Of Mice and (Proto) Men [Exemplary]

[Proto Man]

“I suppose so,” Mireya replied, shrugging her shoulders as she took a sip of the tea. She glanced over at Proto Man for a moment before returning her gaze to the female mouse. “All depends on whatever goes down next, you know? This one over here is prone to running off at the first sign of something that needs solved or fixed.”

“Hey!” Proto Man interjected after realizing that the woman was poking fun at him.

Minnie smirked before shooting a momentary glare in Mickey’s direction. By the time she was looking at Mireya, her expression had softened back to its normal, saccharine smile. “I know the feeling,” she responded as Proto Man and Mickey both shuffled awkwardly in their seats.

After allowing the silence for fester for a few moments, the preteen machine opened his mouth. “So, uh, is this Ambrosia? I figured there’d be more to it than trees.”

“Oh no, Silly,” Minnie replied before taking a sip of tea. “Ambrosia is a town nearby. It’s centered on a place called Pokute Palace, where it’s ruled by Princess Guu.”

Proto Man let out an ‘ahh’ that pulled everyone’s attention in his direction. “I remember her, from Dante’s Abyss. She’s the one who gave the producers a big ‘f u’ and used an item to remove herself from the competition.”

A grin spread across Minnie’s features as she took another sip of the steaming tea. “I, unfortunately, did not get to witness that.”

“Minnie was locked up, remember?” Mickey interrupted as he turned to look at Proto Man. The machine nodded his head and looked back at his new friend’s wife.

“The Empire, right?” In his naiveté, Proto Man failed to notice the scowl the female mouse gave her partner before flashing a nod and a smile at his young friend. “Why were they after you?”

It was Mickey Mouse that answered once again. “An organization was trying to use her to blackmail me into supporting their evil intentions. They kidnapped her to draw me to them, but we managed to show them a thing or two.”

Proto Man furrowed his brow and wondered what an imperial organization would want with a pair of humanoid mice. “They’re not nice people,” he quipped. “Did you meet the leader of their police force?” Both mice shook their heads, which gave the robot a small degree of relief. “He’s a piece of work, trust me.” The preteen machine kept the story of the Copper Eye to himself, knowing that it wasn’t something to talk about over tea.

Even so, images of the maimed and broken bodies flashed into his head. Despite happening nearly two years ago, Proto Man clearly remembered the image of the stone-faced judge and his Imperial Space Marines gunning down the warehouse full of unarmed men, women, and children. He didn’t need to be a machine to have those images scarred permanently into his record. Back then, Samus and he had begrudgingly accepted the Empire… Samus had since been driven from the city, and Proto Man had slipped away a long time ago. What would Judge Dredd and the Coruscant authorities thing of Proto Man now? He’d spent the last two years wandering the Omniverse, invariably helping their enemies more than their own interests. Would they gun him down like those starving idealists? Would he be forced to murder his way through the gate as Samus had?

Either thought brought a metaphorical chill to the machine’s nonexistent spine.

“You okay, Blues?” Mickey asked. “You seem a little lost in thought,” he chuckled. It took Proto Man a moment to realize it was a joke, since his eyes were concealed behind black lenses.

The robot nodded. “Sorry, I was just recalling some unfortunate events from Coruscant. You’d do well to avoid that place… the people in power aren’t nice.” That was something that both of the mice could agree on, and the two of them both nodded their heads in unison. Next to Proto Man, Mireya shuffled in her small seat.

“Kingdom ain’t much better,” the half-night elf muttered. “The pendejos that are supposed to be in charge just let all the little regional bureaucrats run rampant and roughshod over the peasantry.”

“The pen-whatsits?” Mickey asked.

Mireya smirked but otherwise avoided answering that question as she slipped into a mild tangent. “The villages I lived in were filled with cloistered bigots. I don’t care that the guy all the way in the glittery city fought hand-to-hand combat with Diablo. He doesn’t pay attention to the little people suffering outside the city walls, and that’s where he shows his character.” Mireya’s smirk had descended into a scowl, and the half-night elf cut herself off with a sip of tea rather than continue to work herself up about the issue.

“I’ve been to Camelot,” Mickey interjected, trying to shift the subject of the conversation to less heated topics. “There are some… disgruntled people there, but for the most part, it wasn’t a terrible experience.”

“Been there too,” Proto Man added. “Samus, Harry, and I fought a dragon alongside Eighteen and Ganondorf. You remember those two from the competition?” Mickey nodded his heads. The mouse recognized the names, but he couldn’t exactly attach them to faces. “Cindy was there… She hurt Samus real bad and ran off with one of the dragon eggs.”

“Dragon eggs?” Mickey asked, his thoughts going back—somewhat unwillingly—to Dante’s Abyss. He remembered Erza, his true friend, standing against dragons and falling in combat. He’d been unable to save her, to even fight alongside her, because Deadpool had got the best of him.

“Yea,” Proto Man replied, seeing the demeanor of his friend shift. “The ones in Dante’s Abyss… I’m glad Cindy lost that blood treasure, but I wish it could have been Samus and I taking it from her hands after throwing her behind bars.”

“You wouldn’t want to see her killed?” Mireya asked, pulling all eyes back toward her. “With that things that puta did to you and that armored lady, you should want to see her head roll.”

The preteen machine responded by shaking his head. “No use spilling more blood. I prefer justice, not vengeance.”

Mireya rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face said she wasn’t trying to insult or belittle her young friend. “Idealist.” She added as she finished her cup of tea and leaned to place it on the counter. “Thank you, Miss Mouse.” The half-night elf said, tipping an invisible hat to her hostess.

“You’re very welcome, Mireya,” Minnie replied as she turned to look at the two boys in the room. “Did you want to meet the princess? She's very approachable, so I'm sure she'd like to meet the three of you."

Proto Man nodded his head. “That sounds like a great idea.” He said as he slid off the chair and looked over at Mireya, who seemed more than pleased to be leaving what she considered to be a somewhat cramped little structure. “We keep meeting royalty, isn’t this fun?”

The half-night elf smirked as Minnie collected the remaining tea cups and deposited them in her sink for later. “I guess,” she shrugged as she went to go collect her shoes. “As long as this one doesn’t hate me because I don’t worship Elune or have mauve skin, I’ll be happy.”

“Hmm?” Minnie said from the other side of the clubhouse, prompting Mireya to glance over her shoulder at the little female mouse.

“That’s another story,” Mireya shot back as she strapped up her leather boots and slipped through the clubhouse entrance, leaving Proto Man and the two mice behind.