“Mm. Well, I’ll be happy ta bump up yer wages for a while until the both of you are able to get yerselves situated. Do ye need anything like old clothing or towels?”

A raise. Scrooge was offering him a raise! He swore it was temporary, sure, but- A RAISE. The supposed stingiest guy in the world was being generous. Launchpad threw his arms around Scrooge, giving him a big hug.

“Ah’m the tightest wad there ever is, an’ don’t ye forget it.” He responds, not minding the crushing hug for once. Admittedly, it does do some good for his back.

“Naw, ‘s about the egg that ye brought back. Have ye figured out a name for the little hatchlin’?”

Launchpad nodded. “I have. Eh, well- I’ve picked a couple out since I dunno if it’s a boy or a girl yet.”

Damnable. Was he really that obvious? “I just wanted ta check on how you were doin’.”

…I have many questions.“ – //regarding EGG

I’ve been seeing this a lot lately and I understand if people get miffed about it. I would be too. And I think it’s a good call to try and interact with folks by calling attention to it.

let it be known though

if I follow you but we never rp, it’s not that i’m using you to get my follower count up.

I’m just rlly bad at making the first move.

Follower count doesn’t mean squat to me since I know that it usually ends up being like, dead blogs I’ll never see again. So yeah. 

This is a post where I’m encouraging you, the reader, to make the first move. Just try and talk to the people you follow, even if you don’t think they’d be interested in rping ( provided you follow their rules on contact, mutuals, ect ). Maybe they wanna rp? Maybe they don’t. Your chances can only increase if you come with an idea to bring to the table, so just try it!

He’d figured it was something along those lines. Most of the people in the lab were interested in engineering, and while Gyro did try to expand his disciplines, there was definitely some value in having someone around that had medical knowledge, as well as contrasting interests within the scientific field.

A faint smile on his beak. “Naw, you’re alright, lassie. Sometimes it takes a little embezzlement to get your own projects up and running.” McDuck pauses for a moment, before his face shifts to an unamused expression. “Ah’m fairly certain that Bradford Buzzard was embezzling from me.”

“I think that’s a noble goal of yours. If you can get some protoypes working, I’m sure they’ll come in handy. Especially for any lab accidents around here, a lot of Doctor Gearloose’s inventions have a tendency to turn evil, for whatever reason.” There’s another pause. “I’m moderately surprised that the… Gizmoduck suit hasn’t gone against the body that uses it yet. It might be that it’s because someone is controlling the suit and not an AI, but ah’m not too sure.”

The encouragement brings a faint smile to the small hen’s face, her shoulders slowly relaxing. She was used to being defensive of her time with FOWL- it wasn’t all unwarranted, after all, and the organization’s reputation would likely follow her for the rest of her life. She wasn’t necessarily okay with that, but it was still something she just had to live with.

To hear the billionaire approve of her work, and her sneaky use of FOWL’s resources to actually further her nanotech experiments, was grounding, especially in a time that felt so tumultuous.

“I really hope to have some prototypes ready before the end of the year, time and setbacks permitting- anything could go sideways, after all. But Dr. Gearloose approved my initial blueprints, so once we’ve completed clean-up on this one, I’ll be taking the lead. It’s pretty exciting.”

She tried, at least, not to focus too much on the thought of the Gizmosuit going rogue with Fenton in it. She liked Fenton far too much to think about the risks.

He’s practically grinning from sideburn to sideburn. “Ye have no idea how useful nanotechnology could potentially be in the biology departments. Think of all the possibilities! Especially if they go away after a little while. No harmful chemicals in the immune system or nervous system or whatnot that could potentially dissolve and cause issues.”

“When possible, I’d like to see these in action. They sound very remarkable!” And it sounds like he’ll have to give Miss Dee a raise once she gets these finished.

“Possibly, possibly. I trust Doctor Gearloose to put in the necessary failsafes to make sure the suit doesn’t crush the person inside or anything.” Odd, he always refers to Fenton as ‘the person inside the suit’ or something similar. Perhaps he’s being obfuscatory deliberately.

“‘Allo, Miss Dee.”

He pauses for a moment, taking a look around the lab. “We’re right on schedule.” What was the opposite of being behind schedule? Further ahead of schedule? “Ah’m glad to see that the others haven’t messed up the lab again. You’d know how it gets with inventions around here, ah’d assume.”

How… run down Gandra looked didn’t go unnoticed. Maybe he ought to converse with her about her topic of study? It might cheer her up just a tad. After all, it’s important to keep your employees’ morale up, right? Happier employees means more productive employees.

“If I remember correctly, your area of study was said to be… was it nanotechnology and the medical applications of nanites, or was it biotechnology? Have you got any projects in that vein on the backburner once yer team is finished with this one?” There’s definitely some interest in this topic.

It was a question she genuinely hadn’t anticipated from him, and she blinks a few times before glancing down at the ground before back up at him. It was nice to have something to take her mind off the fact that she was standing on the cusp of a terrible anniversary.

“Oh uh… well, biomedical engineering is my area of study, specifically focusing on medical applications for nanotechnology. Once the current project is wrapped up, I’d like to focus on a pet project I brought with me when I left FOWL-”

She paused, eyes going wide for a moment as she realized the immediate implications of what she’d said, her hands flying up in defense. The little hen was well aware of that reputation, and how many employees in the bin still viewed her. A mad scientist who turned her body into a living taser just for fun got a lot of dirty looks, more than she’d ever admit to any of her superiors or even to Fenton.

None of them understood why she’d really done it anyway, and she didn’t want to deal with the questioning that came with the truth.

She didn’t want to be seen as weak.

He’d figured it was something along those lines. Most of the people in the lab were interested in engineering, and while Gyro did try to expand his disciplines, there was definitely some value in having someone around that had medical knowledge, as well as contrasting interests within the scientific field.

A faint smile on his beak. “Naw, you’re alright, lassie. Sometimes it takes a little embezzlement to get your own projects up and running.” McDuck pauses for a moment, before his face shifts to an unamused expression. “Ah’m fairly certain that Bradford Buzzard was embezzling from me.”

unprompted

@moneydiver​ said:  “Are ye doin’ alright, lass?”

“Oh- Mr. McDuck!”

It wasn’t often that the Boss himself came down into the lab, and of all the times he could’ve picked to come down, now felt like the absolute worst. She was exhausted, having been working quite a lot more than she would in any normal week. She’d been working just then, too, when she’d heard the voice of the wealthy adventurer.

Brushing her bangs out of her face, she straightened and adjusted her gloves, trying to make herself seem much less tired than she actually was. Not that it seemed to work, not with the dark circles under her eyes. She was a bad enough liar without trying to pull one over on him, but still.

“‘Allo, Miss Dee.”

He pauses for a moment, taking a look around the lab. “We’re right on schedule.” What was the opposite of being behind schedule? Further ahead of schedule? “Ah’m glad to see that the others haven’t messed up the lab again. You’d know how it gets with inventions around here, ah’d assume.”

How... run down Gandra looked didn’t go unnoticed. Maybe he ought to converse with her about her topic of study? It might cheer her up just a tad. After all, it’s important to keep your employees’ morale up, right? Happier employees means more productive employees.

He raises his hands, a motion to stop talking for a moment.

“I dinnae have a need for necklaces, Goldie. That’s always been more your style, as far as Ah know.” He wrote the clue that she was speaking about down on a notepad, inspecting it for a moment.

“‘s not Atlantis. While the place did get tipped upside down, water still kept to gravity’s rules. That, and I’ve already looted the place, there isn’t going to be much treasure left in there.”

“‘I see all under the sky’…? Would it be a place that’s higher up, maybe on a mountain?”

“Maybe. But it does say “of mortals’ built,” so I’m guessing it’s something manmade. Manmade, water lifting towards the sky…”

Leaning back in his chair, she tapped her fingers together thoughtfully, green eyes bright and focused. This was the sort of thing she missed. Figuring out the clue together, and then racing to the finish line. It still baffled her how he’d never been able to figure out that this is what she missed. What she wanted.

“Goldie! Yer as sharp as a fox!” A grin spreads on his beak as he adjusts his spectacles. “A’course it’d be something that could lift water towards the sky! And what else is manmade that can lift water towards the sky other than a well?”

“Aside from windmills with the big... water wheel, Ah’d guess.”

“Uh yeah, I’ve seen the people you employ.” FOWL had done a lot of research after all. 

“An eccentric man requires eccentric staff to do things for him!”