#best I got

[aeris-blue]

Charon found a little bird

[arrowmaker15]

*silence*

Steph: How did my dad react to you telling him we were dating?

Jason: He tried to shoot me, then I broke his jaw with the gun he tried to shoot me with.

[iceycloversart]

happy new years eve

[echo-lore]

Au where Macaque was the first to find Mk, kept him for a couple of years, and later gave him away to the only person he could trust once the lady bone demon started getting a little too comfortable for macaques liking.

Chang’e!

So Mks ends up getting raised up on the moon by Chang’e with just the bunnies and the stars as entertainment with the occasional visit of Macaque.

I like to think he shows up a lot in Chang’e cooking show but usually for special episodes as an example of what not to do as a beginner. (Chang’e had no idea why his so bad at cookings. She’s tried, she really has, and he can make some mean baked goods, but anything else and the kitchen will be in ruin).

Chang’e would probably get really sad sometimes and tell Mk all about Hou Yi (her husband) and how she wish Mk could have met him and how much Hou Yi would have loved him (as far as I’m aware they never had kids but do correct me if I’m wrong!) and she often brings Mk to Hou Yi altar.

She also talks about macaque since it is very obvious to her that that’s Mks favorite guardian, but she doesn’t take offense to it. So instead of growing with stories of the Monkey king, he grows up with the stories of a young six-eared macaque. Although he does know about the monkey king, considering that he does have access to the internet, but he doesn’t talk much about considering the one time he did macaque got really really quiet and left as quickly as he could.

Canon story wise- Mk ends up being more like a tourist by the time he meets Mei. He probably snuck out of the moon, made a deal with the jade rabbit to “please not tell mama” and found himself, freshly 14 and on earth for the first time in a while and his in shock staring up at all the tall building and lights that his heard off, and kinda remembers existing from the few time macaque brought him into the city when he still lived on earth. He probably ends up bumping into Mei one way or another (someone’s probably overwhelm and crying; could be Mei because of family expectations or MK because he didn’t realize how different he actually was, but they meet and immediately become besties cause they deserve each other in every universe).

He ends up sneaking out way more and chang’e does take notice eventually that the moon is much quieter than usual also because you know she’s in the moon. She can absolutely see the stupid shit mks getting into on earth, but she wasn’t gonna stop him, she’s just happy he has a friend his age!

He probably tries to hide the fact that the closest thing his had to a mother literally ever is the goddess of the moon herself but he does a shit job at it and Mei found out like immediately once they meet up again. He does on the other successfully hide the fact he knows magic and is really good at it. After all he does have a lot of time to do things back up there in the moon.

Also Mei brings him to pigsy’s on one of the times they hang out and pigsy immediately recognizes him as chang’e special guest and freaks out. He keeps it together long enough for Mk to leave back to the moon before he officially geeks out to tang who’s very confused.

Also Macaque probably realizes that mks in the city and also freaks out, calls chang’e to rat Mk out, expecting some sort of disciplinary action but all he gets is loud laughter and “let the kid live a little!”

Also also Mei introduces roller skating to Mk and mother fucker. Freaks. Out.

(ALSO Mk with moon and bunny jewelry. EVERYWHERE.)

[girljpg]

turning in my two week's notice today. scratch that more like four days notice lol

[h0ney-bee]

Anyway

[whrrlwind]

i am v nice to my son

[your-average-art-dealer]

🫵😑🎨💁🃏

write your url by only using emojis

🍅✨✨

[wishfulsketching]

Girl dad Silco is a source of endless entertainment for me

Extra doodles:

Someone save Sevika, she is in hell

[pangur-and-grim]

one thing that took me embarrassingly long to learn is "sometimes when people say things, they will not be true."

I used to tell people about this revelation and they'd be like yeah.....duh.....but like, why wouldn't my base assumption be that you're communicating to me in a straightforward manner. anyway, I get scammed a lot.

[erinmccomics]

Not to brag but my cats are Artists™

[Medium: Claws on rainbow scratchboard]

Remi works with a hesitant, erratic violence, creating a piece as light and fluffy as she is, and signing her work by hole-punching it with her teeth.

Timmy uses bold, strong lines to evoke some kind of powerful event, echoing his powerful presence and loud voice.

Nubbins, truly inspired, creates a high-energy piece that symbolizes the void where his brain should be, surrounded by chaos and mischief.

Kona, a reclusive avante garde artist, refused to work with me around. Only in quiet solitude did she create this haunting, introspective work.

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

bumblebees first day out of sublevel 50

[sillystringpony]

the one where cheerilee knows

[evercelle]

bust... or maybe i'll take it all!

[gio-utti]

Redraw of THAT scene.

My favorite moment in the game for many reasons.

Im always so proud of him for it.

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

I think the reader's response to this post is probably going to either be "That's incredibly minor" or "Holy shit YES I'M ALSO PROUD", depending on people's personal experiences with academia, but:

Today I am incredibly proud of one of my students.

In the interests of disguising identities, let's call them Ceri. Ceri is one of my third year undergrads (meaning their final year, for anyone unfamiliar with UK uni systems.) They transferred to us last year, and within two weeks I was giving them the contact info to get to Student Services and get themself screened for ADHD; they have some mental health struggles, but I clocked pretty quickly that they STRUGGLE with procrastination, and punctuality, and attending 9am lectures in particular. Naturally, as is the way of my people, it took them a further four months to remember to go to the screening. Lol. Lmao. Rofl, in fact.

But, they did it eventually! Their screening lit up like a Christmas tree at the ADHD section, and they got a free laptop and optional one week extensions and a study support worker named Claire. This has helped tremendously, and although mental health + until-then-unsupported ADHD meant their academic profile had slid sideways somewhat, with the new tools available and a couple of resits they passed the year and hit this year running.

Until, that is, the last fortnight.

Now, I take them for a Habitat Management module that has two assessments: an academic poster presentation before Christmas, and a site-specific management plan in May. Naturally this means we are at that happy point in the year for the poster presentations. I give out the briefs at the start of the year, so they've had them since October; I've also been periodically checking in with them all for weeks, to make sure they don't have any major burning questions. The poster presentation was to pick a species reintroduction project, pull the habitat feasibility study out of it, and then critique that study; Ceri chose to look at the hen harrier reintroductions proposed for the southern UK. All good.

Which brings us nicely to today! Ceri's presentation is scheduled for 2.30. At 11am-1pm, I am lecturing the first years on Biodiversity, while Ceri is learning about environmental impact assessment with a colleague I shall call Aeron. This means we are separately occupied during those same hours.

Nevertheless, Aeron messages me at about 12.

"I think Ceri needs to see you after your lecture," he writes. "They're panicking, I genuinely think they might cry. I'm worried. Are you free at 1?"

I say I am. At 1, I get lunch and sit in the common area; Ceri comes to see me. To my personal shame, imagine all of the following takes place while I stuff my face with potato.

Now: this part is going to be uncomfortably familiar to anyone who has ever tried higher education with ADHD, especially unmedicated. It certainly was for me. All I can say is, I never had the courage to take the step here that Ceri did.

"I have to confess," they said quietly, and Aeron was right, they were fighting back tears. "My mental health has been so, so bad for the last fortnight. I've left it way, way too late. I don't have anything to present."

"Nothing at all?" I asked.

"I've been researching," they said helplessly. "I found loads on the decline of the hen harrier. But it wasn't until last night that I finally found a habitat feasibility study to critique. Generally... I've been burying my head about it, and it just got later and later. I thought I should come in for Aeron's lecture, and I should at least tell you."

This part is a minor thing, right? But honestly, I remember being in the grip of that particular shame spiral. I never did manage to tell my lecturers to their faces. I just avoided. I honestly can't imagine having the courage it took them to come in and tell me this, rather than just staying home and avoiding me.

"I think..." they said hesitantly, "I know I can submit up to a week late, for a capped mark. I think I need to do that, and apply for extenuating circumstances. But then I'll have both Aeron's assignment and yours due at the same time."

Which meant they would crumble under the pressure and likely struggle to pass both; so me, being as noble and heroic as I unarguably am, stopped eating potato and said, "Let's make that plan B."

(It was good potato. I am a hero.)

So, we made plan A: I moved their timeslot to 4.30, giving them three and a half hours. The shining piece of luck in this whole thing was that this was the crunch time assignment - if it had been Aeron's, they'd have had to try and write a 3000 report in that time. But for me, all they had to write was an academic poster, and those things are light on words by design. We found them a Canva template, and then we quickly sketched out a recommended structure based on the brief: if it's habitat feasibility, look at food availability, nesting site availability, and mortality risks in the target release site. Bullet point each. Bullet point how well the study assessed each. Write a quick intro and conclusion. Take notes as you go, and present the poster itself at 4.30.

"You think I should try?" they asked doubtfully, looking like I'd just asked them to go mano-a-mano with a feral badger.

"If you run out of time, so be it," I said. "But your brain is trying to protect you from a non-existent tiger. That's why you've procrastinated - it's been horrible, and you've been shame spiralling, and your brain is trying to shield you from the negative experience; but it's the wrong type of help for this situation! So while you're sitting there working on it, hating life, every time your brain goes 'This is hopeless, I can't do it', you think right back 'Yes I can, it just sucks.' And you carry on. Good?"

"Good," they said. "I'm going to mainline coffee and hole up in the library. Enjoy your potato."

And then, of course, I had to go and watch the other students' presentations, so that was the end of me being any help at all. I spent all afternoon wondering if they were going to manage it, or if I would be getting a message at 4.25 telling me they'd failed, and would have to submit late and hope for an EC.

And Tumblrs

Tumblrs

Let me FUCKING tell you

They turned up at 4.15, fifteen minutes early, wearing a mask of grim, harrowed determination and fuelled by spite and coffee, and they pulled up that poster and started presenting and yes, okay, I'll admit their actual delivery was dramatically unpolished and yes, they forgot to include the taxanomic name for the hen harrier on the poster and yes, fine, I admit that there were more than a few awkward moments where they lost their place in their hastily scribbled notebook but LET ME FUCKING TELL YOU -

They smashed it. It was well-critiqued, it had a map, it had full citations, it had a section on the hen harrier's specific ecology and role in the ecosystem, it had notes on their specific conservation measures. They described case studies they'd read about elsewhere. They answered the questions we threw at them with competence and depth. There was analysis. All that background research they'd done came right to the fore. They were even within the time limit by 15 seconds.

You would never have known they'd produced it in three hours, from a quivering and terrified mess fighting the bodily urge to dehydrate via tear ducts. After they left, the second marker and I looked at each other and went "So that was a 2:1, right?"

I caught up with Aeron downstairs and he was beaming. Apparently Ceri had seen him on their way out, and had gone over to talk to him. Aeron said the difference between the Ceri of this morning and the Ceri of then was like two different people; in four hours, they'd gone from their voice literally breaking as they admitted the problem, ashamed and broken, to being relaxed and happy and smiling.

"I reckon I've passed," they apparently told Aeron, pleased. "Maybe even a 2:2. There's things I wish I'd had the time to do better, but I'll be happy if I passed."

They won't know until late January what they got, because we're not allowed to release marks until 20 term days after hand-in, and the Christmas holidays are about to hit. But I'm really hoping I can be there when they're released.

But mostly, I'm just... insanely proud of them. I cannot tell you how happy I am. And I know, I know, obviously this is not a practice I would want to see them do regularly, or indeed ever again, and it only worked because they were fucking lucky with the assignment format, but like... when life is just punching you in the face, and you hit a breaking point... isn't it nice? That just this once, you pull off a miracle, and it's fixed? The disaster you thought was about to ruin you is gone? To get that relief?

Anyway. Super super proud today.