receipts, one of which she hands to Scrooge and the other she keeps for the books, and then--and only then--does she actually hand off the ice cream. One each, just as planned. She is caught by some ice cream spray, she just sort of takes it, frowning not at that--but at some of Fenton's words.

"...You've lost your home as well. Do not worry. I am sure you will see it again someday. If we find anything, we will let you know." This is her speaking as the detective rather than the ice cream salesman. Her world falling was actually quite a boon for her, but any place that has talking ducks can't be that bad.

"If it is alright with you, sir, we'd like to stay on some extra hours due to the season and, this one admits, hoping to avoid 'action' for a while. Omi had been hurt last night, The Network explains their reasoning."

Scrooge McDuck has posed:
"Never give up, Fenton, where there's life, there's hope! And opportunity." Scrooge chuckles as he says the last, looking over the permission slips to make sure he isn't paying for frivolities before signing off on them. He nods approvingly at the earnings reports, though it doesn't stop him from pulling a pen and paper out from his jacket and jotting down a few names of people he's going to need to have a talk with.

Scrooge takes the ice cream and the receipt, checking it briefly before he starts to eat. He smiles at Emi. "Extra hours? Well, far be it from me to stop ye from doin' good honest work. I suppose it's okay."

He goes back to the plans with interest. "McDuckburg has a nice ring t' it, laddie, but I've got a feeling we're stuck with Traverse for now. A little investment might be just what we need though - you've got t' spend money t' make money, as painful as it is t' say."

Gizmoduck has posed:
"Right! That's what I meant! Investments! Like, oh you know, that all but defunct project back from Duckburg. Y'know, the one, with the crazy idea for Research and Development? Sir, I think we have a huge opportunity here in Traverse to expand upon that idea and make, whatever that project was called, something bigger and brighter! I've brought the folder on it, it's in here somewhere..."

And Fenton is diving back into the mix of his paperwork and files, shoving some away and moving some more around and he finally comes out with a folder that is labeled with nothing more than a 'Roboduck' symbol on the front of it. "I've been running figures in my head and we know that my head is the place to do and I feel like reinstating this project with upgrades, benefits and a dental plan will increase McDuck Construction profits by at least twenty percent by the next quarter. Based on..."

Fenton shoves the 'Roboduck' folder in Scrooge's direction and stumbles through the rest of his paperwork to come out with some survey stacks. "A Survey I took the liberty of running! The Heartless attacks are growing more frequent and more dangerous according to the Citizens of Traverse and that means more property damage and that means we'll be fixing more things and thus more work means more money and so on, so forth..." And then the survey papers get shoved in Scrooge's direction. "Has anyone seen my ice cream?" It's stuck to his tailfeathers.

Scrooge McDuck has posed:
Scrooge McDuck eyes the RoboDuck logo, then gives Fenton a very long, hard stare.

A stare that could bore holes through a wall.

"I'll take it under advisement, Crackshell," Scrooge finally says, not giving the folder a glance - though he also doesn't give it back, tucking it under one arm as he eats his ice cream. He does not immediately divulge the location of Fenton's own treat, trying to decide if he's mad at Fenton for having the cheek to push for this or impressed that he had the stones to do it.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi points towards Fenton's ice cream with an index finger. She looks towards the folder and, perhaps, fortune smiles on Fenton because she does say. "Roboduck. He assisted in the defense of Traversetown against Heartless Coyotes. He performed admirably."

The Network does consider Scrooge-wisdom. Spend money to make money. They suppose it's a higher grade version of the discount. The purpose of a discount, of course, is to not be generous so much as it is to encourage more people to buy and thus make even more money. She nods slowly, thinking it over.

Perhaps she underestimated Fenton. That WAS pretty cheeky. She smiles briefly but it's gone quickly.

"Thank you sir," She tells Scrooge instead. She did not specifically ask for wages for the extra hours so if Scrooge decides 'no overtime', well, she supposes that's fair. She just wants to do something rather than just sit around on her butt. And okay, yes, make a good impression.

Gizmoduck has posed:
"Thank you, Sir! I'm sure all the workers in that department will appreciate you even deciding to look it over! I will be sure to let them all know of your kindness and generosity!" Which is obviously the DuckSpeak version of a vacuum sucking up a bowling ball worth of complimentary statements to release in the direction of Scrooge McDuck.

It takes Fenton a moment to realize that his ice cream is clinging to his back end like so and he snatches it up, before giving it a lick. It has, of course, started to melt by now and thus the Rocky Roadness is dripping all over his hand and he's making an even bigger mess. "Oh! Sir! I've also taken the liberty of putting the Money Bin on a rotating schedule. It will never be in the same place twice but I will always know where it is!" Fenton beams proudly, licking his ice cream as if he's just done the greatest thing ever.

Scrooge McDuck has posed:
"Fine, fine," Scrooge says dismissively, waving a hand at Fenton before going back to his delicious ice cream. "Wait! How am /I/ supposed to know where it is, ye daft fool!"

Emi's industriousness, while highly valued by Scrooge, comes secondary to this news of his money.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi looks at Fenton blankly.

She may be squinting. Whether it's because she just learned right now that Scrooge has a MONEY BIN or because Fenton has taken liberties with it is a mystery.

Gizmoduck has posed:
"Don't worry about a thing, Mr. McDuck! I'll take care of everything!" It would seem that Fenton has realized that if he doesn't make with the exiting very soon, that he's probably going to find himself getting beat down with incredible McDuck Fury. "I'm on it!" Fenton salutes, which sends the last of his ice cream cone against his forehead and then he's turning to make with the exiting! Must get back to the office! Must figure out a way to stop the first Money Bin movement! Must... mmm, this Rocky Road is delicious.

Scrooge McDuck has posed:
Scrooge McDuck's feathers ruffle, the old duck getting a death grip on his cane. "Craaackshell!"

Run, Fenton.

Emi Dennou has posed:
Emi watches after Fenton. And then she sighs out a long breath and says, "Truly, we had underestimated him." For every value of the word for that matter.

She turns the cart about a bit, ready to continue on her ice cream journey.

Gizmoduck has posed:
Fenton Crackshell can practically hear the Cane of Death being primed and ready for violent antics. There is just a small moment of hesitation, before Fenton clings to the paperwork and briefcases and everything else, before he takes off in an all out run to get the heck out of here! He's been hit by that cane before (multiple times!) and he does not wish to go through it again!

"Gang way! Accountant in Peril coming through!"

Zoom!