Welcome to Ambrosia!

[Proto Man]

Ambrosia was a strange place.

Without Blues or the equally chipper Mickey at her side, Mireya walked the streets in silence. Although her own personal bubble was silent, the world around her was loud and vivid—colors and noises that she hadn’t really seen in a very long time. Although Yggdrasil had a lot of color and light, the focal point of the night elves’ culture was still very somber. Darkshire and the outlying cities in Camelot were oftentimes the worst of human culture in terms of appearance and mood.

This place… this place was something that the half-night elf couldn’t exactly comprehend. Nothing looked the same—houses and business were built from different, incongruent materials and painted in eye-assaulting shades of every color on the rainbow.

“Hey there, kupo!”

When she realized the voice was aimed at her, Mireya paused and turned around. When she saw no one looking back at her, she glanced down and realized that a tiny little animal was addressing her. Standing at a little over a foot and a half tall, the creature was covered in short white fur. Had that been all, Mireya would have taken it to be somewhat normal, but as luck would have it, the creature also had a pair of undersized bat wings and a single antenna that terminated with a large purple pompom.

“Kupo?” Mireya asked the little animal that stood before her.

“Oh no, I’m Mitch, kupo!” The creature said again as he bounced from one foot to the other. Since its eyes were shut, it was hard for the woman to figure out what exactly was going on. “Kupo, you’re new here, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” Mireya replied as she noticed that several nearby citizens of the town had paused to look at her. “But I’m on my way out… I’m going to, uh…”

“What’s your name, kupo?” The creature said as it floated up from the ground using its tiny wings that shouldn’t have been able to support its furry body.

“Mireya,” the half-night elf replied, realizing that she had become the focal point of this entire street. “Mireya Vasquez.”

“Hi there, Mireya. I’m Mitch, kupo!” The now floating animal replied as he extended one of his tiny, nub-sized arms toward her. “Let’s be best friends, kupo!”

The half-breed woman reached out and accepted the tiniest handshake she’d received in the last week (and there had been some teeny ones in there). “Thanks, Mitch... now do you want to tell me what you are?”

“You don’t know, kupo?!” He said, his voice and the inflection he placed on the last word a clear indicator of some profound and previously unfelt level of shock. “Why, I’m a moogle, kupo!”

Mireya shook her head as she stared around at a crowd that consisted of a dozen pastel-colored animals walking on their hind legs and watching her with unnaturally large eyes. “Is… is that supposed to mean something? I don’t know what anything here is.”

The moogle let out a gasp and actually did a surprisingly acrobatic midair summersault. “You don’t know what moogles are, kupo?! Have you lived under a rock?”

A soft chuckle escaped the woman’s lips without here realizing it. After a moment of silence to watch the floating creature shake its head—causing the pompom to jiggle back and forth—Mireya gestured in the direction of the River Animus. “Nah, I lived in a tree for a while, and then I lived in a different tree.”

“Oh boy… That sounds pretty boring, kupo!”

The half-night elf shrugged her shoulders. “It wasn’t terrible, although I probably got too used to the peace and quiet. This place is very…”

“Very fun, kupo!!!” Mitch said with another midair flip that left behind a momentary trail of glitter. “Kupo, Ambrosia is the best place in the Omniverse!”

Knowing she was the focal point of everyone around her, Mireya just smiled and nodded her head. “I can believe that,” she spoke, prompting Mitch and everyone around her to break out into exuberant cheers.