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recurring-polynya · 7 months ago

Note

Are we accepting anime-beds to this discussion? Perhaps as supporting evidence?

The first one I thought of was Komamura waking up during the Halloween episode. He is, predictably, a futon-man. Wolfman. Whatever.

There was a similar shot with Isane waking up from her dream in the Lamp Society episode, and I was pleased by how consistent they made her bedroom to the shot you posted above.

You mentioned Rukia's Bount arc recovery situation being largely similar to Hisana's, and that checks out, although I have to say, Rukia's got the world's thinnest futon here. Maybe she just prefers a hard sleeping surface. Reminds her of her, uh, childhood of sleeping in the dirt, I guess? (or maybe Byakuya just thinks it does)

They move her around later when Ichigo and Renji come to bother visit her, whether it's because they move her around to wherever the sunlight is coming in, or Ichigo and Renji just aren't allowing the parlor or what, I don't know.

We also see Rukia's normal sleeping situation in the New Year's episode, which is still futons, although her futon looks nicer. Then again, the Bount Arc takes place in September or so, and this is New Year's, so maybe this is just her winter bedding.

PS: I guess this is her room? Which implies that when Renji comes over, they hang out in her room?? O! K!

Speaking of Renji, he slept on a futon when he was staying at Urahara's, which is in the Living Room, but is sort of...culturally...Soul Society?? I guess a lot of people sleep at Urahara's from time to time, and it's always futons in like, the big room they have for injured people, which is sort of analogous to the Squad 4 situation. Renji was here on a slightly more permanent basis, and he spent at least some of it uninjured. Anyway, I am not going to pass up any opportunity to post my Renji's-Urahara-Shouten-Sleeping-Situation screenshots, here they are:

That reminded me--I don't take anything that happened in Fade to Black as canon, but it does feature a shot of what passes for futons in Rukongai.

Finally, you mentioned earlier about Hitsugaya being a futon man, and I agree, so I was wondering what sort of accommodations were provided the time that the Karakura Kids had a slumber party in his office. The answer is: they slept on the floooooooooor

You've always been my go-to for all things Bleach lore and world-building! Do you think Shinigami all sleep in futons or beds? Or maybe it varies from character to character? We've seen the 4th division with beds in their wards, but I think every other character has slept in futons.

Haha, thank you! We do love a furniture deep-dive here, and people's headcanon speculations about shinigami life even more.

I started a list of any time we'd ever seen a character in some kind of bed (futon or frame), but it mostly just ended up being a long list of "_______ at the 4th," lol, so we'll see all those aside (almost all those aside). But canonically, there is a mixture! We see:

Hinamori in Aizen's futon

[Bleach 100]

Ukitake in his quarters

[Bleach e40]

Isane in her quarters

[Bleach 179]

Hisana at the Kuchiki house

[Bleach 179]

I think Rukia had a similar setup during the Bount Arc, as well.

Also, I'd like to note that for the record as I was retrieving *bed pictures* I got emotionally destroyed by my re-encounter with this panel. It is just SO deeply sad:

[Bleach 180]

The incredible, isolating vastness of the room, and the way the shadow cuts across the space. ToT <33333 It also reminds me of a really excellent meta piece done by afinepiece, where she analyzed the panels from Byakuya's story about Hisana and pointed out sections where the panel visuals might suggest Byakuya's memory/headspace more than physical reality. Her journal is deactivated but I know the reblog is on B3 somewhere! I'm inclined to go with that reading here, even though I also feel like the room probably just *looked like this* because every room in Soul Society is like this. (Maybe it's also for airflow, given her illness seemed partially respiratory and possibly contagious? ngl I'm basing this off that one anime elaboration scene and my co-blogger's post about Circus Hisana and Elephant TB).

In my mind Byakuya's convalescent setup was the same as Hisana's (is this the sad Seireitei equivalent of couples' outfits) but I was wrong:

[Bleach 180]

He's in a bed! But from the look of this building he's probably at the 4th and not at home. Put simply, this building is too brutish and workmanlike to be part of the Kuchiki complex:

[Bleach 180]

Hanatarou's quarters (implied)

[Bleach e259]

The tatami floor, layout, and big closet on the right-hand side seem to imply that Hanatarou uses a futon.

Abarai family quarters (implied)

[Bleach "No Breathes from Hell"]

This is probably not the only room in this house and they could put *anything* in those cabinets, but their sheer number and the style of the room suggests that this converts to a futon-filled bedroom, regardless of what might exist in other parts of the house.

Bonus 1: Renji in jail

[Bleach 118]

Is this at the 6th? Is this at the 4th? I always assumed the 6th, though obviously the 4th was involved. Idk, Byakuya left him on the ground. Maybe if you don't pick up your invalids the 4th just stashes them in their jail.

Bonus 2: Hitsugaya in Junrinan (non-shinigami, non-Seireitei)

[Bleach -16 (in between 286 and 287)]

These examples are pretty skewed in favor of futons, but if we think about this collection of characters, there is an overrepresentation of people who trend more traditional in terms of aesthetic, so they might not meaningfully represent the whole. Also, half the list is the same family.

We've seen a number of different offices and meeting rooms for each division, as well as some private residences, which have been a mix of Western and traditional styles in terms of the building itself and the furniture within it. Most of the offices seem to have Western furniture (or at least, the 10th, 6th, and 3rd), whereas Byakuya and Aizen, at least, seem to prefer the traditional at home.

Though, I don't know what this big-ass room is, but given its size and feeling of formal reception, this may well be the 5th's office?

[Bleach 100]

NB 1: I tried to look up what the office looks like under Shinji, but what is happening here:

[Bleach "No Breathes from Hell"]

NB 2: The 2nd also has traditional receiving rooms (used by both Yoruichi and Soi Fon, wherever the division between Shihouin and the 2nd is. But I assume Soi Fon's office is not the Shihouin Family Receiving room).

My feeling is that the differences are more regional/Division-based than personal preference-based, and *when*/by whom this design language was established depends on how much time and money the people in charge want to devote to furniture.

But that doesn't necessarily mean each Division is uniform, since we can see Isane and Hanatarou, both seated officers of the 4th, have different-style rooms! Maybe this is an effect of the 4th being an early bed adopter for their general professional purposes. Unohana is 100% a futon lady. I feel like Isane just accepted whatever was originally in the room, and that if there were no bed at all in the room she would sleep on the floor before asking to remodel. Does that mean a previous 4th VC wanted to modernize the VC quarters?

Was that previous 4th VC the original bedframe proselytizer, and got permission from Unohana to do up their quarters like a model home that gave examples of both types of room? Do Isane and Unohana live in an IKEA showroom?

What are the benefits of futons?

the room can be multi-use, a general common room by day and sleeping dorm by night

don't have to make a bunch of bedframes

Given what a big deal everyone makes out of transporting goods from the Living World, I feel like they probably make all their furniture and don't import particleboard from Nitori, so this would be expensive! Plus, given the amount of building reconstruction that needs to happen, I feel like there's probably a fairly small quota of wood released to civilians and/or divisions for non-essential use.

What are the benefits of bedframes?

BUNKBEDS

easier cleaning/long-term savings?

Yeah, you'd have to make the bedframes and have a whole separate common room, but having beds implies you've probably done away with the tatami in the room, since you're not really supposed to put heavy furniture on the mats. And I don't think in a barrack with heavy use you'd be able to rely on shinigami simply "being careful." Same logic as college dorms and their "IKEA, but completely indestructible" furniture.

So if you decide in the long-term that you don't want to do tatami maintenance/replacement and want wood furniture on wood floors, maybe the bed route is for you! ("You" here meaning "your division"!) At which point it'd be a matter of:

caring enough to do a cost/benefit analysis about this

whether or not you want to preserve the traditional aesthetic

whether you have the initial capital to invest in making the change

Some additional thoughts:

We know that at least a portion of the 2nd has heated floors, as financed by Oomaeda. I'm not a heated floors aficionado--though I stayed at an AirBnb once with a heated driveway--NUTS) but I feel like that would...not work with tatami? That over time the heat would dry them out too much and make them brittle? So maybe the 2nd has beds.

Despite the fact that the 10th office changes out their couch out a few times during the canon timeline, I feel like there's a 0% chance Hitsugaya has considered a bedding/architecture overhaul during his tenure at the 10th. He's spent the last 15 years developing a real filing system and an actual budget procedure. He didn't come in with extra money to put towards beds and the 46 doesn't generally approve that kind of line item. That's more of a "gift fund" expense.

Shinji is trying to get a Pod Hotel proposal approved, on the grounds that the idea would benefit more than just the 5th. They could implement it in the Tsumesho (Gotei WeWork)! And provide them in strategic outposts across Rukongai!

During what decade was the 11th briefly "HAMMOCK DIVISION" because it seemed like the cheapest, most low-maintenance option?

#i looooooove this post beds are one of my top 3 things to think about in soul society #for reasons i could not justify i have long headcanoned them having beds at the academy #(the reasons being because i imagine the dorms looking exactly like my own college dorms)#but Students Are Rough on Flooring is my new excuse #that being said i bet some of the richer students do bring in their own tatami etc pimp my room edo-style #also hard-agree on Squad 11's Hammock Era #these men can handle neither tatami nor furniture #soul society worldbuilding

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icarusflewsworld · 10 days ago

Text

Rhysand & Cassian & Azriel X OC

Hello, here is the chapter 18 of a fanfiction on the world of Acotar where our three favorite Batboys are the mates of a single woman.

I hope you enjoyed this reading too and that you discovered the little clues I left all along concerning Luxiana's true painful past.

Thank you for your readings and thank you for all your kind and funny comments, you are really too adorable. It makes my heart BOUM BOUM. I looooooove you! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I also hope you have a great day and I wish you good luck for all the things you will have to go through. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

The next chapter will be Friday, December 20! They are going to take Luxiana to see the Weaver but Luxiana is going to destroy everything.

! Don't forget to read the previous chapters ! : Here

Enjoy the read ! ❤️❤️❤️

Chapter 18

Luxiana's eyes widened. "Oh well you know, my childhood has nothing to do with yours." A ball of anxiety compressed her stomach. She didn't want to tell them about it. She still felt so bad, so guilty. What would they think of her? She had to lie but her anxiety grew heavier as she remembered Azriel's presence at her side. Everything would be fine if she didn't lie. She just had to omit certain details.

"Were you happy?" Rhysand asked anxiously. He gave his brothers a doubtful look, who returned it, feeling the same way. He shoved his hands in his pockets to hide his clenched fists. He was so afraid she would tell him she wasn’t.

“I was probably the happiest little girl ever.” Luxiana exclaimed with a big smile. “Really!” she breathed, trying to focus only on the happy days, and not on the heartbreaking pit of sadness, death, and guilt that haunted her every second. “My parents were so in love. I swear. They loved each other with all their hearts. They always laughed together and never fought. They looked at each other with shining eyes and were always hugging each other.”

Rhysand, Cassian, and Azriel were able to take a deep breath as they looked at her with dreamy eyes, shining with hope and relief.

“My mother was the sweetest, most loving woman I’ve ever met. She was always taking care of my father and me,” she laughed softly as she remembered. “She was the one who fixed the furniture in the house, who did odd jobs, who went to chop firewood or who went hunting. She would insist on my father for her doing things that men usually had to do and she always won against him. She was really strong. So my days were spent either with my mother teaching me how to hunt, making me carry big logs and teaching me how to survive in the forest, or with my father cleaning, cooking, or any number of other things. And I loved every moment I had with them.”

Azriel's eyes were shining. She looked so happy as she talked about all this. "Was your father a good person?"

“He was the best. He treated me like a princess, really. He indulged my every whim. Sometimes I wanted to eat in the middle of the night so he would cook me a huge meal. When I was afraid of the dark or that there was a creature under my bed, he would sit against my closet with a knife in his hand and he would stay up all night so I could sleep peacefully. Every night, before I fell asleep, he would read me stories about the wonders of the world. He even built a small fireplace to put in my room and he would get up every two hours to feed it with wood. And he would always iron my sheets before I crawled into bed or he would wrap me under a mound of blankets,” Luxiana’s heart broke as it rose up into her throat but she didn’t let it show. She even put her trembling hands under her thighs to hide them.

The three Illyrians looked at her with big smiles as a weight they hadn't even realized they had lightened their hearts as it evaporated. She had had a happy childhood. "Were you still living with them before you came here?" Cassian asked.

"No... uh" Luxiana lowered her head for a moment, searching for words. "We lived in a remote corner of the forest, far from any form of life or civilization and my parents were so afraid that I would be hurt or meet a bad person who wanted to hurt me that they always prevented me from going with them to town or even seeing other people."

Cassian straightened. Rhysand frowned. Azriel lost his smile as he tensed. They didn’t like this. It wasn’t good to keep a child away from everything. It was like keeping her in prison.

“For years, I had never seen anyone but my parents. But my father often told me about the wonders of the outside world and that… that awakened in me a crazy desire to leave and go discover the world. And that's what I did.”

“You left?” Azriel asked for clarification, his breath hitching.

Luxiana nodded slowly with an expressionless face. “I was nine years old.”

“Nine years old??” they all exclaimed with wide eyes.

“Yeah, I was already completely crazy back then, I think. Only I would want to leave such a harmonious and happy home. I left a little note for my parents saying, ‘Hey, I’m leaving, kisses,’” she laughed falsely, hoping it would ease her heart. “I had never set foot in a city or met people before that.”

Rhysand saw the sadness she was trying to hide in her blank expression and it made him sad in turn. "Do you regret it?"

She nodded. "Yes, I miss them. But I'm sure that one day I'll see them again." She shook her head to regain that expression of confidence that protected her when she wasn't okay. "And the worst part of all this is that I stopped at the first town I visited to stay because I met Feyre there. She seemed so in need of help that I taught her everything I knew about the forest, about how to hunt or skin an animal. Everything my mother had taught me, I passed on to her. Then I understood that to survive and especially to travel, you needed money, so I tried to find a job while waiting to have the means to leave and while waiting to finish learning everything I had to teach to Feyre. But I was just a little girl in an adult world."

“You must have been terrified,” Mor observed in horror.

"Not really," Luxiana laughed. She gritted her teeth imperceptibly. She hadn't been afraid, because she had nothing left to lose. "I just went into the first bar I found and demanded the boss to take me on as an employee for any job he had to offer me. And that's where I met Keydan."

“Your boss,” Azriel said with a frown, hoping she would confirm it again.

"He became a little more than that over time. He took care of me, protected me and raised me. He taught me a lot of things that my parents could never have taught me and thanks to him, I felt at home again somewhere. Then another one came to join our gang, Josher, he's my best friend. And when I was old enough, Keydan pushed me to go see the world but I never wanted to. Well, until three years ago when I finally decided to go."

“All alone?” Mor asked in a mixture of surprise and admiration. “That must have been horrible. Terrible things could have happened to you.”

The three Illyrians glanced at the cousin. She was right and they didn't like it.

Luxiana laughed, shaking her head negatively. "I'm pretty resourceful and then I left my parents' house for that reason. I left them for that so, it had to be worth it. And then, I'm not really afraid of much, you know."

Azriel raised an eyebrow as he nodded with a bored look. "We noticed that."

"I've been all over the world, met loads of amazing people, but there was always something missing. I was always missing Feyre, Keydan, and Josher. So after seeing everything, I came back, but..."

She looked down and lost her smile. “It was too late, Feyre had been taken by Tamlin. And the rest, you know.”

The three Illyrians had healed hearts. They felt like they were floating because they were so relieved. Their soul mate had a happy life. Of course, she missed her parents but no one had ever hurt her. They sighed. Their soul mate was happy, alive and sunny, it was certain that she had never known misfortune but hearing it from her mouth reassured them so much.

That said, realizing this, a hint of anxiety rose in Rhysand. She had never known danger and he had just brought her closer to where the danger was stronger than anywhere else. He had just brought her closer to him.

Azriel slid his hand -which had been on Luxiana's neck the whole time- to pass it over the back of her skull, taking his fingers into her braid. He smiled as he saw her shiver under his touch. Then he stared at her with a determined look. The only dark spot in her story was her parents. She missed them so Azriel promised himself to find them and bring them back to her so that she would be reassured and happy.

Cassian couldn't help but take a deep breath. His soulmate had never known pain, suffering, or loneliness and he was going to do everything he could to keep it that way. He was going to protect her until his last breath.

“By the way,” Mor began, suddenly curious. “How old are you?”

"I'm twenty-three," Luxiana answered simply, still fighting against herself to not let her bad memories resurface in her mind.

“You’re twenty-three?” Mor exclaimed in shock, slamming her palms down on the table. She looked at Rhysand, “ she’s a baby !!”

“Don’t say it like that,” Rhys scolded, giving her a disapproving look. Cassian laughed, but Azriel let out a sound that looked like a growl.

Luxiana smiled but frowned for a second as she looked at them all one by one without really understanding. "Why? How old are you?"

"I'm 536 years old," Rhysand said.

Luxiana turned to face him with wide eyes. She knew they were old but not that old.

“I have 537, young lady,” Cassian added next.

“What?” she gasped in shock, turning to Cassian.

“538,” Azriel muttered under his breath.

“WHAT???” Luxiana yelled, her gaze swinging wildly between the three of them. “Guys you’re super old !!”

“We’re not old!” Cassian said, his voice almost shrill. “That’s still very young for fae.”

Luxiana burst out laughing, pointing at them. "No, no, you're grandpas."

Mor was literally dying of laughter despite the dissuasive look Rhys was giving her. Then the lord gave Luxiana a weary face. "Please don't think we're grandpas," Rhys almost begged. He certainly didn't want to lose his soulmate because she thought they were too old.

Luxiana calmed down slowly, gradually stopping laughing. "Don't worry, I'm joking. You don't have any wrinkles or white hair yet, anyway." Then she narrowed her eyes at Cassian in front of her, pretending to notice something. "Well... if that's a wrinkle I see at the corner of your eyes there."

Cassian stood up from his chair, offended to the core of his ego. "What? Not at all!"

Luxiana burst out laughing. And the others followed her.

Cassian strode toward his soulmate. He rounded the table, unable to hold back his broad smile. "I'll show you if I'm an old man." He walked behind Rhysand to approach Luxiana, who was still laughing heartily.

When she saw him coming, and although she was still laughing, she began to wave her hands in all directions to shout softly, "no, no, wait!" But Cassian did not stop. He arrived at her side and wanted to lean towards her but Luxiana fled to the only place where she could. Where Cassian could not intercept her. On Azriel's legs. She leaned on his thighs with both forearms to throw herself head first between his torso and the table. Her chest landed on the legs of the master spy who froze.

Azriel's eyes were wide. He threw his hands up in the air, unsure of what to do. His heart began to pound in all directions in his chest.

Cassian and Rhysand looked at each other in surprise and then back at their soulmate. They both froze for a second when they saw Luxiana's position forcing her to put her ass on full display, almost revealed by her dress. Rhysand's eyes widened before starting to laugh again , placing his hand on his face.

Cassian couldn't laugh because of all the dirty images that were flashing through his mind at the sight of his soulmate's position. She seemed to have a perfect shape. Cassian was already imagining the day he could grab her hips to pleasure her.

Luxiana began to crawl away, trying to escape. She managed to touch the ground with her hands to hold on and move forward, rubbing her stomach even more on Azriel's thighs.

The spymaster was dying. At least, that was the impression he gave, as he had become so white. He looked up at the ceiling, taking a deep breath to try and calm the erection that was swelling in his pants.

Cassian pulled himself together, shaking his head. There was no way he wasn't going to take advantage of his soulmate like Azriel was doing now. He wanted her on his lap too. He grabbed her ankle before she could completely escape. Luxiana screamed in surprise when Cassian tried to pull her back. But Azriel slapped his brother's hand violently, forcing him to let go.

The shadowsinger was certainly not going to let him steal her. His soulmate had chosen to throw herself at him for protection and he intended to defend her. "Hands off," he growled.

Cassian moved his hand away in mock surprise. He knew his brother would react like that because he would have reacted the same way.

Luxiana snapped her upside down head at Azriel after his words. "That was downright sexy," she breathed with eyes shining with admiration as she looked at the fae beneath her pelvis.

Azriel closed his eyes, exhaling wearily, but his heart was pounding in his chest like crazy. She had found what he had done sexy. He wanted to smile. He threw a sideways glance at his brother. "Go away!" Then he grabbed Luxiana by the hips to lift her up and sit her back down on her chair before she felt his erection against her stomach.

Cassian went back to sit down but he stared at his soulmate with narrowed eyes, falsely vexed. He pointed his index and middle fingers at his eyes then at Luxiana's. "We'll resume this discussion." He tried to look threatening but he smiled which, inevitably, caused everyone to laugh.

After all those hours of talking and telling their stories, dinner time had finally arrived. And the three Illyrians couldn't help but look affectionately at their soulmate who had jumped in surprise when she saw the food appear in front of them. And when Rhysand had explained to her that the house was magical and that she only had to think of a dish for it to appear in front of her, Luxiana had gotten up to throw herself, arms and legs spread, on one of the walls of the room to give the house a hug.

"You're a good house. You're my favorite house. I love you so much, you know." She whispered to the house, caressing its cheek on the wall.

The three Illyrians felt like they were hallucinating but Mor's ungainly laughter brought them back to reality. Azriel jumped out of his chair to run towards Luxiana as she slowly slid off the wall to land on the ground. He grabbed her by the stomach, wrapping one of his arms around her to pull her away before she crashed but when he pulled her away from the wall, the house began to shake.

A silence fell as everyone stared at the ceiling in a mixture of shock and fear. "I think the house likes her too," Cassian laughed.

“Put it back on the wall,” Mor insisted, afraid the ceiling would fall on his head.

Azriel growled but didn't give in to Mor's request. He hadn't even heard it anyway, his ears were tickling from Luxiana's laughter. He put his soulmate back on the chair next to his.

Then they were able to eat happily, talking about everything and nothing in a good mood. The three Illyrians felt good. They had taken another step forward in their relationship with their soul mate. She now knew everything about them and they knew everything about her. Well, at least, that was what they thought.

“Would you like to visit the city?” Rhysand asked after the meal.

Luxiana turned a wide-open gaze towards him, so bright that it almost dazzled Rhysand.

Azriel smiled seeing her over react as always. "We could go buy some ice cream, do you like ice cream?" he asked, grabbing a strand of her hair that was hanging over her face. He stroked it with his fingertips for a second, savoring the silky texture, then he put it behind her ear.

Luxiana then turned abruptly towards Azriel with even brighter eyes - like two little suns - then she began to nod vigorously.

Cassian burst out laughing. "She likes ice cream apparently."

Rhysand stood up, his eyes sparkling and his chest vibrating with emotion and eager. He held out his hand to her. "Let's go then."

Luxiana grabbed it without arguing to jump to her feet and follow Rhysand with Cassian and Azriel joining them.

“Have fun!” Mor called affectionately before they left the room.

Luxiana turned back to her and Amren with a surprised face. "You're not coming?" She wanted to stop but Rhysand tangled his fingers with hers to continue pulling her.

Mor laughed as he glanced at Amren who was raising his glass of wine. “Oh no, we’d be too many. Next time, though, with pleasure!”

Rhysand led her out onto a large balcony. The cool air swept through Luxiana's hair, making her fur tingle and sending a waft of her vanilla scent into the nostrils of the three Illyrians who could have melted. As they neared the edge, Luxiana's eyes widened and she gasped in surprise when she noticed Velaris lying below. She wrenched herself, reluctantly, from Rhysand's grasp, and ran toward the barrier.

Azriel, who was still studying her with bright eyes, suddenly panicked when he saw her rushing towards the edge of the balcony. He raised his hands towards her, chasing her to try to catch up with her, but he froze when he saw her leaning on the barricade without going over it. He suddenly stopped, blowing out a breath. He put his hand on his heart, trying to calm his frantic beating under Cassian's laugh but understanding gaze from Rhysand. Since they had seen her run away from his room to climb a mountain without protection, they had understood that their soul mate was completely crazy and that they had to expect anything from her. Especially the stupidest things that would put her life in danger, like jumping over the balcony barrier.

“This city is beautiful!” she exclaimed, leaping up and down, her pupils reflecting the city lights.

Rhysand let out a small laugh. The dreamy look his soulmate currently had filled his heart with contentment. It had been worth it to do everything to protect this place if Luxiana loved it. He grabbed her chin with his fingers to make her look up to the sky.

The starry sky above them was wonderful, almost unreal. It took Luxiana’s breath away. She began to spin around to observe every corner, but when her eyes fell on a high mountain where on top were three stars that shone brighter than the others, she froze, frowning.

Azriel, Cassian, and Rhysand, who were eyeing her up, noticed her discomfort. "Is something wrong?" Azriel asked, casting a concerned look at Rhysand.

"No, no," their soulmate breathed, though a little lost. "It's just this mountain... and this sky... I feel like I've seen them before in a dream."

The three Ilyrians looked at each other with understanding and complicity. She had seen that in one of her dreams because she was linked to them and one of them must have unconsciously sent her that image one day through their link.

“Whatever,” Luxiana said, shaking her head. “Shall we go?”

Rhysand nodded and then smiled cockily with a mischievous glint in his eyes. “We have to fly. Which one of us three do you want to ride?”

A kind of anxiety arose in the pit of the stomachs of the three males, which they hid very well. All three of them wanted to be chosen.

Luxiana raised an eyebrow, surprised at first by the lord's turn of phrase. Then she smirked as she stared at Rhysand and the other two with a seductive expression. Of course, she began to blush but the low light reassured her that the three males couldn't see it. "Oh," she breathed, pouting in exaggerated disappointment. "You mean I can't ride all three of you? You're destroying my dreams."

Azriel looked at her tiredly, shaking his head from left to right, but he couldn't help but smile. His fingers burned, he wanted to touch her. Rhysand returned her seductive expression to his soulmate, but each of his muscles vibrated with excitement and desire. Cassian burst out laughing, leaning his head back , but his heart was pounding in his chest and his lower stomach was pulsing. "I'm sure we can find a solution , if you want."

Luxiana snorted, rolling her eyes. "No but seriously, I can't choose between the three of you!"

They were so reassured by her words that they almost had a hard time hiding it as they calmed down immediately, but Luxiana continued with a mischievous look. "Finally," she said, pointing at Cassian. "It's too dangerous to ride with him. He's too old, he could get a cramp in his wings and kill us both."

Cassian lost all trace of humor on his face to open his mouth wide, offended. Rhysand and Azriel burst out laughing. "I'm not even the oldest of the three!" Cassian defended himself before recovering and closing the distance between Luxiana and him in the blink of an eye. "Oh you'll see if I'm an old man."

"No, no, I was joking, wait," Luxiana laughed uncontrollably. She placed her palms flat on Cassian's chest to keep him at a distance, but he still got close enough to grab her hips firmly, pin her to his chest, and flew away.

Luxiana screamed in surprise, clinging to Cassian's shoulders and wrapping her legs around his pelvis as he flew into the air at full speed. The other two watched in hilarity as Cassian flew around the city with astonishing speed while their soulmate clung to him, screaming the whole time.

The commander of the armies, after a few seconds, and not wanting to scare his soul mate too much, decided to land in a street of the city. Azriel and Rhysand joined them immediately after.

Cassian had released his soulmate but she was still clinging to him like a mussel to its rock. She had her head in his neck and was breathing fast. Very fast, even giving the impression of having a physically tight throat. Cassian could hear, from where he was, his soulmate's heart beating madly in his chest. And he smiled with all his teeth as he realized that he could only hear one beat for both of them. Their hearts were beating in unison but surely not for the same reason.

"Cass, you're annoying," Rhysand stopped laughing as he saw Luxiana's distress and glared at his brother. He grabbed Luxiana by the hips to pull her away from Cassian and set her feet on the ground.

Cassian leaned towards her with a smirk. “So I’m still a grandpa now?”

Luxiana was all disheveled , her gaze wide open on the floor. She was still gasping for air but she shook her head vigorously from side to side, making Cassian laugh.

Azriel smirked. She was so cute. He ran his palm over the top of his soulmate’s head, smoothing her wild locks back onto her head. “Are you okay?”

Luxiana blinked back to her senses and began to smile with all her teeth as she jumped out off joy. Then against all odds, she began to nod vigorously this time. "That was incredible!" she yelled as she moved closer to Cassian. "Again! And faster this time!"

The three males flinched in surprise, but the Illyrian with the red siphons' eyes began to sparkle. He was going to grab her and lift her up, but Azriel pulled Luxiana by the arm, a little jealous that she was asking Cassian for another ride. He led her toward the city. "Later."

"Oh no," Luxiana said suddenly sad but when she turned to follow Azriel, in spite of herself, and saw the streets of Velaris bustling, crowded with people and where the shops were still open despite the late hour, her expression changed. She gasped in surprise, widening her shining eyes. She jumped for joy, moving her eyes in all directions to look at everything. She started to run towards the nearest shop to see what it was selling, but Azriel's hand held her back, preventing her from going more than two arm's lengths away. Luxiana didn't even try to find out what was stopping her or to make the Illyrian let go, when she saw another shop open at the opposite. She then changed direction to go there but was just as held back.

"Let her go," Cassian laughed as he followed them and tried to calm his anger and disappointment at the fact that Azriel had stopped him from flying with his soulmate again.

“No,” Azriel growled, intertwining his fingers with the blonde’s, “there are too many people, we’re going to lose her.”

"Wait, Luxiana, if you keep shooting, you'll tear my spymaster's arm off," Rhysand remarked with a tender smile as he joined his brothers and put his hands in his pockets. "We'll show you everything around anyway, don't worry."

And they visited everything. Absolutely everything. Luxiana took them to every shop in spite of themselves and she spoke with everyone she met, complimenting them, saying hello or even - for the shopkeepers - congratulating their work or asking them questions.

Azriel had to interrupt some of her discussions - all of them, in fact - when people in front of his soulmate smiled at her a little too much, looked at her a little too closely, or when she took on her attentive expression when she listened to their explanations. He had to pulled her away each time and she was so excited that Luxiana had never said anything about it.

On the other hand, she had never stopped talking to the three Illyrians behind her about what she saw. Cassian took great pleasure in showing her other things and even ran around with her while being just as excited. Except that it wasn't for the same reasons. Rhysand answered her questions by smiling so much that his cheeks were starting to cramp. He wasn't used to it anymore. And Azriel didn't even look where he was going, his bright eyes permanently fixed on Luxiana who was dragging him everywhere.

They eventually stopped at an ice cream stand as Luxiana and Cassian squealed in joy like children as they jumped.

Azriel let go of his soulmate's hand to place his palms on her shoulders and make her stop moving. "What's your favorite perfume?"

"Vanilla! Of course!" she replied, pulling away to turn around and stick her head against the window in front of the ice creams. Cassian joined her to do the same. Rhysand laughed, placing his hand on his forehead. "And you?" she asked, turning back to Azriel. "No wait! Let me guess. Hmmm... raspberry!" she exclaimed. "Am I right?"

Azriel smiled, "I guess we'll find out soon enough. One raspberry and one vanilla," he demanded of the seller. He may be deathly allergic to raspberry that he'd be enjoying this ice cream anyway, and maybe he'll like it after all.

“Guess for me too,” Cassian asked, jumping to Luxiana’s side.

Luxiana turned fully towards him to cross her arms and look at him with narrowed eyes. "You're caramel flavored, that's for sure."

Cassian raised an eyebrow in surprise. “How do you know?”

Luxiana grimaced exaggeratedly in surprise, not suspecting for a second that she was going to be right. She laughed before turning to Rhysand. Then she got serious again. "Oh no," she leaned back to bring her face closer to Cassian's behind her and whispered, "don't tell me he's a chocolate mint." Cassian pursed his lips to keep from laughing under Rhysand's dark gaze.

“He is a chocolate mint,” Cassian agreed in the same tone. Then he and Luxiana began to eye Rhysand with judgmental expressions, both nodding their heads from side to side. “He’s so weird.”

Luxiana nodded. She glanced at Cassian who glanced back and unable to hold back any longer, seeing each other trying not to laugh, they exploded. They stared at each other, leaning forwards while laughing.

Cassian calmed down slowly while detailing his soulmate. His heart slammed fiercely against his chest, even asking to go out. He felt, for once in his life, considered, really noticed. By Luxiana, what's more ? He loved the complicity he had with her. He loved that she didn't take herself too seriously. He loved that she was so alive and that she enjoyed every moment. And despite himself, he loved it when she teased him. This woman was his soulmate but what he felt for her at this precise moment had nothing to do with that. The butterflies that tickled his entire body were only there because he had made her laugh, because this woman in front of him was beautiful and because he had felt so good all day in her presence. Of course, Luxiana was important from the beginning. As soon as he knew she was his soulmate but from now on she was important for something else. He could never do without her now.

Cassian and Azriel finally got the four ice creams and Rhysand paid. Seeing him, Luxiana threw herself at him to wrap her arms around his for a second before gathering her courage. She delicately grabbed Rhysand's chin with her thumb and index finger to hold his head in place. Rhysand froze, wondering what she was doing as she stood on tiptoe to give him a kiss on the cheek, almost at the corners of his lips. "Thank you," she whispered to him as she moved away to wrap her arm around Rhysand's.

The Illyrian's eyelids widened as he felt his soulmate's lips land on his cheek while electrocuting his entire face. He began to smile with all his teeth as he looked down at Luxiana who was staring at him with pupils shining with a sort of admiration. "It's just an ice cream," he breathed, laughing, "I'm rich, I remind you."

Luxiana looked away with a smile. “Thanks for the ice cream too, but I wasn’t thanking you for that originally.”

Rhysand frowned as he tilted his head, silently urging her to elaborate as he turned fully towards her.

Luxiana let go to stand in front of him, giving a serious and intense gaze in the lord's. "Thank you for this city. Thank you for protecting it. It may not mean much to you, but I spent one of the best evenings of my life, here, with you. Truly."

Rhysand's face relaxed in realization. His heart skipped a beat. His soulmate had had one of the best nights of her life thanks to him. It made him so happy. He was so happy. He brought his hand up to Luxiana's cheek and held on tight. "You have no idea how much what you just said means to me. You really have no idea how good it feels to hear you say that, especially coming from you." Surprisingly, he was able to take a deep breath, feeling lighter than ever. Everything he had been through felt more worth it with every second he passed with Luxiana. His heart pounded against his burning ribs and electricity felt like it was coursing through his body nonstop as he took in the pretty blonde in front of him. Rhysand felt so lucky. What then awoke in his breast was something even stronger than affection.

Luxiana felt her cheeks heated so much that it burned her. She smiled in the hope that she had managed to calm Rhysand's bad thoughts a little. She pointed with her head at the ice creams in the hands of the two Illyrians at their sides. "Let's eat before it melts." She let go of Rhysand to grab her ice cream from Azriel's hands.

Rhysand clapped Cassian on the shoulder as he grabbed his ice cream.

Luxiana began to lick her ice cream happily as she started running around again and then she arrived at the edge of a river. She rushed towards it, clinging to the iron barriers that separated her from the water, very quickly joined by the three Illyrians. She turned towards them. Cassian was in front of her, Rhysand on her right and Azriel on her left. "This city is magnificent!" she exclaimed again, amazed. She leaned on the barrier with her free hand to lift herself up and put her buttocks on the metal, wanting to sit down to enjoy her ice cream in peace. But inevitably, she lost her balance and capsized backwards. She was going to catch herself by doing a clever movement but Azriel reacted before her.

Before he could even widen his eyes and drop his ice cream, his body - which had been tense since he had seen his soulmate get a little too close to the barrier and the river - reacted almost automatically to catch her with one hand by her arm and stabilize her. Azriel's heart exploded in his chest in fear before calming down when he saw that she was okay. "Be careful," he ordered her, giving her a stern look, but his expression melted into tenderness when he laid his eyes on Luxiana's face.

When she almost fell, she tried to catch herself but her ice cream hit her face. So she had vanilla all over her nose. She closed her eyes, cursing herself for being so stupid and trying to hide her blush of shame. "Sorry," she laughed, lowering her head to hide herself.

Cassian and Rhysand openly mocked her, laughing heartily, but Azriel could only laugh softly, he was far too absorbed in the cuteness of his soulmate. His heart was beating so hard in his chest that it warmed his entire body in a way he wasn't used to. He was so eager to spend more time with her. So eager to be able to hold her in his arms. So eager to possess her. He had never wanted anyone as much as he wanted her. Never. And it wasn't just because she was his soulmate, but because what she awakened in him made him feel alive, and vibrant. She brought such light to him. His smile slowly faded to seriousness. He brought his hand to Luxiana's face to gently rub the cream on her nose with his thumb. "It's nothing," he answered her. "I'll always be there to catch you, anyway."

Luxiana had to swallow hard at his words, feeling tickled all over. She blinked several times quickly before smiling and shaking her head. Then she went back to talking about everything and nothing with the three Illyrians. And this, until they put her back in her room.

And when Cassian, Rhysand, and Azriel laid their heads on their pillows, they were smiling with all their teeth, their hearts still beating wildly in their chests. They weren't going to be able to sleep. They were way too excited, happy, and turned upside down by all the things they felt for Luxiana. They loved it. Everything she made them feel. But despite that, they still wanted more.

Luxiana flopped down on her bed, her eyes blank and her tired face staring at the ceiling. Everything she had said about herself today had brought back her memories, her guilt, her pain. She was so tired. So tired. She brought her hand to her shoulder, trying to massage her back. Ever since she had remembered, it had hurt. So much. Her entire back was burning and the mattress she was lying on only made it worse. So she leaned on it a little more, hurting herself even more to punish her for what she had done. She felt so guilty.

But despite that, tonight, with these three Illyrians, she had spent an excellent evening. And she had forgotten all the wrong things about her. She had been able to breathe a little thanks to them. And it was bad. So bad, especially since they only saw her as a service to be performed. But she intended to take advantage of the good they were doing to her.

#acomaf #a court of thorns and roses #acotar #acowar #azriel #cassian #rhysand #cassian x oc #azriel x oc #rhysand x oc #rhysand acotar #rhys acotar #azriel shadowsinger #azriel spymaster #azriel acotar #rhysand & cassian & azriel x oc

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