Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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A gray clapboard was held in front of the camera, which read, "SHOT t/5_18, TAKE 1, DATE 5/25/21, PRODUCTION: Turning Red, LOCATION: Chinatown"

"Speed! Marker!" the female director said through a megaphone before closing the clapboard and moving it out of frame. "And action!"

The camera began panning to different angles of Mei's attire and belongings.

"I wear what I want, say what I want, and I will not hesitate to do a spontaneous cartwheel if I feel so moved." Mei narrated to the camera.

She put her hands on the floor and went upside down with her legs in the air. Her backpack zipper loosened up, and her school supplies and backpack fell off her back.

"Oh, crap!" she shouted before losing balance and falling to the ground.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, a background extra couldn't hold back his contagious laughter, and everyone else started to laugh, including the crew behind the camera, and the boom mic appeared on-screen.

"What? That's not funny!" Mei's face turned red, filling up her backpack.

"Cut!" the director shouted.

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"Marker!" the director closed the clapboard shut.

Abby ranted something in Korean and aggressively kicked a piece of trash.

"That's not the line, Abby. Watch your language," a translator said in the background.

There were a lot of oohs and giggles from the other students in the background and the ones she just yelled at.

"Sorry, I got a bit carried away," Abby said apologetically.

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"And action."

"Manitoba, Alberta, and…um," Mei counted with her fingers. "What was it again?"

"Saskatchewan," the director reminded her.

"Sa·skat·che·wan," Mei repeated to herself. "Sorry, I'm not that knowledgeable on geography."

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"Manitoba, Alberta, and…" Mei counted but then her voice trailed off and awkwardly chuckled. "Come on, I just had it in my head."

"Saskatchewan!" the director loudly reminded her through bursts of laughter and assured her, "It's okay. I didn't know my geography that well when I was your age."

The clapboard took up the screen. "Rolling again!"

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The four girls were on top of each other, watching Devon from behind the Daisy Mart window

"Huh?"

"Mmm!"

Priya loudly moaned in a certain way that made the girls lose it and fall over, disconnecting the stack they piled up. The girls giggled uncontrollably from the certain sound she made.

"What kind of moan was that?" Miriam playfully punched Priya's shoulder.

"Okay, now, that sounded a little too dirty for this movie, so let's roll it again once more," the director said.

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"Come on. You know you want to," Miriam lured Mei in. "Here we go."

She rolled her eyes and put down her flute case before starting to dance and sing along to Nobody Like You. It wasn't long before Abby and Priya joined in their little dance. But, when the camera zoomed out, the director could be seen in the corner dancing along with them. The girls immediately stopped when they noticed her little dance.

"What? Can't the director have a little fun too?" she said as she kept jiving to the beat.

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"O-M-G, Mir! I'll guard it with my life!" Mei exclaimed.

She kissed the CD case on each and every side but then started coughing and spitting all over the place.

"So…much…dust," Mei wheezed, gasping for air.

The whole crew erupted into uproarious laughter.

"I'll make sure to use wipes before the next take," a crew member said in the background.

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As Mei rushed through Chinatown, two people carrying a pile of bamboo sticks were in her way. She threw her flute case in the air and rolled over, but she stuck out her legs too high and accidentally kicked the bamboo out of their hands, which flew all over the ground.

"Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry. Let me help you with that." Mei started to help the two people pick up the bamboo sticks before the next take.

"Let's roll it again," the director said.

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And what was a blessing became...an inconvenience.” Ming finished, biting her lip.

Then, the camera cut to Mei’s shocked face, then to Sun Yee’s portrait, and then back to Panda Mei again.

“Are…you…serious?!” she shouted before glowing red in a fit of rage.

She swiped the shrine with her paw but swung too hard, and it flew right at the camera, knocking it over.

“Oh, shoot! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Panda Mei ran to the camera and lifted the heavy equipment to stabilize it. “Sorry, did I ruin the take?”

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"Some of my moves are also hers."

Ming turned around, but she was in the middle of eating the plate of buns that was supposed to be for Mei-Mei.

"Oh, are we rolling already?" she asked with her mouth full and swallowed shortly after. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

"Cut! Can someone please come fill the plate with more bao?"

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"Why don't you come to the front office?" the security guard said outside the classroom. "I'm sure someone can…"

He put his hand on Ming's shoulder, and she shoved him away but aimed too high and kicked him in the nuts.

The security groaned in pain and grabbed his affected area. He slowly fell to his knees and then collapsed to the ground. The students saw the whole ordeal and lightly chuckled amongst themselves.

"Oh, that's gonna leave a mark," the director muttered.

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Mei was in her red panda costume and stood on a stool, throwing glitter around with her cardboard paws.

"Ever since, the red panda has…" Ming explained to the crowd.

The glitter landed on her face, and she lost her composure, spitting out the glitter and shaking her head.

"Pfft! Aah! I think it got in my eyes!" she exclaimed, her eyes twitching, rubbing the glitter off her face.

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"Let the fun begin," Mr. Kieslowski said.

As Mei wrote in her notebook, Miriam passed a note to her. She eyed the note before swiping it and peeking at it. She quickly wrote something on the note, but the teacher turned around right at that moment.

"Meilin Lee! If I catch you passing notes behind my back again, so help me…nah I'm just messing with you," he chuckled to himself.

The whole class laughed out loud in response, and Mei forced out a laughter as well.

"I'll just cover the note next time," Mei commented.

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Inside the bathroom, the jammed door was banging with a girl outside exclaiming, "Hey, I gotta go! Open up!"

Panda Mei whimpered and stumbled around before deciding to escape from the bathroom window. She slid the window open and leapt through it except that the bottom half of her was stuck. She tried squeezing and pushing against the wall, but she couldn't get out the window. After a short while of heaving, she gave up and let herself dangle out the window for the whole crew to see.

"Guys, I think my gluteus maximus is stuck," Mei called to them.

Mei's other friends showed up on-screen and laughed at her mildly embarrassing predicament.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten that extra bowl of rice for lunch,” Mei sighed.

"I guess we'll have to pull you out of the hole just like Winnie the Pooh," Miriam said.

"I hope not," Panda Mei rolled her eyes.

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"What happened? Are you hurt? Are you hungry?" Ming asked Mei.

"Um…" Mei said before a bao was shoved in her mouth.

"How was school…what's with your face?" Ming asked with concern.

Mei muffled with her mouth full, and her face turned blue as the bun inside her mouth was blocking her airway. After struggling for a bit and squeezing her cheeks, she finally spat the bun out and gasped for air.

"Maybe, um, use a smaller bun next time," the director suggested.

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"How old are you? Thirty?" Ming asked.

"I'm seventeen," Devon answered.

"Oh, see, see? This is what happens when you don't wear sunblock and do drugs all day!" Ming pointed to Devon.

Devon snickered, grinning ear to ear, and was unable to stop wheezing uncontrollably.

"How dare you! Drugs are no laughing matter!" Ming shouted, feeling offended.

This made Devon chortle even louder, doing a faceplant to the counter and banging his fist.

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Panda Mei put a recycling bin to jam the bathroom door and put her paws in her mouth out of nervousness. Her heart jumped when she heard a toilet flush and Stacy opened the stall.

She couldn't believe her eyes and shouted, "O-M-G-whack!"

Mei pushed her paw into her face too hard and accidentally knocked her to the ground. She covered her mouth in shock and looked at the camera and then back to the stall.

"Is she okay?" someone in the background asked.

After a few seconds, Stacy got back to her feet and brushed herself. "Yeah, I'm okay. It's no biggie."

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Mei rolled under her bed and without looking, started drawing pretty quickly on her notebook. When she looked down at what she drew on the notebook, she rolled her eyes and shook her head. She showed the page to the camera which revealed just a large jumble of pencil scribbles.

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"I'll just go to sleep, and when I wake up... this will all be over," Panda Mei said to herself.

She leaped onto her bed, but she didn't hear any creaking or feel it crush under her weight. Panda Mei, frustrated, bounced on her bed a couple more times, but it didn't budge.

"I think we made the bed too durable," the set designer commented.

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"Tyler keeps putting these up," Miriam said. "Knock it off, butthead."

Tyler pointed and laughed at the girls.

"Not funny, Tyler!" Abby shouted.

"Devon, my precious mAAAanly man," Tyler's voice cracked.

It caught him off guard, and the girls started to giggle and point back at him.

"Stop it! Please!" Tyler begged. "I-It's just puberty! It's…natural!"

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"So, let me get this straight," Mei discussed with another cast member. "You can transform into a sea monster?"

"Yeah, pretty cool right?" Luca answered.

"All right, then, show me!" Mei demanded.

He grabbed a jug of water nearby and splashed some on his head, revealing his other form.

"Woah! That is so cool! So, all you need is water? Oh, that makes so much sense." Mei exclaimed. "You know, I can also transform into…"

And without hesitation, he splashed the rest of the water onto Mei's face. "I don't see any scales."

Out of frustration, she growled and poofed into her red panda form, which startled him a bit by her sheer size.

"You transform into a…red furry monster?" Luca shivered.

"Red panda!" Mei corrected her.

"Right. And you can do it at your own will? Neat."

"That's right."

Both paw and fin high-fived together.

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Panda Mei brushed the leaves off her body before she stopped right in front of Daisy Mart. She stomped her feet rapidly like Thumper and shouted, “Awooga!”

“Cut! No, no, no, you gotta emphasize the “oo” part a little more, like you really have the hots for Devon.” the director explained.

“So, like Awooooooga?” Mei attempted.

“No, now that’s too long.”

“Well, why can’t I just say something like, ‘I love you, Devon!’”

“Well, now that doesn’t get the point across as quickly, doesn’t it?”

“Then, how about, AWOOGA!”

“There you go! That’s perfect. Let’s roll again.”

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Chapter Text

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“Forget that. 4*Town’s coming to Toronto!” Abby displayed the flyer to Mei’s window.

Mei opened the curtains and revealed her furry self. “What?!”

Her friends screamed in shock and Mei screamed back in response, raising her arms in fear. She tried to shush them, but, when they wouldn’t shut up, she grabbed them in one swoop, but BANG! 

All three of them simultaneously hit their faces against the window. Mei immediately let them go, and were left standing outside all dazed and confused. They rubbed their faces and winced in pain. Mei bit her lip and gave each of them one by one an apologetic head pat.

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“Your mom must have gone nuclear,” Miriam said to Mei.

“Who cares? What's she gonna do? Ground me?” Mei responded without a care in the world.

She and her friends laughed along until they heard a few loud thumps arrive closer in the distance. Everyone went dead silent as they saw a pair of glowing red eyes appear at the top of the stadium.

“Oh, fudge,” Mei slowly whispered to herself, her pupils shrinking to a dot size.

“What did you say about me?” a booming voice came from outside the stadium.

The creature in the shadows shoved her head through the opening, revealing herself to be a red, kaiju-sized Ming. “Mei-Mei! Come out, come out, wherever you are! When I find you, oh, you are so grounded for life!”

Mei’s face went pale until she heard a bell ring and sighed in relief.

“Cut! You aren’t supposed to show up that early!” the director shouted at Ming.

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“Abby, hit me,” Mei tapped and pointed to her arm.

Abby closed her eyes and lightly punched her arm.

“Come on, harder!” Mei demanded, tapping her arm harder.

Abby’s fist shook a little and was very hesitant to strike again, so she put it down.

“I can't do it,” Abby whimpered sympathetically to the camera. “Not to my best friend.”

“Well, if hitting her harder lets the panda out, would you do it?” the director asked.

Abby’s frown instantly turned into a wide grin and nodded quickly without any hesitation, rubbing her hands together. The director gave a little wink at Mei, and she responded with a nervous gulp.

“All right, then, let’s try it again. Rolling!”

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“I know it feels strange, Mei-Mei, but I promise, nobody will notice a thing,” Ming assured her.

“Thank you for your concern, Mother,” Mei replied in a flat and monotone robotic voice.

“Cut! The script never said that you needed to sound just like a robot,” the director cackled through bursts of laughter.

“Whoops. My bad,” Mei said.

“For starters, try to make it sound more awkward than monotone, like this: ’Thank you for your concern, Mother.’” the director suggested.

“Got it,” Mei said.

“Rolling again!” the director commanded.

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“Come on, Mei. It'll clear my mind. Just a little hit! It's so cute!” Abby begged, stomping her feet desperately.

“Ugh. Fine,” Mei spread out her arms for Abby.

Within a split-second, Abby hopped and grabbed onto Mei, but her quick speed and weight made Mei stumble and lose her balance, falling on her back.

“Ow! Abby!” Mei exclaimed.

“What? If it gets the panda out quicker, it would be totally worth it,” Abby responded with a wide grin.

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“Mei-Mei, what's going on, honey? Are you sick?” Ming knocked on the bathroom door. “Is it a fever? A stomach ache? Chills? Constipation?”

“No!” Mei interjected.

“Wait. Is it…that?” Ming came to a realization.

Jin stopped in her path and stood perfectly still, having a gut feeling of what she was referring to.

“Did the…” she whispered before leaning closer to the door. “Did the red panda bloom?”

“No!” Mei answered. “Wait, what?”

“Oh, my,” Ming covered her mouth while the whole crew laughed at her little flub.

“I’m sorry, it’s just that red panda, red peony, whatever, it sounds so similar; it just slipped my mind,” she chuckled to herself.

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“Mei-Mei! Tell him you forgot your pads!” Ming revealed for the whole class to see.

This was the breaking point for Mei and her mom’s humiliating encounter, and she shrieked at the top of lungs, but there wasn’t much of a bang after that. She poofed into a red panda, but the big explosion of pink smoke that was supposed to precede her transformation didn’t commence. She was left there roaring until she stopped and looked down, noticing that everyone was looking up at her instead of looking around.

The camera then cut to the pyrotechnics team who were pressing buttons, trying to get the pink explosion to happen.

“Whoops. Wardrobe malfunction,” one of the members said.

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“Fine! Get out of here!” Tyler yelled. “Go back to your psycho mom and your…creepy temple, you freak!”

Mei growled and was blind with rage. She turned around and leapt off the roof, lunging at Tyler, except for the fact that she missed her landing because of him. Tyler, who was too chicken to get struck by Mei, backed up from her target spot, and she landed face-first on the grass.

There were a lot of gasps and murmurs as Miriam asked, “You okay, Mei?”

Mei moaned weakly and gave a thumbs up. She lifted her dirt-covered face off the ground and wiped it off with her paws.

“All right, guys, take your positions, especially you, Tyler,” the director warned with a deadly glare.

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“I never met nobody like you,” they sang with Miriam shaping her hand like a microphone and aiming it at Mei.

They waited for her to say the next lyric, but she kept crying and crying nonstop.

“Did we just make her sadder?” Priya asked.

“Mei, that’s your cue,” the director called to her. “You can stop crying now.”

She finally got a hold of herself and sniffled, wiping her tears. “Sorry, it’s just that their singing got me all choked up by how beautiful they sounded.”

“You were?” Miriam gasped. “Aw! Thanks a lot.”

“You’re welcome,” Mei replied as they consoled her and stroked her fur.

“Just give them a few minutes,” the director whispered to the crew.

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“Mei-Mei, it's one thing to stay calm at home or school, but a concert?” Ming questioned. “You’ll get whipped up into a panda and frenzy all over the place. Wait, I don’t think I said it right.”

The whole crew and cast burst into laughter.

“It just slipped, I swear!” Ming tried to defuse the situation.

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“I have ibuprofen, vitamin B, a hot water bottle, and pads,” Ming unpacked the large box, holding a large pile of pads. “Regular, overnight, scented, unscented, thin, ultrathi…”

She paused her sentence right there when her nose started to twitch.

“I think my nose is a little--achoo!” Ming sneezed and dropped the rest of the pads

Ming sniffled and looked apologetic before reverting back to her poker face. “Don’t blame me. It's all thanks to the ‘gross red monster!’”

“Hey!” Mei shouted.

She rubbed her nose and went to grab toilet paper to blow her nose. That’s when she heard a splash and looked down on the floor, seeing large puddles of toilet water everywhere.

“Mei-Mei! What on earth did you do with the toilet?” she loudly asked.

She hesitated before giving an answer. “Nothing?”

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As Mei climbed the fire escape, the screws started detaching from the building.

She stopped and said, “Uh-oh.”

Mei whimpered and panicked as the metal staircase began to slowly bend down along with her. She quickly climbed onto the top of the fire escape and prepared to jump on the “Lunch” sign. She hopped on over, and she flailed her arms as she tried to reach the sign. Unfortunately, she miscalculated her jump and leaped too early, missing the sign.

She screamed as she fell to the ground, and her back landed on the car that almost ran into her earlier and rolled to the ground. Luckily, she had gotten extra furry padding from the stunt team earlier in case of an accident, which helped break her fall a little.

“My back!” Mei exclaimed, arching her back. “Ah, my back!”

She breathed through her teeth in pain as she awkwardly stumbled and waddled away from the set.

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Chapter Text

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“I knew she’d flake,” Tyler crossed his arms with frustration.

Then, the doorbell rang. Everyone’s spirits were lifted when they saw a large shadow at the front door, and they all rushed to the entrance, chattering amongst themselves, as they excitedly anticipated the panda girl’s entrance.

“Ugh. About time,” Tyler opened the door in relief.

It turned out that Mei was present as her giant panda form instead of her expected cardboard costume, complete with a tiny party hat on her massive head.

“Who’s ready to partaaaayyy?!” she whooped, pumping her fists.

The horde of students, flabbergasted that Mei became the red panda so soon, became ecstatic, jumping and raising their arms while Tyler gave Mei a big bear hug.

“Whoooooo!” the students cheered.

“Cut!” the director shouted.

“Awwwwww!” the crowd moped and argued from the abrupt buzzkill.

“You can all have your fun when we get to filming the party scenes,” she spoke over a megaphone.

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Grandma Wu inhaled deeply as she prayed to herself, “Sun Yee, give me strength.”

Without notice, she whipped out her jade bracelet in the air and threw it on the ground, shattering it into many pieces. Giant pink clouds of smoke emitted from her spot and blew through the rest of the family. When the pink mist finally cleared away, the camera panned from the top of her red, scarred head, until it zoomed out revealing her panda form wearing an oversized Sailor Moon outfit. She opened her eyes and looked down, gasping in shock from the sudden wardrobe change.

“Huh? What the…” Panda Wu’s eyes widened.

The cast and crew all erupted with uproarious laughter.

“Ahh!” the director couldn’t hold in her fangirling. “That’s my favorite anime!”

Panda Wu clenched her fists and growled, storming off the set. ”I don’t get paid enough for this. So humiliating.”

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A close-up interior shot of Panda Mei’s big mouth could be seen as she chomped on a piece of a birthday cake. When the camera cut to the slices of cake with Tyler’s face plastered on it, she used the claws on her fingers as little skewers. She poked five slices of cake and shoved them all into her wide mouth before pulling out her fingers and chewing them with her cheeks full.

“Cut! Stop being so greedy!” the director attempted to contain her laughter. “You’re eating all of our supply!

“I know, but it tastes so good, mmm!” Panda Mei muffled with her mouth full as she poked more cube-shaped slices of cake with her other paw. “Which bakery did you get these from?”

The director then advised her, “At least save some for your other friends.”

“Yeah, Mei !” Abby sassed loudly.

“Fine,” Panda Mei laid down in defeat as the catering crew laid out another partly-eaten cake for the next take.

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“And sorry I’ll never be like you!” Panda Mei shouted at the top of her lungs.

She anticipated her target as she prepared to headbutt her giant panda mom directly in the face. As Panda Ming reached to grab her, her velocity sped up even more. Unfortunately for her, she aimed a little too high and flew right over her large tuft of hair. Panda Ming grunted in confusion and turned around as Panda Mei continued screaming and eventually landed head-first into one of the trash cans on the metal bleachers.

One of the cameramen, who happened to be near Mei’s trajectory, ran over to the crash site. What was pictured on the tape showed a faint pink cloud of dust escaping from the flipped over trash can, which was luckily empty. The bin shifted a little until Mei, who reverted back to human, tossed it out, feeling exhilarated, with crooked glasses on her face.

“That was fun. Let’s…do that again,” Mei mumbled, a little woozy.

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In the astral realm, Mei looked around the stalks of bamboo as she tried to locate her redhead mom. Then, she heard some distant crying and went to check it out. Mei noticed that there was a sobbing girl with red hair sitting there and ran to take a closer look.

“Mom? Are you okay? We have to…” Mei tried to comfort her.

The unidentified female then turned her head, who turned out to be Miriam wearing a red wig. Mei, taken aback, loudly shrieked and fell back, landing on her haunches.

The crew in the background chuckled as Miriam removed her wig and revealed her auburn hair. “Got you!”

Mei playfully chuckled along with them, albeit still a little spooked.

“Alright, let’s do it for real this time,” the director commanded.

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“I guess you could call me…” Mei narrated in the band room.

“A very enterprising,” Mei’s teacher took another sip from his mug, “mildly annoying young lady.”

“A major weirdo,” the Goth Girl with the purple-dyed hair spoke.

“An overachieving dork-narc,” Tyler finished the description.

Right when he tossed the basketball for the hoop, Mei jumped in front of him, and it hit her directly on the face.

“Oof!” Mei landed on her side on the hard, concrete courtyard.

The camera panned down to the ground as Mei still struggled to finish her line while pinching her red, swelling nose. “I accept…and embrace….all labels. Nailed it!”

“Someone get first-aid please,” a crew member called in the background.

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“Crap! You guys better go,” Mei shoved all her friends toward the window of her bedroom.

“But…” Miriam interjected.

“No “buts,” Mir,” Mei responded as the girls climbed out her window. “My mom already doesn’t like you.”

“Wait, she doesn’t?” Miriam quickly said in disbelief.

Not even a second later, Mei closed the window shut, and Abby let out a high-pitched squeal as her fingers got caught on the windowsill. The crew rushed in to help, and the camera then faced the director who gritted her teeth and waved her flat hand across her neck, signaling to cut the tape.

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“And $200? For what?” Ming brushed off Mei’s frustration. “Who do they think they are?”

She then began improvising various Canadian singers. “Shania Twain?”

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“Bryan Adams?”

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“Michael Bublé?”

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“Alanis Morissette?”

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“Celine Dion?”

The director did a slow clap after she finished that take. “Okay, I think we finally got it. That flowed quite nicely.”

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During the suspenseful scene at the dining table, Jin brought over a cardboard box and placed it in front of Mei. Both her parents flinched and kept their distance as Mei slowly grabbed the cardboard box before finally opening it up, revealing cute, fluffy little kittens. Just the sheer sight of them made her immediately poof into a red panda, and the wooden chair cracked under her weight.

“Oops! Sorry,” Mei apologized

“Cut! It’s okay, Mei,” the director sighed. “We’ll just try it again, one more time.”

Panda Mei’s eyes gleamed with delight as she cuddled the little kitties under her fluffy arms.

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Mei repeated the kitten scene with another take, but this time she managed to resist just a little farther into the kitten test scene.

“So cute!” she squeezed her skirt tightly as the kittens began climbing up her arms and face.

This time, she still couldn’t withstand the temptation and poofed once again, destroying—yet again—another chair.

The director exhaled a deep sigh as she rubbed her temple. “Cut, let’s do it… again .”

Panda Mei forced out an apologetic grin, chuckling awkwardly.

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After doing the same scene again over and over, it seemed that Mei would finally manage to get the scene done successfully. With the kittens crawling on her shoulders, she barely finished saying her final line, “Must resis…”

Without even noticing, she let down her guard and poofed again. Yet another poor chair was broken once again.

“This is the fifteenth take. I cannot believe this.” the director’s broke down. “I need a break.”

Panda Mei stroked their fur as the director walked off the set, and the camera panned to the corner of the room, revealing a large pile of broken and cracked chairs. One of the dangling legs snapped off from the top of the pile and bounced down to the ground.

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Mei’s aunties and grandma sat around a table as they ate bamboo leaves and stalks for lunch in their red panda forms, right outside the SkyDome.

“Gotta keep the panda from getting hungry, amirite?” Panda Lily commented.

Everyone else ignored her question as they kept munching on their panda meal.

“I gotta say, it’s too bad Ming’s panda couldn’t come join us. She could easily destroy this feast with one stomp of her feet! ” Panda Ping added.

“Ugh! It’s absolutely ridiculous what my agent is offering for my panda,” Panda Wu scowled.

“What is it?” the other aunties asked.

“They want me to become therapy panda, haiya,” she scoffed. “Don’t they see? I’m too old to be helping other people’s problems. I’ve lived my life already. So stupid.”

“Maybe Mei-Mei could become one,” Panda Lily spoke up again. “She has good control over her…”

“Quiet, Lily!” Panda Wu demanded. “Her family is the one who needs therapy.”

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“Hey, Panda Girl,” Tyler called to Panda Mei on his roof.

She turned around with a deadly glare and bright, piercing eyes.

“What are you doing? We want more rides,” he gestured to the impatient crowd.

“Buzz off, [BLEEP] face. I’m busy!” she vented her frustration a little too well.

“Oh, snap,” the crowd gasped and oohed at her profanity-laced insult.

Her red fur settled back to normal as she covered her mouth from red-flamin’ embarrassment.

“Alright, alright,” the director settled down the crowd of rowdy students. “Let’s remember to keep it PG.”

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As Panda Mei made her final leap and flew right above her old, shocked shaman in slow motion, she gasped with excitement as she reached closer to entering her home. When she got close to the temple walls, she barely reached high enough to stick the landing and got hit right down below her belly at the clay roof tiles. Her eyes bulged out, and she bit her lip hard as she leaned forward and slid down into the temple. She then held her legs tight with both paws.

“Could I get an ice pack, please?” Panda Mei wheezed, tearing up a bit. “Ah, my ovaries!”

“Cut! the director slammed down her megaphone. “I swear, the next take will be the final one. At this rate, she’s close to knocking down these walls.”

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A gust of wind blowing green leaves served as a guide for Mei, wearing a red robe, who was escorted along the path until she saw an open field once she brushed herself through the bamboo forest. The guide turned out to be her ancestor, Sun Yee, who waved her hands with a red ribbon, forming a portal, which sank down to Mei’s level. The thing is, she didn’t see her former self with black hair.

“Huh?” Mei tilted her head. “Where’s my reflection?”

Suddenly, another figure popped out of the dark void from the other side. Once again, it was Miriam who jumpscared her. “Boo!”

“Aah!” she exclaimed.

The crew all cackled with laughter, but Mei wasn’t laughing along with them.

“Darn it, Mir! I’ve had it with you guys!” Mei angrily dusted off her robe, walking away from the cameras. “I’ll be in my trailer.”

“Woah, this is so cool!” Miriam tapped on the portal with the palm of her hands. “Now, how do I get out?”

**********BEEP-BEEP**********

Panda Mei raced through the doors as she gave Tyler a piggyback ride out in the backyard.

“Faster! Faster!” Tyler whooped, thrilled by the fast-paced ride.

She leaped over the strand of light bulbs repeatedly as more and more riders floated midair from her continuous jumps, with Abby even grabbing her tail at one point. Eventually, the camera displayed all her friends, including Mei, floating in the air with their hands up. But there was something the camera didn’t capture after that freeze frame. Their smiles turned upside down as they all fell towards the grass, with many of them bouncing off Mei’s back, knocking the wind out of her.

They all groaned and moaned as the director turned to the crew and commented, “I think we could salvage something out of that footage, right?”

**********BEEP-BEEP**********

Mei fast-walked into her room carrying all of the gifts she received from her aunties. Then, she rushed to shove them all in her drawer and started mashing all her stuffed animals into a pile and covering it with her blanket.

“Mei-Mei, can I have a word with you?” Grandma Wu barged into her room unexpectedly.

“Cut! You came in too early!” the director exclaimed,

“Oh, did I? My apologies,” she bowed to her quickly, shutting the door.

**********BEEP-BEEP**********

Mei tossed out her shoes and stuck one foot out her window. Suddenly, her pupils shrank as multiple knocks could be heard at her door. She spinned into a quick somersault, but lost her footing and slipped on the floor.

“Mei-Mei, can I have a word…” she opened the door but saw her legs and arms sprawled out on the floor. “What the…”

The crew laughed at her little pratfall as Mei got up to her feet and dusted off herself.

“Cut! Let’s have a go at another take.”

**********BEEP-BEEP**********

Mei tried her wavy little somersault again, but this she banged her foot on her desk, stubbing her toe. 

She held her swollen toe tight and winced, inhaling sharply through her teeth and whined, “Aaaah.”

She did the same steps again and whined again, “Aaaaaah.”

“Ugh, this again?” Grandma Wu sighed behind the closed door.

Mei kept repeating this routine as the crew looked at each other nervously. “How long is she going to keep this up for?”

**********BEEP-BEEP**********

“I’m not going to regret this, am I?” Mei nervously asked Sun Yee.

The ancestor gave a grateful smile and floated towards her, poofing them both into red pandas. She held Panda Mei tight as they both flew up through the tall bamboo. Her mouth gaped wide open with glee, looking down at their height. When they finally cleared through the bamboo, Panda Mei pursed her lips and kept snickering, noticing a green goatee on her face, formed from the pieces of bamboo they just crashed through.

“Cut!”

The red panda ancestor giggled a little and scrubbed the bamboo off her face, which then flew and got stuck onto Mei’s furry tummy. “Hey!”

“Aw, man, we were about to get to the best part,” the director whined, deadpan.

**********BEEP-BEEP**********

“I can’t believe this,” the director communicated with Panda Mei, “You were willing to run into oncoming traffic and double jump onto high buildings, but you can’t hop into a concert?”

“Augh, I know, but it just looks so high from up here,” she peered over from the roof of the stadium, her heart racing from the height. “It’s just a lot harder than it seems.”

“Well, the falling part is how you’ll enter the concert. What other option would there be? Sneaking in the back?”

“No?”

“Exactly! So, we gotta try to figure out a solution. Try to think of a calming technique that’ll help you overcome your fear of heights.

“Alright, I’ll try my best.”

The director then clapped her hands. “Let’s take five, everyone. Try to think it over, panda girl. I’m counting on you!”

A bell rang in the back as everyone set down their equipment. She gave Panda Mei a quick wink after standing up from the director’s chair and started chatting with the producers. Mei poofed back to human and placed her closed fist on her chin, seeking out any ideas that could help her overcome this challenging scene, despite the intended use of many safety harnesses.

Then, it suddenly clicked! She thought back of a conversation she had with another friend. It had something to do with someone named Bruno? Anyway, she put the pieces together and finally figured out the key to fixing her restraint of her scene. The five minutes turned out to have flown fast, since the director already approached Mei pretty quickly.

“Did you figure it out?” she asked.

Mei’s grin widened and nodded slowly. “Yup, all I need to say is ‘Silenzio, Bruno!’”

The director raised an eyebrow and tilted her head with confusion. “Who’s Bruno?”

“It’s a long story,” Mei brushed her shoulder. “This technique will work, trust me.”

“Okay, whatever you say,” the director shrugged it off. “Alright, let’s take it from the top! Places, everyone!”

Before Mei went back to climb down the roof, the director tapped her shoulder. “Before you go, I wanna show you something”

She guided a nervous Mei close to the ledge and then handed her a pair of binoculars. She pointed down to the crowd, and she peered through the lens after removing her glasses. During a close-up look, she saw that all her friends were holding together a large red sign that read, “YOU CAN DO IT, MEI!”

“Aww,” Mei became wowed from their nice gesture.

Then, the director whispered something into a walkie-talkie and commenced something that would help keep her spirits up.

The large crowd started chanting, “Let’s go, Meilin! Let’s go!” clap-clap-clap.

“Let’s go, Meilin! Let’s go!” clap-clap-clap.

“Let’s go, Meilin! Let’s go!” clap-clap-clap.

As the audience kept chanting on, she wiped tears of joy from the emotional support and ran to give the director a big *POOF* panda hug. “Thanks a lot, Domee.”

“You’re welcome,” she patted her on the back, or as high as she could on an 8-foot animal. She gave a peace sign and shouted, “You the real R.P.G!” (Red Panda Girl)

“Oh, stop it,” Panda Mei cringed. “No one calls me by that name.”

“Okay, then, let’s get this scene over with.”

Panda Mei nodded and ran back to her starting point which would be right below the roof. Right before the cameras started rolling, she took one last deep breath and looked up with a determined face, repeating to herself, “Silenzio, Bruno.”

“And…action!”

Panda Mei popped onto the roof with a fast twirl and poofed up in the air, spreading her arms and legs out as the 4*Town spotlight shone behind her. With one last cry of joy, she began making her descent with her free fall while the crowd was cheering down at the 4*Town concert. Or were they cheering for her?

**********BEEP-BEEP**********