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theladyofdeath · 4 years

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The First of Many {Nessian}

Fluff, because Mother’s Day was yesterday. Written alongside the beautiful and talented love of my life, @throne-of-ashes-and-beauty :) From the 2nd gen modern au world of our “The Arrival” short series. enjoy x

It was just after five in the morning when Cassian’s phone began to vibrate under his pillow. He quickly grabbed for it, silencing it and fighting the urge to groan as he rolled face down on his pillow. He debated on taking an extra five minutes to sleep, but knew if he did, he wouldn’t have time to make it to the other room. So even though it went against every fiber of his being, he threw back the covers and rolled out of bed.

He pulled on the sweat pants he’d discarded at the end of the bed the night before and rubbed the heels of his hands into his eyes as he yawned. Rounding the bed, Cassian picked up the baby monitor and flicked the switch to mute it. He could see their son sleeping through the screen and smiled. He glanced down at Nesta, still peacefully sleeping in their bed. He wanted to brush her hair off her forehead so he could see her beautiful face, but didn’t want to wake her. He looked back to the screen and saw tiny, squirming arms and swore, carefully setting the monitor down and jogging across the hall.

He stepped in the room and closed the door with a soft click. His seven-month-old son was babbling to himself in the crib, but Cassian knew that was short lived. He crept to the rocking chair in the corner and sat, closing his eyes until he was needed.

He woke up with a start when a piercing cry shook the room.

He jumped to his feet and picked up his young son, cooing down at him and gently bouncing him. “No, buddy, please. It’s mama’s first Mother’s Day and she’s very, very tired.”

Thorn’s cries died down, although he was still fussing as Cassian carried him from the room and down the stairs. The further away from the master bedroom he got to get this kid through his morning routine, the better chance Nesta had to sleep in.

And that was the plan.

So Cassian and Thorn entered the kitchen to warm up a bottle, and while it was heating, Cassian changed his diaper, although Thorn hardly stayed still as he did so. By the time Cassian got the diaper strapped on him, he didn’t even care about attempting to get his pajamas back on.

At least by that point, the bottle was warm, and Cassian plopped down on the couch with his baby boy and fed him the bottle as he said, “So, it’s Mother’s Day today. This time last year you were in mama’s belly. That means that we have to make today extra special.”

Thorn looked up at Cassian with big hazel eyes and long, dark lashes as he drank.

“Exactly,” Cassian went on. “I got her flowers on my way home last night, and I said they’re from you, but I’m not going to ask you to sign the card...you know, because you can’t. However, I got this little handprint thing, right? Which means daddy’s going to stick your hand in ink, press it against a sheet of paper, then frame it...and we have to do that before mommy wakes up. You up for that?”

Thorn gurgled, forcing milk to drip down his lip and onto his belly.

“Awesome,” Cassian said, wiping it off with a burp cloth. “I’m going to take that as a yes, and I’m also going to ask that you don’t do that on the gift. Alright?”

Thorn spat the nipple out of his mouth and giggled, reaching up for Cassian. With a soft, fond gaze in his hazel eyes, Cassian set the bottle on a coaster and held Thorn up against his chest, patting his back as he stood and carried Thorn into the kitchen.

They were the first out of their little group of friends and family to get pregnant, and Cassian had been the first to admit that he knew nothing about babies. He’d been an only child and had a shitty home life growing up, which meant that when Nesta had told him that they were going to have a baby, that he was going to be a father, he had freaked the fuck out.

He laughed thinking back on it. Now, he felt like he filled the daddy role fairly well. The best he could, anyway. He may not do everything by the book, but he was doing the best he could, and he really loved his boy.

And Nesta was a kickass mom.

Which was why her first Mother’s Day had to be perfect. It was the start of many Mother’s Days, the foundation of them all, the one that would forever set the bar for the future.

He’d spent weeks trying to decide what he should do for Nesta today, everything from a day at the spa (too expensive) to the new purse he’d seen her eyeing when they’d been walking back from Thorn’s six month check up last month (also too expensive), and he’d even asked his brothers. Neither of them had been helpful and he imagined Feyre and Elain were going to be spending their first Mother’s Days disappointed if their suggestions of a candle and “a nice book” held true.

Things had been rough since Nesta had Thorn the fall before. They’d discussed it during her entire pregnancy, and Nesta decided to quit her job as a travel agent and be a stay at home mom. It was everything Nesta had always dreamed of, but going from two salaries to one had made things a bit more tight around the Nazari house. It also didn’t help that Thorn had to have the special kind of formula, otherwise there weren’t enough diapers in the world to keep him changed and happy.

Cass pulled the Bumbo seat from the kitchen table where Nesta had been feeding him the night before and set it on the counter. He set Thorn in it and buckled him up, chuckling as his son immediately began to smack his little feet against the surface. He babbled and Cassian couldn’t help but grin as he reached for his own foot, the thick padding of the seat keeping him from grabbing it.

“Not quite, bud,” Cassian said, smiling, as he crossed the small kitchen and opened the pantry. He reached into the very back, behind the two year old boxes of jell-o and the stash of Ramen noodles he kept hidden away and got the stamping kit he’d ordered the week before.

“Alright, now this stuff is messy,” he said, reading the directions on the back of the box to his son, even though he had no idea what he was talking about. He set down the box and leaned down on his elbows in front of Thorn. “So we’re going to lay down some towels so mama doesn’t cut daddy’s favorite body part off for staining her counters. Cause we want to give you a brother or a sister one day, yes, we do.”

Thorn began blowing bubbles and he grabbed for Cassian’s hair.

With a chuckle, Cassian opened the junk drawer and took out a hair tie to bundle up his shoulder-length hair before they continued. He had learned fairly quickly that Thorn, although little, had a hell of a grip. Nesta wouldn’t let him cut his hair, though.

She loved it long.

She liked to grab onto it, too, from time to time.

After finding a towel and setting it down, he opened the contents of the box. There wasn’t much in it, just an ink pad, a piece of cardstock, and a little picture frame to put it in when it was all finished.

“Alright,” Cassian breathed, opening the inkpad and setting it down. He had hardly reached for the cardstock when Thorn picked up the inkpad and was bringing it to his little mouth. With a violent curse that probably shouldn’t be muttered in front of a seven-month-old, Cassian took the inkpad back, set it a solid distance away, and wiped Thorn’s hand off with the towel.

Hopefully Nesta didn’t love that towel, because it was going to be a mess, Cassian was certain, by the time they were done.

“We gotta hurry,” Cassian said, taking Thorn’s little hand into his and pressing it into the ink. Thorn looked completely confused. “Mama will be awake soon.”

Thorn, little fingers wiggling, pressed his hand against the cardstock. It looked like a giant blob. Cassian frowned. That wasn’t exactly what he was expecting.

“Yeah, we’re gonna try that again on the back,” Cassian muttered, setting it aside as he picked up the inkpad and pressed Thorn’s little hand into it, once again. “This time, spread out your fingers, kid.”

Thorn babbled something angrily at his daddy.

Cassian assumed it resembled something close to “fuck you”.

He blew out a quick breath and said, “Alright, Nazari, you do this all the time. Just like taking fingerprints.”

Thorn was staring up at the ceiling and pointing with his clean hand, so Cassian took advantage of the distraction and Cassian rolled his hand, from heel to fingertip, across the cardstock, and let out a sigh of relief when he was left holding a perfect print of a chubby, little hand.

Cassian unwrapped the picture frame, throwing the plastic away and carefully lined the print up in the frame. He set it upright and looked at it, with a satisfied grin.

The frame read “Best mommy, hands down”, and Cass was about to pat himself on the back for figuring out a way to slip a pun into Nesta’s Mother’s Day present when he remembered Thorn’s hand was still covered in ink.

And now, so was his entire little, chubby body.

“Ah, fuck,” Cassian sighed, setting the frame down before unbuckling Thorn from the Bumbo seat and carrying him up the stairs, quietly, and into the bathroom across the hall from the nursery. He shut the door with a soft click before turning on the water, tossing Thorn’s diaper in the garbage under the sink, and setting him inside. “We have to stay quiet,” Cassian whispered, turning off the water, running a soapy washcloth over Thorn’s legs. “Mama’s still sleeping.”

At the mention of mama, Thorn was giggling and clapping his hands.

“I know, we love mama, don’t we?” Cassian chuckled, washing off all the tiny, little inked handprints that had covered Thorn’s soft, tanned skin. Once the baby was clean, Cassian wrapped him in a towel and looked in the mirror. Cassian grinned at the reflection of him and his mini-me as the tub drained, and it was then that Cassian realized he had a series of tiny handprints across his own chest.

He turned, reaching for where he’d laid the washcloth over the edge of the sink, and-.

The door opened and a sleepy Nesta shuffled forward a step, before jumping back, a hand to her chest. “Oh, my god, Cassian, you scared the-.” She took in the image before her. “Your- Is he- What is happening?”

Cassian tried to play it cool, but at the sight of Nesta, Thorn began to babble excitedly and was wiggling in Cassian’s arms. “Good morning, beautiful, what are you doing up?”

Nesta looked at him through tired, narrow eyes. “I had to pee. What’s going on?”

“Just some father son bonding time,” Cassian lied, coolly. “We’ll just head downstairs so you can do what you need to do and-.”

He’d been trying to slip past her, but a hand was planted firmly on his chest before he could make it out of the bathroom. “What did you do to my baby? What is all over your chest?” She tried to fight off the yawn that made her pause, but she couldn’t. “And what time is it?”

“Go back to bed,” he whispered, and planted a kiss on her forehead before carrying Thorn back down the stairs, ignoring a confused, protesting Nesta.

He grabbed a diaper from the changing basket in the living room, strapped it on his infant, and walked back into the kitchen. Thorn continued to babble as Cassian threw the garbage away, opened the pantry and pulled a bouquet of flowers and a card out, which he’d hid there after he returned from work last night. After collecting the picture frame in his hand, too, he carried them all back up the stairs. Nesta was still in the bathroom, although the sink was running.

Thorn was picking flower petals off of one of the roses as they entered the master bedroom. Cassian was at the point that he didn’t give a damn.

He set down the picture frame, the card, the flowers, and himself on the bed. After falling back against the pillows, he laid Thorn on his chest and let out a long, slow breath.

Thorn was instantly alert, pulling himself up on his hands to look at Cassian.

“Mission accomplished, bud. Good job,” he said, rubbing soothing circles on his back.

He babbled incoherently again and Cassian chuckled, laying back and closing his eyes. He could feel Thorn’s little heart beat against his skin and he sighed, loving this moment.

It took no time at all for Thorn to fall back asleep and Cassian to do the same.

He only awoke five minutes later because he heard constant sniffling from beside him.

Cassian's eyes shot open, although careful not to wake Thorn as he looked at the other side of the bed where Nesta sat, the card open on her lap, staring at the little framed handprint in her hands.

“Fuck,” Cassian yawned. “I missed your reaction? Damn it.”

A laugh bubbled out of Nesta as she looked up from the handprint to her husband. “It’s pretty much what you’re seeing right now. I guess the war paint makes sense now,” she said, glancing down at the ink still covering his chest.

“You should have seen your son before I gave him a bath. Face, hair, belly, legs.” Cassian chuckled and absent mindedly resumed his circles on Thorn’s back.

Nesta lovingly set the frame on her nightstand, right next to the baby monitor. She looked at the flowers, the card, the frame and her eyes welled up with tears. “Thank you. This is- It’s perfect. I love you so much.”

Cassian lifted his arm, allowing his wife to scoot closer and lay her head in the crook of his shoulder. She brushed Thorn’s soft hair from his face and whispered, “Has he eaten?”

“Had a full bottle,” Cassian said, nestling back into the pillows.

She turned her head slightly, so she could see his face. “He’s been changed?”

He cracked an eye and he was doing his best to hide that sheepish grin she loved so much. “Technically, we’re on diaper number three of the day.”

Nesta sat up slightly and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “And he’s been burped?’

Cassian laughed, “Contrary to what our family believes, I actually can take care of our kid.”

Nesta snorted. “I never said you couldn’t, but usually I’m the one up doing it all because you’re usually at work.”

She leaned up to kiss his cheek, but Cassian turned his face and caught her lips.

“I couldn’t miss your first Mother’s Day,” he muttered against her mouth.

She snuggled up next to him, gently running a finger over Thorn’s soft cheek. “He’s the greatest gift I’ve ever gotten,” she mused, lost in the way his little fist was wrapped tight in the blanket Cassian had covered them with.

“He’s the greatest gift you’ve ever given me,” Cassian said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she said, curling up against him, carefully laying her hand on Thorn’s back.

He held her as close to him as he could. “What else do you want to do for your first Mother’s Day?”

“It’s six-fifteen on a Sunday morning, my sexy ass husband has taken care of our baby, and I don’t have to get out of bed all day,” she mumbled, face pressed into his skin. “I want to sleep.”

“Sleep or sleep? Because Thorn is out….I can easily carry him into the nursery and lay him down…” Cassian muttered.

Nesta rolled her eyes as she yawned. “Sleep.”

“Fine,” Cassian sighed, closing his eyes.

A moment passed, the three of them snuggled close in the silence.

“Although,” Nesta said, looking up at Cassian, “if you want to lay him down first-.“

Cassian was already sitting up, Thorn asleep against his chest with his little mouth hanging open. Nesta laughed as he quickly, but carefully, hurried across the hall and was back in a flash. Rather than go around to his side of the bed, he jumped onto the mattress and tackled Nesta into the pillows.

“Cassian!” She cried, laughing. His face was pressed in her face and he looked up, grinning.

“Nesta!” He said, doing a spot on impression of her scolding voice. He rolled off of her and wrapped her up in her arms, softly kissing her. He ran a hand down her body and Nesta kissed him back, her sleep quickly forgotten.

Cassian pulled away and said, “Shit…”

Nesta asked, concern in her voice, “What is it?” She looked toward the open doorway, half expecting to find their infant son standing there.

He reached across the bed and flicked the switch on the baby monitor. The sounds of their son’s room filtered through the speaker.

They both waited a moment, in silent tension, waiting to see if his silence remained. When it did, Cassian let out a loose breath and laughed, quietly.

His hands snuck up beneath her shirt, his shirt that she’d slept in.

“Happy Mother’s Day,” he whispered.

“Thanks,” she smiled, running her fingers through his hair.

“Time to make you a mommy all over again,” he muttered, mischief dancing in those hazel eyes as he pressed his mouth to hers.

Nesta laughed against his lips as she let him do just that.

#nessian #nesta #cassian #fanfic #fanfiction #oneshot #collab #TOAAB #shara tag #cassian x nesta #acotar #acomaf #acowar #acofas #modern au #gen 2 #the arrival

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thewalkingdead-imagines · 6 years

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Negan Imagine ~ “Mother’s Day Surprise”

A little belated imagine for Mother’s Day, anyway hope you enjoy it!

The sun was already shining softly through the windows as the lack of your husband’s arms around you began to wake you up, combined with the soft kicking of your unborn daughter that let you eventually completely escape the sleep’s grasp. Quietly yawning you opened your eyes, your sleepy and still a little muddled glance searching for Negan before you heard his voice on the hallway and began to slowly remember what kind of day was today. “There we go”, you heard Negan quietly and still drowsily say before you heard your son’s yawn being followed by his dad’s familiar throaty chuckle ,”You look like a fucking rockstar with that damn bedhead.” “Alright, now we really gotta get downstairs”, you heard his voice again, trying to keep quiet before you heard quick but small footsteps rushing down the stairs,“Hey Buddy, be fucking careful-” “Now if I had your energy in the fucking mornings...”, Negan’s deep voice followed the steps with a chuckling huff before his heavy steps made their way down the stairs. “Daddy?”, you heard your son’s voice ask, now sounding quieter than before as they headed further away. “Yeah, Bud?”, Negan voice asked, a small yawn interrupting him before you heard a door shut. You could hear them rummaging in the kitchen as a smile formed on your face while you heard their laughs and voices mixing, before they got more silent again as Negan must have remembered that his plan still implied to not wake you up and keep you in the land of slumber. Quietly yawning you sunk a little deeper into the pillows, trying to keep yourself comfortable as you pulled the sheets a little more over your body. For a bit, your eyes closed again, letting you dwell somewhere between being awake and dozing softly away. The air filled with the delicious scent of baking pancakes and brewing coffee before you heard the door opening again, just like Negan’s deep voice. “Holy hell, now how did you get that batter off? That shit was fucking everywhere”, you heard him ask with a soft chuckle. “Balu licked it up”, your son’s voice said just as his words let you directly picture how your dog took gladly care of the mess of batter and half baked pancakes your son must have created. “Oh my...”, Negan chuckled, the throatiness and deepness of his laugh rumbling through his chest as you could hear him trying to stifle it to not let it form into the booming and loud laugh you knew too well as well. “Okay, then we’ll get the rest off now, ya coming with me, Bud?”, you heard him ask just before the mix of his heavy and your son’s small footsteps mixed as the wooden floorboards squeaked quietly beneath them. Feeling how a bigger smile grew on your lips you cuddled yourself a little more into the sheets, your eyes laying on the leant door before you felt the soft kicking of your baby daughter again. Smiling you let your hand slide down to your stomach while you were more than glad that she was turning her kicks into a morning routine instead of a nightly workout. Slowly you let your fingers begin to draw small circles over the soft fabric of your loose nightdress just as she kicked again. If Negan was next to you in bed now, he’d be looking widely smiling at your baby bump, letting his large hand rest on your skin to feel the next kick just to excitedly grin and softly chuckle as soon as he could feel it. He was still acting with the very same excitement about every kick he could feel as he have had in your first pregnancy, with the only exception that he was now also motivating your son to be just as excited about the kicks of his little sister. The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs dragged you out of your thoughts just before you heard them coming a little closer to the bedroom. “Alright Buddy, we gotta be quiet. We want it to be a fuckin’ surprise for Mommy, right?”, you heard Negan quietly say, just as you had to keep a chuckle in to keep them in the illusion that you were still sleeping and hadn’t woken up before they had even started to turn their surprise plans into reality. “Perfect, got your presents ready, big guy?”, you heard your husband ask next while the tasty scent of the pancakes he must carry with him was beginning to fill the air more and more up. “Will Mommy like it?”, you heard your son mumble just before you heard Negan’s voice sounding through to you once again. “Of course she will, you made it. She’ll fucking love it” They shifted a little more over the floorboards until you heard Negan’s chuckle rumbling through his chest. “Ah wait, shit Buddy you still got some fucking pancake batter in your hair”, he mumbled, chuckling quietly once again as you heard their voices right before the door. You closed your eyes, pretending to be still asleep while trying your very best to keep the small grin and smile off your lips as you quietly leaned a little deeper into the soft pillows. “Alright, here you go”, you heard Negan say just before you could hear the door beginning to slowly open ,“ Now lets get inside, Bud.” Softly you heard your son taping over the floor, followed by his dad’s heavy footsteps, before you could hear him climbing up the bed. Slowly, he began to shift over to you as you still tried to do your very best to look as asleep as you could until you felt your sons small hand placing on your arm. “Mommy, wake up”, you heard him quietly say as he stroke over your arm just before you opened your eyes and saw into his widely smiling face and the familiar hazel eyes. “Hey, Boo”, you said softly, your eyes wandering to his arms that were carrying his presents for you, struggling to keep all of them in his small embrace as your glance trailed over them. A self-drawn picture, a light pink rose of which Negan must’ve cut the thorns off earlier and a light blue package that was carrying your favorite body butter inside which the both of them must have secretly bought. “Happy Mother’s Day”, he said smiling, finally releasing his presents right next to you. “Aw thank you”, you said with a happy smile as you sat yourself a little up and opened your arms for him as he chuckled softly, “Come here.” Feeling him falling dashingly into your embrace as he hugged you, you wrapped your arms around his small body and finally saw Negan coming towards you, carrying a tablet with the pancakes and some hot steaming coffee. He had a mix of a big smile and a smirk planted across his face, his tongue slid slowly over his lower lip before he placed the tablet right next to you on the nightstand and leaned down to let his lips meet yours. Gently, his lips caressed yours as his beard stubble tickled you, his hand slightly cupping the side of your face before he let go. “Happy Mother’s Day, Sweetheart. You’re the fucking best”, he mumbled against your lips with another smile before backing slightly away as he sat himself next to you on the edge of the bed. “This is awesome, thank you both”, you said brightly smiling, feeling how your son moved slowly out of your embrace before he could sit himself up. Slowly, he leaned himself down until he could lay his head on your bump just like Negan had shown him and told him that his baby sister was for sure gonna feel when he was hugging your belly. Smiling you let your glance wander back to Negan as he looked smirking at you, his dark hair still a little tousled from the night just before he leaned in to you again and gave you another soft peck. “Got some other fucking present for tonight too”, you heard him mumble quietly but audibly grinning and with that wolfish tone of his into your ear before you left out a chuckle and shoved his chest playfully just to hear his throaty chuckle rumbling up his throat. “She kicked, Mommy!”, your son suddenly enthusiastically called out just as you could feel your daughter moving again. “Yeah, she’s excited too”, you chuckled, stroking softly over your son’s back as he looked abuzz at your belly just before you could hear Negan’s chuckle once again, followed by his deep voice. “Alright so you’re gonna try our kickass pancakes now, Baby?”

(the gif isn’t mine/ I found it on google so credit to the original owner) tagging: @lovesjdm @jeffreydeanneganstrash @negans-network @sweetwittlebosco   @myrabbitholetoneverland @amysuemc@ashzombie13 @warriorqueen1991 @collette04 @trashimaginezblog@dragongirl420  @dasani-saraai@timeladyrikaofgallifrey @dinodiegos @missmotherhen @kinkygamertrash @beahippie23 @xabeautifultragedyx @negansmagic@starwarsandstufff@bdohe21 @lovesjdm @vanilla-negan @to-pick-ourselves-up-7 @roselover159@mamarhee @mini-me-ow@bellawindixon@dlb1999@the-writingdead@thelittlewolf45@collette04@adixon13@nijiru@twentyonewalkers @originalwinchestervamp@readytourie@jtklover123 @i-am-lady-anarchy@marauderspads@humble-thumb@hp-hogwartsexpress @mydeliciousdandelion @unholyjs @dancing-in-embers@doggosarefun @xojeffreydeanmorgan @hela-rious48 @thelittlewolf45 @smolsstuff (In case you want to be tagged or untagged for specific things or everything I write, just let me know)

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sweetcatastrophex · 6 years

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youtube

This is exactly what I hoped it would be.

i always found bella so interesting. i’ve been following her on instagram and twitter for the past couple years and kind of following her life in that way and anyone observant enough could tell she was leading a kickass lifestyle... the way she interacts with her sister and how close they are, the way she’s so personal with her fans and so transparent about every little thing she does no matter how intimate or what boring regular people would consider TMI like she’s literally posted selfies on the toilet lmao but she’s so raw and genuine and also such an awesome person like so creative and artsy, always making something with her hands (or her mind) and laughing and smiling and dancing to the beat of her own drum while doing it.. and meeting cool people along the way like her boyfriend modsun. they are the most awesome hippie couple and it warms my heart to see the way they support each other and make each other grow. it’s honestly beautiful. they emanate these warm glowy happiness vibes and it’s contagious. you could feel the energy through her posts. she’s also woke af posting about her day at the march for our lives protest and calling out people who make fun of girls who don’t shave their body hair. she’s progressive and uses her platform for good things. and the fact that she’s only 20.. she’s so mentally mature for her age. she went through a lot when she was young, or so it seems, from what she lets us know.. we know she lost her dad in a motorcycle accident when she was little and her mom didn’t always treat her right. she and dani (it feels like they’re a couple friends i have, like just people i know, calling them on a first-name basis) took care of each other when their mom was lacking, it seems, and they became really close... and bella always had to conform to the standards her mom gave her and always had to fit into this box that society, and her own mother, forced onto her.. and like she said, she wasn’t feeling like herself, she literally was losing her identity and she stopped, turned around and said fuck no, i’m taking my life back. i’m so proud of her. she’s strong and brave and deserves to be who she really is. and it’s funny that she gets hate from people because like she said nothing she’s doing is REALLY THAT BIG OF A DEAL! she’s bi, okay, not a big deal but the media had a field day with that. she smokes weed. she’s a 20 year old california kid. i’d be concerned if she didn’t. she’s not snorting lines in nightclub bathrooms with lindsay lohan. but back to dani bc i think she has a big role here. and i’m not just saying that bc i’m a big sister 🤔 but even other people have said it, dani has influenced bella sososo much. you can tell. i could tell as soon as i saw the instagram pics of them and scrolled through dani’s posts and saw HER lifestyle and compared it to bella’s. she clearly has been a large guiding force in bella’s life and it’s been for the better. they even have the same diet (vegetarian). i love that it’s the two of them against the world. and mod just joined the crew and now they have a bunch of puppies and kittens and it’s like one big happy hippie family and it’s awesome. much like it was with miley cyrus, it’s been so fun to watch how they grow and become more like themselves. i just hate how the media slams them for every little thing they do. obsessively. wrongly. i’m glad celebrities are using social media these days though to call people out on their bullshit. the internet creates that direct bridge between content producer and consumer. there’s transparency now. direct communication. i love how she ended the documentary. it’s EXACTLY what lil peep’s mom said last year at his funeral. honestly, i cried. they said the same thing. now that i’m thinking about it actually, bella was friends with peep. maybe she watched the live stream of his mom’s speech from california (it was in ny, i had to cover it for work). his mom basically said — check yourself. if you judged my son during his rap career for the tattoos he had on his face, or the way he chose to dress, or the colors he dyed his hair or for the way he expressed himself, check your judgments. check your projections. peep was a sweet, genuine, honest guy who had the best of intentions for his fans and his family. he was so family oriented (i spoke to his brother and it was surreal). but the point is just because someone dresses differently than you or just isn’t your cup of tea, it doesn’t mean they’re a bad person, a mean person, a criminal, etc. keep an open mind. i couldn’t agree with her more when i heard her say that. i thought it was brave and extremely moving and important for people to hear. i think EVERYONE should hear that. unfortunately the people who were listening/watching probably already knew that. it’s the people who didn’t tune into lil peep’s mom’s funeral speech who need to hear it. but yeah so maybe bella heard that and it resonated. because that was how she ended the whole video. she said stop being so judgmental. it was powerful. the people who read the title of the video and think “bella thorne is just another out-of-control teen celeb” are the ones who need to watch it. this link also comments nicely. and the vogue one, of course.

#bella thorne #bella #youtube #vogue

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artemisial · 6 years

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My Thoughts on Representation in Rick Riordan's Books

Here’s my deal with Magnus Chase, and just Rick in general: The universe is brilliant, as are many of the characters (such as Sam, Alex, Blitz, Hearth, and even Jack) what just irks me is that Magnus is related to Annabeth and that they're dragging Percy and crew into the story. That's also why I'm not a fan of Trials of Apollo. The Greek/Roman universe is well past its prime, and personally, I think that despite the fandom being attached to those characters, Rick would do better establishing entirely new ones. Which is one of the reasons I greatly enjoyed the Kane Chronicles. As for Solangelo- unpopular opinion time- I'm not a fan. I like the idea. I just don't like how it was executed. I feel like it was rushed and sloppy, almost like a way for Rick to say 'there! Now I have a gay couple!" I feel as though there was a certain subtlety needed that wasn't there. I've read books with LGBT characters that were brilliantly written- namely Wylan and Jesper in Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, and Nim in Wonder Woman: Warbringer by the same author. These characters provided the representation (the latter even being in modern-day society), but it was, in my opinion, much more gracefully done than Rick's rather 'in-your-face' manner. Or even in some of Sarah J. Maas's works- Her Throne of Glass series contains a bisexual male character in a relationship with a female one, as well as a princess with a female lover. And, in her series A Court of Thorns and Roses, she's got a lesbian character. Anyway, that just got me off on a whole tangent about LGBT inclusion in books- but back to my main point- Rick's worldbuilding is marvelous. His plots are decent, and his characters and relationships have a lot of potential. I just feel that he has a tendency to bow to the whims of what the fandom wants (i.e. Solangelo right now, and more Percy & co.), and that isn't always what is best for his books. I feel like if Rick did go ahead and write Magnus with no relation to Annabeth, it would be better. Perhaps the fandom wouldn't be all too happy at first, but I feel like they'd warm up to it if the plots and new characters are good enough. I didn't not like Alex. Once again, I feel as though there is a lot of potential . Unfortunately, it usually ends up going sideways because, in my opinion, I think he is trying too hard. Even with Samirah, to an extent, and even Piper in HoO. At this point, I feel like saying I get it, Rick. You have representation. Good for you. Because, as stated, there are better, more subtle ways to represent minorities, and I feel like Rick is doing it just so he can say that he is inclusive. Prime example of brilliantly including minorities- The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. It's a series of futuristic dystopian retellings of fairytales. Cinder (Cinderella), is a half-Asian cyborg mechanic, and her prince is Asian. Scarlet (Little Red Riding Hood) is a kickass (and curvy!) woman who knows how to fire a gun, and Wolf is Middle-Eastern. Cress (Rapunzel), is a computer hacker and genius, and Winter (Snow White) is black and still deemed the prettiest in all the land. And Meyer includes all of these things, all of these powerful women and people of color, but it feels organic and genuine, unlike a lot of Rick's minority characters, who feel as though they were created solely for representation and the plot was built around them, rather than the other way around, which I personally find problematic. I actually would be interested in seeing Blitzstone play out- namely because it feels natural. The characters have known each other for a while and readers have had two books to see them interact in a mostly platonic way. I also like how neither of them was ever pegged blatantly as homosexual/bisexual/queer/etc. (unlike Nico, for example, or how Alex had to state plainly that she was genderfluid). Nico's coming out scene was not well-executed at all in my opinion- it was awfully blatant and overdone. While I understand that there is a need to say it in some cases so that people understand, to make it this big, glaring thing as Rick has in the past (once again, with Nico and Alex), isn't the way to go about it. For example, back to Leigh Bardugo- in Wonder Woman: Warbringer, Nim's sexuality was mentioned in passing. Literally, it was another character saying "Nim's gay. Maybe bi, she's still figuring it out." And after that the main plot of the story continues, and the transition and dialogue is smooth and coherent, which I feel is lacking in Rick's situation. (Case in point, Nico's confrontation scene with Cupid) Rick's main problem is wasted potential. He creates these insanely good worlds and universes and these fascinating plots and quests, and then blows the entire thing up with his characters, because suddenly, it's not Apollo saving the world, it's Apollo (did I mention he's bisexual) saves the (oh, and he supports his gay son) world (and also had a kid from a relationship with a guy oh wow!). Or Samirah trying to help Magnus turns into Samirah (the Muslim girl who was bullied and look she has a magical hijab oh my gosh!) helping Magnus. He tries too hard to push for these things and in the end, it doesn't help the main story at all. Like I said, I'm all for representation. I like seeing diverse characters- people of color and LGBT people, but I don't like putting them on a pedestal and deterring from the main storyline because of them. As for JK Rowling, I do think she did well representing people of color (especially what with Hermione in Cursed Child- having never stated whether or not Hermione was black and letting it be either way. I was not a fan of Cursed Child at all but I don't want to go down that road right now. But props to including people of color there). Additionally, there were characters like Cho Chang, Dean, the Patils, etc. who were clearly minorities but never blatantly so. Though I definitely think that she could have done more with LGBT inclusion, I am not going to condemn her all that much on it because Harry Potter is a literary masterpiece, and outside of the main characters, it leaves a lot of room for speculation and for people to draw their own conclusions in regards to many of the minor character's relationships, lives, and even sexualities and relationships. That definitely wasn't the case with Rick- all of the minority characters were pushed into our faces and many tertiary and secondary were pointed out because of this in a way that was far too outright for my liking.

#rick riordan #percy jackson #lgbt #heroes of olympus #solangelo

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