#we were inseparable as toddlers grew apart a bit when we started school and then I moved away when I was 7

[dracolizardlars]

Extremely exciting and awesome news genuinely hearing that my early-childhood (like, from 1-5 years old) best friend is now working as a chemistry lab technician in a prestigious college :D I have barely spoken to this lad in like 15 years but that's so cool

[saqrqa3d]

I had a sobering conversation with a fellow Muslim mom yesterday on the topic of Muslim teenagers falling into homosexuality.

We had been talking about our eldest sons and how they are both fast approaching adolescence, with her eldest son being 11 and mine almost 9. We were both reflecting on how it feels like the kids had just zoomed through their first decade of life so fast, and were now on the cusp of the dreaded teenage years. As they say, "the days are long but the years are short."

I said, "We are moving into new territory with a new set of challenges. It used to be the challenge of constantly changing diapers, daily nap wars, toddler temper tantrums and fights with siblings over toys. Soon inshaAllah, it will be talks about driving safe, hanging out with good friends who don't smoke or do drugs or curse, not getting addicted to video games, and being careful with the opposite gender."

"Or...the same gender," my friend said. "That LGBT stuff is happening in the Muslim community too. Just most Muslim parents have no idea what their kids are up to."

My friend told me about a case she had recently stumbled upon: two Muslim girls from very religious practicing Muslim families who came out as lesbian lovers. These two girls had been a couple for a while right under their parents' noses, way before anyone noticed anything.

They had both been born to very practicing Muslim families in a large American city with a big Muslim community. Both girls grew up praying five times a day, wearing hijab, going to Islamic school. One girl was even homeschooled by her mom for the four years of high school in Saudi Arabia, where the family had relocated to try to live in a wholesome Muslim country. Both girls had memorized a good portion of Quran and had teachers they would recite to daily.

But they still became lesbian as teenagers, a couple years after they first met and became friends. Then it escalated into something else.

One girl had always been a bit of a tomboy, wearing oversized hoodies and cargo pants with her hijab instead of the abaya. The other girl was more feminine. They met through their families, because their mothers were friends and both active in the community. The two girls, around 18 years old, clicked and started hanging out as friends. Soon they became inseparable, doing almost everything together. It didn't raise any red flags because best friends of the same gender are always together.

Then the girls decided to travel to Egypt for a year to study Arabic. Their parents allowed them to go there together, thinking that learning Arabic in an Arab country was a good thing. The two young women, now in their early twenties, lived together in their own little apartment in Egypt and were alone together for a year.

A while after they came back home to the US, the nature if their relationship was accidentally discovered when a family member of one of the girls stumbled upon some explicit text messages. Then all heck broke loose.

The families of both girls were shocked, stunned and speechless. Their mothers cried. The families were racked with grief, debilitated by depression and confusion and guilt. The girls felt a bit guilty, but thought they really had nothing to apologize for and were almost relieved because the secret was finally out.

The two young women, now in their mid-twenties, are living together on their own in a new state, far away from their parents. They have a "baby," a pet dog who lives with them in the apartment. They are content creators on social media, making posts and videos about being unapologetically "queer and Muslim."

Muslim parents, nurture your relationship with your children from a young age. Pave the way for a deep, real, meaningful parent-child relationship. Set the tone for the relationship early, establishing open lines of communication from childhood. Nothing can replace this foundation that only you can build.

Don't rely on popular western "daees" or celebrity speakers to educate your children about this sensitive topic. This is a subject that these celeb Muslim speakers don't broach, because they are too much in the spotlight and don't want to be seen as bigoted homophobes. Some of the biggest celebrity "shaykhs" even make statements confusing the issues, implying that there's nothing incompatible with Islam and LGBTQ. Famous American Muslim activists and social justice warriors push, blatantly and brazenly, the liberal LGBTQ agenda of "tolerance and acceptance" for "all genders" and "all sexual orientations" because Allah is merciful. No one corrects them.

Is it any wonder that, in this mess of confusion, young Muslim teenagers are utterly confused?

Parents, rely on Allah first and foremost, and then do your best in the realm of parental efforts. Nothing can replace your love and attention for your own. There is no good substitute for your genuine care about the details of your child's inner life, thoughts and feelings. There is no adequate replacement for the bond you should have with your children, where the kids know they can come to you with literally *anything.*

Have frank conversations about sensible topics even if you feel kind of uncomfortable. Let your young kids ask you endless questions, and answer them patiently. Allow your children to mess up and then come to you to admit their mistakes, without you flying into a rage. Let your kids, from their toddlerhood and early childhood, express their real thoughts and genuine feelings to you, and find a calm safe haven in you.

You need to be a soft place for your kids to land.

This starts very, very early on in the child's life.

The preparation for the tumultuous teen years is in early childhood years, well before the start of adolescence. The window which parents have to instill character and habits and righteousness into their children is jarringly short--and then that window closes.

May Allah grant us all protection against the fitna of the times we live in, and safeguard our children and the youth of the Muslim umma, ameen.

[cuddlyklaus]

unlikely || Damon Salvatore

Bonnie, Caroline and Elena had been your best friends for a while now; you had moved from England when they started high school and you just happened to be what they were looking for in a new best friend.

The four of you all brought something to the friendship equation - Bonnie was the level-headed one and always knew when you guys had gone too far, Elena was optimistic and somehow managed to find a way to see the light in all the wickedness that surrounded you, Caroline pushed all of you to still have fun and act your age because as she always says “We live in Mystic Falls, we can’t let our lives waste away only to be murdered in a mysterious ‘animal attack’!”. And then there was you, newly adopted into the close-knit family of girls, you were grateful but you were sure at first it was just because there was a “Cool new British girl in school”, they had taken a liking to you immediately and invited you to have lunch with them. A few weeks later, Bonnie suggested that you join the cheer squad with them because if Caroline was forcing them into it, “Surely that means you’re included too Y/N. We’re a package deal right?”. Ever since then, the four of you had been inseparable - like a toddler and their favourite blanket. You single handedly managed to think of solutions for all their problems; you even stopped every single one of their arguments before they went too far. This perfect balance of personalities is what kept you so close and sealed the deal of your love for eachother.

So when they first came into contact with the supernatural world, you was thrust into it alongside them. It was completely bizarre to you at first and you did not want to believe a single thing you heard or saw, but eventually you grew accustomed to what was happening all around you; the nightmares finally stopped and you even made friends with Stefan and Damon. Although everyone was happy that you got on with Stefan, they were not so sure about Damon - nobody really trusted him but you didn’t have it in your heart to completely exclude him from your life.

At first you would just try to involve him in the conversations that the ‘gang’ had about “supernatural pests” as you liked to call them. As time progressed, Damon started to notice the effort you were putting in just for him despite your friends’ disapproval - he appreciated it immensely, especially because his own brother couldn’t forgive him for the things he had done. Your kindness allowed an unexpected friendship to blossom; the innocent human and the big bad vampire. It started with you just saying “Hello!” and asking how he was when you went to visit Stefan, then you started to visit more often as Elena practically lived there now and Caroline was a newly turned vampire. Those friendly greetings turned into sporadic conversations when you passed in the hallway or crossed paths in the kitchen; one time he caught you sneaking ice cream out of the freezer which lead to a whole forty minute conversation about all the delicacies he had tried across the world, besides the human blood. Eventually the two of you shared a plethora of inside jokes which nine times out of ten left anybody who heard your conversation confused as to what you could even remotely be speaking about. Some nights you would join him at the Mystic Grill and eat some cheese fries whilst he enjoyed his drink - Matt would left confused as to what you guys even had left to talk about considering how much time you spent together. Finally you reached the point in your friendship where you most likely knew everything about the other, no boundaries and definitely no judging.

Despite being close to Damon, you still had plenty of time left for your girls. Damon was often shoved out of your apartment to allow you and the girls space to gossip and study. Much to your dismay, gossiping was the favourable choice in their eyes; it’s not that you didn’t enjoy gossiping (because who doesn’t) but they liked to gossip about each other with each other.

One night Elena had arrived early and decided to help you with making the triple chocolate cookies - with no shame you admitted you had already been nibbling at the mixture so only ten out of the twelve cookies actually made it to the oven.

“So, tell me Y/N. How is the infamous Damon doing? Is he treating you well.” she giggled.

You let out a light-hearted sigh and poked her in the side for asking such a silly question, “Elena! You ask as if we’re a married couple, we’re friends. Plus you’ve been dating his brother for how many years now? I think you know he’s a good person when surrounded by good people.” you explained.

She smiled at you and said, “I’ll take that as a ‘Yes he is treating me well’ then.”

A few minutes passed before Caroline and Bonnie entered your apartment holding plastic bags which undoubtedly contained piles of junk food that none of you needed - it would probably last in your cupboards for about two months, you always seemed to over buy on your fortnightly sleepovers. You engulfed each other in a giant group hug before you shuffled off to the kitchen to get the cookies that smelled a bit over cooked from where you were standing.

Hours had gone by and you were now the only one left awake; leave it to you to eat so much sugar that you can’t sleep. Your body started to involuntarily fidget as you became impatient with your own restlessness. The sleek, metallic phone in your lap began to vibrate and you silently thanked God that you now had something to do - an excuse as to why you were awake at this ungodly hour. Looking down at your phone, the name Damon flashed across it along with a cute selfie you forced him to take with you.

You answered the call without a second thought, “Hey, Damon. What’s wrong?” you questioned in a hushed voice.

“Sorry, did I wake you up Y/N. I was going to ask if i could come over, but I’ll just let you sleep -”

“No no, I was awake anyway. I’ll come to you since the girls are sleeping here and I don’t have much space left in my apartment.”, you reasoned.

“You don’t have to, especially if the girls are there. I’ll just speak to you tomorrow.”

“Damon. You called me at 3:14 in the morning, it must be important to you and that sure as hell is a good enough reason for me to leave my apartment. I will be there in fifteen tops.” You ended the phone call before he could protest again.

Deciding to leave on your sleeping shorts, you put a bra on and slipped a hoodie on top of your cami top - you popped on some converses and was ready to go. You quickly jotted down a note saying where you were and left it on Bonnie’s pillow knowing she would be the first to wake up.

The drive to the Salvatore house was short considering nobody was driving at three in the morning, and you walked straight past the front door up to Damon’s room since all the doors in this house were never locked - not smart if they wanted your opinion. Damon was laying on his bed staring at the ceiling, still wide awake. You removed your shoes and hoodie before assuming the same position right next to him.

“Thanks for coming.” He murmured as he turned his head towards you.

“No problem but do you wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

“I would love to, the problem is I’m not actually sure what’s wrong with me either.” He seemed embarrassed and you hated that, it’s not nice know someone so close to you felt so out of place in their own skin.

“Why don’t we have a snuggle and you can try to describe to me what it feels like?” You offered. To no surprise at all, his arms were wrapped around you in an instant and your legs were tangled. This wasn’t out of routine for you and Damon - although usually these hugs were used to cure your sadness, not his.

“I guess the only way I can describe it is that I feel as if I can’t feel any emotions,” he started, “but it’s not like when I have my humanity off - that is one hundred percent more fun, trust me. I think all my emotions are there, I just can’t seem to fully connect with them. That sounded stupid didn’t it?”

“It wasn’t stupid at all - and remember we don’t judge each other. I think I have felt something similar before and Bonnie helped me through it.” you felt his muscles relax underneath you just at the thought of him knowing he wasn’t alone.

“You just need to ground yourself,” you explained, “feel the sheets under you, feel my skin against yours, feel yourself breathing. You need to let yourself realise you are still here, Damon. You’ll find your thoughts and emotions melding back into one manageable ball that is no longer overwhelming you.” You spoke softly, calmly.

Minutes (maybe even an hour, you couldn’t really tell anymore) passed in a perfect silence before Damon pressed a light hiss to your forehead.

“Y/N, you must be a genius, a witch even, because that was purely magical.” He praised you.

You giggled at his comment, “I’m glad I could help. You were only gone for a short while but emotionless Damon was kind of a bore...” You joked.

Damon gasped, acting offended, “I’m sure annoying Damon is glad to be back too.” He smirked as he began to tickle you - he was relentless, you could barely catch your breath through all of the laughing.

“Damon, quit it or I’ll bite you!” You tried to wriggle your way out of the situation - you felt bad because you must have woken Stefan up.

“Wow Y/N, kinky! But you do realise I am a vampire so I do all the biting around here? I’ve even got the fangs to prove it.” He teased.

There was no doubt you would be knackered the next day, but in the moment you were so filled with joy and content that you completely forgot about all of your responsibilities and decided to enjoy this drama free moment with Damon. Why wouldn’t you? They don’t come around all that often.

[lifesjustdesserts]

The Story of Josephine Wingly.

It's been a while since I've really engaged with this community, hasn't it?

People barely know about me as it is... I might as well tell you all a bit about myself.

Where to start..?

Well, I'll start by where I was abandoned. It was around 1891.

My adoptive mother, Cynthia Wingly... had recently opened up her bakery on the third isle of Inkwell when she found me on her doorstep. Back then, it was called Cindy's Cakes and Bakes. According to her, I was probably almost one year old when she found me.

She was a middle-aged blackbird who always dressed in a very old-fashioned way, and I always called her "Gram" throughout my life.

Yeah, go ahead and laugh. She wasn't fond of the name, but eventually grew to it. Anyways, I don't remember my birth mother or father. Gram said that the night she found me, she noticed that someone was running away from the bakery.. and that I had a note pinned to my baby dress. It simply said my name: "Josephine", a date - December 19th - and a plea to take care of me in the stead of whoever left me there. She then decided to adopt me, raise me, and love me as her own daughter. Growing up wasn't easy for either of us. Gram was balancing her brand new business alongside raising me. I had the same kind of childhood as most of the kids in our neighborhood had growing up during that period... although Gram was still trying to learn more about me as much as I had to. No other children in the city were like me. As a toddler, when I played with the neighborhood girls, when they ran, I tried to run, but ended up falling flat on my face. Neither Gram nor I understood how I was supposed to walk or move around at first. I only had what seemed to be a screw acting as a bottom half for where legs should be. Gram wondered if I was a robot at first, or some magical automaton. But eventually I learned to maneuver around in my own way, by being able to physically use the drill-like and became accustomed to it. ~ As I grew up, I learned to bake by watching and helping Gram make different cakes and breads for customers. Gram couldn't afford to send me to school, so I was home-schooled. At times, it got boring sometimes being in the shop all day and barely going out to do anything because of the work and schoolwork I had to do. Everything changed the night that she took me to the newly-opened theater to see the premiere of a new opera. I was entranced by the theatrics, singing, stage effects ... that seemed to draw me in instantly. I told Gram that night that I wanted to be on stage, to be a famous performer that people'd love, and earnestly begged her to let me become one. She was reluctant at first, but on my 10th birthday, she surprised me with an acceptance letter for a local performing arts academy that was affiliated with the theater. I didn't know till later that she had saved up a lot to pay for the application. Nonetheless, it was the best birthday I've ever had. We learned different things at the academy; the history of dance, what we'd be performing... mostly things like that. It took me quite some time to learn it, and my teacher was especially strict... and couldn't understand "how a gal with a drill leg managed to drag herself into the dance studio" (her words). With my ... well, body shape... I couldn't do most of the leg-oriented ballet poses we had to learn, and most of the other girls made fun of me. Except for one.

Sally Stageplay.

Aside from my Gram, she was the only person that seemed to have any faith in me. She was a year younger than me, but she was my only friend during my time at the academy. She tried to help me get into the swing of things as best as she could to dance like the other girls... but I often messed up, and the girls usually made fun of me. One day, when we were taking a break outside, Sally and I were playing around on the monkey bars, and when I was swinging around, she and I both attempted to dismount. While Sally flew up and landed down face-first in the sand, I managed to somehow keep my balance when I was doing a handstand on the monkey bars.

It certainly got everyone's attention. Sally and I were both surprised, and I was staying upside down for a good minute before swung off the monkey bars and dismounted perfectly on point.

My teacher... and I myself... started realizing my talents, and I managed to get a handle on my dancing. Over the years, I'd be practicing my own form of dancing, and I eventually started getting singing lessons on the side for fun. In the meantime, Sally and I stayed the best of friends.

When I turned 18, Sally and I graduated from the academy (people were impressed that Sally graduated at a younger age than most girls). We were practically inseparable; we started off as background dancers, spent birthday parties together, nothing could split us apart. We were often 'rivals' (mostly for show by the director), since she and I would be cast back-and-forth with starring and supporting roles.

When I wasn't performing at the theater, I was helping Gram with the bakery. She supported me as best as she could, and I wanted to repay her... I even wanted to put some of the pay I started to receive into supporting the business, since it wasn't getting many customers (despite Gram's insistence otherwise). Some people eventually recognized me when I was working, and started flocking because of my rising fame.

~~~~

Ever since I was a child, I was told by Gram never to go into the cavern that laid beyond the "ghost tracks". She told me that "demons spawned from there, and to never follow anyone down there". At some point, we started getting drunkards stumbling into the shop that we realized that they might've come from whatever was in the cavern. My life was sublime, I felt like I was on top of the world.

That was... until he came onto the scene. He was so handsome back then. Word was going around that he was working with a new business nearby and was representing them in financing the theater. It was typical of the girls in the theater to gawk and stare at the handsome gentleman waltzing around the theater. I'm somewhat ashamed to say I was one of them. I found out later that his name was "Dicell". I noticed over time that he would start coming to my stage shows and performances. I met him after one of my larger revues, when he came by to my dressing room to compliment my performance himself, and he even gave me a beautiful bouquet of roses. Over the course of a few months, we started to get to know each other... in secret, of course. Both for professional reasons, and because Gram was highly suspicious of strangers.

However, I gathered up the courage to tell Gram about him, and asked if we could invite him for over for dinner. She trusted me, and agreed to have him over. He came back with me after a performance one night, was a complete gentleman towards me and Gram. Everything went well.

Or so I thought.

After he left, Gram told me that she didn't want me seeing that man anymore. When I asked why, shocked, she told me that there was something about him that set her off, and she was concerned for my safety. I was in my mid-30s at this point, and though I've always trusted her judgement, I thought it was insane at that time.

Things still seemed to be going smoothly in my life, but I couldn't say the same for Sally. Even though we were stayed friends, her life wasn't going very well. Despite being in a loving relationship with her future husband, she confided to me that the lack of work at the theater was taking a toll on her economically. She was already behind on rent and was worried that she and her future husband would be left on the streets. Even though I tried talking the director into using her more and paying her more, he simply shrugged it off and didn't seemed bothered by it.

For a week, I couldn't find Dicell in the audience nor saw him after my shows. I did notice that he was chatting with Sally more often. I didn't think anything of it... until I noticed one day that they both came out from the cavern, with Sally seeming very happy and excited over something.

After Sally left, I confronted Dicell and asked about what was going on with them, and he said with a straight face that nothing was going on. ~~~ I haven't been the same after... after I was essentially given the boot. After nearly 17 years. It was as if overnight that Sally Stageplay started getting more billings for performances at the theater. I was obviously happy for her... but then my workload and pay started decreasing. I was shy of 35 when the director essentially told me:

"Look, Jo... you've been doing a heckuva job getting money flowin' for this theater... but we've really need... well, younger blood to keep this place afloat. And to be frank... the reviews with you haven't been too friendly lately... I'm sorry, Jo, but we gotta let you go. No hard feelins'."

It was as if my entire world was crumbling in on me. Attempting to swallow my pride, I bid farewell to my friends, co-workers, everyone... and simply wished them all the best. They seemed sad to see me go.

But I couldn't find Sally anywhere. Or Dicell. Gram was sympathetic, despite me feeling as if all the work I've put into this wondrous life I've made for myself, and the sacrifices Gram made for me to get there had all gone to waste within an instant. After getting booted from the theater, I stayed full-time to help Gram with the bakery for the last 6 years of her life. We started seeing less and less customers. I stopped hearing from Dicell, so we lost touch. Gram's health started getting worse. She went through a near-fatal heart attack and was no longer able to operate the bakery, thus I inherited the shop and began doing all the physical labor while she handled finances. I never could figure out how Sally rose to fame that fast.

Until the day the Cup-brothers stopped by our bakery.

This was around the time that they were hunting the debtors of the Devil's Casino and reclaiming their soul contracts. They both came in, much to Gram's delight, for some reason. She asked them what they were up to, as I got to work on serving a cake I recently finished. Cuphead told us what had happened, how they got involved in the first place (the poor souls), and that they were going after the pirate Brineybeard down by the docks. Out of sheer curiosity, I asked who else was on their list.

Mugman yanked the list out of Cuphead's hands and handed it to show us as they scarfed down the cake I had served them. It was a miracle how the scroll didn't tear in my hands.

                                      Sally Stageplay was on that list.

I was severely enraged. Everything that had happened to me, that meeting Sally had with Dicell, how we lost touch, how Sally suddenly became a hit sensation overnight... all the pieces fell into place.

I held in my rage until after the Cup boys left. When they bid farewell, I muttered under my breath: "Give Sal' a swift kick to the bloomers while you're at it."

Gram heard me, however, and criticized me for my language. I honestly didn't care anymore.

When the sun came down, I told Gram I had to go take care of something after closing up shop, and would come back as soon as I could. I ended up breaking my promise to Gram when I was told where Dicell - who now went by the name of "King Dice" - worked.

He had become the Devil's right-hand man. And I confronted him when I saw him standing guard at the doors of the Casino.

If I had a penny for every swear I threw into his face, I could easily flood the streets of Inkwell Isle III.

I told him I knew of Sally's deal with his 'boss'. I told him I realized the cause of the loss of my dream job. The last thing I asked him was: "...Why did you do this to me?"

He simply just smirked at me, and responded: "It's just business, sweetheart. Honestly, you should have expected this." I was confused.

He lifted my chin, and said: "Sally's been aiming for your spot for years, we're the ones she came to and we just gave what she deserved. Nothin' personal."

I angrily slapped his sleazy hand from my face. I could barely find the words to say anymore. Nothing that would change anything.

I had returned home in an angry, heartbroken huff. I noticed that the lights upstairs were still on, which was weird since typically Gram was always insistent on saving what resources we had left. I went upstairs to find her asleep in her rocking chair. I gently shook her shoulder to tell her I'm back home, and sorry for taking longer than planned.

She slumped to her side.

In a panic, I called an ambulance and she was instantly taken to the closest hospital.

Gram passed away in her sleep, at the age of 89 years. And I wasn't even around to say goodbye to her. ~~ A small handful of people came to her funeral, to my surprise, including Elder Kettle, the elderly caretaker of the Cup brothers. It turned out that he was a close friend of Gram's, and said he'd be happy to help me in any way I could. Things got calmer on the Inkwell Isles after the Cup boys defeated the Devil and freed all the debtors. I was considering confronting Sally about her deal with the Devil, but even stepping foot outside the theater brought back sour memories, and couldn't bring myself to face her.

My neighbors, bless their souls, helped to support me as best as they could. Over time, I renamed the shop to Swingin' Sweets, started focusing more on sweets and candies than cakes and bakery items, and hoped to make a fresh start.

*~*~* It's been nearly a year since Gram passed, and since I officially took over.

Business has been slow, but I'm still try to make the most of it. Just making it to the end of each day is a blessing in of itself.

*~*~*

I’m somewhat surprised at how this took to write, but I hope that somewhat gives you a better idea about who I am.

                                                 So... ask away.

(Special thanks to my awesome friend @lifeismarvelous for the drawing of teenage Jo and Sally Stageplay, go check out her stuff!)

All other art in this post was drawn by the ShadowMun, aka @ShadowGirl7, aka me.