龍

“How’s this?” she asked, scrunching up her nose and furrowing her brow. “How do I look?” she snorted, and the snorted turned into a giggle, earning her a look from a couple other people who were looking through the exhibit. 

“Maybe this is what I’ll do,” she said absently, turning her attention to a row of cases that lined a wall. “I’ll just….collect things and put them on display,” she thought of her mom’s traditional gowns, her father’s ceremonial sword he’d earned from the Emperor all those years ago. It was on display along with his guns, and Mulan thought she knew at least some things about the art of placing objects in the right places, to honor and please the ancestors, to tell a story. 

“Hey Mushu, do you ever think….” she trailed off, because she realized she didn’t know how she was going to finish that thought. “Nevermind.” 

He turned to grin at Mulan, hoping for a laugh, but she seemed to be already lost in thought over something else. Mushu raised an eyebrow at her words. “Well, hey, if that’s what you’re into, but I gotta say, I really didn’t see you for the nerd-y, antique collector-type person. Okay, no I lied, I definitely see you as a nerd. But antiques? You do remember how clumsy you are, right?” 

“Let me have some of that,” she said in greeting, taking the chopsticks from him and taking a huge bite. “Mmm. I said,” her cheeks bulged out as she chewed, “I said there’s something I want to see before we go. Come on, I think it’s downstairs. Hey, this is pretty good,” she said, grabbing the food from him. She led the way, towards a heavy metal door labeled “staircase.” 

“There’s this new ancient Chinese exhibit, from the Emperor’s private collection. And since I’m never going to meet the emperor, I thought it would be cool to see what artifacts he owns. Plus my dad might want to come see it sometime, and I can impress him with my knowledge if I look at it now.”

Mushu made a face when Mulan made for the door reading “staircase”. “You know we have these things called ‘elevators’ now, right?” He followed along behind her anyway, scarfing down the rice faster than ever lest she tried to take more. “What would ya wanna meet the emperor for, anyway? Seems like just a regular ol’ fuddy-duddy to me. Oh, 'scuse me, a fuddy-duddy in a really pointy hat.” He couldn’t say he wasn’t curious about the exhibit, though. Finished with his food, he tossed the container into a nearby trashcan.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be eating in here,” Mulan said, casting a glance over her shoulder at Mushu. She held her notebook in her hand, maneuvered clumsily around the cluster of people gathered at a statue of a woman with bird’s wings. The Disney City Museum was always full of people, and the Egyptian exhibit was no different. 

She carefully pushed through and scribbled down the information from the plaque in her notebook. There. She had enough info for her project, so she capped her pen and tossed it in her backpack. 

“Okay there’s one more thing I wanted to see before we go. Mushu let’s––Mushu? Mushu!” 

And he was being so nice today too, coming with Mulan to the Museum so she didn’t have to walk around all alone. Especially in the Egyptian exhibit, where there were mummies a’plenty. Mushu stopped and gave one particular sarcophagus a side-ways glance before shuddering. Sure, he worked with dead people all the time, but mummies were just plain creepy.

If you live in Disney City, monsters are just another part of life. The city is filled with villains and heroes both trying to make a name for themselves, and its high population and status as a leading cultural and economic center make it a prime target. Half the budget seems to be allocated to rebuilding wrecked sky scrapers and giving people therapy. 

So when an enormous, hairy, acid spitting monster crashed through Pizza Planet, Mulan just grabbed her slice of pepperoni and ducked under the table with Mushu. They watched as the crowd ran all around them, but in Mulan’s experience it was usually better just to hide instead of run. Running meant you could get trampled, and being in plain sight was always a bad idea. 

Mulan watched as the monster ambled along, slow and pretty disgusting. Not disgusting enough that it made Mulan lose her appetite, and she took another bite of her pizza. 

“This is gross,” she whispered. “Not the pizza. The monster thing. I wonder when the police are gonna—”

Just then a team of black clad figured rushed in and fired a hail of bullets at the monster. Which….Usually didn’t do a whole lot, but Mulan could see where they’re coming from. The bullets mostly bounced off the monster, making dangerous ricochets for everyone else. 

“It’s not working,” she said. “They’re not—”

Mushu stared, slightly in denial, as something out of a sci-fi flick smashed a hole through the wall of the pizzeria, and he probably wouldn’t have thought to move either, the pulses in his brain suddenly no longer firing, were it not for Mulan pulling him away. Once they were under the table, it hit him. There was a drooling, disgusting behemoth lumbering around and spitting radioactive green globs from its gaping maw, and they were under a very, very fragile looking table for protection.

His eyes were blown wide in fear, and he slowly turned to his side to see Mulan. Still eating.

“How are you still eating?! Mulan, did you see that thing?! It just punched its way through the wall!” He whispered back. Kind of. It wasn’t so much a whisper as it was something akin to a high-pitched screech.

He whimpered (he would later deny he did any such thing) as he watched the monster face down some people in black armour, who looked as though they were trying to contain the thing. Not very well, for the bullets seemed to be posing more of a hazard for everyone else other than the monster. Mulan seemed to agree.

Mushu was perfectly happy to just lie low, cower a little, and wait for the whole thing to blow over. But suddenly, Mulan was no longer beside him. Scanning the restaurant, he caught sight of her vaulting over some chairs, at first thinking she was heading for the exit (without a thought for him, wow). But that was definitely not an exit she was running towards, that was the ten-foot-tall-lab experiment gone wrong.

"Yep, I’m joining the circus!" she said, standing up and striking a pose. "I’ll be a…a juggler. Or maybe a trapeze artist. You don’t think my parents would mind if I just ran away without telling them, do you? I’ll look in the papers and see when the next circus is coming to town. My talents will include not being able to do the other eye," she said, gesturing to her face. "And differentiating equations, and sometimes running into things, and forgetting my chores," she put her hands on the floor and lifted her legs into a pretty impressive handstand, walking with her hands for a second before teetering and falling on the floor. Her elbow hit the floor hard and she rolled onto her back, shutting her eyes. She remembered that she only had a couple of weeks until her next and final shot at snagging a husband, and she still couldn’t do her makeup properly.

He crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, watching Mulan as she did a hand stand and giving a half-hearted clap. The atmosphere seemed to immediately sober with the tone of Mulan's next words, and he sighed before sitting in a chair close by.

"You're tryin' your best to please your family," he answered simply. Because it was the truth, and anyone could see it, which only made it more painful when Mulan failed. Mushu rubbed the back of his neck, wondering what his next words should be. Tact and sensitivity weren't exactly traits he was used to practicing.

"...Why do you need to practice applyin' makeup anyway? Can't you just go to a salon or whatever and get professionals to do it for you? Not that you need professional help to look good, I mean-" Just stop talking, Mushu. 

Switching tack, he walked over to where Mulan was lying down, and stared down at her upside-down face. "C'mon. No more mopin'. You know what we're gonna to do? We're gonna study-"

What I'm sayin' is, all you gotta remember for next time is 1. don't talk when she's not asking you anythin', and 2. RELAX.

Well, it beats sweeping the temple again; sure, why not. We doin' anything 'bout costumes? Hey, you could go with that clown look you had goin' the other day; sure scared the hell outta me.