Broken lines, broken strings, broken threads, broken springs

[moneymatters]

Today was a day for getting stuff done. There'd been some repairs backed up, so here Scrooge was in the garage to take care of them. This day it was mostly the childrens' things; at the moment he was completing the gluing of one of their books back together. He slipped his finger down the binding and wiped up the excess, then carefully set it aside to dry.

The garage was open, letting in plenty of light (especially when you considered the sun reflecting off the shallow snow outside). Scrooge himself seemed unaffected by the winter cold that drifted in, to nobody's surprise. But he did make sure to put the book out of the way of any errant wind, just in case, and then reached for the next repair.

Comments

[rippleonthewater]

The open garage door was perfect as far as certain daughters wanting to surprise her father with a trip home, though Dixie still took a moment to knock on the nearby wall to announce her presence.

[moneymatters]

He glanced up at the sound, then sat up and smiled brightly, setting the broken doll aside.

"Dixie darlin'!" He hopped down from his stool and moved over, sweeping her up in a hug.

[rippleonthewater]

With a laugh of her own, she returned the hug with as much affection.

"Hi, Dad," she greet brightly. "It's great to see you."

[moneymatters]

He smiled and stepped back, hands going down to her arms as he looked her up and down. "Goodness, it feels like ages! It's great tae see you too, when did you get in?"

[rippleonthewater]

She giggled softly. "Dad, we saw you like a month ago."

Even so, it was a nice feeling being home.

"I just got in a few minutes ago. Jinji offered to take my stuff upstairs so I could come out here to see you."

[moneymatters]

"Still feels like ages to me," he said with a laugh. Turning back to the table, he gestured for her to follow.

"Come, come! Pull up a stool, tell me how your trip was! How's it goin' in Birchpointe?"

[rippleonthewater]

With a smile, she followed him inside and took a seat next to him. "It's been going well! I've really enjoyed the classes I have, and Jun has been doing really well at work too. He actually came home with me, but decided to stay at the Towers, no matter how much I tried to convince him that it'd be okay for him to stay here."

[moneymatters]

Though he went back to repairing the doll he still listened to her fully, laughing some.

"I'm no' that bad, am I?"

[rippleonthewater]

"I mean, you do leave a memorable first impression."

[moneymatters]

"That was ages ago, too!" He laughed again, shaking his head. "But his periodic stayin' in the Towers keeps his lease up all the same, so I suppose I can't truly complain."

[rippleonthewater]

"Dad, you're forgetting who pays for his lease."

[moneymatters]

"Aye, I know. For once that's no' what I was talking about, more that it gives you an excuse to keep coming back to Duckburg."

He winked, snickering softly.

[rippleonthewater]

She giggled softly. "Pretty sure I have a few other reasons."

Then, remembering something, she said, "Oh, so Bridge is still in Birchpointe. He had a few things he wanted to finish up before he came home for the holiday."

[moneymatters]

He tilted his head a bit, then nodded.

"Aye, alright. I'll see him when he gets in, then." He smiled, then set the body of the doll aside so he could start sewing the dress back up. "Another music gig?"

[rippleonthewater]

"Yeah, he and Daniel are really working on that band. I think they're working on a few songs."

[moneymatters]

"Ahh, good! Sounds like it's being a very productive time for them."

[rippleonthewater]

"Yeah," Dixie replied with a small giggle to herself. "Very productive."

Then, she glanced down at his work table. "Speaking of productive, what's all this?"

[moneymatters]

"Ohh, kids bein' kids." He chuckled softly, and sat back to wave a hand at the spread before him. "And with two o' them, there's two times the broken toys." Another snicker.

"Jade launched her dolls into the trees the other day, and those that didnae outright break just tore on the 'rescue mission.' Noting that Jade undertook that herself; getting her down from twenty feet up was... a day." He shook his head, though he was still smiling. "There's some general destruction and hard use here, some torn clothing, and then Dunlin 'crashed' his Cloudkicker," he said, gesturing to a waiting rideable wooden biplane off to one side. "That'll probably take the most work, but it'll be good as new afterward."

[rippleonthewater]

Looking at the broken toys, she shook her head. "I'd be surprised if any of these will look good as new."

[moneymatters]

"You doubt my repair skills!" He waved a teasing finger. "I've been fixin' dolls and the like since I was knee-high to my father's kilt!"

[rippleonthewater]

"Oh yeah, I remember you telling me about that. You used to fix your sisters' toys, right?"

[moneymatters]

"That I did!" He chuckled some, and tied off his thread. "I got to use those skills on some adventures as well, and o'course while the boys and Webby were here. I'm an auld crafter and repairer."

[rippleonthewater]

She giggled. "Lucky for the twins, then. It's almost like you got to hone those skills all your life to prepare for when you needed them."

[moneymatters]

"That's certainly true. I'm almost glad I retired completely when they were young, I have hardly stopped movin' since they first hatched."

[rippleonthewater]

"Kids will do that to you. I can't imagine how it might've been if you had decided to keep adventuring while they were still really little."