Hey, can you tell me what year it is?

[madreen_rua]

Ah, amnesia. The old standby for soap operas, it usually involves a good knock on the head and a complete loss of memory. Ever wanted to do that to your character? Well, now's your chance.

1. Comment with your characters!
2. Others comment. Optionally, go to RNG and roll the scenario. (As to who gets knocked on the head, well, that's up to you!)
3. ???
4. PROFIT.

1. HEAD-ON COLLISION - ...whoops. It was an honest mistake, really! You didn't see that car/tree/post/person/whatever coming, but now you're stumbling out of the wreckage sans memory. Better ask for help.

2. WAIT, WHO ARE YOU? - Okay, so a while ago, you got into...something that caused you to lose your memory. Fortunately, you managed to get by and create a new identity for yourself. Unfortunately, someone new has just entered your life. Or should I say, someone who's a little too familiar...

3. RINSE AND REPEAT - Sigh. Really, this is just so inconvenient. You wake up everyday with no memory of who you are, and have to figure it out over the course of the day, only to fall asleep and have to do it all over again the next day. Good thing someone's there to help you out, right? And what's with all those post-its and notes?

4. THIS ROOM'S TOO WHITE - Welcome to the hospital. You've got an "Unknown" tag on your wrist, a healthy diet of bland hospital food, a steady trickle of doctors coming in to check up on you, and a TV, and nothing else. Looks like someone's coming to help you today, though! Here's to hoping they knew you before you lost your memory.

5. I'M SUPPOSED TO DO WHAT?! - Oh, crap. There's something only you can do right now--that is, the you who didn't lose your memory, anyway. Better figure out a way out of this mess and how to control your strange abilities before it's too late.

6. FIGHTING FOR THE WRONG SIDE - Uh, oh. Looks like your enemies decided to take advantage of your confused state and convinced you that you're on their side. Here's to hoping your allies can get you back to yourself before you cause some serious damage.

7. JUST TOO TRAUMATIC - You just saw something that's so traumatic you lost your memory because of it. Unfortunately, right now, you have to remember it, or else something really bad happens. Hope you don't regret remembering this!

8. I DON'T WANT THIS - You've been living a peaceful, ordinary life, for a while. And you'd rather it stay that way, because you're not sure if you'd want to remember what went before. Unfortunately, something's coming, and the key to stopping it lies in your memories.

9. NO SUCH THING - Maybe you were a wizard, or a werewolf, or an angel, or a demon, or something else entirely before, or maybe you just knew about the masquerade. Sadly, you've been knocked on the head and now believe yourself to be a perfectly ordinary person. Magic? That doesn't exist, right? Anything can be explained with science, after all! Right?

10. I'M WHO?! - And who the hell are you? Basically, this is the wild card option! Combine one of the above or make up a new one or whatever you want! Go wild!

Credit: jading

Comments

[divaoftime]

Wow. He was really out of it. He must have been given the good stuff. The wasted, near-dead being that might have once been an angel on her shoulder entreated her to leave him be. How could she take advantage of him in such a state? She flicked the thought away and came up to his bedside.

"You still remember who I am!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

"I was half afraid you'd be stuck in an endless loop of forgetting." That would have been annoying. She'd gag if she had to keep playing out the same thing over and over.

"The nurse told me you pulled stitches," she scolded lightly. "You better be more careful from now on."

[richestduck]

"Aye, I remember that much at least. Nothing from before I first woke up here though." He lazily gestured in the direction of the foot of the bed where his medical chart hung. "According to what they're figured out so far, making new memories isn't the issue."

At her scolding, he shook his head. "I'll try not to, lassie, but I don't much like just lying around."

[divaoftime]

Piper plucked up the chart and glanced over it. What did any of this mean? Piper had no clue. She hung it back on his bed.

"No. I know that. Did they say when they might let you go home? At least in your own bed, you can watch cable uninterrupted."

[richestduck]

"They said they were keeping me for another couple of days to make sure the results of the surgeries hold. Then I'll be allowed to go home as long as someone's there to ensure I don't strain myself," Scrooge responded. He chuckled. "Looks like no races for me for a while."

[divaoftime]

"No races and you're stuck eating gross hospital food for a couple more days. This will help." She sets the book in his lap.

"When you get home, I can help you around. So you don't need to worry about that. If you're good, you can even have a motorized wheelchair. You have to promise not to crash it."

[richestduck]

"Bah, no need for something with a motor. Too expensive. I'm sure I can figure out how to wheel myself about," he said, languidly shooing away the idea with a hand. "But thank you, my dear."

There was very clear affection in his voice as he said the last two words. Clearly, he'd bought her story that they had been at least somewhat affectionate with each other.

[divaoftime]

"Uh. Okay. Someone needs to tell you this." She took a deep breath. Sure, he was getting all soft on her. Naturally, this had to be the time for the big reveal. Of course.

"You are literally the richest duck in the world. Money is seriously no object. So you could afford, like, ten scooters."

[richestduck]

Scrooge listened with as much interest as he could muster as she told him what seemed to be a hard truth. The drugs in his system kept him calm enough to hear the news without immediately becoming a big ball of stress like he'd been when he'd first heard he was rich.

But the richest duck in the world? It made him start giggling and then openly guffawing until he had to wrap an arm around his stomach from how the stitches ached from his laughter.

"The richest duck in the world. Oh, that's a good one."

[divaoftime]

The more he laughed, the more annoyed she grew. Wish she knew what the joke was. Guess anything could be with that much money in the bank.

"I'm not kidding," she fixed him with an annoyed look, not quite a glare. "Like, look it up if you don't believe me. God. I bet you don't even remember the combination to the vault." She'd love to hear it. But if he didn't know it, that was going to be a real problem.

[richestduck]

"I'll buy wealthy, but the richest duck in the world? Surely not." Scrooge languidly looked at her as the laughter wore off. "The amount of money that would entail would be astronomical. Ludicrous, even."

At her last statement, he shook his head. "I don't even remember a vault much less a combination to it."

The good news was that the bulk of his money actually wasn't in the Bin: It was in banks, stocks, property, businesses, and so on. The Money Bin was the money he refused to spend; the coins, jewels, precious metals, and paper there were souvenirs from past adventures or just from people he missed. Some people collected stamps or photographs to remind them of where they'd been; he collected valuables.

[divaoftime]

"Yeah. Well. You diving into piles of gold a riches is pretty ludicrous but it never stopped you before."

She'd be happy if she could just skim one percent of what was in that vault. Fat chance of that now. The rest of the assets she knew she'd never see unless she married him or became business partners. She wasn't necessarily opposed to either idea. She'd been slowly edging her way in on him just in case. All of the sudden, it seemed like a real possibility. How could she say no? He's not going to live that much longer anyway. Especially if he kept getting in accidents like this.

"Hmm..." she considered. "You probably had some kind of failsafe. We can check your records when we get home. Not like you'll be doing any deep coin diving for a while anyway." She was dead serious as she said this.

I have no idea how this tag got lost. D:

[richestduck]

"Diving into piles of gold? That must be a sight." He chuckled. "Quite an imagination you've got there, lassie."

Because, honestly, who would believe it if they hadn't seen it?

"And if I wasn't a complete loon, I would've had more than just what I could stick in a vault. Would be in banks, real estate, other assets." He rolled his eyes in self-depreciation. "Irritating that I can remember the general concepts but no specifics."

unfriended 4ever!! j/k

[divaoftime]

"Uh yeah. Okay. Don't believe me." Fine. It was pretty unbelievable. She had to admit. So she laughed it off, adding a shrug. "I mean if you could do that though... that would be some impressive shit."

It was a comfort to hear him talk business sense, even without the details. He still had the smarts that put him on top of the game. That was something.

"You do. I promise. You own, like, a bajillion assets. And it sounds like you've got a natural talent for it without needing the specifics anyway." Nothing wrong with a little flattery, right?

WOE!

[richestduck]

"Oh, aye. It would be, but I think I'd be more likely to break every bone in my body in the attempt." He paused. "Is that what happened originally? Did I try something that foolish?"

He should've had more sense if that was the case. If he had tried, he had no sympathy for the version of himself that had lost his memory through such a dumb action.

He chuckled again, eyes still distant from the drugs. "Not talent, just common sense: 'Don't put all your eggs in one basket'."

[divaoftime]

"You'd think," she teased. One day maybe he'd look back on this and laugh at how silly it was.

"You're kind of prone to foolish shit," she told him. "But, adventure is in your blood so we can't really stop you." And who can argue with the richest duck in the world? Seriously?

"This time though, you were actually just in a normal car accident." Color them all fucking shocked.

[richestduck]

"A car accident? How boring. The way everyone was talking about how they didn't want me to stress over it, you'd think it was something more sinister."

He then looked to her, sitting quietly for a moment in thought.

"I haven't asked you how you're doing, have I? Sorry about that."

[divaoftime]

"It was your favorite limo. They probably thought you'd be upset."

She blinked in surprise. She never expected anyone to ask how she was doing. Ever. It was nice, but she wasn't sure how to respond.

"Oh. Uh. It's okay. I mean, I'm okay. You know, kind of stressed out."

She gave a dry laugh, "You should really just worry about yourself."

[richestduck]

Knowing Scrooge, that was probably his only limo. Those things weren't cheap.

"As if I could tell one limousine from another now," Scrooge said with a snort. "I don't know what my favorite books are much less my favorite car."

Really, how silly was that?

"Sorry, but until I'm out of here, I'm not likely to be much help in taking the workload off of you." He shifted slightly to readjust his position. "Certainly not while they've got me drugged to the gills on whatever this nonsense is. Hard to be concerned about anything on them."

thinking another time skip is in order

[divaoftime]

"I'm sure it will come back to you in time," she said with her best fake smile.

Hopefully not too quick.

"Don't worry, you've taken long leaves of absences before. Things are set up to mostly run themselves if they need to. I won't be that busy. And I'd rather be here keeping you company, anyway." Wow. She managed not to gag on that last part.

"You're going to miss those drugs when they finally start taking you off them. Enjoy it while it lasts."

She started to gather her bag, "I probably should at least check in on things now. But I'll be back. Just one more thing. Don't sign any papers without letting me see them first. Okay?"

No problem!

[richestduck]

"I won't." Pause. "Miss the drugs or sign anything. I've lost my memory, not my common sense."

He settled back and closed his eyes, intending to just sleep off what he could. It wasn't as if he was going to be able to do much else.

About a week later, Scrooge was finally cleared to go home though he was under strict orders to rest with appointments scheduled for the physical therapist and a neurologist. Fun times.

The long, zig-zagging drive up the massive hill in the center of town was somewhat intimidating though at least being so high up Killmotor Hill meant less noise and hustle and bustle from the rest of Duckburg. Looking at the mansion--his mansion--for the first time, he said the first thing that popped into his mind:

"You'd find more cheer in a graveyard."

Re: No problem!

[divaoftime]

"Yeah..."

Piper was beside him in the car. She looked out the window at the towering structure and found she had to agree.

"The inside isn't much better. The whole place could use more color."

She clapped her hands together, "Hey, that's an idea. We could redecorate. A new project might be the thing you need."

[richestduck]

"At the very least, maybe looking through my own things will help loosen something up," he said, not sounding convinced but trying to at least be somewhat positive.

He was supposed to use a wheelchair, and he'd dug in his heels on buying a motorized one. It wasn't just the cost of the thing, but having a motorized one seemed like he was planning to use one permanently.

He didn't remember much about himself, but the thought of being chained to a wheelchair rankled. The frustration of wheeling himself about would be perfect added incentive to follow the physical therapist's orders regardless of how excruciatingly painful it could be.

"Besides, redecorating such a large space? That's a costly endeavor."

[divaoftime]

"You never know." She hoped it wouldn't. He didn't sound confident either. Good.

Piper laughed, "Now you're sounding more like yourself. I'm sure it would cost as much as buying a small house. But, you could afford to buy the whole neighborhood if you wanted."

He'd insisted on a normal wheelchair, so she'd have to help set it up. Annoying, but it would give her plenty of excuses to stay close. She fetched it from the trunk and unfolded it in front of his car door.

"Here, get in. But not too fast."

[richestduck]

"Just because I can doesn't mean I want to," Scrooge huffed. "Besides, from what I hear, I already own the neighborhood and the rest of Duckburg. I just rent it out to everyone."

That had been a startling discovery that he'd had to verify between three separate people. He still couldn't quite believe it.

He slid carefully out of the limo--a replacement for the one that had gotten wrecked--and climbed into the wheelchair. It was painful to do, every nerve ending protesting the action, but he adamantly refused to make his life easier in regards to the wheelchair. He was not going to get used to it. He was not going to be staying in it for long.

He sat quietly for a moment, taking slow breaths to try and control the pain. Finally he let out a breath that ached a little less than the others.

"Thank you, lass."

[divaoftime]

"See. That just proves my point."

Oh well. It wasn't that big of a deal. Maybe once he got inside, he'd decide he liked it just like it was all along. Did memory loss affect one's tastes or would certain people always gravitate towards the same things no matter what? That might be an interesting theory to explore. Later though.

For now, she needed to make sure her meal ticket didn't pass out from exertion. She hovered close while he took deep breaths, waiting to see if he'd need something. Luckily, he's a tough bastard.

"You good? I can roll you in?"