13351/Duck Tales

Duck Tales
Date of Scene:	13 November 2022
Location:	Lake House - Wayne Estate
Synopsis:	Phoebe's duck comes to live at the lake house. Arrangements are made.
Cast of Characters:	Dick Grayson, Stephanie Brown

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Dick Grayson has posed:
    It wasn't quite the same as getting a new pet since the duck was just going to live on the lake on the Wayne grounds, but Dick and Stephanie were pretty much treating it that way. A small heated duck house was set near the water, with Dick digging a narrow trench a few inches deep so that the wiring for it would be underground and protected from the elements. And yes, it had a little sign above the doorway engraved 'Hazelduck'. Phoebe would find little to complain about as far as duck lodgings go.

    For the moment though Dick is sitting in front of the computer, apparently paging through Twitter. "Hey, did you know there was a Twitter account called 'You should have a duck'? Looks like the little quackers can be pretty friendly if they're handled early enough in their lives." He looks over his shoulder and grins at her, adding "I imagine you'll be all over that job."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown is standing over at the window, her arms crossed as she looks out at the little duck house. "I know it's heated, but it's pretty cold out there," she says, looking back over her shoulder at Dick. "Are we sure he wouldn't be more comfortable in here?" she asks.

She leans forward, her forehead resting against the window. 'As was Hazelduck handled from an early enough age? I know nothing about the story here," she says. Finally turning away and looking over to Dick, walking over to stand behind him. She rests her hands on his shoulders and leans down to look at the screen.

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Dick chuckles, saying "Somehow I knew that would happen. At least you're not as bad a Damian and his pets." Since she's right there anyway, he gives her a quick peck on the cheek, then returns to the topic at hand. "If you want to bring her in, I have no problems with it... but you get to clean up any messes she makes. I don't think ducks can be housebroken, but then, I've never looked into the matter."

    He clicks another link to reveal a duck wearing some kind of flower upside down on it's head like a hat. "Ok, that's cute. I bet even Bruce would have to admit that." Paging through a couple more pages of ducks being cute, he shrugs. "Ok, I give up, the little things are too cute for words. We'll probably have to build it a little ramp and keep water in the tub so it can swim when it's too cold out to have her out on the lake."

    "Does that meet with duck-custodial requirements? I can't think of much else we can do for her yet."

Stephanie Brown has posed:
"If you want you can bring her in-"

Those words are barely out of Dick's mouth when Stephanie is on her way to the door. She's just wearing shorts a t-shirt, so half-walks, half-hops across the cold ground over to the heated duck house. She reaches in and pulls Hazelduck out and hurries back carrying her inside.

"I mean, I'd want to be inside if it was me," she says, setting the duck down. Who immediately starts running around the lake house, exploring. Her little feet make loud noises as she patters across the floors.

Stephanie returns to Dick, leaning down to wrap her arms about his shoulders from behind. "Oh that's cute. I bet you even Bruce would crack a smile if he saw that," she says, having missed everything else Dick had said as she went outside.

"I never really had a pet. Just a goldfish. But it was one of those from the county fair. Which means it either dies in a day, or lives forever. You can guess which result I got."

Dick Grayson has posed:
    Dick shakes his head ruefully and says "Yeah, I think Bruce would too." He watches the duck running around for a minute, then repeats the important part of what he had said to her earlier. "Duck cleanup is on you, and I don't know if she can be housebroken." He reaches up to gently rub his hand along her arm, leaning back a little and enjoying her closeness. "DOn't worry, the duck shouldn't die quite as easily as a goldfish."

    "Since I don't think any store sells duck ramps, I'll knock one together so she can get into the tub if she wants to swim." He stops to think for a moment... Duck house - done but likely unused until it's warmer out. Duck cleanup - assigned. Duck food - We need that. He opens another browser window to Petco and orders several bags of duck food to be delivered tomorrow. Out of curiosity he searches for ramp and gets several results, so he orders one of those too.

    "There, food and a professional grade ramp so I don't need to build one. Come to think of it, we could get one of those mop Roombas to clean up the duck messes." Another web page opens, and another order is placed. It's nice not to have to worry if you can afford things sometimes.

Stephanie Brown has posed:
Stephanie Brown grins and nuzzles her cheek against Dick. "The difference in our lives. You order robots. I'd have just gotten an extra thing of paper towels," she tells him as she hugs him from behind.

Stephanie straightens, moving over to pick up the duck who is pecking away at the window as if wondering why she can't go out. She returns to Dick, turning sideways to settle in his lap, and the duck going into her own.

She rests her head on his shoulder. "And they lived happily ever after."