#when my baby cousin was a couple years old (he passed while my cousin was still pregnant with her) she said to her mum that there was a ma

[tiredfox64]

I was wondering if you could write about Smoke and the reader have already been married and they have kids of their own (2 or 3) and Kuai Liang and Harumi decided to give them a break by watching the kids while Tomas and the reader go on a date night and when they come back they see Kaui Liang and Harumi look exhausted and lost while the kids are being rambunctious? Lol

Never Again, Not Even for Cake

Prior notes: I’ve babysat my niece once. I ended up telling my fiancé my baby fever was gone. Still looking for it. (I’ll get to the other requests soon)

Pairing: Tomas x Afab reader

Warnings ‼️: A child (no)

Ah yes, life’s pleasures. Fall in love, get married, have yourself a little family, the good stuff. Ah but hey, did anyone tell you have difficult kids could be?

Well, Tomas was a child once, but that doesn’t help. You did come from a large family, that helps. It was like living with bunnies. Even if you were the youngest there was always a cousin, niece, or nephew to help with. So you got the hang of this.

The first were a pair of twins, god help you. Two rambunctious boys who went behind their father’s back and learned smoke magic themselves. They aren’t skilled but they like to use it for pranks. And when they turned five, what do you think happened? That’s right! You fell pregnant again! This time with a baby girl.

So now you and Tomas have a family with a pair of six year old twins and a one year old baby girl. Take a guess, when was the last time you ever caught a break? Long time ago. That’s why Kuai Liang and Harumi stepped up and decided to babysit. That’s what good godparents do. You were a little skeptical since you never really knew how good they were with kids. But they constantly said it won’t be bad, you two need a break, you guys haven’t had a date in a while, etcétera etcétera. You caved, now the lovely couple stands in your home, ready to babysit.

“Are you sure you two can do this? You do realize the twins are sneaky? The little one found out she can grab things now.” You kept blabbering and Tomas had to reassure you.

“My love, I’m sure they will be fine. Kuai Liang helped raise me so I’m sure he can deal with the boys.”

“But-“

“We know the milk is in the fridge we just need to warm it up. She is teething so there are frozen teething toys in the freezer. The boys will eat anything and they like to sit down to watch Power Rangers.” Harumi quickly shut you down by going over some of the key points you told them.

“I still don’t think your use of the television is a great idea when calming the boys down.” Kuai Liang critiqued as if he has any say.

“It’s just a tv, Kuai Liang. Other parents do worse you have no idea.” You snapped back.

“Okay, love, I think we should get going. They look like they can handle themselves. Goodbye! Thank you again!” Tomas thanked his brother and sister in law before dragging you out of the house.

Finally a moment of freedom.

══💤══╡°˖✧🦊✧˖°╞══💤══

A simple dinner alone was already a treat itself. Not having to force the twins to sit down, stop fighting, and just eat their food was a relief. Or your baby crying in the middle of the meal and having to listen for a good minute to figure out what she wants. The worst is when she’s just crying for no reason and you can’t do anything but let it pass.

There was none of that. Just you and Tomas having a yummy meal. It took you back to the time when you two were just dating. You could never really sit down since Tomas seemed paranoid he would be caught sneaking out of practice. He’d always scare you by popping out of no where from a puff of smoke. It wasn’t ever a big deal and he’d take your hand to go get some food. You commonly would steal from his plate whenever you could but you would give something back in return. A trade. He was happy to see that you still do that even when you guys are now married. You haven’t changed a bit and he was happy with that. Not even becoming a mother could suppress your personality.

You still look as gorgeous as the day he met you and he still looks so handsome. You never doubted your relationship with him. Never doubted marrying him or having kids with him. This date shows that there is a still a strong spark between you.

Not even when the dinner was done did the date truly end. You guys walked, talked, and laughed together. Never even a mention of the kids. Oh that’s right, the kids.

“It’s getting pretty late. You think we should start heading back? We did tell that that we would be out for three hours.” You suggested.

Tomas took a moment to think about it. Yes, it was getting pretty late. Late enough that the kids might need to be put down for bed soon. But…

“Nope, I think they will be okay with us being out for another hour. It’s not like the kids have anywhere important to be tomorrow so they can stay up late.” Eh, good enough, may the date go on!

══💤══╡°˖✧🦊✧˖°╞══💤══

You and Tomas felt more rejuvenated. All smiles and laughter. You even felt good enough to get Kuai Liang and Harumi a whole cheesecake as another thanks for babysitting. You of course had to get the twins their own slice or else they won’t even shut up.

What you didn’t expect is to walk into was pure chaos. Your motherly instincts kicked in the moment you heard the baby crying. A cry of pain, probably the teething. Ah but Harumi looks like she’s in more pain. The baby had a tight grip on her long hair. That’s what you forgot to tell her. The baby yanks so she should put her hair up. Well at least Kuai Liang was safe from that.

…never mind the boys got him. He looked like a shell of his former self. His bun was so close to unraveling. At least nothing was on fire so that means they didn’t trick him into using his powers.

You placed the desserts on the kitchen table before running to Harumi. You forced your baby girl to open her hands and let go of Harumi’s beautiful black hair. It looked all messy now when it’s usually all smoothed down. You opened the freezer door and popped in the first frozen teething toy you could see. Immediately the crying stopped and she was satisfied once more.

Poor Kuai Liang, the twins are yanking at him and asking him to do more tricks. What is it with boys and arson? Tomas came over quickly to yank them off him, holding them by the back of their shirts. Looking around you could see the living room was in shambles.

“What in the world happened here?!” You yelled out.

“Why didn’t you say anything about them using smoke magic?” Kuai Liang asked in a tired voice.

“We told you they were sneaky.” You said.

“That’s not-!” He stopped himself from screaming at you.

Tomas placed both boys down on the ground again before scolding them into apologizing and cleaning the living room up.

“I mean look, you lived. You still have head on your hair,” You pointed at Harumi, “And you still have your sanity in tact.” Referring to Kuai Liang.

That was a lie they look utterly exhausted. Traumatized even. You’ve never seen these two that disheveled before. Hell, not even you looked this way after giving birth to the twins. Though their looks didn’t stop Tomas from asking for something else.

“Thank you so much for taking care of the kids, Kuai Liang,” he pulled his brother in closely to whisper something, “Could you come back next week? I want to take her out again.”

Kuai Liang damn near looked like he would kill his brother. He didn’t say anything. He just took Harumi’s hand and went out the door. They didn’t even take the cheesecake. Oh well! More for the family!

After notes: I’m sorry if this seems disfuncional. I ended up crying during my speech today so I feel off. I’ll be done with this semester soon. Only three weeks to go. Adiós!

[bcofl0ve]

new austin butler fan? start here!

hey there girl/pal/buddy/friend! welcome to the crazy train the endearing mad house that is the austin butler fandom. i joined the party after seeing elvis 2022 with my dad on a whim opened my third eye and have adored austin ever since. if you have any questions please please send an anon or send me a message, but i hope this post is useful as well!

media

congrats, i have a hyperfixation on being an update blog which means i have a masterpost of where to stream everything he's ever been in since he's started acting!

my personal favorite thus far is shocking no one, elvis 2022, but i'm really excited for everything coming out in 2024!

interviews

if you want to get to know austin the person outside of being an actor, i highly recommend checking out his episode of the marc maron podcast. content warning for talk about losing a parent- austin's mom who passed when he was 23 from cancer, and some allusions to domestic violence re: a step father. but that to say it's imo the most personal interview austin has ever given (and it makes me cry when i listen to it). i linked to apple podcasts but it's also on spotify!

austin's first ever interview from when he was 16 years old (article)

long- and personal, interview/profile via esquire from 2024 (article)

ruthie’s table interview - 2021 podcast with his good friend, chef ruthie rogers. some very sweet childhood talk in here.

austin butler drives greg williams back home (austin going back to his home town and visting his childhood home and elementary school)

austin butler plays with puppies - what the title says

in conversation: baz luhrmann and austin butler (article) - a very funny joint interview where baz and austin talk about filming elvis

austin butler @ the oscar nominees luncheon - the interviewer is jason kennedy, a long time buddy of austin's who also knew his mom. this was my favorite interview of awards season.

austin giving his publcist kate an honorary oscar - also from the oscar nominees lucheon press junket, so sweet! we love his ginger publicist around here (:

austin and lisa marie presley joint interview - lisa adored austin, and he mentioned in a different interview during awards season that when he was at graceland she took him upstairs for *3 hours*. if you're unfamiliar with the presleys, that is point blank unheard of for someone that isn't a blood relative. lisa passed away in january 2023 just two days after watching austin win his golden globe, and is very very missed. (lisa and austin at the globes)

another little lisa and austin interview, my personal favorite because of the hug!

so who's the girl?

austin is currently dating kaia gerber and has been since december of 2021! i'm working on a masterpost timeline of their relationship which will likely take...a while. but in the meantime the basics are that they like to make out in public while also being quite the private couple.

here is a very cute little video of the two of them after the elvis premiere at cannes and my favorite deuxmoi sunday spotting of all time- someone saying they were making out *in face masks* in line at erewhon.

like i said, they are veryyy private but that means the little tidbits we get are a treat! austin 'gushed' about seeing her walk in a celine show here, and here's a little clip of his smiley little self in the front row.

the two share a dog milo, who is the shining baby boy light of ausitn's life and came up no short of two billion times when austin was doing press for his ysl campaign this past summer. we love milo!

(and i also love that austin wears his gf's clothes sometimes, king!)

misc fun stuff

austin is close friends with ashley tisdale, and has been since the two of them met filming the movie aliens in the attic in new zealand in 2008. he's 'uncle austin' to her little girl jupiter, and they're also distant cousins!

speaking of aliens in the attic, 300 years ago in 2008 austin ran a little blog for his fans throughout filming which is just the darn sweetest most endearing thing to me. you can read the entries that i pulled from the wayback machine here and here.

some other austin-isms that i love

his habit of wearing shirts inside out

how everyone that works with him gushes about how kind he is

this little video of him when he was four years old

his dear sweet publicist kate having to hand hold his golden retriever self on track

the 27 he has tattooed on his wrist bc it was his late mom’s god number

and so many other things that would take me too long to list

if you have any questions that this post doesn't answer pls slide me an anon or a direct message! happy to have you here! <3

[cosmiclion]

I've been working on my Familiar AU more and finished another old sketch. Meet another of my OCs, her name's Maggie.

She’s like a wet cat and I love her. Also she’s Grell’s biological mother (I wouldn’t have bothered to make parents for Grell but I felt like they were needed to explain her personality and behavior lol).

-Margaret Katherine Müller (née O’Sullivan) -Irish -Born in May 20th, 1838 -Widow

Full backstory under the cut, be warned that it's very long lmao.

The following character bio deals with topics like violent death of a significant other, major injury and trauma, reproductive coercion, unwanted parenthood, child emotional neglect and eventual abandonment, and misogyny. Also I’ll be using he/him for Grell for most of it as she figured herself out years after these events and she views her past self as a different person (I won't be revealing her deadname tho).

Maggie emigrated to England with her elderly aunt and uncle and an older cousin, the latter of whom set off to work in a farm in the other side of the country.

She befriended a boy called Gustav, son of a German couple who owned a shop that Maggie’s aunt visited often. By their teenage years they were sweethearts.

When Maggie’s aunt and uncle passed away, Gustav's parents were delighted to take her in.

They got married as soon as they legally could. They did talk about children, but agreed that it wasn’t something they really wanted. They didn’t change their minds even after six years of marriage.

Their neighbourhood was peaceful, the only time they heard about anything unusual was when the neighbours started warning each other about a werebeast that had been seen roaming nearby.

One night they were taking a stroll through the park and that’s where they saw it. It looked like a starving stray cat, only as big as a horse. As soon as they made a move, the beast charged at them. It mauled Gustav beyond recognition and would’ve mauled Maggie too if it wasn’t for a group of armed neighbors that were patrolling nearby and shot it dead just in time as it was biting her leg.

The woman was rushed to the hospital. The doctors managed to save her leg, but said she’d probably need a cane to walk.

After some rehabilitation she was finally ready to go home and the doctor came in to give his final report. He said they wanted to run a few tests first but now could safely say it: she was pregnant.

They got home and she heard her in-laws talking excitedly. She finally snapped out of it. She didn’t want a child, she could never be a good mother. All she wanted was to mourn in peace, to be left alone. She didn’t want this baby and didn’t want this pregnancy.

You can’t just say that. Your husband has left you the most precious gift a woman could ever receive. We know you can be a wonderful mother. This child will bring us so much joy, please don’t deny that to us.

And so she complied. She kept telling herself that maybe this child would really be a beautiful reminder of her husband. And when she finally had the baby in her arms, she looked down at him and felt nothing but regret.

She still hoped that she’d bond with the baby over time but that never happened. Her in-laws had her come live with them and they didn’t leave her side for the first months. After a while they went back to their usual routine and the new mother was left alone with the infant for long periods, thinking What now?

The kid was spoiled rotten by his grandparents. Maggie did her best to hide her unhappiness behind a polite smile, but at the same time she just did the bare minimum to keep the kid alive and wasn’t really there emotionally.

Maggie thought that maybe she could endure this until the kid was old enough to not want to be around her as often, but BY GOD was it hard. One day he was being particularly fussy and, in the middle of a tantrum, she finally snapped and grabbed him by his arm a little too roughly. He broke into tears, shrieking dramatically. Maggie had had enough.

And so one day she finally bailed out. She had previously written to her cousin, who agreed to take her in to live and work at the farm without questioning her.

Her in-laws were LIVID. What kind of woman abandons her own child without looking back? They continued to raise their grandkid as best as they could, which meant spoiling him even more and turning him into an entitled brat in the process.

The kid started hating his mother. All his life all he’d ever wanted was to be hugged by her, to hear some words of affection. But he never got anything beyond some headpats and faint smiles and now she was gone, that whore.

It wasn’t easy for Maggie to begin her new life, but she didn’t regret it for one second. With enough time she got used to the demanding farm life and became happier than she had been in a long time. She never remarried and lived a long, fullfiling life.

A couple of years later, when Grell was rummaging through her grandparents' belongings to see what she could take before running away in search of adventure, she found a letter addressed to them. It was from her mother, apparently answering to another letter they had sent to her in which they begged her to come visit Grell. The last lines read Do not contact me about this child again, he is not my responsibility, I do not have anything to do with him anymore. In fact, do not contact me again at all, we are not family anymore.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

If you've made it this far then thank you, I might have gotten a bit carried away lmao 🙏🏻

[roseeycreates-blog]

more of farmer au, please! Who's Suyin's dad? tell us more about the gaang and their children? more of farmer Lin? what did Toph find out that ruined their relationship? how come Toph never found Kanto?

Aaaaahhhh! Thank you for taking an interest in the AU! I've said this before and I'll say it again, this makes me so happy~ ANYWAY, I'll answer your questions~

Suyin's dad is Sokka. Let me tell you about the complicated relationship they had. As I mentioned in a previous ask, Sokka was in a relationship with Suki while Toph was with Kanto. After Toph announced her pregnancy to the gaang, Sokka started feeling a little jealous because everyone else, even the one he least expected, had one. He proposed to Suki and asked her to move to Republic City to start a family, but Suki graciously declined. She loved Sokka but couldn't leave Kyoshi Island and her people. They needed her there. Sokka understood because he couldn't leave Republic City and his duties. They both chose their careers over love. Months went by, and then Toph lost her child and her lover. Sokka knew how painful it was to lose someone, so he offered Toph a shoulder to cry on. Toph acted annoyed and insisted she didn't need anyone, but Sokka's persistence won her over. He took extra care of Toph during that time, helping with the investigation and search for Kanto and the midwife. When Toph lost all hope, Sokka was there for her. Old feelings for her friend reignited, and Sokka began seeing Toph as more than a friend. That's how they had Suyin. However, their marriage didn't last. They argued most of the time, especially about Toph's way of raising Su. When Suyin was just 10 years old, her parents split for good. It wasn't a messy breakup because both of them knew they were better as friends than as a couple. Toph also knew that Sokka loved her, but not as much as he loved Suki. About the GAANG and the next-gen:

Zuko ended up with Mai and led the Fire Nation. They were the first to have a child, making Izumi the first baby the Gaang took care of. Toph and Aang spoiled her rotten with gifts and sweets whenever they visited. Katara and Mai often scolded them for going overboard. Aang and Katara had Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin. Unlike in canon, Aang never neglected Bumi and Kya. They always went on family trips, spending quality time together and passing down their Air Nomad and Water Tribe cultures. Izumi’s nickname is Zumi, but Zuko prefers calling her "my princess." Bumi is often called Bubu or Umi by baby Tenzin and later on by baby Suyin. Kya goes by her name, but Aang calls her "my baby girl." She loved it as a kid, but as she grew older, she wasn't as fond of it. When Su was born, Kya was relieved that her dad retired the nickname and passed it to baby Su. Because the adults were often busy, Suyin spent more time with her cousins. Additionally, she spent a lot of time with her father, Sokka, since Toph was frequently occupied with work.

More on Farmer Lin:

Lin had a wonderful childhood despite growing up without a mother. Her father often affectionately called her "Meilin." She found a second mother figure in Lei, her babysitter (also the midwife who delivered her). Lin cherished Lei deeply and once even asked her to be with her father, but Lei always declined, insisting that Kanto was just a friend.

Lin was a quiet child and not very social. She had a few friends from the neighborhood and school. She was known as the quiet kid you never mess with because one time, she snapped and fought off a bully who was picking on her friend.

As a teen, Lin became popular with the boys because of her looks, but she wasn't interested and found them really annoying. Her father would tease her about being tomboyish and say she was too intimidating. She would tease him back, saying, "Maybe I'll marry a feminine boy, and we'll run away and elope, Dad." This always got Kanto, and he would swear that no man would ever lay a finger on his precious girl and take her away from him.

In her young adult years, Lin inherited her grandpa's farm, including the existing workers whom she chose to keep on. Despite their assurances that they can handle things, Lin insists on personally tending to the plants. She also has a soft spot for the farm animals and owns a shepherd dog named Zhenzhen. He's incredibly loyal and friendly to Lin but also fierce and protective of her.

Toph and Kanto's relationship hit the rocks when:

Toph discovered his ties to a gang, later known as the Triple Threat Triad. They argued fiercely because Toph insisted on getting him and others involved arrested. Kanto begged Toph, promising to reform and leave the gang, but Toph remained firm. She insisted he stay free until after she gave birth, after which he would face justice.

Despite Toph's efforts, Kanto managed to evade her thanks to his connections in Ba Sing Se. With "Kanto" being a common name, especially in the Fire Nation, Toph focused her search on finding a firebender named Kanto within the Fire Nation. Meanwhile, Kanto played the part of a non-bender widowed father, complicating Toph's quest to locate him.

[endlessly-cursed]

Bringing Good Tidings, Part One: A Royal Ball

AN: It's here! A thousand times late, but here nevertheless! Tis not the 29th till the sun comes out, lol. This is a collab that Guzma ( @hphmmatthewluther ) and I have created for all of you. Do not worry, this doesn't contain spoilers from neither of our series and can be perfectly read! Enjoy!

Summary: Ten years later after the biggest events on Henriette and Lachlann's lives, the heroes reunite for a royal ball hosted at London.

Word Count: 1.2k

OCs involved: Henriette of Wessex, Frederick of Kent ( @that-scouse-wizard ) Lachlann Doherty ( @hphmmatthewluther ) Mathilde Coventry ( @camillejeaneshphm )

Taglist: let me know if you wish to be added!!

24th of December  

Henriette’s estate was chaos.

Servants ran left and right, some chasing the children while the others made sure that Lord Frederick and Lady Henriette would be presentable for their majesties and the horses. Henriette was used to this, although her dear husband was yet to get used to some of the customs. Adjusting her travelling veil and hairstyle, she looked at her husband, who dealt with the rather long sleeves. She chuckled, amused by how uncomfortable he looked in festive gear. She got up from her vanity and adjusted them. Freddie leaned on her touch, kissing her forehead “Thank you, my love.”

“Nervous?” She asked.

“About the king? Not really. But I am anxious about the feast… it’s the first time we bring the children with us.”

“I know. I am anxious as well. But we’ve worked hard to train them for court. All will be well. Besides, many of Hogwarts’ professors and friends will be there! Our children won’t be the only ones under scrutiny.” She realised what she said and kissed his hand “Sorry, my love. Being under scrutiny is not something we ought to enjoy.”

“It’s alright. This is how you’ve lived for decades now. I’d be surprised if you weren’t accustomed to it.”

They were about to kiss when a ten-year-old Odalric barged into the room, Juliana in tow.

“Mother! Juliana is misbehaving again!” He complained.

“Denegifu and I were merely playing, mother!” She retaliated.

The two of them looked at each other before each of them talked to their children “Tell me, Juliana, were you? Misbehaving?” Henriette asked calmly.

“No! Denegifu and I were playing tug-of-war and she lost. I merely teased her!”

“Is it true, son?” Frederick asked.

“She wasn’t just teasing! She started laughing at her and made her cry!”

Juliana turned to her brother “It’s not my fault that she’s still a baby!”

Henriette made her daughter look at her “Hey! Never say such things about family, Juliana! Despite what you might think of her, she is your sister and will be for the rest of your life, and you ought to love and respect her, alright?”

“Fine…”

“Is that all, Odalric?”

“Yes, father. I will go dress now.”

As each nanny took the children to their room, both parents sighed. Frederick shook his head “I know that, sometimes, children can be mean, but I worry about Juliana.”

“Me, too. I fear that there is somebody who’s pitting her against her own sister.”

“Let us hope that it stays a teenage rivalry.”

Lachlann was adding the last touches to his riding gear when an owl arrived. Without even turning, he asked his wife “Tillie, love, do you mind getting that for me, please?”

His wife, Mathilde, picked the scroll from the ill-tempered owl and opened the scroll. After a few minutes, she turned to look at her husband “Our contact has no news of Bruna. Still locked at home with the children.”

Both of them fell silent. Ten years had passed since Brunhilda had been married off to her cousin and whisked away for her cruel husband’s pleasure, and despite following them into a wild goose chase, Bruna herself asked the couple to leave her be for the sake of her children and herself. It pained them both to leave her to Wilhelm’s clutches, but they could do nothing at the moment.

A servant broke the silence by announcing that their children were already dressed and finishing packing. Lam smiled. If something had kept him going, it was his beloved family. They were all each his pride and joy, and despite the fact that at court they’d be heavily watched by the king, he looked forward showing London to his children.

“You know,” Mathilde commented “this is the hottest event in town. Not even a savage like Wilhelm would miss it. Perhaps there is hope for us to see her again before the year ends.”

She was right. The last time they saw her, they had all been in a royal hunt, and Brunhilda had looked pale and tired. Nothing like the energetic and vivacious young woman that they both had loved. She had been left behind in the hut to take care of her daughters while Wilhelm showed off his son in the hunt. Lam could speak for him and his wife when he wondered how come someone like Brunhilda took so much from a monster like him.

The moment the servant announced that they were ready for their journey to London, Lam shook off his thoughts and took Tillie’s hand, putting a brave face to his family for the sake of the holidays.

As they approached the castle, which, for Henriette, was already much familiar, she smiled. Much had happened there over the years. She had finally laid eyes upon her husband, they had shared small moments, married there, and many of their six children had been conceived there. She now may look bigger and older, but she was much happier than she had been when she was merely nineteen.

“Shall we?”

“If we must…”

“Lord Frederick of Kent and Lady Henriette of Wessex!” The herald cried, and they both made their entrance.

They both bowed to the monarchs and each greeted them.

“Your Graces, may I present my children? You may remember my oldest, Odalric. These are Denegifu, Juliana, Akelda, Cuthfelda and Hilda.” Each of the children bowed as Henriette and tutors had taught them and the queen smiled.

“Be welcome, Lady Henriette. We hope that your travels were safe.”

“They were, Your Graces.”

“Lord Lachlann Doherty and his wife, the Lady Mathilde!”

Bowing respectfully, they all moved on to their seats. Henriette’s, of course, was next to the Queen. The children were taken to another room, as per tradition dictated. Setting onto the seat, they observed from afar how the former serf was now handling gracefully a conversation with His Grace, who seemed intrigued by him. He had certainly come far ever since the infamous feast at the Thane of Cawdor’s castle.

The couple came over to them and curtsied to them both “My lord. My lady. It is a pleasure to see you here.”

“Likewise, Lady Mathilde. You look well.”

Mathilde nodded “Same to you. I couldn’t tell that you’ve had six children. You must tell me your secrets.”

“I’d be delighted, my lady.”

“I hope to see you for tomorrow’s feast.”

“Christmastime and your lovely daughter’s birthday, no less. We wouldn’t miss it, would we, dear?”

Lachlann nodded.

“It shall be an interesting soiree, indeed.”

They were a bit right about that.

Henriette and Frederick sat on the edges of their daughter’s bed, who was starting to stir up. She sighed and opened her eyes “Good morning, Mother. Father.”

“Good morning, sweetie.” Frederick smiled.

“Happy birthday!” Henriette smiled.

Akelda beamed weakly “Is it today?”

“Why, yes!”

Frederick ordered the servants to dress her as Henriette woke up the rest of the children as she reminded “Remember, we are now at court, and we must be on our best behaviour! Keep the naughtiness to a minimum!” She chided.

“Yes, Mother!” They all echoed.

As everyone dressed, Akelda was presented with a beautiful cream dress and a brooch with her favourite flower, the magnolia. She beamed and hugged both her parents “Thank you. You’re both very kind.”

“Anything for the birthday girl.”

Lachlann had woken up with a certain queasiness. He felt it. Something was off. He just knew, after his training. Mathilde had said that maybe it was the mulled wine, but he knew better.

As the court danced away, his senses tingled, telling him to be alert.

This had just begun. And he wasn’t referring to the party.

[wonderlandleighleigh]

Hello, Sunshine, 1982

It has been a rough couple of years.

Abe passed in 1980, and Shirley got sick and passed away quickly later the same year. In 1981, Noah died under what Midge thinks are strange circumstances, but his employers and Astrid insist it was a simple car accident.

Either way, losing three beloved family members in just a couple of years is a lot to deal with.

When Ethan gets to his feet during Yom Kippur Break Fast and announces he’s asked Julia to marry him, and she’s said yes, Midge feels warmth spread in her chest and she finds herself squeezing Lenny’s hand under the table.

“My baby is getting married,” she beams before getting to her feet and hugging her son tightly. She turns to Julia and hugs her too. “I knew when I saw you with no pants on that first time you’d fit right in.”

Ethan chuckles. “Ma.”

“That’s so weird,” Julia tells her tearfully. “But so sweet. Thank you, Midge.”

Midge takes a breath as she pulls away and squeezes the younger woman’s shoulders. “We need to plan an engagement party!” She whirls around to look at Mei. “You in?”

“Hell, yes,” Mei grins. “I’ll set up the location. There are some really nice restaurants in Chinatown.”

“Aren’t you two getting ahead of yourselves?” Joel asks.

“To Ethan and Julia!” Moishe chimes in, lifting his glass. “May their life together be sweet.”

“And may his dick not wander like his father’s,” Susie adds.

“There it is,” Joel grumbles.

*****

Ethan’s mothers make good on the engagement party. It’s extravagant, held at one of the beautiful, usually off-the-table restaurants in Chinatown. It had taken a lot of planning, but leave it to the two most capable women in his life.

He’s also deeply aware that while Susie didn’t help plan it, she’d certainly helped pay for it. He knows that it was not at all cheap to pull this off. Not only is Ethan’s family and circle of friends relatively large, but Julia’s family is an army, with her parents, three brothers, seven aunts and uncles and fourteen cousins.

Ethan sighs softly as he looks out at the crowd, wrapping his arm around Julia and kissing her cheek before getting to his feet.

“You know, usually my Ma is the one who gives the speech, but she has a reputation for telling the worst story she can possibly think of  when she does, so I’m taking the reigns.”

Everyone chuckles and Midge shrugs sheepishly from her seat next to Lenny.

“I am a lucky guy,” Ethan says. “Have been for as long as I can remember. Two powerhouse moms who have done nothing but support me. Two dads who are very good at teaching me about life. Siblings who support me no matter. Doting grandparents and aunts and uncles. And Susie, who is, in fact, the best friend a five-year-old child of divorce could have asked for.” 

Everyone chuckles at that and Susie rolls her eyes, but she looks misty-eyed as well.

“And now I’m even luckier,” Ethan goes on. “Because not only do I get Julia out of this whole marriage thing, but I get her incredibly large, loving family in the deal as well, and that’s a big get. And I could probably go on for another hour about how incredible and loving and sweet and smart and beautiful Julia is. I should probably save some material for the actual wedding. Instead, I’ll just thank all of you for coming to celebrate. Thank Ma and Mei and Susie for this great party, and say cheers.”

Everyone repeats the cheers, and drink and cheer and Ethan leans over to kiss Julia happily.

[myhauntedsalem]

ERRIFIED PARENTS SHARE CREEPY THINGS THEIR KIDS SAY

My daughter said that there was a man hanging from our washing line, and when we went to look she said ‘It’s okay, he’s buried in the ground now’ she was about two and a half’.

Me: ‘Who’s the night night man?’ Her: ‘The night night man lives in our kitchen’.

“I work in childcare. A child once woke up from a nap, looked me dead in the eyes and quite plainly said ‘Everybody hates you.’”

“My friend used to volunteer at her mum’s primary school (ages 5 or 6 I think) and one time a little girl tripped on the playground. My friend took her inside and gave her a plaster for her knee and said kindly ‘Because you’ve been so brave, you can have your snack early. What would you like?’ The kid stops crying immediately, looks her dead in the eye and says ‘a rotten apple.’”

“I had a 4-year-old that I had never met run up to me very excited and say ‘I remember you from when I was big!’ I don’t believe in anything like that, but this kid was very sincere and refused to leave my side the entire visit.”

“My son once said to me. ‘I’m going to marry mommy when you die’. I said ‘alright, good night its bedtime’. He said ‘no Daddy, not good night, good bye‘. I slept with the door locked and one eye open that night.”

“Not to me but to my mother. I had a little brother who was blind by age 3 and had a brain tumor. My mother was feeding him oatmeal in the morning. He stopped and said ‘Aunt Mariam is here’ and pointed toward my mother’s bedroom. ‘She’s here for me.’ My brother never met Aunt Mariam, she passed away the year he was born. He asked to be laid on my mom’s bed and closed his eyes and passed away.” 8, “I lost my mom to a rare cancer when I was 8 months pregnant with my daughter.. (she is now almost 4). Last week while making breakfast she was just babbling about nothing and randomly said ‘your mom doesn’t scare me’ and then just kept talking about her ponies and what have you. It REALLY caught me off guard.”

“My cousin who was about four or five at the time looked at me dead in the eyes and said ‘I’m a baby just like Satan was!’ “ 10.“I was dressing my then 3yr old in his bedroom when he turned to me and said ‘mummy can you close the curtains, the little boy and girl are scaring me’ I asked ‘what little boy and girl?’ ‘The ones outside my window that watch us’. Safe to say the curtains stayed closed.”

“When my brother was little he acted like he had angels talking to him every second. One day my mom overheard him say, ‘I can’t kill him! He’s my only dad!'”

“When my daughter was three she had an imaginary friend named Kelly who lived in her closet. Kelly sat in a little rocking chair while she slept, played with her, etc. Typical imaginary friend stuff. Anyway, fast forward two years later, the wife and I are watching the new Amityville (the one with Ryan Renolds) and our daughter walks out right when dead girl goes all black eyed. Far from being disturbed she said ‘That looks like Kelly.’ ‘Kelly who?’ we say. ‘You know the dead girl that lived in my closet.’

“My little brother’s imaginary friend, Roger, lived under our coffee table. Roger had a wife and 9 kids. Roger and his family lived peacefully alongside us for three years. One day, my little brother announced that Roger wouldn’t be around anymore, since he shot and killed him and his whole family. I don’t know if he remembers any of this, but his genuine lack of remorse was very disturbing.”

My brother had an invisible friend named Tony Rygel. He was 6 inches tall and was elderly. One day we found my brother crying in his room. Apparently Tony Rygel had passed away in his sleep. We buried him in a shoe box in the backyard. So basically we had a funeral, complete with a moment of silence, for an empty shoebox.

“I was seventeen and babysitting a friend of the family’s six year old. He’d been in bed a couple of hours and I just peeked in to check on him. He wasn’t in the bed and when I opened the door wider, I saw he was standing in the corner, facing the wall. Creepiest thing ever. I asked him what he was doing and all he did was turn around, smile, and put his finger to his lips as if to say ‘shhh.’ i asked him again what he was doing and all he says is, ‘leave us. it is the punishment.’

[chessmaton]

dont know if i ever shared this on here,, but i have a silly little headcanon where isaac bontemps and celine georges are cousins n isaac is actually the reason that celine got into chess herself. it's gonna be a major thing in my little rewrite im doing but ill rant abt that later lol.

- basically since isaac is 9 years older, he'd be nine years old when celine is a little baby. she's his cousin on his mom's side, and he's always liked his aunt,, b u t he doesn't rlly like babies bc they're loud and they cry and he just absolutely hates that.

- when she was only a couple weeks old isaac hesitantly accepted holding her, but she instantly started screaming which enforced his i hate babies thing even harder than before.

- and when she's about eight months old isaac is made to sit with her, but he mainly just ignores her and tries to master his techniques in chess. as soon as he takes his eye off celine she obviously crawls away over to pieces isaac isnt using and immediately starts chewing on them. isaac doesn't notice but as soon as he does he screams as if he'd literally broken his arm. celine starts crying and it's just an overall nightmare.

- while his own mother is mad,, his aunt understands, celine chews and bites at ANYTHING she can get her hands on. she apologises to isaac, and promises she'll buy him a new chess set. but it's not the same to him, these pieces are close to his heart, gifted to him years ago,, they took his mind off the accident. they took his mind off the bad times. he was extremely attached to those chess pieces.

- a few months pass, and isaac has been taking a break after having his pieces destroyed. but he slowly starts getting back to it. celine isn't put into his room anymore, and if she crawls over to it he simply takes her back to her mom. but one day he's too engrossed in the game when a tiny hand grabs at one of the opposing pieces. isaac looks up to see celine with one of the chess pieces, and he's about to scream for his aunt to come and get her, but stops when he notices she's moving it across the board albeit in a completely wrong way. she puts it down and looks up at isaac who is staring. he lets her know she did it wrong,, but then realises she was only trying to copy him, so he moves the piece himself, showing her what its meant to look like.

- celine being only a baby doesnt really know what hes trying to tell her but she claps her hands and seems to be excited by what's going on. soon isaacs aunt comes in asking isaac if he's seen celine, only to find her on isaacs lap as shes watching him move pieces,,, even if she's not taking it in properly. isaac appreciates someone listening to him.

- any time his aunt comes over from then on, celine immediately will reach for isaac and he'll take her off his aunt and then they'll spend the next hour with isaacs chess board, he rambles on and on and celine seems content with making random noises in response... even if isaac has to take pieces off her because she still sometimes wants to chew them.

rewrite:

- after celines death, isaac is so glad he kept the chess pieces she chewed in a box.. they were so special to him before she'd chewed at them, but now they meant a WHOLE lot more to him. he keeps them on the mantle piece in his house, next to a photo of both celine and him when they were younger. its a sweet reminder of her, but he misses her dearly,,

[cyberaxolotl]

closing off the night with a headcanons masterpost

my takes on every grumpuses family/growing up situations

Filbo: Was raised by his aunt (Loralie Fiddlepie) and uncle (Jams Fiddlepie) after his parents turned out not being good parents. It happened so early on in his life that they just accepted him as their child, and he actually doesn’t know that they’re not his parents; his actual, birth last name, would be “Fuzzypie.”

Beffica: Had a mostly positive upbringing, raised by her father (Olivier Winkleberry) alongside her older sister (Jessany Winklesnoot.) She finds herself to be slightly family-oriented due to high appreciation for her father and sister, who supported her at her worst.

Wambus: After his mother (Cassia Wishham) passed away, he was raised in two different households; his father’s, and his aunts’s. There was the household that gave him anger issues which consisted of his father (Mardom Troublecake,) his uncle (Cevan Troublecake,) and his grandfather (Aizer Troubleflutter.) And then there was the household that gave him a reprieve, consisting of his aunt (Maian Dusterfluff,) his aunt’s NEW wife (Maian is Cevan’s ex, new wife is Arya Featherfly,) and his two cousins, Bonbram and Libby Dustercake.

Gramble: Raised in the Nowheresville Orphanage after being possessed from his father (Cromdo Face) and mother (Amaranth Seed) The divorce happened AFTER he was taken.

Wiggle: Had a pretty normal family situation with a mom (Emerthyst Jewelbottom) and a dad (Daminan Wigglebarrel.) She had moved out by the time her little sister (Imimi Wigglebottom) was born.

Triffany: Grew up in a family of nomads moving around the world every couple years. It consisted of her, her grandma, her mom (Berrible “Berry” Lottablog,) her auntie (Cherria “Cherry” Lottablog,) and her cousin (Lollia Buntblog.) She did have a father, but he didn’t travel with them. She met Wambus in high school and promised to find him someday!

Cromdo: i really don’t have much to say about his childhood. he’s old i don’t think about him much i’m sorry

Chandlo: Raised in the Nowheresville Orphanage after he was found as a baby and his parents couldn’t be located. He was one of those “baby at your doorstep” baby stories but the person he was dropped at did not take him. (He didn’t recognize Gramble on Snaktooth because of their 7 year age difference, so they didn’t interact much at the orphanage)

Snorpy, Floofty: Their mother (Angiria Starbean) passed away with Snorpy’s birth, and their father (Sarion Fizzleflowers) followed soon after, leaving Snorpy and Floofty alone in the hands of their much older sister (Mapleline Fizzlebean.)

Shelda: old person vendetta

Eggabell: Only child with a single mother (Gemma Batterarbor.) She had a part time job as young as she could because her family needed it, and while it made her appreciate hard work, it definitely gave her some kind of complex. She loves her mom dearly, though, and Gemma is very proud of her becoming a doctor.

Lizbert: Grew up in a token nuclear family. Mom (Batilda Megacake,) dad (Layin Sweetfig,) her, and a little brother (Angus Megafig.) While they looked like an almost TOO paper cutout white family, if you got to know them, they became nothing but normal.

clumby and alegander expunged for side character grievances , yes these will be elaborated on when i finish the refs for the family members themselves, i am working on Layin’s and have already made several others

holy SHIT i have so many ocs

[mysheephasfailedme]

Close Your Eyes and Hope You Get There

The bus ride to LAX felt like galloping into the sunset at the end of a cowboy movie, except after disappearing into a tiny spot at the edge of the horizon, all that awaited was another vast piece of barren land, and another, and another, for me to disappear into. The sunlight outside was a murky yellow that tainted the trees with a sickly hue. Shiny white apartment buildings leaned into dirty yellow complexes, as if someone thought it would be funny to give potential home buyers a visual summary of before and after thirty years in LA. There was a Target and a CVS and a torn-down seven-eleven all packed up in one block, and the next block was a psychic boutique, tire replacement shop, and taco food truck 3-in-1. The bus jerked and jolted as the driver swerved, and I tried my best to keep my balance, refusing to let myself lean back so I could see the subtle differences between each stretch of land, enough to convince myself that the bus was still headed somewhere.

For someone like me, born and raised in Asia and way too lazy to venture out of westwood to explore LA, bus rides are the only real chance to see parts of LA and America that isn’t campus, where everywhere you walk you see flowers and green trees flourishing upon the money and labor pulsing under your feet, and for me to see fully fleshed out people, with significant others and grandchildren and bags of groceries, responsibilities that aren’t just going to classes, worries that balloon beyond getting a B, and weekend plans that are more than grabbing lunch and studying together. I tried to observe some of them but found that I was too dizzy from my motion sickness, so I closed my eyes. The last thing I saw was a beige two-story apartment and the dusty sedan steering in.

I thought about all the places I’d traveled to in America. A day trip to New York on another bus, trapped in traffic to pass through an underpass to actually get into New York. There was a guy lounging in his red convertible breathing in the exhaust from all the trucks and buses waiting with us and I whispered that’s got to be really bad for your lungs. When we were finally there we went to the Met and I almost died from the excitement. Sunlight spilled in through the roof into the room that housed the Egyptian temple, and we sat beside the water after exploring all the Egyption collections, envying the locals strolling by leisurely, some with kids in tow, as if all of this was the most natural thing to do on any Saturday afternoon. A three-week stay in suburban New Jersey, where to walk my friend’s baby cousin to the bus stop we passed by a lush meadow where my friend spotted blue jays. On the last day of school, my friend’s uncle drove us to the carnival, the sky light blue against my friend’s delighted screams on flying swings. That night we had chocolate cake. Three months in Santa Clara, where I got used to seeing this cute couple waiting for the bus together, the guy leaving to catch another bus minutes before ours would arrive, the girl texting him throughout the ride. From what I could make out sitting three rows behind the girl, her phone’s wallpaper was their prom photo. When I moved to another airbnb and had to start taking another bus to work, I wondered if they ever wondered about me. On the bus back from work I’d sometimes see this homeless old man, who boarded one day with a big scratch on his elbow that had barely started to scab. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him as his injured arm hung lifelessly against his frame, the wound brushing against his grayish white shirt, leaving a faint trace of blood, all while he stared outside, at the traffic that had started to build up. I started taking a different bus the next day, the old man slumped on the bus seat, with his arm with the scabs like flaking fish scales and the specks of blood on his shirt too much for me to see.

I opened my eyes as the bus limped to a stop. The city bus center. I got off, no longer worried about getting off at the wrong stop after three years in LA, as a plane took off in the distance. There was a gray sign that read “LAX shuttle” beside an employee-only parking lot and a small line of people already waiting, so I dragged my orange suitcase over. A couple minutes later, a man swaggered over and started singing “Jesus, oh Jesus,” shaking a cup half full of melting ice cubes and pacing along the line of waiting passengers. If I’d been alone I would’ve seriously started freaking out, but since there were others I settled for inching farther away when he wasn’t looking. Whenever he got louder, closer, I would stare at the golden line piercing through the middle of his white, pointy left shoe. His white shoe, dull from all the grime on it, must’ve been so shiny brand-new.

After what felt like forever, the gray shuttle pulled in, and he cut in front of me to board from the back door. On the shuttle, he sang his song about Jesus as the sun set behind the cars before us and we disappeared into what I hope would be the last horizon.

[itskatepaddington]

Analogue

I wrote a short film about this, which the world hasn’t seen as of 2023. But there’s only so much you can say in 10 minutes, so here I am, explaining myself again.

My godfather gifted me a point-and-shoot Kodak camera when I was a baby, or so I am told. It was with our family ever since. Developing film today is expensive; it would be cheaper back then, and yet it was pricey for someone on a lower income, with different financial priorities. And so taking these snaps limited us to only the events of importance. 

When the roll reached 36 exposures, and they were passed onto the photo shop to be developed, you anticipated them nervously. Then, all of them were locked away behind the pages of the huge volume with a thick, red cover. I don’t think we’ve filled it all, to this very day.

If you flip a couple of pages through the album, you will quickly understand the meaning of what “an event of importance” was. It means weddings, christenings, big birthdays, Christmas sometimes, the end of the school year when yours truly got to show off her excellent grades (I won’t stop mentioning this, my Reader, for I have peaked at school), or the first communion for my sister and I, as we were both raised Catholic. We never went on holidays, but what I count as holiday snaps are the summer pictures: playing with our cats and dogs, burnt by the sunshine, with strands of hair highlighted by the summer rays, in clothes dirtied by mud and grass, hugging dolls or playing sports with our cousins or neighbours. 

We turned the camera to these slivers of lives. Only the events of grander importance were captured, and I developed muscle memory - it’s that important event that I personally turn the camera to. While maintaining that rule helped us to remember those special occasions, a lot of everyday moments that burned into my memory would remain somehow unacknowledged, lacking any proof that they ever existed. I remembered them, and so did those that were there - even if they may have remembered them differently - but no physical evidence remained.

When my sister suggested we look through the album, I knew I would’ve remembered some of those photos. When I got my first PC, I was reading a lot of computer magazines (interested in a lot of things! Don’t ask!) One of them would give me the idea of digitising the old pictures. I scanned them all, or at least quite a few of them, so I remembered a lot of those. My sister and I laughed, we asked Mum to sit with us, and we reminisced. But there were a couple of them I haven’t seen before.

I really wanted to look for photos of Dad. He didn’t like being in the photos, but he complied when we asked, and I was still hoping I could possibly find some pictures he was in. There were going to be some from what I remembered, but when you lose someone, none of this is ever enough, and you're always hoping for a surprise. And even if you do remember some of the preserved moments, like these family Christmas snaps, you start to wonder how much of their feelings you truly understood at such a young age. 

Eventually, we found some pictures, the stories of which I would never know. One of these was a black and white photo with people I assumed were Dad’s coworkers from his railway days. These were the times that I didn’t remember, but he would tell us about them, as opposed to that photo in which he was going through his bag, near a pond. A long-haired, young man, in his railway uniform, different from how I remembered him. I would never know the context of that photo. 

In a moment like that, you realise how unknowable to one another you really were. There was a whole chunk of life your parent had before you came around. Now, it was on a page in front of you, a split second frozen in time, a memory that is not yours, for which you have absolutely zero context. 

So many of the moments which shaped them were probably never captured. You know you would never see them. Some of them were; you may even have some context for those. I even jotted down some of his memories that he told me about since I was a graphomaniac for as long I could remember, and this time around it came in handy. They’re in a file on my hard drive, written quickly from memory, in a pained attempt not to lose those memories forever. My dad’s first car, for example, which he had when he was young and was very proud of, or what I remembered him saying about it. Or his shenanigans from the times he worked as a railway electrician. 

Many of these captured moments will remain there for you without any explanation. Or you may try to find one. There’s the Internet, after all, with all the knowledge available to humanity - but then what if your parent never used it? You quickly counter that fact in your head. Others might have. They might have posted, and you can figure out the context, you think. You type a name into a search engine anyway. But you’re met only with some noise, followed by digital silence. No relevant search results, it says. Do you want to try something else? 

You end up thinking that you took the ability to capture every day for granted. You take photos, and so many of them - then you post them online for the world to see. You share them with friends, you make it a brand or a meme, you name it. You wish you did that more often before. 

I didn’t have a good digital camera before I left home. I had some snaps from rather bad phone cameras, but nothing much beyond that. Anyway, you end up wishing you had used the bad camera you owned. 

But this learned habit stretches further, into the times when the technology was already at my fingertips. But the routine was an excuse. Even during the lockdowns of the curséd year of 2020, I discovered how much I appreciated returning to the moments I had previously kept for myself. But I did notice one thing: I still tend to turn the camera to the event of importance, whatever it may be. Yet, these pics of my family and friends around me let me escape out of the temporary confinement and into the life I used to live, brought to a halt by an unprecedented historical event. I promised myself to capture more of these moments back then.

Now that the world is open and I can do just that, I do take photos in multiples, yet many of them never see the light of day. I go crazy with the number of snaps I take, too. It’s so common that it probably lost some of its charm if not its value. This was when I first started considering that maybe I would like to have them in a physical form, too. And maybe I would want to think before I make the shutter click.

An article containing a lot of fascinating statistics about photos we take was recently making rounds on my timeline. An average citizen of the US takes 20 photos a day, it said. Even if professional photos represent a small percentage of those - what we take pictures of can be anything, from local posters and info we want to keep, to food to selfies and snaps at parties - and only about seven per cent of photos are taken with cameras, this is an incredibly big number when you think that a smaller film roll, commonly used about two or three decades ago, has the capacity for just 24 or 36 photos. More photos are taken every day than in the nineteenth century when the cameras were first invented, and we’ve surpassed the number of photos that were taken in the twentieth century already. It’s estimated that by 2030, 2.3 trillion photos will be taken every year. 

It’s hard not to think about the environmental impact of something that we use so freely. A lot of these photos are stored in the cloud, and at some point, that will be a challenge. Every photo that we take is eventually turned into a little signature of the times that once were; a little acknowledgement that we existed. If climate change starts impacting technology in the end, what will happen? Will my family, in some distant future, know about any of these moments that I so painstakingly capture?

I have just received an email that one of my old service providers will remove the accounts that were inactive for more than two years - to save resources and all that. Maybe the huge chunk of it will be wiped out anyway, and unless I become Someone Important For History, someone will search for my name and find absolutely nothing one day. Maybe. Or maybe my brain is writing science fiction again. 

My sister kept the habit of printing photos out, regardless of the digital copies she keeps. She selects some of the photos we take digitally and takes them to a print shop - as my kindest superfan, she even saved some of mine and put them in her album - but I store them all on hard drives only. And in the meantime, having taken up photography, I’ve developed a habit of taking multiple photos at a time. 

There are obvious benefits to this. A lot of what I do now is in a professional capacity. When I do edit them, I have all the coverage I may potentially need. But it’s also chaotic. I end up with a lot of outtakes - some gems, some won’t see the light of day. And they take up a lot of storage. This is when I first started toying with the idea of returning to shooting film. I saw people taking film photographs, I thought it was cool for a while. I could potentially come back to it, too. And of course, there were film directors I loved, obsessing over the colour and the grain in a different context. The usual camera for everyday photos, special treatment - wouldn’t that be nice? I asked my sister to ship the Kodak camera to London, but she’s a busy gal, so it didn’t quite make it to me, yet.

Months later, I ran into a neighbour while taking photos at a local park. He saw my camera, asked about its make, and that’s how we started talking. We spoke about the photography business his son owns, his Sony camera, and the old film cameras he used to have back in Turkey when he was young. 

“You kids, you’ve got it easy,” he said. “You take as many pictures as you want now, but back in the day, you needed to know your camera inside out to take good photos,” he said. 

As we spoke about it more, his words started to make more sense. Getting a film camera could possibly get me into the habit of practising more thoughtful composition. Slowing down and giving it more thought could make my photography better, too. And both negatives and printed photos are tangible, and if kept well, boast rather good longevity - and that was just what I wanted.

So I went home, looked at some classic cameras, and found a physical vintage shop, but my expedition into the rabbit holes of internet reviews extended well into the night and it was unlikely a shop would be open at 2am. When I woke up the next morning, there were more pressing matters to attend to, but the whole film camera business came through my head and went a few times more. 

A few months after, I ventured into the French sunshine for my first experience of a film festival abroad. Packing films into my schedule, I saw Aftersun. I will do the film a disservice if I try to summarise it; to start with, it’s a film about a depressed father and his daughter, now several years older, desperately searching for the meaning of his behaviour during a memorable holiday. 

The protagonist was a child - she wouldn’t have understood everything back then - but she picked up on some of his behaviour, and now, an adult herself, she’s grasping for something that would help her understand his pain and dissatisfaction with life from the perspective of all that time. The final scene of it all leaves it open to discussion - was that her last holiday with her dad? Did he pass away? It’s all open to interpretation, and you can essentially project any story about nostalgia and memories onto the canvas of this confidently defined story that regardless leaves a lot of space for us all to empathise. It’s a phenomenal film - not just this slice of life story, but also the warmly coloured visuals of it all. They feel analogue. 

As soon as I watched it, I walked into the Mediterranean breeze with tears in my eyes, a need to call my mum as soon as possible, and a want to get a camera that produces tangible memories. But that wouldn’t happen for a little longer.

When I did decide to pick up my first camera, it was totally an impulse purchase. I was heading for a Circa Waves gig at the Roundhouse, and I have just left work. The weekend has just started, and I had plenty of time until the support was on stage, so I went into the Camden Market. I passed by that camera shop with my friends once before, and I almost bought the camera then. I had talked myself out of it commiserating the state of my finances, but this time around, I was two beers in and about to have a good time… so of course I walked in again, asking the shop assistant about my different options. 

The kind gentleman showed me a couple of cameras, explaining that point-and-shoot cameras are what most people go for, whereas the more expensive cameras are better for those who understand basic photography concepts. 

I mentioned that I didn’t want to spend too much just yet - after all, my sister did have a camera waiting for me - so I picked a really old Halina camera from the 1950s. I eagerly jumped right into taking photos as soon as I walked into the Camden sunshine of the early summer.

A selection of photos I took with it was a light-leak-embroiled disaster, but it was fun. I found myself thinking more, and deciding to hold my horses and not press that button a lot of the time. After all, there were just 36 exposures on that film roll. Even if it was a test, you kind of want that test to go well. Shortly after, my second film camera from an online friend found its way to me, too, allowing me to take some more excellent photos.

Trying to get film for my new camera brought me to a realisation that film was becoming a huge trend - particularly amongst young people. Obviously, I saw some of my friends and plenty of strangers with film cameras. But I hadn’t realised how much of a demand there was until I found myself struggling to get a roll of Kodak Gold. I liked the warmth of it, so I was desperate to replicate it. I walked around the city pleading, I traversed the depths of Online, but both physical and online stores mentioned supply and demand issues, with others racking up the price by half. 

And that’s definitely not the first time. Back in 2017, Kodak brought back their Ektachrome roll, which they phased out due to low demand just a few years before, and the company had to rapidly hire to keep up with the surprising growing demand. So much for that Kodak company that failed to keep up with innovation, eh? Take that, business people. There’s a market for everything, some say, and as the great ad man of scripted TV once said about a Kodak product, it’s all about nostalgia: “a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone.” 

Many have picked a camera as a hobby during the pandemic. Undoubtedly, with the aesthetic of the nineties and noughties returning with full force, many young people also did it for the nostalgic value. Like the annoying hipster I am, I’m a sucker for vinyl, too, and it’s hard not to see the similarity here. After all, at some point a few years ago, the demand was so big that more records were sold than CDs, and the demand for Adele’s latest album in that form actually caused a shortage at the presses for other artists releasing music around the same time. As much as we value our instant gratification, a huge part of us is yearning for an escape from it all. And we’re finding it in returning to familiarity with something that isn’t digital at all.

When the information that surrounds us daily is so unstructured, chaotic, tailored to us, and often agreeing with our bullshit, you can keep up without being tired or switching off your attention for only so long. Something that you can’t skip through, curated by a human, or simply bringing an experience that lets you breathe can release the tension your body and mind are unknowingly under all the time. It’s a bit therapeutic. It’s fun to do it blindly - you never really know how it’s going to turn out. It’s just a wonderful test of expanding your patience, likely severely impacted by the way we’re all filtering information now. 

These negatives are something so tangible, along with the pictures you choose to keep for yourself. Taking these photos is a signature of our existence. We snap, we keep the moment, and we hope to preserve it with the evidence that can be held in our hands and hung up on the walls. You don’t have to filter multiple lines of bullshit at a time, you don’t have to switch off your attention to cope with the flood of irrelevant information. You focus and you stay in the moment for a little longer - you do it just before you decide to press the button. You hear the shutter click. 

That signature of your existence will now remain with you for that much longer, signalling that once upon a time, you and perhaps people you cared about shared this moment, no matter how they want to remember it.

[elysiumcalled]

Would you find it weird & creepy or comforting if you knew the spirit of a loved one was still lingering and was doing stuff to make themselves known to you?

[thisuseraiskindadead]

I read someone's post (I can't remember who, sorry for the shitty memory) about wanting stories about Marauders' children but not about Harry or Draco. Just Other Children. And I can't stop thinking about it because

What if they had lived? All of them?

I think Jilly is cute as a ship, but I don't think they would have lasted on the long run. Not as a couple. The war is hard on everyone and they can't pretend they are the same as before. They both agree to stay as friends because love is still there, just not romantic love more of a friendship.

James movew just a few streets down. After a year or so, Regulus moves with him. At first, everyone try to break them up, but Regulus shows once and again that he has changed, that he is good.

Harry loves Regulus with all his baby heart. Regulus insists he is good as an uncle, not wanting to take anyone's spot, but after three years Lily is the one to reassure him.

"Reg" she smiles with love "I know what you mean, but James and I have talked and we both know that Harry has had three parents for a while now. You're his papa. You're family"

Regulus cries for two hours straight after that.

Harry grows with a lot of cousins. The ones he sees the most are Remus and Sirius' children.

After the war, Remus takes a job on the government and doesn't stop until he gets a legislation passed abouth werewolves. After all his work, foster children would have an easier access to a new home. They adopt a three years old werewolf girl, bitten in one of the battles. She has a hard time, but Remus is there for every step.

In Sirius' 25th birthday, she runs to his bed when the sun isn't out yet.

"Daddy! We made breakfast!" she yelled excited.

Remus appears, a shy smile on his lips.

"We kind of burned the pancakes" he apologized.

Sirius just look fondly at him, love all over him as he hugs his daughter.

"Let's adopt another one, Rems" he asks.

They adopt a boy this time. Five years old and having tantrums who could scare Merlin himself.

Dorcas and Marlene had two girls and a boy. They never said who the donor was and no one could tell since the children look exactly like both girls.

The least expected is Barty's child. No one really saw him as a father, especially not after Evan's death. However, when Luna is born, Barty is named his godfather and his whole life changes because he can see himself having a future.

Following Remus and Sirius' example, he adopts. He may have changed, but he hasn't forgotten. He adopts a boy who lost his parents by Death Eaters as a way to remind himself everyday that he can do better. That he has to do better.

They live happy, like they could have only dreamed of. At least until August of '92 comes around.

Sirius didn't ever bother to knock, entering the house with familiarity.

"Did you get one too, Prongs?" he shouted, looking for his friend.

"Good morning to you too, dear brother" responds Regulus frowning.

Sirius just showed the letter, expecting it's explication enough.

"Oh, yeah. Jamie has his own letter".

As if he was called, James enters the kitchen with a big smile and a letters on his hand.

"What does yours say?"

Sirius opens it, preparing himself to read.

"Dear mister Black, I couldn't but notice the name of this year's students. I wrote to check if the boy listed as Lupin-Black has anything to do with you or mister Lupin. Signed, Minerva Mcgonagall"

"Mine's says the same! I mean, she asks if Harry is listed as my child or if it's a coincidence"

Regulus hides his smile. Only he will know the letter he had received with just a few lines written. "Mister Black, if I am not wrong, I may be retiring this year. I do not think I am strong enough for this children. Signed, Minerva Mcgonagall"

[bellesowl]

kiss and make up

- multiple characters 

⤷ atsumu, sakusa

genre: (an attempt at) angst to fluff ; established relationship, timeskip 

synopsis: in which you have an almost relationship-ending argument

word count: 2.1k total - about 1k each

warnings: fighting (obv), being called a burden, the boys are kinda mean but they make up for it i swear

- a/n: tbh i was kinda getting sick of writing just fluff so i wanted to spice it up a lil! if this sucks i’m probably going to stick to fluff fics but i think it should be fine? this one also only has 2 characs cause idk how i would be at writing angst LMAO if this does well enough i’ll post the one i have written w kuroo and iwa <3 but i feel like this kinda sucks so oh well

- thank u @kybabi for beta-ing <3

- miya atsumu

you n atsumu have been together since high school which is why you’ve always been inseparable

you went to the same college & moved in together right after, but once he got his job with the jackals, he insisted that you didn’t work and focused on getting your master’s degree

you reluctantly agreed, if only to be able finish & earn your phd soon after

because atsumu is always busy, it’s kinda become commonplace for you to do the chores around the house- like doing the laundry or washing the dishes or cooking dinner for him

but it’s gotten to the point where he expects it

atsumu sighs, unlocking the door to your shared apartment. today’s practice was rough, it was a day of hard conditioning and bad sets and he wanted nothing more than a good meal and to cuddle. the first thing he noticed when he walked in was the mess. instant ramen bowls were scattered everywhere, empty coke cans and dirty napkins were all over the floor, and there you were, in the eye of the hurricane. the second thing he noticed was that there was no homecooked meal.

surprised, he walks into the dining room to see you, furiously typing away at your laptop with four different books surrounding you. you hear his footsteps and look up.

“hey baby! how was practice?” you ask with a smile

atsumu grunts in reply and gestures toward the kitchen, “so.. what’s for dinner babe?”

your eyes widen, “oh shoot! i’m sorry, i was so busy studying for this final that i forgot to cook. do you mind-“ you stop when you see him roll his eyes and head out.

“um, where are you going? you just got home?” you ask, following him.

“out. i have to get food somehow” he replies, “especially because my useless s/o can’t cook a goddamn meal for me” he mutters under his breath

you stop in shock because did he really just say that?

“i’m sorry, i don’t think i heard you right.” you start but he interrupts you

“i said, i have to go get food because someone is too busy to cook a goddamn meal. what do you even do anyways- well, besides spend my money? the least you can do is cook for me, god.” he finally turns to look at you but he feels his heart stop at the look on your face.

not wanting to escalate the situation any further, you try to calm him down, “tsum, hey, i’m sorry i forgot to cook okay? this is my last final before the year ends and i just can’t afford to fail it, so i’ve been studying all day. if you come back to the kitchen, i’ll make you something, okay?”

“i don’t want to eat your half assed attempt at a meal, y/n. the whole point is that you couldn’t get off your ass for an hour to cook when i make the money, i paid for the apartment, hell, i’m even paying for your school! is it really too much to ask for you to stop being such a burden and cook and clean everyday?” he fumed.

you gape at him, shocked that he would even say that. to hell with not escalating things

“at least i want to do something more with my life than hit balls around and retire at 35” you hiss, “and i do everything in this house! i do the laundry, i clean the bathroom, i cook - i do all the things you refuse to. and do i complain? no. i offered to get a job but you refused.”

you turn around to grab your laptop and your textbooks, “just- just do whatever the hell you want to, atsumu.” and with that you walk out the door.

atsumu’s heart drops when he realizes that you actually left. sure, you’ve had arguments here and there, but you’ve never left. he pulls out his phone to call you when he sees you’ve left yours on the counter. knowing there’s nothing to do but wait at this point, he begins to clean up and calls osamu over.

-

it’s already 3 am when you walk back into your apartment, and you blink multiple times when you open the door. it’s ... clean? you’re sure it was a mess when you left, so how would it be clean? you sigh, too tired to think about it more and walk into the kitchen. your eyes widen at the sight. not only is your favorite food on the stove, but there your boyfriend is, asleep on the dining table. you smile slightly, well that explains things.

“ ‘’mu, hey, wake up babe.” you kiss him lightly and shake him.

he grunts and sits up, “baby! i’m so so sorry for what i said. you are in no way, shape, or form a burden, i have no clue why i said that. today’s practice was just really tiring, but i know i shouldn’t have taken it out on you. just please-” he sighs, “just please don’t leave me again.”

your heart breaks your teary eyed boyfriend. “shh, of course baby. i’ll never leave you again okay?” you say, tugging on his arm, “cmon babe, let’s go to bed, okay?”

“mm okay my love.” he replies and practically pulls you into bed. “i love you, okay?”

“i love you too baby.” you reply

“to the moon and back?” he asks

“yeah, and to infinity and beyond.” you reply, your lack of sleep hitting you hard

“oh, i didn’t know i was dating buzz lightyear”

you let out a loud laugh and just like that you both fall into the same routine, love radiating off both of you in waves.

- sakusa kiyoomi

dating sakusa was,, challenging

it definitely took him a while to get comfortable with you

so you guys have been dating for a couple years now, and at this point he’s def clingy

however there still moments when he reverts to his old self

this just happened to be one of those times

“OUT! AND JUST LIKE THAT, EJP RAIJIN TAKES THE WIN AGAINST THE BLACK JACKALS!”

the stadium is silent before the ejp cheering section erupts in cheers. you stay silent, watching your team below. you watch as sakusa stills, still in disbelief. you make your way down, practically sprinting to your boyfriend.

he sees you on the sideline and makes his way over to you. you put on your biggest smile and attempt to make him feel better.

“you did great, kiyo! you’ll get them next time, yeah?” you beam, knowing how hard he’s been training to beat his cousin

he eyes you warily, not knowing what to say.

usually, sakusa gets pretty clingy after games, so you you move to give him a hug.

“don’t touch me” he barked, jerking away from you. “if you hadn’t been distracting me, we would’ve won.”

you stare at him, refusing to let the tears flow. you both turn when you hear a certain setter yelling at the opposing middle and you sigh.

“um, okay then. i’ll see you at home, yeah?” you ask

sakusa merely nods and makes his way over to his teammates. you look around to see if anyone saw what just happened and you lock eyes with your boyfriend’s cousin, who walks over.

“congrats on the win komori! you guys did so well!” you cheered

“thanks, y/n! and i’m sorry about kiyoomi. i’m sure you know he gets that way sometimes.” he explains

you smile and shake your head, saying that you’re used to it and you both bid your farewells. as you walk out of the stadium, you think back to how your boyfriend, the one person you loved with everything you had in you, utterly embarrassed you in front of his whole team. before you know it, silent tears start streaming down your face. 

you enter your home and immediately rush to the bathroom. you draw yourself a bath and make some dinner while waiting. you assume that kiyoomi wouldn’t be home to have dinner with you anyways- and now that you think about it, you can’t remember the last time you had dinner together. after you finish your bath and eat your dinner, you decide to wait up for boyfriend and watch a couple episodes of your favorite show to pass the time. 

-

kiyoomi walks into his apartment at around 1 am, completely and utterly exhausted. he kicks his shoes off and drops his bag on the floor. The rustling rouses you from sleep and you sit up.

“hey kiyo” you say with a yawn, “where’ve you been all night?” 

sakusa ignores you in favor of getting ready for bed and you frown when he brushes past you. 

“kiyo, babe, what’s wrong? you’ve been ignoring me all night and i-” you start but he interrupts you before you can finish. 

“god, just shut up, y/n. can’t you tell i don’t want to talk to you right now? i’ve already had the worst day, i don’t need you making it any worse.” he snaps

"kiyoomi, look, i understand you’re upset but you shouldn’t take it out on me.” you reason, reaching out towards him, “listen, i’m here if you wanna-” 

“i said, do not touch me.” he seethes. “you are so fucking clingy y/n, lord, let me breathe a little.”

with those words, you explode. “you know what, sakusa,” he flinches when he hears his last name come out of your mouth, “i think i have the right to want to spend some time with my boyfriend! i haven’t seen you in god knows how long- you leave before i wake up and i fall asleep in an empty bed. i’ve been working my ass off to get some time off to watch your stupid volleyball game and what do you do? you embarrass me in front of your whole team!”

you sigh, wiping away the tears that continue that continue to fall. “listen, i don’t want to fight right now. i’m going to go stay at a friend’s house for the night, alright? i’ll see you tomorrow” you say, grabbing your purse. “if you’re even home tomorrow,” you add under your breath.

sakusa is in shock. the moment he saw your tears start to spill, he felt an undeniable and unrelenting ache in his chest that only seemed to grow with every work that came out of your mouth. and when the door shut? sakusa fell on his knees, his heart dropping. he truly couldn’t believe he said that to you. now all he had to do was wait till you got home.

-

2:38 pm - you check the time on your phone before pulling out your keys. you hope you made the right move, choosing to come back home while kiyoomi was still at practice. you open the door and the sight causes your eyes to widen.

there, on the couch with your favorite flowers in hand, is your boyfriend. he hears the door open and stands up abruptly.

“y/n, my love, i am so sorry. i truly cannot express how horrible i feel, and i cannot begin to understand how you feel.” he takes a deep breath, seemingly holding back tears. “i- i do love you. i love you more than i’ve ever loved anyone in my entire life. i know i’m not the best at expressing it, but you mean the world to me- no, you are my world. without you, i don’t know what i would do. so please-” his voice cracks, “just, please give me another chance?”

you run towards your boyfriend, practically tackling him. “kiyo, baby, of course. i love you too, you know? you just can’t do that anymore, yeah? you shouldn’t feel like you have the right to embarrass me just because you had a bad day. and please, don’t call me clingy? i know i do stick to you like glue sometimes, but that’s just because i never see you anymore.” you reply.

“that will all change, darling.” he answers sincerely, “i’ll make more time for you, i swear. in fact, i’ll take the week off, how does that sound?” at the sight of your smile, he relaxes.

“that sounds wonderful, yoomi.” you answer

sakusa feels the weight that’s been dragging him down lift and he realizes the effect you have on him- you’re his breath of fresh air. he also realizes how utterly idiotic it was to push away the one person who could make him feel better.

it’s fine, he reasons, he’ll just never make that mistake again. he swears it.

[blueeyedheizer]

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!✨✨✨🎊🎊🎊🎉🎉 for your prompt event would you be willing to do #12 or/and #6 with Michael Gray?

#12 "My water just broke."

I went with the pregnancy prompt ☺️

You were not expecting your water to break so soon.

It happened during Michael's 28th birthday party; the whole family was gathered in the living room drinking and celebrating, the youngest Shelby boys drunkenly singing at the top of their lungs keeping everyone entertained. Meanwhile, you were dancing with your five year old daughter in the kitchen, seeking some peace and quiet before returning to the chaos outside. Anna's cheerful laughter filled the room as you spun her around and danced with her to the rhythm of the music.

Despite being heavily pregnant, you never said no to your daughter when she was in need of some alone time with her mother. She knew you would be busy with her little sister once you give birth and therefore moments like these would become less and less frequent; she wanted to enjoy her time with you to the fullest. She was a very smart girl for her age, and you were so incredibly grateful to have her and Michael by your side.

Not too far away, the latter was observing the three most important women in his life with a fond look. His cousins often teased him about how sickeningly in love he was with you and how soft you made him. And they were right. The mere sight of you was enough to calm him down in any situation; you were his anchor during harsh times, the only person that had been here for him through thick and thin and had helped him overcome his addictions.

"Be careful, princess." Michael spoke, catching the little girl's attention as it was her turn to spin you around. "You know mummy gets easily dizzy at this stage of the pregnancy." It was true, you were already becoming dizzy from all the dancing and moving around but then again, times like those with your daughter were so precious you didn't want to miss out on anything. She was growing up so fast, who knows if she'd want to dance with you like this again when she's older.

Anna nodded and kissed your belly. You ran a hand through her hair, smiling fondly as she apologized.

"Sorry mummy. I won't do it again."

"It's okay baby."

A couple minutes passed and Michael walked up to you, pressing a kiss to your temple and letting you know he needed to discuss something with Tommy. You nodded and kissed him sweetly, watching as he exited the kitchen leaving you and Anna to your little dance contest.

You were so preoccupied laughing and dancing with your daughter that you hadn't noticed the water dripping down your legs until she pointed it out to you.

"Mommy!" Anna gasped, suddenly letting go of your hands to place hers over her mouth. "What's going on? Is it my fault?" she questioned, panicking. Tears were already welling in her eyes so you intervened.

"No, no, no, it's okay baby, it's okay. You did nothing." you tried to reassure her all while trying to keep your calm. "Your sister's coming a bit earlier than we expected, that's all. Will you go get daddy for me?" the little girl nodded and quickly rushed out of the kitchen in direction of her dad.

You held your swollen stomach as you took a sit on the nearest chair, taking deep breaths in and out. You weren't feeling any pain, but the break was so sudden you couldn't help but panic a little.

Within a minute Michael was by your side, one hand holding onto yours while the other rested on your cheek.

"What's wrong, are you okay? Anna said something bad happened." you chuckled at your daughter's choice of words, your reaction easing Michael's nerves.

"My water just broke." you lifted your dress just enough so he could see the liquid dripping down your ankles.

"Fuck—" he breathed out, his grin widening as realisation hit him. "I thought she wasn't supposed to come out until another two weeks?"

"I guess she decided otherwise." you couldn't help but let a few tears slip, feeling a sudden outburst of joy. Michael wiped your tears with his thumbs and leaned in for a kiss.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay. I don't think she'll be here until another few hours. I'll go grab some stuff for the night and then you can drive me to the hospital."

"Alright. I'll let mum and Ada know."

"Michael wait," you reached for his arm as he got up and you stole another kiss from him, your free hand caressing his cheek. "Happy birthday my love."

[cressida-cowper]

dude, I'm in no way interested in supergirl but i wanna know about supercorp. Who is the other woman? Why do people ship them? What's their dynamic? What's their story? I'm hella curious. Also i feel the angst from your reblogs to my dashboard 😂

okay. buckle up.

i’m not 100% sure who you mean by ‘other woman’, so i’ll give you a quick run-down on both

kara zor-el:

aka kara danvers, she was 13 when krypton exploded, sent to earth to protect her baby cousin, kal-el. he made it to earth safely and was raised by the kents, became superman. kara’s pod was knocked off-course and sent to the Phantom Zone, a place that is vast nothingness where time does not pass. she was there for 24 years before making it to earth, still aged 13, while kal-el had grown up. he was unable/unwilling to take care of her, and left her with eliza, jeremiah and alex danvers, who raised her. she worked as cat grant’s assistant in season 1, promoted to journalist at catco media in season 2.

lena luthor:

younger sister of lex luthor, daughter and step-daughter of lionel and lillian luthor, respectively. her biological mother drowned when she was 4, prompting her father to take charge of her. she wants to make a name for herself aside from her family’s rather bad one, notoriously known for being alien haters. but most people treat her unfairly, given all of her positive intentions and accomplishments. ceo of l-corp, formerly luthor-corp, she works to further the wellbeing of humanity.

why people ship them:

lena made an observation the day after she met kara, saying she thought kara was a journalist; kara, having been ruminating on a career, immediately decided to take up journalism.

after kara wrote a positive article on her, lena filled kara’s office with flowers — “overflowing” it.

after making a difficult decision to save supergirl’s life that resulted in the death of her ex, lena confessed to kara that she was having negative feelings that she feared; kara wrapped her arms around her and promised to always be there for her and never leave her.

weeks after meeting her, lena gave orders to her assistant that kara was to be let into her office “right away, whenever possible”.

when confronted with a detective who wanted to (and did) arrest her, lena asked for kara to stay with her; kara, as supergirl, never once doubted lena’s innocence and worked tirelessly to prove it (and did!).

after cat grant, ceo of catco, steps down and decides to sell it, lena purchases it, otherwise kara would’ve lost her job (though the reason she gave was pissing off a mutual annoyance of theirs); after their falling out, lena sells catco to an old friend of hers.

after morgan edge tries to kill lena by crashing a plane that she is on (in the process of saving her, supergirl refuses to let lena’s hand go), she abandons him on a shipping container in the middle of the ocean.

morgan edge also tried to kill lena by poisoning her coffee; kara risks her identity by flying lena to the deo (department of extra-normal operations) dressed as kara danvers, not supergirl.

supergirl gives lena a watch with a button on it that, when pressed, emits a sound at a frequency that only kryptonians can hear. these watches are usually reserved for family members and close friends of the supers.

whenever supergirl saves lena, she holds her in a bridal carry, with lena’s arms wrapped around her neck, a parallel of kal-el/superman and his wife, lois lane.

(this isn’t really a reason but lois and lena share many similarities, the most apparent of which [to me anyway] is that they are both brunettes with the initials LL)

parallel gifset by @lena-luthor of various romantic pairings in the arrowverse, one person bringing the other a bag of big belly burger: oliver queen/felicity smoak — arrow; barry allen/iris west-allen — the flash; querl dox/nia nal — supergirl; alex danvers/kelly olsen — supergirl (for further proof, the first two couples are married with children) | the last gif is kara & lena. (also this one with some more moments that just tie it all together much better than i ever could)

hugs hugs hugs (courtesy of @drunklenaluthor)

they constantly refer to each other as their ‘favourite’.

lena invents things that save supergirl’s life, including an attachment to her suit that rids her body of kryptonite and protects her against it.

lena is frequently invited to danvers family holiday dinners and game nights.

some direct canon quotes for your perusal: “well, supergirl may have saved me, but kara danvers, you are my hero.”; “i know that you believe that everything is good, and kind, and that is one of the things i love about you.”; “you’d trust me?” “whatever else has happened, i know what’s in your heart.”; “if you want to get to supergirl, you’re gonna have to go through me.”

honourable mention: pretty ladies 🥴

their dynamic & their story:

their relationship starts tentatively, but blossoms quickly despite lena’s family and kara’s friends scepticism about lena’s intentions.

they have regular lunch dates, text each other (heart emojis included), can be seen hugging and swaying in place. they comfort each other, are fiercely protective of one another, not unlike a couple.

after kara’s identity is revealed to lena by her brother in the season 4 finale, their relationship deteriorates in the stereotypical way a romantic one does; they’re both incredibly sad, stare longingly at photos of them together, pull away from one another, lash out.

an alien called mxyzptlk gives kara the chance to go back in time and view alternate realities in which she had told lena her secret at various other points in time, which she took him up on almost immediately.

after an ultimatum and an agonizingly long period of time, lena apologises to kara in the penultimate episode of season five and they start to rebuild their relationship.

in the season five finale, lena puts herself in front of a kryptonite dagger aimed at an immobile and unaware supergirl, offering her life for kara’s.

in the season six premiere, as kara prepares to sacrifice herself at the hands of lex luthor, lena refuses to let her, even going so far as to anticipate her brother’s actions, programming the Lena Luthor Protocol into the Fortress of Solitude, a robot with a yellow sun emulator that attaches itself to the crest of the house of el that sits upon kara’s chest. 

lena was the last person kara said goodbye to before she fought with lex, a fight she did not believe she would survive.

after kara is sent to the phantom zone by lex, lena implores alex to tell her girlfriend, kelly, about kara’s secret identity, in the process implying that kara is her person, the same way that kelly is alex’s. (— @lesbianlenas)

um anyway they’re soulmates thank you for coming to my ted talk :)