Curate, connect, and discover
Tang stopped mid-step, shoulders tense, looking around himself for any source of that voice.
He waited a couple of moments, then sighed "Of course..." as he continued his walk to his apartment. He's had moments like this before, where he would think he heard some random voice speak in his ear, then hear nothing afterwards.
Tang just thought it was because of his recent bouts of sleep deprivation or maybe it was just his normal amount of exhaustion from the whole LBD situation.
So, he usually just ignored those little hallucinations for his own sanity.
Yet, no one would notice if he started to walk a bit faster down the sidewalk.
After a couple of seconds, Tang started to pass the familiar yellow streetlights of his road, including all the lights from the different storefront signs in the area.
He finally started to relax as his shoulders lowered. The familiar sights helped calm his mind. Yeah, this happens all the time, don't freak out, I don't know what I was-
'I don't even know where to begin with... all of that'
He stopped again; it was a different voice,a bit lower. And two in a row? Seemingly in, well, a conversation? Heh, that's... weird. Weirder than usual.
Just keep going, it's fine. Maybe some sleep will fix whatever's going on with me.
Tang starts to walk again; a bit faster in pace
'Why are we even bothering with keeping him alive again?'
He's now speed walking, and starting to breath a bit heavier.
'You know we shouldn't say that about him. Even if he would be better to us dead'
Just a bit more, and he'll be back at his apartment. Just ignore them like always.
'I know that, we can't even touch him anyways, I just-'
'OH SH-'
Tang startles from the sudden volume of the voice, jumping back a bit.
Just a second after, a car swerves right where he was just standing, whipping Tang' small braid, messanger bag, and clothes from its speed.
Tang' ears were ringing as he takes a few deep breathes, one hand on his chest and the other gripping his bag strap, just standing on the crosswalk, with the sudden realization that he was jailwalking while stuck in his thoughts.
With one final breath and a grimace, he starts to walk again.
Silence followed his final steps to his apartment. With just a small breeze flowing through the alleys, and the occasional flicker and crackle of the streelights.
There weren't any more voices after that.
After a few more minutes, Tang finally reaches the steps towards his door, too tired for any more "excitement" this night.
He pulls his ring up, fumbling through the different keys, looking behind him a few times, as he finally let's his shoulders fall, and unlocks the door.
He closes the door as soon as he's inside and sets down his messenger bag next to a small table close to the door.
Tang' place is a small studio apartment, with only a couch and coffee table in the main space, a small kitchen in the corner, and a twin bed with a lamp and bedside table.
There's not much furniture, and everything seems a bit bare even with almost every inch of his apartment being covered in books.
But this doesn't really matter to Tang right now.
He just goes through the motions after that, put the keys on the tray, hang up the coat, take shoes off, throw them next to the small table, walk to bed, put phone and glasses on bedside table, take out hair, and then he blacks out as soon as his head hits the pillow.
Tang dreams of nothing that night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Why did he jump?'
'Stop thinking about it.'
'He couldn't have heard us right? I mean if he were to find out-'
'Hey. Let's just... forget it. Don't say anything.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tang awakes groggy and restless, feeling tired as though he hadn't slept all night.
He never was a morning person anyway, but while he did sleep through his alarm, he still has plans for today: ones that he couldn't really cancel at the last minute.
So with a groan, Tang sat up out of bed, put his glasses on, and started to get ready for the day.
"Of course I have to have some manic episode before sleeping through an alarm today. I really don't know what I did to deserve this." He grumbled as he kept messing up his hair, uncoordinated hands still wrapped in sleep pulling on the knots, so he just did a short, messy low bun.
Good enough for me.
Tang then does his teeth, clothes, and heats up a small thing of Eggos he found laying next the the toaster.
When he finally checks his phone, he finds out it's 10:32 AM. Which is better than expected, but still a bit too late to make it to Sandy's on time.
Tang curses as he sends Sandy a text that he's going to be a bit late. He then grabs the freshly heated Eggos, his coat, keys, and bag as he walks through his apartment door, shutting and locking it behind him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tang walked as fast as he could towards the docks where Sandy and his boat were hanging out for the day.
It was decently far from his apartment, and since he didn't have any mode of transportation, he had to trek it himself.
He often took shortcuts through alleys and between market stalls. He's gotten attuned on how to smoothly move between crowds, which is basically just trying not to bump into things. Better than before, at least.
Today he went through the Market Street on his way to Sandy's, passing by many stalls selling different types of food, clothing, and trinkets.
There was one that piqued Tang' interest, a stall centered around Journey to the West, but all it had was knock-off plushes and poorly made hoodies for tourists.
After that, he tried not to lose too much of his focus through all the noise and people.
He swerved behind and in front of stalls, trying to find the alley behind a certain ceramics stall that leads close to the docks.
Tang continued to walk through the stalls for a good while, which wasn't that pleasant considering yesterday nights events.
But someone must have given him a break as he finally spotted the alley behind the ceramics stall, with an orange mark on the visible side of the dumpster helping him to remember.
"Oh thank goodness." Tang huffed as he slowly moved through the alleyway.
"Take a left, then right, then straight forward, then down the black steps..." he mumbles as he navigates the alleys of Metrapolis, having walked through them several times before.
When he finally emerges at the docks, he sees the blue of Sandy's boat right away. Tang takes a small breather before pacing up to Sandy's boat, hopping over the small space between the boat and dock, and lightly knocking on the door.
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