happilyeverbeginning | save a horse ride a cowboy / magica x poe x scrooge

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save a horse ride a cowboy / magica x poe x scrooge

It's not as the ranch never got rich clients before - but what would come upon their humble abode this day was a few steps higher than mere "rich". The two that exited the limo were in a league all their own.

"I don't know about this."
"Look, it's got five stars from all the best rating sites. And you said you wanted to be with some animals."
"Doesn't mean I want to live in a zoo."
"None of that now. Let's give these people a nice little opportunity to better themselves with our presence... smile, darling."

With that, a pair of twins headed up to the front desk, their exhausted chauffer carrying way more bags than the human arm could really shoulder. One would think the two were moving in instead of crashing for the weekend.

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Sorry, Scrooge, but they said what they meant and meant what they said. A Spell is a jackass 100%.

"Tell us."
"We're not going away until you do."

They even wound up on his sides, poking both his cheeks.

Scrooge tried to resist. Really he did. However, he eventually gave in, sighing and lowering his head so his hat covered his eyes.

"My uncle wants to sell Yukon. Nobody can ride him but me, and Uncle Pothole says he's a drain on our finances."

Poe would have just given a simple "Oh," but Magica let out a gasp of sheer horror.

"You can't!" She objected instantly. "This is his home! I've seen the scars of his mouth, no one else will give a damn about what he's been through!"

"Not entirely true but we're his third owners. He keeps getting passed around for one reason or another. The ranch we bought him and Cloudy Day from had been working on gentling him after his first owner...well...you see it on his mouth."

Scrooge brought his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. He really shouldn't talk about this sort of thing with guests, but these two were giving him no choice.

"You two have your phones, right?"

"Always!" They chimed together, instantly handing out their individual phones in their hands.

"Look up 'Castle McDuck'."

He wanted to scream and curse at Angus but...well, the man had a horrible point. All because of the situation he'd put the clan in.

They searched it, and had matching surprised expressions.

"This is your family's ancestral home?"
"And yet you're here. Working at a ranch."
"Because of money problems, I'm guessing."
"And one horse is going to help cover that?"

"Aye. I am. Yes and no. And not entirely."

Scrooge sighed again. "I grew up in that castle. We were going to turn it into a B&B to help make the payments on the taxes. All of us were going to have much the same jobs we have here though Uncle Jake was supposed to help Daddy with the office work." He clenched his hand into a fist. "And then Uncle Pothole calls us to tell us he bought a foreclosed ranch that looked like a bomb had hit it. Only his credit was complete shite so he had to put up something very valuable as collateral.

"I take it you can guess what it was he used."

The twins looked back at him, equally surprised Pothole wasn't six feet under.

"And now he has the audacity to sell such a beautiful animal?" Magica huffed, crossing her arms. "He has some nerve."

Poe cupped his beak in thought, having a fair guess what Magica's objections would lead to. "How much is the asking price for the horse?"

"As it is right now? Not much. We bought him and Cloudy Day for three grand. He was originally a wild mustang, so his first owner would've paid around two grand to buy into the program to catch wild horses and have them live in captivity. It's to help reduce overpopulation and inbreeding among the wild herds. However, he was never properly gentled and both his previous owner and now I am responsible for cleaning up the mess his first owner made of him. It took almost a year after we bought him to get him to accept a saddle. Even now I have to go slow with the bridle because he'll remember the bit and panic."

Scrooge rubbed his temples. "On paper, Yukon costs more than he's worth. We have to feed him, give him vet treatment, shoe him, groom him, and give him a stall. All those things for a horse that won't let anyone but me so much as brush his coat. The other horses pay for their keep by taking guests as riders. Hell, Black Beauty even makes a little extra money in local dressage events. Keeping Yukon doesn't break the bank, but he doesn't make breaking even any easier. I hate to admit it, but from a pure numbers perspective, Uncle Pothole has a solid argument."

Silence from the twins. Magica looked at Poe, one eyebrow up, and Poe shrugged helplessly at her.

"Oh, like I'd ever deny you anything... Not to mention, I doubt I could ever stop you."

"Still, it's good to hear." With that, Magica leaned toward Scrooge, and didn't hesitate with her offer, even though she knew Scrooge might not believe her at first. Why hold back? "I'll give you twenty grand for Yukon. So long as he stays here."

Poe snorted. "Twenty's probably the starting price."

Scrooge gaped at her, unable to believe his ears. Twenty thousand dollars? For Yukon? It'd more than cover the costs of keeping Yukon here for a few years at least. And he could stay...

...for as long as these two wanted him. Or if they decided that once Scrooge had properly gentled him that they wanted to keep him closer to home.

Cold logic did battle with emotion. He loved Yukon. Yukon and him were a team. A team still learning around each other, but sometimes when he could get away, he'd saddle up Yukon and they'd fly across the plains, leaving all of Scrooge's worries and cares behind them for a few hours at least.

"I'm sorry, but he's not for sale." He swallowed. "I appreciate the gesture, really I am, but...Yukon's special to me. It's stupid and selfish but I can't sell him. Even if he would be staying here at least for a while."

Edited 2021-09-07 11:54 (UTC)

The twins had never really encountered a problem that couldn't be solved with money. So him refusing was confusing, and the only solution was to throw more money at it.

"Thirty grand." Magica replied, even holding up three fingers for emphasis.

Poe didn't like feeling left out, not to mention he had his own idea. "If just hold hard cash won't do it, I can become an investor as well."

Scrooge held up his hands. "I appreciate the offers -- really, I do! -- but...I can't sell him. I mean, I could practically speaking, but I can't emotionally. Even if he would be staying here for a while."

He rubbed the back of his neck.

"I know it doesn't make any sense. Besides, right now Uncle Pothole doesn't have much of a leg to stand on. We're still in the black, after all."

"Forty." Magica kept trying.

Poe leaned over to close Magica's beak with his fingers. "She'll just keep going until we're bankrupt." He said while Magica huffed and tried to swat his hand off. "When it comes to animals, she gets rather ahead of herself."

And to that, Scrooge actually started laughing. All of the tension melted away at the duo's persistence. It was actually rather charming. Strange but charming.

"You two are something else." He grinned at them. "Who else goes on vacation and listens to the staff's problems?"

Well, it was better than him being glum. Magica finally wrestled Poe's hand off her beak. "Better you than the average person. At least you would know to keep any bad opinions about us to yourself."

Poe used his phone to look up what he knew Magica was referencing. "I guess it's best to bite the bullet, it sounded like more than half the guests here know anyway..." He then held his phone, showing the latest news articles about the family heads -and their crimes.

Scrooge tilted his head to one side before taking the phone to read through the article. His brow furrowed in thought.

"...I was right: Your parents are about as charming as rattlesnakes."

He handed the phone back.

Sure, he'd get fired if he said anything nasty about them - but not even one eyebrow raised in suspicion? The two had been spending money without a thought, almost like their parents.

Magica cleared her throat. "Most... people assume we're just like them. And that the money we have now was taken from employees and investors."

Poe added on. "But I had an inkling of what my parents were doing years ago... so I started up my own secret trust and built it from there."

He looked up at them, raising a brow. "Do you think I was in cahoots with my uncle to roll the dice using our ancestral home?"

He had a point to the question, but he wondered if these two would catch on.

"It's hardly the same." Magica sniffed, crossing her arms.

Poe made a wavey motion with his hand. "Similar, but not exact."

"How?" Scrooge's brow arched higher. "Regardless, if you two were complicit, you'd both be in custody with your parents. I'll bet the feds went over your finances with a fine-toothed comb before you even thought about coming here.

"So why would I think that you two were involved?"

"Because everyone does!" Magica snapped, turning away and crossing her arms. "Every single last place we've been to has people either blaming us for what happened or thinking by buddying up, we'll give them part of the 'loot'."

Poe sighed, moving to rub one of Magica's shoulders. "... This was a last resort, after all the 'real' resorts."

"Well, your parents' story has probably started getting around and the policy here is 'if the cops don't come looking for them, a guest is a guest so shut your trap'." He paused. "Okay, the hands have a cruder version of that, but you know what I mean."

Magica still didn't move from her spot, so Poe took over. "Suffice to say, we've all confused each other tonight out of... behaviors we didn't expect. Perhaps we should call it a night?"

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