#monkey see monkey do

[damnimhungry]

I think my favorite activity rn is drawing a whole bunch of different characters together.

My land of make believe just has a bunch of these cuties

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This art piece is important for the the next piece I'm going to post (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

[finarfinsfourcheeks]

my fav pics of them

🙉🙊

[misterrainbowzest]

KiLLiAN

[buttholy]

@caiusmarciuscoriolanus made a great post about the parallels between baby reindeer and half man and I very much agree! you don't have to watch it to understand half man, but I do think it will give you a fuller understanding of the themes gadd is working with. he's said that he was writing half man just before he was called up to adapt baby reindeer for netflix and it shows

there is so much of donny in niall (and ruben as well) - the shame, the sexual assault, the yearning for masculinity and the despair at its perceived loss, the inability to speak up about what hurts you, the terrible anxiety brought forth by what you think others perceive you to be, the attempts to understand your sexuality and trauma by throwing yourself in risky situations and the dismissiveness of those around you, your own worse impulses and how they clash against your idea of victimhood...

I really do feel that half man is in constant conversation with baby reindeer - specifically, I think it's in dialogue with its parent show, monkey see monkey do. donny found relief, acceptance and self-love by speaking out about his trauma and allowing himself to be seen and understood by others; niall and ruben destroy themselves and each other by burying their trauma and their shame deep inside themselves and letting it sprout roots that poison and mangle their souls. the truth could set them on the path of healing, just like it put donny on the same path, but they are too afraid to let it see the light of the day

[s0rr3l]

silly

@jeminiikrystal @blackknight-kai

[szynkaaa]

Billard pose ref here

Most recent brainrot is putting Kiwi and Oz into a modern AU. Monkey See, Monkey Do

Started out with Destined One frequenting the same bar to practice billard, while Oz is the resident pianist there and it just snowballed from there and now I have some backstories for those two idiots

🥝 Kiwi / Destined One

5th year medicine student. 25 years old, he started with his study when he was 20, took two years to travel around

Lost his parents and older brother in a car accident. He barely survived and was hospitalized for a long time. Selective mute since then

Uncle Shen Monkey then took him in and raised him

remembers the nurses and doctors fondly hence, why he also wants to study medicine and become a doctor later

Uncle Shen Monkey owns cocktail lounge / fancy bar called Flying Monkeys . Shen Monkey is also the barista also, and there are few pool tables available.

Kiwi spent a lot of his teen years playing billard, hence he is VERY good at it. Still goes to play and practice

Kiwi participates in local tournaments

also helps out at the lounge from time to time

Seems to be very popular among his peers despite being an introvert and loner??

his fellow students like him because when they ask him for help he gives it to them

the type that seems like a cold douche but will not hesitate to step in when he sees a woman being uncomfortable or being harrassed

kinda popular among the ladies, plus the fact that he looks really good when playing billard adds to it

probably gets asked out a lot, or phone numbers slipped into his bag

always rejects them because he got his sight set on someone else hehe

frequents @maiden-of-the-waters cafe a lot to study there

Avid comic collector. Wanted to be a comic artist as a kid....

🌟 Oz

Med student drop out during her practical years. 26 years old

parents divorced when she was super young. Dad moved away and remarried and has a new family. She has two half-siblings

occassionaly talks with the half siblings, but has not much contact with her father. Mom had full custody and essentially raised her as a single mom

typical tiger mom. Loves her mom but has a strained relationship with her at the moment. low contact

Did not have many friends as a kid, mom had a tight grip on her and her time and education. Started making real friends once she moved out for university. Met Yù @marcu-bug, Birdie @dunanana, Liyu @s0rr3l and Beike @maiden-of-the-waters and they are pretty much her only friends LOL

Started having piano lessons as early on. Had good promises to be a concert pianist, but ofc that is not a viable career path as per her mom

Studied medicine only because her mom wanted her to. She was VERY MISERABLE during her time as a student. Dropped out during the practical years because the pressure was just too much for her and she realized being a doctor was just not what she wanted to do. She wasn't happy with it, hence also why her relationship with her mom is strained, cause Oz was THIS close to finishing and then decided to ""give up""

Also her then-boyfriend cheated on her she caught him in bed with another person

And her great-grandfather passed away

overall not a good year on her mental health. Realized all she did was just doing what other people wanter her to do. Dropped out to take a break and just figure out her place in this world

works as a pianist at Flying Monkeys after dropping out. Shen Monkey pays really well and she also gets very good tips because. Helps out at the bar on days when they are short staffed to make some more extra cash

Gets hit on few times at work, but luckily a certain monkey is always there to look out for her....

🥝x 🌟

Kiwi bumped into Oz during his first year in univeristy. Probably when both needed to submit some paperwork for the univerity, Oz for dropping out. She noticed him carrying the newest comic issue of The Monkey King, and asked him about it

Learned really soon that he is a selective mute, but didn't treat him any differently and just carried on the conversation with him as usual, which he really appreciated

I wouldn't say it was love at first sight for him, more like the feeling you have when you're sitting in the plane and it is landing soon and you see the lights of your city below you and you know you are this close to home? Yeah it's that feeling.

anyway months passed and he hasn't seen her since then but she is always like there in the back of his mind

Uncle Shen Monkey telling him one day that he hired a new pianist which is nice cause they haven't had one in a while and that he wants Kiwi to be there to show her around the lounge a bit and stuff

Kiwi, not very happy about that because he doesn't really enjoy meeting new people, is then surprised to see that Oz is the new pianist his uncle hired.

Oz.... vaguely remembers him LOL. Probably takes her like a few weeks to go "hey.... have we met before???"

Suddenly Kiwi has a lot more time to be around his uncle's lounge again. Uncle Shen Monkey know what is up there. probably tries to play wingman

Enter the "and they were roommates" arc

Oz moved back to her mom but things are NOT good. lot's of fights

Kiwi overhearing one day how she asks Shen Monkey if he knows about any free rooms for rent to let her know

and whatdya know Uncle Shen Monkey does happen to know someone who has a free room

Kiwi. it's kiwi who has a free room that is sort of used as a storage at the moment. he doesn't mind Oz moving in there. Gives her a really good rent deal, where she is basically paying all the bills and that's it

Kiwi owns the apartment. His parents left a good amount of assets behind which he sold and then bought his own place

Oz is very grateful for the deal, because it helps her to save money and put aside to eventually move out and find her own place

spoiler alert that's not gonna happen lmfao

This is the apartment layout:

Oz has the room closes to the bathroom because Kiwi is nice like that. He'd move in an old piano in too for her to practice and play

at first Oz was very shy about playing because she doesn't want to disturb him when he is studying but he likes listening to her practice and play when he is studying

I think that before Oz moved in, Kiwi barely decorated the apartment much. The embodiment of only had the bare neccessaties in it. But once Oz moves in, it started to feel more like a home than just a housing for him to come back and pass out. I think the only real personal belonging he has is a good decent The Monkey King comic collectiona and collectibles

Definitely have a vinyl record player, something that Oz always wanted to have. She movied in with like five records in her collection, and Kiwi then gifted her a player, and the collection just grew from there

both are very much introverts, so they prefer to spend most of the time just chilling at home, on the couch together playing games or reading books

Oz does sometimes have her friends other to hangout

because both work crazy hours sometimes, Kiwi would go Flying Monkeys after his shift to pick Oz up and then they go home together

Kiwi doesn't know how to drive, never learned too traumatized from the accident. So Oz is the one who rents a car and drives when they decied to take trips together

Have a rule to put a sock on the door handle and text the other person to let them know when they have special guests at the palce

spoiler alert none of them ever bring any hook ups home lmfao

Oz does go on few dates but never brings anyone home because it just doesn't feel right

and Kiwi well, his heart belongs to only one person hehe

have weekly movie nights. Kiwi takes it personal if Oz binges a whole season without him

there is a lot more for me to share but then I'd have a massive essay so I will stop here.

anyway great chemistry as roomates. wink wink nudge nudge

[theweightofdivinity]

The era of looking up is over.

What’s coming now forces people to look in… and that means celebrity worship is dead. There was never divinity there. When the idols fall you’re left with yourself and not everyone can survive that confrontation. So they defend the spectacle. Excuse the abuse. Rationalize the decay. Protect the illusion that once distracted them from their own emptiness. Worship in any form has a cost. Those who can’t release it will go down with it.

[dunanana]

Here's my part of the Modern AU with my friends @maiden-of-the-waters @szynkaaa @marcu-bug @s0rr3l

My version of Birdie here is that she's a formerly Peking Opera singer who got scouted to become a world renowned popstar. But her fame is not without its costs, as she is trapped under a very strict and unfair contract her younger self signed. Will her friends at the cafe or a certain monkey help her gain the strength to stand up for herself and finally make music she can be proud of? or will she succumb to fall under the clutches of the corrupt producers?

MORE SKETCHES BELOW: FIRST MEETING!

It was love at first hit I mean, sight for Gold there (our nickname for Bèiké’s version of Wukong as her brother) He snuck in Birdie's room not knowing its not his sisters and got a surprise 🤭and ever since then he's been tryin to woo her in uhhh varying degrees of success?

Due to her circumstances, Birdie never really allowed herself to date. But I'd say she warms up eventually 😌

He's so pathetic for her and I love that 😩its karma for all the pining and unrequited feelins Birdie had in the canon verse-