This story birthed from a valentines day request on tumblr, thought I'd share it on here :)
Enjoy!
It was that time of the year again. It was that time where feelings of thoughtfulness and sweet gifts were filled and being ready to set up in the shops of the Valley of Peace. Velvet and rose colored lanterns were being hung with the scents of cherry blossoms flying down vaguely in the wind. The valley was beginning to get ready for the Qixi Festival!
"The festival celebrates the romantic legendary story of the annual meeting of the two lovers, a cow-herder and a weaver maid who fell in love. However, their love was a forbidden one, as the maiden's mother did not approve of the boy, they both were banished to opposite sides, dividing them putting a wide river in the sky. But once a year, the birds felt sorry for them and formed a bridge so the two lovers can be reunited once a night." Viper sighed smitten by such a story, as she finished the tale to a small group of children near a bench by the bridge of the village. The little ducklings and piglets all gasped in awe of the story, and couldn't wait for the puppet show version tomorrow night!
Viper smiled as she saw the clamoring children go back to playing and helping out their parents decorating the village. She then slithered to Mr. Ping's for lunch to join up with Mantis and Monkey for some salted steamed noodles. Tigress, Po and Crane had their break earlier while the other three did their shift of work, now it was their turn to enjoy their break while the others were at the palace helping Shifu and the palace servants recuperate any lost pieces of scrolls and artifacts from what's left of the Jade Palace after Kai's attack.
It was a busy day at the noodle hut, as it was already decorated thanks to the team work of Po's newly requited father Li Shan who took the initiative to stay in Po's old room despite Mr. Ping's allegations of keeping it a gift shop.
Monkey waved to Viper when he saw her at the entrance way. She made her way at their table with their bowls of hot noodles with a plate of stuffed bean paste dumplings and tea already served. While they enjoyed their lunch, the group chatted about their day.
Until Monkey eyed some of the decorations and spotted a young couple of a male goose and a female pig giggling with each other from the other side of the restaurant.
"Do any of you have any dates for the festival tomorrow?" Monkey replied, interrupting Mantis' and Viper's current conversation,
The two looked at each other and back at him, wondering what an odd question to even ask.
"I don't think you need a date for the festival, I mean what's wrong with going together as friends?" Viper said, taking a sip of her tea
"Yeah" Mantis agreed,
"Hmm," Monkey then began to ponder, of course they were right on that until his mind wondered about his other three friends, specifically a panda and a tigress. Although he never brought it up but he had noticed Po and Tigress becoming closer friends than usual.
"How about Po and Tigress, do you guys think they should go together?" Monkey asked chewing his dumpling while looking in a state of unusual pensiveness.
Mantis choked while drinking his soup at the sudden statement and coughed out loud.
"You mean like, a couple?" Viper asked he eyes widened taken aback by this as well.
Monkey nodded fully looking at them now smiling, truly convinced at the idea that his two friends would go great together.
Mantis and Viper couldn't help but stare wide eye at their oddly keen friend, was he really serious?
"Po and Tigress… really dude?" Mantis chuckled, "Don't you think they're too different from each other, I mean like really different. They're like oil and water! You can't mix those two things!" he gestured his tiny pincers in the air for emphasis,
"Oh come on Mantis, it's so obvious!" Monkey blurted out to the insect friend,
"Remember that time at Gong-men city jail, you guys were there. I think that was the first time anybody has even seen Tigress hug anybody…or anything."
"I don't normally agree with Monkey, but he kind of has a point Mantis." Viper licked her lips as she continued, "But can you imagine? Po and Tigress, a couple…" Viper held the tip of her tail under her chin and began imagining different romantic scenarios of the two and giggled excitedly to herself.
"Then it's settled!" Monkey slammed his fists on the table with determination embedded on his face and raced out of the restaurant with many ideas in his head,
Viper called out to Monkey to wait for her as she followed after him excitedly wanting to play the part of cupid for her two friends, leaving Mantis alone at the table.
"Really you guys!" he yelled out to them, as Mr. Ping walked past the table holding a small tower of empty noodle bowls,
"That'll be 70 Yuan."
Later that night, Monkey began his 'part one' of his brilliant idea of getting Po and Tigress to go together for the Qixi festival tomorrow.
He earlier went into Crane's room and requested to him to write two 'secret' calligraphy letters to give out to 'certain people'. Crane however had no idea it was for Po and Tigress, Monkey had planned to slide it under their bedroom before they came in for bed.
In fact, Crane hadn't even bothered asking his jokester friend what it was for – he knew Monkey would be up to no good when it came to his notorious pranks and didn't want any further details. But also aside of his bribing promise of giving Crane a fresh batch of his almond cookies sprinkled with cinnamon, his favorite.
The letters were completed and inked cursively in Chinese lettering. Monkey gave a mischievous snicker and slid it under both rooms respectively before he heard Po's and Tigress' footsteps creaking on the wooden floor boards and retreated to his room.
As the two warriors said their 'good nights' to the rest of the five, they entered into their rooms and spotted the scrolled letters sprawled randomly across their floors as they picked it up it read:
"Please be my date for the Qixi Festival, meet me at the puppet show by the bridge tomorrow night, love your Secret Admirer"
Tigress held the parchment in front of her, her brows knitted and eyes narrowed in confusion at what she had just read. Re-reading it over and over to make sure what she was reading was correct. Who would possibly be her 'secret admirer' she questioned herself and looked away pensively as her ears twitched. Unless it was some kind of joke against her then this would be a big mistake for this prankster to even consider. She closed the scroll and placed it away, Tigress would be more than glad to have a few words with this 'admirer' a piece of her mind at the festival tomorrow night.
Po let out a small gasp, and couldn't help but smile gawkily. He had mentally pictured the different possibilities of female candidates he knew, but he only knew a handful. Until he suddenly winced when an image of Ms. Chow from the gift shop visually popped into his brain and decided it was best to stop now before he got to anymore possibilities.
The two warriors would have to wait for tomorrow to meet their secret date at the festival tomorrow night.
I did rush this story but it was a good kind of rushing, I was able to edit some words here and there :)
There will be a second chapter! Just need to find the time to sit and think of what to write ;)
Gabzgirl - xoxo