#i left out the adult adults for this one

[wilteddreamsofbaldursgate]

Overindulgent father Astarion who tells his children they’re allergic to any kind of jewellery that isn’t made of the highest grade Dwarven crafted gold. 

It’s not even because Astarion might have a certain aversion to silver, no, he just raises his children to have standards, thank you very much. 

And it doesn’t end with shiny things, oh no… 

The Ancunín brood is known to be dressed in perfectly woven cotton, silk and soft leather clothes, no matter the occasion.

They’re seen playing with expensive toys, reading artfully illustrated books that certainly belong behind thick glass, not in children’s sticky hands. 

There’s even talk that one of the children is not as naturally inclined to music as his parents claim him to be, surely his lyre must be enchanted—the instrument certainly looks extravagant enough! 

And then there’s always this air of effortless haughtiness surrounding the Ancunín children whenever their nannies and servants are parading them through town as if they were perfect little dolls; objects to show off the wealth their parents acquired in quite the mysterious ways. 

So, it’s no secret that Astarion and Tav are pampering their children—some might say they’re even spoiling them rotten. 

And maybe they are, especially Astarion.

But he doesn’t see why he should raise them any other way, nor does he want to.  

When it comes to his children, Astarion has his own standards, and as long as Tav agrees with him nothing really matters. 

Because, these people, they don’t know anything about the Ancuníns. 

They don’t know that it’s not unusual for Astarion to wash out dirt and mud and strawberry stains from comically small finery, leaving behind only the memories of a day spent playing in the garden, chasing after ducks, picking flowers, lazing in the sun…

That any holes and tears the children’s clothes might suffer are quickly mended, making them look as good as new in no time. 

Nor do they know that Astarion doesn’t mind fashioning a brand new dress to match that of a favourite doll, either. Or to embroider a pretty vest with the likeness of that stray cat the children seem to adore, although their father would rather they don’t touch the mangy animal. 

No, those people know nothing at all...

“Not tired!” Astarion’s youngest cries; the vehement denial of her father’s earlier accusation is cut short by a telltale yawn.

The room still smells of fragrant lavender oil and peaches even when the bath water has already grown tepid, just one or two degrees above what Astarion would consider too cold to be enjoyable. 

Amused, he raises an eyebrow at the protesting toddler before he lifts her out of the copper bathtub with little effort. 

By now, he knows every step of this game.

“Tut-tut, my dear child, what did mama and I say?” Astarion kneels, quickly wrapping a soft towel around the child to keep her warm. “We only tell lies outside of this house.”

Unfazed by her father’s gentle scolding, the girl crosses her arms that haven’t yet lost their puppy fat across her chest, reminding Astarion a little too much of a very displeased Tav. 

Suppressing a sigh, he leans back to consider the pouting child, wondering what could possibly be upsetting her this time—the list is growing longer by the day, after all. 

“What’s the matter, dear?” Astarion asks gently, hoping it’s something easily fixable as it’s growing rather late. 

“Want apple!”

Decades ago, Astarion might’ve rolled his eyes—he knows exactly which stupid apple the child wants, it’s been haunting him all day—but once he started to treat his children’s problems as if they were his own, his life has grown somewhat easier. 

“Why, let’s get an apple on our way to bed, then. Would that be alright, Your Highness?” 

The girl promptly nods her head, allowing Astarion to pat her hair dry before dressing her in a clean night dress. 

She rests her cheek against her father’s shoulder as he carries her first to the kitchen to grab a fragrant apple and a knife, then to her bedroom where they settle on the cosy window seat, just like they do every night.

Soft moonlight is pouring through the windows; the child giggles at the way the knife’s blade is catching the silver light as Astarion peels and cuts the apple into even pieces.

“Here you go,” he finally says, giving the slice of apple one last examining look before surrendering it to the impatient little hands reaching for it. “A sweet treat for my little sweet. Doesn’t it taste so much better when we don’t eat it off the floor, darling?” And when it’s not crawling with ants…

The appeased toddler nibbles at the juicy fruit as Astarion carefully combs through her still-damp curls. 

Her hair’s getting long, he notices, knowing that taking care of it will become more time-consuming each day. 

Once, Astarion would’ve thought this task tedious, brushing out hair that’s not his own, oiling and braiding it for no other reason than knowing his children enjoy him doing it. 

But that’s why he loves doing it in the first place, he supposes.

Astarion can tell by his toddler’s heartbeat that sleep is about to claim her. 

The half-eaten slice of apple is still clutched in her little fist as he cradles the child to his chest, slowly rising from the window seat to put her to bed. 

He’s just about to lay the child down that the fruit drops to the floor, his daughter’s tiny hand clutching at his shirt instead.

“Thank you, papa,” she mumbles, more asleep than awake.

Astarion pauses.

He breathes in the clean, yet unique scent of the little girl that is forever engraved in his brain, the same way he knows under which exact constellation she was born. When she took her first steps, what her first word was. Soon, he will have to memorise her favourite colour, and what she likes to eat when dirty apples won’t be that appealing anymore. 

By now, Astarion knows this game by heart, knows that with every year that passes, he has something new to learn about his children.

And sometimes he wonders what it’s like to grow up with clean bed sheets and full bellies. Sleep filled with naught but warmth and happy memories. Ever open doors and tears that are dried by tender kisses. Living in a house where mistakes and anger are welcomed, safe. 

He wonders what it’s like for his children to know that their father’s love comes without conditions. Not now and not ever. 

Sitting down on the bed, Astarion holds his youngest a little closer to his chest, unwilling to let go of her, yet. 

He’s often accused of spoiling his children when most people can only just grasp the very surface of his love for them, the bare minimum of what he feels for his one and only, precious family. 

These baseless accusations are as unimportant to Astarion as the people voicing them.

He’s raising his children to have standards, wants them to take their father’s love for granted, to accept nothing less but pure devotion.

It’s the only way Astarion knows how to love them, the only way that comes most naturally to him. 

Astarion looks down at his little girl, now fast asleep, a gentle smile tugging at her lips. 

After all these years—all these children—he’s still in awe watching them sleep in his arms as if no harm in the world could ever befall them.

And it won’t—not if Astarion can help it. 

“No, thank you, my heart,” he whispers, pressing a kiss against the crown of the toddler’s head. 

When it comes to his children, Astarion holds himself to the highest standard.

[bixels]

I'm not getting into The Giving Tree discourse...

[faaun]

last night i got home kind of tipsy and very much in tears and my mother told me the force you exert to keep someone in your life is proportional to the force with which they will leave your life. if you have to fight tooth and claw to keep them, their leaving will be just as hard, just as harsh, and just as definite.

[whenthelightisrunninglow]

spent the last couple nights watching the handplates (<- @zarla-s if you’ve never read it) comic dub with a friend of mine :-]

gaster ^

[namaeekaki]

✨️🌈MISS GOLDEN WEEK BIRTHDAAY! 🎨🖌️

Buggy can handle a bit more of debt. It's for a good cause. the happiness of his daughter art assistant

[dat-lil-shark]

Just to inform you, guys. I’m intending that, for the majority of our Sparkling AU, it’s an AU, so it’s not about the characters when they are actually babies anymore. It’s basically about the whole entire TFP story except it’s set in a universe where there are no actual wars. The whole ��war’ thing is just some sparklings going into groups and play-fighting with their imaginations. Every character that ‘died’ in this universe are just either moving to another school (ex: Cliffjumper & Elita One) or got tired of the game and didn’t wanna play anymore (Ex: Skyquake, Dreadwing, and Breakdown). And all the human characters are all little ragdolls that are brought to life by the sparkling’s imaginations.

cause the actual show crippled me and this is my denial mechanism.

(read the tags)

[orange-artblog]

joking around was fun but now I did a ~final of Esther‘s design xp

she‘s a supposed Aim (post dark cream) x Axel (errorink) kid made out of the magic of headcanons and inside jokes (/j)

Aim is by @zu-is-here / Axel is by @ari-cuno

anyway I went and had some more fun with her

alsoo this

[luridcomixofthenuit]

Me in my very first class as a substitute teacher after completely losing control of the kids in the first 2 minutes

[bericas]

always an angel, never a god | the treatment of girls and women on teen wolf

[cornertheculprit]

okay so i talked in the tags of this post about how i think apollo and thalassa would have a sort of distant-ish relationship after a reveal scenario and i do stand by that but you know something i've also been thinking about because it's fun. how amara and apollo would interact. because she's dhurke's wife (well, widow now) and nahyuta's mother and in the timeline we were given they pretty much JUST missed meeting each other. apollo got sent to the states and then it seemed like almost immediately afterwards amara went on the run with dhurke. and because of that i would imagine that she did in fact know of apollo's existence—even if dhurke or datz didn't mention him at all (which i find extremely unlikely), nahyuta had only just been separated from his brother and he was a kid at the time. and kids are bad at hiding things. not to mention that the picture of dhurke, nahyuta and apollo is a thing that exists (and also dhurke literally says that he's got way more pictures of apollo than just that) and it's very likely that amara could've seen it and asked about it (and also, in the game, she does say to apollo: "…But I should not be surprised, considering you learned from… him." with "him" being dhurke. She Knows). and unlike apollo's distant questioning about jove and thalassa during turnabout revolution, when he prods at dhurke about finding a new partner, he actually hesitates for a second when he asks about being introduced to her. like he got shy or something:

Apollo: …Oh, so that's it! You're hiding a woman's photo up your sleeve. You don't have to keep secrets like that from me, Dhurke. You're an eligible bachelor now. But you'll… introduce her to me at some point, right?

he genuinely wanted to be introduced to whoever dhurke's partner was. and now that apollo's staying in khura'in i do wonder about them because there does exist an emotional connection (not to each other necessarily, but to their shared family. her husband's son/his father's wife & his brother's mother) that just. wouldn't be present with thalassa? apollo and trucy care about each other so much obviously but they've still only known each other for two years and were raised totally separately. this is a whole other thing. and like i'm also definitely not making this some sort of thing about "amara is basically apollo's mom because of the fact that she's dhurke's wife" because she's absolutely not and neither of them would think that way. for all they've Heard of each other they ALSO don't Know each other. and also like i said in the tags of that post: apollo does not need a parent. he's an adult. he reconciled with dhurke because he wanted him back in his life, not because he needed him like a child would. but he did also want to be properly introduced to dhurke's partner (and she's going to be around and present now! she's nahyuta's mom after all!) and i think because of that, he and amara would eventually grow to have a pretty friendly relationship with each other (despite their first meeting during the trial. lmao). i think it'd make sense at least

[frobby]

one of my favorite senarios to imagine to put yukio in is sending him 10 years into the future (with the exwires usually) and everyone from their class are like chill adults including himself working their boring ass exorcist job and hes trying to assert dominance over them as the teacher™ but they're all like bro why so serious?

[summon-the-divine]

Ordered a very special cake for my birthday 🖤✨

[orangedogsquad]

Happy Birthday Mr 4-year-old Henry!!

To celebrate, he’s played with the cat’s toys, had big snoozes, and has had lots of treats. Sorry that you also have a physio appointment today, boy, but your physio only works Thursdays xD

[jamescarstairs]

you know me i'm like the first person to be an advocator of platonic relationships and i adore platonic caryl but what pisses me off about twd/twd: dd is that you know the only reason why daryl is constantly paired romantically with younger women who have no chemistry with him and not have daryl romantically involved with carol is because they view her to be "too old looking" to be a romantic involved with him....

[roseverdict]

anybody else ever have the sudden realization that the reason they can never really get a handle on positive character dynamics between parents/guardians/caretakers and children without feeling like they come off as cheesy/oversaccharine is because their own parents kinda lowkey suck ass

because that realization feels wack

[raiiny-bay]

kiddos!

(used this old render as a ref)