#cyborg duchess au

[the-starry-seas]

So I guess it's as good a time as any to have a pinned post?

Hi, I'm Sticks! I use vae/vaer/vaers/vaerself and it/its pronouns. This is a multifandom blog with a dash of many other random things. I'm a proshipper, cloneshipper, multishipper, and polyshipper.

I'll tag things to the best of my ability if you ask. Sometimes I'll forget. I love being tagged in ask games, WIP games, last line challenges, literally whatever. Mutuals can DM for my discord.

You can check out my fics on AO3 at lizardwrites (Star Wars) or purpleturtle9000 (Rise/Bayverse TMNT). Or check the tag for sticks' fics to see drabbles and previews. My askbox is open for requests for more drabbles, headcanons, and general rambling.

Consider this a blanket permission for any and all transformative works of my writing. You may post translated versions of my fics on other sites but you may not repost the original work. And please show me what you've made!

I have a lot of OCs and I love talking about them. I also want to hear all about yours! In the meantime, there's a list of mine below the cut. tumblr wouldn't let me link all of them, but you can try copy-pasting the-starry-seas.tumblr.com/tagged/ and put in the character name (I tag with ranks, so put in CT Racer instead of just Racer).

The Murderbot Diaries:

Jude (she/they rogue SecUnit)

ROTTMNT:

Kestrel

Star Wars:

212th Squad (Boot, Mik, Squeaker, Moxie, Onion, Crumpet)

Aces Squad (CT Racer, CT Fury, CS Blue, CT Whisper, CT Ember)

B Roll, all-girls clone squad formed of Bark, Bite, Bumble, and Bee

Clone Force M (CT Winter, CT Bee, CT Indigo, CT Jewel, CC Nebula, CT Zenith, CT Sunny, CT Star, CT Sky, CT Silver)

Ghost Squad (CL Harlow, CS Karla, CT Shay, CT Cavalry, CT Boom, CT Ray, CT Nox, CT Tally)

Green Squad (formerly) now civilians Aralyn, Berry, and Prey Drive

Royal Squad, five tubies adopted by the royal family in a nobody-dies Bail/Breha/Fox AU (Bug, Jaonyc, Yancy, Helio, Vidal)

Shili Squad (Chen Nihaan, Alyx, Bella, Corvin, Watcher, Atlas, Ginger, Circuit, and Synch)

Shiny Squad: Kit's batchmates CT Lucky, CT Shrike, and CT Carno

Grafitti & Rence of the Corrie Guard

Kit also of the Corrie Guard and Fox's shiny/adopted son

Prim Fett (clone, Mandalorian, and adopted daughter of Boba)

Riye Verda (Kamino-cloned, Mandalorian-raised)

Switch (clone, reconditioned, cyborg, mercenary)

Kryndi (florist and Kit's girlfriend in the royal OT3 AU)

Cathedi (Jedi)

Xerin (Jedi)

Clan Merit, composed of Quin, Aya, and Amery (Mandalorians)

Mirshko (Mandalorian)

Torrak Varkus and Torrak Vermil (Mandalorian)

Vinir (Mandalorian)

Soruli and Seryla (Nautolan Jedi and Force-sensitive smuggler)

A'Hidayat (Tusken)

U'Rajya (Tusken)

Tusken OC umbrella tag

Ripper (Yautja in Star Wars)

Valkyries (all-women pirate crew-slash-polycule)

CC Kamor, Eixes Judarri, and Padawan Rivi from the Better or Worse AU, where a clone captain finds and adopts his general's padawan, with the help of the Zabrak smuggler who becomes his queerplatonic partner

Chen Xunielah, a Togruta ambassador and duchess, and her clone husband Chen Nihaan, who form the Chen family with their kids

Transformers:

Button

Chromeblaze

Demoiselle

Goldshot

Neutrobolt & Nitroblitz

Nightflash

Stormbrake

Voltcast

Various:

Rowan

[eerna]

Could you summarize everything you have planned for the Cyborg Duchess AU so far?

Oboi. For more details go into the #cyborg duchess au tag on my blog, but here’s the basic chronological stuff.

First off: everyone sings. 

It’s set some time earlier in the TLC universe, during the period when traffic between Luna and Earth was allowed. Lunars display an unfair advantage over Earth people, Channary is queen and spreading uncomfortable conqueror vibes, even though her people suffer under her totalitarian regime. 

Earthen Union (EU) decides to put a stop to it and sends a regime of shells and androids to kill Channary and her eight-year-old daughter, putting an end to the Blackburn bloodline legend. Levana is compliant, not respected among Lunars, and can’t have children, so they leave her alive and she helps them turn Luna into a colony again in exchange for letting her live there.

Ten years pass. Luna is under an Earthen governor, prompting a mass exodus of Lunars to Earth, which makes no one happy. Not a lot got fixed after the fall of Artemisia. In New Beijing, the emperor dies from letumosis, leaving the tortured, messy country in the hands of his young son. At the same time a girl named Linh Peony dies for the same reason.

There are rumors circulating on the streets that Selene survived and her aunt is offering a generous reward to one who finds her and delivers her to Artemisia. Thorne, an American conman, and Iko, an android who used to serve at the Earthen embassy on Luna, decide to get in on it. They would find a Lunar girl similar to the princess and teach her based on Iko’s data collected during her time at the Lunar court. 

Right when they begin to lose hope, Linh Cinder bursts through their doors, learning of the rumors that Thorne can get her a new ID chip that will allow her to escape the city. She got into a fight with her stepmother, broke something in her spine and triggered powers she’d never dreamed of. Also, she looks quite similar to the late queen. Iko and Thorne offer her a deal we all know and love. 

You see, Cinder has no recollection of the time before 10 years ago. They told her she was in an accident that killed her family and left her a cyborg, but what of the strange memories brought on by the waking of power in her veins? Her little sister was the only one she’d ever loved, and she is desperate to be accepted again. Maybe her mother was a tyrant, but her aunt obviously was different, which means she must be the one she remembers so warmly. She takes the deal.

What she doesn’t know, though, is that the rumours are incomplete. During the recent years, a network of old Lunar nobles led by Levana organized themselves into a rebellion group seeking to reestablish the Blackburn royal line. For that, they need Selene back to be put on the throne. With the help of her right hand woman Sybil, Levana pretends to go along with their plans, but only so that she can kill Selene once she finds her, since she finds herself to be a much more fitting ruler than a child who spent more than half her life outside Artemisia.

And she isn’t the only one on Cinder’s trail- news of a Lunar cyborg reached Emperor Kaito’s ears, connected to the rumors of a Lunar monarchy sympathizers. In them he recognizes the sweet mechanic he has a soft spot for, and he is quite shocked at the revelation. Nevertheless, pressured by the EU, he needs to chase her down for a hopefully fair hearing. Hopefully.

Meanwhile the trio sets for LA avoiding numerous attempts at arrest, where Thorne has a stashed spaceship he’d once stolen. They bond and Iko and Thorne’s combined whirlwind of friendship and adoration totally wins Cinder over. By the time they reach Luna and get their new looks from Winter, a seamstress and Iko’s old friend, she is pretty sad to be leaving them behind once she finds her aunt.

That is, until she meets her aunt, has a “beautiful” (read: basic politeness mistaken for love by a girl who’d never had a mother) bonding moment..... and finds out about the money. Oh oops. She is pretty mad to have been lied to, and excommunicates them both, convincing herself having her loving family back is all that matters.

Iko and Thorne are bummed and pissed off at themselves. Until Cress, Sybil’s sidekick, tells them what really awaits Cinder. 

Friendship saves the day!!!! Cinder realizes maybe loving someone and being a bad person aren’t mutually exclusive, and decides to give up on her identity as Selene to pursue a new life with the good people who love her. The end.

[elisabeth515]

I just wanted to tell you, you recently mentioned something about Franz Joseph and Sisi, and I went and listened to a podcast about them today and I love Sisi so much!!!!! I wish she’d had a happier life 😭 (this is odiko-ptino btw lol)

WHERE IS THE LINK OF THIS PODCAST I NEED TO LISTEN

Tbh sameeeeeeeee Sisi deserves a happier life😭

On this day in history we have just lost an empress to the hands of the anarchists ;-;

I guess, that was her wish getting granted as she has been wishing for death since the shocks she had through the loss of several family members (especially Rudolf) in a few years. If I were Sisi and at this moment I met my killer in heaven, I would have no idea what to say, because, should I thank him for ending my misery, or hate him for using me as a subject to their “propaganda of the deed”?

She is a fascinating person to be frank and I am seriously sick of people who think she had affairs with several other men (like pleaseeeeeeee she and Andrássy and Middleton were just friendssssssssss). For the love of the universe, just acknowledge that she had confidants! In my very humble opinion, I believe that she still loves Franz at the very end, albeit the love just has somehow faded after all those things happened to them—which is the reason why I am thinking of writing a story of Sisi and Franz meeting each other again in the 21st century as their new personas... Yeah, sorry if you found reincarnation AU cringe but I was just thinking about Sisi and Franz having a second chance to be together😭😭😭😭😭

By the way, if you love Sisi, check out the musical “Elisabeth”! I really love it although some said it was offending since that’s perhaps the darkest portrayal of the Empress. I watched it on Bilibili and it’s so good🙈

Also, if you would like read some books about her, Brigitte Hamann’s “The Reluctant Empress” is a great starter. For the love of the universe, DO NOT read Alison Pataki’s “Sisi” series; it sucked. Well if you wanna read some shit that’s the one but like, don’t read it, I beg you on Sisi’s behalf, please don’t

Oh yes not related to the above content but marshal Berthier (aka. Administrative Cyborg) is Empress Sisi’s granduncle-in-law (because his wife was Duchess Maria Elisabeth in Bavaria and she was Sisi’s grandaunt), and therefore the Berthiers (*and the Murats since the 4th Prince because their grandchildren married each other) were actually distantly related to her :3

Thanks for the message and sorry for this long ramble🙈

[raemagnisi]

Celebrities/Politicians predictions (ENG/FR) - March 12th, 2019

Trump will be reelected as POTUS (win the Electoral College, lose the Popular vote).

Brexit won’t happen.

If every is alright, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s baby is a boy (Aries).

Captain America won’t die in Avengers: Endgame, he will just retire and will do cameos every now and then in some Avengers and other people’s solo films.

French/Français:

L’album de Nekfeu va être très bien accueilli (presse et public). Sonorités proche de Cyborg avec thématiques plus proche de celles de Feu.

B2o vs K-ris:

Les deux vont gagner beaucoup d’argent grâce à ce duel (beaucoup de sponsors).

Le combat sera sans pitié et sanglant. B aura des difficultés pendant l’affrontement.

B va payer au moins un des juges et un marabout pour pouvoir gagner. C’est pourquoi le résultat premier donnera B gagnant. K va faire appel.

K va finalement gagner au (trèèèèèèèèèèèèès) grand désarroi de B.

B partira aussitôt à Miami et faire profil-bas.

Grâce à cette victoire, K-ris va pourvoir ne plus être un parias dans le milieu Rap et faire des feats avec lui ne sera plus taboo/mal vu. Sa carrière musicale sera meilleure. Par contre, suite à la défaite de B, certains rappeurs vont se retourner contre lui et/ou le clasher sans avoir peur (K-Lash, Dems, Sofiane, etc.).

Niska ne va pas avoir de répercussions négatives quant à la violence dont il a fait preuves contre Aya. Il va même s’en vanter. Aya va uniquement avoir le soutien de la communauté Noire (majoritairement des femmes Noires)

Macron ne sera pas réélu Président. Il se représentera, son Premier Ministre aussi se présentera et ce-dernier ira au second tour contre MLP et gagnera.

PSA: Done for entertainment purpose and energies/the outcome can change.

[eerna]

Honestly, the idea of everyone initially perceiving Levana as completely harmless in this AU just seems so hilarious to me. I love villains like this!

Ty! Since she never got to rule in this AU, her status at court is the same as in Fairest- a mockery publicly bullied by Channary for the nobles’ entertainment. And Earth is like “she cant even hold her own against her sister and she was very cooperative, why should we punish the poor woman”. Welp. Oops.

[eerna]

You said that Once Upon a December would be referenced with Cinder triggering her memories via her powers and Learn to Do It will obviously be Thorne and Iko teaching her how to act like a princess, but what about the other songs?

We cram in as many songs as possible bc yes everyone is gonna sing in this. Naturally, since we’re changing around some stuff, songs like "Close the Door" or "The Countess and the Common Man" are cut out. BUT with slight changes we get “A Rumour in New Beijing”, “My LA” (delivered while stealing a spaceship in LA), “We’ll Go from There” (except Iko can’t get fatter but she is certainly imagining Lunars not recognizing a stunning beauty as the little serv droid she used to be), “Journey to the Past”, which is already a Cinder song anyway, “Luna Holds the Key” (with cameos from all the characters cut out of this AU), “Land of Yesterday” in a delicious evil twist, “In  a Crowd of Thousands” (a sassy friendship version in which Cinder swears she remembers how smelly Thorne was even 10 years later), Thorne and Iko lamenting how much they adore Cinder in “Meant to Be”, a WONDERFUL quartet with Kai singing his role through a netscreen and Levana being like YYYOOOO LOOK AT THAT GIRL ACROSS FROM ME, a very touching “Once Upon a December” reprise, “The Press Conference” can stay too, and then the tea gets spilled and I suppose no one is singing until the “Finale”. 

[eerna]

Would Levana still be feared in this AU, or would her actions be more subtle under the guise of a timid queen?

Lunar nobles are planning a revolution to retake Artemisia, and want to find Selene so that she could claim her throne and lead them into victory bc the Blackburn bloodline legend. Levana is helping them, being the mastermind behind it all bc let’s face it she is the only one on Luna with enough braincells to do it. BUT she is also secretly planning on killing Selene once she’s found so that SHE would be the last Blackburn and take the throne for herself. So I suppose the people who know her are intimidated by her cunning, but since it’s a secret mission the world still considers her timid.

[eerna]

Oh my god princess Selene rumors are like princess Anastasia.

An AU for your consideration 

[eerna]

Maybe "Stay, I Pray You" could be after letumosis gets bad enough that a large population needs to evacuate New Beijing rather than escaping communist rule like in the musical. The song in question could probably be led by Dr. Erland (he's the only one who comes to mind for the role of Count Ipolitov).

There is no evacuation bc I think there's wayyy to many people in New Beijing for it to work and not spread the disease further, but I do think lots of people asre restless and leaving bc of the Lunar situation and letumosis combined. Song works in that regard, and ur right Erland could lead it, BUT neither Iko nor Thorne grew up there. So I can just shrug and say, it can stay or be gone,whatever you'd like!

[eerna]

Would "Stay, I Pray You" be part of this AU?

Um idk. Maybe, but it's not like anyone laments anything left behind, so...

[eerna]

An image I got in my hand just now is that after Cinder finds out the truth, Levana still tries to keep up the act and reaches out her hand to touch her and try to work her way into her mind, only for Cinder to grab her aunt by the wrist a la Tangled and trying to fight back.

Except... Levana wouldn't be THAT sort of supportive,she doesn't know how to be. She doesn't touch Cinder (except for a hug or two) and tells her stuff like "I've waited for so long", "I can't believe you're here", "I'm so glad I've finally found you". Think Mother Gothel always checking Rapuntel's hair before Rapunzel herself. The thing is, Cinder had no mother figure and she just takes any scraps she can get and is happy with it. Thorne and Iko are like "uh something is fishy" but she ignores them.

[eerna]

If Levana never takes over, then who's leader of Luna?

No one. After Channary's death Luna becomes a colony again and has an Earthern governor directing it.

[eerna]

I've been having "Stay, I Pray You" stuck in my head lately, and this got me wondering if either letumosis or the superpowered humans would still be considered a threat when Levana takes over?

.. r u me because I've been singing that particular song the entire evening

There's still letumosis. Peony still dies from it, and it's what causes Cinder to break down and fry the isolation chip in her spine. Lunars are allowed to run around Earth, since we're setting the plot some decades earlier, and it is very very bad for intergalactic politics since yup powers are there. Levana never manages to become queen in this AU tho, she just leads the rebellion trying to find Selene.

[eerna]

Would Levana be responsible for Selene's "death" or would it actually be the rebellion that was responsible? Or would it be that Levana had done it (well, tried to), but simply claimed that someone else had "killed" the princess?

Nope, this time around Selene's "demise" wasn't her fault. Levana didn't want to kill Selene until the moment she posed a threat to her authority, and even then she knew it was wrong and justified it as "it would be better for he kingdom because I am a great queen". So it isn't until she becomes a leader of the rebellion and realizes she would lose it all to a random kid that she starts planning her murder.

[eerna]

I was thinking something similar as well, especially with the subtext. The main storyline is all about friendship, but the ending could be left just ambiguous enough that Cinder and Kai don't end up together, but it's definitely a maybe/most likely sort of thing that they'll be together in the future, but only after Cinder gets to live her life the way she always wanted to.

If we're speaking in TLC canon terms, I'd say his feelings jumped from chapter one to the last chapter- a puppy crush turned into confusion and sadness. So he is kinda not into catching her, but also not into her enough to warrant a big scene like at the end of Cress. He doesn't even have any indication she could return his feelings like he could have gleaned during their interactions in Cinder (I mean she does but he doesn't know that). So yeah if this AU implies anything, it's that they gotta spent more time together before even considering being together, and they are both into that idea hhah

[eerna]

I can't stop imagining Cinder dancing to Once Upon a December. Her ancestors welcoming her, her mother's spirit genuinely happy to see her daughter alive as they dance together... That's the one thing that's likable about Channary—for all her faults, she really did love Selene.

Hehe yeap. Instead of a ballroom, she can trigger the memory by using her powers for the first time in 10 years. And the image she gets is totally disconnected from the evil tyrant who was so terrible she got executed. So she figures, her aunt was different, she was left alive because she was not like the rest of them, she is confused and Levana is probably the one she remembers!!!!

In this AU she does find out how much her mom loved her tho. She gets that