Work Text:
Texts are leaked from Sorsha Tanthalos' phone. From any number of contacts, most contextually unnecessary for any drama to occur other than yet another magazine trying to convict her of something she didn't do. Often pitted as the wicked witch of the west coast these days.
However, among all of the leaking of dates and meetings and projects, only a few conversations make it onto mainstream media.
The first is a text chain where the respondent remains anonymous:
S: Is Kit OK? Where is she now?
A: We're at a local clinic, she's talking with someone now for help.
A: She spoke to Madmartigan.
S: Is she OK though? Can I talk to her?
A: She's shaken up but she's okay. Mostly stressed. No offence but I don't think you'll help with that.
S: I knew drugs would ruin this family.
Naturally, it confirms a lot of speculation about recent and old videos and pictures of Kit supposedly doing or on drugs. Shockingly, it doesn't shake a lot of fans. They're loyal, a lot of them understanding that a person makes mistakes. But of course there are the other side of her fandom where chaos breaks out because Kit isn't this pure perfect being they thought she was.
Another of Sorsha's more famous leaked texts is a single text to an anonymous contact, probably a different one to the last but there's no confirmation. It reads:
S: You are a curse on this family and I wish I had never met you. You are a plague on your children.
Context clues lead people to believe this is a text to Madmartigan, the clues being his past with addiction and now Kit's current drug abuse situation.
Finally, the last to get such attention drawn to it is a chain between Sorsha and the first anonymous contact.
S: Have you spoken to Kit? She won't return my calls.
A: Have you been calling the clinic?
S: Yes.
A: Then she doesn't want to talk to you.
A: She doesn't need you adding to her stress. She'll call if she wants to
S: I'm her mother.
A: You have a habit of suffocating her. Please stop texting me about Kit, it isn't helping anyone.
While much of the media focuses on the infringement of Sorsha's privacy, many of Kit's fans happily take this as confirmation that Kit has a problem and is seeking and receiving help for it. She hasn't just dropped off fhe face of the earth, she is taking time away for herself.
*
In Kit's absence, Wand and Flute play a Tiny Desk Concert and perform peace, which gains them even more fans and starts yet another trend on TikTok, shockingly enough. As well, Wand and Flute re-release some of their songs in a Live at Electric Lady single release. Fans speculated they might release a Long Pond Studios version of their songs like Taylor Swift, forgetting rosewater was originally recorded there. The Live at Electric Lady re-releases are yours truly, pomegranate, girlfriends, SPF 15, and once upon a time. Fans go wild for a third release of SPF 15, especially this almost jazz version. A fourth release for SPF 15 is rumoured to be in the works, either a church choir version or a live orchestra version, or maybe both, but neither Elora nor Graydon have confirmed this.
In her other social circles, Lillian Cashe is criticised in the media for supposedly supporting the resurgence of the 'heroin chic' body type aesthetic. As well, Airk and Elora are cast together in a movie, this being Elora's first big role in the world of film.
More famously, though, Ella Montgomery has Airk guest star in an episode of her podcast where they talk about the beauty of film.
"I think it's one of the most special ways to express grief," he tells her, always adjusting his headphones in the video footage. A nervous tick, people think. Ella hums, nodding with him. "And I'm talking about film cameras, right now, in particular. That grain and that fuzziness is hard to replicate. I love using film when my project is about grief, I won't settle for less. There's so much to it."
"Like the inherent nostalgia," Ella agrees. "Like you're watching it one a cube TV while your parents get a divorce in the other room."
"Exactly," Airk nods with a smile. "God, people are gonna call me a pretentious asshole for this."
"You know, I don't think I've actually seen anyone ever day anything bad about you?" Ella says then. Airk frowns like that couldn't Possibly be correct. "It's true! You have a tendency to point out flaws in yourself and actions that you expect people to pick up on and criticise, but they never do."
"Huh," he says.
"Sorry. Carry on, I just wanted to say that."
"You're good."
It should be noted that, after this episode airs, dating rumours between the two circulate everywhere. Nothing is confirmed.
"Yeah, I think film captures grief through a childhood lens, sort of," Airk explains. "But I know that's just my experience influencing me. I grew up with a lot of loss, not for me personally but all around. My dad leaving was something I grieved, yes. But I saw one of my best friends mourn her dead parents and her family in another country throughout our teenage years. I was with Elora when she moved into a new home after losing her foster family. All of my friends had grief bigger than mine. I think the, I like the word you used, nostalgic element of film takes you back to experiencing grief through a younger, less mature set of eyes." He clears his throat. "Plus, it's prettier."
"Very true," Ella agrees.
This section spreads through Kit's fandom as the nameless friend is suggested to be Jade.
Airk's fan base, however, now dig up a lot if not all of his short films and projects shot on film to disect them with new lenses of grief and nostalgia. Film Twitter is divided on the subject, but TikTok loves it.
*
Even funnier, though, in Kit's absence, are dating rumours between Jade and Elora.
It's funny, mostly. Because this time the conspirators aren't fans or influenced by anything a fan has said, but British newspaper The Sun. The two, apparently, are seen to be overly close while abroad together and alone. It's downright laughable.
It all starts because Jade and Elora are seen in a coffee shop in London. That's it. Then a deeper dive shows the two alone everywhere, neither one of their partners joining them. Obviously Kit's whereabouts remain unknown, but during the same period @filmupdates on Twitter posts that Airk and Graydon are spotted at lunch together (though, no dating rumours are made up for them, despite both of their queer identities).
Quickly, Elora debunks the rumours on her Instagram story, saying she is just accompanying Jade on a visit home, one she usually takes with Kit. Here, fans speculate that the trip was booked ahead of Kit's disappearance, so Elora is just filling a seat.
However, the two are also seen in a park together playing table tennis and laughing. It's a known fact that they're friends and have been friends for some time, but the breadth of this friendship has rarely been explored upon. Perhaps Elora isn't just a seat filler for Kit.
*
Back in the States, Wand and Flute perform peace on SNL as musical guest stars. In this performance, Elora giggles into the mic (later, she reveals this to have been from the nerves of playing SNL for the first time) during the bridge and people go crazy for it.
Undeniably, she's cute. She's bubbly and happy and has an unadulterated sunshine smile. And all of a sudden, everyone in the world can't stop talking about how cute she is.
Soon after, Wand and Flute are on a podcast to talk about their music, and Elora addresses this.
"Sometimes I feel weird about being the cute one, does that make sense? Like, oh my God, you know in Zootopia how what's her name? The bunny, how she hates being called cute by non-bunnies. I know that was an allegory for racial slurs, and I fear I risk my job saying this, but I feel just like her," Elora explains.
What isn't helping her case is the fact that, in the video footage of the podcast episode, she's wearing a purple cat sweater and her hair, which she is notorious for having ginger and blonde in a modern take on the famous Bowie look, in two braids with little bows on the ends. Plus, the kids movie and bunny story doesn't help, either.
Elora sighs and adjusts her headphones. "I think a lot of it traces back to that misogyny girls experience from the moment they are born," she says. "Like, I vividly remember the first time I ever baked cookies all on my own. Everyone ate one, and all they could say to me was, like, 'Oh you're adorable!' and I hated it. Kit said something like this a while ago, I think."
"Kit Tanthalos?" The podcast host confirms.
"Yeah, my Kit," Elora infamously says. Big shocker, people once again question whether their relationship is truly platonic. Mostly, people just idolise their friendship. "So, yeah. I think it was when she was talking about only being known for her relationship, and comparing that to being asked about her looks instead of her feelings and work. That's how I feel about the word cute. I know I'm cute, I embrace this where I can for, like, publicity and stuff. But at the same time, as long as I am perceived as cute I will always feel like that little girl who learnt how to read recipes and measure ingredients and use the oven for the first time along being told she was cute."
In yet another move that is regarded as iconic, in an article in Mojo about queer women in the music industry, Elora dons a black latex skin-tight suit. Her whole shoot is surrounding one shot her standing on a man's face with these sharp black boots on. As well, her hair is chopped off here in a scrappy bob, which also explains the new haircut she has sported since her trip across the pond with Jade. Of course, the dye job, her iconic blonde strands against a bright orange, remains the same.
*
Airk goes live on Instagram one morning and everyone immediately recognises the background as Kit and Jade's penthouse. A change to the usual experience of Kit going live in Airk's house. Joining him in the change of scenery, as well, is Elora. The two of them, prompted by a question about musicals, talk about their favourite acting roles over the years.
Elora scans the screen. "We were both in Daisy Jones," she answers. "Yeah. Uncredited, but still."
A wave of questions about the role comes in.
"I was in the car listening to Look At Us Now, I wasn't, like, acting," Elora snorts.
"Me neither. I was just in Suki Waterhouse's band before The Six," Airk laughs, drinking something off screen.
"You met Suki Waterhouse, though. That's insane," Elora fawns. She's spoken on Twitter many times about her crush on the singer. Then she reads a question. "Our group as members of the band? Oh, that's good."
She rubs her chin and rests an elbow on Airk's shoulder as if to purposefully annoying him. Many fans comment on how like siblings they are.
"Kit would be Daisy," someone off screen says.
Airk nods and smiles. "Yeah, but I think we just think that 'cause Daisy is her favourite." An influx of questions about Kit come in, mostly on her whereabouts though those go ignored. They answer one about Kit's feelings on the book. "I made Kit read it, cause I- Well, Kit doesn't read. So I made her listen to the audio book, right, 'cause I just knew she'd love it and all the drama."
"Right," Elora nods with a fond smile.
"So after she finished it she texted me nonstop about how much she adored Daisy," Airk continues. "So when I was on the show I was gonna ask Riley Keogh to, like, write Daisy's tag line or something for Kit, I can't remember. I didn't even have a scene with her, I don't know what my plan was. But then all of a sudden she's coming up to me and asking about my parents. Apparently they worked together in a past project or something. I was so star-struck I think I forgot to even ask her."
They chuckle in comradery, then Elora smiles and looks at Airk, squinting.
"You'd be Graham."
"Yeah," he sighs. "You're like Camilla. Book Camilla."
She pouts. "Aw, thank you."
The live continues and they reveal their long history of being on projects together. Elora's stories of needing money to pay rent in college so signing up to be an extra in anything she could get. Airk not wanting to be in the spotlight as much as his mom pushed him to so stepping down into side roles. Their shared projects together include: an amalgamation of episodes of Grey's Anatomy and other medical dramas, being walkers on The Walking Dead, several indie movies, many high school Netflix dramas, and more.
"I really wish I'd got the role in the Grease prequel," Elora sighs. "That would've been cool. You know I was Sandy in my high-school and college production of Grease?"
"You've told us that a thousand times," Airk roles his eyes dramatically at her.
Out shot, someone says, "You remind us anytime anyone brings up anything to do with Grease or Olivia Newton John, or musicals or acting or-"
"Okay okay," Elora laughs, looking past the camera. "I get it."
It doesn't take long for people to realise the third member of the livestream is Jade.
*
Transcript from a section of Varitey's 'Actors on Actors' with Ali Wong and Sorsha Tanthalos:
AW: I've always loved your work. Always. I remember when I watched [first movie] I just became obsessed, so I rigged fhis whole thing to try to talk to you, if you can believe it.
ST: Oh, stop.
AW: But I have to say, whenever I'm like, down, I bring up your architectural digest video just to fawn at your house. I love it so much.
ST: Well, recently, I had a close friend of mine design and make me all these flower pots and hanging baskets all inspired by the ones in Beef, so I think we're in the same basket here.
*
RE: "Inside Sorsha Tanthalos' Cozy LA Home for All | Open Door"
In which Sorsha Tanthalos shows Architectural Digest around her LA mansion, including her infamous awards cabinet, her wine cellar, her dressing room/walk in closet, and, most famously, her children's rooms.
"When I bought this house, I was recently divorced with two small children on my hands. I needed a place with space. Over the years, my children have grown up and made friends who have become as much family as the twins are. So there is a room for all of them here. Kit and Airk's rooms are theirs, there is one for Elora and now her husband. Kit's wife has had a room here for years but I don't think I've ever seen her once sleep in there, but her room is open to her family any time," Sorsha tells AD.
"I think I've failed my family a lot. You can ask any of my children or people who know my children and there will be numerous tales of my failures. So I always open my home for them whenever they need it. My ex husband still has a room here if he ever needs it. My house, my space, is my way of showing my family I do love them even if it doesn't always feel like that."
*
TMZ reports a suspected sighting of Kit Tanthalos and Twitter loses their minds.
The key word here, however, is suspected. Because the photo isn't great. It's of 'Kit' on the subway wearing a huge sweatshirt and with a face mask on. The person is looking down, hands in their pockets. Nothing identifiable about them. Admittedly, there is some resemblance, but still.
Rumours spread. Fans claim that if Kit were back from wherever she's been they would know. Other fans bring up countless images of Kit to draw comparisons to figure out if it really is Kit on the subway. Most fans just sort of let it go.
The world moves on.
Airk is suspected to be dating an old co-star. Sorsha is cast in a new movie. Other celebrities take the spotlight; Jared Leto does something stupid on film, Johnny Depp fans start some outlandish war, singers die and actor's babies are born. Wand and Flute announce tour dates across the US and South America as well as releasing a Spotify Singles cover of Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros.
And then someone uploads a photo to Twitter of Kit's Spotify account being active and listening to said cover, which was a pretty big deal for fans constantly checking for updates on Kit's socials.
So during Wand and Flute's tour, they perform their set containing the songs from rosewater and three surprise songs: one cover, two from the rest of their discography. A nod to the current Taylor Swift Eras Tour happening at the same time, fans have noticed. And it works, has people chiming in on TikTok with videos and reactions of the surprise songs. Fan favourite covers so far have been anything from Clairo to The Oh-Hellos to Grouplove.
However, during their homecoming gig in LA, a smaller, more intimate venue than the rest of the tour dates (though, there are three shows in LA, two in bigger stadiums as opposed to a bar on the strip), the band announce that this bar is where they played songs before they were famous. When bars opened up after the pandemic again and they were desperate for some money. (And eager fans of Kit will recognise this bar as the backdrop of one of the many photos of her and Jade before Kit revealed the identity of her partner.) So they perform their songs. The cover of the night is Scott Street by Phoebe Bridgers, and the first surprise song is yours truly. During this song, during the second chorus, the Tanthalos twins and Jade Claymore walk on stage to sing along to the bridge. The song ends with a massive hug sending the bandmates to the floor with laughter.
Videos of this trend for weeks.
There is no announcement. No welcomes or congratulations or questions. It's the same as when Kit came out during Coachella. They go on as usual.
Well, not quite as usual. Because they forgo their setlist to perform SPF 15 with Kit, since she's here. And Elora takes requests for an acoustic song and ends up performing girlfriends, and Kit says her voice message live and plants a sloppy kiss against Elora's cheek at the end of it.
For a short while after, the setlist returns to the rosewater programme. The guests on stage occupy a couch to the side of the amps.
Then Wand and Flute perform the last official surprise song of the night: kit. They go full acoustic for the premiere of this song live, and her vocals sound identical to the recording, and Elora doesn't take her eyes off of Kit the entire performance. Videos and pictures of Kit crying circulate every app possible, notably Tumblr and TikTok.
For someone who vanished off the face of the earth for months, Kit's return to the spotlight was impactful to say the least.
Of course, this wasn't a full time return. This was a special occasion, Elora explained on her Instagram story in the following weeks, requesting people respect Kit's privacy. Kit remained offline, sort of, for a number of months following this performance. There were notifications here and there that she followed someone new or liked a celebrity's post or a weird rumour that she'd quit modelling all together.
Then, on the one year anniversary of her decking the paparazzi outside of the airport, when the video begins to resurface on Twitter and the likes, Kit addresses the video:
@patronsaintkit: took boxing lessons since then so now when i punch someone i won't miss and break my fist on the wall instead. also channelled my anger and all that shit.
She attached a video with the tweet of her boxing with an offscreen trainer. Few people speculate on anything, but there are the odd questions of who the trainer is, why she took up boxing and when she had time to do so, stuff like that. Most is forgotten with the apocalyptic-like air in New York, which Kit posts about wishing people stay safe.
*
Excerpt from 'Elora Danan on Internet Fame and Fandom' with Variety:
Obviously you became famous for a cover on TikTok, but recently there's been this mass influx of people trying to become famous on social media and coming up short or with short lived celebrity-hoods. What's your take on this trend?
I don't think it's a trend. I think it's good old miscommunication and a lack of understanding of the world people might be trying to enter. Like, don't get me wrong, there are a lot of very talented people out there, but I think social media has given people a lot of hope with they've believed quite blindly.
I really hope I don't sound condescending or hypocritical with this, because it's a tricky subject to handle evenly. But, I mean, there have been a lot of people who picked up writing or music as a hobby recently and a lot of people who have shared that with the world. With publicity comes criticism and feedback, of course, and, in some cases, unfortunately the feedback is wholly positive and uplifting, which leads a lot of people to believe they have a real gift. God, this sounds so mean. All I'm saying is- Wait, do you know that sound on TikTok, the one that's captioned like "What it feels like to listen to someone's Phoebe Bridgers Taylor Swift Clairo inspired songwriters". Yeah. I think that was true.
Do you want to know a trend I have been recognising in this world of aiming for internet fame? A lot of the time it's men who are trying to imitate a sound or vibe and gain followers and fame actively, whereas a lot of women will film these low-key acoustic videos of them just playing a song and posting it casually. Dare I say, one of the only times a woman's effortlessness - though I know the effortlessness is staged, don't get me wrong, I've been there - outshines a man's effort for the right reasons? There's always a light side to this sort of controversy, if you can call it that.
You said hope? Could you expand?
Yeah, so, I think with social media and trends and the wave of "going viral" there's this expectation that fame comes overnight. And, look, it can. But there are usually heaps of work that go into it before that one faithful night. Like, mine and Gray's video got, like, fifty thousand views over night and that number just kept growing. But before that all of our videos got, like, at most three-k. And- Ha, I don't know how many of my fans will know this about me, actually. But I have a YouTube channel, right. Before Wand and Flute, before me and Graydon started dating. I used to post all these covers of songs on there and, like, occasionally an original song but I was fifteen so they're all garbage. So I was posting content for almost ten years before I got recognised as someone with a worthwhile talent.
Those videos are still up, by the way. I won't reveal my channel name, make it a challenge for anyone who cares enough to look up all of my old Katy Perry and Dear Evan Hansen covers.
Just, yeah. Take everything I say with a grain of salt, but I was performing for free vodka-cokes in this little LA bar long before my TikTok blew up.
*
On an unsuspecting Friday evening, Kit uploads a video to her socials titled "explaining".
The video opens on a blank wall and Kit steps into frame, sitting down on the floor with her legs crossed. Faux intimacy and playing at being candid. It works. She sighs and runs a hand through her hair. She looks exactly how you'd expect her to; basketball shorts, baggy tank top, mismatched socks. Fork spotted in kitchen type of set up.
"So," she begins.
To fans, her age is made obvious by the resemblance the video bore to that of the intimate videos of YouTubers in the early to mid twenty-tens. The iconic emotional coming out videos and welcome back vlogs of people returning to the platform, or even the awkward and terrible apology videos. It's sweet if a little cringe.
"I've been gone some time. People want an explanation. I could've gone on record with a magazine or- or set up an interview for this but I think this works better. Just putting it all out there without the restraint of time restrictions and questions and censoring. Here is my official statement, and it feels right to begin this like I've began this conversation every time I've had it prior: Hi, I'm Kit Tanthalos, and I am an addict."
She sighs and smiles with practised admittance.
"I know what people are going to think. That it was expected because of my dad, or that it's been going on for a long time and anything else. So as much as I'd like to stop the video here, because really that should be explanation enough for people I don't even know, I am going to explain it all."
Kit goes on to explain how she's always had a problem with control, especially with drugs. How, growing up in LA and the world of Hollywood and celebrity-hood, and travelling all over the world with her modelling, Kit has done a lot of drugs in her lifetime. Most of which remained a tame tab or line at a pre or after party; most of which was not a problem or anything out of the ordinary.
Her problem, she says, began when she felt she needed the drugs in her day to day life. "I was taking pills to wake me up and keep me up, and then ones to help me get to sleep. I was travelling a lot, I was stressed because of my dad's illness, I had so much work. Every part of my life at that point was unhealthy and I had no out."
One night, she admits to it being the night of the video of her taking a line off of a table in a club, the video Lili posted, it hit her that she didn't want to be like that. While it had only been bad for a few months, it was potent and it was deadly. Kit did not like who she was or who she was becoming. Admits to hating herself and not understanding herself. Hit a wall and knew she needed to turn around to keep going.
"So I got help. I'm privileged enough to have people in my life who care and were there for me all throughout and I am so lucky to be in a place where rehab was an immediate choice for me. I know not everyone has this sort of access so I just wanted to acknowledge my privilege again."
Infamously, Kit mentions her privilege in many situations. There is a harsh divide in the people who know this fact on whether its a good thing or a performative thing. The numerous links offering help for addiction in the caption of this post and the addition of a substance abuse charity to her list of organisations she's actively working with would suggest she is sincere, but alas.
Kit fidgets with something in her lap while she talks. She'll raise her hand and be spinning a ring on her thumb or finger one second, and the next a cat tail will pop up on screen and off again. The fidgeting increases as she explains how she was at a rehabilitation centre in Toronto for a month, and how she wasn't allowed access to her phone for that month. Hence the lack of updates, though she says she doubts she'll have spoken on it any sooner than she is doing so now. The phone calls she was allowed to take, through the centre, where spent with her family and friends, which kept her sane.
After that month, still feelings unsteady and anxious, she made the decision to spend six months in Australia with her dad.
"He was such a huge help, for obvious reasons. I needed a person to do it all with me, to heal. And though my heart ached for that person to be my wife, I knew my dad was the best choice.
"I used a flip phone while I was there." She laughs and pulls out the flipphone as evidence. Then reveals that she had her dad lock her phone away in a safe so she wouldn't be tempted.
The only people who had her new number were people who'd have to contact her, but she only ever used it to phone Jade, Airk or Elora. Said she hated using it but knew it was for the better.
"So, yeah. I needed to distract myself from having a shit phone, and the recovering addict stuff. My dad was working a lot, directing this indie film and staring in this series. Outside of that, though, he finally taught me to surf, which was amazing. A, like, lifelong dream of mine. I'm no pro, don't get me wrong. But I can surf now. I took these pottery making classes, I taught myself guitar, it was cool. My dad took me along to one of his big directing days and that was so cool, 'cause I've seen Airk direct before and it was surreal seeing my dad do it too. He let me be an extra in this crowd shot, I think you can only see my shoulder but that was nice of him. He was taking pity on me, I think, because I was having a bad day."
In time with the hobbies mentioned, pictures of Kit partaking in them come on screen. Her in a wetsuit holding a surfboard and giving the camera a thumbs up, then a photo of her in the water on the board. A picture of her with a horribly made clay pot. Photos of her with a guitar. Pictures of her on set with her dad and the actors on the show.
"And now I'm back. Slowly getting back to normal. Thank you to everyone who was patient with me, and to the people who weren't get a life next time. So expect to see more, but not loads more, soon." The video ends with her blowing a kiss to the camera.
*
At the world premier for Greta Gerwig's Barbie, the Tanthalos twins walk the pink carpet with outfits inspired by Barbie and Raquelle in Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse.
The premiere finds Airk in 2023 Dior. A hot pink cardigan with pale pink patterned trousers, resembling Barbie's outfit. Kit, however, is wearing a zebra print corset top (the vivienne westwood silhouette, of course, and a custom piece apparantly) with straight black pants. Both the twins wear platform loafers, hers black and his pink. When asked, they reveal they already owned the shoes.
Airk has a minor role in Barbie as a background one-line Ken, though feedback on the premiere would suggest that many people did not know he had a role as no-one knew why the twins were there.
Fans of Kit, however, loved the content, having been starved for so long.
After the event, Kit posts on Instagram. The first picture is of herself at the premiere, then the second is of her and her brother. The third is a photo of her lying down on the floor while Airk holds a massive pair of scissors around her waist, both in costume; the fourth and final photo is a shot from Barbie Life in the Dreamhouse which the third is recreating.
The post is captioned "This Barbie is back ;)"
*
With the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, many photos are found of the whole group on the picket lines. Especially Airk, Elora and Graydon, Kit and Jade when they are around, as well. Even Sorsha speaks out. All standing in solidarity with the writers and actors, of course.
Now with a lot of free time, and in one location, it seems, when they aren't on the picket lines, the group are more often than not found in livestreams together.
The most famous one for fans would be a stream from Elora's account where she is taking song requests. While she sings Noah Kahan and Olivia Rodrigo covers and peforms musical numbers like she was born to do so, her friends flutter around in the back. Mostly Airk, since the furniture and decor would suggest it is his house. But, infamously, Kit and Jade wandering in and out of frame arm in arm (actually, they're hanging off of each other each time, mostly Kit slumped over Jade's shoulders, but Kit practically carrying Jade on one occasion as well).
Someone posts a compilation of all of their cameos in the live together posted over the Wii music, mostly very zoomed in and very out of focus.
Other livestreams are without them, but the memorable ones within the fandom always include Kit and Jade.
In one live with Elora and Kit, it finds them laughing about their high school years and reminiscing on Elora being in college while Kit finished high school. Then Kit talks about college, and Elora talks about her degrees.
"You know what I realised the other day?" Elora laughs. "I'm no better than the mean girls who got told they were good listeners and went on to become nurses!" Here, they both laugh. "Seriously, I realised I only took those psychology classes because so many people told me how good of a listener I was and how good my advice was, so I thought 'Huh, yeah, I could do that for a living'."
"I'm glad you took musical theatre, as well," Kit says from her end of the stream.
"So am I. Can you imagine me as a therapist? God, I'd be terrible!"
Another time, in an Instagram Live from Airk, the topic of conversation goes from books to hopes and dreams somehow. Those started lighthearted, then fell a little bit deeper, then Kit resurrects the mood by talking about her wedding, while looking past the camera.
"I'd have wanted a Vogue Weddings article," she says with a smile. "Like, if we'd actually planned our wedding instead of waking up and deciding to do it, of course. But I wouldn't actually change a thing about it. Just my vanity coming out and all."
"If we'd have planned it you'd be all over Vogue," Jade says off camera.
Kit sighs, dramatically and with an uncontrollable smile, "I know."
More livestreams happen than any one fan could keep count of. So many, from all over. Even other celebrities' posts feature Kit somehow on occasion, which suggests to her fans that maybe she is working again.
Elora sings her songs and Airk reveals secrets and magic tricks as per usual. Kit is in rhe background here and there.
Then, fans notice in Kit's first modelling gig since her leave she is credited as Kit Tanthalos-Claymore. Since she's been married for over a year now it strikes some as odd. Some people question whether the wedding was even real. If the whole backyard wedding shtick was just a gag for the music video that everyone ran with. And, that being the case, Kit and Jade only just got married for real recently.
It's all quite ridiculous. So Kit goes live.
"I changed my name in the business side of my life because its a new era for me. Before- I wasn't, like, hiding it before. It just didn't feel like a necessary thing. It was for me. But now I'm clean and I'm trying to be a difterent- a better person. So I'm starting with transparency. Using my full name."
*
Interview with Variety: "Kit Tanthalos-Claymore on growth and the future"
"I've been thinking of going to college," Kit Tanthalos-Claymore tells us upon first meeting. In an era of rebirth and regeneration, Kit is turning over new leaves and with it offering transparency on her journey. "I didn't go when I graduated high school 'cause I'd just booked a gig with Vivienne Westwood, the job of my dreams. And then I got busy with life. But now my life is settling down I'm thinking about going. Plus, all my friends have degrees. My wife has a PhD in anthropology, my brother got his film degree. Elora has a degree in musical theatre and a sociology degree, and Graydon went to school for music production. I think it's all so cool! I wanna learn! You'd never find me saying that ten years ago, hell maybe not even five years ago." I asked Kit what she's thinking of studying and her face just lit up.
"I don't know! How am I meant to choose one? I think fashion communications might be my leading choice right now, but I don't know! And don't even think about asking me where I wanna go. I don't even- It's a lot. It's exciting but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't quite overwhelmed."
*
In an episode of The Squeeze podcast with Tay and Taylor Lautner, Kit talks about, again, fame as a young person and the effects it had on her, which thus led into her addiction and visit to rehab.
"You know I got death threats?" Kit says with a laugh, the same laugh she tags on any time she tries to make light of a very dark situation. "Like, when I turned my phone back on and logged back into all my socials, my DMs were full of people threatening me if I didn't, like, come back and tell the world what I was doing."
She laughs through the hosts' stunned silences.
"I know I brought it on myself because I just disappeared and-"
Quickly, she is shut down by protests of it not being her fault and never in any world should she try to justify it as such. In response, Kit blushes and drops her head, bringing a hand up to her eyes briefly.
"Yeah, uh. Anyway," she goes on, "my friends and family also got death threats. And they were coming from accounts that had my name in their profiles! My so-called fans were threatening to find my family, stalk them and kill them. All because I wasn't posting on Instagram."
Here, she gets choked up. Takes a second to wipe her eyes.
"Elora got the worst of it. I think, because not long after I turned off from the world, she and my wife were spotted in England together. Mind you, Jade was taking my ticket! Me and Elora had planned the trip and Jade was just going in my place! And Elora tried to spin it the other way to get them off the hook or something. I dunno. But then the whole world, or whatever, thought they were dating. So people started threatening Elora for being a home wrecker and for making Jade cheat on me or something."
"That's absurd," the Taylors comment.
Clips from the episode, specifically this conversation, circulate Reels and For You pages across the globe. Twitter fan accounts take it upon themselves to write long, meaningful messages about the dangers of death threats. Some accounts even call out those dealing out death threats, but this leads to a few people unfortunately getting doxed.
The podcast episode ends with Kit saying, "I'm happy to be back, but people never fail to make me remember how nice it was to shut off from everything."
*
Among the list of less infamous things to come out of the group as of late are:
The group all going to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, as posted by Elora and Airk (the biggest swifties of the group). They're dressed each as a different outfit from the Shake It Off music video. Elora as the ballerina, Airk as the cheerleader, Graydon in all gold, Jade with a red hoodie and sunglasses, and Kit in a black turtleneck. They're clearly hand made costumes, and posts from the night on everyone's stories shows them to be in the stands among everyone else, not the VIP booths.
As for work, Airk comes out with a collaboration with Converse, creating an iconic range of Chucks with a film roll and camera designs on them, which many people love.
Kit is back in the studio and the catwalk, wearing students work in their finals show at fashion schools in New York City. She features in an article with The Hollywood Reporter about upcoming projects she is secretive about for the future but very excited for.
(Those followers who, maybe strangely, follow their lives closely will also find that Kit and Jade take a vacation to Germany. And those few fans who are also invested in the world of archaeological findings will discover that Jade, at a dig site, discovered the handle of a sword very intact from centuries ago, potentially from the thirteenth or fourteenth century. But those are only very few fans.)
Wand and Flute perform at Lollapalooza, Elora donning a history-making outfit of a long white dress with these blue and white cowboy boots. It's comparable to Stevie Nicks in terms of iconic outfits. At post show interviews, she reveals them to be a gift from Kit and Jade.
In the same interview, the band are asked about what's next in their career. New music? More touring?
The pair share a glance, a little smile. "We're writing," Graydon confirms. That is that.
Similarly, Airk appears in podcasts of all sorts, and is asked what's next for him. He admits that, while striking and out of work indefinitely, he's been dabbling in D&D from time to time, and doing a lot of freelance photography at weddings now it's peak season, but mostly he's getting a lot of writing done.
"That's a bit of a lie," he goes on to say. "Like, I've also been picking up old watercolour pallettes. Doesn't mean I'm suddenly an artist." He laughs to himself. "No, but I've got a lot of really good ideas jotted down. The goal, obviously, is to work with A24 eventually. I've got all these half finished scripts and shit, but I know I can do better. Trust me. You'll see me on the next great coming of age movie from them, I swear."
It seems that the topic of the future is on everyone's minds these days.
*
In early September, Kit posts ten pictures on Instagram in one post that break the internet.
The first is a film photo of herself and Jade kissing. All warm toned and radiating intimacy and affection. A glimpse at their black and white suits respectively suggests this is from their wedding, if the peace music video is anything to go off of. They're holding each other's smiling faces and soon enough the picture could be found on sapphic Pinterest boards worldwide.
The second is a candid. Them dancing in casual clothes in someone's living room, just socks on. They're both grinning despite the low quality of the picture.
The third is one from Kit's birthday, the photo announcing their relationship.
The fourth is from years ago because they're only children in it. Very small kids. Kit looks about the age she was when she was in the movie she got to swear at her mother in, which puts the photo at close to fifteen years old. Baby Kit and Jade are smiling, crooked and missing teeth, with rosy, round cheeks and sparkling eyes, hugging each other. The beach is just visible behind them.
Next, a selfie of them as teens.
Then an old Halloween costume. Kit and Jade dressed up as knights, somewhat reminiscent of those in Madmartigan Doone's movie Round Table. Unlike anything in the movie, though, Kit and Jade are photographed in a warm embrace, kissing in front of a party in the background.
Then a selfie of them on sunbeds on a beach, probably on vacation. Taken by Kit, so only her head is in the shot, wearing designer sunglasses and her hair pushed back by one of those nineties headbands. In the bed beside her is Jade, eyes shut and possibly asleep, in swim trunks and a bikini top in a terracotta colour, waistbeads glistening like a band of stars.
The eighth picture is a BeReal. Elora in one shot taking the picture, Kit and Jade hugging in the other.
The ninth is an uncropped screenshot from facetime, Jade captured mid laugh in the bottom corner watching Kit. What exactly Kit is doing is not disclosed nor obvious, as she's blurry, half cut off, and her limbs are moving too much for the camera to capture anything more than a fleshy blur. But she's wearing a hat and sunglasses indoors, and laughing as well. Whatever it is she's doing, it's clearly hilarious.
The final photo is intimate and full of love. A selfie, taken by either of them, it's unclear who. A close up of an embrace in bed. Jade smiling at the camera, tired looking but happy; Kit behind, chin resting on Jade's shoulder as she grins at the camera in an open mouthed smile. Complete with bedheads and tan lines, their hands linked and just visible, their rings on show.
Comments on the post are anything and everything, from close friends wishing them well to inside jokes from family (@airkfilms: get a room), to fan accounts with kudos and compliments (@thethirdtanthalos: ur both so gorg omg) (@elorasgirlfriend: literally the epitome of queer joy!!!!!!). It quickly becomes Kit's most liked post, overtaking that of the ring reveal and the announcement photo combined overnight.
Probably all in due to the caption, which reads as follows:
'Two years ago my wife and I woke up and decided to get married that afternoon. While it wasn't that simple irl, it was the easiest choice I have ever made in my life and my career. To marry my best friend. My soulmate.
I kept a lot of my relationship private, which inevitably did as much good as it did harm. It brought me a wider following, and garnered my friends a larger following, and we are all at points in our careers and lives we never expected to be at right now. As well, refusing to share that part of my life showed me just how ugly the world can be. Even after I decided to share it all, the world was still an ugly place to be. I have been through insane highs and heart dropping lows, and I would not have survived any of it without the love of my life, my wife. My love, my life, my soul. I don't want any adventures without you <3'
*
For the first time in years, Kit is the first one home. The house is chilled with the lack of bodies inside it. Usually, Jade is always occupying the couch or the kitchen, or at least her belongings are. Today, no laptop nor stray notebook are in sight. Only Jasper, taking up more couch space than one, admittedly overfed, cat could ever need. Kit coos at her pet, stroking his belly and nose, and offers to feed him.
The penthouse, while theirs, feels off these days. Kit thinks part of it might be that when she's stationary in one place for too long she starts to get all flighty, a reflex from so many waiting lines for casting calls in her childhood stuck with her mother arguing down the phone. More so, however, is the natural admittance that they, her and Jade, have grown so much as people in the last twelve months that perhaps they have outgrown their place. Not physically, of course. Their houses will always be bigger than necessary, fortunately (and unfortunately for the cleaners). The last thing Kit has been this last year is stationary, especially since she spent fifty percent of that time in Australia. The rest flying back and forth between New York and LA, and of course the month in Canada. But still. They've been here for a long time and they are not the people they were when they bought this house.
It's sort of always been a dream of Kit's to completely renovate a house for herself. Even better if for herself and Jade and however their family may grow in the future. Sure, she's not sold on the idea of parenthood, but why not have a house big enough for a nursery and playroom? Elora definitely wants kids, that's reason number one. Number two is because Jade can twist her leg over just about anything, so maybe kids are on the table for them.
Whatever. Another conversation for another day.
Long story short, Kit's been looking at houses. Mansions in upstate New York. Places close to Airk. Townhouses in San Francisco. Beach houses in Provincetown. Farmhouses across the country. (She likes the idea of a farmhouse. All the land for whatever she wants. Sheds for work, be it she transform the place into an art workshop or photo gallery or modelling studio. She wants a farmhouse. Maybe a farm. She could see herself retiring, early, into a life where she raise sheep and pigs and such. All the running land. God, it's a dream. And no one around for miles to bother them!) The best ones she's found are in Colorado or Washington, generally the Midwest. Maybe Jade can be convinced.
Kit starts to make the penthouse feel like home again. Kicks her shoes off in any direction, throws her bag onto the end of the couch. Flicks on the tele to find an episode of Bondi Rescue to stick on as background noise, probably a repeat she's seen a million times. She thinks she's watched enough Bondi Rescue, and spent enough time in Australia, to perfect the accent by now, but she'll only show Jade her attempts.
In the kitchen, she considers cooking but all she knows how to make well is an omelette, and that just makes her think of the omelette in that one cooking drama that went viral on TikTok for a bit, so she starts craving an omelette with sour cream chips knowing damn well her omelettes are far from perfect on a good day. Maybe she'll add learning to cook to her list of things to achieve in the near future, right in between getting her licence again (only if they're moving out of NYC for good, because no way is she driving a car through this hellhole city) and getting Jasper a friend, AKA convincing Jade they should adopt another kitten.
So she abandons the idea of food, but makes coffee for herself and Jade, who is sure to arrive soon, right?
She changes into something more comfortable for her own house, takes her coffee to the couch, and watches the lifeguards try not to laugh over a crying child.
She doesn't know when she fell asleep. All she knows is when she wakes up, it's to Jade taking the empty cup out of her hands and brushing hair out of her eyes.
"Hey sleepyhead," Jade smiles warmly seeing Kit stir awake.
"Shit, how long was I asleep?" Kit murmurs, eyeing the still full coffee cup on the kitchen island.
"I just got home and found you asleep," Jade says. "Hard day?"
"You're back late," Kit says, ignoring the question.
Jade nods, and there's something in the turn of the corners of her mouth that says something has happened, and something good.
"I was at the university," Jade says. No surprise there, the research team often work out of the university regardless of term times and current students. "And they offered me a teaching position."
"What?"
"I mean, not, like, a proper teaching postion 'cause I have none of the qualifications," Jade goes on. "But I've been asked to give some lectures and help out my old professors with stuff."
"Oh my God that's-" Kit's excitement is overridden for just a second before she's back to herself. "That's amazing! I'm so proud of you!"
"You hesitated," Jade matter-of-factly says. "What's wrong?"
Kit sighs and explains in fewer words that she is, of course, over the moon for Jade and the new opportunities that await her, but that this means longer permanence in a city she no longer cares for. She'd let herself get so happy and carried away with the idea of moving away, finding a house and renovating every room to be their personal dream. And she'd forgotten that Jade might not even want that.
"Hey, of course I want that," Jade says, crossing a leg underneath her. "We can still have that. I haven't agreed to anything yet, mind you."
"You haven't?"
"No, silly. I know you want your dream farmhouse." She smiles, and it's not this massive statement smile or anything but it makes Kit feel like she's lit up like a billboard sign. "D'you know what it did make me realise though?"
"What?"
"That teaching could be fun."
"Really?"
"Really."
So Jade explains that, for a short while now, she's been considering getting a teaching degree. That she's not sure what branch of teaching she'd go into, either elementary school or high school history, but that the idea has always appealed to her.
"I could totally see you as a teacher," Kit says, with enough infliction that suggests sincerity as well as a suggestive wink of certain role-playing scenarios.
"But you know what?"
"What?"
"It'd be a whole lot easier if the school was in the middle of nowhere, so maybe less people would recognise me," Jade says.
"Oh, youre a big celebrity now, huh?" Kit teases, leaping from her seat into Jade's lap to trap her, grinning like a devil.
"Uh-huh. And who's fault is that?" Jade teases back, hands falling onto Kit's hips.
They kiss. First kiss in a few hours; naturally, they have to make up for lost time, though the kiss doesn't progress into anything more.
Eventually, they part. Jade takes over the kitchen, and her cooking skills aren't that much more varied than Kit's, but her desires are stronger. She talks while she cooks, chopping vegetables as she talks about her day and explains her options. Kit drinks up all the information as she sits at the island, picking at berries as she waits.
As Jade puts the plates down in front of them, she asks Kit how her day was.
"Long," Kit sighs, tired again.
"That it?" Jade chuckles. "You aren't going to tell me about your first day as a college student?"
"It was good. I took a selfie with someone. My professor asked about my mom."
Jade hums like she's just remembered something around a mouthful of food. "We can't move out until you've finished your degree," she says after she's swallowed.
Kit nods. "I guess. I could do it online."
Here, Jade softens a little. She puts down her fork and sighs. "Hey, we will move. We'll find our dream house. But we aren't gonna rush it. You never know, it might take three years to find the perfect place. Don't stress now, yeah?" She puts her hand on Kit's cheek, brushing her cheekbone, then moving her hand into her hair to ruffle it. "You gotta save that brain for learning all about how fashion communicates." Her smile is teasing.
Kit rolls her eyes harmlessly. "You know that's not what it is."
"I know." And she does. The same way Kit would make fun of her degree by saying she was studying the store anthroplogie, not anthropology.
In the end, Kit ends up indulging Jade in every detail of her day down to the brand of pen she borrowed from someone when her's ran out - and then she spent the better part of fifteen minutes defending herself after being accused of not being prepared for class. All through eating, washing up, and their shower. It's in bed when she seems to run out of steam.
"I haven't been this tired in ages," Kit sighs. A part of her is ashamed, knowing that that's because of the drugs, some of them anyway. But also because the drugs never helped, really. She keeps this to herself, though. "I didn't know learning could be this exhausting."
Jade smiles, a small laugh on her lips. "You'll get used to it."
Fluffing her pillow, Jade winks at Kit and smiles. She throws the duvet back for them both, climbing in first. Then Kit follows, tucking in warmly under Jade's arm.
No matter the amount of Buzzfeed articles she gets shown on Facebook or however many times her friends tell her to not go on her phone before she goes to sleep, she isn't convinced. What's a little PR before bed? Jade chuckles at her over her shoulder, seeing the Instagram logo flash up on her phone, but says nothing. Knows her better than that.
Her notifications are full, once again. Despite posting lots of times since, her post from her wedding anniversary still remains her most liked post and garners hundreds of likes a week, even four and half months later. Her heart grows a million times with each comment, like and repost.
"Still getting likes?" Jade asks.
"Of course."
@KITSWIFE has one of the top comments on the post, coincidentally or not. Jade knows what she's done, secret identity or not.
"Do you think anything will out-like that post?" Jade says.
Kit hums. "Oh, I've got a couple ideas." She flashes a suggestive glance to Jade, unsure of what, exactly, she is suggesting, just trying to get a laugh out of her wife, really.
Jade's brows shoot up to her hair behind her bonnet. "Oh yeah? And what might they be?"
A laugh bubbles through Kit in place of an answer, earning her a jab in the side turning into a tickling hand. She squeals until Jade lets her go, then kisses her.
"Doesn't matter what I post," she says, so close to Jade she's practically feeding the words to her. "None of it matters." No degree or post or following, no house or state or moving van. None of it counts for a damn thing if not for Jade.
"That confident in your fans?" Jade teases back, her voice naturally falling into a whisper.
Kit shakes her head, brushing the tips of their noses together and making them giggle. "No. Just you." A kiss, quick and loving. Like punctuation in her sentence. "None of it matters 'cause I have you."
"No adventures apart." Jade says her lines like an actress on closing night. Well loved and well worn, filled with joy and love.
"No adventures," Kit parrots.
They've got the rest of their lives to figure out the next big post and where to move to. For now, they are in their bed and holding the other in their arms, and they could not be happier.