#hms britannia

[ltwilliammowett]

HMS Britannia leaving the fleet anchorage with other ships of War beyond, by Henry Thomas Dawson (1841-circa 1896)

[blackswaneuroparedux]

If the British Empire is fated to pass from life into history, we must hope it will not be by the slow process of dispersion and decay, but in some supreme exertion for freedom, for right and for truth. - Sir Winston Churchill

In the month of May 1954 there returned to Britain the Royal Yacht Britannia, bringing back Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, The Duke of Edinburgh, after half a year among some of her overseas Realms and Territories. A voyage that circled the world.

[envisitadecortesia]

Una escolta real

El 15 de octubre de 1988 llegaba al puerto de Barcelona una inusual visita y un poco habitual visitante, se trataba del yate real HMY Britannia e iba escoltado por las fragatas HMS Achilles (F-12) de la Royal Navy y Asturias (F-74) de la Armada española. La escolta del yate real, fragatas Asturias F-74 y HMS Achilles F-12 Una vez cruzaron la bocana del puerto la flotilla se separó amarrando el…

[imkeepinit]

HMS Britannia Entering Portsmouth (1835) by George Hyde Chambers

George Hyde Chambers (23 October 1803 – 29 October 1840) was an English painter. Born in Whitby, Yorkshire, Chambers moved to London in 1825, where he was greatly helped by Christopher Crawford, formerly of Whitby, but then landlord of the Waterman’s Arms at Wapping. His work, hanging in the gentlemen’s parlour of the inn, proved popular with its nautical clientele and won Chambers his early commissions, although he also worked as a scene-painter (1827–28) on Thomas Horner’s Panorama of London at the Regent’s Park Colosseum and at the Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel (1830–31). In 1829, two of his pictures were purchased by Admiral Thomas Capel who drew his merits to the attention of other officers including Admiral Lord Mark Kerr. The latter in turn secured him the patronage of King William IV and Queen Adelaide in 1831–32 and thereafter Chambers was an established artist. He only showed three works at the Royal Academy 1828–29 and 1838, but many more at the British Institution, 1827–40, the Society of British Artists 1829–38 and the Old Water-colour Society 1834–40, of which he was elected member in 1834. Chambers was a talented draughtsman and watercolourist and an accomplished painter in oils, often working with fluent, colourful bravura in such views as A Fresh Breeze off Cowes and A Dutch Boier in a Fresh Breeze (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich), the latter a product of his one substantial artistic tour to Holland in 1837. His most important later ‘set-piece’ commission was The Bombardment of Algiers, 1816 by Lord Exmouth, commissioned by the admiral’s friends for the Naval Gallery at Greenwich Hospital in 1836 (and now in the National Maritime Museum) probably through the agency of E.H Locker of the Hospital, Exmouth’s former secretary. He also painted two other pictures for the Gallery. Chambers’ career was hampered by personal diffidence in promoting himself and, when he began to succeed, cut short by chronic ill health. A voyage to Madeira in the summer of 1840 failed to bring improvements and he died of heart failure at Brighton on 29 October 1840. His son, also George (1829 – after 1870) was a marine and landscape painter. 

--Text from "Scarborough and Whitby Water-Colourists", Colin Bullamore.

[mea-gloria-fides]

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh Painting on HM Yacht Britannia: Edward Seago, ca. 1956-57.

[aimeedaisies]

SIR TIM LAURENCE APPOINTED KENT CRICKET CLUB PRESIDENT FOR 2025

Published Friday 26th April 2024

Kent Cricket is delighted to confirm that Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence KCVO, CB, ADC(P) will be the Club’s President once more in 2025.

Sir Tim was originally appointed as the President for 2020, the Club’s 150th Anniversary Year, but the outbreak and management of the COVID-19 Pandemic hampered both his Presidency and the Club’s celebrations. He will succeed Judy Ufton as Club President on 1 January 2025 until the end of that calendar year.

Sir Tim has a strong connection to Kent and a lifelong passion for the game. Having been brought up in Ightham, he was educated at Sevenoaks School, where he was a key member of their 1st XI, batting at the top of the order with former Kent captain Chris Tavaré and former Kent Director of Cricket, Paul Downton.

He attended Durham University, where he represented his College cricket team. Upon leaving Durham, he completed his initial training at the Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth. During his distinguished naval career, Sir Tim commanded four warships and held several Ministry of Defence positions, including Chief Executive, Defence Estates.

Since his retirement from the Navy in 2010, Sir Tim pursues a number of non-executive and charitable interests. These included being Chairman of English Heritage which has many historic sites across Kent, Vice Chairman of The Commonwealth War Graves Commission and a Trustee of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and HMS Victory.

Sir Tim will be the Club’s eighth multi-year President after The 3rd Lord Harris (1870-71), A.C. Norman (1914-18), The 4th Lord Northbourne (1930-31), Major H.S. Hatfield (1938-45), Sir Edward Hardy (1957-58), Lt. Col. W.O.H. Joynson (1959-60) & Lady Kingsdown (2015-16). He will be the first Kent Cricket President to have more than one year in the role inconsecutively.

Kent Cricket’s Chair, Simon Philip, said: “We are delighted that Sir Tim has accepted Presidency of the Club once more after holding the post five years ago.

“Our 150th Anniversary Year and Tim’s presidency did not turn out as planned and so it is great that Tim will now be able to enjoy fully being President and we will be able to benefit from his input into the Club and our Men’s and Women’s cricket.”

Sir Tim Laurence said: “It is both an honour and a privilege to be asked to take on the Presidency for a second time.”

“I much look forward to becoming more closely involved with the Club again and to providing whatever support and encouragement I can.”

[charlotte-of-wales]

more news on Royal Week in Scotland:

Monday 3rd July: the traditional Ceremony of the Keys will take place on the forecourt of the Palace of Holyroodhouse to mark the start of Royal Week. In the evening, HM will attend a reception on board the Royal Yacht Britannia to mark 25 years since her arrival in Edinburgh.

Tuesday 4th July: the King will view the Jubilee Gates at the entrance to Abbey Yard, Palace of Holyroodhouse, marking Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. Their Majesties joined by the Princess Royal will later host guests at a garden party to celebrate the coronation year.

Wednesday 5th July: His Majesty will hold an Investiture at the Palace of Holyroodhouse and Her Majesty will meet weavers at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh. Later, the King, accompanied by the Queen and the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay, will be presented with the Honours of Scotland at a National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication at St Giles, following processions on the Royal Mile.

Thursday 6th July, the King and Queen will visit the Great Tapestry of Scotland visitor centre in Galashiels. TM will tour the Lochcarron of Scotland weaving mill before finishing Royal Week in Selkirk, where they will visit the marketplace and watch a performance of “Casting of the Colours”. The Duke of Edinburgh will host The Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards Celebration at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on Thursday 6th July. HRH will also visit the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh.

The Princess Royal will carry out engagements during Royal Week. HRH’s programme will include a visit to Scottish Fisheries Museum Trust Limited, Strathcarron Hospice and the University of Edinburgh.

ps: according to Hello Magazine: "William & Kate have a jam-packed schedule with official engagements. [They] will be in attendance for various events."

[judgemark45]

The Royal Navy Audacious-class fleet aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal maneuvers into line ahead of fleet carriers HMS Albion and HMS Ocean as they salute Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II aboard the royal yacht Britannia on 28 May 1957 off Cromarty Firth, Scotland, United Kingdom.

[thiziri]

Princess Anne chatting with her husband Captain Tim Laurence, at the De-commissioning ceremony for HMS Britannia, at Portsmouth, on 11 December 1997.

[ltwilliammowett]

Tropical Squall: Ship “Britannia”, 1797, by Francis James Booth (1927-2003)

[saints-who-never-existed]

Rereading The Terror

Chapter Twenty-Five: Crozier

This is it, lads - Carnivale! D: And boy is there a lot to dig into!

Crozier and Fitzjames retire to Erebus for much of the evening - neither of them want much part in the festivities so they sit drinking whisky in silence. Cannae blame them really.

There's a delightful mention of Mr Murray, the sailmaker - he's described as being old with a wizened visage, and is dressed up like a mortician. I had a half-remembered hunch about him so looked it up to check - homeboy was 43 years old in real life! Harsh, Simmons, very harsh!

When it's time for the feast - consisting of the polar bear Fairholme shot - it's Jopson and Hoar, Little and Le Vesconte that come to fetch the Captains. There's something quite sweet about that that I can't quite put my finger on - very formal somehow.

Once they're back out on the ice, there's good news and bad news. Bad news is that the men have clearly figured out how to brew some bootleg booze and are all absolutely plastered. The good news - as far as I'm concerned - is that it's Le Vesconte along with the other officers and stewards - who are dishing out food to the men. It's just a lovely little role reversal that makes me smile.

Also interesting is the frequent mention of Le Vesconte's gold tooth. I imagine it's a reference to the remains that were found that were thought for years to be his but were later identified as Goodsir's by the presence of a specific metallic dental filling?

Once they're all digging in to the food, it's quite an eerie free-for-all: "It was as if more than a hundred predators were revelling in their kill."

Then, it's time for a song and a show! The song is 'Rule Britannia' and the show involves Hickey on Manson's shoulders, both of them trussed up in a costume made from the hides of the slaughtered polar bears. With them is a man dressed up ghoulishly as a decapitated Sir John which I really shouldn't find as funny as I do. I've written "Objectively hilarious" next to this passage.

As the singing swells to a climax and Sir John's grandfather clock strikes midnight, shit then hits the fan with Tuunbaq's eerie arrival: "Crozier saw that there was a second large white shape in the room. It stood on its hind legs. It was farther back in the darkness than Manson and Hickey's bear-hide-white glow. And it was much larger. And taller." "There came a second roar...The sound ground so low into the bass regions, grew so reverberating, and emerged so ferocious that it made the captain of HMS Terror want to piss his pants right there in front of his men."

From then on, all is chaos. We have a description of a man in a harlequin costume (one of the doctors as, just like in the show, they're all in matching clown/harlequin costumes) running past Crozier in flames. We all get Fitzjames described as "...the only figure not costumed and not running" which jumped out at me for some reason.

Crozier and Fitzjames make it out of the now-burning Carnivale tent - Crozier with an unconscious George Chambers on his shoulder - only to find the Marines firing indiscriminately into the fleeing crowds, trying to take down Tuunbaq. "CEASE FIRE! GODDAMN YOUR EYES, SERGEANT TOZER I'LL BREAK YOU TO A PRIVATE FOR THIS AND HAVE YOU HANGED IF YOU DON'T CEASE THAT FUCKING FIRE IMMEDIATELY!"

Eventually, the other officers start rallying round and you know I'm looking out for my special boy when that happens: "Lieutenant Little came up through the smoke and steam...saluted clumsily, his right arm was burned, and reported for duty. With Little at his side, Crozier found it easier to gain control of the men..."

So there we are, all that's left is to tally up the awful toll in the morning...

[yurisorcerer]

pbptptpbptptptpbpbpbptptptptptpppppbpbpbhph.

Okay.

So! Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection, huh? Took me five years to get to it. I do not know what I expected. This was not nearly as bad as I feared but also not as good as I hoped. I guess I'd say it's good as a movie for huge Code Geass fans, but it also kind of walks back some of the core ideas of Code Geass as a series, so Hm.

Like, ok, let's just start with the premise. The very idea of Lelouch coming back to life after the end of the series (or rather the alternate continuity to the series as presented by the Lelouch of the Rebellion compilation movies), is already a bit wonky. If Code Geass works on any level *thematically,* it's because Lelouch, as the 99th Emperor Britannia, dies. He dies not because it's necessarily the right thing to happen to him *morally,* but because he knows he has so much blood on his hands that he can't live with himself. It's suicide-by-Suzaku. That's how the original series ends.

Here, of course, he is just back. In of itself, that would be fine, but everyone is SO accepting of it SO quickly. There's a couple quick scenes of Kallen crying over him and Suzaku beating the ever-loving shit out of him (he deserves worse honestly), but for the most part everyone is completely happy to start taking orders from History's Greatest Monster again. With some of these people, like Cornelia and even his own sister Nunally, this kind of strains credulity. Especially with how the latter goes out of her way to exonerate Lelouch of any wrongdoing and blames herself for not truly understanding her brother's motives. I'm sorry, like, I've seen the show. That's just kind of bullshit. Lelouch's motives were *extremely* selfish and the fact that he never told Nunnally what he was up to was kind of the whole point, he didn't respect her as an equal, and just thought of her as someone he needed to protect. Due to, you know, pick one; misogyny, a generally privileged upbringing that may have rubbed some concept of noblesse oblige into him, ableism, the fact that he's a smug bastard who assumes he knows better than everyone, etc.

The unfortunate thing about the movie, though, is that Lelouch Lamperouge is cool as shit and it's really fun to watch him do anything.

Where it gets brought back, at least for me, in spite of all these flaws, is that I do just pop when Lelouch is on-screen Doing His Thing. C.C. has a fantastic little exchange with him when he gets discouraged late in the film where she talks about how she wants to see the arrogant, unwavering Lelouch. That's a good moment and it's pretty in keeping with their relationship, but it's also a sly nod toward the fourth wall I'm pretty sure. Unfortunately, to some extent, I will just watch this fucking bastard with his fucking hair and his fucking cloak and mask and his fucking violet shoujo manga-ass eyes and his fucking fruity little hand gestures whenever he talks, play everyone like a fiddle yet again while making grand pronouncements and saying "checkmate" unironically when he's got someone cornered even though no one has ever played a game of chess on-screen in Code Geass that made a lick of sense.

There are certain characters that just have such unreal amounts of charisma that watching them do basically anything is fun. (The voice acting in this thing is magnificent, of course, and helps sell that. I'd listen to Fukuyama Jun read a phone book.) Lelouch is one of those. If I'm any Code Geass character in spirit, it's Tamaki. Any time Lelouch puts on the Zero mask I scream and point at the screen and go "that's my man right there!!" like we're close personal friends or something. It's a disease, and I have to live with it. God forbid I ever get super into UC Gundam, I don't know WHAT I'd do if I ended up being like this about Char.

Everyone else returning from Code Geass proper has at least one really good moment, too. Kallen, Suzaku, and C.C. predictably get the best of them and the new characters that are introduced as their antagonists are, at least, very strong. The way the middle east is portrayed in this movie is WILD problematic, but a side effect of how Code Geass tends to write its antagonists is that at the very least the antagonist characters here have actual, like, human motives, and Lelouch's opposite number Shamna is a worthy foe; he does of course beat her but it's really down to the wire. Lot of good mecha fights in here, too, with Kallen and Suzaku both getting a lot of good screentime doing what they do best. There's more CGI than I'd like (CGI can work very well in a mecha anime IF the mecha are designed for it, but Code Geass' largely were not and you can tell), but not enough that it saps the movie of its dynamism, so, full marks there.

And then there's the ending of the movie which, hmmm. Basically, indirectly, the film makes C.C. x Lelouch canon, and in the postscript they seem to have formed a Geass Master power couple (complete with a very sharp gothic lolita look for C.C. that is absolutely fabulous. Lelouch's new outfit in that sequence is pretty snazzy too). I know Suzululu was always the more popular pairing (at least I've always gotten that impression), but I think this actually mostly makes sense, and I think they look good together. OTOH, Lelouch---sorry, he's going by L.L. now---seems like the sort of person who has a lot of different people in his life without necessarily being *totally* bound to any one of them. Maybe that's my own polyamory coloring the text, but it didn't feel exclusionary to me.

Anyway, yeah. Kind of betrays the spirit of the original a little bit but as far as being essentially a fun fanservice movie it was pretty good. They're making more, I'll probably watch those, too, especially if Lelouch continues to be cunty in them.

[clove-pinks]

HMS Marlborough in the Mediterranean, 1855 (NMM).

The experience of 'fleet time', a term in naval training that endures to the present day, was remarkably varied. Naval cadets and midshipmen of the 1850s and 1860s were most likely to serve in larger ships where there was an increased likelihood of the services of a naval instructor. On foreign stations a large vessel, usually an elderly wooden walled 'liner' converted to screw propulsion, would serve as the flagship but as a general rule big ships were based closer to home. [...] Lord Charles Beresford left Britannia on completion of training in 1861 bound for the battleship HMS Marlborough, an old 121 gun 'liner' that had been fitted with a single screw engine in 1853. Despite this innovation she was firmly part of the old navy with a complement of 950 and an overly long sick list due in part to poor habitability.

— H. W. Dickinson, Educating the Royal Navy: Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century Education for Officers

[pwlanier]

Nicholas Matthew Condy (British, 1818-1851)

HMS Britannia at Plymouth

signed with initials 'NC' (on barrel lower left)

watercolour heightened with white

Bonhams

[mea-gloria-fides]

HRH The Princess Margaret on board HM Royal Yacht Britannia.

[aftermathfanfic]

Part 3, Chapter 4

It took around an hour for the adults to explain each of the adventures on the table. First, there was Donald and Daisy’s adventure, which turned out to be an expedition into a medieval tomb, said to contain a silver idol of a long-forgotten deity. It certainly sounded like an adventure the boys and Webby had been on almost a hundred times, but the twins listened enraptured regardless.

Della’s adventure was also quite straightforward, at least in concept. Buried underneath an ancient Spartan city was a vault, within which dwelled a powerful immortal warrior. Supposedly, whoever bested him would be showered with praises worth of a deity, possibly even granted superhuman powers. Though Della did her best to sell it, only Dewey and Webby seemed interested in it.

Then came Mrs Beakley’s adventure, though a more apt term for it was ‘training course’. It was described as a gruelling test of endurance, strength and reflexes, overseen by a hidden society of warrior women. Those who passed were granted an honorary belt of iron and gold, said to magically improve one’s physical abilities. Though June and the boys seemed wary of this adventure, May and Webby both wore expressions that could only be described as ‘wildly enthusiastic’.

Finally, there was Scrooge’s adventure. A grand, three-part expedition that started in the mountains of Spain and ended in the streets of Morocco, all in the name of solving an ancient puzzle that led to a long-forgotten treasure. It was a complicated adventure, and while the veteran treasure hunters were intrigued, the twins seemed to take a minute to really get it.

Once each adventure had been explained, the kids were left to their own devices to decide which one sounded the most interesting to them. They weren’t expected to come to a decision tonight, but they were encouraged to ask questions and clarify on points in each adventure. The family talked long into the evening, retiring to bed only when their questions had all been satisfied.

As Webby was making her way back up to her room through the halls, she heard Scrooge’s voice from behind, “Lass, wait.”

Webby turned around. “Hm?”

“I just wanted to talk to you about earlier…” Scrooge said, approaching her. “I didn’t mean to put you down, but…”

“No, it’s okay.” Webby told him with an awkward smile. “I just… it’s okay. I mean, it’s just a scroll, and like you said, the caves are… like, too dangerous. It’s fine.”

Scrooge looked at her sympathetically. “…I know I hurt you, Webby.” He told her.

Webby’s smile flickered.

“When I travelled with the other team, it… it was selfish of me.” Scrooge explained. “I did it without you kids, and I did it while Louie was still sufferin’. It was wrong of me, Webby.”

Webby looked away, gripping her arm. “…I… I know.” She replied quietly.

Scrooge put a hand on her shoulder, telling her kindly, “Let’s not focus on trying to fix the past and try to make the future better, alright?”

Webby didn’t say anything for a moment. She looked up at Scrooge silently, then wrapped her arms around him and pulled him in for a hug. “…Thanks, Dad.” She murmured.

Scrooge returned the hug silently.

After a few seconds, they let each other go, with Scrooge clapping Webby on the shoulder and saying gently, “I’ll let you get to bed. You look tired.”

“Yeah.” Webby said with a short laugh. “Thanks. Goodnight.”

“G’night, lass.”

Webby continued on her way to her room, entering the small library and climbing up the ladder to her bedroom. She walked over to her bed, still messy and unmade, with her phone sitting atop her side table with a cable connecting it to a nearby power socket. As she reached under her pillow for her pyjamas, she turned on her phone, checking for any messages before going to bed.

She froze when she saw a text message icon on her home screen, with the name ‘Britannia’ beside it.

Webby hesitated, staring at the icon apprehensively. Then, she unlocked the phone and brought up the message on the screen.

hey, Pink. can we talk after school tomorrow?

Webby stared at the message for a second, taking a deep breath before typing out and sending her reply.

sure

---------------------------------------------

Huey’s bedroom wasn’t so much a bedroom as it was a workshop that had been converted into a bedroom. The room was dominated by what had once been a grand dining table, but was now sectioned off into different workstations, each dedicated to a different craft. One section had piles of schoolbooks and study guides, as well as college-ruled notebooks and a jar full of stationary. The section next to it had a few rudimentary woodshop tools, though there was nothing that would generate clouds of sawdust. The final section was covered by a soldering mat, with boxes full of circuit boards, wires, and other equipment for messing with electronics. Everything was labelled, stored and sorted in an orderly, fastidious manner.

In the corner of the room, almost as an afterthought, was a bed and a wardrobe. A bedside table sat between both, on which was a laptop, a lamp, and a digital alarm clock that read ‘5:58’. Huey laid on his side, facing the alarm clock. He was awake, and had been for a few minutes, but he wasn’t fully alert yet. His head was slightly groggy, the result of an uneasy sleep filled with troubled dreams and memories.

…June lashed out, jabbing the dagger into the mercenary’s side…

If she dies now, it’s because you failed to act. I know you can’t let that happen, because she’s your family…

…And family sticks up for each other, no matter what.

The moment it hit six o’clock, the device started beeping. Huey’s hand shot out of the covers to clamp down on the snooze button, then he pushed himself up and out of bed to get ready.

As if acting to a well-rehearsed script, Huey quickly got out of bed, stretched, and started packing his bag. He didn’t even need to consult his timetable – he’d memorised it, and he knew exactly what subjects he had today. Four notebooks, labelled ‘Home Economics’, ‘Physics’, ‘Woodshop’ and ‘English’, swiftly disappeared into his bag. Then, he took the laptop beside his bed and put it on the electronics section of his workspace, opening it and turning it on. Once the computer was on, he opened up a note-taking app and navigated to a file with the title ‘Tasks for this week’.

The file opened up to reveal seven dot points, with the one at the top reading ‘Physics Homework – finish by Monday’.

“…Ah.” Huey muttered to himself.

He stared at the dot point for a couple more moments. Then, he reached into his backpack and pulled out his physics notebook, flipping to his most recent homework page. He frowned as he realised that he hadn’t gotten far, barely even halfway. He did some quick calculations in his head, knowing that it was Thursday and he had, at best, five days including today to finish it. If he sacrificed the whole weekend to adventuring…

It was doable. It would be tight, but it was doable.

Still… it made him hesitate.

All six of the kids ate breakfast around the dining table, plates of pancakes before them and the maps and adventure plans pushed haphazardly to the end. Even Louie, who usually stayed in bed until the last minute, had joined them, though he looked noticeably more tired than the others. Huey ate in silence, listening to the others discuss the adventures they’d looked over the other night, a notebook beside him containing handwritten calculations on how much time he’d need to complete the assignment on time.

“…I’m just saying that it’s probably not just honour, or whatever.” Dewey was saying. “Like, maybe you get like, a cool title or superpowers or something. Hey,” He leaned forward excitedly as an idea occurred to him. “You could get like, a magic sword from him!”

“I’m hearing a lot of ‘coulds’ and ‘maybes’ here, Dewford.” Louie told him flatly.

“Come on, it’s for the experience of it! The thrill!”

“I need material wealth, dude. It’s the only way I can justify the risk to myself.”

“I think I agree. I don’t think my ego is worth risking my life for.” May said through a beakful of pancakes.

“Then why did you vote for Mrs Beakley’s trip?” June asked.

“That’s different. I get a belt that makes me stronger at the end of it.” She leant over towards Webby, sitting beside her. “Anything that makes us better fighters is well worth it, isn’t it Webby?

“Yeah, sure.” Webby said absentmindedly, picking at her food.

May chewed her food slowly, cocking her head to the side. “…Did you… hear what I said?”

“Uh… not really.” Webby admitted.

“Are you okay?” June asked concernedly.

Webby poked her fork into her pancakes a couple of times, entertaining the thought of eating them but not committing to it. “…I’m meeting up with Lena after school.” She said.

“…Oh.” June replied after a moment of uncertain silence.

“Yeah.” Webby muttered, trying to ignore the sudden attention on her. “I think she wants to talk about… you know. What happened.” She leant forward on the table, sighing, “I’m… not exactly looking forward to it.”

“Do you… want us to go with you, or…?” Huey asked warily.

“I don’t know. Part of me thinks it’s best if it’s just me and her… and the other…” She trailed off.

May swallowed her food, then told her, “Well, if you want some… I dunno, emotional support or something, just ask. We’ll be happy to come along.”

“Thanks.” Webby replied, smiling gratefully. She started to dig into her pancakes properly, saying, “I think we just need to… sort things out. Then it’ll go back to normal.”

“Yeah, she won’t hold it against you.” Dewey told her confidently. “Knowing her, she’s feeling just as awkward about it as you are. You’ll be fine.”

“Thanks, Dewey.”

Dewey chewed absentmindedly for a moment, then leant over to look at Huey’s notes. “What’s this?” He asked, his voice mixed with the mashing of pancake, and Huey winced.

“It’s nothing.” Huey muttered, flicking off a few crumbs from the notepad. “Just trying to figure out the best way to work on my Physics homework. I left it too late, so now…”

“Huh.” Louie cocked his head at him. “How’d that happen?”

“I don’t know… I’ve just been distracted, I guess.” Huey sighed.

“You have Mr Baxter for Physics, don’t you?” Webby asked warily.

“Yep.”

“Ew.” Webby said with a wince. “Good luck.”

“I think you’ve mentioned this guy before.” May murmured. “That’s the sexist dude that teaches your Bio class, right?”

“Yeah. And like, every other science class too.” Webby replied.

“It’s not just that he’s sexist.” Huey explained. “He also has very high standards, and if you don’t meet them, then you’re a hopeless case as far as he’s concerned. And because he’s marking you, that impacts what grade you get.”

June raised her eyebrow. “And you’re worried that failing this one assignment will make you a ‘hopeless case’ to him?”

“It only takes one.” Huey said ominously. He rubbed his eyes and added, “I haven’t even gotten halfway through it yet. Usually, I’d just work on it over the weekend, but I can’t really squeeze it in between our adventuring…”

He sighed again, tapping the end of his fork against his beak. “…It’s a tough one.” He said.

Huey looked at his calculations again, thinking quietly to himself.

“You’re thinking of bailing on us.” Louie said suddenly.

Huey balked. “What?”

Webby double blinked, still chewing on her food. “Whut?”

“Huh?” Dewey leant forward in disbelief.

 “You’re thinking of bailing on this week’s adventure so you can plough through your homework over the weekend.” Louie accused him, leaning forward as he talked. “You already know that you don’t have time to finish it before next week. Knowing you, you’ve probably figured it out the moment Mr Baxter handed it to you. And this whole show you’re putting on right now, acting all ‘woe is me’ and everything, is to butter us up for when you tell us that you’re not going to… wherever we decide to go this weekend.”

Louie pointed at the notebook beside Huey, adding, “Why else would you be doing math on paper in 2024 unless you wanted someone to see it and comment on it?”

Huey looked around nervously at the sudden attention directed at him. Hesitantly, he admitted, “…I mean, I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t crossed my mind…”

“Really?” Webby cried.

“Seriously, dude?” Dewey demanded. “You’d rather do homework than go on an epic adventure?”

“Of course not, but I don’t have a choice!” Huey protested. “I can’t solve Physics questions while running from a rolling boulder trap, I just can’t!”

“So what?” May asked, confused. “You’ve done all your work for it up to now, right? Worst that happens is that you get a B at the end of the semester.”

“…Yes.” Huey said emphatically, as if the very idea should be appalling to everyone.

“…Really?”

“Didn’t you once finish a two-week-long assignment in a single night?” Louie asked. “Do you really need the whole weekend for this thing?”

Huey opened his beak a couple of times, trying to explain himself, but he struggled to come up with words.

He tried not to look at June.

…And family sticks up for each other, no matter what.

“…Look, I haven’t made a decision yet.” Huey told the table. “I’m still weighing my options, and maybe I can finish it before we leave… but I can’t make any promises.”

“But it’s an adventure!” Webby implored him.

“And we’ll have plenty of adventures after this one.” Huey rebutted her. “I’ll only be skipping this one, and after this, I’ll adjust my schedule so that this doesn’t happen again. That’s fair, right?”

The kids looked between each other. Dewey stared at him for a moment, then he relented and said, “Alright, man…”

Webby spluttered, looking toward her sisters. May simply shrugged at her, and Webby deflated, going back to her food with a sullen look on her face.

Louie sighed, telling him, “I mean, it’s your time, you can do what you want with it. I just think you’re overreacting, that’s all.”

“We’ll see.” Huey replied, going back to his pancakes.

He could feel June’s eyes on him for the rest of breakfast.

The mood slightly dampened by Huey’s revelation, the kids packed their bags for school with few words. A few more suggestions were bandied between them on which destination to pick, but nothing was decided on before the gang broke up to go to school. May and June were driven off to Waterview Grammar, while Webby and the boys took the bus to Feathered Hill.

---------------------------------------------

For Louie, his school day began slowly. He had a free period immediately after homeroom, which he spent in the courtyard of the school with his laptop before him. He put the adventure out of his mind for now. Huey was free to make his own boring decisions, and Louie wasn’t too fussed about where they ended up going.

For now, he had an artifact to sell.

His initial search results for ‘artifact collector in Duckburg’ were expectedly lacklustre. Most of them linked to online bidding sites and dollar stores that sold replicas, neither of which were what he was looking for. He’d searched a good while last night, but he had only found one relevant place – ‘Nathaniel’s Antiquities’, an antiques shop based near Wildwood.

Louie opened up the link to the shop’s website again, wincing as it displayed on the screen. It looked like a web page from the early 2000s, though the photos that were presented on it looked relatively new. They displayed shelves lined with old China plates and tea sets, antique furniture placed in neat arrangements, and what was advertised as a cutlery set made of actual silver. It looked legitimate, but it also looked like a place that wouldn’t exactly be able to afford what Louie was selling.

Yet, as the bell for second period grew closer and closer, he found himself unable to find anything more promising. He felt a tinge of dread as he realised he’d have to put in some actual effort to find someone.

He felt his phone buzz with a notification. Pulling it out, he saw that he’d received a text, with the sender ‘Kulavaan – DONT TRUST’.

found anything yet?

Louie narrowed his eyes. Then, he texted back his reply.

Its only been one day but yeah

There’s a guy near wildwood mall

More of a novelty shop tho

No sooner than he had put the phone back in his pocket did it vibrate with a notification. Frowning, he pulled it back out to see that Chanda had already sent her reply:

lets go there today

“…Seriously?” Louie muttered to himself. He typed another message.

There’s no guarantee that he can even afford it

A few moments passed before her response came through.

dont care. runing out of time

no harm in trying

The bell rang.

“This fuckin’ chick…” Louie groaned, somehow already knowing it was pointless to argue. He put his laptop back into his satchel and slung it around his shoulder. As he left for class, he sent her one last message.

Fine

After confirming where they were going to meet, the rest of the school day passed uneventfully. Louie went to each of his classes, half-listening to the teachers and putting the bare minimum effort he needed to get by until the schoolbell rang. Everyone went their own separate directions, with Webby going off to see Lena, Dewey off to meet that baseball guy, and Louie making his way toward a different bus stop. He waited there for the bus he’d been told to get, and once it arrived, he jumped on and made his way to the back.

He saw his reluctant partner sitting alone and walked over, taking his seat beside her.

As the bus took off, he asked quietly, “I’m gonna assume that the deadline for your thing is coming up?”

“…Yeah.” Chanda replied. “Payment’s due on the 28th of each month.”

“Which is a week and a half away.”

“Yeah, so if something goes wrong with the payment, there’s plenty of time to fix it.”

“Is that likely?”

“…It isn’t unlikely.”

“…Alright.” Louie sighed, leaning back in his seat. “Do you have it with you?”

Chanda snorted. “Did I take forty grand to school? No, dickhead. We’re on our way to pick it up.”

“Alright, you don’t have to be hostile about it.” Louie grumbled, putting his hands behind his head. “I assume that you go to one of the schools in the western suburbs, then? Considering where this bus is coming from? Which one? Westwing High? Quackmore Public?” He turned to her and added innocently, “Saint Peck’s, the place where all the psycho kids end up?”

Chanda didn’t react to his prodding. She didn’t even flinch.

“Come on, gimme something.” Louie goaded her.  “Let’s get to know each other, break down this wall between us, huh?”

Chanda leaned towards him, saying coldly, “I think you know more than enough about me as it is.”

“Suit yourself.” Louie said with a shrug as she leaned back.

They got off at a station at a mall that Louie hadn’t been to before. It was in Gooseville, one of the poorer suburbs of Duckburg near the Industrial District. Conscious that he could be recognised, Louie instinctively pulled his hood up to hide himself.

She led him around the mall, heading towards a back alley lined with brick walls. Feeling somewhat nervous, he asked, “So, where exactly are we going?”

“Just down there.” Chanda replied, pointing at the end of the alleyway. “There’s a hollow in the wall at the end. It’s hidden in there.”

“Huh. How’d you learn about that one?”

“A guy I worked with showed it to me. Said he used it to hide weed.”

“…Huh.” Louie murmured, somewhat alarmed. “And you don’t think that he might come back?”

Chanda shook her head. “Nah, he cleaned the whole thing out the day he got fired.”

“And no-one else knows?”

“Yes, no-one else knows!” Chanda snapped. “Trust me, it’s safe!”

“Alright, alright, excuse me for being cautious.”

They arrived before a dumpster at the end of the alley. Standing against it and ready to push, Chanda ordered, “Help me move this. Slowly, so it doesn’t make too much noise.”

With Louie’s help, the two of them slowly pushed the dumpster out of the way. It was unsurprisingly heavy, but they didn’t need to push it too far, only a couple of feet before Chanda told him to stop. Louie stepped back, exhaling in exertion. “Whew.”

“It wasn’t that heavy.” Chanda remarked. Near the ground, like she said, there was a hole in the brickwork, just large enough to put a hand into.

“I’m not an athletic guy.” Louie retorted. He stepped back, rubbing his hands in anticipation. “Okay, so, when we get to this place, you let me do the talking, alright? You’re the muscle in case this guy tries to rip us off.”

“Got it.” Chanda replied, getting down on her knees so that she was on eye level with the hole.

“We don’t settle for anything less than the minimum. Forty-k, in this instance. Anything less, and we leave and find someone else.”

“And if we never find anyone else because you refuse to bargain?” Chanda questioned as she reached into the hidden space and started searching around with her hand.

“…Alright, fine, but the lowest I’ll go is thirty.” Louie said relentingly. “Any lower than that, and it won’t be worth it for me. Or for you.”

Chanda didn’t respond.

“…Actually, now that I think about it, the chances of getting ripped off are pretty low.” Louie mused. “I mean, everyone in town knows my family, they’ll recognise me on sight. And nobody wants to…”

Louie trailed off, realising that Chanda wasn’t paying attention to him. She was still on her knees, frantically rummaging around in the wall-space. He heard her swear under her breath as she reached for her phone, pulling it out and shining the flashlight in the hole. As she did, she said something else in Hindi, and while he couldn’t understand the language, the panic in her voice was clear as day.

“…It’s gone, isn’t it?” Louie asked coldly.

Chanda pulled out and turned away from the hole. Her eyes did the talking for her.

“O-okay, wait-” Chanda stuttered as she stood up.

“Un-fucking-believable.” Louie groaned, running his hands through his head-feathers. Fuming, he snapped at her, “Safe, huh?”

“Just wait a second-” Chanda told him, turning around and starting to search the alleyway.

“No, no, no!” Louie shook his head, snarling, “You had the audacity to call me a fuckup the other day, and then you go ahead and lose me forty thousand dollars?”

“The guy didn’t tell anyone else about this place!” Chanda hissed furiously. “How was I supposed to know?”

“I dunno! How was I supposed to know that Glomgold was missing?”

A phone ding came from Chanda’s pocket before she could respond. She blinked, then pulled out her phone and stared silently at the screen.

After a moment, she put her phone away, dread and reluctance written across her face.

“…I know who’s taken it.” She mumbled.

“That was him? You know the guy who took it?”

“Yeah.” Chanda replied unhappily. “And he wants to meet with us.”

“Well, then,” Louie said with a nasty smile, mockingly gesturing back the way they’d come. “Lead the way.”