stitched together dreams

[whimsicalfrankenstein]

Gwyn: Are you glowering at the punching bag or at me? Azriel: Depends. Which one is more likely to hit back? Gwyn: Bold of you to assume I won’t. Azriel: Bold of you to assume I’d mind. Gwyn: … Was that flirting? Azriel: No. Gwyn: You’re blushing. Azriel: That’s the sunlight. Gwyn: We’re indoors. Azriel: Berdara.

[gwynrielrising]

Cassian: I heard Gwyn has a vitamin deficiency

Nesta: Oh, no. What is she missing?

Cassian: Vitamin D

Azriel: I can help with that

[silentmes]

gwyneth berdara ✨🤌🏻 through azriel’s eyes

the 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓃𝑔 priestess smiled 💘💘 and Azriel thought it might have been directed at his shadows. 🤏🏻

But she just hooked her 𝒸𝑜𝓅𝓅𝑒𝓇𝓎-𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒽𝒶𝒾𝓇 behind an arched ear. 😩💖

He blocked out the bloody memory that flashed, so at 𝑜𝒹𝒹𝓈 with the Gywn he saw before him 𝓃𝑜𝓌. 🥺🥺

Gwyn’s 𝓉𝑒𝒶𝓁 𝑒𝓎𝑒𝓈 flashed with alarm. 🌊🌊 🤭

Her mouth quirked to the side, crinkling the 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝒸𝓀𝓁𝑒𝓈 on her nose. 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻✨

Pure 𝒶𝓂𝓊𝓈𝑒𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉 glittered in her stare. 𝐵𝑒𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇 than the pain and grief he’d spied a moment before. 🥹

She angled her head, hair shining like 𝓂𝑜𝓁𝓉𝑒𝓃 𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒶𝓁. 🫦🍁

She shrugged again, 𝒾𝓇𝓇𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓁𝓎. Az narrowed his eyes, studying her. 🧐💝

but Gwyn blew out a breath, steadied her feet and balance, and sliced. A 𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒾𝒻𝓊𝓁, 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝒸𝒾𝓈𝑒 blow, but it didn’t sever the ribbon. 🎀🤍

Gwyn 𝓈𝓂𝒾𝓁𝑒𝒹 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝒶𝒹𝓁𝓎. “Thank you.”

Azriel dipped his head in a sketch of a bow, something restless settling in him. 𝐸𝓋𝑒𝓃 his shadows had calmed. 😎

Gwyn nodded her farewell, again facing the ribbon. A warrior sizing up an opponent, all traces of that 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓇𝓂𝒾𝓃𝑔 irreverence gone. 😩🖤

How Gwyn’s teal eyes might 𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 upon seeing the necklace. For whatever reason. . . he could see it.

A thing of secret, 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓊𝓉𝓎. ✨

[dimalry]

Another Gwynriel piece cause I‘m obsessed with them

[miseryreads]

✨ 𝐵𝓊𝓉 𝒜𝓏𝓇𝒾𝑒𝓁 𝓉𝓊𝒸𝓀𝑒𝒹 𝒶𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉, 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓈𝒸𝒾𝑜𝓊𝓈𝓁𝓎 𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓈𝓁𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓈𝓂𝒾𝓁𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝒷𝓇𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝒶𝒸𝑒. 𝐵𝓊𝓇𝒾𝑒𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒾𝓂𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝒹𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒹𝑒𝑒𝓅, 𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝒾𝓉 𝑔𝓁𝑜𝓌𝑒𝒹 𝓆𝓊𝒾𝑒𝓉𝓁𝓎. 𝒜 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝒻 𝓈𝑒𝒸𝓇𝑒𝓉, 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁𝓎 𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓊𝓉𝓎. ✨

AC: dahrkt Commissioned by: @miseryreads

[silentmes]

“Rumor claimed she dumped one in the sea. I only heard from a fleeing water-nymph that it had been done [...] Narben was even older than Gwydion”

“I’m a quarter nymph”

Gwyn and Narben, a headcanon of ours!

Art by @jessicailustrax

Comm by me and @RallikCarrara

[acourtofthought]

Babes, it is now March.

(in the real and ACOTAR world, either that or April)

Elain wanting to hook up with Az is so last Solstice.

But Elucien are still mates.

One doors shuts, another door opens.

Az out, Lucien in.

[darkest-fantasy]

No because what are we supposed to do when Azriel calls Gwyn ‘Priestess’ when they’re in bed together for the first time..

[dimalry]

Using Gwynriel to discover new brushes. I’m trying to study a bit more from chinese art, though it looks very rough. I used references for the poses cause I was too lazy creating my own- it’s not about the posing anyway

[justwithlu]

-Rhysand, High Lord of the Night Court

[whimsicalfrankenstein]

The Necklace Is the Villain

There is a specific kind of cinematic horror that unfolds midway through Love Actually, and it is not the Portuguese subplot, it is the necklace.

You remember it. Alan Rickman, embodiment of tasteful marital disappointment, purchases a delicate gold necklace, intimate, considered, unmistakably romantic. Emma Thompson’s character, his wife, later opens a gift she believes will be that necklace and instead finds a Joni Mitchell CD. The necklace, we learn, has gone to his office flirt. Cue quiet devastation, Christmas music weaponized, and an entire generation learning what emotional betrayal looks like wrapped in velvet.

Which brings us, unavoidably to Elriel.

Elriel is the ship that asks us to believe that a man silently pining, emotionally withholding, and privately gifting jewelry to a woman who is already entangled elsewhere is somehow romantic, rather than a narrative red flag with a Tiffany receipt. And if that sounds harsh, I assure you: the necklace started it.

Because here is the thing Love Actually understands with surgical precision and Elriels resolutely refuse to: a secretly gifted necklace is never what you think it is. It is not innocent. It is not “just a gesture.” It is not “symbolic.” It is a confession that has decided to accessorize.

Jewelry is not like soup. You cannot casually bring it over. You do not gift a necklace unless you have already crossed the line in your head. It is chosen, intimate, designed to be worn close to the body. It is not a thought; it is an action disguised as restraint. And when an emotion requires secrecy to exist, it is no longer innocent. A necklace does not say I feel something, it says I acted, quietly.

Alan Rickman didn’t need to kiss his coworker for us to understand the betrayal. The necklace did all the work. Similarly, Azriel does not need to declare himself or act overtly for the implication to clang loudly enough to wake the entire Night Court. The secrecy is the point. The restraint is not noble.

And Elriels will say, earnestly, valiantly that it’s about longing. About repression. About yearning glances across rooms. To which I say: yes. Exactly. That’s the problem.

Longing is not neutral when it is aimed. Yearning does not become virtuous because it is quiet. And secrecy does not become romantic simply because it is aesthetically pleasing. If Love Actually taught us anything, it’s that emotional fidelity matters as much as physical fidelity and sometimes more.

Emma Thompson’s character doesn’t cry because her husband slept with someone else. She cries because she realizes she is no longer the recipient of his most careful thoughts.

That is what the necklace means.

So no, I do not like Elriel. Not because it lacks chemistry, or tension, or pretty fanart potential. But because I have seen this movie before. I know how it ends. And I refuse on literary, moral, and seasonal grounds, to root for the necklace.

History, after all, has already judged it.

[mercurianbisous-deactivated2023]

This is stunning and I’m not okay

Support the artist on IG!

[whimsicalfrankenstein]

Everyone’s out here writing essays about broken bonds and gentle love, meanwhile Gwynriel is basically:

Trauma bonding? No. Shared healing arc with emotional communication and mutual respect? Yes, actually.

Azriel saw one lightsinger and immediately forgot how to speak. Man’s been brooding for 500 years and suddenly he’s out here blinking like “songs? for me?????”

And Gwyn’s just vibing. Girl trained with Valkyries, will ride a pegasus, and probably teases him relentlessly.

Elain gave him silence. Gwyn gave him a playlist, a sparring partner, and a reason to smile.

They’re not just endgame. That is character development in ship form.

[whimsicalfrankenstein]

Sometimes I think Gwyn carries the sun in her throat and that’s why it hurts to sing. She does not remember the beginning of her own courage, it simply appeared, softly like light behind the eyelids.

Gwyneth Berdara: not a hero. she lives between fear and laughter, and in that thin, trembling space, she creates something almost holy.

There’s no triumph in her voice, only truth. And truth isn’t clean. It’s raw, living, shimmering like water that refuses to stay still.

She is not the aftermath of pain, she is what pain became when it learned how to dance.

Gwny’s story is one that shows surviving is also an art form.

[whimsicalfrankenstein]

Some Elriels really built an entire ship out of longing and one almost-kiss.

Meanwhile, Azriel’s out there catching flights with a pegasus-riding Valkyrie who doesn’t need saving.

[famouscyclenerd]

Excited to read about Gwyn and Azriel fucking nasty btw

[lplusl]

[whimsicalfrankenstein]

[azrxelsgirl]

Everything would be so much easier if certain Elriels just admitted that they cannot see Gwyn past her sexual trauma. That way we wouldn’t be seeing such brain dead takes.

[whimsicalfrankenstein]

WORD