Thank you for all the review :-)
Some people has asked me about Mei Mei personality. Honestly, since she had such a short screen time in KFP3, it's really hard to determine her true character. She looked like a confident, fun, flirty, girly, nun-chuck diva. However what runs deep underneath her looks no one can be sure about.
I want to portray Mei Mei as a good friend of Tigress. She doesn't have a good start with Tigress due to both conflicting interests on Po. But eventually, she'll be her best friend as Tigress learned to trust her.
There is plenty of fanfic out there with Song or other OC whereby the rival girl were all just seductive, flirty and making daring advances - making use Po's gentle and kind traits. I want to make Mei Mei more than that, she can be seductive, girly and flirty when she wanted to, but the bottom line is : she had a good heart, she is loyal to her friend, and she played by the rule. And since she a panda, I want her to have a 'laid back, nonthreatening' character like Li Shan or Po, unlike Song who is clearly a feline.
"Someone is at the gate...!"
Loud squeaked and a thud echoed through the hallway. Zheng had come up and landed head first in front of Shifu. The rest of the five save it for a certain panda (who has been excused to help his dad with the wave of customers) stared in amazement.
"There is no indication Zheng had served as Jade Palace messenger for twenty years." Monkey asserted. "Obviously practicing every day doesn't make him improve in any way".
Mantis did wonder how could Shifu let the bird stay on the job for so long considering he was hardly capable of meeting messenger basic requirement. The rest of the five gathered around quickly to see what was the commotion was about.
"Is she here?" Master Shifu rushed to the side of the goose impatiently waiting for him to catch his breath.
"Y-Yes *pant* G-Grandmaster...," answered the goose between his breaths.
"Good." Shifu moved his staff authoritatively, "Monkey, Crane, and Mantis…. could you lend a hand to our new trainee with her belonging."
'Wait, what? a student?' The Five threw a stupefied glance to each other pondering whether their ears had misheard their Master. It's been quite a long while since their diminutive master was willing to receive new students, except for little bunnies, goslings, and piglets that came for basic kung fu class. Ever since Grand Master Oogway's ascension to the Spirit Realm, Master Shifu had made it clear that the Dragon Warrior would be his last trainee. They might get an occasional visit from other Masters, or exchange students from another kung fu establishment. But accepting someone who knew nothing about kung fu was unheard off - even then normally the Grand Master would definitely make arrangement and informed everyone few weeks before the student's arrival. After a minute exchanging thoughts in silencing everyone in agreement that no one except Shifu and Zheng had anticipated a new student in the quarter.
Realizing none of his student moving their muscle, Shifu cleared his throat loudly.
Snapping from the trance, his student hastily excused themselves. "Yes, Master!" All three students quickly bowed and excused themselves.
"Tigress, Viper, followed me, I will need to discuss something with you two."
Meanwhile with the three male students…
"I wonder who this new student might be, Shifu not normally just accept anyone as a student." Crane flew beside his comrades.
"It's trainee Crane," Mantis corrected the avian. "Which means there is a high chance she doesn't know any kung fu yet."
"I hope is a girl...," Monkey replied pensively. "That's enough male student to cause months of testosterone driven tension. We need some feminine touch."
"It is a girl... don't you hear Shifu mentioned a 'she'?" Crane pointed out. A wide smug grin appeared on his comrades' face. His answer clearly made both of them utterly excited of the prospect another female joining the team.
"I hope is a girl and... she is not like Tigress...," Mantis corrected. His simian friend just laughed mirthfully while Crane rolled his eyes - he was the only sensible male out of the six. That's what he wanted to believe anyway. He exhaled in relief that Po was not there with them.'This could be worse.'
"We'll soon find out". Crane was the first landed by the palace thousands of steps. He saw an unfamiliar large figure, covered in black cloak to the toe, hand huddling a basket and a few bags. There was a pink object dangling from the brim of one of the sacks resembling a ribbon.
Upon noticing Crane, the mysterious new student greeted him with a ….. bear hug. "Master Crane, ahhhh...lovely to see ya….."
Crane gasped. He knew that only one creature made that high pitched girly squeal.
"M-Mei Mei...? W-What a-are y-you d-doing h-here?" He groaned under increasingly intense pressure on his chest.
"Uh... uh, my apology," she released her embrace almost instantly. "I am overly excited."
"No harm was done." Crane smiled. Mei Mei hastily revealed herself from under her hood.
"Did Grandmaster not tell you?…. I will be a student of Jade Palace for the next 3 month."
Crane's beak fell open with a creak. Mei Mei pleasantly entertained with his reaction and put her paw on her muzzle muffling her giggle.
A few seconds later Monkey with Mantis on his shoulder arrived in front of the two.
"Woah... I know you!" shouted the bug.
"Aren't you...Mei Mei? the ribbon dancer?" Monkey clarified.
"Yes!" She leaped and in turn her gaze to Monkey and gave him a warm cuddle. "It's an honor that you remembered me..."
"How can I forget? you danced with me at the Panda Party!" replied Monkey. They stayed in that position for a minutes or two, not that Monkey protested. He clearly remembered his dancing partner down at the panda village about 2 years ago. Despite her large frame, nothing can stop Mei Mei to move as astonishingly agile and swift as Viper. In fact, Monkey found her 'curve' incredibly... attractive. Now it's Crane pretended to clear his throat, "Does all panda do this... ummm... hug thingy to anyone?"
"...can I have a hug too?" sneaked Mantis.
Mei Mei frantically stood up straight, with her arm by her body."Uh, oh…. good evening Master Monkey, Master Mantis, Master Crane" she quickly placed her fist on the palm of her hand and bowed respectfully. "Apology, I nearly forgot my manners." she winked to Mantis flirtatiously.
"Subtle Master Mantis... very subtle. Don't worry, you'll have your turn,... I promise." She impishly responded to him with a whisper loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Nah... don't be... If Shifu is not here, we can chill out a little." Mantis jumped to the panda's shoulder. 'Mmm... she smelt like, peach blossom...' he muttered to himself.
"Yeah, but you might want to look out if Tigress is around too..." The three male students chuckled boisterously. "She is as strict as Shifu... especially since she is now a full pledge Master." Mei Mei hadn't got a chance to know Tigress very much. Her friendship with the tiger was all after all form through accident and unforeseen circumstances. But again... there is no accident.
"Shall we help you with your things?" Monkey offering his assistance. The three males quickly divided Mei Mei's belongings and escorted her climbing up the Thousands Stairs. They strode side by side and began to chat.
"So, what brought you here?" asked Crane. "We had not seen you for nearly two years with no news whatsoever."
The panda seemed to engage with her own mind for a second stitching the right words. "When I was in Panda Village, Po taught me how to use nunchucks and it's turn up to be quite fun. Since no panda knew martial arts, I thought it would be useful if I could learn the rudimentary techniques and teach some other panda in the village to fend themselves." She replied.
"Having said that, how is Po?" She attempted to change her subject. Thankfully the rest of the master relented without further ado.
The other three exchanged uneasy glances. 'Should we tell her?' The boys all knew from Mr. Ping that Mei Mei had a huge crush on Po. They were not very sure what her situation was, and decided not to tell the whole truth.
"Dragon Warrior is fine, however, he is at his dad's helping with the restaurant so you won't meet him until dinner," Crane mentioned apprehensively.
"Oh... " Mei Mei sounded slightly dismayed. But Monkey not letting the conversation about Dragon Warrior overwhelmed such a happy reunion.
"Mei Mei, do you remember Viper? She was previously a ribbon dancer like you. You two could set up a performance for all of us." Monkey tried to lighten the mood.
"Oh yes, I remember Viper! That's sound like an excellent plan." The panda mood brightened and chuckled in agreement. "By the way, do you guys happen to know where would I be sleeping? Shifu mentioned in his letter I might have to share a room since there is no enough space."
"I don't think you'll be sharing with any of us... even though I don't mind." Mantis retorted playfully, even gave the panda a sultry wink. Crane mentally face-winged himself (well, he had no palm). He sent the bug a can-you-stop-flirting kind of look. While his simian comrades just chortled mocking the bug. "Subtle dude.., you have three months to impress the lady."
"Honestly, I would think you'll be bunked with either Viper or Tigress." Crane gave a plausible answer. However, he cringed slightly when imagining how it was like to share a bedroom with Tigress for 3 months. His other comrades seem to hold the same opinion.
"Well, you don't want to stay in the same room with Tigress for a week... let alone three months." Monkey snickered.
"Why? Does she snore?"
"Nope."
"Does she have a mountain of stuff there is no space for mine?"
"No, in fact, there is hardly anything in her room."
"Does she had a lot of clutter in her room?"
"Not really, in fact, her room is very neat."
"Does she sleep walk? sleep talk?"
"No, I even doubt she even sleeps."
"She's practicing black magic in her room?"
"Nope."
"She put on loud music at night?"
"No, she is very quiet. Her favorite things to do in her bedroom is meditating."
"She had a secret boyfriend that comes at night?"
They all laughed,"Again...Nope."
"She kept a dirty secret under her bed?"
"Don't think so."
"She's had a body odor problem?"
"No, she takes a bath every day."
"Then, why would you think she made a possible roommate from hell? She sounded rather like perfect roommate from my point of view." Mei Mei clearly bemused. The rest were burst out laughing at the bear.
"Don't get me wrong, Tigress is loyal and kind. It's just as a tiger she is precariously temperamental. I guess you'll found out for yourself. Just make sure don't agitate or push the boundary too far or you'll end up having your gravestone in Jade Palace's garden. Mark my word." Crane replied dryly. Mei Mei gulped apprehensively in response.
"I am sure Viper would offer to share her bedroom." Mantis comforted the bear. "Besides, I don't think Tigress would agree on anyone share her bedroom, she is quite a solitary and private kind."
"Besides, I don't think Tigress would agree on anyone share her bedroom, she is quite a solitary and private kind."
Back in the Jade Palace hall…
"Tigress, Viper... I wanted to discuss with you about this new student." Shifu opened up the conversation.
"Do you remembered Mei Mei back from the panda village?" Tigress eyes lit up at the mention of the name, and this not went unnoticed by her Master. Although the tiger hardly shared a word with her adopted father, he had learned his way to decipher her cryptic expression which in recent years getting harder to suppress. Especially since the arrival of the Dragon Warrior.
"Yes, Master." Both of them replied in unison.
"I want to know if any of you be willing to share your room with her, possibly one and a half month each," Shifu explained.
Two of them looked at each other. Viper raised her voice first. "I don't mind sharing mine, Master. However... I had to admit I have quite a bit of belonging and since Mei Mei is a panda, she will require extra space of her sleeping mat. My room possibly not big enough for her." The serpent replied. The old master stroke his beard while pacing around the room.
"Alternatively, Monkey and Mantis could bunk together and let Mei Mei had one of their room," Viper suggested. Shifu lifted up his countenance and look at his student. "That's not a bad idea Viper, I will consider that as the last resort."
"Master, let her stay in my room for her entire stay." Tigress offered. "Mine and Po's room are bigger than the rest, and I don't have a lot of personal belonging myself, so Mei Mei can use my wardrobe. Also, I'll be leaving for a month mission in about week time so she could continue to use my room freely." Tigress laid her reasoning.
Shifu clearly thought he misheard Tigress, his adopted daughter who normally averting social events and not easily trusting a stranger, and here she was proposing the panda to deliberately invaded her privacy the whole 90 days.
Not only that, Shifu clearly remembered the rumor he overheard shared by his male students that Mei Mei had taken quite an interest on Po. But again 2 years was a long time. A lot could change in two years as such was his adoptive daughter.
Shifu confided his own judgment avoiding making a reckless decision. He knew Tigress enjoyed her own lone confinement, however, she strived on her own way of maintaining a good relationship with Viper and Mei Ling. Tigress might only have a few friends, but those few are her best friend. 'Probably she would make a good friend with this panda.'
After much thinking, Shifu relented. "Very well students. Now you may head to your room. Tigress, I will send the boys to escort Mei Mei and her belongings to your room. See you at dinner. You both dismissed."
"Yes, Master." Both of them bowed to their Master and left.
In Tigress's room.
That night, Tigress was helping Mei Mei to settle in her room. The male students helped her taking all her packs and place them by Tigress' door. Monkey mouthed 'Good Luck', while Crane and Mantis just gave the panda a little 'I-am-ever-so-sorry' look. Mei Mei felt a little uneasy, but she mouthed 'Don't worry, I'll be fine' to the three of them before tapping on Tigress' door.
Responding to the sound made on her door, Tigress slid it opened. She was greeted by the panda hazel-blue orbs and a wide smile. Mei Mei was still as Tigress remembered her from two years ago. Her chubby cheek was dangling over her face well covering her stubby neck. Her figure was still round, a lot more corpulent than Po. Under her black cloak, she was still wearing a pink and red robe, her sea blue sash on her waist barely making the ends meet. Her hair bounded in a small bun with a co-ordinated red ribbon around it. Blue mascara adorned her eyelashes and blood red lips tugged a friendly grin.
"You must be knackered after a long journey". Tigress dragged Mei Mei's pack and shut her bedroom door.
The pandiva just give a seductive giggle. "Exercise help keeping me in shape, especially the last hike up the palace," Tigress smirked. "Climbing the Thousand Steps was just a warm up, the real workout will start tomorrow." She replied satirically.
Mei Mei just chuckled."Don't underestimate me…., I might look like a princess, drastically feminine, love to wear dress and makeup. But underneath - my very heart and soul is a true nunchuck fighter." She bantered Tigress's statement comically. Her ludicrous response invited the tiger's wide smile. Mei Mei clearly reminded her of Po and his frivolous antics and imprudent action. She wondered whether all panda born to say horrendously absurd statement all their live much to everyone else amusement.
"Are you sure I can squat here in your room for a few weeks?" Mei Mei voice shook Tigress out of her trance. Before Tigress rebutted anything further the panda tipped her pack and cluttered Tigress's bed with her belongings. The feline stood astonished, she had never seen so many objects which half of them she had no idea how to use. There were nail clipper, a bag full of makeup, nail polish, dozen type of brush, seamstress kit, a bunch of lotion, cologne, and more than a dozen type of powdery substance.
"Of course. I don't own much stuff inside my room anyway, so you can use my wardrobe." The tiger responded. "Mine and Po's room are the largest, so it's easier to accommodate another mat and put it on the floor". Her eyes still astounded with the amount of stuff Mei Mei took with her for next 3 month. 'Is this what real girls stuff looks like?' she thought, secretly pleased she never been too girly.
"Well, thanks Tigress. That's super sweet of you. Hey I tell you what, I'll polish your nails tonight as my gratitude, you can pick a color, I am sure Po would love it." She winked her eyes mischievously.
"Thanks Mei Mei, but I'll stick with my claw, I think colored nail won't look so good in the training hall." She worded her sentence carefully trying not to offend her friend.
"So how are you been keeping on?" Mei Mei opened the conversation. She took liberty examining her feline friend. Tigress looked a lot more beautiful and friendlier than her first encounter. But again, she was injured, tired and famished when they first met - which didn't help to stamp a brilliant initial impression.
"I am keeping well, thanks," Tigress replied. "I heard you'll be training with us for 3 months?"
The panda nodded,"I hope to learn the basic kung fu and probably master the nunchucks a little more."
"Sound like a plan. So how's things in Panda village? How's Li and Lei Lei?" Mei Mei knew the tiger had grown fond of the little Lei Lei, whom instantly took a liking of the Master of the hardstyle who she intimately called big-stripy-baby.
"Everything is good, Lei Lei just celebrate her 6th birthday two weeks ago. Li said at some point if he came to see Po, he would take Lei Lei with him." She explained while stacking all of her clothes to be stored inside Tigress' closet.
Suddenly Tigress' orbs caught a glimpse of beautiful silk embroidered blue dress under a pile of jumbled items. The material silky surface glimmer under the flickering candlelight in her room. It was a blue cheongsam with gold lotus pattern all around the hem. Inside the collar, she can see it's embroidered with Mei Mei's name.
"This is such a beautiful dress. Did you sew it yourself?" she pulled the dress carefully adoring such intricate details. She could tell Mei Mei had put a serious effort making such a masterpiece.
There was a clear element of surprise in the panda expression. Mei Mei nervously took hold of the dress. Her face paled, her vicious train of thought was immediately brought to a halt.
"U-uh, I'm not supposed to take that here. Must have been accidentally packed." She stammered, offering a forced-unconvincing sheepish grin.
Tigress found her gaze. She knew something was amiss."Mei Mei, what's wrong?"
She looked like there were many things she wanted to say, and they were all fighting to get past each other in her throat. On the other hand, Tigress was fighting her own temper that gradually getting shorter. She could clearly see the female panda mentally argued with her own mind whether or not she should confess the truth or leave it concealed. Mei Mei let a disgruntled sigh.
"Tigress, you might not like what I just about to tell you, but please trust me… I have no intention to take that dress with me, that's not what I came here is for." She pleaded like she was admitting something important. Tigress threw baffled look.
"That was…. my engagement dress. In our village, the tradition is to make our own engagement dress." She lifted her head at Tigress and pried to her gaze hoping to read her emotion, but there was nothing. The tiger just looked at her with phlegmatic expression. 'Gosh, I hate this… this is the stoic persona his comrade was talking about'.
After a long, prolong moment of tension, Mei Mei cleared her throat and continue. "When Li received the message from the universe that his son was still alive, he came to see me and my mom and ordered me to start making my engagement dress. Little did he knows that Po -" And their conversation was interrupted by a small creak at the door.
It was Viper. "Girls, say what…. why don't we go the bath house together? I am sure it will help Mei Mei freshen up a bit after her journey. Po is going to start dinner in an hour."
Both the panda and the tiger didn't move nor responded. They just gave Viper a blank stare.
"Uhm... girls?"
Tigress was the first one to rebound her attention. "Sound like a fine idea. Are you coming, Mei Mei?" Tigress looked for her towel avoiding eye contact with the panda. "O-o… y-yes, sure," she shuttered as Tigress caught her off guard. Her mind still thinking about how Tigress would react should Viper didn't intervene their conversation.
Tigress let Mei Mei joined up with Viper while she scurried for an extra towel. Her eyes still fixated on Mei Mei blue engagement dress while mentally tried to suppress her suspicion to develop any further.'She is not a threat Tigress! She is unlike Song or other females who make use of Po, she is your friend.'
She managed to push her skepticism and blunt accusation of the pandiva, but she saw a small tatty blue box with gold ribbon. Her calmed emotion suddenly began to heat up before it had a chance to properly subside. Hundreds of question inflicted her mind,
'could that be… Mei Mei's engagement ring? Why did she take it with her?'
She felt a rush of adrenaline pumping through her vein, her heart pounding hard against her ribcage. She fought the curiosity to get the better of her. Undoubtedly there was an intense desire to open the box, but her consciousness quickly deterred her from prying on Mei Mei's belonging.
'What would Mei Mei feel if she knew I violate her privacy? She would resent me for that.' A lot of people might think this was really out of her character, but after years spent with Dragon Warrior, one thing Tigress had learned was to trust her friend. She decided she'll ask her when she got a chance.