Earth Monkey

Lunar New Year fell on Jan 30. Anyone born before that date belongs to the previous year (Goat).

Monkeys think faster than they talk and talk faster than they act. They can explain something complicated in three sentences and find the most interesting person in any crowd within minutes. Rules read to them as defaults: route around if possible, comply only when cornered. They come off as quick, funny, restless. What is hidden is that jokes are often a lid, and the loudest laugh in the room may be sitting on top of the least certain feeling. They are also the friend who fixes your phone, then explains the joke you missed three days ago.

Earth at a post station, packed hard by decades of carts and hooves, flat enough for anyone to rest on. People like this enjoy standing at the junction, greeting arrivals, seeing people off, asking after everyone's business. Their contacts are wide and news reaches them early; they can put two strangers in one room and make it work. The trouble is their own errand keeps sliding back. When the station empties they remember where they were going. Closing a day is hard.