Strangers in a Peaceful Land
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Kung Fu Panda or its affiliated characters. Those belong to Dream Works. I only own Nicodemus (aka Blackheart) and the plot.
A/N: I forgot to mention this in the last chapter: this story takes place between KFP1 & KFP2. Hope it clears some confusion! : )
To LadyMysteri: I hope you find this to your liking
To UnrealFox: Thx for the input, I'll try to put more suspense into the story in the future.
Chap2 A New Customer
"Po, wake up!" A slightly high-pitched, almost strained voice cut through the vibrant sensations of Po's dream. Po mumbled something into his pillow in response before disappearing back under the covers.
"Come on Po, not even the Dragon Warrior should sleep this late." This time the voice became a presence as Po's dad, Mr. Ping, came up the stairs and successfully yanked the heavy blankets off his son's head, causing Po to yelp at the sudden light and chilly air streaming through his window.
"Okay, Dad, okay! You win, I'm up." With a final heave, Po shoved himself upright and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, taking the time to glance at his sundial before following the goose downstairs. "6 o'clock in the morning? You gotta be kiddin' me; that's only one extra hour of sleep! Some reprise from training!" Po thought furiously. (Shifu gets the Five up at 5 every morning)
When Po finally made his appearance in the kitchen, Mr. Ping had already made up several bowls of his famous noodle soup for him to take to their respective tables. "Morning, Dad." Now fully awake and in a more cordial mood Po greeted the old goose cheerfully as he snagged a few bean buns for breakfast. "Good morning, son. Did you sleep well?"
"Ah, I slept okay, dreamt about the Hall of Heroes again though; that'll teach me not to eat questionable tofu again." Po smirked while he glanced out the archway to take stock of the customers.
'Regular, regular, regular… Oh, Mr. Kemp's back, I told him he'd like our food…' Po steadily worked his way through the morning crowd, looking at each face, recognizing it, and categorizing the customer as 'regular', 'long time no see', 'finally I get them to try our food' , and 'old time regular'.
But one face stood out from the crowd, probably because the customer themself kept their face hidden under a cloak, and for the fact that all the other customers avoided the tables in the immediate vicinity, leaving the stranger sitting alone amongst a mass of empty tables.
"Hey Dad, do you have any idea who the creepy dude in the cloak is?" Po asked, loading his arms with people's orders in preparation to hand them out.
"No, I don't know who that person is; apparently he just showed up in front of the inn at dawn and requested a room."
Mr. Ping was the best person to ask about a new face in town, as the travelers always stop at his restaurant before they leave and the innkeepers always share the juiciest news with him over a cup of tea during break; so for him not to know much of the facts on a newcomer surprised Po, who decided then and there to talk to the cloaked stranger as soon as he got the chance.
"…o? PO!" Mr. Pings annoyed tone snapped Po back to the present. "Huh? What?"
"Po, the soup won't hand itself out, get out there!" Mr. Ping scolded, putting Po's hat on his head and shooing him out of the kitchen.
"I'm going, I'm going…"
A/N: Okay, so I had no idea where I was going with the whole 'dream' plan so just ignore it as it was a fill in for in between scenes. So, if you haven't already guessed, Po's on a short vacation from training & is working in his dad's restaurant again and now he's gonna meet our mystery fellow in the next chappie. Anyhoo, please read & review, I need the input.