#lanterns float

Yeah! Thank you for your interest :D.

So, some small personal backstory for this headcannon, lol:

I am neurodivergent and particularly averse to certain kinds of sound, both expected or unexpected—I am also pretty severely vision impaired. Its corrected very well with lenses luckily, but what is not is that I have incredibly bad astigmatism that makes light a big issue.

These are two particular points that I've, lowkey projected onto him about, but his own vision impairment does not play a large part in why storms specifically are such an issue for Macaque.

His aversion and disorientation with storms comes strictly from his hearing. As weve seen in season 3, during the episode "Benched," Macaque does react to large, unexpected sound. He reels back and cries out in pain from it, and it's enough that Tang was able to recover and get a headstart in escaping him.

That kind of pain could also easily happen in thunderstorms. Thunder booms and rolls in a way that doesnt have a trackable rythym, it comes unexpectedly and loudly for an undetermined period of time. If you can feel thunder in your bones, that is certainly enough to cause Macaque severe pain.

The reason I say this effects his perception is two factors: one being the physical harm he's having to navigate through, the second being severe light refraction and reflection.

With having astigmatism, the amount of light that bounces off of everything in the rain is fucking awful. I'd imagine it's similar to what Macaque could go through in these kinds of situations.

It would be incredibly difficult to navigate your surroundings when bombarded by sound that makes you endure incredible pain, while also having your hearing impaired due to the rain itself dulling a lot of sound. He has shown he uses his hearing to navigate/guard his blind side frequently, so it is something that he instinctually relies on.

That kind of pain disorients you, and pain + overwhelming sound + constant light refraction from the water covering everything (or a complete lack of light, if hes in a rural location) would certainly impair you enough to have a difficult time moving around and adjusting to surroundings enough to keep easily mobile through them. I think having to try and move around while in this kind of sudden jarring of all of his senses in such an agonizing way would make it really difficult.

I also didnt even mention in full how thunder can be felt through the entire body, and that way that it can rattle you could make things worse as well. Loud and heavy bass sound can actually very easily make you sick and cause headaches, which, if Macaque is as sensitive as it seemed, could suffer from similar effects if exposed prolongly to it.

Hope this makes sense!

- humming is a big one for him to help regulate himself, but it's usually saved for when hes alone. it helps him to breath in, hum out, or find a simple melody. takes some focus off of bad trains of thought when they start.

- his nimbus cloud is actually extremely helpful. the weightless, airy and cool feeling releives a lot of stress. hes actually averse to deep pressure for the most part, due to being trapped under the mountain for so long, trapped in the furnace, the circlet, etc. physical pressure is suffocating, though Xiaotan has helped relieve this a bit by giving him more positive experiences with it in hugs and such.

- hopping, jumping, flipping, tapping, etc. you'll notice in a lot of conversations with MK hes continously moving around, and this helps him think a bit clearer outside of a fight. being able to move around carefree helps him drop his guard even just a little, and relax and be in the moment. when he gets genuinely happy, hes much more animated and it's difficult to contain. he gets guilt-ridden over this sometimes due to his experiences in JTTW, since his behavior can seem ungent.

- When he gets excited sparks come out of his mouth! It's a stim he picked up from Xiaojiao, they both do it. Hers is fire and his is closer to lightning or sunlight. It happens alot when they both amp each other up, shouting and sparking back and forth.

- He knows 1000 different ways to style Mei's hair, and is always the one to do it. It's part of the reason you always see them together; a lot of the time Xiaojiao comes and wakes him early enough in the morning for him to style her hair for the day before work!

- He has to cuddle something when watching movies; a giant stuffed animal, pillow, anything. If someones in the room he has to lay on them or be laid on. Physical touch is super soothing for him and helps him regulate himself in social situations.

- He loves holding Xiaojiao's hand! (and later Red's, too). It helps him feel more connected with his friends, then he can shake their hands with his when hes excited, and they can tug on him to communicate. He just likes connections and emotions are difficult for him to describe, it's nice to just show :).

- He only likes playing fighting based video games with friends to talk about it/parallel play with. Otherwise they get kinda boring. Games with aimless tasks like animal crossing, minecraft, pokemon, botw and more are something he uses to wind down and help reduce stress. He likes to listen to music on noise cancelling headphones to help reduce stimuli and get more into his games.

- Coloring! He prefers markers over crayons and pencils, but brings those out with him since they're travel safe. At his apartment he has dozens of different markers, thin-point to chisel, oil and ink based and more. He likes paint markers and highlighters alot, since he enjoys making bold art for himself.

- Doesnt do it every day, but sometimes when doing Xiaojiao's hair and he really wants to, he asks her to do his makeup! Its usually just a bold colored shadow under the eyes for a pop, and some liner above that to make everything seem 'cool' and 'sharp.' Eyebrows can be fun, too, but he doesn't need much else :).

- He only paints his nails with Tang. It's a tried and true tradition- if they change the color, they do it together. And by together they mean they make Pigsy do their nails.

     MK: "You're the only one with a steady enough hand!"

     Pigsy: "YOURE AN ARTIST AND YOURE A WRITER, YOU HAVE ME DO IT CAUSE YOURE LAZY!"

     Tang: "Noooo, its cause you pick the best colors :3."

    Pigsy: "....[snatches clearcoat] Gimme that."

Personal:

my posts - #lanterns lit / 🏮

answered asks - #lanterns snuffed

my hc - #lanterns float

my oc - #lanterns burn

my music stuff - #lanterns sing

Lego Monkie Kid:

#lmk will be all-encompassing, for every lmk related post

Dragon Ball:

#db will be all-encompassing, for every dragon ball related post

Ships:

Sun Wukong x Macaque: shadowpeach / 🍑🥭

Duos (PLATONIC):

Sun Wukong and Macaque: 🎭

MK and Mei: 🎮

Mei and Redson: 💸

MK and Redson: ☄

Macaque and Chang'e: 🥮

Beerus and Goku: 🍜

(FUTURE) Trunks and Mai: 🧷