#molly mathews

[fictionalcharactergraveyard]

Dally: we’re gonna head to Bucks, you comin’?

Two-Bit: Can’t. I got plans.

the plans in question

Molly (his sister) sitting across from him at the Dingo: and then I told her to screw off, she didn’t, so I slapped her. I didn’t even get in trouble!

Two-Bit, mouth full of food: that’s my sister!

[l0stfoster]

Can we hear more about Har-bit childhood? I remember you mentioned his dad being abusive and his mom ignoring it.

Does the gang know about his childhood?

How was he towards his sister during those time and if it effected their relationship later on?

Is there lasting effects?

I love people asking about the backstory/childhood stuff it's so fun. Alright, let's get to it! Everything is below the cut, sorry if some shit isn't worded right, I'm a little out of it today so I'll likely come back to edit this as needed.

General information

- As I've said, Two’s mom is a harpy and his dad is human. Neither Two-Bit nor Molly took after Mr. Mathews, and he wasn’t too happy about that. He left when Molly was around 3 and Two was 13. - I've always imagined Mrs. Mathews being a nurse, so she was constantly out of the house for long shifts and so on, and so forth. She trusted Mr. Mathews since he'd kept whatever malice he felt on the down low.. for the first few years. - I've already said it but I'll bring it back up; Two-Bit constantly had his needs and habits as a harpy repressed by his father. Feathers clipped, he wasn't allowed to preen, etc. Human social norms were super-enforced, and Two or his sister were disciplined harshly for behaving in any way a harpy would. - Harpies crave social bonds or a flock mentality; , something that Mr. Mathews was so thoroughly against agreeing to. He'd also treat them as if they should be human, then get all pissy if they didn't meet that expectation. - His dad was an alcoholic, and unfortunately, that's a trait Two picked up as well. - Mr. Mathews wasn't usually physical, but there were moments. It was mostly emotional and psychological abuse that the kids had to deal with; he'd make tons of derogatory comments about Two and his mom, call them monsters, etc. Neglect was pretty evident too, Two had to learn to fend for himself from a pretty young age and had to learn to care for Molly when she was born. - Speaking of which, Two constantly took the brunt of the responses his father held when it came to Molly's behavior as a literal baby. This is probably where the physical aspects of abuse got the most rampant since Two-Bit defending Molly was seen as having an attitude. - Two-Bit was forced to lie regarding how he was being treated as well, he was told for a long time that he wouldn't be believed, that he was being dramatic, or that Mrs. Mathews would leave. - Ms. Mathews was going to file for divorce once she could afford the financial issues that would follow it, but one day just came home to a quiet house, save for Two-Bit trying to ease a fussy Molly. They haven't seen him since.

Does the gang know about his childhood?

- The levels of knowing about it vary, but Dally and Ace definitely have the best gauge on Two's childhood. Dally had witnessed it a ton firsthand, and Ace got to hear it from Two himself. Darry's also pretty aware of it, as not only did he get glimpses of it while they grew up, but he vividly remembers the nights when Two-Bit would show up drunk and just,, talk. - Steve and Johnny are also pretty aware, they don't know the details, but they know that the guy fucked up enough for Two of all people to shit talk. Hell, Two doesn't hold the same malice that his dad faces towards Paul or even Bev. You need to fuck up bad for Two-Bit to despise you. - Everyone else doesn't know the full details, but it's not hard to make assumptions.

How was he towards his sister during those times and did it affect their relationship later on?

- Their relationship wasn't impacted, if anything their bond was strengthened as Two did everything in his damn power to keep her on the opposite end of their father's wrath. - He would've killed the man with his bare hands if he dared to lay a hand on her. Hence why he continued to defend her, even if he shouldn't have had to; babies are going to be noisy and need a lot of attention, and god forbid a father has to care for their own child.

Are there lasting effects?

- There's a good bit of remaining trauma from Mr. Mathews, yeah. Two covers a lot of his personal angst with his humor and loudness, but things shine through. His sister didn't experience it enough to have a grasp on how bad things were. - There was a lot of deep-rooted shame in Two due to his harpy nature and how his father responded to it. For a good long while, he hated being one. He still longs for his father's approval despite his abandonment but resents the neglect and abuse. The only reason it hasn't prevented him from forming bonds and relationships is because his mother did her damn best to turn it around. - Two-Bit absolutely hates that he drinks. He knows he shouldn't be doing it, and he knows it reminds people (and himself) of his father; but just because you know you're colorblind doesn't mean you can see the colors. Addiction isn't easy to deal with. - Two also gets really aggressive if anyone directs anger toward him or his sister; it's a reflex. His brain associates that loud and violent behavior with his father.

[sondheim-girly]

I know it's not american thanksgiving yet but it is this weekend where I am so what are your thoughts on Mathews family thanksgiving? (cause their mom absolutely tries to do smt for it even if it's not much)

sorry this took me so long, I got a little sidetracked... go see my headcanons on mama mathews for context cuz otherwise a lot of this wont make sense!

-the thanksgiving after two bit is born, mollys parents reach out to her and invite her to come back to their farm for the holiday

-Molly, with some convincing from Betsy, decides to accept

-it’s a little awkward at first, but her parents are masters at pretending everything is fine when it’s not

-keith turns on the charm and makes her whole family really like him, other than Betsy

-this starts a tradition for their family to have a big reunion every thanksgiving

-the thanksgiving after Beth was born and Keith left was awful

-her family kept on making snide comments about how “of course she couldn’t even keep a man” and how shameful it is to be a single mother

-she puts up with this for a few years, until one year when she finally gets sick of it, and there’s a huge screaming match between her and her brother and her parents

-during the argument someone makes a comment about how Beth never should have been born and it’s her fault that Keith is gone, and Molly just snaps

-cuz nooo one is going after her babies, she’d give up the world for them 100 times over

-she immediately gets up and leaves, and they never go back

-the next year they try and make a nice dinner but molly cant cook for shit so they end up just going to the curtis house

-that births the new tradition of the big Curtis gang thanksgiving!

-then one year post canon Betsy reaches out saying that her husband and kids are traveling to see some extended family for thanksgiving and she decided to stay back home

-she asks if she could come to Tulsa so they can do thanksgiving together!!

-Molly is like “of course!!!!” And is absolutely thrilled to get to spend some time with her sister

-this is after Marcia and two bit start dating, and when two bit finds out that this year Marcia’s parents are working through the holiday and she won’t be having a thanksgiving dinner he insists she comes

-Betsy is good at cooking, however Molly and Beth are both atrocious

-two bit, surprisingly, is actually fucking incredible

-no one knows why, but u put him in the kitchen and he can do magicccc

-he and Betsy are put in charge of the majority of the food

-Beth tries to make the mashed potatoes because how does someone fuck up mashed potatoes?

-however she finds a way, because of course she does

-Betsy doesn’t let Molly anywhere near the kitchen cuz she’s still traumatized from mollys cooking endeavors when they were kids

-the kitchen was nearly burned down on multiple occasions back then

-Marcia volunteers to make a pumpkin pie, because she’d baked a few times when Cherry was over at her house and they got bored

-two bit comes over to ‘help’ and like… I don’t even need to talk about it I think you know how unbearably cute they were (and there may have been a minor food fight- think of that scene between Quinn and puck from glee)

-they all sit down for dinner, and stuff themselves full and laugh and talk the whole time!

-Molly decided her contribution would be decorations, so the table is beautiful with all sorts of fall colors!

-afterwards they all agree it’s the best thanksgiving they ever had

Thanks so much for asking me about this! It feels wrong for me to be talking about thanksgiving this early, but I had so much fun making these that it’s ok :)

[ask-the-curtis-gang]

Hey Two-Bit, it’s really cool and all that you love your sister and let her tag along to things, even if she’s much younger. I’ve been missing my sister something awful (she’s not dead, she’s just at college lol)

Anyways, give yours a hug for me?

Aw shit man. I can't even imagine. Well. I guess I kinda can. For a bit with Dar goin- ANYWAY! Yeah course I love that kid somethin awful I'll give the bug a big one for ya. n I'm sorry bout your sister. But if I know anythin (n that's debatable to be fair HA) she's missin ya an awful lot too.

[l0stfoster]

I’ve been going through all the lore and I’ve noticed we don’t get alot about two-bit sister. If I may ask can we get some stuff on her like

Her relationship with her brother?

Anything interesting about her?

How’s she acted after her brother was jumped?

Just simple things like that!

MOLLY TALK!! I love it when people ask about the side characters, it makes me very giddy. You could argue that Paul got thrown into the main mix because I could not be sane about him. The basics

- Molly's around 8 during the book/musical's events. - She's growing into her features a bit slower, so although her wings can hold her weight, she can't fly too well right now. She's still got lots of down feathers too. - Their mother doesn't let her join Two-Bit and the gang too much, but she's around them a good lot too. They're her flock as well, but she hasn't adjusted to the cultural aspect yet. They'll get her feathers someday - Out of the gang Darry and Ace are her favorites. Steve's probably got a soft spot for her too, since he can float her around. - She also likes the 3 socs when they fall into an alliance with the gang. They cherish her, she's very silly to them. - She's very smart for her age. Absolutely loves school and learning in contrast to Two who couldn't give a fuck about actually learning. - I like to imagine her kinda similarly to Clementine from The Walking Dead lmao. She's soft-spoken and really damn smart, but she's also pretty observant of others. She's still a kid, though, and has that naive innocence that can sometimes do more harm than good. She didn't realize that the socs were foes until Two's jumping.

Her relationship with her brother?

- Molly is very close with Two, she looks at him like he hung the stars and he'd do just about anything for her. It's in their nature; she's little, and his instincts obligate him to protect her-- but she is his sister, too. He'll do anything to keep her safe as is. She's like his shadow, if she's allowed to come with him, she'll follow. He's the one who taught her to fly, how to preen, etc. She mirrors his actions a lot, he taught her to dive-bomb people for shiny stuff; it gets her in trouble at school, though. - He thinks he's good at keeping her away from a lot of the messy stuff, but she's smart. She knows things are rough all over, despite how hard he tries to keep it under wraps. - She doesn't remember it much, but she knows that their father wasn't a good man and that Two commonly put himself in between his wrath and her. That willingness to put himself in danger scares her sometimes, she doesn't want him getting hurt. - She doesn't like that he drinks.

Anything interesting about her?

- She's uncomfortably good at voice mimicking for her age. Her speech patterns can give her away pretty easily because she's just a kid, but there are multiple instances of her actually managing to pull it off. It's an unconscious thing as well, like a vocal stim.

How did she act after her brother was jumped?

- Molly was, unfortunately for her, one of the first people to see Two after his jumping; 'cause Dally bought Two-Bit home and she'd insisted to their mom that she stays up until he got back. - It was terrifying, her mom tried to shield her from it but she'd seen enough. Dally had to promptly pull her out to get her to stop looking. It gave her nightmares, she also insisted on sleeping in his room 'cause she wanted to make sure no one was there. - She couldn't understand why she and her mom couldn't just give Two their molted feathers to fix his wings. - It was probably the first time her flocking instincts kicked in as a harpy, she got REAL protective of Two-Bit. Absolute goblin to deal with for a few weeks because anyone even getting too close to him would have to calm down a very pissy baby bird.

[fictionalcharactergraveyard]

I hc that in 1965 Angela Shepard is 13, and Molly Mathews is 12. In their school they have a shared gym class and are the girls who just stand there and don’t actually do much in the class. So that’s how Molly got on the Shepards hood side.

Two-bit isn’t the biggest fan of this (protective big brother), but Molly doesn’t seem to be getting into trouble or hurt so he eases up a bit

also when Angie-Boy happens

Molly to Ponyboy: first you take my brother, then you take my friend. Who’s next, my mother? Ponyboy: …

Molly: I’m kidding, geez. I know I’m Keith’s favourite (and she is)

[sondheim-girly]

@this-hopeless-war asked me for thanksgiving headcanons and I promise those are coming, but it got me thinking about mama mathews, who I’m calling Molly, so now of course I must yap

-Molly grew up on a farm in the country with an older brother and a younger sister

-their parents were very traditional and strict

-her brother was raised to take over the farm

-he was also raised to repress all his emotions other than anger!!!

-her little sister Elizabeth, nicknamed Betsy, is very close with Molly despite them being very very different

-Betsy marries her high school sweetheart and moves to his farm and they start a family together, which is everything Molly was expected to do, but she never wanted that life

-she always wanted to move to the big city in search of something more exciting

-sick of her parents nagging, she drops out of high school at the start of her senior year and moves to Tulsa

-she finds a job as a waitress and within about two weeks of having that job she meets a man named Keith

-He’s 19 years old and calls himself a ‘wild spirit’ and says that he and Molly share that

-they hit it off right away and he asks her out

-within a month they get engaged and elope

-two months after that, Molly finds out that she’s pregnant with two bit

-Kieth decides he should name their son after him, because of course they’re gonna have a son! Someone to carry on his Mathews name and effectively be his mini me

-four years later, Molly unexpectedly gets pregnant again

-she names her baby Elizabeth, after her aunt. She’s nicknamed Bitty by two bit and Beth by everyone else

-Kieth’s kinda had his foot out the door for a minute, saying that one kid is enough and he doesn’t want another one

-when Beth’s being born he shows up to the hospital clearly drunk

-when he finds out it’s a girl he explodes because what’s even the point in having a girl??

-Molly was holding her baby girl for the first time, and he was screaming at her, and she just had enough

-she told him that he wasn’t wanted here anymore, he never did anything to help her, he couldn’t keep a job, he was lazy, he considered himself a wild spirit like her, but in reality he’s just lost, living a pointless existence

-he gets super mad at her and skips town without a trace

-everyone always thinks that he left them cuz Molly doesn’t tell the story

I actually have so many thoughts on molly and keith, and Keith and two bit, but I can’t articulate them rn so I’m gonna go work on the thanksgiving headcanons.