Mulan 2 Part 1

[Eugene Aubry]

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It always seemed fitting to me that I first saw Mulan as part of a church youth group outing. My mother and grandmother attended the nondenominational Chinese Community Church of DC, an organization which brought me little pleasure, combining as it did the worst of evangelical Christianity with the worst of Confucianism. It always puzzled me why my maternal family should like being part of it when, after the female pastor left, women seemed to be locked into lower-ranking roles with no hope of advancement. But still, I tried my best to accept the role allotted to me, to behave as I thought I ought, in a world where that seemed increasingly out of place. It is perhaps unsurprising that one image from the movie which was stuck on posters, pillows, and merchandise everywhere took on a profound significance to me: Mulan, her face bisected by her sword, with her soldier alter-ego reflected in its rippling surface.

And she does try. Mulan is unique among Disney princesses in her desire to shape herself to her environment, to fit in instead of stand out. But her inability to do so is precisely what makes Mulan so exceptional. Her profoundest reflection is neither herself in full make-up or full armor. It is when Mulan sees, in the mirror-bright surface of her sword, the creative solution to the Hun attack. It is when she stops trying to shape herself to her environment, but to shape her environment to fit her.

I will be the first to admit that while I did do research (quite a bit actually) to keep dates as close as possible, I do know that some steps of the process may seem a little out of sorts. I tried to make it close to historically accurate but it is definitely a fiction.

You sighed as your boss also seemed to make an advance on you- it was only a sentence asking about your parents and when they were going to let you get married. You ignored him, which was a slight- but you moved on and brought up the papers of notes you had on impending war on the fronts of several countries. Your heart broke for the people involved, and you wanted to get as much research done as you could.

Your routine kept similar for the next months, moving well into 1940. After the second half of the year, hearing the stories of wartime had made your stomach churn a little. You had received correspondence from just a few people- countries around the world were all looking at the United States to jump in. The people who did respond wanted you to see the worst parts of the war so you could try to influence more people to ask questions.

You had already seen a lot of blood, making you uneasy most of the time but when you opened the mailbox on your way home the one evening- your stomach had left your body. There was a notice labeled important and from the U.S. government.

You moved into your room and for the first time since you were young- you pulled a chair up to the door. You slid down the wall on the other side of the room and next to your light- shakily took out the letter.

You shut your eyes for a moment and breathed, deeply. You would go. You would take his place. All you had to do was change the ID. You could change the ID and change your appearance. At least enough to pass, right? It would work, it would have to work.

You did a little research and on papers around the office that had a similar laminate, you practiced scraping it off. Over the next couple of days, you tried scraping off laminate and recovering it with different materials. You also started a routine on your runs- you found a spot along the way and did sit ups, push ups, squats. You needed to build some muscle, and you only had a little time to do it in. You did some research and went to buy hand weights at a store just out of town, stating you were getting them for your boss.

You started immediately wearing a scarf around your head, telling everyone you heard it was a new fashion statement to keep your hair in place. Some of the ladies around town started to do it as well within a couple of days.

You were feeling rushed on time, and a week before you were to show up at training- you chopped off your hair. You clipped it as close as you could, leaving just a little on the top. You looked at yourself in the mirror and frowned, wiping off the days makeup. You gasped a little, you did look like a man. Sort of. It was a step in the right direction. You ordered clothes just a little bigger than you, touched up your hair and voice. You got someone a couple towns over the next day to take your picture, and to your surprise they greeted you as a man.

You all talked for the rest of dinner and you helped your mom clean up the dishes before going to your room. You packed your go bag and your extra change of clothes, changing into your male counterpart and checking yourself in the mirror. You should have grabbed a mustache or something and glued it to you, you still looked slightly feminine. You made your way out of your window after a couple of hours sleep, waking way before anyone would be up. You left a letter on your pillow before climbing out the window and running for a bit.

On a separate note- I noticed I used Dr. Zola in part 2 and started to use him again in this one and no one corrected me! lol my fault, obviously but I meant Dr. Erskine. Oops. Anywasy, I think I corrected it. :D

You pulled out your sidearm and shot towards the man running outside, Steve had been leaning over Dr. Erskine- you started to chase the man outside. You looked around and he was coming at you from straight on in a car.

You were hyper-aware of what they had probably been feeling after figuring out you left. You had thought of it every day since you left, and you know you had changed. You were not the same person that had gone and were worried about how they were going to perceive you.

He laughed, nodding a little before you knocked on the door. It immediately swung open, your mother hugging you and dragging you to the floor. It had been two years since you were home, and you had missed every single second.

You walked over and showed him how to turn it on and play it, putting on a swing record. He pulled you up and danced a little with you, making you smile. After a minute, your mother asked if you wanted help getting ready for dinner- which Steve had to stay for. You went and took a bath, a longer one than you needed. The non-rush and no worries about your secret made it one of the best things you had for a long time.

She settled down a little after that, trying to understand why her fragile daughter was going back. She got you into a dress and heels and a necklace and even did your make-up insisting you feel like a woman for one more night.

You both went further in, you getting scraped by a bullet- you both found Bucky in a room. He looked like he had been tortured pretty bad. Steve begged you to take him and get him out- he was going further into the compound.

You threw back the covers to reveal robotic lower legs, you inwardly screamed- rolling off the bed and onto the legs you stood- a little overpowered. You knocked over some things on a table as you caught yourself and quickly moved out of the room, flinging open the door.

He grabbed you and Steve around the waist and heaved you up in the air without further warning. You think you shrieked coming off the ground. It flew you over everything and it looked worse from above. People were absent or looked to be absent from 80% of the city, the other 20% looking like Vegas 2.0 with billboards and ads from Stark Industries.

You were handed an empty bag and ushered down a line with people to collect your uniform pieces, pots and pans, equipment, and gun which made you gulp. You were pushed down even further into a truck where you and a group of people would be going towards camp. You were near the end and had been greeted by a few of the men in the same truck with a smile. You nodded and smiled back, and maybe got a little too excited when to your excitement Steve was the last one to hop on your truck.

Training pushed you mentally and physically- to start with there were the running, which you had been training for- except now you were carrying your gun which seemed heavier as you ran with it. There was an obstacle course, which included but was not limited to running and jumping and climbing over a wall, sliding and crawling under barbed wire, agility through tires and sliding into place to aim your weapon before shooting it off.

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