The Lost Plum Blossom (Taiwan Intro!)

[meimei]

Mei smiled as widely as she could, perched on one foot on a ball as she flared her fans before she hopped, pushing the ball away and did a back flip onto a Tiger's shoulders. The beast held still as she started to go through hand stands and other little acrobatics, flicking her fans in and out of her hands in almost a juggler's move. Her smile grew wider as the crowds cheered louder, this part she loved, the true adulation; than the ring mastered started calling over the din and nearly made her smile waver.

Right...this part...

Mei nearly sighed, reluctant as always to do this part of her act; the tigers being forcible lead away much to her distaste. The cage was removed and a smaller circle was put into place with a fake tree. Mei closed bother her fans, bringing them to her sides before she slid elegantly into the fan dance of home; using katas in the motions as the fans she used for the act flared with their gaudily painted pictures and glitter.

The worst part though was the fact that she slowly had to work her way out of the Japanese Kimono she was wearing for this portion, rather than her preferred Quipao. The stupid foreigners didn't know the difference and forced her into it so she could be a geisha never mind that they would likely never see a real one. Those woman were entertainers, not..not...cheap whores! Mei finished with a flourish, glad in a belly dancer's out and got a sickening roar of catcalls. She waited with a fake smile as the ring master added to the frenzy before she was allowed to grab her kimono and get away.

Mei gritted her teeth as she tossed the damned thing over a rack and grabbed her real outfit, finding a quiet dark corner to change into she slid her fans onto her dragons' fist chain and grabbed her parasol. Sneaking a little food she wandered out to the Tiger's pen and flopped down with them; patting their broad heads as she murmured sadly," I miss my family...if they were here they'd beat that bad man..." But those were far off dreams, and for now she just tried to survive the worst of it.

[Wonsanji]

Even as the rest of the people got up to leave their seats, chatting avidly about the thrills and the chills of the performance, Yong Soo couldn’t do anything but stare, frozen with his mouth half-open, the small circus snack in his hand still hovering mid-air. This…this wasn’t what he had been expecting, when he followed his ‘feeling’ and dragged Yao along to the circus.

’Oh, Mei-Mei-Sunyeo,’ he thought, equally thrilled and despaired by the discovery of his pseudo-sister, ‘What have these foreigners done to you, da ze?’

The Korean’s mind suddenly veered on his companion, and, shutting his mouth with a soft click of teeth, Yong Soo slowly glanced over, trying to gauge the Chinese man’s reaction before he said anything.

Sunyeo = sister

[China]

When Yong Soo originally said he wanted to go to the circus, Yao was less than pleased to be dragged along for the adventure, but that feeling was long gone now as he clenched his fists. His beloved little sister, Mei, was standing in front of his eyes, and while he has wanted to see Mei after all these years, this is not how he wanted to meet her once again.

There was one thing for sure Yao thought. He was going to rescue Mei from this hellhole.

[Wonsanji]

Yong Soo watched in silence as the determination set in Yao’s face, his heart cracking a bit at the sheer protective fury in that gaze; so familiar, and at the same time so saddening. His Hyungnim had always been the adult for them, and the self-imposed responsibility was clearly heavy on his shoulders.

‘Well,’ Yong Soo thought, ‘I’m an adult now too, da ze, and I can shoulder that burden with him.’ With that statement in mind, the Korean forced himself to finish the snack, clapping his hand on the Chinese man’s shoulder and bringing him in, grinning fiercely. “I’ll distract them, and you figure out where Mei is.”

Without another word, Yong Soo stood up, lifting his arms and racing across the top of the seats two at a time, leaping over the barrier and tumbling across the floor. The Korean stood up, glancing back at Yao, and waved his arm with a childish excitement, making sure that he had the attention of the incredulous circus ringmaster and his workers. “Hey, Hyungnim, look! I’m part of the circus, da ze!”

He pulled out his fans, and began twirling them in the air in rapid flips and flares. The other circus folk looked at him at first in amazement, and then in annoyance, and gathered together to shoo him off. But the Korean simply laughed, dodging their swipes and stepping rapidly back a set of stairs, placing his foot on the performance ball. It wobbled off its stand, and began to roll, but Yong Soo managed to keep on, still juggling and still being chased around, a broad grin on his face as his antics threw the folk into a fine frenzy.

“Hey, did you know that circuses originated in Korea?” he called out, accidentally kicking a clown in the face when he raised his foot. Yong Soo winced, but the smile stayed on. “Sorry, da ze! Big shoes, did, too!”