Reading the Room

"So, she never did like him over that," Krystal asked me the next day. We were in our room. "Wow, all that hatred for that long." I shrugged.

"It's easy to do. I've seen it a lot in my other world. It also causes mass chaos and violence," I said in a casual tone. I looked at Krystal's horrified face. You would be scared too if you were in her position. "But there is some good in my world. Just not on the surface."

"Well, that's interesting," Krystal replied. "I guess it wasn't the best thing to tell that story, huh?"

"Actually, it did a good thing for her. She let go of her hatred of him. I just hope that that legend doesn't come true. What would happen if Master Shifu figured out he was alive?" I looked at the ground pensively. "Well, it's only a legend." I saw Krystal was in a simple white dress with a black cloth belt around her waist. My eyebrows perked up. "You changed your usual look," I audibly took notice.

"Yeah, I didn't want to have the same look every day. I want to change up things sometimes, you know," She said. I smiled.

"Yeah, I know," I replied. "I'm just a little intrigued as to why you did that?"

"Just to change things up," She replied. I shrugged. "So...do you have any other stories?"

"Well, I'm not really sure about some of them. Like there are two other swordsmen that I haven't told them. There is one that I don't know about, but we can check out," I said to her. "I'm just not sure about what to do about it." Then an idea came to mind. "I have an idea. Get Tigress and Po to come to the Training Hall." So she did. I rushed to the Training Hall to see Zeng casually sweeping the floor. "Purrfect," I purred. I shook my head. Did I just actually purr? Just then, Tigress, Po, and Krystal came into the Training Hall, where I put up a target, right where Zeng was sweeping for the moment. "Po, I'm going to teach you how to take a shot from anywhere," I said.

"Okay, how," Po asked.

"Simple," I said taking my stance and took the shot. I purposely missed, but the arrow was going towards Zeng.

"Zeng! Watch out!" Po shouted. Before anyone could say anything else, Zeng, without looking, caught the arrow with one hand. I could see that his eyes were dilated and then slowly closed back up; I wasn't that close to him mind you, but I could see these things from afar. Krystal, Tigress, and Po stood in amazement. Zeng presented us the arrow.

"D-did you need this Master Lion," He asked with his usual nervous stutter. I took the arrow from him with a smile.

"Thank you, Zeng. I'm sorry I nearly shot you," I apologized.

"I'm...kind of use to it," He said. Then he walked out of the Training Hall.

"I can't believe it," I said with an open smile.

"Yeah. I didn't think that Zeng could catch that shot," Po marveled. I looked at Tigress's open mouth.

"Tigress, how much training would it take to develop a heightened sense of surrounding," I asked.

"Um... with dedicated training, about...five years. But I've never been able to do it completely from the backside like Zeng did. How did he catch that," she wondered. I smiled.

"I think I know, but I can't tell you right now," I replied with a smile. "Now, I think we're on a hiatus for now. I think I'll go down to the village and get some food. Tigress, you're coming with me. I have a special training session for you and Krystal to work together on."

"What is that?" Tigress asked.

"Reading a room," I said. Tigress seemed confused. Krystal came up to me and motioned me to come with her in private.

"What are you doing?" She asked me.

"It's a simple training technique. Best to learn from experience than just prime knowledge," I replied. "I want you to make sure that she learns. You'll be teaching her."

"Why me," she questioned.

"Because you know how to read a room better than me. Plus, you'll have a pupil under your wing," I said, trying to coax her into it. She made a frustrated face but finally said.

"Fine, but you're coming with me," She conditioned.

"My dear," I said with a smooth voice, "Don't I always."

"No," She answered smiling. Then we turned to the panda and tiger.

"Po, you'll stay here. Relax for a while but don't get yourself in trouble," I warned him.

"When have I ever gotten into trouble," He said.

"Po, don't make me get the list out," I sighed. "It's very heavy, and I don't want to carry it today." Krystal giggled while the panda pouted. "Anyways, Tigress let's go." So we went down the mountain and decided to stay around Mr. Ping's shop. It was a logical idea since the people liked the food and it was also always busy. I ordered a bowl of noodles while Krystal and Tigress talked together about the room. Their conversation was interesting.

"I don't know why I have to do this," Tigress sighed.

"Just listen up and try to understand. Lion is right. There will be times when you'll need to see and understand the room in order to protect yourself and others." She pointed to a couple in the corner. "Those two in the corner aren't really a couple." This actually seemed to intrigue Tigress.

"How do you know," Tigress asked.

"You see her eyebrows? And look at her hands. She doesn't want to be here with this guy. He's probably paying her to spend the day with him." Just then two other couples came inside and sat right where the couple was. "Or just for show. Too bad for him that it probably won't end well." Krystal pointed to a nice gentle pig in the center of the room. "You see that pig? He's been divorced recently. By the looks of it, I would say they were married for about five years before they split."

"How do you know," Tigress asked.

"Men keep the ring if they're widowed, don't they," I asked. Krystal nodded in agreement.

"How about that duck with the wide smile," Tigress asked.

"That, my friend, is a player to the bone. I can tell he has a confident look on his face, but he seems to be choosing who his prey will be," Krystal explained. Just then the duck came over to Krystal, ignoring me.

"Hello my dear," He greeted. "You look like a traveler. Why don't I show you around town a bit?"

"I'm sorry," Krystal said with a kind smile. "But I'm here with my husband and he knows the area pretty well, right dear?" I unsheathed my claws.

"Yes, I do," I growled lowly. The duck quickly got the message and scampered away. Krystal looked at me with a knowing smirk. I just sipped my tea as I spoke through the liquid. "Don't say it. Save it for when we get back."

"Anyways," Tigress continued. "What about that lady goat over there?" Krystal squinted her eyes at the lady and then she jumped back as she took a sip of her cup.

"That's not a lady," she replied. Tigress's eyes widened as I calmly set my cup down.

"Okay, I think we're done here. I'll pay Mr. Ping and we'll get out of here." So I did. As we went up back the mountain, Krystal continued to talk.

"You see why it's important to read a room?" Tigress nodded. "Keep in mind that you make basic assumptions about certain characters in a room for objective reasons, not for personal reasons. A wolf that looks like a wolf bandit isn't always a bandit. You know that from seeing Ru. The point is that you have to make sure that your assumptions about that particular person are right. You must learn to observe from afar." Then an idea popped into my head.

"Maybe you can learn how to observe from afar now," I said. Krystal and Tigress looked at me quizzically. "Back at home, we have this game called Assassins' Creed." They looked at me with horrified looks. I rolled my eyes. "We didn't really kill anyone. Anyways, one of the things we would do is follow a subject without being detected."

"But Master Shifu has already taught me how to stay out of sight," Tigress replied.

"Yes, however, this time, you must be seen by the people. You must act like a normal citizen and not attract attention." Tigress crossed her arms as we came to the top.

"I don't see any challenge in that," she murmured.

"Think about it. Master Tigress of the Furious Five, who doesn't interact much with the people, suddenly comes down here. Everyone will be on you like hyenas on a meal," I explained. Tigress's expression changed from confident about the challenge to not so sure. I smirked. "We'll begin the training of that later. Right now, I have to make sure that Po hasn't done anything to get into trouble."

"PO!" I heard Monkey, Crane, Viper, and Mantis screamed.

"I was close," I muttered. We went into the kitchen to see it in shambles. Po's face was burnt and looked like it had just been through an explosion. I sighed. "Don't tell me. You tried to make some concoction and it went awry so quickly that you couldn't stop it." Po nodded. I shook my head while the others argued and fussed at Po. "INSTEAD," I shouted at everyone, "Of fighting and arguing about what Po did, we might as well help him clean it up." Slowly, everyone decided to help Po. "But Po, what I don't understand is why and how you come up with these...bad decisions."

"Well, quite honestly I get bored," He replied.

"You mean all this mess is because you get bored," Mantis retorted. "That's it!?"

"Ah, I see now. 'The idle mind is the demons' workshop.'," I quoted. "Learn to have something to do, then you'll worry less about coming up with these bad ideas. There's always work to do."

"But I don't like doing work," Po complained.

"And you think anyone else does," Monkey questioned rhetorically.

"Ah Ha! So here is the paradox," I smiled widely. "You want something to do without it becoming work, but because you can't find anything to do that isn't work, you get in trouble. And what, my friend, does that leave you," I asked with the broom on my shoulders. I could tell Po was baffled.

"A...confused panda," Po asked.

"EXACTLY," I exclaimed as I hit him over the head with the broom.

"OW!"

"The sooner you learn this lesson, the faster and less you'll get out of trouble," I said in my 'sensei' tone. I could also see the others snickering as well. "But know this, and this goes for all of you," I said, regaining their attention. "A good warrior doesn't idle and let his mind wander to dangerous things, nor does he train so hard that he himself is broken. To avoid the fate of both, you must be fighting and standing for the safety of others." With that, I went back to my room where Krystal was waiting for me with a knowing smile. I sighed as I relaxed into the chair by the desk. "I'm guessing you want to ask about the situation with the duck."

"Yep," She smiled brightly. She got off the bed and approached me from behind. "Why did you have to scare him off like that?"

"Like you said, he was a player. If I remember correctly...a person of that characteristic hurt you last time. I didn't want that to happen again," I said. It was a sorry excuse, but it seemed to work.

"You really mean that," Krystal asked. I looked around to Krystal. She still had her smirk on. I sighed.

"Okay so I was a little...possessive I guess. I'm sorry if I overstepped any boundaries," I replied. She chuckled a little. Then she put her light blue scarf she got from the closet and bent down to my level.

"It's alright. It's okay to get a little possessive of your wife," She smirked. I scratched the back of my mane nervously.

"Nah, I don't like that idea. You're an individual, not my property." She smiled.

"Well, thanks for looking out for me. I guess you'll be my protective slave from now on," She said with a childish smile. I looked at her with half-lidded eyes and a fallen face.

"So wait. I'm your slave now?"

"Yep," She replied. I sighed as she took her scarf off of me and went to tend to herself. Meanwhile, I recorded everything I did in the book.

to be continued.