Habits

Lab Day!

Fenton chuckled, bitterly. "Wellll, Dr. Gearloose is not the best under pressure. Not emotionally, that is."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"... You'll find out once we get to the lab," He sighed.

This did not sound like a fun day anymore.

~~~

We waited in the elevator, headed down to the lab. Fenton seemed pretty anxious, muttering to himself.

"Sabletodo," I began, in a calming voice (I'd call it my 'Big Sister' voice, but it doesn't have a good ring to it,) "You need to relax," I told him. "Everything will be fine, and if everything isn't, I'll go to Scrooge about it, and it'll all be fine."

He looked at me, skeptically, "...Are you sure?"

I shrugged. "I can be convincing. Plus, nepotism does have its perks." I looked back at him, and gently squeezed his shoulders. "It'll be fine, we'll have a productive day in the lab, I'll keep Gyro off your back by being annoying, and then we'll head out for dinner and invite him, but he probably won't actually come, and then go home. It'll be chill, not stressful at all," I assured him.

He seemed to contemplate this for a few minutes. Before he could speak, the elevator opened, sending us right into the underwater lab.

"Intern!" I heard an aggravated voice call. "You're late!"

I looked at Fenton, who quickly hurried out of the elevator. He hurried up to the platform that Dr. Gearloose was on, presumably working on an invention.

"S-sorry, Dr. Gearloose! The busses ran late, and-"

Gyro Gearloose, looking disheveled, held up a hand to silence him. "Buh, Buh, I don't care. Did you get my coffee?" He narrowed his eyes.

Fenton eyes widened in fear, seemingly have forgotten the coffee.

I looked around the lab, and spotted a coffee maker, and remembered the bag of artisanal coffee grounds I had in my purse from work. I quickly exited the elevator, pulling out the bag.

"I've got artisanal coffee grounds from Cuba?" I offered, holding out the bag, and looking up at him.

Gyro looked down at me, looking more annoyed at my presence than anything. "Who are you?" He sneered, before turning to Fenton, "I told you no visitors."

"Ah, no, actually, I wanted to come along, it's really not his fault," I explained, heading up to the platform as well, handing Fenton the grounds.

"So?" He folded his arms, "Who are you?" He raised an eyebrow, sizing me up.

I sensed he wasn't big on physical contact, so I didn't try to shake his hand. "Um, Marina Duck," I tucked a stray piece of hair away from my face, "You know both of my Uncles, my little brother hangs around here a lot... I sat down in the lab one day during the whole Gizmoduck fiasco," I glanced back at Fenton, who merely gave me a sheepish smile.

Gyro sized me up, before pinching the bridge of his beak. "Are you Mr. McDuck's Great-Niece?"

"Well, I'm definitely pretty great," I joked. No one laughed. I cleared my throat. "Uhm, Yeah, he's my Great-Uncle. And I think you know my Uncle Donald."

Gyro's face changed at that, if ever so slightly. "Ah, so you're... Donald's sister's kid?"

I shrugged. "It's easier just to call me Donald's kid."

He seemed as if he was in a trance. "Right." He paused, before looking back at Fenton. "Well don't just stand there, go make the coffee!" He ordered.