[FIN] Life is Like a Hurricane [Open/Private]

[Lucca]

((ooc: Anyone can feel free to join! Otherwise I would just be playing by myself and it would be sad. XD))



"Yes, lad, I appreciate your time. Thank you for the offer, and I will get back to you about it very soon, within the week. In the meantime, go a bit easy on the flying, ay?" A low chuckle followed this statement, and a snappily-dressed duck opened the door to the shop, back facing the street as he gave his newest potential business partner a gracious nod.

"Good luck with all your accounts, then, and I hope we'll be seeing more of each other soon." The Biped had a strong Upper Highlands accent, and spoke in a slightly rough way that might clue those who had been in high society all their life into the fact that he hadn't been born into money. He had worked his way up from nearly the very bottom, and now? He was the richest Duck in the Highlands. He tipped his hat in a final farewell, and then leapt nimbly down the front steps of the establishment with a grace that belied his apparent age.

He gave another little chuckle, resting his cane on the cobblestone street and smiling with clear satisfaction. He half-turned behind him, and called out absently, "Well! That certainly was a productive meeting. I believe this calls for a bit of a celebration, don't you?"

[Lucca]

A Tulgey Cat stepped out of the door behind the Duck, eyes blank and bored-looking, fluffy tail swishing idly behind her. She shut the door with one black-tipped paw before turning to face her employer, for she was actually deeply in debt to the man, and was working it off with servitude to him and his company.

A saccharine smile that didn't reach her eyes spread over her muzzle as soon as his face had turned toward her. " If you think that's a good idea, Sir," she responded in a tone to match, sitting up to look at him expectantly. Her face twitched slightly, as if holding the expression was somehow unnatural. Really, I'm surprised you're in such a good mood you're actually willing to spend money. Quite the oddity for 'Scrooge' McDuck. The savage thoughts running through the Cat's head didn't show on her face, except for a slight darkening of her eyes and a curling of her lip.

[Esfiel]

Down the cobblestone street came a little pine marten. First she would be walking slowly, so slowly as to irritated anyone who happened to be behind her, and it seemed that just when they'd decide to walk around her she's burst into a ran for a short interval before halting for a few seconds before she began running again. It was not in her mind, however, to annoy anyone, let alone perfect strangers. It was the fact that she was completely oblivious to them that did it.

She was in fact in the middle of a test, carrying with her a strange rectangular box which she held by having her palms press flatly onto the sides. In theory it measured her heart rate so she could solve the problem of her exhaustion after running. She hoped there would be a correlation between her heart rate and the rate at which she blew her energy. The problem was that the box was made of completely discovered materials from the street, therefore the validity of the results may be compromised.

Unless she had someone else test it...

Once she had the idea she could not get it out of her head and stopped with the idea of finding someone. The first people she saw was the Biped Duck and.... a Tulgey Cat. The Duck seemed to ring bells, but she couldn't concentrate on why that might be because the Cat sent all her comfort flying out the window. Her ear twitched at that saccharine smile, and she resolved to do something about this creature. The marten marched up the two and completely ignored the Persian looked straight at the Duck.

Then she realized exactly why he rang bells in her head. The top hat said it all. Her eyes went wide. "You're Scroo---Graeme McDuck!" Well, it was always easier remembering the negative than the positive, just ask any Corvie who has had an experiment gone horribly wrong.

[Lucca]

McDuck chuckled, by now used to the 'eccentricities' of his Tulgey maid. He'd met very few Tulgies in his life, but those that he had met had all been firmly past the line of 'weird' set by normal society. "Well, I wouldn'ta said it if I didn't think it was merited." He tilted his head in a thoughtful expression, taking a few steps down the street and looking around. Though he was in the Capital often enough, he didn't normally dine here, as the food was a bit pricy in most of the restaurants that were worth going to. "Why don't we try out that one spot that my cousin recommended to us? I believe it was somewhere close to here..."

But before he could say anything more or begin to walk in the direction he remembered the place to be, he was suddenly accosted by a blue...Corvie, with strange tubes poking out of her back. A small frown graced his beak, and something flashed through his eyes at the half use of his nickname. A nickname he was less than pleased with, but it had been started by some Cards who were both jealous and resentful of his fortunre, no matter the fact that he had earned it all honestly and worked his way up from a penniless Three into the mega rich Jack he was today! He hadn't done it by spending money unnecessarily, and to imply that it was somehow bad of him to save, well...it was obvious why those people didn't have money to their own names.

Nevertheless, his voice was polite enough as he replied. "Aye, I am he. And what can I do for you, Lassie?" If she was hoping for a handout, she was going to be sorely disappointed. Anyone could make something of themselves, and if they didn't have any money it was more than likely their own fault.

[Lucca]

The Cat's ears went back, but she inclined her head gracefully. " Of course, Mr. McDuck. I merely thought you might be joking, as you have a good sense of humor," she intoned. For a worthless cad, she added silently, eyes flashing. She frowned, brow creasing slightly in what might seem like a cute, perplexed look if not for the general aura of 'weird' she seemed to always be clouded with. Although this time there was no hostile intent behind it, she was merely trying to recall the conversation of which Scrooge spoke. She remembered his cousin well enough, unpleasantly loud and cheerful fellow that he was, but she tended to ignore what such people were saying unless it was of interest to her. Ah well, it wasn't like it mattered. As long as the place served tea, preferably Tulgey Red, she'd be fine.

"Sounds good, Sir," she said, and would have said more, but then they were interrupted by the oddest of creatures...a Corvie. She turned toward the pine martin, gaze intense. What have we here? she said to herself, for she had a love-hate relationship with Corvies. She loved them for their instability and the danger some of them thrived on and caused, and hated them for their information hoarding and narrow-mindedness, as she saw it, in not sharing most of what they discovered with the rest of the world. She didn't say anything, merely stared, allowing the girl to state her purpose.

[Esfiel]

Either he hadn't noticed the slip up or was polite enough not to mention it. It didn't matter which to Aima, she was grateful for either. She had come blundering up to him, and it was time to show some intelligence. It might be considerably rude to just warn (and basically insult) the Cat with him. She had to be clever. Surely she could do that? First she had to get him to take her with him somehow, wherever he was going.

She couldn't offer to pay, not sure if it would come across as polite or an insult. Not to mention he might be going somewhere that did not require any payment of the sort. Then there was trying to convince him to trade a new service (and she had just the perfect service in mind), but he had no idea who she was and was likely not to want to listen to it.

Think.. think.. ah...

She let an innocent enough smile creep across her features as the idea came to her. "I have a wager at present with a colleague of mine as to the dissimilarity of the rapidity of assimilation between full-blooded and bi-sectional-blooded individuals, and was wondering if perhaps you'd be willing to help by allowing me to treat you to a meal and telling me when absorption is complete. Having someone of such impeccable taste settle this matter would be very much appreciated."

[Lucca]

Graeme's eyes narrowed just slightly as the silence stretched on. Maybe this was just another 'fan' of him? He'd run into a few of those types before... 'Ah, Mr. McDuck! I've heard such a lot about you! I can't believe we're finally meeting in person!...' Well, if that was it, he had no time for such foolishness today. Time was money, after all. With a subtle tap of his cane to signal his servant, he was just about to brush past the odd Corvie and continue on his way when she finally spoke. An eyebrow raised up in disbelief as he tried to make sense of what she was trying to offer him.

"Bi-sectional-blooded?" he repeated, eyes drifting to the tubes on the martin's back, which he had been politely not staring at before. He didn't really want to dwell on the implications of the term, so long as she didn't try to use him as a test subject. He knew some desperate souls had sold themselves to science, but he was the farthest thing from desperate there was. "So. Let me get this straight. I help you with your research, and in return I get a free meal at the place of my choosing, is that correct?" He stroked his beard, keen eyes narrowed as he considered the options.

"Just two questions, then. First, what would be required of me exactly in this little test, and secondly, what is you name? If we are to dine together I'd at least like to know that." His eyes held a bit of mirth as he looked at her expectantly, especially since he had a feeling that, in her own Corvie way, she already -had- explained what she required of him, but though he possessed a keen intelligence, he was no scientist by a long stretch.

[Lucca]

The Cat stared unnervingly the entire time at the Corvie. She could tell that she greatly unsettled this one, as she did most people, but it still brought her a savage kind of pleasure. At least, even as a maid, she still had some power over other people. It was a start. She was on her feet and instantly ready to leave when McDuck tapped his cane, knowing the signal as she did (and ugh, how awful that she should be expected to jump at his every command like some sort of -dog-?) though she was almost disappointed to be leaving the odd Corvie without at least finding out more about her, but then...

At the word 'blood', a strange light seemed to come into her eyes, and her tufted ears twitched forward. Yes, oh yes, she was glad to spend more time in the company of this Corvie...but at the same time, she did not trust her, and so the part of her that knew it had an honor-bound duty toward McDuck prompted her to hiss lightly, and she made her way towards the Mustelid with quiet strides. "Do not lie, Miss, for it will do you no good," she warned, a wicked smile flicking across her features so quickly that it may not have even been there, replaced with a distrustful look. Inwardly, she actually hoped that something untoward would be attempted...then, either Scrooge or the Corvie would come to some...pain. And that would be just lovely.

[Esfiel]

The little pine marten was thrilled. She had succeeded! The next part would be to get Mr. McDuck alone and find out about that Cat, and how to possibly get rid of it. As the Cat stared at her she decided more and more that she just did not like it, therefore she would refer to it as it, rather than as an actual person. And as such she would speak to it as little as possible. This included not responding to its threat. She had had no intention of lying anyway! Hmph.

"To answer the first question, all that is required is that you eat the meal and then inform me when you must go to the restroom to remove yourself of it. To answer the second, my name is Aima." She wondered briefly if she should ask the Cat's name, but decided it better to ask where he wanted to eat instead. "The location of the meal is wholly your choice," she offered, thinking how this was going to sorely deplete her spendings. Though she couldn't help thinking that this was going to be worth it.

[Lucca]

One eyebrow raised up. That was certainly an...odd request. Especially since, if he remembered correctly, didn't it actually take hours for a meal to be digested fully? Then again, he wasn't the scientist, but the thought of spending all day in the Capital wasn't necessarily feasible. It also struck him as a bit odd that the pine martin was completely avoiding speaking with or even really looking at his maid. He knew that she unnerved some people because of her heritage, but usually they at least had the decency to try and hide it. Very interesting. He shot her a look at the threat, and then flashed a smile.

"Now, now, Mrs. White, that's hardly a decent way to speak to this young lady. After all, she has given us no cause to distrust her." Himself, McDuck had quite a few Corvies as business partners, and he found them pleasant enough folk, if a bit too focused on their work. Sure, there were the bad eggs, but unless she put something in his food, there was nothing the pine martin was really going to be able to do to him in a public setting. And if she tried it? Well. He -was- a Jack, and Gyro would come to his call in a heartbeat. How much would she enjoy that little radar dish of hers being shorted out by a bolt of lightning?

"Well, Miss Aima, I believe that sounds simple enough," he responded with a chuckle. "As for a location, I was just considering that myself. I rarely eat in the city, since food tends to be a bit expensive here, but there is a place recommended to me by my cousin...but perhaps you've heard of it? Milk and Honey Bread, it's called." He looked at her expectantly.