#*twindom

[eatsbooks]

If Eris' daughter rejected the bond after courting how would that go down with the NC? What if she accepted it? 🤨 (I love eiteio sm and now have converted all my friends to azris because of it ❤️. All hail the golden ship azris 🫡 )

wtf that's such high praise wow thank you so much:') i'm glad you're enjoying<3 all part of my master plan to pyramid scheme style expand the azris fandom with cool peeps

i think for the nc, ophelia rejecting the bond would be like. probably almost tantamount to a declaration of war—or at least a positioning of the autumn court as a truly hostile entity to them. i know that sounds dramatic, but feysand 1) romanticize the mating bond because of their own experience with it and 2) love nyx and want him to be happy and whole. if his mate rejects him, he'll never know that sense of completeness they know; he'll go through life with a hole in his heart. they would full stop blame eris for it, too. he must have been in her ear the whole time; they can't believe he couldn't put aside his hostility and cruelty to let his daughter be happy. honestly ... no matter how pissed eris would be to be tied permanently to the night court, i don't think he'd let his daughter reject the bond outright because of how volatile the situation would become. if anything, if ophelia really had no interest whatsoever and was putting her foot down and refusing, he would turn it into a kick the can down the road type of deal. let the nc and nyx cling to their hope that she'll come around eventually. and like. eris doesn't want her to live her life with a hole in her heart either. so he'll probably be hoping for her to come around too.

accepting it is unfortunately the most strategic political move for eris, so it's probably what happens in this situation. especially because ophelia isn't heir and nyx is, so she'd be expected to move to the nc to familiarize herself with its customs for when she and nyx rule over it when feysand die. (and eris is absolutely ensuring she be considered high lady when that time comes. no fucking way are they denying her that because they're wary of her ties to him. if feyre was made high lady, his daughter will be too.) i think that while it's a boon to have so strong an alliance across prythian, eris is constantly worried the nc will turn his daughter against him. like all of the time. ceding his control to the nc of all people would make him break out in hives. he remains incredibly involved with her life, spies amongst her ladies, unannounced social calls from him or milo, etc. which would only further convince the nc he's underhanded and trying to garner information and maybe ophelia is even in on it—not that he's a concerned parent. obviously not. it's eris for god's sake. (that's only two letters off from evil.....) he must be doing something terrible and sneaky! if the nc feels assured ophelia isn't in on it, they absolutely are trying to Free Ophelia Of Eris and remove the wool from her eyes. what's nice is ophelia sees eris true so it wouldn't work. they'd be like we don't want to upset you, but your father has spies amongst your ladies; it's controlling at best and a threat to us at worst. and ophelia in her head is like how fucking dumb do you think i am to not know my father has eyes on me all the time. also even if there weren't i would literally tell him everything. but externally she's like :O oh no! how terrible! cuz she's his daughter ykwim

[eatsbooks]

It's the first revel Eris' children are attending. The younglings begin socialising without the parents being there. What are his greatest fears with respect to both his children?

hooooo boy okay i will say — his children are never without some form of supervision. probably like ever in their lives, even when they think they are, even when they’re older and can fend for themselves. eris is near-cripplingly paranoid and has plenty of reason to be. (even if he at some point somehow got to a place in his life where he didn’t have reason to be paranoid, he would never be able to stifle those instincts.) so at the very least, the twins would have personal guards nearby, prepared to sacrifice their lives and/or slaughter an entire room full of younglings if the need arose lolol

but this could still be the first time eris doesn’t have eyes on them himself at a revel! and that would make him real antsy. you will never have seen someone better at pantomiming an engaged conversationalist than eris holding court with the snakes of his nobility while their viperous little hatchlings are slithering about his children.

i feel like at this age — i’m picturing them as the fae equivalent of pre-teens maybe? — his fears are pretty much the same for both. he’s concerned that they won’t be able to hold their own if (when) the conversation turns nasty — or not even that they can’t hold their own but that whatever is said will nestle into their minds and take root. (be that something as minor as adolescent insecurities or as major as turning against him.) there’s also the concern of these other younglings being tasked by their parents with wooing his children, making inroads for betrothals, taking advantage of their youth, etc.

more than anything though, i think a quiet fear of eris’s is that — they’ll finally begin to recognize how awful of a life it is to be the child of a high lord. they’ll see all these younglings who already know each other, who have already been to galas and banquets and functions together, who have formed friendships and relationships, and they’ll realize that they can never be a part of it. not really. they’ll realize that the children they meet and the adults they’ll become don’t want to know them, only gain the prestige of being around the heir or the daughter of autumn. he’s afraid they’ll start to feel in that moment how he’s felt his whole life, and he’s so, so afraid that nothing he does can prevent that.

[eatsbooks]

Hear me out. Eris' daughter is mated to someone who is powerful and cruel and brutal and would try to take her by force. A blood duel is the best way to get him killed without it being a political disaster. Among people in his orbit, his brothers are the only ones he can surely say will be able to defeat him. Who does he choose? (I don't think he can fight it himself, canon implied it has to be a suitor iirc)

oh i am listening and i am frothing at the mouth. quite honestly? i think lucien. of his other living brothers, emile is entirely untrustworthy; marius has so much trauma surrounding his powers that even if he would use them for this, eris couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t freeze up; and carmine is pretty wily/self-serving, so he isn’t entirely reliable and would likely exact a steep price for doing this for eris. but lucien — good, honorable lucien — no matter his feelings about eris, would be willing to protect his niece from his mother’s fate. he wouldn’t even ask for anything (selfish) in return. could even be a good avenue through which they could reconcile if that hasn’t happened yet!

[eatsbooks]

Give us something for the boy!twin? I know nothing about him.

lmfao yeah i kinda put my whole pussy into building out girl!twin and just left boy!twin in the dust huh?? whoops

okay so usually i love fictional children challenging their parents by being narrative foils or just otherwise being rebellious in some way that encourages character growth in their parent. but i think the biggest challenge for eris would be for boy!twin to be just like him. not only in innate disposition — but boy!twin actively modeling himself after eris because he idolizes him so much. very much how eris felt about beron as a youngling, except where eris earned beron’s disappointment because nothing he did could fully meet beron’s expectations, i think boy!twin doing this just freaks eris the fuck out because — eris is a lot like beron, even though he doesn’t want to be! to eris, he is exclusively his father’s creature, and that means his son will be too. (even though like … eris is more than that. he still wouldn’t be able to see any of it.)

so young boy!twin carries himself a lot like eris. he’ll (very conspicuously but in that way kids try not to be) look over to his dad and angle his head the same way, cross his legs the same way, turn the corners of his mouth down the same way. one day eris’s partner says smth about some noble lady at dinner and boy!twin, cutting neatly into his roast the way his daddy does, snorts and says, “that’s because she’s a vacuous cunt.” (eris — who was about to say much the same — can only stare. and ignore the look his partner is giving him. which is what boy!twin is doing with the look girl!twin is giving him.) boy!twin also probably reacts really poorly to hearing anything bad about eris — to hearing anything bad about his family at all, but especially eris. honestly, i kinda feel like where girl!twin sees and accepts eris pretty easily for what he is, flaws and all, boy!twin is less willing to call a spade a spade. even terrible things eris does are good because his father is the one doing them, and his father is high lord, and his father is great.

again, just — eris’s real life fucking nightmare. he is not a role model; he has never been someone to look up to. but knowing those shining little eyes are on him! i think that makes him want to be. that makes him more cognizant of the way he carries himself and the choices he makes, knowing that his son, who will one day rule his court, is taking cue and learning from him. that’s what would make him grow as a person.

[eatsbooks]

Feyre finding out Ophelia is not into Nyx and deciding that Milo and Ophelia must have an incestuous relationship.

this made me literally actually scream holy shit u don't understand. you are matching my freak so good rn. because of course! they are of eris, and eris is always assumed the worst of, no matter his true motivations! why would his children be any different? eris' strange, same-faced, in-sync twin children, who are rumored to have no true friends and keep only to one another's company and not take on any lovers. then when the bond snapped into place, milo looked stricken, milo was the one to prevent nyx from going after ophelia, milo was the one to threaten nyx, milo was the one to put a hand on ophelia's elbow and lean in close to speak with her as they walked away—normal panicked, protective sibling things that just as readily seem Territorial and Strange given the circumstances. why else would ophelia be so quick to rebuke the bond if not because her illicit lover was nearby? i can't even imagine what eris would do if that accusation was leveled. i think he'd burst a fuckin blood vessel

[eatsbooks]

Since Eris is the High Lord and has all the power to hold over them, getting their children to seduce his daughter finally gives them some chips to hold over him too. And if he has gone with the us vs them line, only we have your best interest at heart etc, it makes her especially prone to this because she has to marry someone and that someone would always be other. At least the cousin is less other than the rest.

AT LEAST THE COUSIN IS LESS OTHER THAN THE REST well well well... if it isn't the consequences of my own headcanons... no yeah i am fucking obsessed with this. your mind really is a palace. especially if like they've never met before!!! and the first time they meet is when the cousin(s) are tasked to put the moves on girl!twin!!! because truly what even is the concept of extended family if they are as distant and unknown to you as any common fae in the land, if the only people you've ever truly known are immediate family and guards/caretakers? and why would you balk if you are suddenly being shown attention you have only ever read in books and whispered about amongst servants, or seen between your parents in rare moments of vulnerability and craved for yourself? girl!twin would fold so fast! at least family can be trusted! at least the cousin is less other than the rest! and now there is a cuckoo in the nest! and eris probably (?) would not realize he had to defend against something like this! i'm going for real insane

[eatsbooks]

I unfortunately do think Eris' parenting would involve a lot of mind games. Not the self serving bull Beron pulled but in a more 'prepare them for the real world's way. Well intentioned but the kids will not really know if their father really loves them or if they are a pawn. He might somehow take the reassuring words out of his mouth but they are taught to not believe words so yeahhh

i agree it would not be an easy or necessarily healthy father-child dynamic :( it would not be free of the constraints of all the other relationships he's had in his life. he as a person is inextricably political. he has never not been an heir or a high lord. he has never, ever been able to have a relationship outside of those truths, and he never will be. he cannot shirk his duties — not even for his children.

but he would try his best, for them. he would learn, through trial and error, how to love them and how best to show it. he would want better for them than he had, even if he didn't know exactly what that looked like, even if he stumbled and tripped and fucked up and hated himself for each instance. plus his bone-deep disgust with how beron-like he already is would make him rage against being like beron as a father. so i think he would fs play the mind games to prepare them for the world, but he would do so with their core family inside of that, instead of in a way that isolates his kids or turns them against each other. you can't trust anyone — except us, except your sibling and your parents. we have your best interests at heart, even though nobody else does. because that was what he always wanted and never had growing up. just someone to be in his corner, someone he knew he could turn to when things became too hard for him. he would always want to be that, at the very least, for his children.

again — not easy, or healthy, but the best he can do by them, always.

[eatsbooks]

I like to think that boy!twin came out before girl!twin but autumn had some 'the elder has a bit more authority' tradition and even though it doesn't hold a lot of value, he knew the scales were wildly uneven between the kids because of their genders so to make it a little better he lied and said the girl!twin is older.

yeah!!! i love that too because in doing what he thinks will help girl!twin, he effectively ensures that boy!twin has this small chip-on-his-shoulder reason to want to prove himself all the more. to want to prove himself better than girl!twin. he's heir, but she's firstborn. or even just little childhood / adolescent arguments of her being like i'm older! i get to do xyz first! and him being like doesn't matter. the land chose me, not you, remember? i get to do xyz first! and her just like internally shutting down but refusing to let it show how bad that hurt.

it's all so crunchy to think about. because like eris does not ... actually really know what will help her. he never had a sister of his own to know how a brother might treat a sister. he also never had to question himself, always had assuredness in his status heir, even when lucien came along and everyone who wasn't as smart or informed as him sensed the heir-ness in lucien and thought that was a challenge to him, even when he fed into it so that no one began to question why two sons of autumn could have such an aura about them. so he tries to help with this little lie, and there are still unforeseen outcomes of it that he could not account for. he learns so quick that his children are wild variabilities beyond what he ever could have prepared for because — he can't just manipulate or coerce or threaten them into what he wants them to be like he could with anyone else, because he can't be like his father. and that is stressful for him!!! there is never an unquestionably Correct move to be made.

happy mother's day to eris vanserra<3