She headed towards the kitchen, as the voices grew louder. She could only hear her friends' voices, so she assumed they were having breakfast. "Hey Tigress!" Po said as she entered, and the Five smiled at her. "What's going on? How come we're not doing the gong?" She questioned, a little irritated that no one had told her what was happening. "Master Shifu gave us a day off, he said you and him had an errand to run, and that we should let you get extra sleep, so we had the servants do another gong an hour later to actually wake you up." Crane explained, hoping she wouldn't be mad. "..Oh!" Tigress exclaimed, she had completely forgotten that she had a doctor's appointment today. Great, that was going to be so enjoyable, NOT!
"What kind of errand do you guys have to run sweetie?" Viper asked, worry showing on her face. "Nothing important, we just have to go to the doctor." Tigress hoped they wouldn't pry. "You have been looking a little- HEALTHY, A LOT HEALTHY ACTUALLY!" Po squeaked when Tigress glared at him.
The others could tell she didn't want to talk about it and continued with their breakfast. Tigress prepared her plain Tofu like she did everyday. "Tigress, you should try the Secret Ingredient Soup and Bean Buns with us!" Monkey encouraged. She shook her head no and squirmed, not liking the attention on her as everyone turned to face her. "You eat the same thing everyday Ti, I mean come on! You should try something new!" Po whined. Mantis snorted, "Give it up Po, Tigress is the pickiest eater in all of China, everyone's tried to get her to eat something else before, and it's failed every time." All of them except Viper and Tigress laughed at that statement, then Viper hissed at all of them to be quiet. "Guys, leave her alone! If she's happy eating what she eats, that's all that matters." She gave Tigress a smile that screamed 'I'm so sorry you have to deal with this', as Mantis mumbled a forced apology.
"Ahem." Everyone turned around to face the kitchen doorway, where Master Shifu stood, raising an eyebrow at the boys. "You all already know this, but apparently I must remind you once again. Your friends' habits and differences should not be brought up unless it is life threatening or dangerous. You four know better than that." Shifu scolded, "We're sorry Master Shifu." The four said, actually looking sheepish for their actions and words. "You're forgiven, now let's go Tigress, we want to get there on time." Tigress took her plate and chopsticks to the sink and then left the kitchen with Shifu. The others waved bye to her as she passed, she didn't wave back.
As they walked side by side outside, Shifu started talking to her, "When people wave or say goodbye to you, you're supposed to return the gesture back to be friendly." Tigress rolled her eyes and huffed, crossing her arms angrily. "They don't deserve it after what they just said!"
"I understand your frustration, but they don't really understand what they're joking about." Shifu explained. They arrived at a three story building and walked through the double doors up to the front desk. A female pig wearing a doctor's uniform was sitting behind the desk. "Oh, hi! Do you have an appointment?" Tigress wasn't sure what to say so she just stayed silent. "Yes, we have a 10 O'clock appointment for Tigress." Shifu explained. "All right, I will let the doctor know you're here, please have a seat in the waiting room!" The receptionist smiled and pointed to the waiting area. Shifu and Tigress sat down, the room was empty except for them.
Tigress was getting anxious, and was so caught up in worrying about the appointment that she didn't notice she was starting to rock back and forth. Shifu noticed but didn't comment on it, but he laid his hand over hers and gave her a gentle smile. "Tigress?" A door opened and a lion nurse walked out. They stood up and walked over to her. "Hello, I will be the nurse taking care of you two today while we wait for the doctor, we will be in room two." The walk to the room was short and simple, and Tigress hopped up and sat on the padded counter as Shifu balanced on his staff next to her. "What brings you in today?" The nurse asked, not unkindly. Shifu glanced at Tigress to see if she was going to speak, but when she said nothing he cleared his throat and explained.
"I spoke recently to an old friend who happens to be a psychologist, and she recommended that Tigress have a full psychological evaluation, to test for autism and any mental health issues."
The nurse was a bit surprised, but she didn't let it show. "I see! In that case, I have some forms for both of you to fill out before I go get the doctor." She pulled out some scrolls and ink and gave them to Shifu. "I will give you some privacy, I will check back in a while to see how you're doing!" The door shut behind the nurse, and Shifu turned to Tigress. "Do you want to help me fill these out, or would you like me to do it?" He asked, wanting to respect her choices. "You can just fill them out, I don't wanna think about it." Tigress groaned, wanting to be done with this appointment already. "It may be a long appointment, Tigress, and they'll probably refer us somewhere else for the actual testing. You need to have patience."
Tigress just sighed and crossed her arms, waiting for the doctor to come in. Thirty minutes later, there was a knock at the door. "Hello, thank you both for being patient!" A male goose walked in and took the forms from Shifu. As he was looking over the forms, he started to speak. "I can definitely see why you have these concerns, it was a good thing you came in. We don't do official testing here, but we will send out a referral to a good behavioral health place, their waitlist is very short currently. It was good to see you both, I will send a message with the appointment time for your evaluation!" The goose left, and Tigress stood up, stretching out her legs. Shifu hopped off his staff and looked up at her. "That wasn't too long. The testing appointment will be much longer though, so be prepared." He thought for a moment before speaking again, "Do you want to tell the Five and Po? I think it would be a good thing to let them know." Tigress avoided making eye contact and kicked a stone with her foot. "I don't want anyone to know besides you." She mumbled, ears drooping.
"What are you afraid of?" Shifu chuckled, "They wouldn't treat you any differently if they knew."
"I'm not AFRAID, I just don't see any point in telling them!" Tigress huffed. Silence fell around them as they continued through the village, neither knew what to say. Shifu wanted her to be open about her struggles, while Tigress didn't think she needed any help.
"HEY MASTER SHIFU! TIGRESS!" They heard a shout, and looked to the left where Dragon Warrior's Noodles and Tofu was, and saw the Five and Po sitting at a table near the doorway.
The master and student walked over to the table and sat down, well Tigress did, Shifu balanced on his staff.
There was already a plate of Tofu for Tigress, and Secret Ingredient Soup for Shifu. The others had already eaten their food. "Master Shifu, when are we getting back to training?" Crane questioned. Everyone turned towards the master as he swallowed and began to speak, "We will resume our normal training tomorrow morning, so you all must be well rested tonight." Most of them groaned at this, except for Tigress, she gave a small smile and continued eating.
The side conversations continued while Shifu and Tigress ate. No one mentioned the doctor's appointment, which was a relief to Tigress. When they got back up to the Jade Palace, Shifu gestured to Tigress, telling her to follow him. They went to Shifu's room, while everyone else went back to the barracks.
When they were sitting down once more, Shifu started lightly lecturing her, "Tigress, I know you're having difficulties right now, but to maintain friendships, you have to interact with your friends and be honest with them. I'm not lecturing you, but you need better social skills. I suppose that's my fault, I should've taught you when you were younger."
"I don't know when the right time to say or do anything is, so I just stay silent. I don't want to ruin anything." Tigress mumbled, looking chastised. "It's quite alright Tigress, but from now on, for at least an hour a day, I'm going to train you in social skills, and when we're around people, I'll encourage you to speak and correct you if you need help."
Shifu declared he wasn't going to take no for an answer, whether she was alright with it or not. "What? But baba, won't they notice?!" Tigress interrupted, she didn't want them to think she was strange or anything. "I understand, but you definitely need help in this area, and it will be a while before you can get therapy for anything. I don't think they'll notice, and if they do, I'll take care of it. What's important here is that you have fun with your friends." Tigress sighed, she supposed it wouldn't hurt anything.
"One more thing, would you like to do some one-on-one training with me? I've been ignoring your full potential for too long. I only ever taught you how to control your strength, but there's ways to use your strength without hurting anyone." Shifu smiled, as he watched her face light up and she reached forward and hugged him. "I would love that, baba"
