baby i'm dyin'

mother to helena

[tearstoshcd]

bitternpill​:

Barkis shook his head, aghast at the accusations that Emily seemed quite content to level against him, and none with any basis. “I would never try to force you out of a life you built,” he murmured, softer now, and that was true enough. He likes to play, to see what he could do, to see what sort of influence he had on people, especially those he’d loved or lost in one way or another, and Emily was the most innocent candidate for both realities in Barkis’s life. He was listening to her, actively even, curious to see what she had left to fight him on, when the child came up to her again, and Barkis squinted. Smiled, of course - he wasn’t a monster - but he was certainly curious. Emily sent her away just as quickly as she’d arrived, and Barkis, against his best instincts, cocked his head just slightly to the side. “How old?”

She knew Barkis was bound to ask this question eventually, but she still wasn’t even a little ready for it. The impulse to lie was instant, but Emily couldn’t pass Helena off for that young. And i she lied than he would only have more questions but he might have more anyways. “Twelve,” she finally said before looking away from him so that she could look at Helena in the produce section. “And she will never be anywhere near you if I can help it. She doesn’t need flaky, fake, people in her life.”

[tearstoshcd]

artsandpoppy​:

when the bells of the front door chimed and poppy heard the familiar voice of emily softly calling out, she jumped up from her seat in the back where she’d been working on finishing touches for mabel’s birthday scrapbook. “for you i always have time,” she assures with a bright smile. now poppy had never been the greatest at reading people, so it took her a few moments to realize something seemed a bit off with the other woman. “we can go wherever you want. and you can either find the paints now or get them when we come back, that way you don’t have to carry them with you the whole time.”

emily nodded her head. she had a good point about the paints. “I don’t really care where we eat as long as it is outdoors? it’s so sunny and warm and beautiul outside. it would be a waste to miss a moment of it.” she tucked a braid behind her ear. “i’ll get the paints later. yeah..so...shall we?”

[tearstoshcd]

@artsandpoppy​

“poppy darling? are you busy?” emily asked softly, entering the arts and crafts store alone for once. she had a lot on her mind and there was no one on the island who she thought would understand more than poppy. emily had a real attachment to the woman; she finally found herself a kindred spirit of sorts and she felt like she could talk to her about the hard stuff without judgement. “i was wondering if you’d like to join me for some take-out? or some dessert? or...whatever comfort food feels best? feel free to take your time with your answer, i still need to buy some paints for helena.”

[tearstoshcd]

bitternpill​:

Barkis had not, in fact, gone out of his way since arriving in Corona to find Emily. He hadn’t kept tabs on her, hadn’t asked around to find her most frequent haunts to make himself a presence, because quite frankly he had better things to do with his time. And anyway, this was much better, the call of fate or chance, finding her doing her shopping of all things, with the little one he knew absolutely nothing about, but he still hadn’t seen a father. Perhaps not surprising, but still curious. More curious still, Emily sent her away. All Barkis had uttered was a coy, “Fancy seeing you here,” and Emily responded with quite disproportionate rage, he thought. He wondered why.

His answer came easily, unruffled. “To say hello? There’s nothing wrong with greeting an old friend, last time I checked, but I can tell you disagree. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you, Emily.” His voice grew softer then, less haughty though there was always an air of privilege in his tone that he couldn’t shake if he tried. “I almost thought you’d run off again. It’s good to see you.”

Emily rolled her eyes at him. “I am not leaving Corona because of you. I have a life here. One that I made on my own, thank you.” And one that was perfect before he showed up. “Also, we are not friends. We aren’t anything to each other.” She hated how childish she always felt in comparison to him. He always dressed and talked so maturely and she felt like he was talking down on her even when he wasn’t trying. “It’s best if we pretend like we don’t know one another. It would make my lif-” she stopped herself the moment she felt Helena tugging at her dress. “Helena, darling, this isn’t the time..” she turned to look at her, gently taking the candy she had brought to her and placing it in their cart. “Okay, you can have that one...now please be a dear and go pick out some fruits for mommy.” She pressed a kiss to Helena’s head and watched her safely go over to the produce section before turning once more to Barkis. “Are we done here?”

[artsandpoppy]

With Lily Rose strapped to her chest and a big tote bag hanging over one of her shoulders, Poppy made her way up to the front door of Emily’s home and gave a quick, loud knock. For the first time in days she was actually glowing again. It was a lot dimmer than normal, just a faint champagne color radiating off of her skin, but it was a step in the right direction. And she knew it had a lot to do with who she was about to see as well as the presents she had for them. When the door finally opened, the brunette bounced a little in the spot. “Hi Lena,” she greets happily, even though she’s a little surprised it was her instead of her mother answering the door - knowing full well Helena wasn’t supposed to do that. Before she can question that though or ask if Emily was home, the older woman showed up behind her. “Hey Em!” @tearstoshcd​

[tearstoshcd]

Emily was more than ready to scold Helena over answering the door. She had gone over it a million times bu the girl was in a “test mom’s patience” phase and she was patient, but she was also ready to take her tablet away for acting out. Luckily, it was Poppy and Barkis hadn’t found her address or something like that. “Hey Pops. And sweet little Lily,” she cooed, flashing a smile at the little one. “You’re early. Or I’m really later. I don’t even know nowadays.” She made room for the two,Helena running off before Emily could say anything to her. Later then. When she looked back at Poppy she couldn’t help but take in her glow. She was always so wowed by Poppy and her natural glow so even her fun one was something to admire. “Cute color,” she commented with a giggle. “Can I get you a drink?”

[starlets]

Zoë Kravitz

[tearstoshcd]

misseverglot​:

Coming to Corona had been a bit of a culture shock to Victoria. There were so many things she had never done before coming there and with her parents not breathing down her neck every second of the day it was freeing. It was also very confusing. She had to learn to do so many things the average adult should already know. Like grocery shopping! She’d never gone herself before coming there. She was getting the hang of it though but that didn’t mean she didn’t still struggle controlling the stupid grocery carts. “No, no it’s alright! I hate these stupid things.” She felt foolish sometimes about the things she couldn’t do but not having her parents around also meant she could buy whatever she’d liked. Even if she had to marry a man she barely knew at least she could still be free. “You didn’t drop anything, did you? You wouldn’t believe me when I say I’m no good at controlling these things.” She offers the other woman another smile.

Emily smiled at her.She was cute and Emily was a sucker for cute. “You haven’t done a single thing wrong,” Emily said with a laugh. “These carts are a little hard to manage on most days, but once we got the right balance it isn’t so bad.” She has run into her fair share of things here and she didn’t want this woman feeling like a fool. There’s nothing more upsetting than a woman being made a fool. Emily had been made a fool on more than one occasion in her life and she wasn’t ever going to share that kind of feeling to someone else. “If it makes you feel better, I knocked over a bunch of oranges earlier. So I guess this really isn’t my first accident today. Clumsy me.”

[tearstoshcd]

@misseverglot​

Emily didn’t like going to the store alone. Taking Helena with her everywhere was routine for her and sure, she liked to add way too many snacks into their cart, but without her she was feeling a little...lonely. But Helena was absorbed with one of her video games and didn’t want to go, so Emily left her with her neighbor who has watched her countless times and went herself. Humming to herself, she browsed with a dull look in her eyes, her mind drifting to Barkis. His presence was putting her on edge a little bit and she wanted to pretend it wasn’t a big deal, but it was. It was big enough of a deal to distract Emily and she ended up crashing her grocery cart into someone else’s. “Oops.I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to get in your way.”

[velvetamber]

[sudaul]

[tearstoshcd]

@bitternpill

emily had felt very lucky for not running into barkis in a long while. the island was bigger than it looked and she really was trying to keep to herself and her child and the few friends she made along the way to keep her sane. but she knew that there would be another time that she would run into him and have to deal with that heartbreak and that regret and rage and she was ready for it. but she also wasn’t. if helena wasn’t in the picture, she would have kicked his ass fully. but she had her and she couldn’t risk jail so she had to play nice. barkis was the type of man to get lawyers involved if she crossed a line. 

but right now she wasn’t sure how to not cross one. she had helena next to her, she was just trying to get some groceries, and she was mad that he had the nerve to approach her in public like this even though she saw it coming. “helena, sweetie, why don’t you go pick out some gummies? mommy will just be a moment,” she said sweetly, watching her child with her mess of hair walk down the aisle before emily sent daggers at barkis. “what? what do you want now?”

[tearstoshcd]

@pumbaasthicc

emily was so grateful for david. he was helena’s favorite person on the island and that was no secret to anyone who knew them. so when he mentioned he was going to be at the picnic, helena went out of her way to make emily paint her nails and do her hair nice. emily thought it was sweet she had a little crush on the man and helped her with a giggle escaping her lips every few seconds. her laughter made helena glare at her but she didn’t mind. her daughter was just as fierce and determined as she was in her youth. and when they first got to the picnic, she wouldn’t let emily do anything until they found him. “it’s your second favorite people,” emily called out to him once helena finally found and ran over to him. “are you on duty right now? helena has been so excited to see you.”

[victorvandead-deactivated202004]

an interaction for @tearstoshcd​

There was one law in this world, one unavoidable by man and beast alike: the world was going to keep turning no matter what happened to you. Personal tragedies were just that: personal. No matter how they devastated the soul, they weren’t going to stop time and the people on the street weren’t going to know. That had certainly been true when word reached the ear of a far younger Victor as to what happened to the first person he dared call a friend.

The world didn’t stop and time didn’t still and yet a hole was left behind. It hurt, but there was nothing to do but to keep going. He expected to keep going when he came here, but when he turned a corner and saw a figure out of his memories, he couldn’t stop the jog his legs broke into and he certainly couldn’t stop the cry of “Emily!” Skidding to a stop, he forced out around heaving lungs, ‘It’s me, Victor. I don’t know if you remember me, but we were friends years ago.”

[tearstoshcd]

Emily hadn’t seen Victor for years. She had kept to herself after she found out she was pregnant, and after a while was forced to leave their home and move to Corona. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see him but that she wasn’t allowed. His parents made sure to keep him away from her and it hurt but she had to move on for Helena. So when she heard the familiar voice calling to her she stopped so fast that she almost made herself fall over. It couldn’t be. 

“Remember you? of course I remember you, stupid. Victor, my darling, it has been far too long!” She didn’t have Helena with her. She was at school and Emily was just trying to get a few groceries. But now....she didn’t know. Her mind was blank. “How are you? What are you doing here?”

[artsandpoppy]

It had been two weeks now since Poppy had gone into labor and she was finally feeling well enough to invite people over to come see her and meet Vidalia for the first time. During her time at the hospital a few select people had been allowed in, but due to fear of germs and her general overall exhaustion she had kept the list on the shorter side (at least, for her it was short - the nurses were still all a little shocked at how many people had shown up just for one patient). Now it was open to all. This was a party she had planned months ago and so far it was going pretty smoothly. Poppy and the baby were in her old room that was now working as nursery and people were coming in one by one to visit - a system that was proving to be much less overwhelming than staying downstairs and letting everyone crowd around at once. A knock on the door caught Poppy’s attention as she paced around the open space of the room, bouncing Vidalia gently as she moved. “Come in,” she called out gently, though with still as much excitement in her voice as usual - ready for her daughter to meet whoever it was waiting to come in next.

[tearstoshcd]

Emily knew it was very important to give Poppy some privacy as she adjusted to mom-hood. She wanted to see the little darling more than anything, but she knew better, so she just kept her presents and her presence at bay until the time was right. Once she caught wind that Poppy was seeing people she made sure to get there early, just in case she was going to want to rest later....if she was able to. Emily was sure Branch was helping....at least she hoped he was. As she made her way to the baby’s room she found herself getting butterflies. There really was nothing like seeing a mother with her child. “Poppy, darling!” Emily said softly, making her way inside. “I wanted to see how you were doing.”

[vanessassity]

[femmefatalesposts]

Nothing but respect for MY cat woman, MISS ZOË KRAVITZ 🖤

[tearstoshcd]

@bitternpill​

Emily had never thought a moment that was supposed to be so pure be so tainted by the one man she never thought she would see again in her life. She was so thrown off, so confused and angry that all she could do was slap him hard across the face. It was so impulsive that she was shocked at herself. She hadn’t had a sip of wine, hadn’t been doing anything bad. Just enjoying a little holiday gathering with a coworker. Thank the gods Helena wasn’t there. “Y-You.....” she finally managed to say, looking at him like she had seen a ghost. “What are....This isn’t real......”

send  🌿  for  our  muses  to  be  caught  under  mistletoe .