#is that I get to include a bunch of Nesta | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bookofmirth · 3 months

Text

how might acotar5 start?

This post has spoilers for hofas!!!!!

The intention of this post is to talk about how SJM might connect hofas and acotar5 narratively. It is purely thinking about the logistics of the situation, not where the plot could go in the future.

I will have a follow-up post with discussion about why Az makes even more sense as the next MC, based on everything we learned in hofas that strengthens my rationale from acosf and hosab. I decided that Azriel as the main character and Azriel as the connection POV are too much for one post, and slightly separate (though obviously overlapping) arguments.

So let's go!

After the crossover in hosab/hofas, the narrative needs to take into account a few things:

We have readers who don't want to read 2000+ pages of urban fantasy and want to be able to stick to acotar and fully understand that series in itself

Readers who read both series and don't want a bunch of repetitive scenes

sjm needs to think about how to communicate the information that was learned in hosab/hofas, or at least the information that is vital for moving forward with the acotar plot, in acotar5 that accounts for both those perspectives.

So how does sjm manage all of those tasks?

Azriel's POV

Starting perhaps just before Bryce landed in Prythian, though it could potentially start right where acosf left off. Allow me to explain.

Azriel was preset for a majority of the crossover, but he wasn't with Bryce the entire time. This is important! Because he was in and out of the Hewn City, this gives us an opportunity to see what was happening outside of Bryce's perception. Azriel's pov means:

We could see how the IC reacted initially to Bryce's arrival.

We could see their decision-making process in terms of what to do with Bryce

We could see if they made use of the research that was being conducted on other worlds

Bryce goes straight from landing in Velaris at the end of hosab, to being in the Hewn City at the beginning of hofas. We could learn how they came to that decision to take her there. That's not super important, but possible with Az pov.

We could also get a moment away from Bryce where Az is thinking about his own emotional reactions to everything happening with Truthteller, perhaps getting better insight into why he is reacting the way he is when it is near Gwydion, and how he feels upon learning the information about the Asteri making the Illyrians, and the info about Ramiel, about Enalius. We learned a LOT that is relevant to Az, and have almost nothing in terms of his reaction to it.

We could also get a better idea of how this knowledge is changing the IC in real time, as they are grappling with the implications.

This also means that the information we learn via the info dump in hofas could be supplemented with what Rhys already knows, based on Merrill's research. It wouldn't just be a verbatim repetition of Silene's story, but a fuller picture that includes what the IC knows and further implications for Prythian.

We could also get more insight into the argument that occurs as a result of Nesta letting Bryce borrow the mask. It ended up being a huge source of friction, but right now, we have zero knowledge of what was actually said between the IC when they found out.

One of the most important points here is narrative: everything that we learned in hosab/hofas was from Bryce's point of view. The narration didn't have to do that. Instead, the omniscient narrator could have given us insight into Azriel and Nesta's feelings. However, sjm kept that relatively close to the chest. For example:

“What is it?” Nesta asked Bryce, motioning to her back. “How is a bit of writing on your skin … Made?” “I can’t answer the question until you tell me what the fuck Made means.”

SJM does not fill in the gaps for Bryce, for readers who have only read Crescent City. Someone coming from acotar obviously knows the importance of the tattoo being a Made object, but sjm isn't doing anything to help out CC-only readers, here. She is working from Bryce's perspective only, and Bryce has no idea. This is just one example of what Bryce's perspective read like; the entire thing is like this, Bryce trying to piece information together while the omniscient narrator chooses not to fill the reader in on what Bryce doesn't know. This means that, again, we have no idea how the IC and other acotar characters responded to these events, other than how Bryce can observe them responding.

Azriel is quite literally the perfect go-between between the CC and ACOTAR series, as he was both observing Bryce and working with the IC. That means that sjm has given space in the narrative to give us Azriel's pov without it being repetitive. By using Azriel's POV, we are also learning this information anew, filtered through his thoughts and his emotional responses. We get the information we need, but we get it from a Prythian perspective.

It's possible that sjm do an info dump at the beginning of acotar5, of course. Lots of things are possible - they aren't all likely. Perhaps sjm will take an easier route and have Az give a recap, but to whom? And why? Everyone who needs to know will already know, and so I don't see a need for him (or Nesta, or Rhys) to spend time in the book explaining the situation.

Could sjm start post-hofas events, and just assume that acotar readers have gotten on board with Crescent City? She could, but that would be pretty shitty of her to do, considering how many books in we are. The way I have read it, you could read Crescent City without having any knowledge of acotar, and be fine. She tells us what we need to know in hofas. Why not do that in acotar, so it could be treated as a separate entity?

It will be interesting to see what tactic she takes, either way!

#hofas #house of flame and shadow #spoilers #acotar #acotar/cc #sjm crossover #long post tag #azriel #Leslie reads hofas #hofas spoilers #hi stalkers!#especially the ones I've had blocked for years #you're so desperate to know what I think <3 #okay back to reading!

114 notes · View notes

thesistersarcheron · 9 months

Text

Pairing: Gwynriel Rating: T Word Count: ~2k Summary: When Azriel finds himself in a Summer Court hospital, the Night Court sends their only available agent to extract him before his diplomatic visit can turn into an international incident: the wife he didn't know he had.

Read this fic on AO3 here. For @headcanonheadcase - thanks for the prompt!

Adriata’s medical clinic was too breezy to offer any sense of comfort or privacy, and Azriel Shadowsinger was still groggy, still annoyed, and still shaking off the feeling of yet another Summer Court building crumbling while he was trapped inside, when he heard the voice filter through the wide-open windows in his room.

“Where is my husband?!”

His shadows stirred weakly, looking just as dizzy and disoriented as he felt. The nurse at his bedside, who had rolled her eyes when he attempted to glare off her pointless fussing—it was just a routine head wound, nothing life threatening—pushed out a heavy breath through her nostrils.

Azriel cut his eyes toward her again, making sure to infuse the look with all the bothersome-and-noncompliant-patient energy he could muster.

The voice cut in again, musical despite the furious indignation coloring it. “Let me see him!”

The nurse rolled her eyes again and shoved the miniature faelight she had been flashing in his eyes into an oversized pocket.

“Night Court heathens,” she huffed beneath her breath as she turned for the door. “Never get a moment’s peace when they’re—”

The door swung open, and the nurse threw up the hand that had been reaching for the doorknob with a shriek.

The female in the doorway jumped, copper hair streaming and blue fabric seeming to float on the breeze kicked up by her frantic movements, but she was not deterred.

Wide, teal eyes met his. “Azriel darling! There you are! I’ve been looking for you.”

Those words… Familiar, as if he’d heard them somewhere, but he couldn’t place them.

The shadows curled obscenely in response in spite of their master’s confusion. Azriel blinked at them, and then blinked at Gwyn Berdara, and then blinked at the nurse who was clutching her chest.

“What?” he asked stupidly, the lights in the room beginning to sear into his eyeballs as the shadows abandoned him and crawled for the doorway.

“I came as soon as I heard,” Gwyn said. She hustled into the room on graceful legs, but her robes bunched strangely at her shoulders, her hips where they usually flowed over her gentle curves. It wasn’t until she was at his bedside, standing between his knees and pressing a concerned hand to his forehead in a way that made his heart stutter, that he heard the creak of the leather armor she was wearing beneath her priestess’s robes. “Thank the Mother you’re unharmed. I was worried you’d make me a widow before we had a chance to celebrate our first anniversary.”

Azriel reeled. He thought back, and, with crystal clarity, he could remember everything up to the deafening, dust-coated moments following the collapse. Everything, including the teasing jabs Gwyn had taken at him during their last late-night training session for being the only single male amongst his brothers.

He must have been moving fast to have managed to court and marry to her in those few chaotic moments that had escaped his memory. He’d been stuck planning how to ask her to join him for dinner for nearly a year.

“Anniversary?” he said, once again stupidly.

His shadows tittered, and worry too genuine to be fully faked creased Gwyn’s forehead as her brow furrowed.

One of the shadows slipped away from the rest that clung to the hem of her robes, abandoning whatever pleasant distraction it found there, and curled around his ear to share its secrets.

Oh.

He watched Gwyn watch him as his shadow whispered to him, telling stories of Cassian and Nesta and urgent secret missions plotted in palace made of moonstone, and he was impressed.

Finally, he caught on to the expectant gleam in her eye behind the concern of a devoted wife. It was a look that told him he needed to play along—and quick, if the nurse kept staring at them so blatantly while the drama unfolded.

“What anniversary?” He doubled down with ease, raising a single brow at the Valkyrie—because that’s what she was in this moment, he realized, not a priestess or a librarian or a wife, but a Valkyrie intent on completing her mission.

And Az had to give it to Gwyn. She did not falter or blanch or show any sign that she had been caught in a lie.

No, she only squared her shoulders and stiffened her lip and looked him square in the eye as she said, in a steely voice that sent shivers down his spine and into his wings,

“Sweetheart, I’ve been worried sick, and that’s all you have to say? That you’ve forgotten it’s our anniversary?” Gwyn paused, and Azriel’s stomach flipped as the steel disappeared and tears, actual tears, welled up in her eyes instead. She stared at him for a long moment, and then her face crumpled, too. “Oh, Cauldron help us. No, no, you would never. You’ve had the day marked in your calendar for months, now.”

Gwyn swallowed hard, sniffling and tearing her eyes away, as if she couldn’t bear to let him witness her pain. As if she knew that he, as her husband, would hate to see it.

And truth be told, Azriel did. Gwyn wasn’t the best liar—something they would have to work on—but she was laying it on thick enough that his heart panged when she swiped the cuff of her robes over her cheeks to catch her falling tears.

After she spent a moment pretending to collect herself, and after he spent a moment crossing his arms tightly over his chest to keep from reaching out to her, Gwyn said in a quavering voice, “Tell me, who is High Lady of the Night Court?”

“High Lady? There’s no such thing.” Azriel infused as much incredulity as he could into those two words and then bent, peering around Gwyn to the nurse whose eyes were still locked on him, her mouth wide open. “Nurse, are you sure this female wasn’t in the barracks when they fell? She’s clearly suffering from some sort of delusion.”

The nurse opened her mouth, but Gwyn snapped into action with an urgency Azriel appreciated.

“You don’t even recognize me?” Her voice turned shrill, panicked, and she turned away with a choked sound. “Not even from the library?”

She was gathering his belongings from the small table beside his cot and shoving them into his arms before he even had time to make his eyes go wide, feigning a dawning awareness of his connection to the flustered whirlwind in front of him.

“The Night Court is home to the best mind-healers,” Gwyn told the nurse in a voice that would not have been out of place in a war tent. “I must get him home. Now.”

“Why, I—” The nurse sputtered. “This is the best hospital in all the seasonal courts. I’m sure our—”

“No,” Gwyn said, sharp as Truth-Teller’s razor edge. “Our High Lord would not look kindly upon another court’s daemati attempting to breach his shadowsinger’s mind. We must leave.”

Azriel would have winced at the way the nurse began to quake when Gwyn played the Rhys card—still, after all Rhys had done for Summer during the war—if he weren’t discovering just how easily he could become addicted to the unbending will that straightened her spine once she had come to the decision to play it.

And soon enough, Azriel was on his feet, following Gwyn down the hall at a clipped pace, past a small legion of harried nurses and doctors who stopped their work to stare at them with unabashed curiosity. Eventually, with a surreptitious glance backward once they exited into an empty stretch of hallway, she led him into a series of service corridors that she must have memorized before she was sent into the Summer Court to find him.

“Wards went up around the city the moment the barracks came down,” she muttered to him as they entered a dimly-lit stairwell, thick with humid summer air. “Don’t bother trying to winnow. We’ll have to make it through the city and to one of the passageways to Winter before we try.”

“Shouldn’t be difficult,” Azriel assured her, ignoring the pleasant swell of emotion beneath his breast as he watched that brilliant sheet of red hair sway with every step. Pride. That’s all it was—professional pride at seeing one of the novices he’d trained become so adept at strategizing her way out of a tight spot. Maybe a bit of lingering dizziness, too. “Why the cloak and dagger act, wife?”

Gwyn glanced over her shoulder at him with a small, suddenly bashful grin tugging at her lips, and Azriel was forced to stop lying to himself.

“A Summer Court building falls while a Night Court diplomat is inside and you think you’re not the first suspect?” A trilling laugh drew more of his shadows to her. “Everyone else was too easily recognizable, so I had to pretend to be your wife in order to get in to see you. Who knows what Tarquin would have done if the High Lord and Lady showed up instead.“ She laughed again. “Cassian sends his apologies, by the way.”

“Maybe Varian needs to keep an eye on the exercises his recruits are running. A building can only take so many tidal waves thrown at its foundation by Summer Court hotheads before it collapses.”

“A likely story,” Gwyn said, shrugging a nonchalant shoulder as Azriel chuckled. “Exactly what I’d expect a spymaster to say.”

“It’s true.”

“Oh, I’m sure.”

Staircase after staircase, they made quick work of vacating the hospital. Finally, the stairs ended, the ground leveling out beneath them, and sunlight seeped in below the crack of a door.

Gwyn reached for it, ready to push it open, but—

Maybe it was the heat that was making his head swim, or maybe it was the scent of her—ink and leather and river breezes and something sweet that was all Gwyn—filling the tight, warm space at the bottom of the stairs. Either way, Azriel acted on impulse, and his hand hand circled one of her wrists before he knew what he was doing.

Gwyn froze.

“Shadowsinger…” Slowly, she turned, teal eyes turned dark by the low light looking from the gentle grip he kept on her wrist and up to his eyes. A belated sense of shame overcame him at the sight of his scarred hand on her pretty blue robes, and just for a moment, he felt bad about tainting her with his touch… But Gwyn didn’t brush him off. She didn’t use his grip to wrench him forward and snap his elbow in two.

No. Gwyn’s brow lifted, and her gaze was open, inquisitive, when she asked, “What are you doing?”

Azriel stroked his thumb over that soft fabric, imagining what the skin beneath her robes and the leather cuff under his hand must feel like.

Behave, one of the shadows hissed at him.

“I’m showing my gratitude.” The words fell out of his mouth before he could think twice. Gwyn’s lips parted, and Azriel full attention fell on her full lower lip. He licked his own. “To my pretty wife.”

Gwyn swallowed, and Azriel didn’t think the sweet flush on her cheeks was entirely caused by the summer heat.

“And how are you going to do that?” she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

Azriel dropped his hand from her wrist to her long, elegant fingers, twining his own among them. “I’m going to kiss you, if you’ll let me.”

Gods, how long had he wanted to try? How many training sessions had he been knocked on his ass by the mere sight of her throwing his daggers with deadly precision into her targets? How many nights had her musical laughter trickled out of the House’s library where she and Emerie and Nesta lounged and into his head?

A second or an hour passed, and all he could hear was the pounding of two hearts.

A nervous giggle broke through the silence, and Gwyn lifted her head, a delicious smile on her mouth.

Gods, if only she knew half the things he could imagine doing to thank her if she had truly been his wife.

Her hand squeezed his. “Okay.”

“Okay,” Azriel Shadowsinger breathed, and slowly, gently, mindful not to move too quickly in the dark, he bent his head and slanted his lips across hers.

#gwynriel #gwyn #azriel #gwyneth berdara #azriel shadowsinger #acotar #a court of thorns and roses fic #a court of thorns and roses #my fics #move fast keep quiet

136 notes · View notes

helionpegasus · 10 months

Text

ceilings part 5

Azriel x Reader

masterlist

summary: Reader always had vivid dreams due her Seer heritage. But things take a twist in her life when she wake up in a world that is not hers and the loving male that were always in her dreams shows to be very different from what she known him to be.

warning: none. but let me know if you find anything :)

words count: 1979

author's note: we're baaaack! now things will start happening more quickly and i'll try not making it too slowburn haha. i'll also include my personal theories in the story. anyway, hope you like it ❤️��🩹

A whole month had passed.

The dream with little Azriel never happened again, and you didn’t know if this was good or bad. Because it wasn’t the only one to disappear, all the other dreams you used to have did.

All that surrounded your mind was what could that possibly mean. You came to Velaris because of those dreams, so it’s logical that you must need them to go back. So the possibility of not dreaming ever was starting to get the best of you.

The Shadowsinger being so wary of your being was not helpful at all. Once you talked about it with Nesta and she only said that “He’s like this. It’s nothing personal.”, but it feels extremely personal to you.

How he would stop talking about something once you enter the room, or send a bunch of his shadow to follow you through the House of Wind, and even look at you in a weird way during dinner.

Today you woke up to the rain pouring outside, the thunder humming low. When you enter the dining room to have breakfast, you find Nesta there, with a cup of tea in hand and a book in the other.

“No training today?” You ask sitting across from her and already putting a piece of strawberry pie that you found to be your favorite thing in this world.

“Headache. I’ll take the day off, since dealing with Cas and Az the whole day would only make it worse.” She said, taking a little laugh from you. You can’t even imagine what it was like to work with both of them.

“Well, today seems like a good day to relax. I don’t think the rain is gonna pass too soon.” You took the last bite from the pie.

“You’re right.” Nesta sighs. “I’m gonna give myself the privilege I didn’t have for so long: Spend the whole day in bed.”

“You deserve it!”

“Thank you! See you at dinner.” She took the last sip from her tea and exited the room going directly to the main hallway.

Unlike Nesta, you weren’t feeling so useful lately. So you think the best decision was to take your cup of tea to the library and continue your search, which you started last week but ended up in nowhere.

The floor you use to study wasn't much visited, you assumed the first time you went there. Even after having your presence for a whole week handling books and discovering shelves, all of them still have a layer of dust. And maybe the people who live here simply didn’t hold a curiosity in learning Prythian history, you thought that it would be a better option than the fact that this floor was so close to the darkness under it.

After hours of hard searching, because you are dealing with history and most of the books were written in the oldest language, your mind gets tired of it. Your tea was no longer hot and your eyes hurt from reading.

When your mind starts questioning if it was lunch time already you felt the presence. His presence. You could ignore how much it makes you uncomfortable, like you have been doing for all this time. But, today you were tired of it.

“You know I can feel when you are spying on me, right?” You say closing a book. Your back is still fronting him. “I’m just saying that, in case you didn't know, I think it would be good the information that I knew you were there all those times.” Then you finally turn to face him.

Azriel tried to not show the shock in his eyes, since this was the first time something like this was ever happening. He decides to stay silent, trying to form a sentence that wouldn’t make him sound like a stubborn child.

“Look, I don’t know what you have against me. But I already said a bunch of times that I’m willing to answer any question you have and I also said that Rhysand or Feyre can look in my mind if they want to.” You said looking into his eyes, hoping that he could see the truth in them.

You never stop being surprised with how his eyes could be so different looking at the same person. You.

“I don’t trust you.” He simply said.

Those words cut deep that you wanted to. With his low voice echoing in your head.

“Well…” You start, still gathering the right words to say and not betray how hurt you felt. “If I could help to change that, you certainly know where to find me.” You gave him a small smile that did not reach your eyes, and left the library not in the mood to continue your research anymore.

Azriel went straight to the River House after the quick conversation. Calling Rhys through his mind to an emergency meeting.

“You should look through her mind.” Azriel said when they entered the High Lord’s office.

“We already had this conversation a million times, Az.” Rhys says massaging his nose bridge. “She never was suspicious and never made any harm to any of us or the court.”

“Yet.”

“For Mother’s sake, Azriel.” Rhys rolls his eyes.

“I’m just saying that I think we should treat her like any stranger that enters the court out of nowhere.” Azriel said firmly with his opinion. “We gave her a roof the first day she came here. We don’t know anything about her, and I think this decision can put us in danger.”

“I wouldn’t make a decision to put any life in this court in danger, Azriel.” Rhysand's look was not friendly anymore. “And I don’t know what is happening with you lately. This is not the first time I say that you are having weird behavior.”

The Shadowsinger still remembers every word they shared in this same office in the first week you spent here.

“I’m just worried.” Az's voice was calmer this time. “I have noticed some things about her that I found strange.”

“And what would it be?”

“She can sense me around while I’m still hiding in the shadows.”

“She always had a weird connection with your shadows, we’re all working with that and she included.”

“Right. But I noticed that during her first nights, she disappeared.”

“What do you mean?”

“When she went to sleep, she just disappeared for a few hours and then came back still sleeping. She did this for two or three nights and never did it again.”

Rhys was processing the information Azriel just said, his mind working on how she was capable of doing that on the House of Wind, a place that you could not winnow in or out.

“I can ask if she gives me the permission to look into her mind.” The High Lord says. “But if she doesn't, I will not force her to do so.”

Azriel let out a sigh of relief, only nodding at his friend before leaving the office.

You weren’t expecting a reunion today. So when Nesta knocked on your door saying that everyone would meet in the living room, you needed to take time to fix yourself.

Everyone was already there when you arrived, and Feyre invited you to sit by her side.

“You must be wondering why we decided to do this unplanned meeting.” Rhysand says and you only nodded in confirmation. “We all want to help you to find answers and we need answers as well…”

“You want to look into my mind.” You finish his sentence.

You couldn’t keep your eyes from looking at Azriel for half a second. Remembering the convo early this morning.

“I’m only doing this with your permission and firstly, if you are comfortable with it.”

“You can look at it.” You look into his eyes, transmitting all the confidence you could gather.

Rhys took the spot in the chair in front of you. The first thing he did once he entered your mind was make himself present. He could be sneaky if he wanted to, you knew that from other experiences with Ruhn even if he only entered to communicate.

“I’ll show you everything and some things may need an answer. But I would prefer to answer all questions you may have privately.”

“You have my word.”

And you showed him everything.

The first of your dreams, the work you have been doing with your friends in Crescent City, your life with them and the University. Till what happened the day you came to their world, the fight with the strange creature and your last dream.

“The creature that attacked you was a kelpie.” Rhys said once he left your mind with all the information he needed.

The atmosphere of the room that was thick with expectation suddenly turns into shock and worry.

“A kelpie? In my world they look very different.” You say mostly to yourself.

“What do they look like?” Nesta asks to you.

“They are species that belong to the House of Many Waters. They are shapeshifters that appear mostly as a black horse and sometimes in a human form.”

“If those things were supposed to look like humans they are in the wrong shape.” Nesta says remembering her own fight with the creatures. That got a fit of laughter from everyone in the room.

“Thank you for showing me, (Y/N). Now that we have more details, maybe we can help you more.” Rhys said, offering you a soft smile.

“Since everyone is here, we should all take dinner together.” Cassian says and we all agreed.

“I will take Nyx and be back.” Feyre says going to the balcony with wings already appearing in her back.

“We can talk now if you want to.” The High Lord offers and you give him a nod.

He leads you to the private library of the house. Much smaller than the one the priestesses work, but as beautiful.

You both sit on a couch near a window. You loved every view of this place, because Velaris was beautiful in every angle and every weather.

“I put a sound barrier and a shadow barrier, so we can talk freely.”

“What do you want to know?” You ask the male in front of you.

“You only dream with Azriel specifically, do you have any idea why?”

“No. I’ve been waiting for this answer and a bunch of other ones for a long time too, but the only one answer was learning his name when I arrived.”

“I’ve dreamed with Feyre before we met each other too…” He says with an expecting look that makes your cheeks warm.

“You think we are mates?” Rhys only smiles. “Well I bet that your dreams with Feyre were not like those, and I am certain that she wasn’t from another world.”

“Well, you’re right. But that can still be a possibility.” He took an invisible dust from his pants. “Warn me if those dreams return, we see what we can do to help.”

“I’ll let you know.”

“Also, Azriel commented to me that you disappear while sleeping. Do you have any explanation for that? Because people weren’t supposed to be able to winnow from here.”

You gave him a questioning look. A million questions going through your mind.

“Disappear? I don’t have the power to winnow.”

“He said that it happened on your initial nights.” Rhys was also confused. “You don’t remember exiting in the middle of the night?”

“No. Those nights I only dreamed.”

Then Rhysand started to connect all the points. He also didn’t see you in any other place besides your dreams, so you disappearing did not make sense. And he would know if you manipulated any of the memories.

The fact was that there were only dreams. Vivid dreams.

“I think that your dreams are where you disappeared to.”

taglist (overlined users i couldn't tag): @humanpersonlasttimeichecked @valeridarkness @his-sweet-nightmare @leeknows-wife @mich0731 @kristalhi @marina568 @brekkershadowsinger @cafe-inaaa @lovierhys @kenmaisacinnamonroll @alt-ghost @marigold-morelli @thelightnddarkness @amysangel @thecraziestcrayon @fall-myriad @a-court-of-milkandhoney @hungryforbatboys @elizarikaallen @allison-rosewood-maximoff @gamarancianne @weirdo-fun @tsumsamu @myheartfollower @acourtofmarvels @sunshine-and-midnight-rain @act1839 @reareaikea

if you asked for being tagged but it didn't happened, please gentle remind me :)

#acotar #azriel acotar #azriel imagine #azriel x reader #azriel x you #acotar x reader #azriel shadowsinger #acotar imagine #acotar fics #azriel

157 notes · View notes

stargirlie25 · 2 months

Text

after months I finally went back to Acotar tiktok and it was just as bad.

Elain haters are getting tiring

Lucien haters didn't even read the series

people say nesta ships elriel 💀

Rhys VS nesta is everywhere

Gwyn,emerie VS feyre,elain is the stupidest thing ever

E/riels are always commenting on pro elucien and gwynriel posts even though nothing is anti elrie about it.

E/riels are suddenly now uplifiting Emerie to make us Gwyn stans and Gwynriel stans feel bad even though we know they don't gaf about emerie.

The older siblings of acotar Fandom are saying how they could never be like Nesta

The Gwyn hate is disgusting per usual

Im glad to see there are more gwynriels and eluciens or maybe that's just my fyp.

I love the trend where u call e/riel opposites attracts and Gwynriel, like calls to like

But those videos aren't even anti elriel. It usually says "or" so u pick ur vibe.

Elriels are saying elriel is both and they don't get how gwynriel is like calls to like proving they are a bunch of clowns

The same exact 3 elriel creators are annoying the he'll out of me.

The elriel who thinks she can be Elain makes me want to kill myself.

E/riels being unoriginal with the r@pe threats

Generally the most toxic Fandom to exist.

Dw I love my gwnriel/eluciens

Edit: now the Fandom is calling the love of Sarah's life ,father to her son an abuser.

Bc Sarah had a c section? Many of my family has had emergency c-sections (including my mom)and their husband's are such supportive people. I get hating characters but why are we attacking their relationship based on feysand? Many people love feysand and view them as one of the best couple. Your opinion is not a universal opinion and calling your abusive josh take a theory is fucked up.

This is generally the worst Fandom ever I'm so sorry.

#acotar fandom #ACOTAR #fandom fuckery #Worst Fandom to exist

40 notes · View notes

impossiblescissorspeachpaper · 1 year

Text

All’s Fair in Love & War

A little early Christmas gift to all of the wonderful humans I’ve met from the ACOTAR fandom this year. I’m truly so grateful for every single one of you & love that I can call so many of you friends. It’s often not a hospitable place to be a part of & Elriels in particular cop a lot of bullshit from some nasty corners of the fandom, but as a little token of my love, please enjoy some family shenanigans. It’s ridiculous and fluffy and I hope it puts a smile on some faces this silly season ☃️🍭

3 brothers x 3 sisters. Fluff. 2.4k words

Cassian sat a few seats away from Elain, a scowl on his face at having been banished from the centre of the dining table his family were all gathered around. He’d knocked the gentle Seer with his wing for the final time when she had snapped and exiled him to the far end of the dining room. His family were seated around the table, all manner of icing, piping bags, candies, marshmallows, spatulas, chocolates and fondant spread across its dark surface as their annual gingerbread house decorating competition was underway.

They paired up in teams for the competition, each duo vying for the coveted first place and subsequent bragging rights for the entirety of the following twelve months. They’d decided in their first year of running the competition that it would be more of a challenge to break up the couples, so they had paired off by the males’ drawing names from a hat.

Cassian had drawn Elain, chuffed that he had picked arguably the most talented baker of the bunch. Azriel had drawn Feyre’s name— still a fair opponent— her artistic abilities giving them a slight edge with icing patterns. Rhys had in turn been paired up with Nesta, and although he loved his mate above all else, he couldn’t help but stifle a chuckle at the sour turn both their faces took when they realized they would be team mates.

When Feyre and Azriel had won that first year, pandemonium had broken out. With Azriel’s intense competitiveness and Feyre’s abilities with a fine paint brush, along with all the little details she was able to include in their design, they had been the clear winners as announced by lengthy deliberations from Mor once she had returned from her visit at the Winter Court. Incensed by the decision, Rhys had cried favouritism on Mor’s part, so she had been judging the houses anonymously ever since.

Year after year, Feyre and Azriel found a way to win. If it wasn’t her fondant snowmen sculptures winning the judge over, or the intricately scalloped roof she had painstakingly iced last year, her sheer talent with a paintbrush always gave them the edge they needed to win. Azriel also had the steady hands of a seasoned healer, his nimble fingers expertly building increasingly elaborate gingerbread houses, using exact amounts of icing to glue all the walls and levels together as Feyre decorated.

Rhys and Nesta usually ended up squabbling so much they often wouldn’t get much done. Nesta, Cauldron bless her, would try for the first forty-five minutes and then get frustrated with the delicate busywork, settling on eating the chocolate covered hazelnut wafers as she barked orders at Rhys instead. To her credit, she usually spent hours in the library beneath the House of Wind in the lead up to Solstice researching books on baking and decorating and would use that knowledge to direct Rhys from the sidelines. Inevitably he’d grow cranky with her orders and shout—

“If you actually helped, Nesta, we would get more done!”

Cassian hid a grin behind a fist. Right on cue. He loved when they started to crumble. And then there were two…

Cassian glanced over to Elain where she was meticulously piping icing stalactites onto the latticed roof of their three-story gingerbread house. Usually, she allowed him to help with the decorating process, but this year after he had helped assemble the three-storey structure, she had banished him aside, claiming she was sick of losing and his fingers were just too big. Whatever the Hel that meant. He didn’t think his decorating skills were that bad. He had at least been able to stick the chocolate buttons or peppermint candies on mostly straight in the past.

This year, instead, she had plonked him down on the corner of the large dining table in Rhys and Feyre’s River manor and set him up with all manner of coloured fondants, instructing him to fashion little pine trees and snowmen they could decorate the outside of their house with. Fine. He could do that. He had even made little Illyrian wings for some of his snowmen, standing them besides little piles of snowballs. He wanted to win this year, but more so, he wanted Elain to have this win too. He knew how competitive Azriel could get, and he surely would be merciless in his gloating, even with her, when it came to matters of winning.

Glancing up from his busywork, he spied Azriel quietly watching Elain, his hazel eyes narrowed in wariness, sizing up her handiwork and no doubt deeming their entry worthy competition this year. She had already completed the sides of the house, having used a paint brush and yellow and orange paints to decorate the windows she had piped icing around, giving the house the illusion of faelights glowing invitingly within. She had since moved onto the roof, Elain’s face set in an expression of unwavering determination, her tongue peeking out the side of her mouth as her hands steadily pipped on the white icing in long strokes.

Azriel’s face gave absolutely nothing away as he unleashed one lonesome shadow to twirl lazily around Elain’s arm, its shadowy form caressing the smooth skin of her hand before darting up to her neck, dancing along the column of her throat. Elain paid it no mind, but he didn’t miss the small catch of her breath as that sneaky shadow laved along her neck, Azriel’s eyes now glazing over with heat he reserved solely for his wife. The dirty cheat. The rule was no powers to assist in decorating. Cassian supposed this was him doing the exact opposite.

Having watched enough underhanded displays of exploitation from his brother in his efforts to secure first place, Cassian unleashed the protective shield of his siphons, a dull crimson barrier arcing around Elain and their gingerbread house, causing the lone shadow to skitter back to its master.

Azriel’s attention snapped to him, a sly gleam flashing across his eyes as he realised what his brother had witnessed him do. Cassian just cut him a crooked smirk back, making a point to bolster his shield to protect them from more meddling shadows.

Sensing a slight tug down his bond, his gaze flitted to Nesta, her glassy eyes turning solid once more before she gave an almost imperceptible nod, Rhys smirking at her side. The rat bastard. He had no doubt Rhys had just given Nesta instructions, their secrecy reeking of espionage, his mate and brother no doubt having just devised a plan to unravel Elain and himself.

His wings bristled, and snapping them tightly into his body once more, he watched as Nesta stood up from her seat and leaned across the table, reaching for the red icing in front of Feyre. Her grey sweater draped low at the neckline, giving him a clear shot straight down her top, her luscious breasts tantalizing him from across the room…thoughts of her salacious dips and devastating curves swirled around his mind, the way she felt in his hands, pinned beneath him…

“Cass!” Elain hissed, knocking him out of his sex drunk stupor, his shield having slipped whilst distracted. His bastard brother knew his weaknesses, and Nesta clearly was not above playing into them either. He mentally shook himself, strengthening his shield once more before scowling at Rhys who was chuckling from his seat. His mirth didn’t last long however, as the very next moment a bubble of ice-cold water burst as it collided with the side of his face, Nesta squawking indignantly beside him, having received the same punishment.

Once his shock subsided, Rhys bellowed a laugh, shaking his head like a dog and spraying droplets of water everywhere. Azriel, eyeing him disgustedly, threw up his own cobalt shield to protect their gingerbread house from getting wet.

His High Lady’s face was the picture of faux innocence, but he knew her brand of magic. That drop of Summer Court magic like a shimmering stone nestled amongst the endless river running in her veins.

Well, well, well. It seemed like the gloves were off now, the stakes now sky high as their efforts at coming out on top grew more belligerent. No one was playing fair.

Elain didn’t let a single emotion show on her face— no doubt having taken pointers from Azriel himself— but with whatever affinity she had over her beloved plants, Cassian had spied a solitary vine of ivy curling its way across the parquet floor toward Feyre.

Elain, having projected those mysterious powers of hers to manipulate the potted ivy sitting innocently on the windowsill, had no doubt guided the plant to wrap up Feyre’s legs, because her younger sister had just leapt from her seat as if it had caught fire. A shout escaped from Feyre as that mischievous vine scuttled away, recoiling back into its decorative pot.

“Elain!” Feyre cried out indignantly, “You know that creeps me out!”

Elain just chuckled, her doe eyes flashing to her sister before settling resolutely back at the task at hand.

“Your partner started it,” she responded somewhat demurely, hands still steadily pipping her roof.

“He’s your brazen husband! Was anyone expecting anything less?”

“Not at all, Feyre darling. We all know Azriel likes winning at any cost,” Rhys interjected.

“Oh really, oh magnanimous one? Used any daemati powers lately?” the Spymaster deadpanned.

“Oh, come off it Az, it doesn’t take a genius to know Cassian thinks purely with his dick,” Nesta retorted.

Cassian dropped the brown fondant he had been shaping into a log and pointed an indignant finger at his mate. “I resent that!” he spluttered.

In answer, Cassian was only met with five sets of incredulous gazes. Eyebrows hitched high on foreheads or hooked in scepticism turned his way, before his families’ gazes all too casually slid back to their various tasks.

“I’m a General, for Cauldron’s sake. A little respect…” he grumbled, only half resolved to concede to their claims.

Nesta, turning a sly look towards Rhys, indicated to him with a slight tip of her head and narrowing of her eyes. Cassian understood the gesture when the dining room was plunged into darkness, Rhys’ night kissed shadows swallowing the light, their sight with it.

“RHYS! You dirty—,” he heard Feyre shout from across the dining table before blasting away his darkness with her Day Court glow, his eyes squinting against her shining form, snuffing out the midnight blackness.

His High Lord and Ladies’ magic swirled above them all ominously, each trying to smother the others power as the supernatural clouds stormed through the dining room. Azriel took advantage of the distraction and speared his shadows toward Elain’s gingerbread house, Cassian flicking his shield up around them once more just in time. Elain narrowed her eyes in her husband’s direction. Meanwhile her vines had been sent off again, the ivy silently curling toward the shadowsinger, Azriel so far none the wiser to the twisting creepers preparing to strike behind his back.

Distracted by his brothers displays as they duked it out with their lady loves, Cassian had missed Nesta sneaking up behind him on cat-soft feet and launching herself at his back, her torso flung over his shoulder heavily as she tried to tackle him off his chair to the ground. His wings snapped out at the attack, knocking Elain over in the process, causing her bewitched vines to spring forward toward Azriel, wrapping themselves like a boa around his shoulders.

Shouting and profanities echoed around the room as full mayhem broke loose. All six of them were so thoroughly entrenched in the utter chaos, that they hadn’t realised they had company until a distinct clearing of a feminine throat sounded from the archway of the dining room.

Standing at the entrance, Nyx clutching one of her hands as his violet eyes grew wide at his parents, aunts and uncles displays, was Amren. A feline smirk was splashed across her face at having caught them all knee deep in their perfidious treachery.

“If only the rest of Prythian could see how the Night Court leaders all behave when doors are closed, hmm Nyx?” Amren tutted to the five-year-old at her side.

Just like smoke dissipating in the wind, the various displays of magic winked out from around the room. Elain, hair in disarray, peeked out at Amren from behind the chair she had landed besides, her vines slackening around Azriel’s shoulders just as his shadows seemed to retreat in shame. Nesta in turn sheepishly lowered her feet back to the ground from her position draped across Cassian’s shoulders, his arm looped around her hips in an effort to fight her off. Several candies and spatulas clattered toward the dining table again as Feyre and Rhys’s magics dissolved, the items having been swept up in the commotion of their powerful squall.

Amren’s silver eyes slid around the room once more before turning on a heel and stalking back out of the dining room with Nyx in tow, a murmured “Idiots” slipping through up-tilted red lips as they meandered away.

Once Amren and Nyx were out of earshot, Rhys turned to Azriel, a shit eating grin upon his face. “I can’t believe you stooped so low,” he chuckled. “Feeling a little threatened this year, brother?”

Azriel seemed unperturbed by the barb. “You’re the one who suggested to Nesta she use her… assets to distract her mate, Rhysand.”

“A good warrior will use any weapon in her arsenal to ensure victory,” Nesta retorted staunchly, picking dirt from beneath her nails.

“Yeah well, we don’t all have giant boobs, do we,” Elain grumbled darkly.

“Oh, okay High Queen of the Florae. Strangled anyone else lately with your army of enchanted shrubbery?”

Elain had narrowed her eyes at her sister’s name-calling but had the good sense to look marginally remorseful at the near strangulation of her husband.

“I didn’t mean to,” Elain protested, looking over at Azriel, alarm evident in her bright eyes, “Cassian, the great buffoon, knocked me off my chair and ruined my concentration!”

He splayed his arms out wide at Elain’s jab. “I was trying to protect you! And besides, I can’t help the giant wingspan, Ellie.”

Cassian shot her a wink and a crooked smile. Elain just scowled in response.

“I think Cassian is just pissy at not being allowed to decorate this year,” Rhys interjected with a conspiratorial smirk on his face.

Azriel exhaled a short breath through his nostrils, crossing his arms across his broad chest. “Agreed.”

Cassian cut a contemptuous glare towards both his brothers. “Losing becomes neither of you. Illyrian babies indeed.”

Feyre squawked a laugh at their expense, Rhys narrowing his gaze, his violet eyes ablaze.

“All is fair in love and war, General,” Azriel crooned conspiratorially, before his shadows shot out once more, spearing in five different directions, causing a menagerie of defensive magic to erupt across the dining hall once more.

Every man for himself, then.

*******

A/N: Not my usual tag list, but instead just some of the people in this fandom that i have loved getting to know, and a few that have made me smile and persevere in this weird place. No pressure to read the fic, but just know that your positivity and existence in the fandom has put a smile on my face🥰: @offtorivendell @tswaney17 @fawnandshadows @nikethestatue @ultadverb @dottielovegood @123moiaussi @lesolehabitantdelalune @alwayssara @merymoonbeam @cassianfanclub @thefangirlofhp @casuallivi @wingedblooms @silverdreamscapes @batboyazriel @thesistersarcheron @the-laughing-bubble @swankii-art-teacher @reverie-tales @mrspettyferr @leiaamidala @pagemasters @shedoessoshedoes @nightcourtseer @sakurakittypeach @duskcowboy @nitecourtnik @karomdr-blog @gentlehearted-kingslayer & countless others here and on other platforms ♥️

Also, a special thank you to OTR. When I posed the question of theories around physical powers Elain may have, I’m not sure you thought I would take your plant power crack theory where I did, but thank you for for sharing 😊🌱

#acotar fanfiction #t writes #feysand #nessian #elriel #acotar #happy solstice #the archeron sisters #the bat boys #fanfic #acotar fluff #my writing

161 notes · View notes

ae-neon · 8 months

Text

The House of Mirrors

Chapter 10

The Rainbow Gala was divided into two, the first portion consisted of opening speeches, initial presentations – including the debut of student artwork selected specifically for the night – and a serving of appetizers.

During the intermission preceding the second half, which consisted mostly of bootlicking and ass-kissing the city’s benevolent benefactors; Nesta followed along as Feyre descended to the second floor to survey the pieces that would be auctioned off before the main course was served.

All around them people chattered, champagne glasses in hand, either too used to fine art to care, or too obviously intent on proving they could identify the style, artist and intent of every piece they came across.

Nesta paused as Feyre did, in a quieter corner, before a glass display table. The artwork inside too precious to be exposed to the elements but still not protected from the reach of affluence.

“Did you know? Before the war, Ressina had woven about two dozen tapestries - about only half of which survived - but after the war, after losing her husband, she only ever wove one. The chemicals used to create it eventually blinded her but she insisted she didn't regret it.” Feyre paused before a tapestry woven with thread so dark, Nesta felt like she could reach into it.

It’s plaque read: Void.

The corner of Feyre's mouth lifted in a cynical smile, "Is it bad I can't imagine loving someone that much? Like, does that mean I'll never make anything this impactful?"

Nesta lifted her grey eyes to the cloth. Black. A consumption. An inescapable pull. The colour of death. And after tonight, no longer something that marked her.

She wasn’t what made her speak but she couldn't seem to hold back any longer, “You don't have to. You don't have to live or die for anyone. And…you don't have to get married.”

Feyre turned to her, tall and beautiful, dressed in a suit painted with her own design, blue eyes searching, “...what?”

“You have a future, Fey, and so much talent. You don't have to go through with any of this.” it felt like the words were clogging her throat, "You should leave, spend a year in some commune on the Continent, travel, paint, whatever you it is you want."

Feyre stepped closer, already a little taller despite Nesta’s impressive height, blue eyes meeting grey, “You know how much this means to Mom.”

How much had she already done for her mother’s sake? How much more would it take? Only to be undone by a surprise visit and a fucking scarf. Nesta wanted to scream but she was frozen, trapped in a shell built to withstand. Her fingers twitched. But her silence only seemed to agitate her sister.

“You were the one who convinced me to try.” Feyre’s brows bunched and the muscle in her jaw flexed, “And Papa? What about his business? You know he’s been killing himself to keep it running when it was supposed to-”

They both flinched at the attention they drew but Feyre only lowered her voice, slipped into Scythian, “Is that why you left? Dropped out of school and ran off? You abandoned Papa even when he left his dreams to you. And El? You broke her heart.”

"So it wasn't enough to live for Mama? I have to live for everyone else too? I did my best with the business but it was never my dream." A dull ache began at Nesta's temples, "Don't make the same mistakes as me…even if you stay, don't live your life for them, they'll never know what you've been through."

Feyre sighed, a flicker of regret passing her face, “Look, I knew how bad you had it with Mama. But it wasn’t easy for us either. We were terrified for you. And after...I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t know what to think. That you hadn’t done it and you’d be next...or that you had, and you were gonna be locked up.

So when all this started, when you came back, I thought that meant this was important. So I broke up with Isaac - and yea, maybe I wasn't the friendliest but now, when I finally feel like I’m getting somewhere? Now you’re telling me to abandon everything?”

“You’re right. It isn’t fair of me to say this when I was the one who-” Nesta exhaled, remembering that night after the first dinner, the way Feyre had cried in her arms, “But it was a mistake, I just wanted Mama off my back, I didn’t realise...”

“Is that what this is about? He goes over your head, ruins your chance at getting back into Mom’s good books, and that’s it? I need to throw it all away?"

“You don’t owe her anything-”

“If this is about Mom – you should know how she is. It's not easy for her to talk about these things but it’s not like she wasn’t worried about you. We were all worried about you… Why didn’t you just come home?”

Because I deserved it. Deserved everything that had happened and worse. The words came from some deep well within but couldn't make it past the lump in her throat.

Again agitated by her silence, Feyre swore under her breath and reached for Nesta’s hand, squeezing it in a familiar gesture the two had passed back and forth all their lives,

“I get it. You’re worried, it’s probably terrifying, thinking something might happen to me, but I’m not a kid anymore. I can take care of myself. Mom too. So if you can’t...if you need to take a break... that’s okay.

But that day he came over? When I finally got to speak to Rhys without everyone watching and waiting, like we were animals in a zoo…it was the first time I felt like any of this was actually about me and not just about what everyone else wanted.”

Nesta felt more than saw Feyre brush past her. Frustration, guilt and fear welled in her, burning her throat and stinging her eyes.

Because I deserved it.

The words rang in her head, reverberated off her bones, made the floor tilt.

Tonight, she closed the chapter on Tomas, a chapter than had begun almost a decade ago when she had stolen Clare’s future. But the end of one thing meant the beginning of another, and this time it was something she had no control over.

She turned and headed for the door.

They had been distant throughout the event. Though, Rhys thought, distant implied they had been close prior. He remembered her in her blue dress, sunglasses perched on her head, rolling her eyes but not fighting the smile that tugged at her lips. Brunch and cheesecake.

Tonight, Nesta had opted to sit furthest from him at the half circle table they'd been assigned and faced the stage instead of monitoring his conversations with Feyre.

He didn’t assume it was because of him and the loss of what alliance they might have had - for the little time he had known her, she'd always been half in and out of some haze of memories - but it was difficult to ignore, either way.

At some point she’d even paused to stare at a statue of a pregnant Bharati goddess for almost 10 minutes. Until a mousy man in a tweed suit had come up and offered his condolences, a cushioning before he remarked that he had first heard of her from a professor at the Calla Velaria School of Law and that it was a shame she had not continued her studies.

She’d smiled, too sharp, then asked the man if he were enquiring about the legality of paying his mistress to abort their child, and that if he were, he should look elsewhere as - as he had pointed out - she had not finished her degree and was not licensed to advise him, or required to keep his confidentiality.

At that glimpse of the predator, he’d almost let himself hope she might still become an ally. Had almost regretted his urgency in bringing Feyre into the sphere of his influence.

But then Nesta had wandered off with Feyre, who had returned to the table alone and said nothing as she slid into the chair next to him, still a little stiff but far less standoffish since his visit.

Eventually, the guests were herded to their places as the second half of the night began. And Mor, as quick to seize an opportunity as he was, took Nesta's seat to chat with Elain, leaving the seat next to Rhys open.

But Nesta never returned.

Elain, frowning with worry, relaxed a little after her phone buzzed and she answered, ducked down and quiet to avoid attention. She leaned over and had a small exchange with Feyre, her whispered Scythian too quick for Rhys to pick up even as he eavesdropped.

"Has something happened?" Mor asked.

"I think she might have been sick," Elain frowned again, almost childish in her expressions, though it was surprisingly endearing, "Or bumped into someone she knows, it seemed like there was someone with her but I'm not sure, she was…"

"Will you be needing a ride home?" Rhys asked, somehow certain Nesta had been the one to drive them there.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, I can have Greysen pick us-"

"Nonsense, it's still so early." Mor interjected, "You should come over. I've been dying to meet you but they've been so stiff with all this tradition stuff. We have wine, I can ask Cassian to cook and we can pick up something sweet from Rita's - it's Thursday so they'll have some fresh cake and fruit pie."

He played his part, as Mor played hers, "Mor…"

But it was Feyre, not Elain - the victim of the web they had been spinning - that spoke. "Sure, it's not like we won't be seeing each other more often, and you're right, all this tradition stuff is so stiff."

She turned slightly, her blue eyes meeting his, "If it's not a bother…"

Rhys met her gaze with a blooming interest and an edge of self satisfaction, "Of course not… if that's okay with your sister."

Elain blinked in surprise, blush creeping onto her face, seeming torn for a moment until Feyre reached out to squeeze her hand, "I still think I should go home and at least change into something a little more comfortable first."

"No? That dress is stunning. But, if it's really bothering you, I'm sure you'd fit into something of mine and oh, my god, I have this cute little dress, I never wear it, but it would look perfect on you." Mor took Elain's other hand as Rhys relaxed in his chair, draping his arm over the back of Feyre’s.

#the house of mirrors #nesta archeron #rhysta #my writing #acotar fic

35 notes · View notes

smuttydreambarbie · 1 year

Text

By Carynth's Light

Chapter 1: Painting Lessons

A/N: 18+ Nesta x Cassian smut with PLOT???

!! DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT A Court of Silver Flames SPOILERS !!

One like and reblog = one kiss on the lips 🕺

Takes place 5 years after ACOSF on Little N's birthday :)

My idea was to show what I imagine is a bright future after Silver Flames for the inner family, and what that looks like for everyone from Nesta's POV. Blissful normalcy, family bonding, love, discussions of children, and moderate amounts of spice after a long day 😈 Let me know in asks, tags, or reblogs what you'd like to see next. AO3 and Fanfiction accounts currently under construction :)

15ish minute read. A little bit for everyone.

Thanks for supporting writers and reading!!

Chapter 1: Painting Lessons

Nesta swore quietly as she knocked her pallet of paint over, splattering the contents all over the white sheet covering the floor. She was inside her sister's art studio in Velaris, taking painting lessons from Feyre alongside 2 large rows of children. As the small crash sounded, her sister glanced over her painting and squinted in suspicion, jokingly, before giggling and going back to her work on what was sure to be another gorgeous piece of priceless artwork.

Nesta had been a Valkyrie on the battlefield, a queen on the dance floor.... but with a canvas and paint? A fool, compared to even the children around her it seemed. Feyre's dream of teaching art and bringing her passion to the few families of the Night Court had been such a comfortable transition after getting used to motherhood in the last few years. As strong as she'd known their High Lady to be, this beautiful display of passion was what made her an obvious choice for leader. Seeing her in her element was inspiring, and she hoped to reach that level of bliss someday.

It was Nyx's fifth birthday today and Nesta could hardly behold the sight of the beautiful boy who was growing up before her. His glowing blue eyes held that sparkle of wonder and power as Feyre and Rhysand's do, which shined below his wild black waves that went past his ears. She didn’t know many children, but he was her favorite.

He was a quiet, intelligent, and funny child when he was around his mother and aunts, but around his father and uncles that little boy became a whirlwind of speed and energy. Every year he grew older, Nesta grew closer to admitting that maybe she wanted her own sticky little face to admire, someday sitting next to Feyre's boy. At five, he had begun speaking tales of pirates and mighty beasts, no doubt the inspiration for our painting prompt today.

"Don't forget, my loves. While drawing your beasts be sure to include the ground and sky behind them," Feyre announced from her place in the center of the room facing us, partially hidden behind her large canvas. She then stepped out and paced behind us, donning a paint covered set of what seemed to be men's clothes; a paint brush poking from behind her paint-splattered ear. Rhysand's tunic and trousers, Nesta realized.

Feyre was an image of comfort and pure, unintentional beauty. She gazed lovingly at our art as she spoke, "Does your beast have hair, feathers, wings, a tail, or something else magnificent? Does it exist to conquer battles or rescue lost souls? To paint or create music?" She had given us the task of creating a beast, whether real or imaginary, that brought us joy. An easy task for a bunch of children... And Nesta. Nesta had painted a mighty purple beast, made of circles and triangles with her amateur, but naturally artistic skill. Feyre nodded in approval as she passed.

Finding happiness and a family was not something Nesta saw in the cards for herself at most points in her life, but as Nyx and Cassian both glanced up at her from their places in the row at the same time, she breathed out a breath of disbelief at this life she had made for herself. Her family was by her side to celebrate another day conquered.

Another year triumphant.

Next to Nesta sat Cassian, Rhysand, and then her nephew. All 3 boys, with hair black as onyx, perched on the same size kids chair, all busily painting, everything from their exposed wings to their toes already covered in a rainbow of paint from a previous paint fight. Colorful little gargoyles, she laughed to herself. Nesta, thankfully, had swapped her seat with the only other big chair, besides the one her sister now sat upon, as they had arrived.

"My mighty Pegasus shall defeat you, traitor!" Nyx shouted suddenly to his father, wielding a paint brush as a mighty great sword. He brandished the weapon at Rhys. An orange-ish oval with several sticks and circles protruding from the figure laid upon his canvas. On the top of the oval, there are two more longer ovals. Wings, Nesta realized.

"A mighty Pegasus indeed, my son. But it is no match for my Beast of the Night!" Rhysand countered, laughing and striking the side of the boy's paintbrush with his own. A black blob monster was painted onto his canvas, a blue sky that he had just begun at Feyre's recommendation was scribbled behind the beast. He made a clang, clang, slice sound with his mouth as they erupted into a sword-brush battle, splattering paint in every direction. Feyre peered up from her painting again and looked upon her family with such pride. Cassian beamed.

Nesta and her mate's eyes locked as she donned that disbelieving smile on her face, drinking in the scene.

For Nesta was truly happy. She couldn't quite grasp her mind around the level of peace and preparedness she had felt at that moment. In the comfort she had found around her sister and brother, her friends, and her lover.

It was at that moment, she decided that she wouldn't drink her contraceptive tea the next day.

She decided that she'd let Cassian know after the lesson that her family would be perfect no matter what, but she wasn't afraid or unsure anymore about the idea of it changing. As she looked upon the small boy's face, she grinned a large smile again. Out of character at one point in her life, now an easy and welcomed movement.

A few hours later, Nesta and Cassian finally made it home to The House of Wind. As they entered from the brisk outdoors, they removed their jackets and set them in the coat rack inside the hallway.

"You look so beautiful covered in all that paint," Cassian whispered into my ear as he grabbed her waist from behind, locking his arms around her waist. Still walking, gracefully following behind her in a slow saunter, he continued, "but I think it's time for a bath."

Nesta was almost tempted to sprint to get to their bedroom at that idea. He bent down to put his head on her shoulder, and they continued their walk for a moment before Nesta spun in his arms, now walking backwards. She looked into his eyes and placed her hands on the tops of his large arms as if they were dancing and let him lead her through the large home. Seeing him with the people he loves like today brought such a joy to her heart, it almost ached. His sweet smile, his belly laughs, and his callused hands rubbing my knee from beside me where he sat. Always making sure that I know he is still there, unable to stay more than a foot away from each other if helped.

You four are always touching, stop being so in love and gross, Mor had once commented, the memory flooding her mind. As she walked into the family's River House: on one couch, Feyre and Rhysand sat leg to leg with their entire sides touching as they held hands in the middle. Nyx lay sleeping in Rhys's free arm, still only a babe. The mated pair of daemati whispered sweet nothings to each other in silence as usual. The other couch held Nesta and Cassian, sprawled sideways along the long and plush couch. Nesta cuddled in his lap reading a romance novel, her small body fit into her large mate's napping arms like a puzzle. A soft blanket lay over their legs. Soft music filled the room. A picture of absolute relaxation from all parties.

Jealous, Mor? Rhys laughed, pulling Feyre's hand up to his mouth to kiss her fingers gently.

Jealous, disgusted, and absolutely on the way to cry myself to sleep over witnessing this? Yes, she laughed, secretly proud of us all for giving ourselves a moment of happiness together-

"Where'd you go?" Cassian mumbled into my hair, almost making me jump. She had been daydreaming during their walk to... Oh. The kitchen. She had been thinking so deeply she didn't even realize where she stood. His pit stop was undoubtedly for the cookies he now held in his hand. Realizing she was deep in one of her daydreams, he came back to stand in front of her, towering over her small frame. He cupped each side of her jaw in his hands, "Tell me where your mind is adventuring off to, my love," he whispered only inches away from her lips, tickling the tip of her nose with his. He set his forehead upon hers.

"Mor." Nesta said, without explanation. She then realized what she had said by Cassian's snort. He pulled back to laugh a loud cackle at the ceiling. Recapturing her face, he put them eye-to-eye as he smiled so widely it made Nesta's chest hurt.

"Mor?? You could be fucking me, The Great Night Court General, your MATE, right here in this kitchen and you're thinking about Morrigan?" He boomed, laughing even louder than before, still holding her by the shoulder as he composed himself.

Nesta blushed, he knew she had fantasies of others joining their bed, but she had not intended those experiences to be with Mor. Her words came out wrong and he knew it, but of course now he had that thought in his head. She started, "First of all, no. To all of it. At least for now," Nesta winked, "Second, I meant I was thinking of something I realized today and once when I spoke to her," she finally expressed.

"What did you realize?" He asked as he slowly pushed her up against the counter, one hand on her waist and the other slowly making its way up the side of her neck. She hadn’t realized he had cornered her like a rabbit, eyeing his prey with that spark of lust dazzling through those dark eyes.

"That our family can never be large enough and I can never get enough of being around your stupid gorgeous face," she confessed into his lips, only a breath away. "That this place of peace we have found has led me to say to you that... I'm ready. I'm ready for the rest of our life, for our adventures, and I'm ready to plan our own child's birthday party someday."

Cassian's seductive face froze, as if the realization of what she said hit him like a tidal wave. A few unmoving and heart-wrenching moments passed as she watched the understanding and meaning of what she had admitted fill him entirely, and then she swore by the gods that a tear fell from his eye as he spoke with a soft voice, hands going to her shoulders, "Nesta Archeron... are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"Today was my last dose of tea, Cassian. I am."

With that confession, he grappled her entire body into his arms, spun her around, and bounded to our room with great and huge steps, cackling as they went. He showered everywhere he could reach with kisses and smiled at her as if he had just won the greatest prize he had ever been offered. A champion among men, he had decided.

He playfully tossed her onto the plush bed, removing her shoes with silence and laughter between them. Unable to contain their joy, they could only touch and fawn over each other like it was the first time again. They exchanged hot and heavy kisses for a while before Nesta pushed him off, causing him to grunt in frustration.

"Since we can't officially start until tomorrow, why don't you remind me what the Great General of The Night Court does to satisfy his mate? How an Iliryian fucks the one he calls his woman?" She spoke in her deepest, sexiest voice. Such a change from her no-bull attitude and demeanor that everyone else gets.

His cock throbbed at her dirty words, her obvious effort at riling him up working. She pulled him down again from where he peered at her, grabbing him by the hem of his pants, and all he could do was obey. Whatever his mate wanted of him, she could have. His body, his mind, his seed. All of him was hers just as all of her was his. After a few more moments of frantic kisses, his hands grabbed her hips and roughly pulled her against him so that the hard tent of his pants was against her sex. He grumbled a sound of what seemed to be pain and pleasure into her mouth, and then ground into her hips as he gripped the fronts of Nesta's thighs with both hands. Hard. Hard enough that there would definitely be bruises. She smiled up at him and his primal state.

Seriousness covered his face, pure male intent plastered there. They had woken up this morning and had their fill of each other, but after a long day of fantasizing about him and his babies... She needed his more-than-considerable length in her hands, her mouth, and filling her. His wings expanded above them in excitement before they fell, weightless over their bodies onto the bed around them. Nesta glanced up at them with mischief in her eyes and ran her entire hand from his back, along the thin membrane of his wings, down to the bottom that lay beside her. He moaned and shuttered at her touch, never getting used to how bold she was with wingplay.

In an act of what can be described as true love, they both moved at the same time. Her, reaching for his pants to unfasten them, while Cassian was reaching around, skillfully untying the front of her dress. He smirked his quickness before he paused and then suddenly yanked it from her body in such a rush it left her dizzy. When he looked at her almost naked body, a bright red corset looked back at him. The small pieces of fabric pushed her bust upwards in a way he had never seen before and showed off every glorious curve of Nesta's body. She had heard about the lingerie store in town from Feyre but had never been before Gwyn pulled her in earlier this week.

Underneath him, her fingers crawled up and down his chest as she spoke. She could feel the heat enter her cheeks, so she focused on his heavy breathing as she said softly, "I figured you might enjoy these on as much as you would love taking them off... so I picked up a handful on my shopping day with Gwyn," his entranced face moved slightly as one corner of his lips curled into a lustful smirk at that.

"The fact that we have been together for five years and I didn't carry you into that store myself has me beating myself up a little bit," he laughed into her neck, "because, boy was I missing out."

Sick of speaking, their mouths finally found each other's again as they removed all of their clothing, only the soft moans of the two of them filling the room like a great symphony. She reached down and found the length of him, taking his large cock into one of her hands, slowly stroking the top half. Cassian's massive size would never not be shocking to her, the thought of which caused a flash of heat and moisture between her legs. The thought of him throwing her around and slamming his full length into her as she likes was almost debilitating on its own, so she put her other hand onto her warm opening and rubbed as well. Cassian looked down between their bodies and watched as she pleasured the both of them to the same rhythm, before looking into her eyes and shaking his head lightly, straining between a laugh and pleasure sounds.

"You always know how to make me feel good, baby," he spoke, hot breath against her ear. She loved it when he called her pet names, which he claimed was a trophy due to her previous distaste of them. "Good girl," he said softly as he placed his hand over hers, still rubbing up and down on her clit together. After a minute, their fingers were partially intertwined together as he suddenly removed them from their current home between her legs and pushed her hand quickly and roughly above her head with a smile.

"Oh god, Cassian. I want you inside of me. Right. Now." She stated, unashamed of how much his closeness turned her on. He filled her body with a craving she could not satisfy with even hours of masturbation. In response, he lifted her other hand and captured both beneath his right hand above her, so her arms were straight on the bed. When he had both of her arms pinned, he decided he would repay her for her initial want to please them both. His body sank down as he kissed her eyebrow, the corner of her mouth, her chin, her neck, her collarbones, and then... Her breast. He placed a small kiss right above her nipple before taking the entire nub into his open mouth and suckling before nipping, not giving Nesta an inch of wiggle room under his heavy weight. She squirmed and could do nothing but moan his name and nothings in the form of expletives about what he made her feel.

Obviously feeling the heat of needing a quicker release, he looked down at her eyes, pushed her bent legs aside, grabbed a floating ankle, and growled, "You're mine," as he took his cock into his hand and slammed his entire length into her. She screamed a moan of pleasure and dug her nails into his back and bicep where she had reached and clung, tearing at his skin. He slowly pulled backwards before doing the same slamming motion again, always pulling out in a slow-motion slide. Had he wanted her to find release right then and there? She was so close she had to close her eyes and breathe as he picked up the pace. His hands went over her breasts as he stood up, now fucking her with her legs in the air at the edge of the bed. He grabbed her ankles in each hand and put them, so her feet were on each side of his head, where he then drew a few of her toes into his mouth. Cassian did not have a foot fetish per say, but he needed the feel and taste of Nesta in his mouth as he felt his climax roaring to the front of his mind. She had no complaints.

They had both been so uncontrollably horny the last half of the day that they both knew their first joining of the night was going to be hard and fast. Lovemaking could happen later, because for now? Now was the time for them to fuck like rabbits. Now was the time for Cassian to prove to Nesta that she was his, body and soul, forever. So, they did just that and didn't stop until the sun rose the next morning, coating their bodies with the warm glow of the golden morning sun and the salty sheen of sweat as the new day rose through the window beside them.

To be continued...

80 notes · View notes

deathsconsort · 10 days

Text

this is important to how i write nesta, so if you plan on writing with me you will have to read this unfortunately lmao i tried making it short i really did...

i’m going to piggyback off what pippa was talking about in her au, except i think i’m going to make this canon for my nesta bc i’ve been wanting to write out a thorough post about her being seen differently from other fae and her powers since sarah had a bunch of opportunities lined up and still didn’t give us much so…this was like the perfect excuse to write all that now.

how she emerges from the cauldron, what she looks like, the otherworldliness that ripples off of her is still the same as the book. honestly not much needs to change in that aspect since nesta has always been described as being different even as a human and that she should have been born on the other side of the wall. what i really want to focus on are her powers, what she’s able to do, and how she is death.

nesta does find out she’s a witch, this is going to be post acosf because i believe that’s when she gets more acclimated with her powers and starts accepting them and herself as this being. before she wanted nothing to do with her powers, she could feel how dark they were and how it was affecting her internally so she never wanted to touch it or delve deeply into it. killing briallyn and saving both feyre and nyx ( rhys as well ) gave her the confidence and motivation to look more deeply into what she’s capable of. especially when in the birthing room she was able to sense and see death lurking waiting to take the three. i like to think because of who/what she is and her death powers, she’s the one able to use all three pieces of the death trove at once and live and in turn is able to control death that way. ( i talked about this on my old blog, but idk if i talked about it here ) nesta has a connection to the mother, the voice she hears through acosf, the voice that guides her stays with her post acosf. nesta stole from the cauldron and it has it out for her, but the mother adores nesta and took a liking to her, so in turn the mother protects nesta.

if you read tog then you know about moonfire, this is what i’m going to be referring to nesta's silver flames as. when she unleashes that power it’s not just her eyes that change; her hair turns white as the moon and an aura surrounds her that looks like moonlight. we know her powers are capable of reversing aging because of what she did to briallyn and is able to snuff out a life, turning them nothing to ash. when she is in control of her powers she can reverse someone to a certain age, as well as doing the opposite and aging them. the moonfire can destroy entire worlds and wipe them from existence if nesta wishes it.

nesta can perform necromancy. with the mask, yes, but she is able to do it without the mask as well which is why she is the only one who has been able to wield the mask and live, bc she already has this ability. it’s not only a corpse she can summon, but a soul/spirit. she can communicate with the dead as well as the dead can communicate to and through her. nesta can sense when others are close to death and she is capable of helping them pass, she can guide them to the afterlife, whether that’s the ‘immortal land of milk and honey’ or the underworld. in a sense she can watch over the dead.

nesta is able to do witchcraft using spells, curses, sigils. some of her powers include channeling, divination ( scrying and using the dead specifically ), projection, healing ( thinking about how in acowar feyre notes cassian doesn’t look as bad as before and wondered if nesta unknowingly healed him), possession, and resurrection though it is not without a price. she can perform magic whenever, but it’s the strongest at night. the moon is a big part of her magic and when performing rituals she goes by the moon and what phase it’s in. she can also have familiars and prefers them to be dogs.

just like she has the ability to make ‘made’ objects and embed them with moonfire, she can create a life if she wishes. though they wouldn’t be human and would be more creature-like than anything. because of the harp nesta can control and manipulate time as well as world walk ( aka traveling between realms ).

post acosf i like to think it’s gwyn and emerie that help nesta explore her abilities and see if they library can provide any information that would help her understand them more. nesta wouldn’t trust the inner circle to help her or would even want to seek their help so she would turn to gwyn and emerie. emotions play a large part in every aspect of her power/magic, so nesta trying to get her emotions under control is v important when delving into her abilities. i mean we’ve seen what happens regarding her powers when she’s angry/upset in the books. my nesta did NOT lose any of her powers after saving feyre, rhys, and nyx ( sorry i’m not letting sarah get away with, once again, letting powerful women lose their powers even if it’s a little bit ) so yes nesta is still more powerful than rhys, so this too can be a reason why she’s not open about exploring her powers to him or the ic.

a lot of my inspo when thinking about her powers and how she’s associated with death is hecate. also how valkyries are referred to as angels of death.

#☾ ‘ queen of queens ‘ ( hc )#if this seems jumbled i'm sorry i was working on this since like 2 am #i need to link this in my pin

11 notes · View notes

ursoboring · 2 years

Text

Okay so I’ve had the Gwynriel head canon for a while and I need to share it.

Imagine it’s “Family Dinner” for the IC and gang and they’re down at the River House

I mean everyone is there, including Lucien and Varian

(for the sake of the story and the fact that I’m a huge Elain/Lucien shipper let’s say they are together at this point)

They’re all eating and all of a sudden Feyre turns to Azriel

She then says “Hey Azriel, there is this girl in my art class”

(at this point the rest of the table shuts up real quick)

She then, with the help of Rhys, tells him all about this girl who they think is just perfect for him

But what no one at the table knows is that he’s been seeing Gwyn for almost a year (they swear they didn’t mean to make it a secret, it just kinda happened)

And Azriel has to tell them “she sounds great but I’m actually already seeing someone”

Dead silence

Then the room ERUPTS

(Let’s remember, Azriel only had feelings for Mor for 500 years, then another women who was unavailable. And this friend group also has absolutely no concept of privacy, so this would be big news.)

Cassian and Rhys are trying to be calm but they are effectively losing their minds

Mor is just grinning and hammering him with questions

As is Feyre

He eventually agrees to bring her to Family Dinner™️ the next time they all get together

So the next day he tells Gwyn

She is understandably very nervous, but excited to officially meet everyone

(Of course she already knows Nesta and Cassian, and she’s met Mor a few times. She met the rest of his family very briefly at Nesta and Cassian’s mating ceremony but that’s it.)

She then insists they have to go shopping so she can find something to wear, since all she has is her priestess robes and training leathers, she also has that dress she wore to Nesta’s mating ceremony but she’s meeting her partner’s family, it’s a special occasion

And it’s not like she can go with Nesta or Emerie without raising alarm bells

So Azriel goes with her

And she has to look perfect, she insists she can’t overdress and she certainly can’t underdress, not when she’ll be dining with the High Lord, High Lady, and the Morrigan

So she eventually finds this dress that she thinks is just perfect

She tries it on and shows Azriel and he is blown away

“You look so beautiful Gwyn”

He says a bunch of other cute shit

Needless to say she buys it and heads back to the House of Wind with Azriel

The day of the dinner, Gwyn is surprisingly calm

Azriel on the other hand is freaking out

I mean he is so nervous

He knows he is in love with Gwyn, the way he feels about her doesn’t even come close to how he felt about Mor or Elain

And she’s about to meet his family

When they get to the River House, they’re the last to arrive

They stand outside together for a moment, Gwyn can tell he’s nervous

She comforts him somehow idk

They walk in, hand-in-hand and are greeted by a grinning Rhys and Cassian standing in the entry way (á la Cassian and Azriel meeting Feyre in ACOMAF)

And Cassian busts out laughing

Rhys just stares, eyes wide

Once Cassian recovers, he says “Oh Nesta is gonna be so pissed I found out before she did”

Rhys, ever the gentleman, steps forward and shakes Gwyn’s hand, introducing himself

They chat for a few minutes before heading into the living room, where everyone else is

Nesta is the first to see them

She looks right at Gwyn and says “oh you bitch”

After somewhat awkwardly introducing Gwyn to everyone, they all sit down for dinner

The group grills Gwyn with questions

They chill out after Gwyn says something that has Azriel burst out laughing

Long story short they all end up loving her and are very happy for the couple

And if they notice his shadows are more lively around her, they don’t say anything

I have so many Gwynriel headcanons so let me know if anyone wants more

#acotar #azriel acosf #gwynriel #gwynriel headcanon #elucien #feysand #nessian #azriel x gwyn #gwyn berdara #i have so many headcanons #please let me share them #I’m a sucker for a good shopping montage

244 notes · View notes

bythenineshards · 1 year

Note

What Tamlin retcons are there, exactly?

@worldsnotsaid has excellent and incredibly detailed essays about this topic. I'd advise going to their blog and reading their stuff.

Recently, someone made a post (I don't remember who, but after I get done with this post I'll find it and mention them in a reblog or comment or something. But in it, they mention that any and all of Tamlin's behavior could be classified in the same boat as the behavior of all the Fae Males (cringe) in this series. He's not human and more animalistic. So something like Tamlin losing his temper when Feyre's wellbeing is threatened and threatening violence is pretty on par for the Fae. Cough cough Rhys loses his temper when Feyre's wellbeing (aka the ignorance he placed her under) is threatened by Nesta and he does what? Threatens to fucking kill her. It's all just Maas deciding whatever Tamlin does is bad but if Rhys does the same thing for the same reasons, he's good.

But you asked about recons.

I'll give you one that really grinds my gears. Tamlin's behavior Utm. A lot of people, Feyre included, like to twist what Tamlin did into something that it wasn't. And Maas thinks we're too stupid to notice. In Acotar, when Feyre shows up Utm, Tamlin has no power and is subservient to Amarantha. He is literally the same as everyone else (except Rhys). While Feyre does the trials, Tamlin is emotionless. Right? He gives Amarantha nothing. Thus keeping Amarantha from finding ways to hurt Feyre to get a reaction from Tamlin. He is saving her from torture.

Something like this sorta happens in PotC 3, don't judge me, but it shows what happens when you fail to deceive your opponent. Elisabeth and Barbossa go to Singapore to enlist the help of Sao Feng. While debating the situation, Sao Feng reveals he has Will. Barbossa pretends they don't know him. Sao Feng calls their bluff and goes to kill Will. Elisabeth gasps. This gives Sao Feng the upper hand. One tiny noise and favor falls to Sao Feng.

Tamlin holding this act for three months is actually a super effective action to show the reader that Tamlin cares. He knows this is going to be bad as is. He doesn't want to make it worse for her. In Acomaf, this is twisted as "He did nothing to help me" which is utter bs. The motive was clear in Acotar. No matter how much Maas wants you to believe this new angle she's pulling out of her ass.

The next part of this retcon is the last night before the final trial. Feyre complains in Acomaf that Tamlin did nothing to help her Utm and all he wanted was to fuck her. First off, shut up Feyre. In Acotar, she was down to clown. In fact, it's been a while, but I'm pretty sure she initiated it. He had no power Utm until Feyre solved the riddle. He had no idea what the trial was. And why would he do something as selfish as to leave everyone there to suffer? Why would he start asking a bunch of questions? It would draw attention to Feyre. You know, that person he's trying to protect by pretending not to care? Wouldn't anyone get sus that he's asking about that human he supposedly doesn't care about.

Also, within a book like this, it's pretty common to reiterate to the reader and MC what they are fighting for right before the climax. In Feyre's case, it's freeing the love of her life. So the reminder for Feyre of her goal before the climax is a climax (...sigh... Even I'm not proud of that and I'm an unabashed monster fucker). Having her get one final moment with Tamlin the night before the last trial is a reaffirming of her goal. Was it dumb in that situation? Yes. If this was a was a movie, I'd be sternly saying how stupid they are. Should it be twisted to make Tamlin look bad? No. Realistically speaking, with everything we know about the situation, it's unlikely he had anything to offer her other than to show her how deeply he cares for her. To show that despite pretending not to care, he does love her. I'd also point out that Maas never really has any other...methods of showing love other than sex. Her relationships are as shallow as a kiddie pool in July.

It can also be interpreted that he has faith in her to finish the trials. Which is refreshing and funny, considering if she didn't literally have the answer handed to her in the second trial, she and Lucien would be dead, and the Courts would be trapped forever under Amarantha. Honestly, besides the Wyrm, she's basically handed everything. But I digress.

I hope this was enlightening.

#anti sjm #anti acotar #anti sjmaas #sjm critical #ask holly #thanks anon!#anon asks #answered asks

96 notes · View notes

flowerflamestars · 2 years

Note

Do you like Nessian?

I don’t. He insults her, never stands up for her, forces her to wear clothes that she doesn't want to, locks her up "for her own good" and sexualizes her so much that it was uncomfortable to read. I truly hope Elain’s relationship is better, because neither of her sisters married men that are good to them.

Oh god, the ultimate question.

So, I stumbled into acotar right after acomaf was published. I wrote A BUNCH of Nessian fic (which is, I think? still some of my most read stuff but the sw rarepairs are hilariously catching up).

But I don't ship canon Nessian even a little bit.

For just....a huge list of reasons. I hated their book. It was, to me, not just bizarrely badly written (did she get a new editor in the last few years? did she get a more advantageous contract? WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY DO THE SEX SCENES READ LIKE CLICHED STRAIGHT PORNOS WRITTEN BY A DUDE IN HALF AN AFTERNOON), but also egregiously shitty.

You can't dedicate a book to recovery and then publish hundreds of pages about a vulnerable, grieving, suicidal woman being absolutely crushed and molded into someone else's expectations and call it a tour de force.

Nesta's not healed...she's trapped, and the physical safety of her situation depends on her submission. It's a nightmare, not a romance.

I think when we had these scarce details and searing attraction to go on, it was really easily to fill-in almost classic romance into what we didn't know. OF COURSE, Cassian likes Nesta along with wanting to fuck her. OF COURSE, he thinks it's amazing she's a powerful survivor instead of being so immature that threatens him. OF COURSE HE'D NEVER LET PEOPLE HURT HER- OF COURSE, he understands her pain and trauma having lived through similar things, OF COURSE HE LOVES HER-

And then, in canon, none of that was true.

Probably, I should have known from the first insane scene where Cassian is too scared to let Morrigan see him holding Nesta's hand that it was a ship doomed.

Which actually- can we talk about how axing the original plan for Mor's character fucks up...all the ships? Nearly?

Quick roundup: ACOMAF puts in the romance work for something...between Cas, Az, and Mor. It's not once, it's over and over again- there's weird jealousy! there's all three of them, dancing together in a mirror to Feyre dancing with Rhys all night. There's longing and touching and care- there are not people who had a romantic fallout five hundred years ago, these are people PINING-

and for about ten seconds, the narrative cannot decide in what direction that pining goes, which, I'm sorry, I love. Either bat boy being the (probably grossly)Conflicted Bi at least makes more sense than what we got.

But- and really, we'll never know- somewhere between the books we get Mor as a queer character. Which YES! GREAT, GIMME, IN FACT THAT MAKES IT BETTER-

But it's written so badly and weirdly that it reframes everything.

(sidenote but the idea of writing a world where immortal beings are fine fucking across species but cannot fathom queerness is just. deranged. these books are somehow straighter than books that don't even bother TRYING to include queer identities and it baffles me)

We go from Morrigan: shining bright defiant survivor to....Morrigan, who loves her found family but is afraid of them?? Who slept with Cassian and continues to treat him like her de facto boyfriend and vice versa but... isn't and has never been attracted to him or felt for him romantically??

Again, most of this is just bad writing. The unwillingness say lesbian leave us in the dark: is Mor bi? is Mor sexually attracted to more than one gender but romantically attracted to women? is Mor a lesbian who forces herself to have the relationships expected of her??

The narrative seems to lean toward the later, unfortunately. So: Mor/Cas... toxic bearding, cool. Mor/Az... creepy and an active source of fear. Mor/Az/Cas.... maybe not even a friendship.

And then it ripples out! Once Mor is written as queer (I'm sticking with the blanket term because really, I don't know and I'm unsure the books know), the story seems to lose track of her entire character and it effects all the other characters.

Az/Elain... is Azriel literally just. Fixing on Unavailable Blonde Women 2, psychic boogaloo?? Az/Gwyn... I'm sorry, you want a survivor to hook up with a man who has spent 5OO YEARS IGNORING A WOMAN'S WISHES/CUES/BOUNDARIES???

Cas/Nesta: IS THERE A GREATER RED FLAG THAN A MAN INSISTING YOUR TIME BELONGS TO HIM WHILE HE IS ACTIVELY IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH SOMEONE ELSE???

If we're supposed to believe Cassian is in love with Nesta and not Morrigan maybe he should prioritize her...once?

It's not even about Mor, but that's what breaks the fantasty of fanon Nessian- Cassian does not care enough to even, at minimum, be bothered his friends are horrifically rude right to Nesta's face. Its behavior a mature person might notice and be bothering was being directed at a stranger, much less the mystical true love of his immortal life.

As for Elain, I would like to say I have high hopes, but I don't. If the duel nightmares of both Azriel's and Cassian's POV say anything, it's that once a character is slated into Main Romantic Man they all morph into the same character....which is going to strip, most, if not everything, we like from Lucien.

#guys I was SUCH a nessian blog #and then the first snippets and murmurings #were sword fights and blowjobs #AND I JUST KNEW

87 notes · View notes

acourtofthought · 1 year

Note

I think it’s going to be Elucien book > ACOTAR novella where she sprinkles some Gwynriel-are-dtf hints > Gwynriel book.

If CC3 is set 6-9 months after ACOSF and, as SJM herself said, sets up the next ACOTAR book (which maybe starts a few months after the Bryce stuff is done?), that’s not enough time for Azriel to sort out his situation with Mor. I consider the Elriel stuff done after the bonus chapter. Maybe they’ll have some type of conversation in Elucien’s book to clear the air. I think it would be nice if they grow to have a casual friendship, but I don’t care that much.

But getting over 500 years of pining in what seems to be less than 2 years? Even if the bond snaps for him/both of them early on, that’s too unrealistic even for a fantasy book. At most I think 2-3 years of NO pining and apologizing to Mor is good. Otherwise whatever he starts with Gwyn, bond or no bond, will seem like he’s moved on to using her as a rebound after he failed with Elain. And Az seems to feel very strongly (he and Nesta are very similar in some aspects), especially when it comes to women, so he could be crawling on all fours after her for 800 pages, but it still isn’t going to be genuine unless the Mor situation is 100% done.

All that + we’ve been waiting FOREVER for an Elucien book. I’m not gonna pretend like I’m not 100% sure, based on CANON and not “but this might have happened off page”, that Elucien and Gwynriel are endgame. If it was any other author, I’d say there might be a chance for Elriel to happen, but SJM heavily favors mates. She loves both Lucien and Azriel (duh, she created them), so why put them in this situation? Lucien, who feels out of place and has experienced so much abuse and pain, to have to suffer a rejected bond, too? Azriel, who has also suffered horribly and is literally dying for a mating bond of his own, to have NO mate and end up with someone who will always have the connection he craves, but to someone else? Awfully cruel fates for characters she claims to love.

Hello!!!! I saw your additional anon and I'm going to include it below so everything is all together 😁

"Hi! Same anon about the order of future ACOTAR books (sorry for offloading on you but I thought of something else 😂)

I saw some Elriel claim a while ago that Gwyn’s entire life is financed by Rhysand - except she actually works for it. She’s literally WORKING for Merrill at the library. She and the other priestesses are not just fucking around, shelving books for fun and having an endless girls’ day/night. Rhysand definitely isn’t gonna charge a bunch of abused women rent (he’s gonna go from good High Lord to shitty landlord quick) and I can’t imagine they don’t receive some kind of salary. Gwyn is also a Valkyrie and keeps training. She’s most likely going to fight in future wars/conflicts and she’ll be fighting for the NC. It’s possible women from other courts will join, but as of now at least, the Valkyries reside in the NC so it’s not much of a stretch to say their loyalty lies with the Night Court’s High Lady and Lord.

People were making the same remarks about Elain (life financed by Feysand), except Elain works for it, too - she’s tending the gardens + helping other Fae with their own (gardening is not easy or quick), she seems to cook a lot and I can’t imagine she doesn’t often take care of Nyx when Feyre has to tend to High Lady duties. So she’s not just sitting on her ass, buying dresses and making herself pretty. I think Elain’s story needs to come first because if she decides to move, she’ll need money. Although I don’t understand how at least Nesta and Elain didn’t inherit their father’s (/Tamlin’s) money after his death.

It’s almost like some people keep comparing Gwyn and Elain to determine which one of them is “good enough” for Azriel while completely ignoring the fact that right now, thanks to his spiraling behavior, he’s not good enough for either one of them.

Azriel’s bonus chapter wasn’t about ships, it was to show us that he’s down BAD. The guy is headed toward rock bottom and ain’t nothing stopping him. He hates himself, he’s miserable, both of his brothers got their mates within a few years of each other while he’s been waiting and hoping his whole life. The fact that his own brother had to threaten him (which Az himself admits happens rarely) to curb his behavior speaks volumes. Because let’s face it - Rhys respects Lucien, he’s obviously fond of Elain, but Azriel has been his brother since they were kids and he loves him. Rhys also knows him the best; he’s literally protecting Az AND the Night Court, not setting up a no-stakes, bland “forbidden” romance."

Back to the response!

I do love your idea about an Elucien book, then a novella then a Gwynriel book, especially if any of the four additional books she was recently contracted for will take place in the ACOTAR world. It would wrap up the sisters journey's, slows things down for a hot minute, than gets right into back into the ACOTAR world where it's not so Archeron focused.

Do I think that's what SJM will do? Honestly, I'm clueless these days because even though she said CC3 was the next book in the words, I still thought she'd surprise us with ACOTAR 5 first.

And I agree with you, I think Elain and Az will be able to talk about what almost happened between them, acknowledge that neither was in the place to be moving forward with someone, and part as friends. Because what they had was nothing compared to her lost engagement and his past with Mor. SJM isn't going to need to spend a lot of time showing that they've moved past one another.

But I would much prefer Elain / Lucien to have their journey before Azriel's. It's not that he doesn't eventually deserve his HEA, but with his behavior recently, does he honesty deserve it before Lucien? Does he honestly deserve it after being the second male to reject Elain? It doesn't matter that Rhys called him up to his office, Az still chose to tell Elain she was a mistake and the entire time all he could think about was how wrong it was that he was about to kiss her, yet still went on to think nothing of killing Lucien.

He has pined for Mor for 500 years then became fixated on Elain and basically has an all around super unhealthy view on woman right now.

Compare that to Lucien who had his past love murdered and is struggling with an unfulfilled mating bond though he's been nothing but respectful to Elain.

I know it's not a contest but it kind of is in my mind and I don't think Az deserves to be the winner right now. He can sit down, stop being creepy over women for a few years, and let Lucien have a little good luck for once. At least Az has his family and friends, people who have loved him for centuries.

But in the end, how weird would it be if Elucien and Gwynriel didn't end up together as mates? Because SJM has told us that a true bonded pair is the best it gets in the ACOTAR world. So why would she only make Feysand and Nessian true bonded pairs while sticking the other main characters with someone they just love on a regular not magically special level? Especially when the bond is important to the males? You can't say a Mate is the best it gets then only give 2 of the 3 sisters and 2 of the 3 brothers a happy bond. That's just odd.

On to your second part, definitely agree! Feyre even tells Nesta she will "work" in the library. Gwyn was assigned to "work" for Merrill. And they all "work" for Clotho. Seriously, the word work is used a hundred times in references to what they all do in the library so people are being ignorant in ignoring that fact.

And thank you for including Elain because she takes care of Feyre and Rhys's garden. That's not her house. She's not going to live there forever. She might enjoy it but she's still doing it for a home she doesn't own. And like you said, cooking for them? Serving them? Helping the residents around Velaris? It's almost like people forget that there are jobs outside of being a warrior in their world.

And YES! Seriously, yes to both your posts. Elain and Gwyn are not the issue in the Azriel situation. I mean, at least he's treating Gwyn normally and that's why they read as soooo much healthier than E/riel does but Az is not the prize that some think he is. He's jealous, controlling, and possessive when it comes to Mor and Elain. He doesn't know how to communicate and his focus is always on how much he hates himself rather than focusing on why the female is special (the key to every good romance, right? 🤮). Maybe that works in another authors book but not one written by SJM.

I can't imagine her suddenly switching up everything she's ever said about female empowerment and being a feminist and rewarding the way Az is acting towards Mor and Elain right now.

#elucien #gwynriel #pro elain archeron #pro gwyneth berdara

20 notes · View notes

bookofmirth · 2 years

Note

Did sjm really debunked Azriel's book theory? I thought she didn't utter his name

Y'all, no. No she did not.

What she said was that she likes when the men take a backseat and women are in the forefront, and that she sometimes forgets what to do with them.

Honestly, that is not news. If anyone was surprised by that statement, then I worry for their fucking reading comprehension and Aelin, Manon, Elide, Feyre, Nesta, and Bryce would all like to have a word with you. I am willing to bet that a huge portion of this fandom likes acotar, and sjm, specifically because of how she centers female protagonists in her stories. This is not news.

So anyway, since people are busy pretending to be stupid, here is a reminder:

Heir of Fire - Dorian, Chaol, and Aedion's chapters were one of the three main narrative strands in that book, along with Aelin and Manon. They are men.

Empire of Storms - Rowan is being a sad man at the end

Tower of Dawn - Chaol's book (he's a man)

Kingdom of Ash - Chaol is back and manlier than ever! Dorian also gets his own chapters when he's trying to steal from Maeve. He uses his manly wiles.

Acowar - Rhys had a POV. He is a man.

Acofas - Cassian chapters. I think we've established he's a dude.

Acosf - Azriel gets a chapter. He is also a dude!

I mean... the pattern here is that the farther she goes into a series, the more likely she is to include a guy's POV. That's not interpretation, that's just literal fact. ToG and CoM? No guys. HoF? They start to enter the picture and their presence increases. Acotar and acomaf? No male POVs. Acowar? They start to enter the picture and their presence is increasing.

The first chance that SJM gets to show us Elain away from her sisters' eyes, and how does she do it? Not by centering Elain. No, that chapter follows the actions of A MaN. I'm sorry but how do people think that sjm, she of the "I forget about the men sometimes" is going to frame Azriel's chapter from a guy's POV instead of Elain's on accident, like... idk did she forget to write it from Elain's POV instead? We knew pre-release that it was Azriel's chapter, it was marketed as Azriel's chapter, it follows his actions. What the fuck is not clicking???? This paragraph is sort-of beside the point, but honestly - do people think that e*riel is going to happen, and that the first time we see them they are from the man's perspective, and that that somehow jives with sjm saying she forgets about the men? lolololol I'm dead.

Obviously she can and will and HAS WRITTEN A DUDE'S BOOK and multiple times has had men take over a good chunk of the narrative. If she had never ever done that before, I would say yeah, doesn't sound good for Az. But please: see above.

The thing is, none of the arguments that people have today are different than the arguments that they had last week. You know why? Because we got literally jack shit about Az, Elain, Lucien, or anyone else that we didn't already know. She didn't say Az's name, or Lucien's. She struggled to talk about Elain. So people are taking the opportunity to double down, I guess.

I feel like this post was honestly pointless because you guys, we knew all this shit already. I wouldn't take a bunch of crowing from people who thought Gwyn was a child with any amount of credibility.

42 notes · View notes

btssavedmylifeblr · 1 year

Note

you mentioned that youre reading some of sarah j maas’ books, what do you think about it so far? i read her stories (the acotar series and the tog series) as a younger teen and reread it again recently now that im older. when i learned that youre allowed to criticise a book (i was a blind follower with weak opinions 😅) i found out that there are some readers who arent too fond of her and her writing, it was quite a shock for me cause she used to be my fav author (i read only her books as a preteen 😂). personally, from her books that i’ve read my favourites are throne of glass and crown of midnight (the novellas were really good too)

So I’ve really only read the acotar series so far, so that’s the only one I can comment on (my favorite book was a court of mist and fury, followed by a court of silver flames). There are a bunch of things that I really enjoyed in that series and a bunch of things that annoyed me about it. There will never be an author that every reader agrees about. My favorite living author is John Green, but there are people who criticise/dont enjoy his books. I hate Catcher in the Rye but it’s considered a classic. Different readers are going to resonate with different books more or less and certain things will bug some people more than others. For every author that is someone’s favorite author, there will be a bunch of people who hate them. I think it’s more interesting to look at what book does well and what it doesn’t.

Things I enjoyed about acotar:

1. The main characters, love interests and ensemble casts are great. I really like Feyre and Nesta. They are both flawed and fierce and show real character growth over the series. I love Rhysand. He is pretty much everything I want in a love interest, wings included, haha. I love Azriel and Cassian too. The whole Inner Circle is well drawn and makes you want to read more to find out what happens to them.

2. The romance is great. The whole misunderstood villain/enemies to lovers aspect of Feyre and Rhys is great and made especially compelling because it plays out over such a long time. It’s also some of the most enjoyable smut I’ve found outside of fanfiction.

3. The action scenes are great. When there is a lot happening and things are changing rapidly, it’s very fun to read. Her scene and action description are very immersive and she does a good job of keeping you surprised and invested in the outcome. The scene with the giant worm, the scene in the weaver’s cottage, the battle of Velaris and Nesta in the Blood Rite are all still things that I can picture very clearly in my head.

4. It’s easy to read. And the combination of compelling romance and good action makes it very hard to put down when you’re in the middle of it. So for someone who wants a fun, quick, romance series, I would highly recommend it.

Things that bugged me about acotar:

1. It really needs more editing. The prose on a line by line level is sometimes infuriatingly bad. She will have paragraphs that are just the same sentence written three different ways. There are weird descriptions of internal reactions that get way overused. Like I think Feyre’s “bowels turned watery” at least three times in the first novel alone, which is three times too many. There are long stretches with no action where characters just wander around big houses doing nothing that I found hard to get through.

2. The world building is shallow. There are all these different courts (spring court, fall court, night court, etc) but other than aesthetic differences it’s really not clear how they are in any way culturally or magically different. There are different classes of Fae, but the potential political or social repercussions of that are rarely examined. Some classes of fae are just ugly and bound to serve the pretty High Fae, which is a fairly problematic trope. The villains are rather generically evil without really examining what their motives are. There are characters of different races, but their race has no impact on their character or story arc. Certain cultures like the Illyrians are written as fairly monolithic except for our few “enlightened” main characters.

3. The stuff around gender is not great. One of my favorite booktokers (pagemelt) explained this better than I can, but the whole series and potentially all of Sarah J Mass’s writing, suffers from what she calls “gender essentialism”. All the women are small and thin and young and beautiful, and they might be warriors, but they never overpower the main male characters. The men are all large and strong with giant *ahem* “wingspans”. The male love interests are all much older than the female love interests (like centuries older) and vastly overpower them in both physical and magical abilities and familiarity with the world around them. SJM frequently uses the terms male and female in descriptions such as “he gave her a male smirk” or “looked at her with a male gaze”. I think because she wants to emphasize that they are Fae and not humans, she always uses the terms male and female instead of man and woman, but it creates an atmosphere where the terms male and man always mean the same thing and there is only one specific way to be male. There’s also a whole bunch of stuff about fated lovers and soulmates and such that seems to only leave room for cishet relationships (though there are hints that this may change in future books).

4. It’s fairly predictable. This may be a pro for younger readers or people just getting into fantasy/romance books but it fairly obvious where things are going in advance. The answer to riddle at the end of the first book is so glaringly obvious that it makes the whole ending of that book and the fallout from it seem kind of stupid.

So for someone looking for a complex fantasy story with elaborate world building that more accurately reflects the complexities of the real world, there are a lot of other books that will provide that better than this one.

#bee’s current reads #acotar

9 notes · View notes

decadentpostnacho · 2 years

Note

Hey I just want to let you know I’m a big fan of A Court of Crimson Flame. What I find disappointing in ACOTARs fandom content is that a majority of the fanfics seem to always have OCs that want to be close to the IC and idolize them. I like the ACOTAR world and there are interesting characters. I just could never get behind night court (especially after seeing how the Illyrian and hewn city situations are addressed in canon) also I feel there are too few fics where there is valid criticism brought up towards the inner circle. It doesn’t mean pick on night court like some might suggest. But I feel no court or ruler should be exempt from constructive criticism. Which is why I like Kyara. She loves her sisters and we’ve seen her loyalty is to them first because family over everything. But she’s slowly realizing how feyre is changing and almost becoming an extension of Rhys. It’s hard to talk to her sister if she has to worry about Rhysand eavesdropping. The high lord meeting was an excellent example of the ic not knowing what to do with kyara but feel they must include her cause that’s feyres sister. Kyara was fine not attending and why ask her to come if they were gonna bring nesta anyway? Feyre could have easily had a conversation with her sister. It seems they want to keep the sisters close for feyres comfort but just because they’re feyres friends doesn’t mean they need to be the sisters friends. I’m not sure how Kyara will feel about feyre saying they’re one big happy family. I was never sure how the other Archeron sisters felt about now needing to share family time with the inner circle. It felt suffocation to me. I’m looking forward to what you have in store for us !

I seriously think I'm gonna cry haha

You are too sweet anon, thank you <3

I share your opinion, totally. The Ic is being placed on a pedestal and I will not stand for it. I see so many problems with them, have seen since Acomaf actually. (which are to blame on Sarah Janet, I'm sorry not)

I just said it today, I'd rather have a bunch of good written morally gray characters or even villains than attempted storybook heroes who are absolute imbeciles and abusers. That's it.

And I am saying this as someone who has a bunch of problematic favs, so I'm not trying to shame anyone here.

I'm gonna take Rhysand as an example to show you what I mean.

He's supposed to be this feminist king, who has built a library as a sanctuary for victims of SA, for them to peacefully work and live their lives, and there are no men allowed in if the women don't want them there - except for Rhysand himself. And what does he do? He takes advantage of this and attempts to dance the devils tango with his mate, in the library which is, and I repeat it, full of SA victims, and some of them have not spoken in years/are deeply traumatized. He doesn't pay any mind to how they might react, because he doesn't care and he knows that they couldn't do anything against it, because he is their High Lord.

This is one of the maaaany problems I noticed. So, when this idea came to my mind, I knew that I wanted to address as many of this problems as I could, to make them visible.

I wanted Kyara to be someone with common sense, that's it, and I hope I managed that. Her sisters are important, because..family, although they won't be holding her back in the end. She'll still see how Feyre is changing, as you said, and also what happens to Nesta (and she won't be quiet about Nesta, that's all I will say for now.) and how Elain adapts, which is about the only positive thing. The issue of Rhysand eavesdropping/always somehow being there is going to be addressed directly in the future, without wanting to spoil too much.

Kyara will definitely not think of the Ic as her family. As you said, they took her with them to things like the HL meeting, but what for? In the end, none of them really listens to her, and no one's really interested in her, or goes out of their way to interact with her except for maybe her sisters, so why would they be her family?

If you made it to the end (which is here), one last thing: We are not going to stay in the Night Court. I think that this was forseeable, but I am excited about it, because we've seen enough of Night.

7 notes · View notes