so uh. you asked for prompts/drawing requests and idk if you already have any but uh. idk maybe something from one of my aus (im partial to the giggle glow au but you can pick a different one if you want), or, if you don't wanna do that, maybe uh, Mei and MK brushing Red Son's hair? they probably put a bunch of hairclips in his hair and Red Son just lets them do it.
*falls through wall*
First is a continuation of this with playing with the idea of the giggle glow au
Then it's Chimera crew brushing red son's hair with also a combined idea of basically Red Son reading at night using his hair as a candle light and once he completely falls asleep he's 'out like a light".
And then I had to draw this scene out from Star Maps fic just for the faces.
Merry Christmas, everyone! I’m sorry this chapter took so long. But here it finally is!
This is the first chapter where a cycle from the previous chapter gets continued. And since the last one was set in an AU made by @animemoonprincess, this one is as well! I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out which one it is pretty quickly!
Get cozy, as this chapter is feature length at 24 Thousand words! Drink water, take breaks, eat a snack! But above all else, please enjoy it and let me know what you think once you’re finished! (Also this chapter is split in two due to Tumblr not allowing more than 1,000 blocks of text per post. If you want to read the whole thing uninterrupted, click the AO3 Link below.)
AO3 Link
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Scattered Cicadas - Chapter Twenty One: Shining With Joy (Part 1)
The changes in Tang’s life never seem to stop. Luckily there are moments that shine bright enough to make them worth it.
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Tang took a deep breath of the crisp, early Autumn air. It had been the middle of Summer when he had first awoken in this cycle. Having so much time pass without his notice while dealing with his memory problems was both surprising and somewhat disorienting. Not only had he awoken at what would have normally been the end of a cycle, but it had progressed well past that point. The gift from his timeline’s Sandy was certainly working as intended, and Tang was extremely grateful.
Grinning as the leaves crunched underneath his boots, Tang moved with a bounce in his step. Autumn was one of the best seasons. The bright colors of the changing leaves. The refreshing chill in the air. The delicious seasonal foods. It was the perfect time of year to find a cozy spot to read both indoors and out.
“Here’s a good spot,” Wukong said, pulling Tang from his musing. He sat under the tree he had picked and gestured for Tang to join him.
Tang looked around as he joined Wukong on the ground. It was a nice location. Trees surrounded the pair as leaves occasionally fell around them. They were just outside the clearing the ship had landed in, but still well within the perimeter of the protective wards that hid them from Lady Bone Demon’s forces.
Her behavior this cycle was very different from what Tang was used to. From what little news they were able to get from Megapolis, not much had changed despite the city being under her control. No oppression, no cruelty, no violence. Other than declaring herself ruler, most of her focus seemed to be turned outside the city by trying to capture their little group.
He supposed this was another effect of Sandy’s gift, enforcing peaceful cycles every now and then. Well that suited Tang just fine. He wasn’t quite ready to face her at her normal level of depravity so close after being freed from her.
Tang shivered at the thought of facing her at all.
“Tang? Are you still with me?”
“Huh? Oh, yes, sorry about that.” Tang shook his head to clear his thoughts. “I was lost in thought for a moment. Nothing to worry about.”
“Right,” Wukong said skeptically. “We can do this another time if you aren’t feeling up to it.”
“No, I’m fine, really.” Tang sighed as Wukong raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “I was just thinking about how different She is this time around. It’s… strange is all, but I don’t want to think about that right now. I’d much rather get to work on this.”
“Alright, alright.” Wukong sat up straight. “So. The 72 Transformations. It’s a bit of a misnomer as it can let you transform into literally anything you can imagine, but we won’t get into that.
“Learning how to do it normally takes years of study and practice, myself as an exception. Properly getting this technique down usually means that any of the practitioner's transformations are already permanent. However, you and MK inherited this power from me, so it works a bit differently for you. While you can still transform into whatever you want, I’m sure you noticed that it takes focus to maintain the form you’re in and a decent blow can knock you from it.”
“Sort of?” Tang scratched at the fur on his face. “I've been in my monkey form for a few months now and don’t feel like I’m focusing much on it. But when I flew away from the ship as a cicada I clipped a branch and that did startle me back into my monkey form.”
“Hmm… That’s strange. I can tell you that your form currently isn’t permanent as I can see your human self underneath it with my Gold Vision,” Wukong said as he rubbed his chin. “A hard enough shock, you running out of energy, or being knocked unconscious could probably revert you right now.”
Tang’s breath caught.
“W-what?”
“Hey, don’t panic! You aren’t going to revert any time soon. I mean, you don’t feel low on energy right now, right?”
“Well…” Tang took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. “No more than usual I guess.”
“Wait,” Wukong tilted his head. “Are you usually tired?”
“Just a little bit,” Tang admitted. “I assumed it was just stress from dealing with remembering everything.”
“That probably isn’t helping, but I think it might be something else.” Wukong activated his Gold Vision and examined Tang closely. “Yeah, you’re definitely channeling your powers to maintain that form.”
“But I’m not focusing on it,” Tang protested. “Plus, wouldn’t I revert whenever I sleep? Pigsy hasn’t mentioned me changing in the middle of the night.”
“It’s possible that you’re doing it subconsciously then,” Wukong said as he deactivated his Gold Vision. “It’s probably a trauma response and your mind is just trying to keep you safe by maintaining this form for you.”
“That… makes sense.” Tang blinked and raised an eyebrow at Wukong. “You’ve been reading Sandy’s mental health books?”
“Maybe?” Wukong grinned nervously. “But anyway! Back to the transformations! So while you’re not likely to revert to your human form due to your mind subconsciously supplying the transformation with your powers, it’s not sustainable in the long term. You’ve already noticed that you’re tired all the time. The longer you maintain this form, the more energy it will require. We’ve been lucky so far but we don’t want you passing out from over exertion.”
“So I need to learn how to make my transformations permanent so it doesn’t continuously draw on my powers.”
“Exactly!”
“You said it takes years of study and practice to learn. My timeline’s Sandy may have extended the cycles but I don’t think we have that long.”
“To learn the full technique, yes,” Wukong said with a smirk. “But you don’t need the full 72 Transformations. You only need to learn a single form. Luckily for us, Teacher taught me the shortcut he would use for his students that didn’t feel like they should be human.”
“Huh.” Tang blinked. “There were people who didn't feel like they should be human even that long ago?”
“Yup! I think the modern term is Species Dysphoria, but back then we just referred to it as a soul being born in the wrong body.” Wukong looked up at the falling leaves with a fond smile. “Teacher may have been a strict and harsh taskmaster, but he did care about his students. Of course he said he only helped because he couldn’t have students who were distracted by such frivolous things as appearances. But he always did help with the change instead of dismissing them.”
“Reminds me of one of my college professors.” Tang said with a chuckle. He hummed in thought. “Species Dysphoria… I’m not quite sure that’s what I’m experiencing.”
“Well the main symptom is a displeasure or discomfort with your body, specifically your species, which fits you. It doesn’t have to be from birth either. Some cases have been brought on later in life by traumatic experiences, apparently.”
“Okay, you have to have been reading about this with Sandy.”
“Big guy likes to read out loud when researching,” Wukong said with an embarrassed shrug. “Kinda hard to not absorb some of the stuff when relaxing with his therapy cats.”
“Well at least you’re finally taking your own mental health seriously,” Tang drawled.
“Let’s get back on track,” Wukong said, shifting in discomfort. “Learning a single form for a permanent transformation is still a pretty involved process despite it not taking as long. We will have to memorize a lot about the anatomy of both your base human body and that of your chosen form.”
“We?”
“Yes, we. Before you attempt the transformation yourself I will occasionally be guiding your magic through the process for transforming individual body parts. This to get you accustomed to the flow of the magic as it’s much slower and precise than the usual instant form shifting. It will also let you test out how certain parts feel so you can make changes before you try the final transformation. I’ll need to know what I’m doing before we can do that, though.”
“I’m assuming that guiding my transformation won’t make it permanent, otherwise you would have already helped me do it,” Tang said.
“Right. Something about how you subconsciously resist changes that you didn’t make yourself. The transformation would eventually revert over time if I did it for you.”
“If I’m understanding this all correctly, I’ll need to know the anatomy of my chosen form as well as know how it feels to change my body into that form in a precise way in order to make it permanent?”
“Pretty much.”
“How are we going to be studying the anatomy part?” Tang folded his arms in thought. “I don’t think Sandy has a book on rabbit demons in his self help library.”
“Did you know MK has a membership at The Cloud?” Wukong pulled out a couple of computer tablets. “Apparently, that makes his phone something called a ‘hotspot’ that allows any device he authenticates to access it. He helped me download a bunch of books onto these earlier. They even have audio versions!”
“Well that’s convenient,” Tang said as he accepted one of the tablets. “I suppose we should get started then.”
“That’s the plan,” Wukong said, plugging in some earbuds into the audio port of his tablet.
“Tang! Monkey King!”
“Or not,” Wukong sighed at Mei’s shout.
“We’re over here, Mei,” Tang called back.
“Something weird is happening to MK!” Mei’s voice sounded somewhat panicked. “Come quick!”
The pair shared a worried glance before rushing back towards the clearing. They followed Mei to the other side of the airship where they found some of the others.
MK was examining his hands, waving them around as he looked at them. Red Son was likewise scrutinizing MK, circling him and occasionally prodding at him. Pigsy was nearby, tapping his foot in agitation; a sure sign he was nervous about something.
It took a moment for Tang to remember that Sandy was inside the ship working on some component or another and that Macaque was on patrol looking out for any of the search parties hunting them.
“MK! Are you okay? What’s going on?” Tang looked over the young man. Outside of some leaves in his hair he seemed perfectly fine.
“I think so? I don’t feel strange,” MK said, slapping Red Son’s hand away as the demon poked at his shoulder.
“What happened,” Wukong asked.
“Well, Mei and I were throwing leaves at each other when Red Son snuck up and shoved some down the back of Mei’s jacket.” MK smiled. “It was really funny the way she squealed and-” MK snickered.
As he did, he began to faintly glow with a yellow-orange light.
“And then that happened,” Pigsy finished, gesturing at the young man as MK tried to get his mirth under control. “Except much brighter.”
“Is that all? I thought this would be something serious,” Wukong said as the tension eased from him. “Don’t worry, nothing’s wrong with him.”
“Then what’s happening to me?”
“Congrats, bud! Your powers are finally starting to recharge!”
“Really?! Yes!” MK let out a whoop and jumped up and down in celebration, his glow increasing in intensity as he laughed.
“Awesome! But what does his powers recharging have to do with the glowing,” Mei asked.
“The glowing technically is one of his powers,” Wukong explained. “Every time he laughs he’ll glow like this. I’m honestly surprised it took this long for it to show up.”
“So… Is this permanent or just a side effect of his powers returning,” Red Son asked.
“Permanent. It’s unfortunately not something he’ll be able to turn off. It’s just going to happen from now on. It’ll even happen when he’s under the effect of a glamor.”
“Well as long as it’s not hurting him it should be fine,” Tang said. He blinked as something occurred to him. “Wait, does that mean you glow when you laugh, Wukong?”
The Monkey King froze.
“Uh…”
“No way.” Tang felt a grin creeping up on his face. “You do, don’t you?”
“I- Uh- Well-”
“But Monkey King’s laughed in front of us before,” MK said. “Or at least, he’s laughed in front of me and he’s never glowed. If I can’t turn it off that means neither can you, right?”
“That’s… Yes that’s right.”
“Then what gives?” Pigsy was eyeing Wukong with suspicion. “You just said glamors won’t hide it so why haven’t we seen you glowing?”
“Well… It has to be real, genuine laughter or joy that sets it off…” Wukong chuckled nervously, noticeably not glowing as he did.
“But that means…” Tang frowned in concern. “Wukong? Have you been suppressing your emotions just so you would avoid glowing in front of us?”
Monkey King just shuffled in place as an awkward silence fell.
“What’s all the commotion about,” Macaque asked suddenly as he joined the group by stepping out of a nearby shadow.
“Oh look! Macaque’s back from his patrol! I guess someone should replace him! I volunteer! See you later!”
“Oh no you don’t!” Tang grabbed Wukong by the back of his shirt before he could slip away. “We need to talk about-”
Wukong quickly twisted and ducked down before he could finish, shrugging the shirt off and darting towards the treeline.
“Macaque glows when he laughs but hides it too!” With that last shout over his shoulder he escaped into the trees.
“What?!” Macaque stepped back as all eyes turned to him. "Traitorous bastard,” he growled before sinking into the shadows cast by the airship and vanishing.
“So… Now what?” MK looked a bit lost as he glanced between the spots the two monkeys had disappeared into.
“We get those two to laugh as much as possible, is what,” Mei said with a devious determination. “I need to get me some videos of them glowing like nightlights!”
“While I don’t really approve of your motivation, you’re probably right,” Tang said with a sigh as he folded up Wukong’s abandoned shirt. “What they’re doing is not healthy. We should get Sandy to talk to them about it as well.”
“Do we even know what they will laugh at,” Red Son asked.
“We’ll just have to try a bunch of different things,” MK said, perking back up at the idea.
“So long as you don’t make any messes, especially in the kitchen,” Pigsy huffed. “I ain’t the best at telling jokes so don’t come to me for ideas.”
“All right!” Mei pumped her fist in the air in excitement. “Let’s get some brainstorming done for Operation: Giggle Glow!”
“Giggle Glow?”
“What? They giggle, they glow! Watch.” Mei poked MK in the side where he was ticklish. True to her word he giggled and started to glow.
“Fair enough,” Tang said with his own snicker as MK poked her right back, initiating a tickle fight. “I'll help out after I let Sandy know what’s going on.”
Tang hummed to himself as he made his way back onto the ship. It was nice to have something to keep busy with. Between studying rabbit demon anatomy and attempting to get two old monkeys to laugh, the next few weeks were not going to be boring.
He paused and chuckled at a humorous thought.
Yes, the next few weeks were certainly going to be enlightening.
----------
“I know you said we would be trying out various transformations by having you guide them but… I wasn’t expecting it to happen so soon,” Tang said, fidgeting with his sleeves and doing his best not to tremble. If the concerned looks from Wukong and Pigsy were any indication, he wasn’t doing a very good job.
Barely two weeks had passed since they had started studying rabbit demon anatomy. Tang felt he had made some decent progress in his own research. His scholarly background was certainly a boon as much of the reading was rather dry. And if he decided to speed things along by applying a few retention and memorization spells he learned back during that disastrous training cycle? Well, no one but him had to know.
Wukong, however, was proving that his title as the Intelligent Stone Monkey wasn’t just for show. Even with a speed reading charm, the Monkey King surpassed Tang’s learning pace by a wide margin. By the end of the first week he had half of the chosen books memorized. He was attempting the transformation on himself halfway through the second. Yesterday he perfected it, which led them to now.
“It would’ve been sooner if I wasn’t constantly distracted by MK and Mei trying to get me to laugh,” Wukong half joked.
“Really?” Tang’s eyes widened at that.
Operation: Giggle Glow had gone into full swing a few days following the revelation in the clearing. After a talk with Sandy, both monkeys had reluctantly agreed to try and not hold back their laughter just because they found the glowing to be embarrassing. MK and Mei had taken full advantage of this. Jokes, slapstick, harmless yet humorous pranks, and various other attempts at comedy were thrown around with mixed success.
Tang had already found Wukong’s ability to learn at such a fast pace incredible. But if a few jokes a day were considered to be a distraction that prevented him from finishing sooner…
“I knew you could learn impossibly fast, and I’ve seen you do it before a few times,” Tang admitted with an awed shake of his head. “Every time it’s both impressive and somewhat intimidating. I’m not going to have to worry about my role as scholarly nerd being taken, am I?”
“As if,” Wukong snorted. “Learning for learning’s sake isn’t my thing. I only put this much effort into stuff I find interesting, if the fate of the world is at stake, or as a favor for a friend.”
“I… I appreciate all of this,” Tang said, lowering his head in a small bow. “I really do.”
“Don’t sweat it.”
“It couldn’t have been fun with how tedious some of these books are.”
“That’s medical texts for you,” Wukong said with a shrug. “Can’t really add too much prose to wade through if someone’s life might be on the line.”
“Focus, you two,” Pigsy chided. “Tang, are you sure you want to go through with this? We can hold off until you’re ready.”
“I-” Tang swallowed and clenched his paws to keep them from shaking. “Do… Do I really have to revert to my… My other form to do this?”
“I’m afraid so,” Wukong said gently. “Layering a transformation on top of another can get… messy. The safest and easiest way to do this is if you’re in your hum- er- base form.”
“Okay.” Tang took a deep breath. In and out. “Okay.” Another breath. He could do this.
“Tang?” Pigsy reached out, taking a hold of one of his paws and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “It’s alright if you want to wait for a bit.”
“No. No it’s… I want to do this. I just…” Tang took another breath before meeting Wukong’s eyes. “It… It’ll only be for a few minutes, right?”
“Five minutes, at most.”
“And… And we’re starting with my head today? So I won’t see Her in my reflections?”
“That’s the plan.”
“I won’t need to keep my eyes open for this, will I?”
“Nope.”
“Okay.” Tang breathed deeply once more before checking over his clothes. He had to make sure the gloves and boots were secured. It would only be his head that was transformed today after all. As long as he couldn’t see any other part of himself that would remain human, he could ignore it. At least, he hoped he could.
“Alright. Okay. I’m ready,” he said, doing his best to ignore his hammering heart. “Should I stand or sit?”
“Whichever is more comfortable for you,” Wukong said.
“How about we sit,” Pigsy suggested, grunting a bit as he lowered himself to the floor.
Tang nodded stiffly and moved to sit down across from him. This was it. While he was looking forward to completing this first step towards a full transformation, the thought of reverting from his monkey form was terrifying. Damn, the trembling had started again.
“Hey, you’re okay,” Pigsy said as he reached over and grabbed Tang’s paws and held them in his hands. “I’m here. Monkey King is here. We’re not going to let anything bad happen to you, promise.”
“O-okay.” Tang tensed a little as he felt Wukong kneel behind him and place his paws on his shoulders. He took a shuddering breath. “S-sorry. Just… Just give me a second.”
“Take your time.” Wukong said, patting him on the shoulder. “We’re in no rush.”
“Right.” In and out. Deep breaths. He could do this. “On… On three?”
“If that will help.”
“Okay.” He looked up at Pigsy and squeezed his hands. “Count down for me?”
“Alright.” Pigsy took his own breath and straightened up. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
“One…”
Tang took one final fortifying gulp of air.
“Two…”
He clenched his eyes shut and gripped Pigsy’s hands like a lifeline.
“Three.”
Tang reached into his well of powers. He had transformed dozens of times before. He had taken to the ability rather quickly back during the cycle when he was the Monkie Kid. It should be easy to just… revert.
His mind screamed at him as he focused.
What are you doing?! You’re safe like this! Stop! She can’t get to you right now! Stop Stop STOP!
It was hard to push past such visceral fear, but Tang grit his teeth and pulled at the thread keeping him in his monkey form.
It would be worth it! Please let this work! He could have a new base form of his own! One that She hasn’t tainted! Please Please PLEASE!
He felt the surge of energy flow through him. And then…
A draft on his bare face. His clothes rubbing against his skin instead of fur. The lack of a comforting weight at the end of his spine.
It worked!
Oh.
Oh God, it worked.
“Good job,” Pigsy praised softly as Tang’s breath hitched. “You’re doing great. Take a breath. That’s it. Keep your eyes closed.”
“I’m going to start now, okay,” Wukong said once Tang got his breathing under control.
“Pl-please hurry.”
“Try to relax.” Wukong moved his paws from Tang’s shoulders to cup his face from behind. “Let me guide your magic. I’ll be gentle, I promise.”
“O-okay.”
Tang could feel Wukong’s magic mixing with his as the Monkey King coaxed it to follow his will. Wukong gently pulled his paws up and over Tang’s ears, behind his nape, up and over his crown, down over his face, under his jaw, and back to his starting position. He repeated the motions several times, Tang’s magic following along like a current.
He could feel the transformation start to take effect after a minute or so. It was much different than his usual way of doing it. Instead of an instant surge, the magic flowed slowly and steadily. Thankfully, this didn’t make the change painful. It was… tingly. Almost like the sensation of that rock candy that fizzled and popped in your mouth. Which was not how he thought having his skull elongated to allow for a proper rabbit snout was going to feel.
Wukong’s soft, repetitive touches were soothing as more changes occurred. His teeth and jaw began to itch as they rearranged themselves alongside his skull. The sound of all their breathing seemed to become clearer as what felt like two loose flaps of skin grew down on either side of his head. Those must be his new ears then. Tang wrinkled his nose as a strange new sensation sprouted out around it. Whiskers, if he had to guess.
Tang let out a sigh of relief as he felt the fur start to grow in. He hadn’t realized how uncomfortable he would be with a naked face. Luckily the thick clothing he was wearing seemed to be doing their job as well. The fact they hid bare skin instead of fur was hardly noticeable anymore. He finally began to relax.
Wukong’s paws began to slow moments later. The gentle circulation of magic stilled with them. Tang felt Wukong’s magic carefully detach itself from his own as the sage removed his paws and took a step back.
“Done. Four minutes and thirty seven seconds, exactly.”
Tang took a deep breath in through his nose, marveling a bit at how different it felt. The amount of new scents he could pick up on was not unsurprising based on what he read, but still a slight shock. Luckily it wasn’t completely overwhelming at the moment. He’d have to be careful the next time dinner was being prepared or whenever they next visited a city, but he felt confident he could adjust to his heightened sense of smell rather quickly.
He opened his eyes. His vision wasn’t too different from his monkey form. Perhaps it was a bit better. Tang couldn’t really tell just yet. It was still an improvement from his base form’s poor sight at least. It was still incredible to be able to see so clearly without his glasses. His snout was very prominent, however. He wondered if his mind would eventually block it out like humans did with their own short noses.
Tang focused to look past his snout and frowned at what he was seeing in front of him. Pigsy was looking at him with a somewhat shaken expression.
“Is everything okay, Pigsy?” He reached up to feel his face. He could talk just fine, but the new mouth shape was somewhat odd.
“Yeah, I just…” Pigsy shuddered a bit. “Ugh. Perhaps I should have closed my eyes as well.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah, this method of transformation isn’t exactly pleasant to watch with how slow it is,” Wukong said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “Probably should have given you a warning.”
“Now he tells me,” Pigsy grumbled.
“Oh.” Tang winced as a memory from his time as Her prisoner popped up unbidden. “Ugh, yeah, I get that.”
“Tang?”
“Just… just a bad memory. I’ll be fine.” Tang took a breath to reset his thoughts. He twisted around so he could see both Pigsy and Wukong at the same time. “So, how do I look?”
“Oh. My. God,” Wukong gasped, his eyes wide as he clutched his paws to his cheeks.
“What?” Tang’s stomach flipped. Had something gone wrong?
“You’re adorable!” Wukong’ tail formed a heart shape behind him as he squealed. “I knew I looked cute when I transformed, but that was a given. You’re just so… so…! Eee!” Wukong began stepping in place as words failed him and his excitement grew.
“Ah.” Tang could feel the skin under his fur begin to heat up. “That’s- uh- good to know? I honestly thought something was wrong at first.”
“Sorry, sorry! I just… really like small, cuddly animals,” Wukong said, doing his best to calm himself.
“I… I’m not sure how I feel about being called ‘small and cuddly’,” Tang said with a slight frown.
“Right! Sorry!” Wukong shook his head, but tentatively reached his paw out. “I’ll stop but… Can I ruffle your fur real quick first?”
“Uh…”
“Okay, that’s enough!” Pigsy slapped Wukong’s paw out the air. “You’ve already felt him up enough as it is, what with you caressing his face earlier! Don’t think I didn’t notice that!”
“What?” Wukong blinked in what looked like genuine confusion.
“Don’t play dumb! You said you and the other furball were going to work out whatever is going on between you two first, and yet here you are making some moves!”
“Uh, guys,” Tang began to interject, but was quickly spoken over.
“Firstly, what’s going on between Macaque and I is none of your business. Secondly, what in the world are you talking about?”
“You were flirting with Tang just now!” Pigsy seemed ready to blow steam from his ears. “Calling him cute and cuddly and trying to pet him even though it was making him uncomfortable!”
“Guys,” Tang tried again.
“That was not flirting!” Wukong was scowling now as well. “I just think rabbits are really cute! I’ll admit to getting a bit over excited, but I wasn’t trying to flirt!”
“Oh, sure! Do you go up to every rabbit demon you meet and tell them how adorable they are to their faces? I bet treating them like an animal instead of a person goes over well.”
“Guys!”
Tang’s shout startled them out of their arguing. He took a deep breath and clenched his fists as they turned to look at him.
“You… You both are supposed to be making sure this whole process remains as stress free as possible,” he gritted out, resisting the urge to start yelling as well. “I’m relying on you two to help me through this. You… You promised you wouldn’t fight.”
They began trying to defend themselves, raising their voices to be heard over the other. Tang made a frustrated scream and abruptly pushed past them. He turned to glare at them from the doorway to his bathroom.
“Excuse me. I need a moment to myself.”
As much as he wanted to, he did not slam the door shut. The very audible click as he locked it was satisfying however.
Tang leaned back against the door, sliding down it to sit on the floor. He buried his face in his arms and did his best to keep his breathing under control. He loved his family dearly, but dammit all they made him want to rip his fur out sometimes!
He winced as he heard them shout at each other through the door. Clasping his hands over his ears, Tang did his best to drown out their voices.
Pigsy and Wukong fighting wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. Even in cycles where they were friendly with each other they bickered over the smallest things. The fact they were fighting about him wasn’t even something new to Tang. Both could be rather possessive and prone to jealousy. Pigsy being the jealous one this time was just another normal variable that he had come to expect from the cycles.
Tang tightened his grasp on his ears as he felt tears well up in his eyes.
This wasn’t a surprise. He shouldn’t be this upset. This had happened hundreds, if not thousands, of times before. Tang was technically the oldest and most responsible between the three of them. He should have mediated and made them talk through this misunderstanding like he usually did.
And yet…
Tang did his best to keep his sobs quiet.
He had thought by sharing his story with his family that it would help. For the most part, it had. Everyone had been fairly accommodating to him. So was it selfish to have hoped they would continue to hold back for him? That they would put his need for their support above their seemingly instinctual need to argue?
Maybe it was. After all, from their point of view, it had been like the Tang they knew had changed overnight. Transforming into an emotional, needy wreck with impossible knowledge and some rather presumptuous notions on his relationship with them all. They were probably just as stressed and anxious as he was. Of course they would be fighting. He had managed to screw everything up just by existing.
Tang sniffed and removed his hands from his ears to wipe his nose. Pigsy’s and Wukong’s voices were muffled now. So they had stopped shouting. That was good, he supposed. He wasn’t needed to help mediate then. Which made sense. It was his fault they had been fighting in the first place. His presence wouldn’t have helped. He was completely useless.
That… that wasn’t really being fair to himself.
Tang blinked at that thought. It sounded like something Sandy would say.
What would Sandy say about all this?
Tang closed his eyes and attempted to calm his breathing as he tried to imagine what his large blue friend would think about this.
He would probably tell Tang that he wasn’t being selfish. That he had only just recently escaped from a pretty traumatic situation. That it was normal to rely heavily on others while he recovered. That it was okay to be upset with them when they didn’t take his feelings into consideration.
But… but he also couldn’t expect them to always put him first. They were people too, with their own emotions and needs. That repressing those negative feelings was just as bad as repressing the positive ones. How that didn’t mean they should take it out on each other. That fighting wasn’t a healthy outlet. How it wasn’t his fault if they did fight and how it wasn’t his job to stop them.
Tang’s breathing evened out. It likely wasn’t the exact advice Sandy would give, but it was close enough to help clear his thoughts. He was still upset. But now that he had calmed down a bit he could start to think more rationally. There were things he would need to discuss with Pigsy and Wukong and he wouldn’t be able to communicate them properly if let just his emotions guide his words.
Tang listened for a moment but could no longer hear the others’ voices through the door. Either they were silently waiting for him or had left to cool down. That was fine by him. He could use the time to plan out what he wanted to say.
Before he could do that however, he probably should clean up a bit. Tang wrinkled his nose at the sensation of his tears drying and matting his fur. It seemed the fur on his face was ever so slightly longer and thicker as a rabbit as opposed to a monkey. Just something he would have to adjust to.
Tang picked himself up off the floor and stood at the sink in preparation to wash his face. He glanced up into the mirror reflexively and froze. His reflection stared back at him, wearing the expression of surprise he was feeling. Knowing that he had been partially transformed into a rabbit was one thing. Seeing it for himself for the first time was… Well. It almost didn’t feel real.
The dark, chocolate brown rabbit in the mirror was certainly real enough to mimic his movements as he examined himself. His snout was narrower than his dragon form, but still just as expressive. He ran a hand through the fur on the top of his head, which was long enough to resemble his usual hairstyle in his base form. Tang gently lifted one of his drooping ears, the proper term was lop if he remembered correctly, to get a look at the inner side. The fur on this side, while incredibly thin, was just as dark as the rest.
Tang frowned a bit at how… uniform he looked. He did like the chocolate brown, but perhaps he could add a secondary color to break things up?
Deciding to worry about that later, he let his ear fall back into place before opening his mouth to examine his teeth. The increased size of his front incisors was expected. The extra set of canines replacing a set of his premolars was not. He pulled at his cheek to get a better look. They seemed… rather sharp. Well, he was a rabbit demon, at least partially. Demons, despite being omnivores, did tend to have a preference for meat. It seemed biting was now a viable form of self defense for him if it came down to it.
Closing his mouth, Tang took his whole reflection in and smiled. It wasn’t quite exactly what he was expecting. There were a few things he might decide to change. But he could see himself, and only himself in it. The color of his eyes. The style of his head fur. Even his expressions were things that he could still recognize from his base form, but were completely untouched by Her influence.
Humming to himself, he turned on the faucet and began scrubbing his face clean. It felt a bit awkward with the gloves. He looked forward to when Wukong would help him transform his hands. Although he wasn’t sure how he would react if he wasn’t able to hold onto Pigsy’s hands for support.
He paused for a moment as he dried his face with a towel. Oh right. Wukong and Pigsy. He still needed to deal with them. Hopefully they had managed to talk through their issues and he didn’t need to go looking for them to get them to communicate.
Tang sighed as he turned and leaned back against the sink. He closed his eyes as he thought. Even if they had apologized to each other, there were things Tang needed to talk to them about. He wasn’t completely blameless for why the argument happened in the first place. He would have to clarify a few things between them all if these transformation sessions were to continue.
He stood there for several minutes, going over how he wanted to word what he wanted to say. A soft knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts.
“Tang?” Pigsy’s voice sounded uncertain. “Can… Can we talk?”
Tang took a step towards the door.
“Is Wukong with you?” he called out. He didn’t want to have to repeat himself more than once if he had to.
“Yes, he is. There’s some things we’d like to say.”
Tang took a deep breath. Looks like his time to rehearse was up. Hopefully he’d be able to say what he wanted in a way that was understandable.
“Okay.”
Tang unlocked the door and stepped back into his bedroom. Pigsy and Wukong were standing there with contrite expressions. They shared a glance before Wukong took a step forward.
“I’m sorry for how I acted earlier,” he began, looking Tang in the eye and remaining serious. “Treating you like a cute animal was demeaning and inappropriate. You’re a fully aware person and should be treated as such. I promise I won’t let myself get carried away like that again.
“I also apologize for not warning either of you over how… intimate the process of helping you transform would appear. I promise you there wasn't any alternative meaning behind it. It’s simply how it’s done.”
“I’m sorry I blew up at you about that,” Pigsy said as he stepped forward. “I didn’t know I could get so jealous or possessive like that. I know you didn’t mean anything by it.
“I’m sorry for starting a fight even though I promised you I wouldn’t, Tang. I was supposed to help with your stress, not add to it. I’ll do my best to keep my temper in check. But I… I’ll understand if you don’t want me to come to these sessions anymore.”
Tang let out a breath. He was glad they had managed to work through their grievances for the most part. Now it was his turn.
“I appreciate and accept your apologies. However, I need to apologize as well.” Tang held up a hand to stop Pigsy and Wukong as they began to protest. “Please, just listen.
“I’m… I’m extremely grateful for you, for all of you, for being so accommodating. You’ve been nothing but kind and supportive as I recover from my… ordeal. I honestly don’t know if I’d be managing as well if you weren’t all here.
“But I’m worried that you may be repressing some of your own feelings while trying to be mindful of mine.”
“Huh?” Pigsy frowned in confusion. “What do you mean?”
“Pigsy, I’m going to need you to be completely honest with me.” Tang took a deep breath as Pigsy agreed hesitantly. “Pigsy, did you agree to the idea of Wukong and Macaque potentially entering into a relationship with us in the future because you were actually okay with it, or because you thought it was something I wanted and didn’t want to upset me?”
“I-” Pigsy’s eyes went wide and he floundered for a moment. “I don’t- I mean I- I can get used to the idea-”
“That’s not what I asked.” Tang shook his head. This was what he had been afraid of. “I… I can’t be okay with anyone trying to help me by doing things that will make them unhappy. It’s not good for either of us and will only lead to more pain in the end.
“So I’ll ask once more. Pigsy, are you okay with us possibly entering into a relationship with Wukong and Macaque in the future, yes or no?”
“I-” Pigsy swallowed. He clenched his fists and turned away. “No. No, I'm not okay with the idea.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” Pigsy looked back up in shock.
“Okay,” Tang nodded. “I’m not going to make you do something you aren’t comfortable with. You are my partner right now, so if you say you don’t want to have others join in, we won’t.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that. I may ask for your reasoning later in private, but your wants are just as important as mine. I refuse to make you feel obligated to do something you don’t want just for my sake, and I’m sorry if you felt like you had to.”
“Oh. That’s…” Pigsy’s shoulders slumped as an unseen tension bled out of him. “That’s a bit of a relief actually.”
“Honestly? Same here,” Wukong said. “I’m fine with the idea, but Macaque isn’t. It’s, uh, one of the main things we’re still fighting about. Having the pressure taken off of us is going to be a big help while we figure things out. Although I should probably take your example and let him know what he wants is important too.”
“I’m sorry,” Tang sighed. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like you all had to join into a relationship together.”
“It’s not your fault. I’m sorry I wasn’t honest about how I was feeling,” Pigsy said, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. “Could have probably avoided this whole argument if I spoke up earlier.”
“Well, we live and we learn, right?” Wukong said. “Now that we’ve cleared all this up we’ll be able to be more careful about it going forward.”
“Right,” Tang agreed with a nod. He staggered a bit and grabbed onto the door frame of the bathroom as he felt a slight wave of dizziness. “Whoa.”
“Tang?” Pigsy quickly moved over to help steady his partner. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah. Just dizzy for a moment.”
“Oh right!” Wukong turned and picked up a serving tray that Tang had failed to notice. “I almost forgot! Even though I was the one guiding the process, it was your magic and energy fueling the transformation. You’re going to need to replenish yourself, so Pigsy and I went to get you some snacks after we talked things through.”
Wukong carefully placed the tray on the ground and motioned for the two to join him on the floor. Once they had situated themselves, he removed the cover of the tray.
“Help yourselves,” Wukong said as he snatched a bag of marshmallows and popped them open.
Tang looked over the selection of snacks and blinked in surprise.
“Chocolate wafers and orange juice?”
“Well, they’re your favorite,” Pigsy said as he grabbed an apple for himself. “I picked some up at the last city we visited. I, uh, was going to save them as a surprise but thought you would need some cheering up after the argument.”
“That’s very sweet of you,” Tang said. He leaned over and tried to give Pigsy a kiss on the cheek, but he wasn’t quite used to the shape of his snout. So he settled on a quick nuzzle instead before turning back to the prepared food.
“Be careful,” Wukong warned in between marshmallows. “A rabbit’s sense of taste is way stronger than what you’re used to.”
Tang nodded and dipped one of the wafers into the orange juice. Once it had absorbed enough to be slightly soft, he took a bite. Tang’s eyes widened and he started to cough at the explosion of flavor. He swallowed quickly to avoid spraying food everywhere and continued to cough into his arm.
“Tang!”
“I warned him.”
“I’m fine,” Tang gasped as his eyes watered. “Damn, I wasn't prepared. That was… incredible.”
He quickly dipped another wafer into his drink and took another bite, much to the disbelief of his companions. The flavors were still extremely strong, but he was ready this time. He moaned a bit as subtle tones he hadn’t been able to pick up on before danced across his tongue. It was like heaven in his mouth. If this was just what a simple snack could taste like, he couldn’t wait to try Pigsy’s cooking like this.
“Figures he’d adjust quickly when there’s food involved,” Pigsy snorted. He paused just before he took a bite of his apple and frowned. “Wait… isn’t chocolate bad for rabbits?”
“For normal rabbits, yes,” Wukong answered. “Some rabbit demons do have to follow the same dietary restrictions as their animal counterparts, but that’s less than four percent of them. As we’re the ones in control of how Tang transforms, we also control whether he has to adhere to it or not.”
“Obviously, we decided to not go with the restricted diet,” Tang said as he swallowed another wafer. “There’s too much good food out there for me to give up on it all.”
He glanced at Pigsy who had laughed and returned to his apple. Well… almost all foods. There was one he wouldn’t be touching for the rest of his existence.
Tang shook his head to clear his thoughts and avoid thinking about that.
“Ack!”
Tang’s lop ears had been sent flopping around as he shook his head and were currently resting across his snout and eyes, blocking his vision. He didn’t need to see to hear Wukong’s snickers. He reached up to untangle his ears, only for one of them to droop into the glass of orange juice he was still holding, getting it soaked
There was a stunned silence for a moment before Tang, quickly followed by Wukong and Pigsy, started to laugh at the absurdity of it all. The stress from earlier had completely melted away. And if being a bit clumsy with his new ears was all that was needed to get Wukong shining gold with mirth, well Tang could live with that for now.
----------
Tang sighed as he rubbed his left ear in an attempt to quell the ticklish sensation in his ear canal. The past few days had been somewhat tiring. Each morning Wukong would guide his magic through transforming his head into a rabbit’s and each evening he would guide it back. It was taking a bit of a toll on Tang if he was to be honest. Perhaps they should take a break for a few days.
He frowned and began to rub a bit harder. The tickling wouldn’t go away. It started just after breakfast. He had ignored it at first, more preoccupied with how warm he had been feeling. He had thought it was just him not being used to the thickness of his new fur. But going out to stand in the fresh air on deck hadn’t helped much, especially once it started raining shortly afterwards.
Tang scowled as the sensation changed from ticklish to itchy. There was a building pressure that he had barely noticed but realized he had been feeling all day. That certainly wasn’t helping with his headache.
He shoved his hand under his ear in an attempt to reach directly into the ear canal and scratch the itch. Before he could wiggle a finger too far down someone grabbed his wrist and pulled it away.
“Tang!” Pigsy scolded. “Don’t do that! You can hurt yourself by shoving things in your ear.”
“But it itches,” Tang whined. He pulled his hand free and went back to furiously rubbing over the top of his ear in vain.
“Tang, are you alright?” Sandy asked.
“I…” Tang looked around the living room as he thought about it. Everyone was staring at him with expressions of curiosity or concern. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean?” Pigsy reached out and gently pulled his hand away from his ear again.
“My inner ear itches. There’s a pressure building up there and I have a headache. I thought I was just overheating earlier but I might also have a fever?”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Wukong said as he made his way over. “Lift your ear for a second and I’ll take a look inside.”
Tang did as instructed, squirming a bit as he resisted the urge to stick a finger down it again. Wukong leaned down closely and activated his Gold Vision.
“Damn,” he said with a scowl after a minute of inspection. “Ear infection.”
“How did that happen?” MK wondered in concern.
“Rabbits with lop ears have a harder time cleaning them out and thus are more prone to infection,” Wukong explained as he straightened up. “Though it might have been the orange juice…”
“Orange juice?”
“Not important. The problem is that we don’t have the medicine to treat it on the ship right now. We’re nowhere near a town or city to buy some, but until we do get it treated I won’t be able to transform him back. Internal injuries and transformations don’t mix well unless you’ve mastered the full technique.”
“Isn’t he going to revert back after a while anyway?” Red Son reminded them all. “That means we’re on a time limit.”
“We could try transferring him some magic and hope it holds until we find a town,” Macaque suggested.
“I might have something that we can use,” Tang said, getting their attention. “I’ll need a bowl though.”
Once a bowl had been obtained, Tang held his hands out over it. He took a breath and focused. His hands began to glow with a golden-yellow light. As he continued to channel his magic, the light seemed to thicken. Before long it began to drip from his hands, coalescing in the bowl as a shining liquid.
“There,” Tang sighed, stopping the flow once the bowl was half full and leaning back into his seat.
“What is it?” Mei asked.
“An all-purpose general healing elixir,” Tang answered with a yawn. “It won’t automatically cure anything, but it acts as a disinfectant, antibiotic, stomach soother, and fever reducer. A few drops of this every few hours and my ear should be better in a day or two.” He yawned again. “Learned how to make it back when I was obsessively training to keep you all safe. Takes a lot out of you though.”
“We just said that reverting back would be bad for you,” Wukong said with a scowl. “Please don’t expend your energy like that again or it will happen before we get you healed up.”
“Sorry.” Tang shook his head to try and chase the tiredness away, but scowled as his ears went flopping over his face again. “Stupid ears. I’m starting to think they’re more trouble than they’re worth.”
“I thought you liked them?” Sandy said as he prepared a dropper for the elixir.
“I like how they look,” Tang clarified. “But they get in the way whenever I shake my head or lean over something. I’ve also noticed that while I can hear things in front of or behind me a lot better, things directly to my side are actually muffled. Now there’s the possibility of them getting infected more often than not.
“I… I think I’m probably going to switch them to the erect style.”
“You sure?” Pigsy asked, taking Tang’s hand and squeezing it in reassurance. “I know you were pretty excited about them being this way.”
“That was before I knew how much a hassle they were,” Tang sighed, wincing as the itchiness in his ear grew. “I’d rather not have to deal with them getting infected again if I don’t have to.”
“Well, it’s your choice.”
“Right. Wukong?”
“Yeah?” The Monkey King blinked. “Wait, you mean right now?”
“If you think it won’t use up too much of my energy,” Tang said. “I can wait if you think it will, but I would prefer to get it done as soon as possible.”
“Well… It shouldn’t,” Wukong admitted reluctantly. “It’s only a few small muscles that will need to be adjusted. Since it’s all external it won’t mess with your infection. If you're sure, I can do it, but only if you promise to do nothing but rest for the remainder of the day.”
“I can certainly do that,” Tang agreed with a yawn. “Might even take a nap out here once you’re through.”
“Ooh! Living room sleepover!” MK jumped up in excitement. “I’ll go get blankets and pillows!”
“I’ll make some soothing tea,” Sandy said enthusiastically.
“I’ll find some relaxing tunes!” Mei began typing away at her phone.
“I’ll wait here, like a sane person,” Red Son huffed.
“Might as well transform my ears now while we wait,” Tang said with a smile.
The transformation didn’t take long. Tang marveled at how he could now move his ears around freely. The muffled noises were no longer a problem and he could hear everything around him with a sharp clarity.
As MK set up the bedding, Pigsy helped apply the elixir with the dropper. Tang shivered a bit at the sensation of liquid flowing into his ear, but sighed in relief as the itching finally faded.
“Ooh, here's a good playlist,” Mei said. “Chill LO-FI Beats to Relax and Recover From an Ear Infection To!”
“Of course,” Red Son groaned with a roll of his eyes.
Tang snickered as Mei began streaming the genuinely relaxing music to the sound system. He leaned against Pigsy’s shoulder and pulled one of the blankets up around them. The others all made themselves comfortable in various ways as well.
Tang hummed to himself in satisfaction. The gentle music. The rain pattering against the windows. MK’s soft snickers and glowing as Mei showed him funny things on her phone. The smell of Sandy’s tea. It all combined into a wonderfully warm and cozy atmosphere. Before long he drifted into a peaceful sleep.
----------
Tang focused as he did his best to mold the clay into the shape he was imagining with his paws. It had taken two full week's rest after recovering from his ear infection before Wukong had been comfortable enough to start the transformations again. Once he was, Tang had picked for his hands to be next so he could get rid of the confining gloves.
It was taking some time to adjust to his paws. The fingers were shorter for one, with only two segments instead of three. The same was true for his thumbs having only a single segment, but were still fully opposable. Instead he had a set of claws growing out of each of his digits. They were decently sharp, as Tang had discovered after nearly drawing blood by scratching his face. He’d have to be a bit more careful and relearn the proper pressure to apply.
He had paw pads now as well. They certainly made gripping things easier than if they were completely covered in fur. His fingers were wider than he was used to to accommodate the pads. It was a bit frustrating for Tang for the first few days. He kept misjudging when he went to grab things. Being used to the normal length of his fingers, he would snag objects by his claws and send them falling to the ground.
After being banished from the kitchen for breaking a third glass, Tang dragged out the giant basin of clay he still had. He couldn’t break the material no matter how clumsy he was and set about messing with it to get a feel for how his new fingers moved. He grew bored of his stuffy room after the first hour and relocated to the living room where the light was better.
He was rather pleased with his progress so far. Three of the simplified zodiac animals he had decided to make were finished and he was near completion on the fourth. They weren’t his best work as he wasn’t using his earth shaping, but he could live with that. Tang was happy to discover that his new claws were very handy when it came to some of the more intricate details.
Tang’s ears twitched and rotated back as he heard hurried footsteps from down the hall. He looked up in time to see Macaque dash in followed closely by MK and Mei who were holding… feather dusters?
“Stay away from me!” Macaque was rather breathless as he jumped over the couch and landed opposite of the coffee table Tang was working at.
“You’re trapped now!” Mei declared victoriously. “Prepare for a tickling of your lifetime!”
“Stay back!” Macaque reached down into Tang’s basin and scooped up a glob of clay. “I’m armed!”
“Hey!” Tang’s protest was ignored as Macaque threw the clay at the approaching menaces.
“Eep!”
MK and Mei managed to duck down in time. The clay went flying and-
SPLAT!
-hit Wukong, who had appeared in the doorway, square in the face.
There was a stunned silence for a moment as they all froze. Wukong slowly wiped the clay from his face and just stared at it with a stupefied expression.
“Pfft… Bwahahahaha!” Macaque began to cackle. He glowed a bright purple while his six ears glowed blue, pink, and green.
WHAP!
Macaque’s laughter cut off as he was struck by the clay. Wukong smirked from where he had thrown it and laughed at Macaque’s look of shock. The black furred monkey growled as he reached once more into Tang’s basin.
“Uh oh…” MK said.
Soon clay was flying all over the living room. Tang quickly cast a dome of protection over his figurines to save them from the line of fire. It wasn’t a moment too soon as a wad of clay hit him in the back of the head. He turned and glared at a guilty looking Mei.
“I was aiming for Macaque!”
“Oh, I bet you were.” Tang raised his hands and they began to glow golden-yellow. Three spheres of clay rose from the basin and began orbiting him as he smirked. “Doesn’t mean I can’t get my revenge!”
“That’s cheating!”
Tang responded to her objection with a clay ball to the face.
Cries of success, shouts of surprise, and peals of laughter filled the air as the clay was flung back and forth. It quickly turned in everyone against Tang as he used his earth shaping to gain the upper hand. He stood in the middle of the room, dodging or catching the projectiles as they came at him. He did his best to redirect the clay towards their hiding spots, but mostly hit the furniture they were taking shelter behind.
By the time the basin was empty, both the combatants and the room were caked with clay. As the laughter faded and the adrenaline died down from the lack of ammunition, the realization of what they had done slowly crept in.
“Oooh, Sandy’s gonna kill us,” Mei bemoaned as she tried to scrape some clay off the wall.
“At least it looks like we didn’t break anything,” Macaque said and he uprighted a fallen chair.
“No, but I’m not sure this is going to come out,” MK sighed as he held up a stained couch cushion.
“Don’t worry, I can fix this,” Tang reassured.
“You can?”
“Trust me. Just try to stand somewhere there’s not a lot of clay and hold your arms out.”
“If you say so,” Wukong said with a shrug.
Once they had all found a spot to stand, Tang closed his eyes and focused. He began to use his earth shaping to sense the room around him. Lifting his hands, he began to turn slowly in place. He gently pulled any clay he could feel from the surface it was stuck to and collected it in the center of the room. After a few minutes he opened his eyes and lowered the giant ball of clay back into the basin.
“That was awesome!” MK looked around the room in awe. “You got almost all of it! The rest shouldn’t take too long to clean up now.”
“I’m surprised you even managed to get it off our clothes,” Mei said, examining her jacket.
“Wish the same could be said about our fur,” Macaque grumbled as he pulled out a tiny piece of clay.
“I could probably get it out if you let me run my paws through your fur,” Tang suggested.
“Please.”
Macaque sat on the ground in front of Tang while the others began cleaning up the few remaining bits he had missed. He reactivated his earth shaping and gently ran his paws through his fur. Being mindful of his claws, he carefully combed the fur with his fingers, allowing whatever clay he found to stick to his paws.
“Hmmm… You’re pretty good at this.” Macaque had relaxed into Tang’s touch as he worked. A soft purr began to emanate from him as he closed his eyes.
“Alright, I think I got it all,” Tang said a few minutes later. He blinked in surprise as Macaque’s purrs trailed off into gentle snores.
“Did you just put him to sleep?” MK asked slack jawed.
“I… I guess I did.” He looked up as he absently flicked the collected clay into the basin. “Do you want to go next, Wukong?”
“Sure,” Wukong said. “Don’t think you’ll catch me falling asleep like a newborn though.”
Unfortunately for the Monkey King, Tang’s ministrations were apparently extremely relaxing and he too succumbed to slumber.
“This is great,” Mei whispered as she snapped pictures of the two monkeys leaning against each other as they slept.
“Did either of you two want me to get the clay out of your hair as well?”
“And get put to sleep by your chloroform hands? No way!” Mei put her phone away and made to leave. “I’ll just take a shower, thank you very much.”
“Suit yourself,” Tang shrugged. He dismissed the protective dome around the coffee table and picked up the figurine he had been working on.
“Uh…”
Tang looked up and found MK standing there. He was shuffling from side to side and didn’t seem to know where to put his hands.
“Yes, MK?”
“I… I wouldn’t mind you getting the clay out of my hair.”
“Oh.” Tang smiled as he put the figure back down. “Well then come over here and we’ll get started.”
Some hours later, Tang dimmed the lights of the living room as he left so it wouldn’t disturb its three sleeping occupants. On the coffee table rested a full set of the twelve zodiac animals.
----------
Tang examined himself in the mirror and frowned. It only took one week this time for Wukong to agree to move on from transforming just his hands. Now his entire torso was transformed. Outside of being covered in the same chocolate brown fur, he didn’t feel much different. Wukong mentioned something about a flexible spine and sturdier arms for running. Tang hadn’t made it that far in his own studies to really understand what he meant.
He probably should have asked some clarifying questions. However, with more of his body being transformed at once came the price of having to spend more energy to do so. Tang had needed some food and a nap right after they had finished. He had only woken up a few minutes ago in fact. This was his first chance to see how he looked.
Tang didn’t consider himself exceedingly vain. Yet as he looked at how uniform his fur was in his reflection, he couldn’t help but feel a bit dissatisfied. Being the same color all over felt… Bland. Boring. Maybe even unimpressive. Not that he wanted to stand out in a crowd like a flashing neon sign. He just wanted something to break up his silhouette.
Luckily he had time to figure out what he wanted. He could even experiment a bit with a spell that changed the color of one’s hair. It should work just as well on fur and since it was completely cosmetic it wouldn’t mess with his transformation.
First he would need to figure out what pattern his secondary coat color would be. Using a bright neon green to mark it out, he began to play around with some options.
Just his chest? A good start but not enough.
Chest and abdomen? Better. Perhaps it could extend past his waist once fully transformed.
Ears? Unlike the lop ears his erect ears didn’t have fur on the inner side and had exposed pink skin. They were rimmed with fur however. Something to think about.
Arms? Hmm… Maybe just the undersides?
Tang sighed as more and more options seemed to come to mind. This was trickier than he thought. He should probably pick a color first before he decides on a pattern anyway. That way he would know if where he was deciding to change his fur would look good with it. The bright neon green wasn’t really helping.
Sticking with just changing his chest and abdomen for now, Tang started to cycle through various colors.
Red? Very striking. But also very noticeable. It looked a bit too much like he was bleeding all over.
Yellow? It matched the brown very well. But he was honestly sick of the color. That was a no.
Cream? Nope nope nope nope nope nope! That had been way too close to white for his tastes. That was one color he hoped his fur never became.
Tan? Better than cream at least. But it was still somewhat bland.
Pink? Probably a softer shade than that. Yes, that was nice. It reminded him of Neapolitan ice cream though.
Purple? It didn’t look bad. It just didn’t grab him that much either.
“Tang?” Pigsy called as he knocked on the bathroom door.
“Come in,” Tang answered absently. What if it was lavender instead?
“It’s almost time for lunch,” Pigsy said as he opened the door. He blinked as he watched the fur on Tang’s front change from lavender to deep violet. “Uh, what’s up with your fur?”
“Hmm? Oh, sorry.” Tang canceled the color changing spell, reverting to chocolate brown. “I just think being a single color all over is a bit boring,” he said with a sigh. “I was testing to see what secondary color I might want to try.”
“Not having much luck?”
“Not yet.”
“Well I ain’t good at this kind of stuff,” Pigsy admitted. “I’m not artsy like MK.”
“That’s alright,” Tang reassured his partner as he stretched. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Why don’t you look at some actual rabbit breeds?” Pigsy suggested as he stepped aside to let Tang exit the bathroom. “Maybe you’ll get inspired.”
“Not a bad idea, actually,” Tang said as he pulled on a shirt. “But that can wait until after lunch. I’m starving!”
“Ha! Never known a time when you weren’t!”
----------
Tang carefully walked around the clearing on his new legs. It had been a bit hard to convince Wukong to skip the plantigrade shaped feet and jump straight to digitigrade. He had tried convincing the scholar that it would take too long to adjust to them, but Tang had insisted. He had already given up on one of his preferred traits with the lop ears. He wanted to at least try before dismissing another.
The next month had been rather laborious. Standing was actually a little painful at the start as he wasn’t used to balancing all of his weight on just his toes. Walking was out of the question. He had spent most of the first week sitting in bed stretching and massaging his feet to get a feel for them. Luckily he had his studies on anatomy to keep him occupied.
Sandy, the wonderful friend that he was, had come through and constructed a water tank with a treadmill that was commonly used in physiotherapy. The first few sessions had been utterly exhausting. Wukong had nearly put his foot down and called the whole thing off after Tang almost passed out while still in the tank. He had managed to convince the Monkey King to let him keep going, but just barely. After a week and a half of consistent practice, and some rather liberal application of recovery spells, he was able to last a full three hours with no pain.
He began moving around the ship on his own after that. It was more difficult without the water to help hold his weight, but he managed to hobble around without needing too much assistance. He still grew tired if he stood too long, but that also improved over time. After another week he didn’t even need to hold onto the walls for support.
Tang breathed in the crisp air and smiled. It was unseasonably pleasant. Just slightly chilly instead of the usual cold at the start of late Fall. He was glad they had picked today to park the ship for maintenance as it would probably be the last nice day outside as Winter loomed closer.
“Hey, Tang!”
Tang looked up and waved as MK and Mei approached. He had to actually look down a bit as they came near, thanks to the slight increase in height provided by the shape of his feet. It was a bit strange being the second tallest after Sandy.
“Mei and I are going to race to see who can cross the clearing faster,” MK explained in breathless excitement once they reached the scholar. “Wanna join in?”
“I don’t know…” Tang hummed in thought as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I haven’t really tried anything faster than a power walk just yet.”
“It’s only about twenty meters,” Mei said. “A short sprint might be good for you.”
“Perhaps.” Tang stretched his legs. He had been feeling a bit restless just walking around. “Oh, alright. But we should get Wukong to watch just in case something goes wrong.”
“This is a bad idea,” Wukong grumbled later as he stood to the side of the three participants. “You haven’t even tried jogging yet. You’re going to hurt yourself.”
“I’m going to have to try running eventually,” Tang said as he stepped in place. “Might as well get it out of the way now with you on hand in case something does go wrong.” He stretched his arms up over his head and glanced over at the sulking monkey with a raised eyebrow. “Or would you rather I have to figure it out in the middle of a dangerous situation?”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Come on!” MK was practically bursting with energy. “Let’s do this!”
“Alright, alright,” Wukong sighed. He raised an arm in preparation to signal the start of the race. “On your marks.”
The three of them all took their positions.
“Get set.”
Tang tensed.
“Go!”
Tang shot forward as Wukong swiped his arm down. He kept his whole focus on staying upright as he ran. He was moving quite fast, to his surprise. He had known rabbits were built for running, but feeling the wind racing past his ears was an exhilarating experience.
Something told him he could be going even faster. That he could outrun anything if he just crouched down and used all four limbs. Lost in the rush of adrenaline, he decided to do just that. With a short leap he tried straightening his back to be parallel with the ground and reached out in front of him with his arms. A moment of sharp clarity hit Tang just before his hands hit the dirt and two thoughts blared in his mind.
The first was the realization that his arms and torso weren’t transformed right now.
The second was that this was probably going to hurt a lot.
Tang barely heard Wukong’s shout of alarm as his arms gave out under him and he went tumbling across the ground. He rolled for a few feet before coming to a halt in an undignified heap. Groaning at the new bruises he felt, he straightened out to lie on his back. He stared up at the sky as he tried to get his breathing back under control.
For some reason, he found the situation amusing and giggled. Probably a side effect of the adrenaline still coursing through his system. He laughed a bit harder when Wukong’s unimpressed expression passed into his vision as the monkey leaned over him.
“Well you can’t be too hurt if you find eating shit like that to be funny,” he deadpanned. His brow creased a little in concern. “Unless you’re concussed.”
“I-I’m fine,” Tang snickered. “Just… just a little bruised.” He accepted Wukong’s outstretched paw and pulled himself up. “That was quite the rush!” He leaned slightly against Wukong, still feeling bubbly. “I’m definitely keeping my legs this way. I can’t wait to try that again with the full transformation!”
“I was afraid you’d say that,” Wukong groaned. “Let’s stick to light jogging for now until that happens.”
“Can do,” Tang agreed with a chuckle. He waved over to a concerned looking MK and Mei to let them know he was alright. He hadn’t seen who had finished first, but he felt that he had won something himself.
----------
Tang panted a bit as he snuggled into Pigsy’s embrace. He felt quite content at the moment and basked in his partner’s presence. He giggled a bit as he felt one of Pigsy’s hands sliding down and began gently playing with his fluffy tail.
“Enjoying yourself?” He teased.
“Mmhmm,” Pigsy hummed in agreement.
“Well, I’m glad you had fun helping me test out my last few bits.”
“Is that what we’re calling it?” Pigsy chuckled. “I’d be more than willing to help ‘test your bits’ anytime.”
“You… you didn’t find it weird?” Tang asked in a sudden wave of self-consciousness. “It’s not like what you’re used to…”
“Yeah, it was different. But it was still good.” Pigsy kissed Tang’s forehead in reassurance. “You were good. Don’t really care what it’s like as long as it’s with you.”
Tang smiled and nuzzled against Pigsy’s chest. They lay there for a bit, enjoying the closeness of the other.
“Wukong says I should be ready to try the full transformation myself soon,” Tang said softly.
“Really?”
“Yeah.” Tang swallowed a bit, suddenly nervous. “He’s been quizzing me on my anatomy studies and says I should only need a few more weeks of review.”
“That’s great,” Pigsy praised as he pulled Tang into a tighter embrace. “You’ve been working so hard on this.”
“What if I mess up?”
“You won’t.”
“But what if?”
“Then Monkey King will help fix it and I’ll be there to support you.”
“But-”
“Shh. Don’t think about it too much. Just relax.”
Tang sighed as Pigsy began purring, unconsciously doing as instructed.
“Cheater.”
“Is it working?”
“You know it is.”
“Then that’s all that matters.”
Tang closed his eyes as he let the vibrations from his partner’s chest soothe him. He had always had a weakness for purring. He couldn’t wait until he could reciprocate with his own.
“Feeling better?” Pigsy whispered into his ear.
“Mmhmm.”
“Good.” His voice became a bit more playful. “Then how about we start test number two with those bits of yours?”
Tang responded with enthusiastic agreement.
----------
Tang took a deep breath as he stood alone in his room while in his monkey form. It was time.
The others weren’t very happy that he had insisted that he attempt the transformation by himself. Tang had reasoned that he needed to be sure he could do it alone, as he wouldn't have their support at the beginning of the next cycle. They had reluctantly agreed. As a precaution, they were all currently waiting just outside in the hall, ready to burst in at the first sound of Tang’s distress.
Tang shook his head and refocused. There wasn’t much point in putting it off any longer. Quickly disrobing, he sat in the center of the room and began to meditate.
He breathed slowly and evenly. He kept everything he had learned over the past few months at the forefront of his mind. He remembered the flowing sensation of his magic as Wukong had guided it. He recalled how each and every part of his body was supposed to feel from his experiences from the test transformations.
Once he was ready, he cut the magic keeping him in his monkey form and reverted to his base form.
His human form.
Shivering a bit at the draft against his suddenly bare body, Tang pressed down on the rising urge to panic and began to circulate his magic as Wukong had taught him. He warmed as it began to form a current through him. Keeping his eyes closed, he brought forth everything he had studied and felt over the past few months. He gently took hold of the swirling flow of magic within and pushed.
The sensation of having his whole body transform at the same time was very disorientating. The tingling all over was much stronger, almost to the point of distraction. Tang resisted the desire to grit his teeth as they were currently rearranging themselves in his jaw and willed himself to stay focused.
His skull elongated and whiskers grew from his snout. His ears lengthened and re-positioned themselves further up his head. His fingers lost a segment and grew claws. His spine grew slightly as a tail sprouted from its base. His feet creaked as the bones rearranged themselves so he would stand on his toes. All of this happened simultaneously and Tang struggled a bit to keep track of it all.
What felt like hours but could have only been minutes passed. Tang did his best to keep his breathing steady and nearly sighed in relief as he felt his fur start to grow in. He redoubled his concentration as he focused on the knowledge of how genes worked to determine the color and pattern of a rabbit’s coat.
The fur stopped growing. His bones stopped shifting. His skin stopped stretching. The tingling began to fade.
Tang kept the circulation of his magic up for a few moments more. Once he double and triple checked that there didn’t seem to be anything else left to shift, he let it go. Taking a steadying breath, Tang opened his eyes just as his magic settled.
He did his best to examine himself from his seated position. His paws and feet looked and felt right. It seemed he got the secondary color he had picked out correct. He could hear and smell things with the expected sharp clarity. His bits were all in order.
He shook his head at how ineffective it was to just stare down at himself. What he needed was to look at his entire body all at once. Tang picked himself up off the floor, breathing a sigh of relief as he was able to stand on his digitigrade feet just fine. He pulled out a strand of fur and blew on it, looking away from the bright flash as it transformed into a full length mirror.
Trembling, Tang stepped in front of the mirror.
He stared.
The rabbit demon in his reflection stared back.
Tang swallowed thickly as he examined the figure in the mirror.
He had managed his fur color correctly. While his face, paws, feet, and he assumed most of his back were the dark chocolate brown he liked, his front was a vibrant reddish brown that blended beautifully together with the darker color. It even rimmed his eyes and inner ears, providing a wonderful contrast.
His breath caught as he looked over the traits that he recognized from his human form. The style of his head fur. The color and shape of his eyes. His expressions. All of it combined together with the rabbit traits and the fur color to make…
Himself.
He slapped a paw over his mouth as his eyes watered.
Tang was looking at himself. That rabbit demon was him. And it was only him.
Overwhelming emotions rushed through him as he reached out and touched the mirror, the reflection that was him copying his movements perfectly.
Incredulity.
Relief.
Hope.
Peace.
Joy.
Euphoria.
Tang couldn’t hold back any longer and began to sob.
The door to his room burst open.
“Tang!” Pigsy rushed over and began looking him over, the others all close behind. “What happened? Are you hurt? Did something go wrong?”
“Pigsy!” Tang hiccuped as he grabbed his partner’s arm and pulled him in front of the mirror. “Look! It’s me!” He laughed through his tears as spread his arms out to fully present himself. “It’s me!”
“It’s… It worked?”
“It worked!” Tang threw his arms around Pigsy’s shoulders and laughed and cried in equal measure. “It worked! It’s me! It’s me! It’s me…”
“Well, uh, congrats and all that,” Wukong coughed, grabbing their attention while he stared up at the ceiling. The others were likewise averting their gazes. “We’ll all just, uh, wait outside for you two then.”
“Huh,” Pigsy blinked as they made a hasty retreat and closed the door behind them. “What was that about? You’d think they’d want to stick around and celebrate.”
“Pigsy,” Tang giggled, finding the whole thing hilarious. “Pigsy, they left because I’m naked.”
“You are?” Pigsy looked down. “Oh. You are.”
Tang couldn’t help it. He laughed. The euphoria of his transformation combined with the hilarity of his oblivious partner just filled him to the brim with joy. It felt like it could burst out of him at any moment.
He started to glow a bright golden-yellow.
“Tang, you’re glowing,” Pigsy said. “Literally.”
“Thanks, I didn’t notice,” Tang snorted. “Guess I- pfft- guess I caught the Giggle Glow. Let me just- hahaha- let me catch my breath.”
The glow dimmed as he got his mirth under control, but occasionally brightened as he continued to giggle.
“Okay. I’m okay. Let me clean up and get dressed then we’ll go celebrate with the others.”
“I mean, it sounded like they would be willing to wait a bit,” Pigsy said. He looked Tang up and down with an appreciative smile. “We could celebrate ourselves first.”
“Later,” Tang promised. “I want to show off my new self to everyone.”
“When you say show off…”
“Don’t worry,” Tang said with a smirk. “You’re the only one who’ll get to see the whole thing.” He shamelessly stretched his arms up over his head. “Once we’ve had our fill of the party, we can come back and I’ll share all of myself with you.”
“Sounds, uh, sounds good,” Pigsy swallowed as he stared at Tang’s form.
Tang snickered, glowing slightly as he moved over to the dresser to pull out some clothes.
Once dressed, he and Pigsy made their way to the living room where they were met with enthusiastic congratulations. The celebratory mood only grew once Wukong confirmed that he could no longer see Tang’s human form with his Gold Vision. The transformation was indeed permanent.
The revelation that Tang had somehow developed the Giggle Glow as well was met with some confusion. They had scratched their heads over it for a few minutes before they all shrugged and moved on with celebrating.
Tang could not remember a time when he felt so happy. Both before and during the cycles. A weight inside him had seemed to have been completely lifted.
He thoroughly enjoyed the party that lasted for most of the day.
He enjoyed the after party with Pigsy even more.
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As Tumblr only allows for 1,000 blocks of text per post, this chapter has been split into two. The read the rest of this chapter and see my closing notes check out Part 2 Here or scroll back up to click Next. If you prefer a completely uninterrupted experience, click the AO3 Link above.
Inverted MK has B. Dylan Hollis energy in that he bakes old recipes that sound horrid or bizarre when he’s stressed and then forces his family to eat the results with him. Sometimes they are pleasantly surprised, other times they’re left gagging in a garbage can. It’s a coin toss! SWK and Macaque aren’t exempt from this either but Macaque will eat anything you put in front of him while SWK, who hasn’t eaten actual food that wasn’t made of his own hair aside peaches for centuries, is extremely hesitant but goes along with it.
Ironically, though he’s super aggressive about others taking care of themselves, Inverted MK finds himself unintentionally neglecting to care for himself because in his mind, he cares for others so he comes second to everyone else. And he’s fine with this.
So like, Idk if you're still doing this but..... hey?
1. First impression: tbh i didn’t actually expect you to talk to me because your blog seemed like the type to just silently reblog my more popular kj posts and then disappear lol2. Truth is: you’re a very fun person and i enjoy talking to you!! and we joke about kj a lot3. How old do you look: like 14?4. Have you ever made me laugh: lots of times!5. Have you ever made me mad: nope6. Best feature: you have interesting au ideas!!!7. Have I ever had a crush on you: nope8. You’re my: friend and mutual!9. Name in my phone: n/a10. Should you post this too? if you haven’t already
Is it possible the reason why we are still getting recaps despite voicing our displeasure about it because they already made all the recaps? And the extra footage just doesn't fit anywhere in the plot line? It could also be that they are showing us scenes again to try and make us realize something that we didn't notice.
I don’t know enough about what goes on behind the scenes to make a concrete guess at that. It’s to my understanding that the staff is usually a few episodes ahead of every new episode, but never so much as a full arc/season. So I don’t think episodes 13, 21 and 29 were all pre-made; at the very least, 13 and 29 are too far apart. But that’s to my limited knowledge, anyone who has a better assessment feel free to correct.
Unless you’re suggesting that these episodes were specifically planned in general? This may have been the case for episode 13, but we at least know 21 wasn’t because of the apology issued by Directer Asano—he wouldn’t have felt the need to do that if all these recaps were planned. The fact that another recap came a mere eight episodes later suggests that 29 was also out of the staff’s hands.
So I don’t think the staff is doing this on purpose. But if we’re going to find a silver lining in all these recaps, then it’s as you said: watching them might make you realize something you hasn’t before. It’s easy to get bogged down by all the detail if you binge watch episodes, but just watching the recaps offers an overview of the plot’s key points. Recaps are good for casual watchers as well, or people who are starting Vrains late and don’t have the time to power through all 29 episodes.
