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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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