#cinder x kai

[mothmanlikesmen]

I’m running out of clips to edit tbh 😔🫡 I’m glad I’m not the only one who ships them 🥳

Toxic gays in their early 20’s core 🫡

[mellendraws]

So this is love mmm 🎶

[dont-let-me-eat-pears]

Oh my gosh, I totally forgot about the scene where Kai shows up at Cinder’s booth again and gives her a pair of fancy gloves.

“‘Stars, Cinder, if I’d known you were going to embargo me for asking you on a date, I wouldn’t have dared’” (Meyer 2012, 248).

Also forgot how much of a flirt he is in this book.

[artsbygih]

Cinder and Kai at their wedding

[yearofthevampire]

lunar chronicles kaider doodles

(idk their ship name)

[chemicallyyourss]

Cinder and Kai Inspired Song List

Cinder and Kai shippers I need Kaider songs 😭😭😭 Need representation for my OTP because the slight lack in fanfics and art is driving me mad lol. If anyone has songs or even full playlists they want to send me or comment/repost I would freaking love you <3

tagging some of the kaider shippers I know to sort of jumpstart this since I have like 2 followers lol

@kaider-is-my-otp @kaiderforever @kaider-otp @kaiderswell @shanlightyear @impossiblesuitcase @princessselene126 @ikosburneraccount @thelunarchronicles-kaider @therealkaidertrash18 @therealkaidertrash21 @wassupnye

tag others I might have missed?? I love specific playlists for ships, feelings, niche feelings, books/fandoms, etc.

[a-bookish-witch]

Ravenpuff ships (feel free to add more)

Peraltiago

Hartwin

Kiyoyachi

Tsuchako

Cinder x Kai

Lumity

[not-the-founder-of-rome]

Cress: Thorne, I’m sad.

Thorne: *pulls cress into hug* it’s gonna be okay.

Kai:

Kai: Cinder, I’m sad.

Cinder: mood.

[luminouslumity]

What's funny is that I was planning on doing a re-read of this series anyway, so I'm just glad to see people still discussing the books at all!

[scentedsstuff]

Cinder

By Marissa Meyer

Rating: 3/5⭐️

As a big fan of fairy tale retellings, especially those with a new take on a classic tale, I had long had my eye on 'The Lunar Chronicles.' However, when actually getting to read the first book of the series, I've found that it simply didn't live up to the hype.

Quick Plot Summary:

In this Cinderella retelling we follow a teenage Lihn Cinder; the best mechanic in New Beijing.

Part of the new take on this tale is that she also happens to be a Cyborg, which in this futuristic society renders her as a second class citizen, not only amongst the general public but within her own family.

Her life starts to take a turn for the unexpected when the heir to the throne; Prince Kai, enters the picture. Cinder now tasked with fixing the Prince's royal android, finds herself tangled in royal politics and schemes.

This leads to the discovery of royal secrets and hidden identities, all while the earth's future is hanging in the balance as a deadly plague continues sweeping the nation and the threat of war looms near.

Thoughts:

This was a book I had been wanting to read since high school but somehow never got around to it. Unfortunately this turned out to be a book I felt I would have enjoyed a lot more as a teen as opposed to now.

The premise itself is very promising; a cyborg Cinderella set in a futuristic city incorporating elements of both sci-fi and fantasy, what's not to like?

The writing was simple and easy to follow which allows the story to be more accessible for any reader. The world building piqued my interest, but even with so much potential it ultimately fell flat.

The pacing on its own was fine, however when paired with the surface level exploration of characters and the world itself, felt like a disservice to the book. And this was something which really annoyed me about the book; the lack of exploration.

How did their world come to be that way? What was the history there that led them to the beliefs and prejudice that they have now? What about the backstory on those from Lunar? Their powers? So much that could've been explored and used to set the foundation for this world but wasn't. With the Eastern commonwealth being a mixture of different people and backgrounds what is the culture like?? The customs etc?? Give me a whole new world to explore!!

Even though I am aware that as the series progresses more will be revealed, there has to be some groundwork for the reader to go off of, especially in a fantasy/scifi setting.

Now as for our main character Cinder, honestly, she was meh at best (sorry not sorry). I did like her relationship with Peony but besides that I felt no emotional connection to the characters. Kai was fine, I guess, and his relationship with Cinder was your typical YA romance; instalove, a little bland, cringe at times but bearable.

Overall the book was still interesting enough for me to want to finish it, but in my opinion is overhyped. It's an enjoyable read but not much of a memorable one.

(So no, I did not end up reading the rest of the series)

[arti-mess]

Practice lol. I felt bad for cress and Thorne bc I wasn’t planning on drawing all of them kissing but it turned out that way. I added the rooftop kiss.❤️

[mothmanlikesmen]

Spoiler For Dragons rising s2 back at it again 🫡 HEAR ME OUT PART 2😔😔

[mellendraws]

Rampion squad >>>

[oceanspray5]

Been obsessed with Beth Crowley's Midnight for Kaider but another song I have on loop atm is Porter Robinson's Everything Goes On. I don't even play LoL and barely know what Star Guardian is but I'd be lying if the story between Xayah and Rakan didn't have me intrigued. So now ofc it has me thinking of a Kaider AU along those lines. Not exactly sure how it'd work but maybe:

Channary gets to live a few extra years. Manages to get a marriage alliance proposition agreed to with King Rikan and hence Kaider grow up visiting each other on Earth and Luna more or less ala @impossiblesuitcase's fic.

Except Channary does die eventually and Cinder isn't old enough for the throne yet so Levana steps in. For this to work maybe the throne passes on to the heir on their 18-21st birthday?

Everyone thinks Levana killed Channary (she didn't) but everyone knows she's going to kill Cinder. Her days are numbered and she knows it despite Kai's vehement denial. I imagine they'd be around 14-16 here?

Except Cinder does end up "dead" in a fire. In a more plot heavy version of the headcanon, perhaps Levana implies Earthens brought the matches and killed Cinder and vows to "avenge" her neice unless she gets reparations. But even if we avoid this whole plotline, Levana does try and pass it off as Cinder dying in a fire.

Earth and Luna mourn and Kai is inconsolable except he refuses to believe he's dead. He grabs on to the slightest sliver of a rumor and holds on to it like its his lifeline. He throws himself into investigating it, discreetly when eventually Torin and his dad and the royal therapist force him to put an end to it.

In this version Cinder doesn't end up in a healing stasis for quite as long. Perhaps a year or two at most. When she wakes up, shes a cyborg and has immense memory loss from the trauma. Garan adopts her, gets Letumosis and dies. Adri and Pearl are their witchy selves. Peony and Iko remain angels.

So you have the setup:

Prince Kai of the Eastern Commonwealth sneaking into New Beijing because Nainsi broke right before he had the conclusive proof he needed to show his dad and Torin that his Selene was alive. At this point everyone in the Commonwealth seems to think Kai is in a deep grief he'll never recover from and atp everyone's wondering if Prince Kai will ever find himself a bride now that he's 20 and still hung up on his childhood love. Its that pity and condescention that only infuriates Kai more so he keeps searching.

He ends up at the budding yet already renowned mechanic Linh Cinder's booth. Kai sees her and does a double take, afraid he's seen a ghost. He could cry because if he's not mistaken, the girl in front of him is his Selene. Except Selene doesn't recognize him. Doesn't know who he is besides the Crown Prince despite his extremely efficient disguise comprising of one inconspicuous hoodie.

She's so different now too. Her fine silks and once shiny hair is now replaced with cargo pants and a grease stained shirt, her hair dull in its luster and sheen now. She has a grease splotch on her forehead that Kai yearns to wipe from her brow but restrains himself. She's just as beautiful as the day he lost her, maybe even more so. But a doubt does creep in for a second...

Maybe he has it all wrong. Maybe she's just a doppleganger. How and why would Selene even be working as a mechanic in the Beijing market instead of coming to him for help or telling the world she's alive? How did she survive the fire even though in his heart he always knew she did. He needs some proof for this too. It's a testament to how not insane he is from his grief at losing the love of his life that he restrains himself from bursting from all these questions and overwhelming her with his grief and affection. Take that Dad! Take that Torin and Royal Therapist!

So Kai swallows down his words and the lump in his throat and the urge to burst into tears and tells Cinder what's wrong with Nainsi and asks her how long it'll take for the problem to be fixed. In that brief interval Kai manages to count at least 10 different ticks that endeared Selene to him. He's memorized every single one since they were kids. He knows this is his missing princess.

He doesn't know why Selene doesn't remember him and it is soul-crushing to know she's right in front of him but he can't do anything about it. He needs to get her to remember or at least gain her trust and friendship long enough that he can break the news of her origins to her gently. Her memory loss runs deep and he doesn't want to freak her out even if that would be the fastest way to laying it all out in the open. But Kai is tactful and shows restraint.

Instead, he ends up showing up to her booth regularly to jog her memory and tries to aski her out repeatedly to the Annual Peace Ball. He hopes if she shows up then it'll help her remember the countless times they spent together at them. Maybe he could sneak her away and show her her old room which Kai had insisted be kept exactly as it was left before she "died". He can't help some affection slipping past the cracks like the fond way he looks at her and the smile he's only ever saved for her.

In summary: if he thought this would freak Cinder out less... He failed.

But Cinder does keep getting random bursts of memories. Sometimes through nightmares. Sometimes through dreams of another life. Of a rather insane mother who doted on her and a charming boy who's love shone in his eyes and gentle touch. She doesn't understand why he looks like Kai and keeps dismissing it as fantasies she's always longed for combined with the exhaustion of Adri's chores. Kai would never like her if he knew she was a cyborg. She has no intention of getting her hopes up.

So Kai keeps wooing Cinder and Cinder keeps unintentionally suppressing her memories or dismissing them, certain Kai's rambling stories about his childhood with the deceased Lunar princess Selene are affecting her sleep.

Now eventually when Cinder gets her memories back it could go one of two ways:

She tells him because it's Kai and her heart bursts with love at how intensely he held on to the trust that she's alive and kept trying to revive her memories.

OR (and my personal favorite cuz angst)

She has the same feelings as in option 1 but is too scared that she'll put him in danger knowing what Levana did to her but also more than that, she's internalized Adri's words so much and the way society treats cyborgs that she's certain Kai would never love her now that she's no longer fully human and has even seemed to have lost her Lunar glamour that may have been able to hide the imperfection of her extremities otherwise that would have made her tolerable to Kai after her little accident in the fire.

So Kai continues to woo his lost princess turned mechanic, more in love with her than ever, new quirks and imperfections and all while Cinder has a daily meltdown about how badly she wants to kiss Kai but also about how badly that would end once he finds out what she's become.

In this AU, Rikan does not die cuz I need Kai stress free so he can continue his shenanigans. Peony also does not die because the only angst we need is Cinder being overly critical of herself and Kai's pained longing to have the love of his life back.

Idk how the rest of the Rampion crew would play into this cuz admittedly I just wanted an angsty Kaider situation where Kai has to save Cinder from herself like Xayah has to for Rakan in the Everything Goes On MV.

Any further suggestions for this AU welcome! Also if someone wants to write it then be my guest and do tag me cuz I am in too much of a writing slump these days to do so myself.

[dont-let-me-eat-pears]

cinder and kai finally reunite! it only took 84 years 2 books.

[lexxwithbooks]

📖: 𝑪𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 (𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑟 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 #1) 🦿🌔👑

✍🏽: 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐚 𝐌𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐫

Get the book! 🌟