babette-durand-blog - Tumblr blog

[babette-durand-blog]

shiningmagicalstar:

Star was the opposite. She shopped often, though she didn’t always buy something, sometimes she just window shopped. She had a lot of time on her hand. School was ending, she was new and didn’t really have any friends, she had a lot of time on her hands for these reasons. She didn’t really mind that much, she enjoyed exploring Swylake and getting to know the area she was gonna be living in for the foreseeable future. 

And Swynlake had some really cool stores. She really liked the arcade, it was one of her favourite places to hang out. Earth games were so fun, technology wasn’t as much of a thing in Mewni. 

She had actually been on her way to the arcade when the clothes in the shop’s window had caught her attention. And she couldn’t help herself, Star didn’t have the best self-restraint. And that when the dress had caught her attention and then the price tag had broken her heart. Honestly, how could a piece of cloth be so expensive?

“I guess you’re right. No point in spending all my money and then have to beg for an advance on my allowance.” She said putting the dress back with a frown and a sigh. “That a nice idea and that’d be cool but um… I don’t know how to sew.”

The girl looked to be about Abby’s age- perhaps the two knew each other, or if she was new to town Babette could introduce them, you could never have too many friends in her opinion. Especially as a young girl in a new town, you needed a good support system around you.

Besides Abby had been... Distant, lately. Withdrawn. It would be good for her to make some new friends, according to her last school report she wasn’t so popular- which was fine, Babette hadn’t been popular either so she knew it could be a choice and not just lack of social skills- and her parents were concerned.

“Best to try and put aside a little bit of it every time so that you can splurge on something really nice after a few months rather than blow through it all at once.” She advised with a soft nod, “but of course we are not always so patient.” She giggled, “No? I know how, most of these decorations wouldn’t be too difficult. Especially the edging around the bottom of it, granted the embroidered parts look like something even I’d struggle with but iron on patches were invented for a reason..”

Decisions || Open

[babette-durand-blog]

the-benevolent-seawitch:

Ursula had a funny relationship with mothers. She did not know her own. At least, not where birth mothers were concerned. As far as she cared, her parents could be dead. Hopefully, in fact, they were. Poached for their beautiful scales.

That did not mean, however, that Ursula had not known a mother’s love, for she had. Sometimes, she missed her mother dreadfully. She had not seen Rosa since she had left the ocean, but she knew that everything she knew came from the woman, and she admired and respected her.

And, Ursula, despite not having children of her own, adored her girls. The people she liked to give advice to–whether it was silly things like boys (or girls), or going back to school. She encouraged. She protected. She loved them, as if they were her children. 

However, she did not think she would have the patience to raise children from their infancy. She had a great respect for those who did, like Babette. 

She smiled as she watched the other woman with the children, chuckling a little as they obediently took the blowpops and began to quiet down. 

Her eyebrows jumped up a little and she laughed at that last comment.

“Forgive me, my dear, you do so well with them that I thought you were their mother. I should have known, though…” Her eyes trailed down the elegant curve of Babette’s neck to her bosom and back up, not bothering to hide it. “I should’ve known you were too young to have children their ages.” 

Babette knew she was incredibly lucky in some respects, that years ago- and still now in some parts of the world- lots of women had been forced into the roles of homemaker and child bearer, and that it was a privilege to choose those things and have relatively few obstacles. (Well, relatively few. One obstacle. Though it was quite a big one.) And she didn’t judge women who chose different, that was their right.

Recently she had been very well behaved. She hadn’t been going on dates or flirting. Of course she had quite the motivation to avoid those things but even that hadn’t stopped her when she’d first moved here, and there had been opportunities even since Sweet, because she was an attractive and kind young woman. Admittedly though most of this good behavior was based on avoidance of those situations, and not willpower.

Because she still had very little, and when Ursula’s gaze traveled down her profile it sent a familiar little thrill of excitement racing down her spine and a surprised little giggle bubbled out. Babette leaned forward just a tad, a flirty retort on the tip of her tongue. Oh how she longed... But she couldn’t. Shouldn’t. Wouldn’t.

She leaned back and sipped her coffee, resisted the urge to so much as openly check her out in return. “I’m the au pair.” She explained instead with a soft smile and a shrug. “But no need to apologize. I’m flattered by the assumption if anything. means I’m doing my job very well.”

Seaking Solutions | Babette & Ursula

[babette-durand-blog]

duranddurand: I miss you my gorgeous Colmar crew! <3 (don’t miss that fringe, though) 

[babette-durand-blog]

shiningmagicalstar:

After being in Swynlake for a short while she had to say that it wasn’t that horrible a place. She had been given a ‘cell phone’ and that was pretty cool, and she could play games on it! So, that was a plus, but there were some downsides. Her parents weren’t here and that kind of sucked, she especially missed sparring with her dad. Of course, she talked to them regularly, but it wasn’t the same, and she couldn’t just go and visit them whenever she wanted. It seemed she was ‘homesick’, that was the correct term, wasn’t it? So, what did she do back home when she was bored and lonely. She went shopping, of course! 

The stores on earth were a lot different than back home, first of all, most had this cool thing called air conditioning. Back in Mewni most stores were more of an outdoor market kind of thing. 

After school let out she immediately rushed to where there were clothing stores. She was supposed to go home to do school work or magic training, but that could wait an hour or so. She was just browsing around the store when she saw the cutest dress and immediately went for it holding it against her body. She looked at the price tag and her jaw dropped a bit. She had like a weekly allowance and this was almost all of it.

She turned to the closest person she could see. “Do you think this is cute enough to spend all my money on?”

Babette didn’t shop much these days. At the height of her affair with Emily the two girls would often escape into town for an afternoon while the children were at school and her husband were at work. They’d eat lunch and meander through the all the fancy stores holding hands and Emily had spoiled her with pretty dresses and elegant shoes, the type of things she couldn’t afford so easily herself.

But sometimes there was no better cure for the blues than a little window shopping and she was really at a loss today, nothing seemed to be holding her attention. So wandering the aisles seemed her best chance at a few hours of peace, looking longingly at all the pretty chiffon blouses and beautiful dainty earrings. She’d been rather wrapped up in her thoughts before the young woman called for her attention and it took her a moment to process the question. 

It was a nice dress, the detailing was what made it. “Almost nothing is cute enough to go nearly penniless for, darling.” She advised, smiling. “But I’m sure it’d be easy enough to find a more basic version of the dress and add some of the detailing on yourself.”

Decisions || Open

[babette-durand-blog]

clarklepus:

Her answer disappointed him, again. That wasn’t her fault, it was just his expectations. Clark wanted to learn things like that. To sew. To read the stars. To cook. Knitting! Knitting had been a fascination of his ever since he had accidentally stepped into a knitting store and a woman had mistaken him for someone who had worked there, asking him to help her take things out to her vehicle. 

It was just that he never had the attention span to actually sit down and do the things he wanted to do. He didn’t like the learning process. With the ability to just move into the future he never had to wait for things. Except if he never learned how to do anything then he couldn’t go into the future to get the end result since he never started in the first place. It was all very frustrating. Not to mention he got distracted half way through anyways.

“Then I applaud your dedication,” he said, bowing his head a little. “And thank you! For fixing it for me. You’ve been very kind. Is there anything I could do for you?” 

She had lots of hobbies she was still learning new things about every day. Like writing that children's book, painting her nails, cooking, and of course sewing. She was learning how to embroider too, sweet little messages stitched into pillows for friends, floral edging on the sleeves of dresses and the like. She liked having quiet little things to work away at like that, solo activities to occupy her time that she could pick up and put down easily. Working with children was unpredictable so it was important to Babette to have ways to take time for herself, even if it was only five minutes.

It had always been like that for her, growing up as an only child you learned how to entertain yourself, and she had the patience for these more finicky tasks. “Ah it is no problem! If I wanted favours in return every time I patched up a sleeve I’d never have to lift a finger again.” She laughed softly, “that is what happens when you work with children I suppose, I’m not sure if their clothes are simply made flimsier of if they are just more prone to being careless.”

Ticked Off || Open

[babette-durand-blog]

the-benevolent-seawitch:

For the record, Ursula never did anything helplessly. Though, yes, she was looking for a seat. It was her lunch break, and while she loved the Court, she oft wanted to escape it, just for an hour or so here or there. Anyone would get bored of the same sights over and over again. 

Generally, she avoided Hatter’s, but they were the only ones who had this specific tea that she really quite liked and so she decided to brave the insolent crowd for the taste of it. And she wasn’t going to get it to go, of course. Her plan was to–politely ask (intimidate) someone out of there seats.

When she caught the eye of a buxom young girl, she’d changed her mind, slinking through the crowd towards her like an eel in brackish water. It wasn’t until she drew closer that she noticed the children, which almost stopped her on her path. She did not enjoy children the way a woman was supposed to. They were–fine. She just preferred to keep her company with people with an actual brain inside of their heads. 

She was just about to politely decline but then–she saw the curse, swirling around this woman, peeking over her shoulder. It was messily done, but it was vicious too, like claws in her back.

This, of course, intrigued Ursula, drawing her forwards. 

So, she slipped into the chair and did her best to look fondly at the wailing child. 

“I think I can stand it,” she allowed, “for the other company.” She smiled at the woman with a particular twinkle in her eye. “My name is Ursula LaPieuvre,” she introduced. “I suppose we should at least know each other’s names if we are going to be enjoying our lunch together.”

So many people had told her it was too small a thing to aspire too, that she needed bigger, more elaborate dreams. She had always disagreed of course, said that she thought they didn’t understand the complexities of raising a family. Even so Babette would like to see those people again now, like to tell them what she was going through trying to achieve that ‘small’ dream. Would wipe the condescending smiles off their faces for damn sure.  

But then again if she couldn’t tell her parents or friends about this curse she probably couldn’t tell them either. 

There was something vaguely familiar about the woman and it took a while to place her as someone she recognized from The Court, and her evenings sat in a dark corner with a bottle of wine, letting the loud music and lights distract her as she drank troubles away. It was a habit she was trying to kick, and hopefully she wasn’t as easy to place, she didn’t socialize much there. 

Babette would much rather be known as the capable nanny than the sad sack drinking alone at the club. She returned Ursula’s smile, nodding. “Babette Durand.” She introduced, thinking a moment before rifling through her bag, “and luckily, I have a trick up my sleeve to make sure we can actually enjoy it.” Screeching kids when you were alone was one thing, but it wasn’t exactly a pleasant sound, especially if you weren’t used to it. She pulled out two black cherry blowpops- if only Thomas got one she’d never hear the end of it- and slid them across the table to the children. “For emergencies only of course, else their parents would not be happy with me.”

Seaking Solutions | Babette & Ursula

[babette-durand-blog]

clarklepus:

Sometimes. He wished! It seemed like he was always turned around, upside down, and twice on Thursday. Or..or was it Sunday? Clark shook his head slightly to himself to dismiss the thought, refocusing on what she was telling him because it could be very important-! 

Or not at all, and just another transportation magick who was unlike him in all ways but one. Clark wished his magic was so simple. Just popping here and there, unable to go farther than what was comfortable. He on the other hand would go to sleep at home, end up rolling over, and wind up in a place he had never seen before. And if he ever wanted to go back there it was rather a pain to find until he sneezed wrong or took a wrong turn through a rabbit hole. 

“I see,” he said, his face and posture having fallen at his disappointment. Clark took his jacket from her, looking over the lines of thread brought the smile back to his face. “How long did it take you to learn how to do this?” 

Some nights Babette forgot to set her alarm for the following morning and she woke up late, throwing off her entire schedule for the day, so she couldn’t imagine dealing with magic that had the potential to throw you into different times at the drop of a hat, very chaotic! 

It seemed a very unfair thing, to throw someone off not just by the physical space they occupied, but the time in which they stood in it. She wondered how he managed to get anything done. It seemed like a source of struggle for him if the way his face fell was anything to go by, and Babette wished she had the knowledge to be of more help.

“To learn to sew?” She hummed, lifting her shoulders in a shrug, “I’m still learning really, but patching up a sleeve or what have you is simple enough, my mother taught me when I was a little girl, I picked it up relatively quickly I think.”

Ticked Off || Open

[babette-durand-blog]

displacedprincess:

Elena prepared for fiery rage. For insults that she would have deserved. For Babette to tell her how she was a filthy liar who betrayed her and was horrible and awful-

- but none if it ever came.

Instead, there she stood, food in her hands as usual, and she was smiling. Calling her by her real name and telling her it’s easier to wrap around her Francophone tongue, which Elena couldn’t help but chuckle at lightly, just once. 

Her smile faded to confusion though, stepping aside to invite her in. “You’re not angry at me?” Elena had a million things she wanted to say, but couldn’t say them. How could she possibly tell her how sorry she was, how she really did care about her, how she hoped she still wanted to be friends because Elena meant everything she’d ever said. Why should an alias make things any different? 

“I…only lied about my name.”

In the end, that’s all she could manage. Elena had eschewed religion from her life a long time ago, but this was one of those moments she wished she still had a god to pray to.

It would be very hypocritical to be mad. Because there was so much Elena didn’t know, and sure an affair wasn’t quite as big as being royalty, but it still consumed a big part of Babette’s life, it was still why she had found herself in Swynlake. They had that in common at least, their secret had led them here. Keeping something so big to yourself was hard and they were both just looking for some solace, perhaps it was fate that they’d been able to find it in each other.

So Babette swanned into her apartment, already as familiar with the place as she was her own, plating up slices of lemon drizzle cake and pouring them a glass of wine each. She could be angry, but it seemed so much more effort than it was worth. Elena said everything but her name had been the truth, and she believed it. 

“Keeping secrets isn’t a crime.” She shook her head, slow smile spreading on her lips. “I have secrets too. So does your neighbor, and the girl living a floor above you who you can hear singing in the shower, and the person who serves you tea at hatters...” Babette trailed off, shrugged, sipped her glass of rose. “It was kept a secret for a reason, for your safety. I have no issue with that. If I am angry at anyone it is that boy, how cruel to publicly gossip about a girl you’re claiming to be friends with- is Isabel alright? Are you alright?”

gâteau adapté à une reine | Babette & Elena

[babette-durand-blog]

Seaking Solutions | Babette & Ursula

There was an exhaustion that had settled into her bones, and sleep didn’t seem to fix it. Neither did coffee, but Thomas and Abby liked the selection of strange fruity teas on offer at Hatters, so she had taken them there this afternoon. Abby was watching something on her phone and Thomas was playing with a small plastic truck, squealing as he made it take tight corners on the table. It was busy today, and the steady thrum of background noise helped Babette zone out a little, hands curled around her coffee mug, like the warmth could chase away all her tired.

Was that what it was to be cursed? Was being irritable and burnt out part and parcel? She hated it, she hated every moment of her pointless cursed existence. And it really was pointless to her. Babette wanted her own family. A partner, kids. Couldn’t have that in this state. She was shaken out of her reprieve by another of Thomas’ screeches, and she watched him with a fond but tired smile. Such a sweet little thing, that boy, but an absolute menace. 

Alert once more she scanned the packed cafe only to spot a woman looking about helplessly for an empty table. Babette’s eyes dropped momentarily to the empty chair to her left- couldn’t get a table just for three, not here- and then she looked back to the woman, waving a bit to get her attention and gesturing the said seat. “They don’t bite.” Babette promised of the kids, “that one doesn’t even listen.”  She tipped her head towards Abby for a moment, who still had her headphones in and didn’t even look up as the lady approached. “So if you can stand his wailing, you’re fine here.”

@the-benevolent-seawitch

[babette-durand-blog]

clarklepus:

Clark nodded enthusiastically, grinning now. That was the word for it, teleportation. He’d have to remember that one. That’s just how it was for him though, everything he needed was always right on the tip of his tongue, just on the verge of tipping over the edge, but it never quite reached the place he could get to it. So it sat in limbo until something else eventually took over his attention. 

“Yes, yes, exactly that. Teleportation,” he confirmed. “Plus whatever the term is for moving along time as well. Not that it matters, really, I always end up either too late or too early. In which case I go to do something else to not waste the time and end up too late anyways. But that’s rather interesting, the child’s mum. So she could go anywhere? Or was she detained to shorter distances?” 

It had been her first exposure to big magic really, Mrs Landon in Colmar and her two children who squealed and clap at every trick. She’d been sworn to secrecy at the time of course, hadn’t even told her parents. But a casual chat with someone else who could teleport in a different country years later couldn’t cause any harm, and it felt good to know she had some grasp of what her and Clark were discussing. 

“Time travel?” That was interesting, Mrs Landon hadn’t been able to do that. “Ah, now you’re confusion makes a little more sense, must get you all turned around sometimes poor soul.” She finished stitching the jacket and handed it back over. “Um, shorter distances with ease, but if it was somewhere further away that she had been frequently she could get there too? It took a little more effort though.”

Ticked Off || Open

[babette-durand-blog]

gâteau adapté à une reine | Babette & Elena

France didn’t have a royal family. Viva la revolution and all that. So Babette wasn’t sure what to think of it, honestly, the fact that her dear friend who’d come to Swynlake seeking refuge whilst her own country was in chaos turned out to be the princess of that country. She was sad? It was a heartbreaking story that Ximena had needed to flee from her home, everything she’d ever known, but it had been heartbreaking before she was revealed as royalty. 

Mostly, though, she was worried. And pissed as hell. She’d stumbled across the information while checking social media- it had all started with the tweets of some teenage boy. Clearly the outing wasn’t one of Ximena’s- rather, Elena’s- own doing. She’d been betrayed and so had her little sister, by someone claiming to be a friend. That was brutal. 

At first Babette hadn’t known how she could help, what she could say. But their friendship had been real, hadn’t it? Had certainly felt it. So Babette did what she would do for any other friend going through a tough time. She bought a bottle of wine, and she made a cake. Lemon drizzle, because she’d been perfecting that recipe lately. 

Then once the cake was ready and she’d had time to mull everything over Babette headed to Elena’s apartment and knocked on the door. When her friend answered she offered a sad smile, holding up the container that housed the cake. “You know, Elena is actually a lot easier for me to pronounce.”

@displacedprincess

[babette-durand-blog]

mr-kencarson:

Ken grinned at Babette, and her faux-dramatics, her admission that she hadn’t been fancy once either, which honestly, Ken wouldn’t have guessed if he hadn’t been told explicitly. She just had that air about her, of someone who was accustomed to fine living - not that that was a bad thing. Maybe it was just because she seemed so grown up; she couldn’t have been much older than Ken himself, and yet she seemed, somehow, to have her life a lot more held together.

Was Ken fancy? He had the kind of money to be fancy. But his father had warned him about drawing any more attention to himself than was strictly necessary, so he never did dress fancy, despite how he eyed the shirts in the glitzy fashion stores along fifth avenue. And years of spending his nights in drag clubs had meant that he sure didn’t talk, or for the most part act, like a fancy person would. Not that he was complaining; all things considered, Ken kind of liked who he was, even if it had taken him a while to become that person.

“I get that,” He nodded, taking a sip of his drink. “I’ve got a lot of experience as ‘the shoulder to cry on’. But I guess heartbreak comes to us all.” He shrugged. Not to him, though; Ken had never had his heart broken, really, and there was a reason for that: because up until right now, or a few weeks ago, at least, he had never been in a proper relationship. Sure there were crushes, but his dating history was mostly hands and mouths in back alleys and dressing rooms. Nothing even nearly long enough to get attached.

“Anyway,” He said - they shouldn’t focus on it. Babette would move on and get better at her own pace, and though talking about it was good, drawing it out wouldn’t help. “When you’re not sitting in dive bars drinking questionable cocktails, what do you do for a living?”

Adaptable. That was one of the nicest things a teacher had ever called Babette. Throw her into any situation and she’d fig ure out a way to make it work. So as she’d started looking outside of her small town for babysitting jobs the families had gotten fancier and she’d gotten fancier too, basically just rolling with it. Had all felt horribly forced at first, too many forks and people wanted their breakfast on this plate not that plate and how the fuck did you iron creases into trousers?? But she had figured it out, and the work kept coming.

Eventually it had become who she was, some fancy lady who looked after fancy families and didn’t bite her nails and wasn’t nervous and wore pencil skirts.

In a lot of ways it was a good thing, she’d been able to send money home to her parents, she’d learned a lot, she’d made excellent connections. But it had all been that much more dramatic when the affair got out, plus Emily’s family had much more glassware on display, dangerous stuff. “And some of us barrel towards it with reckless abandon.” She laughed, even though it wasn’t really funny yet- apparently one day it would be. 

She took a bite of her wrap, setting it back down on the plate before she answered “I’m an au pair. Normally I live with the families but that isn’t so common here, mostly I’ve been childminding while parents are at work or what have you.” Babette shrugged “It’s nice to have a little more time to myself actually, and my own apartment, used to live with my parents between jobs.”

Keeping it Together | Baby Doll

[babette-durand-blog]

the-had-matter:

At times Edward was too unconscious of his surroundings, he barely noticed the baby until she made some noise. His eyes gleamed, Edward had been thinking a lot about being a dad lately but the girl’s question made it fade away. “Ah well there are plenty of places where you can use it like… on cereal, in bottled water if you don’t like the taste, as bee and ant food… you can even use it as a self-defense weapon and throw it into someone’s eyes.“ Hatter listed, gesturing with his hands as he spoke.

Abbie shook the rattle about and Babette ruffled her hair, smiling. His list was... Extensive, she must not have been the first person to ask him about it and the thought made her laugh. “Bee or ant food, maybe.” She allowed, nodding “but please don’t put sugar in your water, you ingest enough of the stuff without adding it to that too, I’m sure!”

Mad Hatter’s survey | Open

[babette-durand-blog]

displacedprincess:

“I am the worst at negotiation, so this is perfect!” Not totally true. Elena’s whole life was playing political and social games to get what she wanted. But she didn’t know the first thing about fair prices for catering, venue, and the like. She knew luxury, not ‘good-as-we-can-get-it-with-a-budget.’

As Babette assured her this was all fine, Elena couldn’t help but tear up. Because yes, yes, everything they knew about their lives was taken away. Over and over again. First when their parents died, then the coup, then every time they jumped from one place to another. Her eyes welled up with tears and a little noise escaped her throat as she set her plate on the table and launched forward to hug her.

“Oh my g-god, thank you! Thank you so much, this means so much to b-both of us. You have no i- well, maybe you do, but - everything is. Wrong. And it - it would be great if I could do this one thing for her.” To keep Isa connected to their culture. To make her feel like she didn’t miss out on a huge part of what it means to be an Avaloran girl.

Negotiation was her strong point- seriously, Babette was a master of persuasion. Once you had convinced stubborn toddlers to go to bed, sarky teenagers to stop giving you lip, and yourself that having an affair wasn’t so terrible if you loved her, you could pretty much convince anyone of anything. And she had grown up in a working class community, they all stuck by one another and helped out when times got too hard to go it alone. There was something Elena wanted to give her sister that she couldn’t quite manage by herself, it was natural to help.

The hug was a surprise, though not an unwelcome one- cursed as seriously as she was there was a genuine lack of physical affection in her life, and she missed it in all its forms- so Babette wrapped her arms around her tightly, stroking her hair. “chéri, it’s alright, I’m happy to help.” She cooed, smiling a little- it was a shame how kindred spirits could be found in sadness, how she felt closer to her friend for the fact that they’d both lost so much. It shouldn’t be that way. “I know a little of how it feels to be ripped away from all you know.” She nodded, not wanting to reveal too much but wanting Xemina to know her motives were honest. “I’m glad there’s something I can do for you two.”

Girl Time // Elette

[babette-durand-blog]

clarklepus:

Her statement, while beautiful and poetic, was lost on Clark completely. Things like romance, love, relationships they were all just casualties in his life. Lost to his incompetence. And not even because he’d had a proper run at them, but because he never had. People were always getting left behind somewhere else. He never could make the time. Maybe one day when he figured out where he was supposed to be…

“Oh, that’s alright,” Clark replied, tone sound much more chipper to be talking about something else. Though he was a little anxious about the topic of his magic. “It’s fairly simple. Uhm.., well you see I start somewhere and then go somewhere else in an instant instead of going along the linear path to get there. Like a shortcut but still faster.” 

Yeah, Babette had been a fool to fall in love with a married woman. But saying that this foolishness was not a trait exclusive to her and her affair made her feel a bit better, even if it didn’t actually help Clark. She’d taken a chance, made a choice and kissed Emily even though she had a ring on her finger. It had been a bad choice, obviously, a foolish decision. But that was what love did to people, wasn’t it? They made stupid choices on the off chance that the end result would be total bliss.

And now she was sat in a park sewing up the jacket of a man who’d just appeared through a portal, looking after someone else’s children and trying to figure out how to break a curse. “So it’s like teleportation?” She asked, humming. “I babysat for a child who’s mother could teleport once, she used to terrify me by popping up inside the house instead of using the door.”

Ticked Off || Open

[babette-durand-blog]

mr-kencarson:

He hadn’t been joking about the vodka and rosé thing - when it came to alcohol, he drank to drunk, and that was about it. In clubs he could be convinced to drink cocktails, and he might drink a glass of white or red if he was having dinner with his father, or with Amanda’s parents, but he had never, y'know. Brought the wine himself. His favourite game was highest percentage for lowest price - if you could get a $5 bottle of wine at 15%, then why not?

“Maybe sometime you can teach me a few things,” He said, taking a careful bite (he liked this shirt, okay, and he was still trying to make a good impression - he didn’t want to slop on himself like a 5 year old). “Teach me how to find the good wine - I swear to god, they all look the same to me.”

He could understand that, though; “better” was a bigger word than it sounded. But optimistic was good, too, and Ken smiled, genuinely glad to hear it. “That’s good! Optimistic is still good. I don’t think anyone’s expecting you to be "better” right away - you definitely shouldn’t expect that from yourself.“ He shrugged. "You’ll get there, y'know? Even if it takes a while, like you say.”

That was what you did with a broken heart. You sat with it, because there was no other choice. You stood under the spray of your shower fully clothed, crying and drinking rose out the bottle. You screamed until the landlord told you to shut up, and then you screamed into a pillow. It just felt strange to her. trying to do those things but also keep the rest of her life together. Because there were kids to look after, Babette had a responsibility to those families and she couldn’t just abandon them. Had to look semi presentable and smile and take care of the children, had to laugh and listen to their stories.

It was exhausting, and this heartbreak seemed to be the first instance in a long time where she did not enjoy her job so much, but regardless she needed the money.

But in this moment at least, she was happy. A drink and a nice meal and a friend who knew at least a bit of what she was going through. “Want to know a secret?” She staged it all dramatic like, looking around to check no one was listening before she leaned in “a few years ago I had no fucking clue about the differences either.” With that she leaned back, laughing. “I can teach you to find the good wine, and everything else you need to know to pretend to be fancy.” She sipped her drink, knowing he’d get the implied- she wasn’t fancy, not really, she was some lower class kid who started babysitting to bring in money and somehow clawed her way this far on that.

Yeah, it’d take a while alright. Step one; forget the look in your ex lover’s eyes as she brandished a knife and ran towards you. Step two; fall out of love with her. Step three; remove the curse and move on. Time consuming. And she was already nearly thirty. Tick tock. “Right. You can’t rush these things. Time and food and wine and friends, that’s really all you can do.” She shrugged “I’ve just never been on this side of it- not to say I’ve broken hearts, just that I’m normally in your shoes, helping a friend.”

Keeping it Together | Baby Doll

[babette-durand-blog]

the-had-matter:

“Exactly!“ Hatter exclaimed. “I always carry one emergency sugar packet with me. I 100% recommend that to you. And in case you use it you can always come to the shoppe, tell me: Edward I already used my emergency sugar packet. And I’ll give you a new one right away.“

Baby Abbie stirred a little, so Babette grabbed her rattle from the little basket under the pram and gave it to her, laughing at his antics still “but you know the place I’m most likely to use sugar outside of my home is your shoppe anyway, which is already stocked with plenty of packets. Where is it that you’re using all this emergency sugar?”

Mad Hatter’s survey | Open