Tang Drabbles 3

Hello !!🍉🍉

I am Ahmed from Gaza. I used to have a pharmacy in the north of the Strip, but unfortunately, I lost it due to the bombing. Under difficult circumstances, I had to move with my family from the north to the south, and we settled in Deir al-Balah.

Despite the challenges, I tried to rebuild my life, so I opened a simple pharmacy in a tent. This pharmacy contains some basic medicines, but it is far from meeting the needs of the people here.

I am now in dire need of support to secure my needs and the needs of my children. My first goal is to raise $1,000 to continue providing health services in these difficult circumstances.

I hope that everyone will donate and contribute to supporting this humanitarian project. Every support, no matter how small, will have a great impact in improving the lives of my family and providing health care to the community here.

You can donate through this link 🇵🇸🇵🇸: https://gofund.me/2a408c6f

Thank you very much🙏🏻❤️❤️

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Donate to Gaza Pharmacist Needs Help to Help Others, organized by Molly Sirois

This is Ahmed. He is a pharmacist. He used to have a pharmacy in a building in … Molly Sirois needs your support for Gaza Pharmacist Needs H

A World Without Him

Chapter 12

-The day before, at 10:30 AM-

Pigsy’s Noodles was just opening shop, with the owner of said restaurant hauling up the metal door and blinds, then lighting up the store's sign to show it was in business.

Then he walked back into the kitchen to check all the appliances and heat up the broth, going into a sort of trance as he checked over everything in his kitchen. A friendly face came by a couple minutes after the official opening, helping to take down the chairs and putting them in the correct spots. After finishing up, the friend went over to the bar and started to chat with the chef.

“Hello Pigsy!” He offered with a grin, sitting down a bit uncomfortably onto one of the nearby stools. “Hey there, Sandy.” Pigsy answered absent-mindedly, focussing on his prep before finishing and walking towards the bar. This was the bit of free time Pigsy had before orders started showing up, so he had some time to talk.

“Do you think Mk will come by today?” Sandy asked, looking around the shop as if he expected Mk to pop out at any moment.

“Not exactly.” Pigsy grumbled. “He hasn't been by here for the past three days, not like he was even pretending to deliver noodles before.”

“Aw, don't be like that Pigsy! I know Mk has been out and about for the past few weeks, but it's only because he's been stopping demons left and right! We're his friends, so he wouldn't just leave without a reason to.” Sandy offered, leaning over the bar as if to make a point.

“I know, I know Sandy.” Pigsy says, waving off the blue giant before staring out onto the street, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

Sandy noticed the change in tone immediately. “What's on your mind, Pigsy? It's never good to bottle up your thoughts or emotions. You seem a little tense. Is this about Mk, or something else?”

Pigsy paused for a moment, thinking it over before sighing heavily. “It's about Tang” “What about him exactly?” Sandy asked.

“Well, ugh. It's just that he's worrying me. He's been cooped up in that apartment of his for the past couple weeks, which you know he only does when he's trying to ride something out on his own, and he's been especially weird after the whole library fight!

“You saw how he didn't answer his phone that day. When I went up to get him, I… his entire apartment was trashed. Things broken and thrown around the room sort of thing. He also looked like a complete mess, with his hair all over the place along with dust and other stuff covering his clothes. His glasses were even cracked!

“Then he brushed me off when I tried to get him to talk, saying how he'd been through a lot that day, dropping a bomb on how he was stuck under a building for hours, and then how he just needed some time alone. I let it go at the time, but staying alone after an event like that happened to him is worrying me about what actually happened at the library. 

Pigsy pauses for a second before continuing, now a bit more solemn in his tone. “If he thought what happened at the library was something he could handle by himself, then I'm concerned for all the other stuff he thinks is better going through alone. I'm just wondering if there's something he's not telling me: something that he's been harboring at his apartment all this time.”

Sandy nodded along with Pigsy’s words, growing more and more concerned as Pigsy went on. “Have you tried asking him about this? Maybe checking in on him, too?”

Pigsy huffed, looking at the ground before turning back to Sandy. “I didn't know it had gotten this bad until I saw him yesterday. But I did tell him to come here at noon to talk about it, and that I would drag him here myself if he were late. I'm just hoping he'll actually come by himself instead of staying inside again.”

Sandy nodded, still looking concerned at what Pigsy had told him. “Does anyone else know this is going on?”

Pigsy looked to the side, a bit ashamed. “No one else needs to know the specifics yet. I wouldn't want to overwhelm Tang with that many people knowing. It's not like I have that many people I could tell anyways.”

Sandy looked like he wanted to say something, but he never got the chance when the bell on the shop door rang, taking Pigsy's attention away from the conversation.

“I'd better get to that order. We'll continue this later, Sandy.” Pigsy said, leaving Sandy at the bar to attend to the growing crowd.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pigsy was spread thin throughout his restaurant. He had to stop offering delivery at the moment when no one acceptable would apply for the job in Mk's stead, which definitely put a dent into his profits.

At the start, it was fine. People would often order out through his window instead of delivery, and all he needed to do was throw the noodles onto the shelf for people to grab.

Then more people would start to line up, and the pressure of making everything on time became overwhelming along with the struggle of waiting on everyone eating in.

All of this combined started to grate on Pigsy's nerves as more and more people started to complain about the wait time. 

If they want their freaking noodles in 5 minutes, then why don't they COME IN AND MAKE IT THEMSELVES. 

Pigsy might actually kiss Tang if he came by so he could finally get a break from all the complaints and passive aggressive comments, even if Tang is already way too late just for a slap on the wrist. Pigsy would go out there and drag him down himself if Tang didn't show up in the next few minutes-

*CRASH*

The sudden noise dragged Pigsy's focus away from the noodles he was preparing. He looked up rapidly and saw a mop of brown hair coming towards him at an alarming speed, knocking some chairs over in the process.

“Kid, what are you doing here?!” Pigsy yelled out, but it fell on deaf ears as he was grabbed by his elbow and pulled out of the kitchen.

“No time Pigsy. Something's up with Monkey King, the island has become a bit overwhelming and I need your guys's help stat!” The kid replied, going over to where Sandy was sitting and yanking him out of his stool. Sandy had to contort his body almost inhumanely just to keep the tea in his hands from spilling out.

But that work was for naught as the kid was suddenly getting ready to fly off again, only giving Pigsy a second to cut off the sign and drag down the blinds before the kid jumped off towards Flower Fruit Mountain. Sandy dropped his cup somewhere on the way.

When they landed in front of the waterfall entrance, they only had seconds to recover before all the duo could hear were the kid's ramblings. “I'm not sure what's wrong but he hasn't come out of the waterfall for a week and the sigil on it has been acting weird and I don't know what to do- wait, where's Mr Tang? I thought I grabbed everyone at the bar.”

The kid looked at them both, searching for a certain scholar, yet coming up with nothing other than the small monkeys hanging around the waterfall coming a bit closer to inspect the new visitors.

Pigsy, after recovering from the whiplash, cleared his throat. “Mk, Tang is probably at his apartment. He's going to be at the shop any minute to talk with me though, so I need to get back pretty soon.”

“Oh, I can wait for Mr Tang to get there for you! I just needed to get you all here to figure out how to get Monkey King out and ask him about the island. It wont take too long, right?” Mk asked with a nervous grin.

Pigsy sighed as he pinched his nose bridge. “I wanted to have some time to have a serious talk with Tang. Alone. I can't exactly put that off for whatever Monkey King has gotten himself into this time.”

Mk wouldn't back down at Pigsy's protest, though. “You can just have it here, then! Mei's already inside and all I need Tang to do is sort through all the mystic junk for anything useful and ask him what he thinks is wrong with the island and Monkey King. After that, all I need him to do is sit back and watch as we help Monkey King fix everything up-”

The ground suddenly shakes as the sigil on the waterfall started to glow, cracks in the surrounding stone growing before loose rock fell into the dense forest, knocking down some trees in the process. The monkeys around them jumped and started to run at the sounds, huddling together in fear.

Mei came running out of the waterfall at the commotion. “Another one already!? AUUUUGH, THIS BLOWS!” She yelled as she took a stance in front of the waterfall and shot up towards its sigil, using her family sword to stab it infused with the Samadhi Fire.

The sigil glowed sporadically, the shaking becoming more severe before it finally cracked under the pressure and started to dull, slightly softening the shaking.

Mk's expression became more tense as he yelled to Sandy and Pigsy. “Do you guys see what's happening now!? I need you to keep us safe from the falling rocks while I help Mei.”

Mk ran off before either of them could respond, leaving them in the path of all the debris with a job to do.

Sandy immediately jumped up and started to punch the rocks into bits before they could hit the ground and cause more damage, and after a few seconds of hesitation, Pigsy joined him.

This went on for what seemed like forever: the continuous tasks becoming tiresome for the both of them. But then, long after their knuckles became bloody and numb, the rocks finally stopped falling and the island became silent. When Pigsy and Sandy made it back to the waterfall entrance, they saw how the sigil had gained more small cracks compared to when they saw it before.

Then, looking towards the floor, they could see Mei and Mk laid out on the ground, both breathing heavily as Pigsy and Sandy approached. 

“Are you both alright?” Sandy asked, crouching down near the duo to see if they were hurt.

“Nah, *huff* we're both *huff* fine. Just tired from the *huff* overuse.” Mei answered from the floor.

Pigsy sat down next to them. “What just happened back there? Is this why you snatched us out of the shop?”

Mk took a few moments to breathe, and then he finally answered after sitting up. “Yeah, this is why I went and got you. I just figured out this was happening after I hadn't heard from Monkey King in a while and went to check on him.”

Mk looked around the waterfall entrance, a pensive look forming on his face. “I'll tell you more inside. It'll be easier to show you there.” Mk said, standing up with some difficulty along with Mei before walking to the entrance.

Standing in front of the seal with everyone behind him, Mk put his palm up and onto the seal and waited.

It flickered, the image shorting in and out of everyone's view, before it dulled completely. Mk sighed in relief at that before stepping in. Mei, Sandy, and Pigsy followed in his stead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They walked through hills of weapons, scrolls, and other junk Monkey King had piled in here over the years. Sandy knocked some of the stuff over in the process, and everyone almost tripped over the junk more than once.

They eventually made it to a clearing with a small, wooden hut in the middle of it. Mk looked past it and went towards some logs on the floor, sitting on the one with moss covering half of its side.

Mei sat beside him with Sandy and Pigsy choosing their own logs, looking at Mk expectantly.

Mk sighed heavily before speaking. “The seal has been acting completely overkill since I got here. I don't know what affected it, it's just been going crazy at random times and doing that to the surrounding area.”

Pigsy looked towards the wooden hut, and then back to Mk. “Then where's Monkey King? Shouldn't he be able to fix all this, as it’s his own waterfall seal or whatever?”

Mk grumbled to the floor, so Mei answered instead. “Mk's already looked into the shack with his golden vision. He now knows for sure Monkey King is in that hut right now, but no matter what we do, that monkey won't come out: I even played the Nyan Cat theme for an hour and a half straight! Nothing we do can even scratch what that shack is made of anyway, so breaking it open won't work either.”

This only made Pigsy more annoyed with the king. “So he won't even come out when his island is going to crap? Why is he hiding in the first place anyway?” Pigsy spat, clearly fed up with how Wukong had been handling everything.

Sandy gives Pigsy a pat on the shoulder. “I'm sure Monkey King has a reason for shutting himself away, and now that me and Pigsy are here, we can try and help as much as we can to get him out.” Sandy offered, trying to lessen the growing tension.

Pigsy stood up quickly, shrugging off Sandy’s hand as he marched towards the hut. “If nothing you tried was able to get that stupid monkey to come out, then I'll have to resort to my Special Recipe to get him out of that stupid shack.” He mumbled with a sadistic grin, marching up the stairs to the hut’s main door.

Sandy just sighed and Mk winced in sympathy. “What's the big deal about it?” Mei asked curiously.

“You remember that one time I passed in my room from training for a day straight and was late for my job at Pigsy’s the next day?” Mk asked Mei, seeing Pigsy grab a whole thing of pots and pans out of somewhere.

“Yeah?” Mei responded, a bit more confused than before.

“Apparently, I was sleeping like a rock, and Pigsy couldn't shake me awake or do anything to get me conscious. So, instead, he grabbed the strongest smelling ingredients he had at the time, cooked them together, and shoved the finished product in my face. I was shocked awake so badly that I almost made a hole in my ceiling.” Mk laughed slightly at the end, looking back at Pigsy and seeing the chef giggling to himself as he added what seemed to be garlic and chilies.

“Ohhhhh! That's why you kept taking my scented hand sanitizer for like, a whole week that one time!” Mei remembered, poking at Mk’s cheek.

“Yeah, yeah. I wasn't even allowed to taste the dang thing he made either!” Mk complained a bit, shaking his hand in the air to Mei’s amusement as she chuckled with Sandy.

The story had lightened the mood, lifting a bit of stress off of everyone's shoulders. A few moments after, Pigsy finally finished whatever he was doing near the door and gestured rapidly for them to come up near the hut.

With a bit of hesitation, they walked towards the door and almost immediately gagged at the strong smell. Even Pigsy had a cloth over his face as he picked up the bowl emitting what they were smelling.

“Are we even sure that's gonna work? I don't want that lingering here longer than it has to.” Mei said, a bit muffled under the sleeve she used to block out the smell.

“Did I wave you over here to critique my methods? No, I got you over here to help me get Monkey King outside.” Pigsy rebutted.

“How are we even going to get that stuff inside piggy? Like I said, this shack is basically indestructible!” Mei complained, leaning on one of the wooden rails near the stairs as Pigsy covered the bowl from the complaint.

A moment of silence passed…

Sandy spoke up in a small voice, pointing somewhere at the hut. “Uh, maybe we could do something with that cracked window?”

Everyone followed Sandy's hand to a busted up, dirty looking window that had about an inch of a gap underneath it from being pushed to one side. 

Mk spoke up in a chipper tone. “Oh! I didn't see that before… that could work!”

After all of them used almost too many attempts at lifting the window, (Mei trying to leverage it with her sword with Pigsy plus Sandy trying to lift it bare handed), Mk was able to open it by shrinking down his staff, putting it in the gap, and growing it big enough to shove the window open. 

The staff went flying at the extra force, but it was luckily caught by Mk before it could hit Sandy square in the nose.

After everyone settled down, Mk volunteered to get the monkey as no one knew what Monkey King would do when he woke up if someone like Mk almost put a hole in his ceiling. Mk also had the highest chance of surviving whatever the king threw out at him.

“Okay, just be careful in there, kid.” Pigsy stated, handing the bowl (now with a cloth over the top) over for Mk to carry.

“Don't worry Pigsy, I'll be in and out no problem!” Mk then slinked in through the window, careful not to spill anything, before standing up in what seemed to be Monkey King's living room.

“Do you see him anywhere?” Sandy yelled through the window.

“Nah, just a bunch of Monkey King merch so far!” Mk yelled back, balancing the bowl in one hand as he lifted blankets with the king's face on it and looked through piles of video tapes.

When he put the bowl back in both hands, he finally activated his golden vision, looking through the walls for the king. He finally saw Monkey King at the end of the hallway, huddled up on a pile of blankets on the floor.

“Monkey King!” Mk called out, rushing over to the monkey's side.

The king looked worse-for-wear, fur matted and dirty along with how his brows were creased and sweaty. He looked like he was in a deep sleep: like he was having a nightmare.

Mk took no time in leaning down, taking off the cloth and shoving the bowl into Monkey King's face. The monkey's eyes shot open as he punched the nearest wall behind, causing a hole 2 feet leading outside wide to splinter into existence. The king also yanked to bowl out of Mk's hands and drank the whole thing as footsteps approached.

“WOAH- What was that?!” Pigsy yelled out, running to the punch site with Mei and Sandy in tow.

“It's ok, it's ok! Monkey King just woke up.” Mk reassured. Said Monkey was still on the ground, his breathing slowing down yet not becoming any less heavy.

Pigsy was about to say something else, but Monkey King quickly raised his hand to quiet him down. After a few more moments of catching his breath, Monkey King put down the bowl, finally stood up, and turned to Mk. “What are you doing here bud?”

Mk looked at Monkey King confused. “What do you mean “Why am I here”? I'm here because I haven't seen you all week and when I got here, the island was going crazy!”

Monkey King furrowed his brow, looking out of the hole he made. His eyes widened with a look of shock. Suddenly, gold mist filled the area as the king transformed into a bird and flew out of the house towards the waterfall entrance.

“Where is he going?!” Mei yelled, the rush of wind following the king making it hard to hear.

“I don't know, but we should probably follow him!” Mk shouted back, already speeding after the golden trail the monkey left behind with his own transformation.

Then everyone started running back through the junk piles and tunnels, trying to catch up to Monkey King and Mk as they sped off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monkey King flew over the island, staring down at the lines of fallen trees, the jagged rocks jutting out of the ground, and the cracks on his mountain he could clearly see below him.

He quickly de-transformed on one of the surrounding beaches, seeing everything in perspective with rocks double his size littering the sands.

He also noticed the sun had already set by the time he landed. The stars shone down onto the shore he stopped at, the waters uncharacteristically calm as they reflected the starlight.

He didn't know how all of this happened while he was… incapacitated. What got by him?

Mk finally caught up to him pretty quickly after his landing, going back into his regular form and running up to where the king was standing in the sand.

“Monkey King! *huff* Why'd you run off!?” Mk shouted out, still a good couple yards away.

“Oh, Mk! I'm sorry, I just… didn't expect everything to have gotten this bad. I had to check for myself, y'know” Monkey King answered nonchalantly, giving Mk a small grin.

Mk huffed at him when they finally stood side by side. “Well, you could've told us that before you ran off to who-knows-where. Everyone else is probably still behind-”

Right on cue, Mei, Sandy, and Pigsy came tumbling out of some of the nearby trees, clearly roughed up from trying to keep up with Mk and Monkey King.

“Did he finally stop???” Mei asked tiredly, immediately sitting down on the sand as Sandy sat with her and Pigsy moved past her.

“Oh hey guys! Yeah, I just needed to look over the damages. You didn't need to follow me though.” Monkey King stated with a shrug. Both Mei and Pigsy, obviously annoyed, were about to speak up before getting shushed by Monkey King.

“Shushushush, don't worry! I'll just bring you guys back to the entrance so you don't have to complain. Easy peasy!” He said cheerfully, grabbing them by the arms, even taking Mk by his tail, and summoning his cloud to ride back up to the waterfall.

“AHHHHHHH-” Everyone’s screams blurred together as Monkey King laughed and flew the cloud higher and higher.

When they finally arrived, he immediately poofed the cloud and let everyone fall to the floor. He casually walked up to the seal while everyone had to get their bearings, again, and looked over the dull image on the waterfall.

His grin fell a bit as he continued to look it over, turning to Mk, who was still on the floor. “So this is what’s making my island go crazy?” 

“Oh? Yeah, I mean, I'm pretty sure. It glows whenever the mountain shakes, and when we attack it, it causes the tremors to stop.” Mk answered, a bit shakily as he stood up again, helping Mei and Pigsy up afterward with Sandy’s help.

“Huh… Well luckily, I know how to fix this! Probably.” Monkey King boasted, mumbling the last part under his breath.

“Wait REALLY?!” Everyone shouted in surprise. 

“Well, yes, but I actually need a certain item to fix this, and it's inside.” Monkey King replied, kicking a pebble around while he did so.

Multiple groans sounded throughout the group. No one wanted to do more work after the day they all had.

Pigsy spoke up for the group, a bit exasperated. “Let's just do this tomorrow. The tremors aren't super often, right?”

“Yeah, they happen pretty randomly, and the latest one was the worst one so far. It usually just takes a hit from my staff to stop them completely, anyways.” Mk answers absent-mindedly, Mei nodding along.

“So let's just call it. Nothing good will come from doing all this now.” Pigsy continued, crossing his arms to make his stance clear.

“I agree with Pigsy. We've already exerted a lot of our energy, and trying to use any of our powers at the moment might not end well for us.” Sandy replied with a serious expression.

Monkey King looked pensive, but agreed nonetheless. “You guys are right. I have some extra blankets and stuff for you guys since getting back safely right now isn't exactly possible. Follow me.” 

After waiting for the seal to unlock, Monkey King led the group back to the wood hut and went inside, leaving them standing outside.

And then, after a few minutes, he came back out with what seemed to be an excessive amount of sleeping bags, pillows and blankets stuffed in his hands.

“Here you are! I'm sorry this is the best I can do: there isn't much space in here now considering the hole in my wall. This space is protected from outside elements though, so don't worry about being rained on or something. Goodnight!” Monkey King said, throwing the items at the group and going back inside almost immediately.

Grumbling under his breath, Pigsy grabbed a Hello Kitty sleeping bag from the pile. Don't judge him too quickly, it was one of the only sleeping bags that didn't have Monkey King’s colors or face on it.

Sandy took most of the blankets and layered them on the floor for a more comfortable place to sleep. Mk took a sleeping bag with a yellow and red palette, thanked Sandy, and fell asleep almost immediately on the floor.

Mei followed soon after, taking a blanket with some lime patterns all over it with a matching pillow and falling asleep right next to Mk.

Then Sandy went a few minutes after her, taking his time to find the biggest blanket in the pile, a white blanket with a blue and yellow trim that couldn't reach Sandy's feet, before laying down near the edge of the softened ground.

And now Pigsy was the last on up, staring at some of the stars he could see past the configuration of the mountain. He couldn't fall asleep that easily, even though he was practically exhausted from the day like everyone else.

It took a couple more minutes, but he did end up falling asleep eventually, finally nodding off in his bright pink sleeping bag.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The shaking woke them up again. The sigil had apparently thought it was the best time to activate as everyone got a very violent wake up call, slightly throwing them around on the floor. 

Mk got up first, rubbing his eyes as he walked up to the hut to get Monkey King to help. He knocked once: no one answered. He knocked twice: no answer again.

Mk was too tired to continue knocking, so he just decided to deal with it himself. “Hey everyone, *yawn* ehh, I'm just gonna deal with that real quick. I dont think it's too serious right now.”

Everyone gave various noises of agreement as Mk went to deal with the sigil.

Pigsy noticed some light was peaking through the ceiling, but he saw how everyone still felt tired to the core.

Sandy tried to go back to sleep, and Mei went on her phone. Pigsy heard short curses when she did so, so he assumed it didn't have much battery left.

Pigsy decided to do the same as he pulled out his own phone, a considerably older model than Mei's but still functional. 

He checked the time and saw it was near 10:40 AM, which was a lot later than Pigsy had thought. Ignoring that for now, he checked on everything else on his phone, which wasn't much other than his messages and some social media that he scrolled for inspiration sometimes and to promote Pigsy's Noodles at Mei's request.

After looking through some mediocre recipes for pot pie and some weird throwback gelatin dinners, he goes and looks at his messages from the past few days.

The one at the top was Sandy, which wasn't a surprise as Sandy almost always sent him photos of the therapy cat's every day. The photo from yesterday was a calico cat curled up on Sandy's sofa, sucking in the sun from a nearby window.

Pigsy smiled at it before looking at his other messages, skipping a lot of spam he had built up, and then seeing a name that made his stomach drop a bit.

He saw his texts to Tang from that night under everything. This finally kicked in Pigsy's memory as he realized he had totally blown Tang off and how he had even threatened Tang to come by or else he would drag him there…

But before he could go and type out a huge apology text, he noticed how Tang hasn't texted him at all since that day at the library. There weren't any missed calls either, which put Pigsy a bit on edge. Maybe Tang didn't even know they were gone yet.

And now he was debating telling Tang everything that happened. He's wondering if Tang is okay, that if he dumped everything that happened at the mountain on Tang that it would put too much pressure on the scholar, and what he should text to make sure Tang wouldn't freak out and to show that him and everyone were ok and didn't just disappear. 

He debated with himself for a long time, typing out words and then deleting them almost right away. He couldn't make up his mind as he didn't know what to say in the end.

Mk came back soon after, yawning and going straight back to sleep in his bag, encouraging Mei to do the same.

Now Pigsy was the last one up again, overthinking over what to text to reassure Tang everything is okay and that Pigsy wouldn't put him off again.

He just decided to wing it after his eyes started to become heavy, trying very hard not to give the scholar another thing to worry about. He already had enough on his plate.

Freeloader 📖🤎

10:46 AM

You: Hey Tang

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Tang au Drabbles

This au won the poll, so enjoy this little drabble of the au!

Now, I haven't seen any of season 4, so some things might seem a bit weird.

Tang isn't aware that he can use magic. Any magical event that happens around him he chalks up to being tired, blaming it on something else like "the wind", or think it was a part of Mk's training and ignored it.

These magical "outbursts" have been happening for a while, but just got more frequent after defeating the lady bone demon. Tang tried to tell Pigsy and Mk about it, but they told him not to worry about them and said they were probably just coincidences.

Tang is more self-conscious about himself now than in the actual show. "Benched" got to him more, and he doubts himself, his place in the gang, and his self-worth frequently.

The gang stopped trying to invite tang to events or hangouts a while ago. He's usually the last person people think about or isn't mentioned at all. This is because Mk is usually to busy with Mei or Wukong, Mei is either with Mk or Red son, Pisgy is just in the shop for the most part, Sandy usually stays in his boat, and no one else really cares or wants to interact with him on their own accord.

Because of this, he's had more time to himself and his studies. He mostly reads about myths, about the Great Monk Tripitaka, or about the spells The Monk used. He tries to learn more about his past self but is usually left empty handed. He doesn't go to Wukong because he doesn't really like Tangs presence and Tang knows that. He's also pretty hard to find.

Tang, having less activities and shenanigans happening around him, starts to improve his body. He isn't muscular or anything but he did get better endurance and flexibility over the months after the lady bone demons defeat. This is because of his mindset that he shouldn't be useless anymore and should prepare for anything to happen around him. This also causes him to have better reflexes.

Tang has long hair! He grew it pout mainly because he didn't bother cutting it and no one really commented it had gotten longer because they hadn't really paid attention to him. He usually keeps it in a braid.

Tang has wanted to teach in a university for a while now. He's always had one in mind but stayed because his friends were here and he didn't want to leave them. But now since they don't really pay attention, or listen to him anymore, he doesn't think him leaving will change anything.

Macaque hasn't been seen in forever. Nobody really knows where he went or where he is now. Wukong looks from time to time but it isn't a main priority to him.

Tang has been working in a library all this time to save up lodging near his dream university, plane tickets to get there, and to pay pigsy back for all the noodles he ate. He has an apartment near the library that doesn't really have any decor (except for piles upon piles of borrowed books) because he doesn't plan on staying very long.

This is basically all that's happened before tang tried to get to the airport and crashed into a small city. I hope this was okay and leave any notes if you want to hear more about it!

(Also, I still don't have an ao3 account but I'm hoping to change that soon! I'll try to post the first chapter as soon as I get the account)

Hello,

My name is Anas Al Burri. I am 17 years old, and I live in G*za. My sister has jaundice because she gave birth to her child in an unhygienic area during the war. She has no medication, and her condition is worsening, almost life-threatening. She is too ill to produce milk for her son, and we can't get milk from anywhere else. I have no medication for my diabetes! I am missing insulin, and my blood sugar is critically high, often above 180 and sometimes even 400. I suffer from hyperglycemia attacks and can't get to a hospital because we are in the northern part of G*za.

Three months ago, my 14-year-old brother Ahmad was searching for something to eat when he was sh*ot in the ch*est by sni*pers from a kilometer away. The bul*let went straight through his body. He was just a CHILD! We still can't believe it and keep thinking he will come back any moment. We didn't even have time to mourn him before the next family members were kill*ed.

The hardships my family and I face are beyond what words can describe. This is our last resort.

We are reaching out to you with a desperate plea. We need your help to survive. Your donation can provide us with the life-saving medications and food that we desperately need. Every act of kindness brings us closer to safety and restores a glimmer of hope in our hearts.

With your support, you can give us and many other families in G*za a chance to survive and rebuild our shattered lives. Help us survive and leave G*za so that the last of our family does not perish.

https://gofund.me/ecf94b00

Thank you for your empathy and kindness.

With heartfelt gratitude,

Anas Al-Burri and Family

❤❤

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Spende für Evacuate My Last Family Members in Gaza, organisiert von Anas Al-Burri

My name is Anas Al Burri. I am 17 years old, and I live in Gaza, a pl… Anas Al-Burri braucht deine Unterstützung für Evacuate My Last Fami

Small Tang au ramble.

Along with the new A World Without Him chapter, I just want to shout out jinglingeyes for always commenting on my Tang Au chapter posts. Stupid Tumblr doesn't let me reply, so I wanted to show my appreciation through this. I always love seeing your comments, and I can't wait for your reactions to the latest chapter! I hope you and all my other readers have a good day/night!

Charity Work Under Genocide Please Donate to Us ❤️🇵🇸

I am nurse reham from gaza Please help us by sharing . Reblog the last post me on your page so that we can collect donations and get out of the war. You are our hope. I will be very grateful to you . I lost my brother and I don't want to lose anyone else in my family please Donate 10$\ 20$ enough the change my life Please it will save my family from death❤️🙏🏼🇵🇸 Verified by : @90-ghost @soon-palestine https://gofund.me/a08653d7

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A World Without Him

Chapter 11

(TW some strong language and minor blood)

Tang could feel himself wake from unconsciousness. His body became solid as he was pulled from the void that made up his dreams.

His eyes and limbs felt heavy, as if he was buried beneath the ground. Still, he could barely feel a cold breeze flow over his forehead as he listened to the sounds around him.

The rustling of curtains, birds chirping outside, distant voices of people on the street, and his own breathing flow into his ears. The sounds distant, yet too loud as they rushed into his head.

Then he tried to focus on his surroundings instead of losing himself in the white noise, as that wouldn't help him move any time soon.

Now Tang felt the smooth and cold surface he was laying on. The grooves of age in what seemed to be hardwood flooring gave him an idea of where he'd been placed after he collapsed outside...

How did I even get back inside, in my bedroom, no less? My apartment's on the 5th floor...

The hard floor dug into his side as he felt his clothes and hair had layers of grime on them. It gave an uncomfortable weight to his clothes. Then he remembered this was what he had on while at the library.

Don't think about that.

The point being, he was covered from head to toe in dust and other debris. He must have looked crazy yesterday when he ran panicked through the streets.

I shouldn't have left.

With a sigh and with his eyes still heavy, he planned to start pushing himself off the floor to stop the stabbing pain in his side.

However, he could barely sit up straight before he felt two hands grab harshly onto his shoulders. His eyes flung open as he was pushed up into a standing position by the hands, stumbling forwards from the excess force like a rag doll.

He snapped his head around to look behind him, but he couldn't see anything because of his damaged vision. A blurry silhouette was all he could barely see before it seemed to dissipate back into thin air.

Tang froze in place, waiting for the thing to make another move. Yet, he didn't hear or feel anything else for the minutes he stood completely still.

A small chuckle broke out from his short, silent breaths. He then broke into manic laughter as tears ran down his face and onto the hardwood floor. He could barely breathe as the laughter kept getting louder and louder as he doubled over.

'...Geeze, has he already gone insane?'

'From our efforts in stopping the big guy, I don't really blame him.'

Tang's laughter abruptly stops, his vocal cords stinging from continuous use. He shoots up, grasps his glasses, and looks around his room frantically for the source of the voices. He finds nothing other than a breeze from the open window.

The laughter returns, now louder than before. "I'm going insane!" He runs a hand through his hair, ruffling strands into his face. "I just wanted everything to go back to normal! I JUST WANTED TO BE FREE OF THESE FUCKING VOICES! I never wanted any of this!"

Smoke started to rise from where Tang stood on the hardwood floor as tears started to run down his face once again. "But no! I have to almost die! I have to see someone I care about LOSE A FUCKING LEG! I have to be tortured every night through my nightmares and have them FOLLOW ME THROUGHOUT THE DAMN DAY!"

Everything was suddenly too quiet for Tang as his labored breathing echoed through the bedroom. Tear streaks ran rapidly down his cheeks and onto the steaming floor.

He stared as the drops fell and dispersed among the ground. He could hear more whispers enter his mind, but he couldn't care less at the moment.

A small chuckle was the only warning before he bolted out of the bedroom, through the complete mess of a living room, and into the bathroom.

He wanted to be free of the filth covering his body. The dust and debris that killed maimed Allan when those monsters attacked the library...

Monsters?

Don't go farther down that road.

Tang only sighed at his thoughts before stripping and seeing the scorched handprints on the back of his overcoat. He grimaced before dropping it onto the ground, putting his glasses onto the edge of the sink and throwing himself into the shower. The scalding hot water turned his skin red as the stinging replaced the grime that used to cover his body.

Still, he scrubbed and scrubbed at his skin and hair until he was sure there was no more filth stuck to his body. Afterward, he let the water flow over him as he stood unmoving. Closing his eyes, he relished over the burning feeling.

He only opened them again when the water started to turn cold: the heat no longer being supported from his overuse. He slowly turned the knob to stop the water before stepping out and grabbing a towel off of the door handle.

After ruffling his hair with the towel and wrapping it around his waist, he sat down onto the toilet seat to take a breather. The cold air from the door left ajar helped him to cool down and think.

Am I really going insane? He thought. This has happened too many times to write off by now. Why is this even happening to me?

Why can't everything just end?

He choked up quiet sobs, putting his head into his arms. The lights above him flickered, and yet he just couldn't care anymore. He looked up blankly at the light bulb before rubbing his eyes and standing up to walk to the mirror.

He took his glasses off of the sinks edge and leveled them onto his face. He noticed the left side was cracked as he looked into the fogged up mirror, seeing the left side in pieces.

Tang grumbled as he wiped the mirror to uncover his eyes so he could see the damage done.

The lights flickered. He gasped as he saw his eyes suddenly turn blinding orange with blood splatter caked over his face in the mirror-

*CRACK*

Pieces of the mirror fell to the floor. His knuckles barely stung from the force he put into the punch. The mirror was now cracked and scattered onto the tiled bathroom floor.

With his heartbeat steady, Tang slowly pulled his fist from the reflective remnants. A hole through and mirror and into the back wall was now shown, some blood speckled in from his cut hand.

Holding his curled up hand, he saw the small shards now embedded into his knuckles: small trails of blood running down his arm.

He stared blankly at the cuts before rummaging into his cabinets and taking out a nail kit. It took some effort, but he was able to wrangle out tweezers from the case eventually.

He washed the hand with warm, soapy water before taking the tweezers and slowly pulling out each shard. His face was blank the entire time as he took each chunk out of his skin, even when washing his hand again and wrapping it up in bandages.

The whole debacle was over in a few minutes, even though it felt like hours to him. He looked back at the mirror. I guess I have to put another thing onto the to-do list.

Brushing the shards off the ground and clothes he left on the bathroom tile, he threw them into the bin and walked back into the living room.

In the messy state that it was, he could see many random pieces of clothing all over the floor and broken furniture. He could see leather jackets, old headbands, and even a Pigsy's shirt from when he used to work there.

Yet the thing that caught his eye was his matching jacket and pants he used to wear for special occasions. The soft navy fabric of the jacket and gray fabric of the pants Tang remembered helping calm him in those high tension situations.

The overcoat was long and had silver floral designs at the bottom near the calves and on the cuffs of the sleeves. The pants were similar, having those same floral designs at the pant cuffs. They were both hung over what was left of the coffee table.

He barely had to think before putting them on with underwear, a tan turtle neck, black flats, and the maroon scarf he snagged from his old clothes pile. It had the least debris on it.

Now feeling snug against multiple layers, which made him feel less cold and empty, he could finally do, erm...

Why did he dress up anyway?

He really didn't know why he put in this much effort, but now he supposes he might as well go out and do something other than being cooped up in his apartment.

Walking into his bedroom, he noticed the window was still open from the night before. The breeze barely bothered him as he shut the window yet again.

Now, hopping onto his bed, Tang reaches for his cracked phone to see if anyone messaged him for something. The only things in his notifications were a text from Pigsy and some ads about manga sales and new releases.

He then suddenly remembered how he had promised to see Pigsy. Yesterday morning, where he basically had a mental breakdown the entire day...

I am going to get so much crap for this.

He sat up and out of bed before turning off his phone. Maybe if he got there quick enough today, Pigsy would be a bit more forgiving? Who is he kidding, but maybe it was better to get it over with and a good distraction from what happened yesterday.

With that plan set in his mind, Tang took quick strides out of his apartment after locking it, of course, and started to walk the regular path to Pigsy's noodles.

The day was cloudy, yet no rain was supposed to come down today. With the sun blocked out, everything seemed a bit less vibrant than usual, which he was glad for as it would be a bit overwhelming otherwise with all the neon to go with the sun's rays.

The walk was quiet up to Pigsy's, putting him on edge as he looked back, on top of roofs and into alleys to see if anyone was following more times than he could count. Yet when he got to the shop door, there was something wrong with it: it was closed. Pigsy's was closed, on a weekday, during rush hour.

Oh no, did something happen to him?!

Tang quickly took out his phone to text Pigsy and realized he still had a message from him he hadn't read yet. Sitting on one of the outside benches, he opened the text from Pigsy

Pigsy 🍜🩷

10:46 AM

Pigsy: Hey

Pigsy: Just letting you know Mk dragged us onto a trip to Flower Fruit Mountain to help wrangle some Monkeys for Monkey King or something, might be gone for a few days.

Pigsy: I couldn't tell you earlier because Mk just grabbed me and Sandy out of the shop and I could barely close it in time.

Pigsy: I tried to tell them what we had planned but Mk and Mei were too energetic to reason with

10:47 AM

Pigsy: I'm sorry for ditching you yesterday, but we're still having that talk when I get back. No excuses.

Tang just stared at the message, trying to reason with what it said.

Mk took Pigsy and Sandy without me? I know they haven't talked to me much lately, but they still would've dragged me along to whatever stunt they were going to pull. Even if not, they would have told me before doing anything! There wasn't even a text...

That left a gross feeling in Tang's chest.

And what if I had shown up yesterday? I wouldn't have even known if they were okay until this mornings text! Did they not even think about how worried I would've been? Did they even consider how I could have felt at all?

He only shook his head at the thoughts, trying to drive away the bad feelings that came with them. He knows he and Mk haven't talked much lately; the same goes for Sandy and Mei, but he still knows what's going on with them! He still talks and tells them what's happening through the group chat to show he's still there!

Yet why does it feel as though I've been forgotten about? Why do I feel a sense of doubt now? He thinks as he leans back onto the bench.

He thinks back to the library, an unwanted thought crossing his mind. Mk didn't even try to keep the damages to a minimum as he redirected the strikes to the roof instead of blocking them with his staff.

And he looked so carefree and happy after the incident! Did Mk even know Tang was there? Did he even think about the possible damages he had caused? And he just leaves afterward, posing with tea and smiling!

Do they ignore or filter everything he says?

...Does Mk even care about him anymore?

...

...

I should stop.

All this self-loathing is getting him nowhere. It's not as if he was hurt during the battle. He doesn't have a right to be angry about a lack of care when someone got it worse than him.

Now, his thoughts were back to Allan. He didn't deserve anything that happened to him that day. He had gotten it so much worse than him, so why is Tang complaining?

Suddenly, an idea crossed his mind. He could check all the hospitals near the library to see if Allan was registered anywhere! It's not a full proof plan, but it was something worthwhile he could do while he was already out of a slump.

So he started to walk to the library, or what was left of it, to see if he could start there. When he arrived, he could barely believe what he could see. The entire roof is gone, save the few glass panels still stuck on the back, the walls were seemingly about to crumble at a slight breeze, and different holes ranging from sizes were stuck throughout the building, making it dangerous if most of it weren't already crumbled onto the ground.

Yellow tape covering the premises swayed back and forth as Tang walked onto the parking lot sidewalk, not daring to get closer lest something were to fall again.

He already had a bad feeling when he arrived, and it almost got doubly worse when he stopped at the sidewalk. Nevertheless, he had wanted to see what the remains looked like, and now he knew. Taking a deep breath and looking away from the building, he checked his phone for the nearest hospitals.

Among the list was one that looked eerily familiar. MSH was listed near the top, and it seemed like a fever dream to be seeing it here.

Now, along with this feeling of familiarity, he felt compelled to follow this lead. Maybe to help the new bad feeling in his stomach from those letters, but he'll try anyways.

The walk isn't that far; it's about the same length it takes to get to the docks from his apartment. When he arrives in front of the hospital, he suddenly gets a sense of deja vu, like he's been here before.

Ignoring the feeling, he steps through the doors and heads up to the receptionist at the desk. "Hey there." Tang greeted a bit awkwardly. The receptionist just smiled. "Hello there, how can I help you today?"

Tang seemed to lose vigor as he continued to speak. "Erm, I was wondering if you had any teenage admitants named Allan? I-I was just wondering since I was his colleague at the library when it got attacked, and I know it's probably personal information but-"

The receptionist held her hand up halfway through his ramble. "I understand your concern, and if he is permitted here and allows friends to visit, you're welcome to see him. I'll just have to see if he's registered in our care, so please give me a moment."

Tang sheepishly sat down at one of the lobby seats as the receptionist went back to typing on her computer. After about 10 minutes, she called him back up to the desk. "We do have an Allan Bentley in room 1225. He's in for an injured leg, is allowing visitors, and he came from the library attack. Is he who you're looking for?"

He knew it was Allan from the leg injury; he saw him get wheeled away himself. He quickly affirmed the receptionist and thanked her before moving towards the elevator.

Following the signs on the walls with little difficulty, he was able to find room 1225. Yet, Tang hesitated in front of the door. Did Allan even want to see him? Did Allan blame him for what happened? He wouldn't put it past the kid if he did.

But he wanted to see if he was alright. Wanted to see Allan breathing and alive, even if that was a bit selfish of him since he's the one who slowed him down in the first place.

So before he can back out of it, he opens the door. The room is steril and white, with the acception of some window stickers from previous patients, most likely.

He walked slowly up the bed and gasped at what he saw. Allan seemed more thin and pale than he remembered. His brows were creased even in his sleep as he breathed slowly in a rhythm.

Tang thought Allan would be awake since visiting hours were still open, but he must be lucky to catch him right after he fell asleep.

Looking at the bedside table, he could see comics of some kind, with the first addition of Monkey Cop at the top. It seemed like Allan was able to keep it, even through the whole debacle.

This lifted a weight off of Tang's shoulders. Seeing how Allan kept the comic must mean he doesn't completely hate him now and is coherent enough to read already, as it seems to have more wear than when he first gave the comic to him.

He gives a small smile as he slowly puts his hand on Allan's head, comforting the kid to uncrease his brows just a bit and feel his chest rise and fall.

He left quickly after that. He couldn't stay in that room much longer when he knew how much pain Allan was in right now. He could see the void where his left leg used to be under the blanket.

The feeling of regret only got worse as the sky started to dim on his way back. Why did Allan have to suffer like that? Why couldn't I save him? Why wasn't he able to make it out okay like everyone else?

It was the fight.

Tang was now in front of his apartment door. He had stopped in front of it as the voice spoke from behind.

That child took to fight too recklessly. He directed the strikes to the ceiling, causing it to fall onto you and Allan.

No, no, it wasn't Mk's fault. There was a lot going on, and everything was just chaos-

Yet the child seemed to deny those stakes. You saw how he moved on so quickly, how he smiled and joked about it afterward, taking nothing about it seriously.

Tang looked to the ground, a gross feeling climbing up his throat.

But he did care! He even reached out to me after he found out I was there!

And that is the problem. He only cared about the companion he could have lost, not for the other lives he'd endangered. Heck, he only started to care when someone else showed him you were there.

The voice spoke with certainty, venom apparent in its tone.

Do you think he would have worried were it not for that reminder? Do you really think he would have looked twice if you were someone unrelated to him?

But Mk is a good kid! He didn't look only because he thought everyone had made it into the shelter.

He started to shake with rage as the voice kept going with its remarks.

Yet he knew you were there, and he didn't even stay to check if you were alright? Did he even know you were there? Did he not give you the simplest time of day that he completely forgot about your existence.

Stop.

Do you really think you matter to him anymore? It's not like he even bothered to tell you about the trip yesterday, where he left you completely alone with no contact. Do you think someone like that is worthy of having those powers?

Stop it.

Someone like that shouldn't be worthy of anything, nonetheless powers to destroy whole cities. You know what happened, and you couldn't save Allan that way. That boy doesn't deserve the abilities he has, and takes them for granted.

Why are you doing this?

Tears roll down Tang's face yet again.

Why should he get these powers? Why should he be the chosen one when you are much more deserving? Why does he get to take power for granted when you struggle every day to keep people safe and survive? Why does he get to feel happy and live without worry while you have to lie down and suffer from how many people you have had to watch die?

"JUST GO AWAY!" Tang's voice cracks as he yells into the open air. Silence is the only thing that greets him as he numbly stares at the door in front of him, still unopened.

His face is now blank. The tear streaks on his face have dried to the point they're stuck on his face. He slowly brings his key to the door and numbly walks inside, seeing the mess of his living room and bathroom of the doorway.

He only ignores the mess, stopping briefly where The Origins of JTTW had been left open before grabbing it and beelining to the bedroom, shutting the door behind him and walking towards the window. He lifts the window up and lets the breeze blow through the room, ruffling the sheets and blanket on the bed.

The cool breeze doesn't bother Tang, though, as he only turns towards the bed and bats the loose strands out of his face from the down hair he didn't bother to put up.

He doesn't lay down on the bed. He instead kicks off his shoes to the side, takes off his cracked glasses, and puts them on the side table with his matching phone.

Then he stares out the open window, looking towards the blurry figures of stars and planets as he lifts up the barely decipherable book showing Golden Cicada.

I can't keep going like this. I need to leave. Maybe that's what these horrible dreams have been trying to tell me. I just want to get away from it all.

He roughly shuts the book and throws it into the wall. Whatever he's dealing with, he's not gonna put up with it anymore starting tomorrow. He's going to leave, and he's going to get better.

That's what he thinks as he falls back into his bed and looks back to the blurry lights once again before blacking out, hopefully for the last time.

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Oh, I didn't know. Thank you for informing me.

A World Without Him

Chapter 6

Tang is back in that void. Yet, it's not a void anymore. Something is different. It's more like pure, unfiltered LIGHT.

It surrounds everything, almost making him (even more) blind just by opening his eyes.

It feels no different compared to the times before, though. As if the light is just how the place was always supposed to be.

It's unnerving if he's being completely honest.

At least this is a change from the hands that used to drag him...

Tang can actually move, too! Just barely, but still! He can actually control his body in this place for once.

And now he uses that fact to his full advantage. He swims through the blinding light, now hoping his subconscious doesn't materialize something in front of him to smack into.

He swims for a while. And a while, and a while. His body never wavers, though, as he continues through the blinding shine.

After what seems like hours, Tang starts to hear something. It's nothing like the regular overlapping voices but heavy, grating metal.

The sound moves slow in his ears, like something being slowly dragged along a concrete floor.

Tang stops in his tracks, uneasiness showering him as the noise started to get louder. And louder, and louder, And louder, and Louder, And Louder, ANd LOUder, AND LOUDER-

It stops.

He doesn't know if he should even open his eyes at this point. So he stays still, not wanting to provoke whatever was stuck to those chains.

But yet, that apparently had the opposite effect he was going for, as he heard the chains suddenly grow taunt as a huge gust of wind throws him back, forcing his eyes open in surprise.

Orange.

The color burns into his vision. The blinding colors swirled in shapes he couldn't comprehend.

Tang shoved his hands in front of his face, trying to make everything stop.

Ringing filled his ears, or something like it. He could only focus on the color. The buzzing pushed to the back of his mind.

Too bright. Everything was just. Too. Bright

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*BEEP*

An alarm sounded next to Tang's head. He shoots his eyes open, laying still as a rock while looking up at the ceiling.

He hears the early rush outside his slightly open bedroom window. When did I open that.....

He uses his elbows to push himself up on the bed, now in a sitting position. He blinks slowly, remembering the dream in weirdly full detail.

Why was that time different again? He's not exactly sure himself. He wonders if this will keep escalating-

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Oh, right, he didn't turn it off yet. What was that for again? Something important enough for an alarm he supposes.

Tang reaches over to his vibrating phone, checking the title of the alarm as he turns the loud thing off. The title reads: "REMEMBER JOB TODAY. NO SKIPPING OR SLEEPING THROUGH 🪪 📖*

Well, now that apparently got him motivated. Oh yeah, the library job I got yesterday... how did this process go so fast anyway?

He shouldn't think too hard about it. A job is a job, and so what if it helps develop the plot as a nice bonus?

Wait what- The phone vibrates again, snapping Tang out of his thoughts. It was a second alarm he had set the night before, so he would actually get his lazy butt up if he snoozed the first one.

Groaning, he pulled himself up from the bed to actually start being productive for the day. He does his hair and puts on one of his more decent pairs of clothes to match the lanyard. A pair of stainless brown pants and a tan shirt. Today was his first day, after all. He might as well look the least bit civilized.

The sun starts to shine through his living room window as he packs a lunch and some craft supplies in his messanger bag. You never know if he might need it when doing paperwork or when bored.

He looked out the window out of habit. It was a nice bright shade of orange. Tang looked away quickly, picking up his packed bag and heading out the door.

He already knew the library route by heart, but he still recited it as he walked down the stairwell to the street anyway. It gives his mind something to focus on.

When he reaches the bottom, he relishes in the warmth of the sun before booking it towards the direction of the library.

He lets his feet and muscle memory do most of the work. His mind occupied with the colorful scenery and his own thoughts, trying not to look up at the sky.

Go left past the bent cactus sign, oooo, a new restaurant opened next to the craft store!

The store looks like a make-your-own bakery, with all the vibrant dispensers lining the walls, adding plain looking pastries, and ice cream lining the shelves.

'We never had those things when we were alive. I feel cheated.'

'Oh, stop whining so much Em.'

Tang looks back in front of him just in time to dodge another passerby. He should really pay more attention to the sidewalk.

The closer he gets to the library, the more modern everything around him seems to be. There are still trees and greenery, obviously, just now in futuristic boxes and pots littered around the streets to make them look lively.

All the neon shops and apartments lined on the street were already making it pretty lively, though. The crowds also started to increase as he went along, having passed stranger after stranger on his walk to work through the city.

When he finally reached the library, all the bright neon and metal accents softened and only covered the bottom half of the more classical looking library.

Tang was relieved at the sight of it, hurrying through the doors with his card and almost immeadietly collapsing behind the check-out desk.

He feels the cold oak wood on his forehead, hearing the printer running and the occasional whisper or rolling of a cart.

When he finally got used to his surroundings, he took a deep breath and sat up straight, ready to start his job. He turned his head to the side and was suddenly inches away from a mop of blonde hair.

"AHHH-" Tang jolted back in his chair, falling backward onto his back.

The blonde's face immeadietly dropped as he started to string out apologies. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I thought you were sleeping when I came to give you your clipboard and I went to check to see if you were okay then you got up and then I was just there and I am still so sorry-"

"It's okay, it's okay. I only got a bit spooked." Tang said, slowly standing up using the desk as support. "I've recovered from worse, trust me."

The blonde was giving the clipboard in hand a death grip but said nothing in return.

Tang sighed before deciding that he should probably try to make things a bit less awkward. "I'm Tang, the new librarian, but I bet you knew that already. Are you my set assistant? Erm..."

The blonde perked up at his mention. "Allan. I'm Allan. And, uh, I'm supposed to give you this."

Tang grabbed the clipboard and offered quick thanks, skimming through the contents while occasionally looking back at Allan.

Allan seemed like he was fresh out of high school, with some baby fat still on his face and messy short hair. He had casual clothes on, just some standard sneakers, jeans, and a gray hoodie.

He doesn't seem to be harboring any ill intent, so Tang focused back onto his clipboard, actually reading the text carefully.

Shelve all books on cart B by genre.... doesn't matter... set up for opening... lunch by 1:00... set up for charity event... huh?

He looks back down at the clipboard. He thought all he would have to do was meander around all day, doing paperwork and sorting books. It was his first day, after all.

But no, just throw more work at him. Tang sighed to himself before looking back at Allan. "Apparently, we have a charity event today. It's after lunch, though, and all the plans have already been set up for us, which is a relief. Don't know why they threw this at us for a first day, but let's just roll with the punches."

He gestures for Allan to follow him back into the library. He texted the group chat about the event if they wanted to come before talking about the scheduale. He then lazily explained the outline of the work they were doing today as he tried to find the carts he passed yesterday.

Allan followed behind at a steady pace as they passed bookshelf after bookshelf. Tang suddenly paused as he passed the same bookshelf twice, internally groaning before turning to Allan.

"Do you know where they keep the carts?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tang had told him to relax a bit, but Allan said he wanted to get it done as quickly as possible. Tang just grumbled as he continued his own way until the last book was put into place.

They finished up the shelving around 9:30, splitting up half and half between the two of them. Tang mostly skimmed through his interesting books before randomly putting them onto the appropriate shelves.

Allan put them all away in record time, though, pitching in to deal with some of Tang's pile as well after he spent 5 minutes watching when finishing his own half.

They opened the library doors at 10:00, and the day was slow after that. Tang took out some of his craft supplies, doodling on extra paper he got from the copier room. Of course, that was after he finished all his very important paperwork. Obviously. He also checked out the occasional book.

Allan wandered most of the time, coming back to Tang's desk to occasionally check up on any work he might need to do. Tang always gave him an option to draw with him, but he always refused awkwardly.

Lunch came far too late in Tang's opinion. He was already famished from everything he totally did today and really needed a break .

He almost sagged in relief when the clock behind him hit 1:00. He then quickly took out his lunch from his messanger bag and headed towards the break room after putting up a sign on the desk for people to come back after 1:30 if they needed him. There were self checkouts.

Allan was already there, sitting at the plastic table with a cup of what Tang assumed was coffee in hand. He was taking small quick sips as he seemed invested in reading... The Monkey Kings Bride?

He remembered the huge crowd fighting over the few newest editions and suddenly felt immense respect for the kid. That was rough, even when he didn't even try to get close to the books.

Tang didn't say anything as he sat down across from Allan and pulled up his own book, eating a haphazard sandwich with some random fruits thrown beside it.

Then he noticed how Allan only had the coffee, and suddenly he felt a bit bad. Some people actually need jobs and work hard to keep them.

And this is the reason Tang is now offering half his sandwich to the kid in front of him in silent question. Allan just looked at his hand for a good second.

But finally, he bowed his head and took the sandwich out of his hands. Allan seemed to stop reading after that, maybe savoring the sandwich. Even so, nobody would notice the few fruits that rolled across the table with Tang "unaware" after the fact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Temporarily closing off some sections of the library took a bit more hassle than Tang thought it would. With random kids making out like in a drama, to some areas being over run with people Tang swore he never saw enter the building.

But that was neither here nor there, as he was already on a mission to set this up as fast as possible. It's probably because he forgot about it and started setting everything up 30 minutes late, but he digresses.

This charity thing was a scavenger hunt across the library, encouraging people to open different books and to solve riddles for an amazing prize of 1 free book from the pile made specifically for the event and some candy.

Allan was in charge of placing all the riddles and clues around the library and picking the best books to throw in the pile. Tang meanwhile had to decorate EVERYTHING himself, as well as set up the donation box at the front desk. This was the charity part for people to donate to the library and a reading program for special ed kids.

He also had to be the one to explain the rules and give hints in the game as he ran the front desk. Yay, public speaking.

But Tang still thought it was nice places like the library did things like this. Events for charity had decreased along the ages as everything got more and more advanced that some people started to think everything could be solved with tech and science.

'Ooooo! Riddles! Oh, I love this already! These were the things I was known for!'

'Yeah, yeah. Just keep on telling everyone the ONE TIME you got a riddle correct before a self-proclaimed master.'

'Oh come on, have some faith. You can at least respect that I proved he was a hack and helped-'

The library door opened with a small crowd rushing inside. Tang had just finished putting up the box before people were already at his side, asking him about the scavenger hunt.

He quickly told them about the clues hidden in books you have to figure out through riddles, word scrambles, and trivia about the books themselves. After the explanation, he quickly gave the first clue and made a small wave to the donation box, saying how it would help the library do more events like this.

Tang watched as the groups dispersed, sitting back into his chair waiting for newcomers or people who had finished the scavenger hunt.

People came and went, some thanking him, some wandering the shelves in confusion, some putting small donations in the box on their way out, and some who were curt and went as fast as possible.

It was interesting to Tang, seeing all these personalities with the same goal, not competitive, but reaching towards the same thing nonetheless.

A small kid with freckles, a red-head with a guide dog, a tall man with pitch black hair, and some teens who looked straight out of high school musical.

He had seen Allan, too, but only briefly as he was the one to deal with broken or missing riddles.

At the end of the day, almost all the books were gone from the pile, leaving only 3 extra to reshelf for another time. The donation box had reached halfway, which was a pretty good number for Tang, considering the box's size.

Allan had come a bit later, offering to help take down all the decoration from the shelves. Tang gratefully accepted.

They ended up walking their separate ways at the end, after dropping off the money at the manager room with a note and Tang locking the doors behind them.

Allan said one thing before he left, tapping Tang on the shoulder before he could go. "Thank you." He had said, right before turning to walk his own way home. A small smile was on his face as he faded into the background.

Tang thought about it for a moment, then smiled to himself before walking his own way home. The sunset is well off in the distance, with Tang keeping his eyes to the ground.

Today was pretty nice. He might like this job more than he thought.

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