the elucien aesthetic is buttery shafts of sunlight filtering through leaves, and elain archeron laughing without covering her face (propriety be damned), her laugh a deep, throaty noise that is at odds with her appearance. it is lucien vanserra poring over thick, leather bound books in bed while tracing a hand down elain’s bare spine, it is sheer coral lingerie that is covering everything yet translucent and simultaneously leaving everything bare. it is the two sprawled on a blanket in a meadow, with her head resting in his lap while he reads her poetry. it is smiles that are as radiant as the sun and words that are either dripping with honey or as double edged as a sword.

_{context: elain and lucien are in the human lands on the continent, and stumble upon a meadow of flowers that have been prized by the high fae for centuries. while disarming in their beauty, they are just as lethal, and have been known for killing multiple princes and kings within the human lands. for elucien week, with flower as the prompt.}

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I keep seeing a lot about the next ACOTAR book being centered around Elain and Azriel, but logically: how can that ship fit into one book? First, from an author’s perspective, the next MC won’t get next to no page time in the book before. Elain wasn’t set up to be a MC or LI or both in ACOSF, and I don’t say this to stir up a ship war, but her presence was merely to signify future plots for her but nothing significant. Second, she has no connection to the next book, and that’ll tackle: the Illyrian uprising, the aftermath of three women winning a blood rite in an extremely misogynistic territory (country? I don’t know what Illyria counts as), Azriel dealing with his past (we learned his mother is still alive and will likely play a role in him confronting his past), Azriel handling his mental health (grappling with self worth), more issues with the Autumn Court, and closure with Morrigan. I see this having more to do with Gwynriel (if you’re looking for a ship) because she’s tied into what’ll be one of the most important plots (aftermath of the blood rite).

you can be an elain stan while recognizing that she is in desperate need of growth and a healing arc and separation from the inner circle. her growth is hindered where she is and she lacks awareness and empathy. she needs to learn more and to grow. because right now, with the attitude that was displayed towards nesta in acosf (elain’s inability to understand her trauma), it’s clear that she would not be healthy for either lucien or azriel.

_{thinking of parallels between suspected endgame ships:}

• _{nessian: cassian seemed to understand nesta’s grief regarding the death of her father because he lost his mother. the two share similar mannerisms as well in terms of coping. cassian knew that training was the outlet that quieted the world for him and it was how he was able to help nesta efficiently, to some extent. cassian is a warrior, and nesta ultimately became a valkyrie.}
• _{gwynriel: azriel was locked away and abused to a horrifying extent. gwyn was subject to what happened in sangravah before choosing to keep herself locked away into the library. azriel is in need of a journey that will allow him to fully look into his past, to embark on self-acceptance and self-love, and to fully close the chapter with morrigan. gwyneth needs to leave the library, and can only do so when she has the strength to fully face the past, and to allow herself to know that she is not to blame for what happened to her and her sister. both grapple with issues of worth, and both have been locked away.}
• _{elucien: elain seems to struggle most with being faemade, and one of her largest conflicts is the ended engagement with graysen. lucien’s biggest source of agony is jesminda. elain has often been kept protected and shielded, in a way keeping her from exploring her full potential, while lucien has never been able to truly heal and grow, let alone in knowledge of his full heritage. in a way he has been shielded from his full potential, the way the night court seems to insist on keeping elain from using her cauldron gifted powers (although she shows that she wants to begin using them). elain also seems to dislike anything that is not within her control, and lucien has never once been in control of his life.}

_{not here for y’all to argue w me, just here to point out some interesting parallels.}

_{okay, but can we discuss the way the inner circle handles trauma? while they pride themselves on growing past their traumas, i couldn’t think that’s further from the truth. i think they have a toxic mentality where they repress said traumas and push past it so they may live normally; they do not handle the trauma head on, as made evident by the way feyre, rhysand, and elain are mentioned and spoken about it in acosf. and i honestly think for elain, it’s damaging her more than anything and that lucien is the only one that’s picking up on that. i feel like the inner circle often glosses over elain, and i’m upset azriel hasn’t made more of a point to address it as well, particularly since he’s very much also “feeling” for elain.} 

Elain’s gardening is very much a part of who she is but is also a connection to the human world; it’s the only connection that truly hasn’t changed, and gardening in the fae world is the same as in the human lands. I think it was mentioned that she spent an AWFUL amount of time gardening and to me it sounds like she’s deflecting becoming fae while clinging to the one thing that makes her feel human. :/

_{“so I’m supposed to pretend I don’t care?” snarls Lucien, stalking away from her, as if the proximity between the two is too much, as if he cannot stand to be near the scent that threatens to overtake him completely. “that what happened earlier didn’t happen, to forget the press of your body against mine?”
there is silence in the clearing, and it’s as if the birds that had been singing have decided that their joyful melodies were no longer needed; not when the clearing seemed to be divided, with the air thick and heavy, and tainted with an old, powerful magic.
“you told me you loved me,” bites Lucien, the word as vicious as a pack of wolves tearing into a carcass. he’d intended to be kind; to say the words without bitterness, without a care for the wounds of the past, but it is the way she stares at him that threatens to undo him completely.
it is the understand. the regret. and the shared pain.
she had unknowingly done to him what had been done to her.
perhaps she was no better than Graysen, who she had grown to despise and view as a monster, as foreign to her as the creatures she had seen that one day on a blood-soaked plain.}

_{y’all ever start writing a fic n then hear a song and skip forward to halfway thru the fic bc u just got inspo , , , , ,}