Just a Normal, Boring Family is a DuckTales (2017) For Want Of A Nail Fan Fiction by Mighty_Ant
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A change of fate leads Donald to ground the boys and drag them to the interview instead of letting Scrooge watch them. This is the result from that one action.
Its about the triplets trying to find their Uncle Donald after he went missing in a car accident suddenly. The kids have no one to turn to are forced to deal with being sent to a foster home while trying to uncover the mystery of what happened to their uncle and his mysterious connections to the richest duck in the world.
This story can be found here.
Just a Normal, Boring Family provides examples of:
- Accent Adaptation: Here Webby gets a light British accent similar to her grandmother instead of her American one because
Word of God believes that she should have had one in Canon all along. After all, it would only make sense given her grandmother raised and was her sole confident most of her life. - Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- Throughout the series, Louie has always admired and idolized his uncle for being the Richest Duck in the World but ever since him and his brothers has ended up orphaned and in the system that opinion has drastically changed. Now, he's much more bitter towards Scrooge for having so much money lying around and not doing a thing with it when he could give it to people who desperately need it.
- Before in Canon, the triplets seemed to idolized Gladstone for his luck and fortune but here they've been in the system for quite sometime and their only living relative they know of haven't contacted them (though in his defense Word of God heavily implied that he's been trapped in Lui Hai's casino). This leaves Huey resenting him for abandoning them though it's subverted with Dewey who's more on the fence about him and completely averted by Louie who's giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Huey: Good riddance, like Uncle Donald always says.Louie: Hey, I’m sure Uncle Gladstone would help if he knew. We just haven’t been able to get ahold of him.Huey: And how ‘lucky’ is that? He’s leaving all the work of finding Uncle Donald to us! - Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Before the series was a fun, lighthearted, family friendly, comedy involving the triplets discovering they had an insanely rich uncle and going on various adventures with him. It only had angst sprinkled in time to time but this story lays it on thick. The story starts out with Donald's mysterious disappearance and continues with glimpses of the triplets time in the system. Then we get to Scrooge who's hardly doing well for himself and Webby who's been stuck in the mansion a whole lot longer with her own mysterious issues. You can already tell the tones going to be darker though there's still a lot of humor thrown around. The kids don't act much different then before either though Donald's disappearance and their time in the system clearly effected them a lot which gave them a much more cynical and jaded outlook on the world.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Downplayed in a rather heartbreaking example. Louie's still his old money-grubbing self who pulls his regular cons but his reason for wanting that money had changed. After Donald's disappearance, he's now a firm believer that money should be spent on his loved ones, in particularly his uncle.Louie: I could hire a hundred private detectives to find Uncle Donald. And they’d-they’d find him and then Uncle Donald wouldn’t have to work another day in his life, he could retire and live on the houseboat in our Olympic-sized pool and never worry about money again.
- Badass Normal: Webby naturally when she manages to by herself tie the boys up again just like in canon after they tried to break into Scrooge McDuck's mansion.
- Big Brother Instinct: All three of the triplets count as this, especially after they were labeled orphans and sent to the system, they only had each other to rely on.
- Huey, in particular, believes the only reason they made it through the system for as long as they have without getting separated was only because of the lesson Donald taught them "family always helps family". As such with him currently being gone, he chiefly feels determined to take responsibility to do whatever it takes to protect his brothers.
- Broken Pedestal: Before Donald went missing and the kids ended up in the system, Louie use to look up to Scrooge for being the Richest Duck in the World. But ever since then his opinion has drastically soured. Now he's much more frustrated at the fact that he has so much money in his vault that he does nothing with instead of giving it to other people who can actually use it.
- Cassandra Truth: None of the adults the kids talked to believed their uncle to be in any serious trouble and instead claimed they were in denial about the fact he essentially abandoned him. They also didn't trust the boys word on their uncle owing Scrooge a favor and even bother try to get in contact with him.
- Don't Split Us Up: Huey, especially worries this might happen while the triplets are in the foster system. As such, he warns them countless times to make sure they're on their best behavior so, they won't have a reason to separate them.
- Five-Finger Discount: Gosalyn helps the boys out this way for the bus payment so they can finally skip town and meet Scrooge. Though, unsurprisingly, it takes some convincing on Huey's side but when it comes to finding his uncle, its not a competition.
- For Want Of A Nail: Donald bringing the kids over to Scrooge's to babysit set of the entire plot. So, what kind of ramifications do you think Donald's decision to bring the kids with him to the interview will have instead?
- Foster Kid: What the triplets end up becoming after Donald's and Gladstone's mysterious disappearance for five months before meeting Scrooge. Want a guess on how well they took this?
- Gosalyn happens to be one too during this period in time. She also teaches the boys the ropes of living in the system and helps them contact Scrooge McDuck.
- Gilded Cage: Word of God heavily implied that Gladstone is still stuck in Lui Hai's casino feeding off his good luck. After all, do you think he could really get out himself? It's enforced by the fact the triplets haven't been able to get a hold of him for months.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Huey, needless, to say. According to Dewey it was because of his temper they were thrown out of their first foster home. All thanks to the foster family refusing to return to the houseboat after Huey realized he forgot his Junior Woodchuck sash behind.Dewey: He unleashed the Duke! It was awesome. I think he broke their stairs.
- Heroic BSoD: Scrooge gets this BIG time. He only got worse then in canon going straight to work, eating barely half on his plate, then staring at his ceiling till sleep claims him. Then to make it even worse when he finds out Donald's been missing for 4 months while his grand nephews were in the foster system. Yeah... he hasn't been doing quite so well lately.
- I Will Find You: After the kids Uncle Donald goes missing and despite everyone telling them otherwise, they're absolutely bound and determined to find him. They even go as far as tracking down Scrooge McDuck and breaking into his manor to get his help.
- Kids Are Cruel: While the triplets were in the foster system, Tank- an orphan there too- bullied them by stealing Huey's phone and demanding something back for it. Thankfully, Gosalyn intervened and kept him at bay the rest of the time.
- Locked Out of the Loop: While the triplets finally manage to convince Scrooge to find their missing uncle and lets them stay at the mansion, he refuses to explain his mysterious connection to Donald to the triplets due to his own selfish insecurities and guilt towards the whole situation. He's also forbiden Beakley and Webby from saying anything either about their heritage too.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The triplets knows something was wrong with their uncle Donald even before he was mysteriously kidnapped. For instance when receiving that strange letter instead of becoming angry and unintelligible, he was completely silent and hands shaking. Two days later he packed up the kids in the middle of the night and sped off to Scrooge McDuck's house.
- Orphan's Ordeal: A more idealistic version of this but the triplets definitely undergo this when Uncle Donald disappeared and they can't seem to get a hold of Gladstone. Since, the Police Are Useless they have to find out what exactly happened to their uncle on their own. At least until they get in contact with Scrooge that is.
- Police Are Useless: Played Straight when the triplets beg the police to believe them that Donald was kidnapped even after they tell them of his suspicious behavior before the car crash. Everyone brushes them off claiming that their Uncle abandoned them because of debts and financial reasons. It's obvious to anyone who's met Donald for a little bit knows there's something extremely wrong going on. To make it even worse when the kids beg to for help to get in contact with Scrooge, the person Donald was bringing them to, they dismiss them again thinking they were lying.
- Taught by Experience: Scrooge learned the hard way not to use company money to fund finding Della after the vultures shut the project down. He promised himself not to make the same mistake this time around and instead go as far as to use any of his own resources necessary from the money bin after finding out about Donald's disappearance.
- Unknown Relative: The entire time when trying get in contact with Scrooge McDuck, the triplets don't realize they're actually looking for their great uncle. Just someone who owed their uncle Donald a favor. This later continues on when Scrooge still refuses to explain his connection to Donald even after he takes the boys in due to his own selfish insecurities and even forbids Beakley and Webby from saying anything about it. At least until he finds Donald where he'd make him be the one to explain their relationship to each other.
