Cassian’s fist collided with the dummy that just this morning Nesta had been throwing knives at. It splintered into hundreds of pieces.
His rage consumed him so deeply that he hardly noticed when his skin split, instead kicking the remnants of the ruined figure to the various corners of the ring. It was the fifth dummy he’d destroyed in the last half hour, after he’d smashed the weapons rack and what remained of the obstacle course the Valkyries had, heroically, conquered.
‘Meet her where she is,’ Madja had said. What utter bullshit. There was no way.
There was no way he could let her believe he would harm her that way, no way that he could let her think he had always intended for this outcome. That he had orchestrated her suffering, all the way up until his fingers had been squeezing her so tightly the bones shifted.
The pain he’d caused her while under Briallyn’s control had made him sick for days, and now it felt so inconsequential in comparison. Or perhaps, alternatively, had created guilt so monumentally he feared he would never recover.
He did not know where to begin. Did not know how to fix this.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Happy WIP Wednesday!! I'm planning to update my gilded age AU for Nessian week, and I thought I'd share a small dialogue snippet.
“Can I not simply enjoy your company?” Cassian asked.
“No.”
“And why not?”
Nesta let out a breath through her nose. “You barely know me, for starters.”
“Oh that’s just not true, Miss Archeron,” Cassian disagreed. “I know you look like a lovely swan when you’re on the dance floor.”
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“I think it does. Dancing makes you feel free, doesn’t it? Just for a moment. I saw it on your face that night.” He leaned in closer. “Which tells me that you don’t want this life your mother has planned for you, do you? You’re trapped. Marrying my brother won’t fix that.”
“That’s a bold claim.”
“Is it?” he asked. “Is there not any truth to it?”
“And I suppose you have the solution to my problem?”
Cassian paused. A pause louder than any word he had said thus far. “I do.”
Should I be working on Mercenary Cassian? yes. But I am so stuck on a scene that I started on this instead.
----
“Something happened in the cauldron.”
“How much do you remember of that night?”
“She came out..different.”
Cassain I don’t know if it’s a good idea to see her.”
“We had to ward the windows.”
They had all warned him, in that vague carefully curated way his family did sometimes that drove him to insanity, that more had happened to Nesta then just being turned fae. But all their words had done was churn that ball of worry that had rooted itself in his gut since the moment he had woken up. He needed to see her.
Fuck what Madja said or the compulsion to sleep that he knew Rhys was feeding into his brain. He needed to see her. Because he knew that they didn’t get it. He had heard the way Mor and Rhys talked about her after every visit to the Archeron Mansion. The way Feyre wouldn’t say anything in defense of her sister.
Cruel. Unfeeling. Viper.
It reminded him of the way they talked about Illyria.
Savage. Backwards. Rebellious.
They didn’t see past the exterior, past that flashfire of a first impression that was meant to keep threats out. But Cassian had grown up in the wilds. He saw things his family never bothered to look for, the wounds on a snarling animal, the way a male angled himself around others, scares from kitchen fires on delicate hands.
Armor took many form but in the end it all looked the same.
@janearts who was super excited for the idea of Nesta coming out of the cauldron Illyrian.
Hi all! Welcome back to ACOTAR Secret Santa 2026! We are SO EXCITED to bring this event back and engage in a little holiday gift giving and/or shenanigans! For anyone interested in participating, check out the timeline, FAQs, and other information (and of course make sure to follow the blog so you don't miss any updates!)
Timeline
Sign ups will open September 7th and close September 20th
Assignments, barring unforeseen circumstances, will be announced by October 5th - you will receive a message with your recipient, as well as what they've requested. This will be done in a staggered manner over the week.
You should reach out to your recipient within 72 hours of receiving your assignment. A mod for the event will reach out to you, so please be looking for a DM- if we do not hear back from you within 72 hours, we will remove you from the exchange and reassign your recipient.
Gifts can start to be given December 15 and must be received by December 21
Participation
Anyone who creates some sort of fan content is welcome, whether than be fanfiction, fanart, edits, or a really good playlist. There is no restriction on characters- EVERYONE is welcome.
Participation includes creating a gift for your assigned recipient, but also spreading the holiday cheer and dropping in their inbox with nice messages, questions, and other friendly interaction! Communication with your Secret Santa (if they send messages), your recipient, and the moderator (me!) is essential.
You will need to have a tumblr to participate (so spread the news far and wide to all of your fandom friends, even if they delete it right after the event!).
This event is open to the entire fandom, no matter what you ship or which characters you like
What's New?
We heard you, we've spent a year planning, and we're officially really excited to announce that we will be opening submissions for x-readers this year! PLEASE read the FAQ for more information regarding the process, but if you are a writer, you will find new checkboxes on the form this year to select your x/reader pairings and preferences!
Check out...
Rules
FAQ
Looking forward to seeing what everyone creates this year!
in the midst of capitalism, fanfiction and archive of our own are always unconditionally and endlessly free. love, joy and passion, shared among human beings, are always unconditionally and endlessly free
Have you done the lakes yet? And/or Getaway Car? 🖤
Thank you.
So the Lakes is my favorite song. Maybe my favorite song ever. And it was one of my surprise songs. So I want to give it to Nesta because I love her. And it is. It is also Gwyn and Emerie. It is their grief and their love for each other. It is the way they all have such similar trauma and different coping methods and how they get each other in a way that means they can heal in silence.
Getaway Car- me and @xxvalkyriesxx were actually talking about this one a few days ago. And I have changed my mind. This is Feyre and Tamlin hard. It’s about a doomed relationship. Something both parties should have seen from the beginning but didn’t.
This is what I think the earliest parts of a relationship between the Lady of Autumn and Helion. Young and happy and in love and ignoring everything else around them.
Omg I have three I hope that’s okay and HAPPY BIRTHDAY
The Archer
Coney Island
Mirrorball
(can you tell I love a quietly sad song?)
Thank you! Three is perfectly fine
The Archer-while on the nose is perfect for Feyre but also for all of the Archeron sisters. I think each verse does a different sister and the over all theme of the confirm works for them. The first verse is Nesta, the second is Feyre, and the third is Elain. With the chorus of each of them praying to be seen.
Coney Island( hand down one of my favorite songs)- the whole of the IC. I think the more we see them interact and the more we get individual POV’s from the members of the IC I think they are an incredibly hollowed out found family. I feel like they have all grown apart, but there is the familiarity and codependence that doesn’t let them actually move on. And this song kind of has this nostalgic vibe of how things you used to be. And I feel like that fits them.
I can’t pick so here’s my fave from every album!! Which was so hard to pick just one so be proud of me for narrowing it down!!
💚 - Should’ve Said No
💛 - If this was a movie
💜 - Last Kiss
❤️ - atw10
🩵 - Now that we don’t talk
🖤 - So it goes
🩷 - Daylight
🩶 - Hoax
🤎 - Right where you left me
💙 - The Great War
🤍 - The Manuscript
🧡 - Elizabeth Taylor
Should’ve said No- Miryam to Jurian about Amarantha’s sister.
If Life was a Movie-Elain to Grayson. When she was catatonic during the war after he rejected her.
Last Kiss-Tamlin to Feyre. The line “I’ll keep up with our old friends just to ask them how you are” is referring to Lucien.
All Too Well 10 min- the easy answer is Feyre to Tamlin. But I truly feel like it should be all of the R heron sister to these 500+ old man children they decided to be attracted to.
Now That We Don’t Talk-Nesta to Cassian if she becomes high lady of Dusk and he refuses to leave the night court.
So it Goes- Rhys and Feyre. We definitely talk about this lol
Daylight- is all Nesta. Especially the last bit about not wanting to be remembered by what she was afraid of or what she hated by what she loved. Fun fact, this is on the A Court Of Fallen Stars playlist
Hoax- is Tamlin to Feyre after she helped destroy the spring court.
Right where you left me- Nesta to her sisters after the war. A long a little bit her father.
The Great War- this was written for Nessian and no one can convince me otherwise.
Elizabeth Taylor-Rhysand. The whole song
The Manuscript- the reason I switched this to be last is because this is gonna be a little longer of an explanation. I believe that this song is Nesta’s song to her father. She is reiterating the life she has led and how his neglect of her and his allowance of the abuse she went through caused her to be who she was at the end of the song is for letting him go.
OK since it’s my birthday and other than re-blogging stuff I have not actually posted anything in a while. I am going to combined my two special interest. Taylor Swift and ACOTAR.
The way this works is you send me a Taylor Swift song and I will let you know whose song it is. Some of them will surprise you.
The fastest shark in the ocean and with a nasty bite! Don't fuck with the Summer Court, or he WILL come flying through the water and breaching the waves to give you your blood rubies
Send me a character and I'll tell you what shark they are!
My culture is not your costume!!! Some of us are REAL shark nerds! And we're normal (about things other than sharks I mean) and don't make Shark Week of all things into weird ass ship war BS!
For over several months, Nesta has been tracking down the lone bull orca that's a complete mystery to the marine biologist community. No pod, no markings similar to any other ecotype of orca, and no sense where he came from. It's the one thing that will help her gain back her reputation after falling into the wrong crowd.
Then one night during a bad storm, Nesta goes overboard. When she comes to, she finds herself in a cove but she's not alone. A naked a man is standing before her, calling Nesta his mate.
@cassianappreciationweek Day 7 - Free Day
AN:
Hello! He's finally here! Orca!Cassian is here to make his splash cute debut! I'm so excited to bring you all this story that's been living in my mind for the past year. Orcas have always been one of my favorite animals so as a fair warning I will be nerding out throughout the fic. I really wanted to make this a oneshot, but it's been fighting me since the beginning so I thought I'd make a short chapter fic (she said before falling into the unfinished wip trap once more).
Growing up I wanted to be a marine biologist and study orcas, however, your girl is not a stem girly so the odds were not in my favor ;A; but my passion and love for them has never died down.
I hope you all enjoy! Happy Cassian week!
Check out my bottom notes where I nerd out on these amazing creatures <3
CW: mentions of whaling (illegal), misogyny, victim blaming
For @chelseamorninggirl
Official Tag List
Thank you for joining! Let me know if you wish to be added or removed! As a heads up, my tag list is a general list and not tied to any particular fic.
Not sure when I'll have the next chapter out, but make sure to check out my tumblr for future updates!
Orca notes!
While Cassian is in fact a mer who can transform into an orca, I did based him off an actual ecotype/subspecies. For those who aren't familiar, there is not one version of an orca. Depending on where they are located, what they eat, their behavior, and their pod dynamics (among other classifications), it's a different type of orca. The orcas you see hunting seals in the arctic are typically not the same as the ones who live in the Pacific ocean or even the Atlantic ocean.
Ecotypes are still being studied and developed today but I highly recommend watching this video to learn what the recorded ecotypes. As a warning, there are several! Orca Ecotypes
The Transient or Bigg's Orca, is the subspecies he's based off. These orcas are typically seen in the waters of the Pacific Northwest, and are one of the three ecotypes that live in that area (the others being Residents and Offshore). They are dubbed Bigg's orcas from the researcher that first studied them, Michael Bigg. These orcas are known to hunt other marine mammals (seals, sea lions, porpoises, and other whales) and hunt in smaller pods and or alone. Compared to the resident orcas that are also in the same waters but are in massive pods of at least 30 or more whales, and eat primarily fish.
Wild orcas are given ID numbers along with names and with Bigg's, their ID usually starts with a T.
think I only want you (under my mistletoe) chapter two
happy free day of @cassianappreciationweek! I had to get one last post in and I ended up doing a little something for @jsmelodies' secret Santa post... hope you all enjoy and thank you to everyone who participated in this year's event <3
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
