this job sometimes i swear

Josh is out of sorts. He just popped home for a few minutes after a conference with a student. Over the break, her boyfriend trashed her stuff and broke her hand and is now stalking her. The police are involved, and everything is as sorted as it can be on that front, but Josh is filled with an impotent rage. I know he is just seeing our daughters superimposed on this student. It sucks so much not to be able to do anything for these kids but listen and give them whatever small allowances are allotted to us like extensions on assignments. (I know they're adults, but every year they get younger, and I get older, and most of them seem like kids to me; most of them are the age of my kid.) This afternoon will be devoted to him figuring out with our chair how she can finish out the semester because of course she can't type or write and wasn't able to finish the assignments she was supposed to be finishing over the break and also she is fucking traumatized.

ETA: and then another student showed up to tell him that if she fails (spoiler alert: it's on the horizon), she'll be homeless, so he had to get her over to counseling and find someone who can help her figure out her future situation. *sigh*

So have some insta-recs. I read these yesterday and read them again just a minute ago because they are awesome and comforting and took me out of the darkness just a little. Hope they do the same for you:

Dig for Fire by gloss
Locked Tomb Series
Anastasia the First-centric
Glorious, fucked up backstory for John and the original Lyctors and Cavaliers.

The Irrepressible Radiance of the Homeward Star by gloss
OMC/OMC
Jaded Lowborn Mercenary/Friendly Nobleman He Didn't Mean to Fall in Love With
IN SPACE!!
What it says on the tin with excellent worldbuilding. I'm rooting for these two!