Here I Am, This is Me
How it All Began
by Roaming Tigress
Before I start talking about how I came to be one of St. Canard's most notorious criminals, I would to take the time to speak about the two individuals who brought me into the world, and unintentionally helped me shape into the reputation I so worked hard at getting.
My mother, Emillia Volatili, was born sometime in 1932, and was raised and born in Napoli, Italy. Average in everything -- built, good looks, hair length and height, she was a stout mixed-bred Bantam hen with light cream feathers. Her brown eyes that matched the colour of her wavy hair, sparkled with the intelligence that I would come to inherent. As far as personality, she was mellow, slow to show temper and exceptionally outgoing, but at the same time, not afraid to speak her mind in a time when woman were generally segregated to the kitchen.
She was a good business woman, and owned the small but popular Emillia Cafe in her hometown. When my mother wasn't dutifully taking care of her customers, she was out and about, traveling to faraway lands. Emillia loved to visit the places she daydreamed about in her childhood; the deepest, darkest reaches of Africa, the Amazon River, Australia, India, just to name a few. She loved to explore new cultures, to be in the places she read about in books. When Emillia wasn't on a safari, she was exploring art museums across Europe and North America. Art, namely sculpture and oil paintings, was another one of her interests, as was the theater, dancing and studying foreign languages.
My father, Roberto, was somewhat of a mysterious figure; I never knew his surname nor his date of birth. In some ways, he was very much like me; attractive, apparently temperamental, and apparently lacked the suavity that I became famous for. From the colour photographs that I've seen of him, I knew that he had a built that was similar to mine, and his feathers were a dirty white, and his wolfish, punishing eyes were a deep yellow. The only thing I knew of his past was that he was a hard working, no-nonsense farmer who grew wheat for a living after his father had passed on.
It was in the spring of 1955 when my mother first met with Roberto. From the diary I stole from her bedroom, allow me to tell you how that meeting went.
April 5, 1955
A rooster came into the cafe; an exceedingly handsome, brawny rooster. Roberto, his name was. It isn't often that you see many of them in Napoli; most of them stay out in the countryside, working the farms, so it was something when he walked in. He came in half an hour before closing time, just as the last customers left. Initially he was a very reserved gentleman, but warmed up after I told him a little about my self and my travels. He told me he was visiting an old friend of his from collage, and that he took up after the family wheat farm when his father died of a heart attack.
I hope he stops in again, he intrigues me so.
Three years later, in another diary . . .
July 16th, 1958
It has been three years since Roberto stepped into Cafe Emillia. I had almost forgotten about him, but he hadn't forgotten about me. By chance I met up with him at the park, just by Swan Lake.
He proposed to me -- I accepted. I nearly got into an
argument with mother who told me that I am jumping into things too fast.
Perhaps I am, but how could I not accept an offer from such a suave, handsome
gentleman such as Roberto? He may "just" be a farmer to them,
but in my eyes, he is something much more. She didn't seem to care much
for Roberto when I invited him over, but it is me who would be spending the
rest of my days with, not her!
Emillia sold her cafe to move in with Roberto in the Tuscany countryside. She would miss the success that she had with her business, the many customers she's developed a close bond with, but she had enough of the life in the bustling city. Besides that, she wanted to raise her children in the fresh, wide-open countryside where she was raised.
On August 10th, 1959, my mother gave birth to twins -- Andreas and Antonio. The pride and joy of Emillia and Roberto, they were the typical picture-perfect, adorable babies that every parent dreams of having.
I wasn't.
Disclaimer: Steelbeak, Darkwing Duck, and all other characters mentioned except for Javert J. Adair, Emillia, Roberto, Valentino, Andreas and Antonio Volatilli belong to Disney. Do NOT borrow ideas from or distribute this story without prior permission of the author at
Author's note: this is a revised, improved version of "Twisted Every Way" which was originally written in 2002. Certain aspects from that story have been changed or elaborated.