Hello there!

Well, this is actually a little change of pace for me, because this one-shot is a few weeks too early. I was keeping this for my entry in the collab, but I thought that I would be drawing too much attention to myself what with the really long author's note at the end. Don't worry, though, I'll make something else in time for the collab…

So, for those of you who remember my first one-shot (Un)Comfortably Numb, yes, this is the sequel to that. I never really planned to make a sequel, but the feelings that birthed that one-shot have changed, and I'd like to see the magnitude of that change play out in a story format. You'll get what I'm talking about once you read the author's note.

Don't own KFP, bla, bla, bla... Oh, and I said this before in my first one-shot, but this is still taken from the title of Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb.

On with the show!


"So… what exactly are we here again for?" Tigress asked Po.

At the moment, Tigress and Po each stood with their coats and full winter outfits as the snow came down from the skies. All around, the Valley, the roofs, the trees, all of it was covered in a soft, flaky layer of snow. The two warriors stood outside in the Jade Palace grounds, watching the snow fall all around them.

It didn't snow often in the Valley, so when it did, it was always a cause of wonder among its inhabitants. Especially with the Dragon Warrior. He looked around with a childish wonder in his eyes as he took in his surroundings.

After Po didn't answer her question, Tigress tapped him on the shoulder.

"Po?" she asked again.

"Hmm?" he answered back. His face brightened up when it looked at her. "Oh, yeah! We're here to work on your training!"

"My… training?" Tigress asked, confused.

"Yeah. Opening up, remember?"

Tigress folded her arms across her chest.

"I don't see how what we're doing here has anything to do with that."

"Sure it does! Just watch me first, and then you can follow my lead."

With that, the mighty warrior jumped flat on his back on the snow and spread his arms and legs out and contracted them again, making a snow angel on the ground below him. Tigress looked on, still confused as to how that was supposed to help her. But, she thought, if Po thought it would help, then she would do it to the best of her ability.

After a few seconds of gleeful playing, Po raised his head to look back up at Tigress.

"Come on!" he said like an excited child dragging their parents somewhere.

Obediently following his order, Tigress got on her back and followed suit, mimicking Po's exact motion perfectly.

While she was making her own snow angels, she stared up at the sky. She extended her limbs and pulled them back in, over and over and over. Yet, as much as she wanted it to, she didn't feel like this was really going to help her in "opening up," as Po had put it.

But what was she doing wrong, she wondered? Was she not performing the motions the right way? She looked to her side at Po, who had gotten up and found a new spot of snow to rub on. Perhaps that was it, she thought. Her patch of snow was not adequate. That had to be it.

She followed her new teacher's method, getting up and finding a thicker, fluffier patch of snow. She rested on it and watched Po. Once she felt she had the motions down, she began to make a snow angel once again. But still, she felt embarrassed to be doing such a childish thing. She moved her arms and legs up and down, up and down, but she didn't feel anything. Beginning to get angry, she moved them faster and faster. Before she had a chance to see just how fast she could go, Po said-

"Wait, wait, wait. No, no, that's not right." The two of them stood up again.

"How is this supposed to help me, Po?" Tigress asked, the frustration clear in her voice. Po cocked his head to the side and smiled.

"Tigress, it's not working because you're not letting it work."

Feeling like Po was following too closely in Oogway's footsteps, she asked him, "And how exactly am I not letting work?"

"Well, are you enjoying yourself?"

"No, I'm not enjoying myself!" Tigress snapped. "All I'm doing is moving my arms and legs up and down! How is that supposed to be fun!?"

Po put his paws up in defense. "Hey, it's okay if it's not working immediately. Just give it some time."

"Some time? This is stupid and childish! Kids do this! We're not kids anymore, Po!"

Po had a hurt look on his face, which melted any and all anger Tigress may have had. She sighed.

"Okay, I'm sorry Po. But still, I just don't understand."

After her apology, Po's expression melted away into his usual smile.

"Ah, it's alright." Po took in a deep breath as he tried to put his thoughts into words. "Tell me Tigress, why is it exactly why you aren't having fun?"

Tigress had to pause for a few seconds, thinking heavily about the answer. "I just feel like it's stupid," she finally said. "I mean, what are we even doing?"

Po nodded in understanding. "And why is it stupid?"

Why was it stupid, Tigress thought? Now that she tried, she actually couldn't come up with a reason. Because it looked embarrassing to do? Because she had been taught all her life not to waste her time with useless activities? She wasn't sure of the answer, so she decided to try it again.

"Alright, I'll do it. But what am I doing wrong?"

Po chuckled at the thought that making snow angels required form. "No Tigress, you're not doing anything wrong. You're just not letting yourself enjoy it."

"And how do I do that?"

Po lied back down on the snow. "Come on. Lie back down again."

She did as she was told. "Alright. Now what?"

"Just breath." Tigress heard heavy inhales coming from Po. She followed suit, closing her eyes, breathing in, breathing out, breathing in, breathing out…

When she opened her eyes again, she felt much more relaxed. She felt her previous frustration start to ebb away as she looked back up at the cloudy sky, with its soft flakes falling gently to the ground.

"And now-" Po said in a calm, meditative voice. "-just wave your arms and legs up and down. Up and down, up and down, up…" his voice faded away.

With the aid of another deep breath, Tigress began to do just that. As she did so, she felt herself relaxing more and more.

"Ah, who cares if it looks stupid?" she thought to herself. "It is a little… enjoyable." With the shadow of a smile forming on her lips. She took in the softness of the snow below her, the pleasant chill that filled the air, but most of all, she took in the silence that came with snowfall. There was nothing; only the soft crunching of the snow beneath her and Po.

And as she moved her limbs up and down, she forgot about her training. She forgot about her schedule. She forgot about what she needed to do later. She was in the moment, and it seemed to be the only moment that mattered anymore.

"Is this what… fun is like?" Tigress wondered to herself. A sudden spark flew through her body as she realized that she may be on the cusp of understanding. Her amber eyes shot open and looked up at the sky with a silent joy.

The two stayed there for quite some time, only interrupting their activity to move to a new patch of snow. By the time it started to get dark, the field was haphazardly patched with snow angles.

Po, who had realized that Tigress was actually having fun a while ago, looked at Tigress with a mixture of pride and joy. Pride that he had been successful in giving Tigress a good time, and joy that she actually had a good time in who knows how long.

"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked as he put his arm around her shoulder, which was a bold move. However, he already knew the answer to his question, having seen Tigress' face.

"Yes, Dragon Warrior, I suppose that I did have… fun," Tigress replied with a rare smile on her face. As she turned to look at him, Tigress realized what a gift Po had been to them all. Not only from a fighting standpoint, but from a mental standpoint. He had helped all of them, including Shifu, melt the ice that had grown between each of them.

"I mean, I always considered the rest of the Five my comrades-" Tigress thought. "-But only recently have I started calling them my friends again. When was the last time I thought that way?"

Standing there in the snow, Tigress felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude both to Po and to Oogway for having the wisdom to choose Po even when everyone doubted him.

"But how to show my gratitude?" Tigress wondered.

Then, she had an idea. A bad idea. No, a terrible idea. If anyone found out, they would find themselves without intestines soon enough. It was that embarrassing. But, in Tigress' current state of pure bliss, it seemed like a good idea. After all, all ideas seem like a good one at the moment.

With Po's arm already around her shoulders, it wasn't very hard for her to lean her head forward. Po's eyes widened in shock as Tigress' face, especially her lips, came closer and closer to his own.


Okay, Dashishen knows that one of my favorite hobbies is complaining about cliffhangers in review sections. I'll stop doing that, since I do it myself (unless it's just a really big cliffhanger) I hope you all liked it as much as I did! (Yeah, I know they probably didn't do snow angels in China, but whatever.)

Now, as I said above, this story is equally about Tigress as it is about myself. This might get a little long, but I really hope you (especially the writers of this fandom, but the readers of it can read this too) read this anyway...

When I first discovered fanfiction several months ago (wow, has it been a year!? It has!), I was actually looking for info on KFP 4. I didn't find it, but I did find something interesting. Sentilusional's Collection of the Best TiPo works in the Fandom. Out of curiosity, I clicked on it, and (after making sure the site was safe) I found… stories. Like, actual written works. I clicked on the first one, and read the first chapter.

My first reaction was to search on the Internet for the word "fanfiction." You have to understand, I kind of live old-school, mostly without Internet access for most of my life, so I really had no idea fanfiction existed. When I had a solid grasp of what it was, I thought it was silly, I thought it was stupid, and I thought it was theft. Actually, the exact words that went through my head were something like, "People actually do this? Really? They don't have anything better to do? They legitimately write stories for an animated children's movie? How sad." I have to be honest, I really didn't have very good thoughts about it, or the people who wrote it. Like, at all. But I went back to that story just so I could have a laugh at someone else's expense, and I started reading it. And then, before I knew it, I was done with it. I can't remember what chapter it was until I realized that I liked it. When I realized that, I reprimanded myself. I wasn't reading it to enjoy it, I was supposed to be reading it to see how ridiculous it was! But, nevertheless, I still enjoyed it. So I read some other works in the collection, and… they were (mostly) good. It actually took a lot longer than I care to admit for my extremely tech-savvy self to realize that there were, in fact, more stories besides those in that specific community. In fact, there were people posting stories and chapters almost daily! I read a lot, trying to find an amateur writer to laugh at, but I only found more and more stories that I enjoyed. I was telling myself, "Come on, you can't seriously be enjoying this!" I have to be honest, while I never wrote any reviews, I was reading it just to laugh at people. I was kind of a troll. I don't want to admit it, but I was.

Still though, I thought that the whole thing was kind of embarrassing to be doing. I mean, there was no way that I was going to tell my family or friends what I was reading. I mean, it wasn't like what I was reading was inappropriate, it was just… weird. At the time, I could only imagine the expression on their faces if I told them that I was reading published books online revolving around an animated children's movie. Sure, I liked the movies, and always had since the first one came out when I was little and my parents bought it for me and I watched it over and over and over, much to my parents' delight. But it wasn't something I was over-the-top on.

It wasn't until I read your kfp weeb's "Savage" that I realized something. Something important. These people put their time, their effort, and their hard work into this. And that was worth something.

I can't remember when I had the idea to write my own fanfic. But I remember this: it was months before I actually published anything. By that time, I had already read so many fics that I might have been considered a "veteran" reader. In fact, I never read any other fandoms. It just didn't feel right. It still doesn't. I wanted to incorporate elements of multiple kinds of stories, and The Truth Shall Set You Free was born. A KFP 4 what-if story involving humans while exploring Tigress' past and then turning it into a trilogy seemed like a good mix.

But still, even after I posted the first few chapters, I felt… weird. I mean, when I was just reading it, I was fine, but when I was actually doing it, it felt silly and ridiculous. And, actually, that feeling birthed my first one-shot, (Un)Comfortably Numb, because that story isn't just about Tigress being concerned about her lack of feeling, but also about me and my own attempts to convince myself that what I was doing had at least a little bit of merit (actually, most of my one-shots have a double meaning about me that only I really understand. Yeah, I'm a narcissist like that…). I was trying to numb myself of my own embarrassment, but I wasn't very successful, hence the prefix.

And then, something amazing happened. You guys reached out to me and told me you liked what I had written. Me. You liked it. To say I was blown away does not even begin to describe it. I mean, it's kind of like when you go to a concert, and your favorite musician points at you and smiles from your random spot in the crowd. (Not that that's ever happened to me. I've never even been to a concert. Why would I? All my favorite artists and bands are either dead or too old to perform.) I had been watching you, a silent knight, so to say, never leaving any reviews, for a long time, but always enjoying what you had written. I mean, I was there when flippin' Dashishen wrote his first fic! I remember it being on the top of the "new" page! Look how far he's come since then!

To have emails sent to me, telling me that the people who inspired my writings liked my writings, and saying that they liked it in their own words, actually changed my life. I know it may sound silly, or like I don't have a life (I do, as a matter of fact), but it's true. My own transformation from troll to fan to writer to having my own fans was just too much for me to handle. It still is. Since my days of being uncomfortable with reading or writing fanfiction, I've made a full 180 turn and now proudly consider it an art form ;) I've made the sometimes dizzying turn from a harsh critic and laughing troll to a helpless fandom reader/writer, anxiously waiting for what you guys have for me next. Funny how life works, huh?

You guys actually changed my life. I'm welling up with tears as I write this, but I will never be able to thank you guys enough. And that's what the collab is about. That's why I wanted to do it so much. This collab is about you, and what you've done for me. So, I wanted to do something for you in return. (Ironic that I rewarded you by making you do the work. Hey, I'm going to pitch in, too)

Now, I no longer care what others think. And that's what this fic is really all about. You all showed me that writing fanfiction is fun, despite my initial disapproval. Yet you helped me up, and now that I am having fun, I'd like to pay you back (only difference is I'm not going to kiss you. Nope. Sorry). And I don't care anymore if others think fanfiction is weird or not. I have finally become numb. Comfortably, though. Quite comfortably.

Well, that was really long, and I apologize for that, but I just wanted to let you guys who mean so much to me know what you've done for me, even if you didn't know it. My goal here is not to be the best. No, my goal is that, before I stop writing here, I will have the chance to change the life of just one person like you've done for me. I don't even have to know it, but I want to do it. Then, my journey here will be complete.

And that's why I always make sure to tell you to keep being awesome, because you deserve it.