Of Mice and (Proto) Men [Exemplary]

[Proto Man]

With the night elves behind them, the little trio seemed to have a little more spring in their step. Mireya, especially, seemed far more at ease. Despite the unpleasantness, the homecoming must have given the half-night elf some feeling of closure with part of her past. Once they were on the other side of the Animus, the trio continued toward the Gate to the Nexus. When they were within a few miles, Mickey took over guiding them toward their destination, and they veered off in another direction.

“Where are we going again?” Mireya inquired as they detoured through a little grove of fruit trees. The half-night elf snatched one of the low-hanging apples as they passed and took a bite out of it as she waited for a response from the mouse.

“The town is called Ambrosia,” Mickey explained, glancing once over his shoulder to make sure he had the woman’s ear. “They seem like some pretty nice people there.”

“They humans?”

The mouse thought for a moment before shrugging his small shoulders. “I think some of them are? I’m not sure, I haven’t really been there… I sent the wife, remember?”

“Guess we’ll find out together,” Proto Man said with a smile as the trio passed over another small river.

After a few more minutes, they found themselves walking out of the forest and staring at a rather large and rather awkward-looking building. It took the robot a few hard blinks before he realized he had to be looking at Mickey’s house, as there could be no other explanation for the structure that lie before him. Separated into various sections, the structure resembled parts of the mouse’s anatomy, with a giant version of his leg at one end and a large gloved arm at the other. In the center was a dome-shaped area painted like Mickey’s red trousers, and up from the center was a second floor shaped like his head, although luckily there weren’t any giant googly eyes looking down at the robot.

“The Clubhouse!” Mickey shouted ecstatically as he made his way passed Proto Man. “Aww, shucks, Minnie made our house!”

With the mouse out in front of them and enraptured by the adobe, Mireya and Proto Man shared a silent look that conveyed the mixture of amusement and discomfort they felt as they stood in the shadow of the ‘clubhouse.’ As they drew closer toward what was a giant version of Mickey’s boot, the door (because of course this was the front door) swung open to reveal a smiling female version of Proto Man’s newest pal.

Aside from large eyelashes and a slightly more feminine physique, Minnie Mouse was similar to her husband. Instead of Mickey’s layers of clothing, she wore a simple red dress with white polka dots. Atop her head was a large bow made from the same fabric, and her footwear was a pair of red shoes with slightly elevated heels.

“Yoo-hoo!” The female mouse said, waving a hand at her husband and his friends. “About time!” She added with a smile as Mickey rushed forward to scoop her up in a hug. After he set down his wife, she turned and looked at her husband’s new companions. She gave a polite smile to Proto Man before she had to crane her neck to look up at the leather-clad Mireya. “Oh my, you’re tall…”

“I… I like your dress,” Mireya replied, prompting a tittering laugh from the female mouse.

“If I find enough fabric, I can make you one just like it!” Minnie responded as she turned to look at her husband and the preteen robot. “Let me go put some tea on, and you can tell me all about where you’ve been.” Although the mouse had a smile on her face and her tone sounded upbeat enough, it was obvious that Mickey picked up on some subtext that Proto Man’s youthful disposition could not. As Mickey walked inside, Proto Man remembered his new pal mentioning that he had left his wife behind. She was probably curious as to what he had been up to… at least that’s what made sense in the preteen’s head.

The metal door was just tall enough to allow Proto Man to get through without having to stoop, but once he passed through, he turned around and found himself staring at looked at Mireya’s midsection. The nearly six foot woman dropped into a squat and scowled as she looked inside the house. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she mouthed as she stepped forward. Although she fit, she would have to permanently stoop down to fit inside the quirky little house.

Looking back over her shoulder, Minnie frowned. “Are you okay back there?”

“Just a little squeezed, is all,” Mireya replied as she shimmied her way through the room and the hallway until they came to a larger room in the center of the compound. Once she was through the doorway, the half-night elf let out a sigh as she was able to stand at her full height, although even here the roof was still just a few inches above her hair.

“You can take your helmet and your shoes off, you know,” Minnie said to Proto Man once they were all comfortably inside. Without waiting for a response, she threw a large switch that opened up a hole in the ground. A large gloved hand extended up and yanked a pull chain to turn on the large incandescent bulb which served as the room’s light. Once the hand retracted back into the ground, Minnie looked back at Proto Man. “Isn’t technology fun?” She laughed.

The robot smiled as he leaned down and knocked on the oversized armored boots he had. “I’m afraid these are permanent boots.” He responded before he reached up and popped off his helmet. Beneath the headgear was a mess of spiky brown hair and a pair of eyes hidden behind sunglasses.

“Have you been wearing those the entire time?” Mickey asked as Proto Man rested his helmet on an end table after getting a nonverbal okay from his hostess.

It took the machine a moment to realize the question wasn’t about his footwear. “These?” He asked, placing a hand on the side of his head until he got a nod. “Well yea, why wouldn’t I wear them? I need to protect my eyes from the sun’s UV rays.”

The comedic deflection elicited several chuckles from both mice, who turned to look up at Mireya. The half-night elf stifled a scowl as she dropped down and started to unlace her boots. Once she’d removed both her boots, the woman frowned at them and slipped them through the nearby window. “I’ll wash those later,” she muttered under her breath as the skin on her cheeks turned a little purpler.

“Now then,” Minnie said with a smile. “Who wants some tea?”