When You Wish To Make It Par (Minerva)

Mornings in Wonderland where peaceful, more peaceful than Minerva would have imagined that morning so many weeks ago. She'd found great comfort in the cool breeze coming through her open window every morning. There was always something to look forward to in her new home, especially after she and William Desnee had opened the Magic Kingdom, as she so fondly called it. She would hardly call it work.

This morning, as finished getting ready to open up their establishment, she realized something was amiss. Her small cat, Figaro was no where to be found. Ever since she found the kitten, hungry and cold out in the rain, he had been attached to her feet, never straying too far from his owner. Minnie told herself he was finally branching out and exploring the place, but the doubt stayed at the back of her mind. He's fine, you'll see, she reassured herself. Even so, she was already on her way to find one of the other employees in hopes that they had seen him.

It was then that she saw Mickey. She refused to call him William, Mickey just seemed to fit him much better. Her mind drifted away from her cat for a moment, as she watched with a small, amused smile on her lips. Even from where she stood, she could hear his soft whistle. Her legs started to move toward him, without her thinking about it. grabbing a club as she passed it along the way. The sound of her feet was muffled by the material composing the small course. Her hand moved up to her hair and straightened out the thin pink bow resting comfortably there. It had been her first, true possession in Wonderland, something that Mickey himself had given her and she had a habit of wearing it often. Sometimes she felt foolish at the thought of how obsessive she must have looked to others, but she loved that bow. 

"Do you mind if I join you?" Minnie softly touched his shoulder for a second and continued to smile. In all honesty, she was horrible at the game, but he seemed to enjoy it so much, she was willing to keep trying.

@mickey

It took all of five seconds for Mickey to put his club down and pull Minnie in to a hug. She immediately wrapped her arms around him, a quiet giggle managing to escape from her lips. Every time he embraced her, she pondered why she felt so at home. It was as if she belonged right there, fitting perfectly like a puzzle piece. This was the highlight of her day and she was lucky enough to repeat it at night.

Even though she would have stood there with her arms around him all day, she realized that wasn't practical at all. Seriously, Mickey was nice to her, but then again he was nice to everyone. He was a good, nice boy. To think that he felt the same connection that she did was too risky, she couldn't flat out as him. Maybe she was reading too much in to this, maybe she wasn't. She pulled away before she let her mind get out of control, she could drive herself crazy thinking too much about it.

"Good morning to you, too!" She nodded toward the hole he had rested his club on. "I was hoping you could teach me a bit more, I'm afraid I'm still not very good at this."

Minnie usually stayed at the arcade for this very reason. She handed out tickets and prizes, often striking up a conversation with guests, and often making new friends. That was easy for her. She enjoyed watching people play, watching from afar was a good way to learn, she thought. Then again, Mickey managed to make everything fun for her.

"I'm determined to be as good as you one day."

@mickey

His compliment brought another bright smile to her face. She was ecstatic to learn that she might be making improvements. She was serious about being as good as him when it came to this. There was nothing worse than being held back while everyone around her was amazing at it.  Her eyes followed his every move, her body mimicking his.

"Space Mountain, now that's something. You're almost there, I believe in you."

What was she doing that evening? There was something she had to do, something she was forgetting about. Minnie racked her brain, straining to remember. Then the wave of realization hit her. Figaro!

"Oh no!" Mickey's question went unanswered. Instead, Minnie dropped the club and her hands covered her mouth. "I... I can't find my Figaro. I came out here looking for him and I got distracted."

She felt absolutely horrible. What kind of owner decided to play when her cat was missing? Despite her best effort, she couldn't keep her eyes from tearing up. "Oh, Mickey, what am I doing? I should be out there looking for him."

@mickey

Minnie would have protested, even begged for him to finish his game while she looked for her pet, but she knew once he set his mind on something, there was no turning back. It was his nature to help those around him. She tried to smile back at him, but she could only manage to nod her head at him. She followed right behind him as he set up a sign. They were usually slow the first hour of business, hopefully she would find Figaro by then.

"He was with me this morning," she answered, running a hand throw her hair. The last time Minnie had seen the small cat, she had been in the arcade setting up the prizes for the day. He'd purred at her feet, but she was too busy to see what he wanted. She'd leaned down to rub his head and made a promise to give him as much attention as he'd like after she was done.

"I'm not sure, he's not used to these surroundings yet. I can't imagine he's gotten too far. But he's so small..."

@mickey

Was this his lunch? Minnie watched silently as he split it in half and handed one part to her. She hesitated before accepting it in her hand. If she'd taken better care of Figaro, Mickey wouldn't have to give up have of his lunch. She'd make it up to him somehow. She started to walk away before turning to him once more, "Let me know if you see him? I'll go look around the concession stands."

In reality, she was making a big deal out of this small problem. Figaro was small, but he was smart enough to have stayed out of trouble for this long. If she was lucky, he would reappear any second now. Her wishful thinking didn't amount to anything as she looked behind the corn dog stand and then moved to the cotton candy machine.

"Figaro?" she called out and was met with resounding silence. Minnie placed the tuna sandwich on the nearest stand and crossed her arms before speaking to Mickey, "Anything yet?"

@mickey