THIS PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!! THERE'S ONLY OUTDATED INFORMATION AFTER THIS POINT, BUT IF YOU STILL WANT TO READ, THAT'S OK <3

Hello, dear traveler! My name in the fandom started as Yurike (Nowadays it has changed to Maria MaCoon). I am a furry since 2016 and I've been drawing as a hobby since I have memory. It became my full-time vocation since 2022!Nice to meet you!

I was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on Nov. 10th, 2001. I was raised by my grandmother and her bunch of cats. My parents were there every now and then, but I thank my grandmother for taking good care of me. I started to draw thanks to her; she always gave me the tools I needed to spend my spare time drawing the world around me, which involved my toys, my cats, her plants on the balcony, or whatever I could imagine with my childish mind. I was not usually able to go outside without supervision since it was dangerous; I realized over the years that my grandma was also overprotecting me.
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I always got the goal of traveling around the world and seek for even more knowledge and experiences; books are great, but nothing compares to having real interaction with the locals, meeting museums, and evaluating the reality of each country and region of the world. I wanted to learn diverse languages and keep doing what I love, and that's art!
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However, I wasn't super social due to many events during my childhood and teenage years. On the other hand, I've always been fascinated with typical games/interests of my generation (Does Club Penguin, Sonic, FNAF, and Undertale, ring a bell for you?) I made some amazing friends online and in a small group at school thanks to my hobbies, I was always better at drawing anthropomorphic animals. Probably that made me a furry, of course!I created Yurike, I made a purple tiger as my first fursona ever!

Trying to improve as an artist was troublesome: I had to put a lot of pressure on my shoulders to accept either constructive or negative critics, keep drawing every day, and find new sources of knowledge and inspiration. I was lucky to find more furry friends on the way who helped me to get better at art step by step until I reached my last year of high school.
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My relationship with my mother improved over the years; sadly, it kept turbulent and toxic. I thought that was normal, some things never change, and I still loved her as a family member.
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I wanted to move to Argentina to study fine arts. Then, one of my aunts offered her economic and moral support to accomplish the same goal in the US instead. I found it tempting to take advantage of that opportunity and search for the desired "American dream" as part of my current family did, so I accepted it most innocently: trusting my family and ignoring the possible consequences. The process was expensive. I had to save and make money to accomplish my goal and reach my dreams. Working and keeping average calcifications in the last year of high school was not easy. I also worked on the graduation committee in my class. Hell yeah! I was even social that year I spent in Venezuela, my last year living in my home country. I had a lot going on!Thanks to the support of the family members who were interested in my future or at least who were let know, I traveled to Colombia for a couple of weeks to attend my visa interview and biometrics appointment. The student visa was approved, and then I emigrated to the USA as an ESL student preparing for College.

What happened after I moved to the United States? Jan 2020.My Aunt from North Carolina received me with her arms open; the first months were a dream. She lived 2 hours away from my English institute in Charlotte, NC, and 14 miles from her closest Walmart. Let's say she lived in a small neighborhood, each house was hard to see due to the dense forest surrounding them. We managed to guarantee my attendance by taking some special bus lanes and services, it was even great, I got a lot of good experiences talking with native Americans about a little bit of everything, we even exchanged numbers or saved each other's seats when it was time to go back home.My aunt was supportive of my future until the second month of studies. I started to owe her money and try to complete part of the monthly payments with commissions (I didn't have enough time to finish all of my commissions as quickly as desired due to study and also helping with the family business) At that point, my stay there started to be awkward and confusing; I thought her offering of staying in her house and helping me with my studies was different. Later on, we realized my mother lied to both of us with the terms of agreement.
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In March, everything shut down due to COVID-19. I had no idea how much I could disagree with my aunt's labor and business morals until I worked for her to pay debts. I had no days to rest; my aunt was constantly ashaming me for my own beginner mistakes, treating me straight as an employee when I was not ready, forcing me to keep her business as a dog breeder even when I had no prior experience dealing with animal medicine to at least provide them any treatment under better conditions, have to let her use me and my accounts to help her avoid taxes under her threatening towards me, having to see her being abusive with her dogs every now and then, even when she tried to give those dogs a decent life, she still kept them for breeding business and exposition only.

It was sad, and I didn't want to be part of it. I entirely disagreed with using the offspring of living beings to make a profit. However, I had no choice. I had to pay for my debts because nobody was for me, or at least none from my biological family. I had friends and two people who I considered my brothers online. They were all I got. One "brother" and my closest group of friends at the moment were problematic, they managed to have a lot of dramas going on somehow, and as an admin of the group, I had to deal with all of that thread of toxicity because I had hope, either on them as for my family. I got the same problem with both sides, no matter how nice or optimistic I tried to be. I was never enough to earn my aunt's basic respect, or I had to constantly be there for my friends while I wasn't feeling fully understood by them. And you know how social and family pressure works. If you don't do what they say or if they feel like you are not giving good results, they will tear apart your spirit.
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While I was dealing with the mentioned problems, I managed to finish my English course. The course was six months long, which turned into a year due to COVID. My passport expired before I could work on getting an ID or Driver's license, so I got no other paperwork available besides my American visa. My 2020 was a nightmare, too!
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Even though what happened, many of my friends were not terrible either. I even still hang out with the chill ones! On the other hand, my best friend (considered my American brother) has been there since 2019 and stayed the whole way. Yes, that's Timber! :D he helped me a lot to get through this and earn enough patience to save more money for my future once it was possible.
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By the way, I created a more personal fursona; I called her like me!, her name is Maria. I tried to make her look as accurate to my current anatomy and mood as possible. I still love her so much! She got many changes in around two years due to the "character development" It seems like I got an outcome of hard times: an entire evolution from 2020 to 2022. I am proud of it!

I kept having problems during 2021. I received terrible news from my aunt and uncle. They were not going to help me pay for college. The only reason that took me to this country got broke; my dream of becoming a professional artist got lost in a dense fog, even when I paid my debts! Life can be funny sometimes, right? After the sudden, my aunt still required me to work for her, and I had nowhere to go. I also refused to leave the country and go back to Venezuela. I applied for a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) with a very shitty lawyer recommended by my aunt (Why didn't I expect it to be shitty if it was from her? I was a dummy) My savings were affected by the process costs on the immigration system and also the lawyer fees/expenses. It was hard to wait for my paperwork and save money under the emotionally damaging conditions I was getting through. I was my aunt's only employee until she contracted one of her "friends" to help her taking care of her dogs. This lady was a senior with a huge desire to earn extra money to pay for dental surgery. It only lasted a couple of months until she left. She was treated exactly like me, even with more yellings since she was slower. At least she got the chance to leave the house we were in. She still relieved me; Vivian was very encouraging, and her help gave me enough time to think about my life and make plans that would be better for me. I wanted to escape that house.
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My mother knew about what happened the last year, but she did nothing to help besides "calming my aunt down" to not get too aggressive at me. I trusted her at that moment, she was "my mother" anyways, and I was afraid of my aunt, honestly... She gave me ideas about applying for colleges in Canada since I got an ESL certificate and Canada accepted Venezuelan passports, even five years since they expired. I tried that option since I was desperate. I got no results, as expected. Even when I spent a lot of money, I saved enough by the end of the year. My grandma came to NC to visit me and my aunt. When my grandma realized how my aunt treated me regularly, she got shocked and disgusted. It didn't take a week before my aunt expressed anger towards me that I needed to move out before she wouldl take me back to Venezuela.
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Timber helped me A LOT through that rough situation, and we created a plan B; there was no time to waste. We managed to search and find rooms for rent in his town close to Houston, TX. I decided to leave and live close to my big brother! We found a nice place in CSC; it turned out to be a critical success! I left that house in Jan. 2022 and started a new chapter in my life. I was up to take all of the risks once more to recover a bit of my hopes for the future, and my goal of becoming an artist. Thank you so much, Timber!

My 2022 was amazing, one of the best years to keep growing as a person and an artist. I turned my art into a full-time job since I couldn't get my paperwork yet. I received help from Timber to rent a place for myself. I took care of all the bills and personal payments with my art. I received support from my current friends, VIP and regular clients, and new faces who became a crucial part of my life. I improved a lot with my art and learned new ways of coloring, doing lineart, selling, and more! I'm having a lot of fun working on commissions; drawing every artwork is almost like a new experience, and every new idea is also a new world to explore! My social life online turned more healthy and safe, too. My first roomies were fun most of the time and gave me chances to interact with their social circle every now and then when I was free.
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Some of my family members have been very supportive overall; living alone is not easy, but I found it a relief although all of the problems on the way. I decided not to talk with my mother anymore due to all of the inconveniences in my life. It was for the best. I tried to eat and drink new stuff, celebrate the holidays as a native would, and wait for my paperwork to be approved and arrive. The paperwork came by mail between August and September but surprisingly expired when I got it in my hands. I couldn't fight that against the immigration office since they got a year delayed due to COVID. The office opened the renovation applications right after a couple of weeks; I applied for them, paid the fees, and still waiting until 2023. :)
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I've been learning a lot about American culture lately, and something about me does not fit; I often have those feelings of not belonging here, but something always feels off, I am not sure if it's because of the language or in the way people do certain things, or it's just the lifestyle in general. I miss south american culture more often than expected, but Timber is always there when I am low on spirits. Also! I moved to Timber's house, and now we live together as a family! It has been tons of fun activities and cooking now and then. I was afraid of covering all the rent, but it has never been a problem! yay! I can't wait to have a part-time job to pay my bills and keep doing art commissions, BUT THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT LET ME YET.

IF THERE'S ANYTHING NEW TO DO, II'LL LET YOU KNOW!