Molly Hooper

You are still the child who gently places fallen baby birds back in their nests. You are still the gentle heart who once tried to heal a flower by trying to stick it's petals back when ignorant feet trample it. This is why you are important. This is why will always be needed. Kindness is the greatest endangered thing. And here you are, existing , with your heart so full with it.

[rrr913]

[perriaeyjeve]

[mollythepathologist]

I so wish Moffat and Gatiss were capable of giving women independent storylines. I would looove a glimmer of Molly's life outside of Sherlock Holmes. I wish they were capable of giving any of their characters agency and purpose outside of their connections to the main character.

[mollythepathologist]

One thing I love about Molly is how little regret she carries. She makes her choices without much hesitation- she's resolute in her feelings and may appear shy, but I don't think she regrets anything. She recognizes when she's done wrong - but she isn't weighed down by it.

She always seems so honest. With her feelings, her observations, and her bad jokes.

So many of her character moments are about dealing with the pain that comes with life. With unrequited love, with loss, with a quiet existence and what it means when your decisions might mean something larger than yourself.

[mollythepathologist]

I yearn to write, but the idea of clawing my way back into the habit WITHOUT getting overwhelmed by all the updating I would need to do is SO SO daunting.

[mollythepathologist]

When she was young, she and her father would decorate the Christmas tree.

She would breathe on the frosted glass and draw snowmen in the fog while he brewed them orange cinnamon tea, christmas carols playing faintly from the record player.

The house would smell warm, and she'd half-heartedly tidy up the mess of their preperations. Piling tinsel strands and stray popcorn kernals into small heaps.

When the last ornament was hung, they would rush to turn off all the lights, plunging the room into complete darkness. They would stand there, Molly's heart beating with anticipation, the cold winter night seeming to flood in on them for just a moment, till her father hit the switch for the tree - blinding them both with shimmering lights.

She loved that moment, the warmth that rushed through and settled down into her bones, the smile and laughter that almost hurt, and most of all - how the light hit her dad's face. How each wrinkle in his fave was softened.

Then they would sit in front of the tree with their tea and play cards - go fish, old maid, and the like. Eventually, she'd fall asleep, and he'd carry her to bed - till she got too big for that, and he had to needle her awake instead.

It was the night she and so many other children looked forward to most each year.

When he died, Molly spent that first Christmas in the dark. The tree was decorated, the tea steaming, but she just couldn't bring herself to plug it in. She cried and cried, the tea went cold and her eyes, swollen as they were, adjusted to the darkness of her flat. Enough that she could see the small reflections bouncing from her tree. Charging cables, outlets, and all those other miscellaneous lights caught in the branches.

And that, for some strange reason, gave her comfort.

Now, she spends those nights bathed in the warm lights, drinking her tea and dragging tinsel for Toby, and while it is not the same, it's enough.

[mollythepathologist]

Aunt Jane was the first person in Molly's life that she didn't understand.

All the other adults said and did adult things. They talked about the neighborhood or food or their boring adult jobs or, worst of all, they talked to her in that adult way.

"Wow! You've gotten so big!" "Do you remember me? I used to hold you as a baby."What subject in school do you like the most?"What do you wanna do when you grow up?"

And then they'd stop talking to her and go on and on about how they missed being her age.

But Aunt Jane wasn't like that.

She got down in the dirt with her. Helped her dig up bugs and laughed when the centipede scuttled away. She snuck her sweets and built blanket forts with her where they played pretend and drank cocoa. She wore bright clothes, and her glasses were sparkly, held around her neck with beads that made a pleasant sound against the rings on her hands.

At first, she thought that maybe Aunt Jane was just a big kid. Like her but taller with wrinkles, but Aunt Jane still talked to the adults about adult things. She still drank the smelly juice that the adults drank - more of it even. She still went to her boring adult job and got to do all the grown-up chores.

It wasn't until she was much older that she realized that the adults didn't quite understand Aunt Jane either.

Well, everyone except her father. It seemed like they were the only two people in the world that understood each other so completely- which of course meant that they argued more than anyone else she knew.

Molly always wished she'd had a sister of her own, or at the very least, a brother to torment.

[mollythepathologist]

Sometimes she sits. Just sits. In the canteen, at the park, in the empty hospital halls.

Sometimes, she watches the people, just out of the corner of her eye. Colleagues chatting away over surprisingly decent pickings. The couple arguing over forgotten water bottles. People fighting the painful wave of relief that comes when someone ill passes.

Most of the time, though, she just stares. In the nothingness between, letting her eyes focus on a brick, a patch of grass or the trim of a painted wall, while her own mind fades away into the buzz of the air.

She sits, and she fades away. No longer existing or sitting - just the mechanical in and out of her breathing.

It's nice. Sometimes. To not be anything. To not think about what to say next, what to do with her hands, or how her expression should change.

Sometimes, it was nice to just sit.

[mournfulroses]

Franz Kafka, from a letter to Felice Bauer written in 1912, featured in Letters To Felice

[ihopeucomehomesoon]

i’m tired and want something beautiful and big to happen to me

[soulprompts]

CARING FOR THE SICK PROMPTS.

i found this list and kinda fed into it each time i got the flu or a migraine, and u know what, it's just me revealing just how much i love the caring threads and the soft threads and the fondly exasperated "let me help you" threads! use at your pleasure, DO NOT ADD TO THE LIST NOR EDIT IT! i will be changing it accordingly!

" i found you passed out in the kitchen. you wanna stop working yourself so hard? or do i need to keep hitting the gym to carry you to bed every day? "

" you're burning up. "

" your neighbour called me and said you could use a nurse. looks like they were right, too. "

" you were told to take it easy, so... yeah. this is kinda on you. "

" you took a sick day. you NEVER take a sick day. so yeah, i got worried, and i figured i'd come over and keep an eye on you. "

" you texted me a long and incoherent text that held about 90% of the emoji list and about four different languages. figured it wouldn't hurt to drop by and see how you were doing. "

" how long have you been sick for? and don't lie. "

" you look like hell. "

" i brought you some soup; let me heat some up for you? "

" okay. it's time you went to the hospital. "

" hey… hello there, sleeping beauty. you gave me a bit of a scare yesterday. how are you feeling? "

" i swear, if you even think of getting out of that bed… "

" you know when i said to call if it's an emergency? a fever is most DEFINITELY considered an emergency! "

" if you think you're going to work like this, you better think again. "

" don't worry. my family swears by this remedy; just let it work its magic and you'll feel good as new in no time. "

" I don't care about getting sick. i'm not leaving you until you're back to full health. "

" you didn't stop to think that this might happen when you're burning the candle at both ends? "

" yeah, I can play the role of nurse AND say "I told you so" at the same time, actually. "

" you better drink every last drop of this tea, no matter how disgusting it is. "

" i told my boss it was an emergency so they've given me a full week to look after you. "

" quit being so stubborn and get into BED! "

" what part of doctor's orders hasn't sunk in yet? bed rest! for the WEEK! "

" right, where do you keep your saucepans? i'm going to make you my famous noodle soup. it's a cure-all, i'm telling you! "

" hey, unless you're going to the bathroom or the sofa, I don't want to see you out of that bed. got it? "

" when are you gonna start letting people look after you, huh? "

" i know, i know, i turned off all the lights once i figured you had the migraine. you want some tea? water? "

" don't be mad, but i saw your fridge, and... it frightened me. so i've taken you back to my place, and i'm gonna get deliveroo to bring some groceries to your place tomorrow. okay? "

" i know your appetite is a little off, so i ordered in a whole tonne of options. just try a little bit of something, please? for me? "

" i've brought half a pharmacy, enough movies and boardgames to last us a decade, and every single snack i could fit into the basket at the grocery store. so sit your butt down, eat your soup, and try and make the most of your bed rest for the next week, will you? "

ACTION PROMPTS ( SEND THE FULL LINE! and feel free to reverse if u wish! ):

[ TOUCH ]: sender gently rests a hand against the receiver's forehead to check their temperature.

[ DAMP ]: sender presses a cool cloth against the receiver's face, neck and forehead to try and lower their fever.

[ BLANKET ]: sender wraps another blanket around the receiver to try and stop them from shivering.

[ SPOON ]: sender gently coaxes spoons of soup into the receiver's mouth to build up their strength after an illness.

[ CARRY ]: sender, finding the receiver weakened/unconscious on the floor, immediately lifts them up and carries them back to bed.

[ AROUND ]: sender keeps a protective arm around the receiver to help them walk without the risk of stumbling or collapsing.

[ STAY ]: sender decides to stay by the receiver's bedside after learning that they're sick.

[ HAIR ]: sender smooths back the receiver's hair in a soothing gesture to try and help them go back to sleep.

[ TILT ]: sender tips a bottle of water up for the receiver to sip from.

[ HUM ]: sender hums/sings to soothe a sick receiver back to sleep.

[ BACK ]: sender gently rubs the receiver's back, either to soothe them or warm them while they're unwell.

[ SHARE ]: sender climbs into the receiver's sickbed with them, wrapping their arms around them to offer warmth and comfort.

[ SHOWER ]: sender, learning the receiver has a high fever, takes a cold shower with them in order to lower their temperature.

[ WAKEN ]: the receiver wakes up in bed, having been found unconscious by the sender and carried into the bed from the floor.

[ QUARANTINE ]: the sender and receiver, both being sick, decide to quarantine together and spend the recovery period with each other.

[soft-lovely]

the cozy book spaces of Dublin

[weirwolves]

― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea

[academia-aesthetics]

[creepingintheivy]

Happy one year anniversary to my blog! Thank you everyone who follows me!!🤍🤍

[sherlock-everything-deactivated]

[windsweptlassie]

buttoning or unbuttoning the cuffs of someone else’s shirt for them is such an intimate and sacred experience