Mickey Mouse in the Public Domain

Chapter 2

Mickey looked at the rabbit before him; did he know this guy? He felt like he should, but he wasn't sure.

Oswald looked at Mickey cautiously, "You should come with me."

Mickey looked around at the deserted town. Seeing as there was no one here to consult with, following this rabbit made some sort of sense.

So Mickey leapt down from the statue, Oswald gestured for him to follow, and off the two of them went.

Mickey and Oswald stepped into City Hall and Mickey looked around in wonder at the place where Oswald resided.

"Don't mind the townspeople," Oswald said, looking back at Mickey as he led him up the staircase and down the hallway leading toward the Mayor's office, "They are just a bit panicky, that's all. The last time such a big name character came into the Public Domain, he went on a murderous rampage for no reason at all."

Mickey pointed at himself in shock.

"You? Yes, you're a big name here now. But that's right, you might not remember. It's hard on most of us, living 95 whole years, and then suddenly reverting back to who we were on year one. It wasn't that hard for me, of course, the moment you showed up in the world 95 years ago, almost everything I had about me trickled to a stop, so going back to my 1927 self didn't have much of an impact on me, as for you, you must be quite a big deal in your time, so having to resort back to your earliest, most basic self, that's got to take a lot out of you."

Mickey looked confused.

"Don't worry, it'll start to make more sense to you the longer you're here." Oswald assured him, "I've been here for just over a year, and there are still some things that confuse me, but having just received my second content dump from 1928, I feel way more complete in my character than you probably do now."

They paused outside of the Mayor's Office door where two girls, one a very feminine rabbit, the other a very cutesy cat, stood facing eachother in a standoff.

"He's my boyfriend!" Cried the Rabbit, "You can't just take him from me!"

"1928 would say differently!" the Cat declared, "Oswald belongs to me!"

"Ladies, ladies," said Oswald, stepping between them, "Fanny, Sadie, I told you, we'll discuss this later, I just have to talk with Mickey here."

Fanny, the Rabbit, rolled her eyes with a huff, Sadie, the Cat, just looked shocked. Oswald stopped a moment and looked at Sadie funny, "are you sure you don't have a different name, I feel like you should," Then he waved it off, "never mind, we have other things to worry about right now. Come on Mickey." Without further ado, Oswald pushed between the two love interests, leading Mickey into office. Mickey nearly tripped on Fanny's shoes, spun back around, gave her an embarrassed look, trying to recover his dignity, then followed after Oswald into the office.

"Take care in there Oswald," said Sadie brightly.

Fanny just huffed, rolling her eyes once again as the door closed behind them.

Mickey turned to look at Oswald, now spinning around to face him, sitting on the Mayor's seat, putting his feet on the table and picking his nose with a carrot. Oswald noticed Mickey watching, and straightened up self consciously.

"Oh no, I'm not the Mayor," Oswald corrected, answering the unasked question, "This City Hall must've shown up in the background of some cartoon at some point, but it was never occupied as anything more than background. Either that, or the Mayor just hasn't shown up in the Public Domain yet. If the latter is the case, I'm sure he's going to come to quite the surprise when he gets here to find a Lucky Rabbit occupying his office. But Public Domain can get confusing, you can get thrown off all the time... Take my situation I have out there," Oswald said, gesturing to the door with his carrot.

Oswald looked at Mickey in consideration, "Can you talk? It might be much easier to communicate if you can talk.

Mickey was thoughtful for a moment, he figured he probably could talk, but he had no idea if he would recognize his voice, or what it'd even sound like. Back in 1928, he'd never talked due to the limitations of the medium at the time. Though those limitations had little impact on his current state, his 1928 self was so used to emoting physically, he wasn't even sure what he would say now even if he could talk.

"That's okay," said Oswald, "any voice you're used to is probably still under copyright, we are still entering the sound era you know, and surely your creators will want to take advantage of that. It might take some time to find a voice that you're comfortable with that doesn't confuse with anything that came after 1928." Oswald paused. "Then again, maybe you were always intended to be a silent character, you never know. Ultimately, now, I think that that choice is up to you." Oswald looked at Mickey another moment, "Well, now that you're here, how about I show you around?"

Mickey walked besides Oswald as they walked down the street, side by side.

"You know," said Oswald, "I know we never met during my two years of existence, but I feel a kind of kinship to you, almost like you're my brother, you know what I'm saying."

Mickey looked at Oswald, thinking.

"I know we came from the same creators," Oswald said, "Walt Disney and Ub Iworks was it? When I couldn't continue with them, it was sad to see it all go, but you got to be the next step in all that." Oswald's eyes filled with an old, unspoken sense of melancholy at the thought of his old creators. But then he brightened up, "But look, here we both are, in the Public Domain, so many stories, so much potential for the both of us!"

Mickey was about to respond, give some sort of expression, but suddenly their conversation was interrupted by a cry of terror coming down the street.

"HELP! HEEEEELP!"

Mickey and Oswald turned to face the direction the cries were coming from, and there they saw Minnie Mouse, running in terror from a very big cat, Pete, hungry and ready to take a mouse for a snack.

Mickey's leapt into the air in shock. He couldn't let this happen.

So, tightening up his muscles, he prepared to let himself face his old foe.

Oswald just shrugged, "Go for it." He too had some unfinished scores to settle with Pete.

Minnie ran up to Mickey and hid behind him, "Help me!" she cried.

Mickey took his stance, faced Pete...

And suddenly realized he was going to get pummeled.

And then Pete was there, in front of Mickey, looking down at him with that face.

All confidence faded from Mickey, he began to cower, ready for the pain he knew he was about to face.

But as Pete took Mickey in, he just stood there, realization coming to his face.

"You know what," said Pete, "You keep the girl, I didn't mean anything by it."

And then Pete retreated across town, back the way he came.

Minnie looked out from behind Mickey, then at Mickey in confusion.

"What was that all about?" she asked.

But Oswald was looking serious.

"We need to talk. Again. Follow me."

And with that, Oswald headed back down the street.

As Minnie stepped out from behind Mickey to follow, she looked back at him quizzically. Mickey could only shrug.