archived

BASICS

Name: Adeline Grace Papatonis

Pronouns: She/Her

Age: 33

Date of Birth: August 22nd

Gender: Cis-Female

Sexual Preference: Queer

Occupation: Photographer

FAMILY

Wife: Darcy Papatonis

Mother: Angelica Finley (deceased)

Father: Kenneth Finley (deceased)

Dad: Ned Jackson

Mom: Emily Jackson

Sister: Blake Jackson

Cat: Salem

Snake: Kismet

Scorpion: Margot

Tarantula: Charlotte

PERSONALITY

Positive

gentle

protective

curious

Negative

insecure

escapist

hedonistic

PAST

Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts Current Location: Upper West Side, New York, New York

triggers: mentions of drug use, abuse, alcoholism, death via overdose

Abuse. Drugs. Alcohol. The common themes found in the household of one Kenneth Finley. If it wasn’t him, it was his wife Angelica. Their daughter, Adeline, was often found hiding under her bed, doing whatever she could to get away from her parent’s anger. No one ever knew, though. Adeline was a quiet girl who knew how to keep her head down and keep suspicion away from her family. As an only child it was easy. She had no siblings to worry about and any family she might have had, on either side of her family, either didn’t know she existed or wanted nothing to do with her parents, and by extension, her. She has very little memory of that time in her life, though bares the scars from the abuse. When her parents overdosed when she was ten, Adeline was placed in the foster system, but as an older child she didn’t have much hope of being adopted. Instead, she clung to her camera. It was a cheap digital she’d found lying around the house and she took it everywhere with her. Photography had been her refuge. It helped her understand the world better than she could without it.

It would continue to be refuge, even once Ned and Emily Jackson, a young couple who, while they could conceive decided to adopted instead, adopted her, three years later. Ned owned a record store, a former dancer, and Emily was a writer. The adoption was hard to take for Adeline, simply because change never was easy for her. While she appreciated being adopted and the negative connotations her last name brought, Adeline couldn’t bring herself to change her last name fully, instead electing to hyphenate it. The couple were fine with this, as it would save them money and make everything easier on Adeline. Money wasn’t necessarily tight, but they weren’t wealthy, by any means. Ned bonded with Adeline over her love of music. It made sense to her in a way people didn’t unless she was behind her camera. Emily introduced Adeline to her favorite books, the preteen having a love of reading as well. In truth, if it could be used as a way to escape reality, Adeline enjoyed it, books and music being the biggest escapes for her. As a family they often went shopping at thrift stores and garage sales together, the idea of loving things others no longer did/could a meaningful sentiment to the family.

In high school, her grades were high and she managed a job at the local bookstore well, but her photography is what really sold. She sold her pictures for cheap and it was what landed her a scholarship, from Maryland Institute College of Art. Adeline would thrive and in her senior year win the Meyer Photography Traveling Scholarship. It gave her the ability to travel the United States, something she never would have been able to do otherwise. Adeline then went on to receive her master’s degree from Yale.

Post graduation, Adeline moved to LA, having taken a job as a photographer with an agency out there. She then went solo and spent the next six years travelling the country, and the world, as a photographer. While she was based in LA, she started to look into a more permanent residence in New York, as a way to be closer to those she cares about and also get help for the memories that began returning to the surface after being repressed for so long.

Struggling with alcoholism wasn’t something Adeline ever imagined would happen to her. She thought she’d been good about it, but after multiple binges and self medicating, she knew she needed professional help. After two weeks in a mental health facility, Adeline proceeded to start the process of setting up a more permanent position for herself in NYC.

In her sober state, Adeline learned that, despite years and years of considering herself aromantic, she did feel some romantic attraction, at least to one person. Darcy Papatonis, editor in chief of Bold Magazine, was her best friend, the older woman having taken her under her wing a number of years prior. They’d slowly gotten closer over the years and nearly a year before Adeline would realize her own feelings, Darcy would realize she was in love with Adeline. After a lot of thought, and coming to terms with her feelings, Adeline and Darcy started dating in late 2019.

After returning from a rough time at Fashion Week 2020, Adeline went on hiatus. She spent a lot of time working on personal projects, healing from years of trauma, and just learning to enjoy life. In her free time she began to revolutionize the way Bold worked. In no time at all, Bold was running smoother and better than it ever had before.

Why do you think i’m with Chelsea.  Even if I could stand i’d only be 5′6 ½ never forget the ½ that’s important .  Even though I apparently would have been taller if it wasn’t for the fact that my spine is fused together cause apparently fused bone doesn’t grow as well , restricting my height.  Well that’s the excuse i use for being a short ass and I’m sticking with it.  

or on her lap in the corner.  Hoping no one notices your PDA.

I had no say with this woman. I mean, I definitely had a say in like marrying her, cos I proposed, but like when you sober up and realize you’re in love, well you’re already too late to pick.

That seems…Odd. To each their own, I suppose. How others choose to handle their relationships are truly none of my business. 

I am well, thank you. I do recognize you, though throwing out accolades, generally speaking, is not my forte. So, if you were expecting fawning, you won’t find it here. Hunter Clarington. Pleasure. I’m sure I could say that you probably recognize me, though it is not my custom to list my, or my family’s, achievements during an introduction.

I imagine to most it would be, but we have enough open communication that it works for us. It’s the one time a year she does any kind of drinking so, either way it’s not a big deal. 

I think it’s got easier when I finished college.

Oh, south of France sounds great. I’ve heard they have good wines there, beaches and sun. So we may give it a shot. I’d love to see some different things, if we can afford to go to the other side of the pond, why not?

I don’t think I’d be able to focus on the job if I were you; dogs are too adorable.

Which is typically understandable, the peer pressure is less.

For sure, everything is so much closer together over there too, so it’s easier to see a bit of everything.

Was any part of this not meant to be concerning? You might want to ask your wife to be more respectful to the event by not getting drunk at important parties. Though I’m not saint myself. My mother is Étiennette Lilou Smythe, if your hobby is fashion, then you’ll know the name and if you don’t know the name then you don’t know fashion.

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I worked London, Milan, and Paris Fashion Weeks wine drunk for like 3 years before I got sober. Believe me, the editor-in-chief of Bold being a little more than tipsy at after parties, is nothing. I am familiar with your mother, yes. Can’t say I’ve ever met her personally, but word gets around and I’m sure my wife is more the type to know her than myself. Though, I admittedly don’t know fashion, I just know how to photograph it. I’m more a ripped jeans and band shirt with a beanie kind of woman, unless I lose a bet, then I do own a few designer dresses I refused to ask my wife the price on.

Well don’t laugh too loud, You might interupt our LOTR/Star wars marathon,

Well in that case i can’t wait to see you both .  I get to meet that beautiful wife of yours at last and in return you can get to meet the lady that came into my life since we last saw each other.  Aka my little Willow.  

See, I’ll watch Star Wars with you but I can’t guarantee she won’t get up and go do work.

Adeline consistently wears shoes with internal heels because Darcy is so tall that she feels even shorter than she actually is if she doesn’t.

While Adeline refuses to change her style for her wife, no matter how strange they may look when seen together, she does wear skirts more often than she used to, and can even be convinced to wear a dress if the price is right or she loses a bet.

Adeline is actually in the process of stopping smoking cigarettes, though it’s a very slow process and one she isn’t entirely sure she’ll finish.

While in Milan in 2019, Darcy bought Adeline a stuffed elephant. It was the first stuffed animal anyone had bought for Adeline since her birth parents and it means a lot to her. It would later be the reason she got the elephant tattoo on her upper left arm.

Speaking of tattoos, Adeline has five others, for six total. Her first tattoo was Matilda sat on a pile of books on her upper right arm. She’d later go on to get a dragon on her back and a griffin on her right thigh. An accident in a moshpit would leave Adeline with a scar on her left ankle that she’d later get barbed wire tattooed over top of. Her last tattoo before the elephant tattoo, was “you’ll still find hope despite the pain” a lyric from the Patent Pending song “Another Day” written in her father’s handwriting on her left forearm.

Adeline’s PTSD has a tendency to trigger age regression, something not many in her life know about, unless they follow her tiktok  It’s something that she can’t particularly stop, without damage to herself, and at times she will, in fact, not remember regressing due to her PTSD. While seen as taboo by some, it’s one of her better coping mechanisms and is helping her more than a lot of other things.

Due to having a mild oral fixation, Adeline keeps homemade, honey-cinnamon lollipops on her person at all times.

Adeline keeps blankets and pillows in Darcy’s office at Bold for days when she’s got nothing better to do, or simply wishes to exist with her wife while working, and will set up a nest for herself in a corner of the office.

 haha, the perils of being Vertically challenged . 

PM: but the fact tht you have come to terms with it is what matters 

Tell me about it , 

My wife just has to be 5′10 and insist on wearing heels.

PM: Yeah, I know.

This is also why I usually get a beer or two when I hang out with my bros. Too much ain’t a good decision.

Do you know any cool destinations?

Sounds pretty cool! Hey, dog shoots sound very fun. Have you done many of these?

It’s good that you’re good on the moderation front. I never was.

Depends on what vibe you’re looking for. I personally love the south of France, would definitely go back at any chance. But there’s all sorts of places abroad you could go, or even within the states, if that’s more your speed.

I could see that being weird, for sure. You build up a character a certain way in your head, seeing other people interpret it so differently must be weird. But that’s cool. I feel oddly disconnected, knowing that it was this thing and still I know nothing about it. That seems like a rabbit hole I could easily lose myself in. 

That they do. 

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I feel like that’s one of those moments where you realize the world isn’t how you think it is. But I mean, how cool would that be, in the grand scheme of things? To see how the same thing is perceived so differently by other people. Yeah, it’s definitely a lot and I imagine would make a good rabbit hole.

True. I’m with you there. It’s like how sometimes I have to look up sayings on Urban Dictionary because otherwise I’d have no idea what people are saying most of the time. Don’t know when I became such a grandma, one moment I blinked and boom. Although I will say I like TikTok. It’s kind of like Vine in a way. It’s real and you should be proud of yourself for getting this far too.

I’m happy to wait. I can never keep up with you anyway. Sounds like you and Darcy are slowly taking over the world one destination at a time.

Urban Dictionary is both a curse and a blessing and I hate that. I do, occasionally, text the teens and young adults in my life if I really don’t want to look it up. I knew I was an old soul, but I didn’t realize Iw as this old. Like, I’m almost convinced Darcy knows more about this stuff than I do, and she’s nearing fifty, so... Tiktok definitely makes sense to me more than a lot of things and it’s very much like Vine. I am, I am very much proud of how far I’ve come, that I’m so much better than I was.

I am a little all over this time of year, but I should be back in NYC for a good few months starting in April. I mean...

Wait, for real?? That would actually be…incredible, yeah. And I can show you my stuff, so you know that I’m not just like a weird crazy person that you’re letting set up shop there. I guess that’s more or less what I’ve been missing. I’ve met other photographers but I’ve never really gotten in with a community, I guess. So yeah, if you’re serious, I’d love to. 

There really is just something special about them. It’s hard to be in a bad mood at a wedding. 

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Yeah, I’ll be back to NYC soon, now that Paris FW is mostly wrapped, we can set something up and get you in with my people, and see what you can do. Not that I’m too worried, I can get behind weird and crazy.

I honestly love weddings. I mean, mine was stupid simple, or as simple as a Greek wedding can be, but it fit my wife and I rather well, which is what matters.

You do realise that my plan now is to corrupt her fully to the dark side. 

I’m not going anywhere so if you don’t make it until later this year I’ll  still be here. 

You can certainly try. I will likely laugh the whole time.

She sounds like fun. I get it, I’m glad to hear you both communicate well with each other, and she checked in first with you. I’m sure you’re still the life of the party without actually having to be the life of the party. Hmm, sounds a lot like my old high school days. Now I’m more of the friend mom or drunk texted, good thing I only text my wife anything remotely embarrassing.

You’re in Milan? Wow, how is it? I’m guessing it’s not the first time you’ve been there? Yes, I’m the lucky woman who got to marry that beautiful specimen of a woman. That was you, thank you for the delicious baked goods. They did, but between my wife and our son, I almost didn’t get any. Iris did manage to save some for me.

She is, in my opinion. Communication is really important to us, cos I have a lot of mental health issues that can be set off via certain things, so we have to be careful. I am an introvert who would much prefer to be sat in a corner, or in my wife’s lap, reading a book, or just people watching. I am not the life of the party type, even when I was a drunkard, I don’t think I was the life of the party, honestly. The wife has definitely texted people other than me while drunk and it’s funny.

I’m…Admittedly not quite sure what to say about the first part of this. Or the last part, really. But, hi! We haven’t talked in a bit, I think you responded to my Valentine’s Day post. Here’s hoping everything is going well for you!

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Hey! Don’t worry about it, honestly. I did, been busy, but we’re coming to the end of Fashion Week madness. Which is the important part. How’re you?