by Brenren

Author's Note: I’m still not exactly sure how I came up with the idea for this ficlet. I just know that it sorta kicked into my head while I was cleaning up a dish of creamed corn that I had so gracefully spilled all over my kitchen floor.

Disclaimer: I don’t own ReBoot, MFE owns it. You know the rest.

In her lifetime, Mouse had faced viruses, wars, almost unbreakable codes, web creatures, the entire Guardian Collective, and had always managed to come out seemingly unscathed, if not a bit wiser for the experience. Why then did she feel such a panic now? It was just dinner, right?

“Just dinner.” She repeated the words out loud as if to convince herself of it. It wasn’t the first time she had ever cooked. She could do this. She cooked all the time for Ray and herself when they decided to stay in. This would be no different, just a couple of extra people.

The roast was in the oven and almost done. She had finished chopping the carrots and tomatoes and put them into the salad. Desert was already in the fridge, being chilled. The only things left to do were to mash the potatoes and make the gravy. Easy enough, she thought. I can do this. I’ve done this a hundred times before. There’s no need to worry, she reminded herself. Bob and Dot, along with several others, seemed to like her cooking. AndrAIa had even once asked for the recipe to her mother’s peach cobbler. Why should this be any different?

Because this time, it’s Ray’s parents, she told herself. She had never had the greatest of luck in the past when meeting parents. Of course none
of those relationships had been very serious either and Mouse was having a hard time deciding whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. Before, she had never tried too terribly hard at making a good impression. In fact, she had never thought about it at all. But this was different. She really and truly wanted these people to like her.

Ray had assured her that they were wonderful sprites and would love her for who she was, just as he did. She hoped that he was right. She had
recently begun to think about being with Ray for a long time to come, and it would make things a lot easier for everyone if they approved.

She attempted to calm her nerves with that thought as she busied herself by mashing the potatoes. When she had finished that, she looked at the clock and noticed there was still roughly fifteen nanos before they were scheduled to arrive. She decided to start cleaning some of the dishes that she had used in preparing the meal while she waited and ran some water in the sink.

After washing a few large utensils and mixing bowls, she began to wipe the counter, coming across the large dish of mashed potatoes, which was now directly in her way. She set the cloth down, picked up the dish, and was completely unable to stop it from slipping out of her wet hands. It hit the edge of the counter, and before Mouse could do a thing to halt its progress, it tipped sideways and hit the floor, causing the potatoes to fly in all directions.

The kitchen was covered in them. There were splatters all over the floor, the walls, the table, the refrigerator and even the counter that she had just cleaned. She looked down at herself to realize that she was also covered in potatoes. “Spammit!” she yelled as the full realization hit her. “Son of a User spammed null!” She kicked the now mostly empty dish just for emphasis.

Ray was in the other room, straightening up for his parents’ visit, when he heard the long chain of cursors coming from Mouse. Upon entering the kitchen to investigate, he was surprised to see her on the floor, still sputtering cursors to herself and cleaning up what looked like an explosion of mashed potatoes. He tried to keep a straight face, but seeing her like this made it very difficult.

“You know,” Ray started with a smirk, “I may not be a gourmet or anything, but it seems to me that potatoes are best served in a bowl.”

Mouse turned an icy glare on him. His parents were due to arrive at any nano, the potatoes were ruined, the kitchen was a disaster and she really did not appreciate his smart ascii comments at the moment.

Ray desperately tried to hold in the laugh that was welling up inside of him, but couldn’t when he saw her reaction. He kept his mouth shut as tight as he could, but the laugh was already in his throat and very audible from her position on the floor. He started to back out of the kitchen, but it was too late. Before he could make a break for it, he was hit squarely in the face with a handful of mashed potatoes.

“Still think it’s funny?” She asked with a smirk as he carefully wiped the potatoes from his goggles. The situation was still just as bad, but she had to admit that hurling a fist full of spuds at him made her feel just a teeny bit better.

“No,” he said rather seriously, “it wasn’t funny. It was juvenile and spiteful.” He held the handful of potatoes out as he knelt in front of her. “Now this,” he said, referring to his hand, “this is funny.” He smeared the gooey mess on Mouse’s face and proceeded to laugh loudly as she slowly began to scrape it off with her fingers.

“Ok, smart ascii,” she said with a smirk as she scooped up another handful of potatoes from the floor while he was occupied, “let’s see how funny you think this is.” She grabbed the collar of his shirt, taking him by surprise, and gracelessly plopped it in. She began to laugh as he protested with mock disgust while she pushed on his chest, smearing the potatoes all through his shirt.

“Oh, that’s it,” he paused dramatically and grinned, “you’re toast!” Mouse squealed as he lunged for her. She tried to avoid his advance, but she slipped in the mess and he landed on top of her, pinning her on her side to the floor. Both of them scooped up handfuls of potatoes off the floor and for several nanos, continued to smear the other while laughing loudly enough to not hear the front door open.

“Are we interrupting something?” A voice came from nearby. They both turned their heads toward the kitchen’s entryway and froze in place. Mouse instantly recognized the pair from the .jpegs that Ray had shown her. It was his parents. In just a brief nano of silliness, they had forgotten about their arrival.

“Dad! Mum!” Ray exclaimed as he cautiously got up from the floor and helped Mouse to her feet. Both of them were sorry sights at the nano, covered in potatoes, as was most of the kitchen. Mouse thought for sure that they were going to think the worst of her now. Some first impression she was making. Ray pulled Mouse closer to him as his parents looked on curiously. He let out a deep breath and smiled as he stated confidently, “This is Mouse.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Ray’s father said as he extended his hand to her. Mouse started to meet his hand with her own when a glop of mashed potatoes fell from her hair. Quickly realizing that her hand was just as messy as the rest of her, she started to withdraw it. He saw the hesitation, smiled, and grabbed her hand despite the mashed potatoes clinging to it.

Mouse couldn’t help but almost laugh as he shook her hand, mostly because of the potatoes that slid their way from between their palms. “It’s good to finally meet you too.” She said, trying to retain as much dignity as possible. “Ray’s told me a lot about you folks.” She gave a warm, if not slightly embarrassed smile to Ray’s mother, who was now shaking with restrained laughter. She took Mouse’s hand in both of hers, also disregarding the mashed potatoes.

“Ray’s told us a lot about you too.” She said as she smiled back at her. She glanced around the room for a moment and added, “I see you let Ray do the cooking.” She gave her son a wink as she continued. “He always was a bit of a mess in the kitchen.”

Mouse suddenly looked very apologetic. “Oh User, I’m so sorry about this mess…”

“You know,” Ray’s father interrupted, “I don’t know about this system, but where we come from, love, we usually put the potatoes in a dish before we serve them.”

Mouse gave a half grin as Ray laughed at his father’s remark. Despite the gentle jab at her expense, she got a welcoming feeling from Ray’s parents that she hadn’t felt in a long time, and although she was still covered in potatoes, she began to relax a bit. “Now I know where he gets his charming personality.” She said with a wink to the older gentleman.

“Better be careful Dad,” Ray said in between breaths, “That’s what got me covered in potatoes to begin with.”

“Well,” Ray’s mother began as her laughter died down a bit, “how about you two go get cleaned up before dinner. Your father and I will clean this up for you.”

“We will?” the older sprite replied.

“Of course we will.” She insisted, then looked in Ray’s direction. “Just point me to the direction of your mop and I’ll take…”

“Oh, no no,” Mouse interrupted, “I couldn’t possibly make you clean this mess on…”

“Nobody’s making me do anything.” The older woman replied, interrupting Mouse. “I’m offering you a hand,” she paused for a moment and giggled as she continued, “since you seem to have yours full of potatoes.”

Mouse couldn’t help but laugh now along with everyone else. “I wouldn’t try to argue with her, Mouse.” Ray chimed in. “You won’t win. Believe me.”

“Alright, alright.” Mouse threw her hands up in surrender, sending small chunks of potato through the room. “I’ll go take a shower. These potatoes are starting to itch anyways.”

“By the way, Mouse,” Ray’s mother said from the sink as she washed the potato off her hands, “that roast smells pixelacious. It’s making my mouth water already.”

“Thanks, my mother taught me how to make it hours ago.” She smiled fondly as she thought about her mother and how much she would have liked these people. They had a great sense of humor and a warmth that couldn’t be hidden.

“You’ll have to show me some time.” The older woman replied. “It smells delicious.”

“I’d like that.” Mouse smiled at the woman and then turned to head for the shower as Ray followed.

“That wasn’t so bad now, was it?” He asked as they entered the bathroom and picked at a chunk of potato in her hair.

“I really like them.” She said as she loosened the belt from her waist.

Ray smiled and put his arms around her waist. “I’m glad you do, love. They were afraid that you wouldn’t.”

“They were?” Mouse was genuinely surprised to hear this news.

“Yeah.” I had to reassure them just as much as I did you. They almost didn’t come out here, they were so nervous.”

Mouse smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. She had been so worried about making a good impression, she never thought that they might be just as worried as her. “I guess them seeing me like this wasn’t so bad after all, huh sugah?”

Ray laughed slightly. “I have to admit, you look a bit less intimidating when you’re covered in mashed potatoes.”

Mouse laughed softly as she pulled him into an embrace. “And you look like you could either use a shower,” she said as she picked some potato out of the corner of his goggles, “or some gravy.”

Ray grinned as he glanced in the direction of the shower. “Lead the way, love.”

End.