Between song and dance
After two weeks and what seemed like a million miles of uneven ground to walk, the small company finally came to a two day rest stop. Khan had pulled up lame and would have to rest for a day, which meant rest for the soldiers as well. When Captain Shang announced they would be allowed to go into the nearby town for the evening, the mood heightened even more. Mulan ignored it all in favor of fussing over Khan, but not even she could get away from the general excitement.
Mulan was kneeling on the ground, feeling out Khan's hoove with careful fingers when Ling sneaked up behind her, throwing an arm across her shoulders. She startled, nearly braining herself on Khan's foot before grabbing onto the ground and propping herself up, Ling chortling in her ear all the while. Turning her head, she glared. Ling threw up his hands defensively, still grinning broadly.
"Hey, hey!" he said, dodging a playful jab towards his stomach. "Don't be such a mood-killer! I just wanted to invite you to go to town with us."
Mulan looked at him, considered it and turned back to Khan. "No thank you. I'm quite fine."
"Coward," Yao commented slyly, appearing on the other side of Khan. "Just because you wouldn't know what to do with a girl..."
Mulan clenched her teeth and refused to say something. She couldn't go into town, it would be foolish and she would only be discovered. It didn't matter what they said.
"Now stop that, Yao," Chien Po said, joining the others. "He can't help not being used to girls, he's still young."
Mulan looked up abruptly, eyes narrowed. "I'm not a child."
Ling's grin widened into a thin smirk. "Prove it."
Letting go of Khan, she stood up, hands by her sides and eyes flashing. "Fine!" Mulan said through clenched teeth. "I'm going with you."
The smirk immediately disappeared and Ling clapped her heartily on the back. "That's that then!"
He pulled her away from Khan and towards the distant town. Yao fell in on her other side, nudging her playfully in the side. "So, what's first? Wine or girls?"
"Wine!"
"Girls!"
Mulan inwardly sighed. She had been played. Again.
A few questions on local inns later, found Mulan getting herself dragged into a worn down inn with plentiful red lanterns outside, supposedly providing both wine and girls. With Ling's arm firmly around her shoulders and Chien Po at her back, she found herself marched to a corner table and firmly plunked down in the middle.
"Hello boys!"
Looking up from the table she'd been studying at the sound of a sultry voice, Mulan choked on air as she came face to face with a girl with more cleavage she'd thought possible in normal clothes. Her face reddened and the girl looked highly amused at her blazing face.
"You've brought a boy, I see," she smiled, trailing a hand over Yao's shoulders while Ling snagged another girl walking past to get himself some wine. Mulan looked away, trying to find somewhere safe to rest her eyes, which was easier said than done. "Intending to introduce him to the more...carnal...pleasures of the world?"
"Ma'am." Yao grinned, fishing a pouch of money from somewhere inside his clothes. "We'll make it worth your while."
Mulan jumped to her feet, almost sending the table flying as she shook her head wildly. "No!" It came out shrill and she hastily modulated her voice into something deeper. "No. I mean, I couldn't, uh, take money from you!"
Ling slung his arm around her shoulders again, leering at a girl walking by. "Don't worry about it! It's almost our duty as your elders to introduce you to the world of women!"
Her eyes widened and she hastily shrugged off his arm, trying to edge out from behind the table. "That's nice, uh, but I think I need to go check on Khan now." She laughed nervously, nearly giving Yao an eyeful of her behind as she pressed by him. "You know how horses are..."
The girl laughed, neatly hooking an arm around Mulan's waist and pulling her to her. She was taller than Mulan had expected and somehow she neatly fitted into the girl's side. "You're cute," the girl said, leering down at her. Mulan went redder, trying to find somewhere safe to put her hands as she fought to get away. "I think I wouldn't mind doing you for free."
Yao hooted at that and even Chien Po waggled his eyebrows in her direction. Which was more or less the end of the line for her. Drawing on her new-taught and still dubious skills, Mulan put her hands against the girl's chest and pushed. The girl went stumbling backwards, Mulan pinwheeled and Ling reflexively stretched out his hands to catch her. She ducked, falling on her behind at his feet and stared up at them, eyes wide and panting. They stared back in silence, girl included.
"Um," Mulan offered, looking around wildly for something to distract them with. Spotting a man heading for their table with the requested alcohol, she pointed. "Wine!"
That, as she might have expected, caught their attention rather fast. She got to her feet and dusted herself off, noting to herself never to sit on an inn floor again. There were things on her clothes she didn't dare even think about. Glancing at the others, she grimaced as Ling downed a substantial amount of wine at the same time while Yao and Chien Po egged him on, incidentally blocking the way to the door. With a sigh, she sat down. There was no way she would get out of here anytime soon.
Chien Po noticed her quickly, pouring wine for her and pushing it over. "Drink," he said, smiling gently at her. "You don't have to take the offer Yao made if you don't want to."
Giving him a relieved look, Mulan took the wine. "Yeah." She sniffed it cautiously, then mentally shrugged. Maybe it would be a good idea to drink some. To blend in.
"That's the way!" Ling called over Yao's shoulder as he spotted her. He waved at the waiter. "More wine for the boy!"
Ow. Mulan quickly squeezed her eyes shut again and threw an arm over her eyes, hoping desperately that the pounding would ease with the lack of light.
"Ping."
She flew upright, stifling a shout as her head exploded in pain and faced Captain Shang with a straight back and a severe squint. "Yes, Captain Shang!"
"Do I want to know?" he asked and suddenly she could see the expression on his face, thin-lipped, tight and something that looked disturbingly similar to laughter in his eyes. Mulan blinked, then took a look at her surroundings.
She was standing in front of Captain Shang's tent, wearing only the top of her clothing and what looked a pair of boots about three sizes too big for her. At her feet lay a red lantern and little bit away she could see Ling's feet stick out from behind the corner of the tent. Flushing deep-red, she grabbed the sem of her top, trying to drag it downwards but hastily stopped as she saw the outlines of her breasts through the fabric.
"No?" she tried, biting her lip and wishing that she was somewhere else. Anywhere else. Preferably where she could strange Ling, Yao and Chien Po.
Captain Shang nodded, face still set in stone. "I see." He stepped past her, walked to the corner of the tent and glanced at Ling and the others before looking back at her. "I wouldn't have expected something like this from you," he commented, adjusting his sword belt. Mulan shrank back, looking down. "From your friends perhaps." He sighed. "In any case, the four of you will be punished with latrine duty for two weeks. You get the honor of telling your friends."
He stalked away, leaving Mulan to stare after him. Then she gritted her teeth and headed for her tent to pull on some clothes before waking the others, ignoring the whispers and laughter from the other recruits. This was the last time ever she let those three convince her to go out with them.